By Anne
So, while anyone who is in pu
blic school under the college level or anyone who works in a government office is nestled snugly in their nice warm beds and homes on this freeeeeezing cold day, S(h)ara and I are at work. Enjoying every moment of it, I can assure you.
The one good thing about working today is that there are very very few people also driving into downtown Buffalo to get in my way, and many many open parking spaces to choose from. So, at least I always know on these mornings that my commute will be easy.
Enough about us, onto the sports.
I am sad to report that my favorite NFC team, the Green Bay Packers lost to the NY Giants last night in overtime. This saddens me greatly. Brett Favre has long been a favorite of mine, since he first started playing for Green Bay and received national recognition as AP MVP in '95. He's started EVERY GAME as a Green Bay Packer since he started there IN 1992. And his middle name is Lorenzo, can you really get much cooler than that? I watched every second of the career game he played right after his father passed away, and cried at the end of it, not gonna lie. I watched him take the sack from Michael Strahan so Strahan could earn the NFL's record for most sacks in a season. He's never publicly admitted that he took the dive, but if you watch it, it's pretty obvious that he did. I didn't agree that he should've done it as it, to many, cheapened the accomplishment. But let's be honest, how many quarterbacks would lower their pride enough to take the sack, lower their own numbers and those of their offensive line, to let someone on another team set an NFL record?
Basically, to be totally honest, the first reason I took notice of him at the tender age of 10 is because my aunt, who is irritatingly obsessed with pronouncing things correctly (including saying almost all Italian food names with an Italian accent, in spite of the fact that we're 100% Irish) was OBSESSED with the fact that Favre was being pronounced Farve. Ok, this is clearly not how his name should be pronounced, but who really cares?
Bretters might retire this season (NOOOOO!!!!) and all I wanted was for him to get one more NFC championship and maybe, just maybe, upset Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. The greatest upset EVER. The old man and the superstar going toe to toe.
I wanted to see this:
Not this:
I don't really care much about Eli Manning. I enjoy his brother much more. So do his parents probably, so that makes me feel bad for little Eli, but I don't think the poor boy and his Giants stand a chance against Tommy B. and his Patriots.
Anyway, on to the hockey:
I watched as much of yesterday's Bruins v. Rangers match up as I could take, as I kept nearly nodding off, I changed the station frequently. I can't imagine a game that's 1-0 for the first 40 minutes is exactly what the NHL wanted when the decided to highlight this "Original 6 Match up!!!". Does anyone else want to acknowledge the fact that anyone who doesn't follow hockey regularly will have no idea what that means? I was under the impression that the goal was to attract new fans, not confuse them.
The NHL on NBC game of the weeks seems to be "the NHL game of whoever the Rangers are playing on Sunday" game of the week. Next week its Rangers v. Habs. "ANOTHER Original 6 Match up". Hardly the marketing strategy I would employ.
I love looking at commercials and seeing how ridiculously focused they are on putting out ads created for a very specific audience. Yesterday it was middle aged men, their sons in their 20s and the girlfriends and wives that were forced to watch the games too. We had FloMax, Cialis, that Verizon commercial with the new dad banging on the nursery window (ok, I have to admit I laugh every time at that one) and the figure skating championships that will soon be on NBC.
Let's watch it, shall we?
I think I laugh because I fully anticipate one day marrying and having children with a man who will do just that when seeing our baby in the nursery window.
I also enjoyed Mike Millbury and his lower leg skeleton model he had to show the world just exactly where Sid the Kid has injured himself. Thank you, Mike "High Ankle Sprain" was such an ambiguous descriptor.
Also, Kobasew, another of my top favorite NHL player names scored a short hander, so it was an entertaining game. I was pissed that Tim Thomas, whom I enjoy as a person and a hockey player (I know I'm not supposed to as he's a NE division rival, but whatev) was denied his shut out with 44 seconds left. Booooo!!!!
There was hinting that Jagr isn't happy in New York anymore as they showed footage of him looking decidedly unenthusiastic about scoring a goal in a previous game. Sundin? Jagsie? Who's next?
If Jagr leaves the Rangers, my friend Scott will need some serious consoling. He's a huge Jagr fan. He'd walk around class during last season's playoffs in his Jagr jersey, very sure that his team would prevail. I couldn't help but rub it in a lot when they did not. Sadly, Scott-o and I were not in the same city when the Drury debacle went down, so he never got to have his revenge by bragging that his team got our captain.
In other news, the Sens dropped yet another one, losing 6-1 to Philly. Too bad Marty wasn't in net for that one. As I said, its hard to be too excited as Alfie and The Piece of Trash weren't in the line-up for the Sens. It'll all be different in a month or so when they're back and the Sens rebound. Same for Sid the Kid and the Pens. Yes, he'll be out for a while, but assuming the Pens can hang on to their playoff spot without him, they'll be a different team when he comes back.
K-Sylv is givin' the play-by-play this afternoon in Phoenix with Harry Neale. This should be interesting (read: painful and confusing for us all, like when Mommy has a new boyfriend). While I support the choice to use K-Sylv instead of...actually I don't know who else they'd use, I still would rather hear Slick Ricky than anyone else. There's been an argument made for Roby, but I prefer to hear Roby giving the tough love than the more neutral play-by-play position. Slick Ricky is certainly not neutral in his love for the Sabres, but he tends to not openly criticise the team...too often, and only when they really deserve it, like at anytime in the last 3 weeks.
I can't wait to see Rayzor and Roby alone with no K-Sylv to mediate them. They both like to play bad cop, so if the Sabres are playing badly, this could be a Dodge Intermission report bloodbath.
