Shit

Packers 14 - Eagles 19

Shit. Shit shit shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit! Shit shit shit, but then shit. So shit.

Gado got another TD, but he shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit. And now Favre has as many intershitshit as he has shitdowns. SHIT.

This wasn't supposed to happen for a few more years! Yes, we were going to get bad post-Favre. We had to. I just can't believe we're doing it while he's still here. That is just wrong.

The optimist in me is saying, hey, at least the next season can only be better than this one... but then I think more about that, and I remember: It's Week 12. It is entirely possible that next year's team could end up having a better record than this year's team before the end of September! How depressing.

I Hate Minnesota

Packers 17 - Vikings 20

Not just the football team, either. I hate the state. It's close to jumping Indiana on my list. They are the worst drivers on the road. Worse than Florida. And I do most of my driving in Wisconsin, where people also can't drive. Why these two states' proximity to Canada (where driving is actually a joy) doesn't have more of a positive influence on their drivers, I can't say.

Yeah, so this blog entry is late. Thanksgiving. Sure. Yeah, really busy with the whole holiday thing. Nary a free moment.

yawn

It's the same story as last time. We can't play two halves. Brett doesn't have enough weapons. We lost by a field goal. Only thing is, this year I don't see us meeting the Vikes again in the playoffs. If we do, of course, we'll beat them just like they beat us in that situation last year.

Then we'll go on to beat the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game and hold the undefeated Colts scoreless in our Super Bowl XL victory.

What Are We, Bereft of Mastication?

Okay, apparently this is just part of an entire segment of the beverage market that until now has gone completely unnoticed by me.

I can't imagine why.

Quick-Fast

When I was growing up, my family always had breakfast together. It was the whole Norman Rockwell package. Dad would be on his way to work in his suit. Mom would have set the table with all the fixins for whatever the meal-of-the-day was – oatmeal, assorted non-sugary cereals, waffles. Katy and I would answer questions about what was going on at school or review for our Biology test on the bones of the human body.

When I got married, I promised my wife our family would always sit down for breakfast together every day. It was a tradition, but it was also a great time to bond.

For whatever reason, I’ve been pushing that off for the last several years. “When the kids are older and in school,” I’ve said. Well, one’s in preschool now, so I should probably look into firing up the old tradition sometime soon or it’ll never happen.

I could come up with more excuses, of course – timing’s a good one. I’m usually out the door either just as my oldest is waking up or before anyone has even stirred. So a breakfast together means either I go in later (rarely a viable option, and certainly not on days I train) or that we wake the rest of the family early. My reluctance to bring up Option B is probably the only remaining roadblock.

But this was sparked by something I just saw that made me figuratively burp up a little bit of puke: Liquid Cereal. Basically – you know the milk slurry that’s left when you “finish” your cereal? Yeah, they’ve canned that.

I would certainly rather explore Option B than that.

Gado: Mighty!

Packers 33 - Falcons 25

Told ya' so. Sammy G. celebrated his 23rd (!) Birthday in style late this afternoon, with over 100 rushing yards and three TDs. In other shocking news, this Packers game was actually enjoyable to watch! For once, the team we were playing was making all of the dumb mistakes.

This is Gado's second week in a row with the game ball. It's the third game he's played. That's a pretty nice average. I think we have a potential replacement for Ahman for next year.

My pick for Player of the Game, though, is Nick Barnett, who had seven tackles and, along with Gado, one of the best attitudes on the field today.

We fired well on all cylinders. At one point, someone on the Falcons' sideline decided to heckle Favre and they ended up pissing him off. I haven't heard the backstory on that yet, but it's rarely a good idea to fire Brett up like that when he's on the field. Of course, it wouldn't have been a Packers game without the cardiac factor in the fourth quarter: We went into prevent and did allow the Falcons to pull within 8. Luckily, we were efficient with the clock and they were mistake-prone enough to fail to follow through on any threat they posed.

