Monday, December 31, 2007

argh!

The 2007 NFL post season is upon us, and what to my wondering eyes do appear? A whole new crop of anti-patriots. There is just nothing worse than bandwagon jumpers- god how i hate those fans who only watch because the QB is so cute- or only watch because a team is suddenly good. How infuriatingly agonizing is it to watch a game with those kinds of fans.

Conversely, it is equally infuriating it is to watch a game with anti-fans. God, just listen and to read all the reports from newspapers around the country- the patriots have no respect, the patriots are arrogant, the patriots haven't actually done anything noteworthy yet when compared with the 72 dolphins. This is all because the season has been boring for the fans in other markets. Andy peloff is having this manufactured apoplexy with his idea that the patriots operate under the guide of humility, while the whole season they have actually been arrogant on the field when they play. Of course they have! No one has beaten them this season!

It is only reasonable to find a degree of confidence from the patriots they have beaten everyone! it becomes arrogant and insulting when trash talk and superiority comes from schmoes like anthony smith. Who?

The thing is, no one ever calls peyton manning arrogant, but y'know what? It's not very often that manning said something like- he's a good player; i hope they take the day off, it will make my game easier. Manning very seldom concedes that someone other than himself is a good player. He doesn't even go out of his way to say his own teammates are good players! God if that is isn't arrogant, I dunno what is!

This nfl post season is going to be both nauseating and riveting. I don't think i can take one more minute of the patriots (and they are my team!), manning, or tony romo and terrell owens.

Ugh. God, if i have to hear one more time how good tony romo is in his first full year, I might barf. If i hear just one more word about how good peyton manning is at calling the offence, I’ll commit harey carrey. God, but if one more announcer speaks about upsetting the perfect season or knocking the patriots back a notch; how in once game we can finally prove that the patriots aren’t that good after all, i can't be responsible for my actions.

Argh! Anti-fans are the worst! They are just the worst. They are a detriment to their own team's fan base. God if you hate the patriots, fine. But hate them on the basis of football, not on sportsmanship smoke and mirrors. At least admit that you hate them because you are jealous of them. Or admit that you're pissed because they beat your team. i suspect that no fan in the world would keep their 7 and 9 record instead of a 16-0 playoff bound record.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Please don't use contrasting thread!

please, seamstresses and seamsters- i implore you! don't use contrasting thread to sew your projects together. no mater how you hard you try convince yourself that it's a design element, it's not. For instance- using red thread on a black fabric just doesn't look good.

use a contrasting embroidery floss as an embellishment after you've completed the bulk sewing? Sure. that's a good idea. but doing the main sewing in a color that is not the same as the fabric itself does nothing more than show where you sewed too fast, and where your feed dogs were taxed. Using contrasting thread shows exactly where you strayed from the correct seam allowance, and it shows when your starting point and ending point don't quite match up. it is, of course most obvious where topstitching is required.

no matter what level you are, beginner to intermediate to an advanced clothier- please please please; resist the urge to use thread that isn't the same shade as your finished piece!

Friday, December 14, 2007

it's not the patriots' job to run plays the defense will stop

so all you bellyachers who are pissed off because the patriots went 30 points on you- get stuffed. it is not the patriots fault they compiled such a good arsenal- to the contrary- it's their intention. no team in the league compiles a team to be mediocre. no team does that! no team happily collects scrap heap quarterbacks and gimpy running backs; or shrinking violet inside linebackers- no team goes on the hunt for a free safety with poor peripheral vision. come on. if a team's front office did that they would be run out of town.

so the fact that anyone outside of New England is moaning and wringing their hands or feeling insulted is crap. Teams exist to put the best possible team on the field. Real sportsmanship is not about making sure the other team on the field gets positive reinforcement. Sportsmanship is about respecting the game, your teammates, and the other players. but just because you respect a team or player doesn't mean you shouldn't take advantage of their flaws. do you think for one minute that the teams i play against don't take advantage of the fact that i'm a girl and probably slower than them? of course they do. I can take advantage of that just as well, i can play give and go against them. At the end of the game, they know that i played them hard; and i know that they played me hard.

i have to admit- i don't think i want my opposition to go easy. sure it's embarrassing, no one wants to get schooled, but if you're a sport-o, ask yourself (and answer truthfully now), would you really pull back if there was an open net? honestly, would you intentionally kick it wide if you were on a breakaway? that is simply a foreign concept, even to the most beginner of athletes. the point is to score points and goals.

it's going to snow on sunday, so i don't think the score will be very high, but i'm afraid to tell you that i don't think the jets have a chance.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Ellsbury should be untouchable

Dear Theo, A move to acquire Johan Santana by using Jacoby Ellsbury is foolish. 80% of the armchair GM's think this too. sure we aren't as smart as you, and sure we don't know all the facts, but what i do know is that Ellsbury is a better player than crisp. he's faster which is saying a lot, because crisp is fast. he plays the outfield as well, and he's as good a hitter as crisp. I don't believe Crisp in centerfield is the best team possible, I'm sorry, i just don't.

we already have a powerful rotation. acquiring santana would make it dizzying, for sure, but that leaves us with an outfield that is less powerful. (remember crisp has to play every day, and he doesn't always contribute every day. besides that- letting ellsbury go is 100% foolish in terms of batting order- who's going to lead off for us this year? julio Lugo? come on. Youkillis? along with his piano, sure. Crisp? a .330 On base % is not too shabby, but he's so remarkably streaky.

for me, ellsbury is too complete a player- he is too good and too young to trade him.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/polls/11_28_07_jacoby/

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

That is what good teams do- they win.

Even when they play somewhat poorly, even when the temperature is freezing, even when the ravens give them a game.

No question, the Ravens played well, had the Patriots lost, it would have been ok to have lost to a them. Last night was a good football game. Gosh- back and forth, scoring on almost every possession for both teams. At half time, I said to myself- this game is going to come down to the last team with the ball. And sure enough it did. It just so happens that Bowler's hail mary was two yards short. That is heartbreaking, any way you slice it.

But to act like this is anything other than a well played game is preposterous. The Ravens played very well, that's true, why can't people concede that the Patriots did as well? Is it so hard for people to admit that the Patriots have cultivated a culture of winning? Come on, four weeks ago, the Patriots were vilified because they ran the score up. Now, in the close games they're vilified simply because they won. Sorry, but all this appears to be is sour grapes. Mike Sando from espn was in Baltimore last night-
  • here are some tidbits.


  • Ravens linebacker Bart Scott on the timeout: "I didn't hear a timeout. That was very convenient." Sorry Bart. There was film of it on espn, some coach on your sideline was calling for time out, he made the big T with his hands and walked right over to the ref.

    Phantom calls? Are you for real? Come on. I sort of remember when the pass interference was also called the Ty Law rule. Get stuffed. Sour grapes.

    Hard to play against Brady and all the extra people. Sure it is, the thing is, you're only playing against Brady and ten other guys at a time. Sour grapes.

    I suppose the Ravens are just searching for some sort of moral victory in all this- searching for a way to win a game they clearly could have. But the fact of the matter remains, they didn't win. They called that time out. They assessed 35 penalty yards on their last possession.

    Sure the Ravens brought it, but don't you think that Patriots brought it too? That was a hell of a game last night. And it clearly prepared the patriots for the post season- which is infinitely more important than the season record.

    We'll see you in February.