To digress a bit, the NFL sure does have some big babies. Terrell Owens is a prime example, but it turns out Michael Vick is perhaps just as full of himself. T.O. is far and away the stupider of the two, and in what must be an effort to surround himself with people who make him not appear that way, Drew Rosenhaus continues to have a job. I can't say I'd (or perhaps "I'll," depending on how this all pans out) miss his presence in football, but the game could only honestly be improved if Rosenpenis were killed in nasty ways. He's just a used car salesman prick. But Vick has only himself to blame for his whiny, piss-and-moan attitude. He had some bad press in Atlanta, had a great game last week, came out and got all "So there!" in a press conference after that, and then had a lackluster performance today. He actually looked pretty bad. (Note: I'm not complaining here.)

Both players are pretty amazing in their own ways. I will never admit that I like T.O., mind you -- no Packers fan worth his salt would -- but he has done some amazing things. Similarly, after the first cold-weather Lambeau loss handed to us by Vick and the Falcons in the 2002 Playoffs, I won't say I like Vick either, but again, his highlight reel in the NFL is longer than most. The long and short of it is that there's talent there, but there's way too much lip to go along with it. Guys? Shut up and play.

Fffffffffffffffffff...

...UCK.

Playing Gado

Packers 10 - Steelers 20

"Favre completes it to... some guy in a Packers jersey!" "Green Bay running back... uh, number 35^*, gains a few on that play."

Let's just prepare ourselves: In a couple of years, we'll still be saying stuff like this... except it'll be someone besides "Favre" starting off that first sentence.

I feel the need to further clarify my position regarding Favre. (Don't you love how that makes it sound like people actually read this blog?) ASSUMING Mike Sherman remains the head coach for the Packers next year (or -- in a completely implausible twist -- Mike Holmgren comes back), I think Brett will play another year. He won't stay to work under a new coach.

Is this partially due to wishful thinking from a fan who is already predisposed to melancholy? Yes, partially. However, let's be honest. At this point, what games can we win? The "maybes": Minnesota at the Tundra on Monday night? One of the two Chicago games? The Seasquawks in the final home game of the season (I'll be at that one, so I certainly hope so)?

Looking ahead, we're already guaranteed an easy schedule in 2006. We get the NFC West ("featuring" San Fran and the Cardinals), the AFC East ("featuring" the Jets, Miami, and the Pats, who should be on a continuing downward spiral), and one team each -- at this point probably the worst -- from the NFC South and East (so something like New Orleans and Washington). That right there ought to be a cakewalk.

So for the remainder of this year we play for the draft, we throw some money at linemen, backs, corners, and receivers, and we give Brett an Elway-like bow out of the NFL, with his head held high.

Obviously, that has been the plan all year. Am I really the only one who saw through this?

---

*That would be Nigerian rookie RB Samkon Gado, whose complete Packers history is comprised of one rush for 8 yards last week, and 26 for 62 and a touchdown, plus a 9-yard catch today.

Speaking of Music...

Train Wreck Band of the Moment (or: Band Whose "Music" Really Sucks, but Whose Songs I Can't Seem to Turn Off When They're on the Radio):
System of a Down

Musical Matrix

No, they're not making a musical about The Matrix -- not yet, anyway. I'm talking about this, the music-map. Careful: You might waste a good hour there if you follow that link. Not only is it interesting, it's practical. Like Jack Johnson (you should, BTW)? If you type his name in, you'll see a graphical representation of who else you might enjoy listening to. Give the matrix a minute to calibrate itself. Then, the closer one artist is to another, the more alike their musical styles are.

Of course, I haven't taken any time to research exactly how that relative similarity is determined. Personally, I think I'll defer to Ang, since she's definitely more adept at this than even I am; if she thinks it's on the up-and-up, then buy your stock in MSCMP today.

See also: gnod. Looks like the gnoosic portion probably helps feed the music-map matrix. I'm not as impressed by the gnovies matrix, but that's probably because there isn't nearly as much information in that database yet as there is in gnoosic. And gnooks is okay, but I think I'd be more interested to see that data organized by individual book instead of by author. In my mind, however, organizing gnoosic by artist seems to make more sense than it would if it were organized by song.

And there's another hour gone.

Record Time!

I'll bet you thought this would be about Brett Favre passing John Elway in last week's loss for sole possession of second place in career passing yards.

Well, it is now, but that's not all.

It's now November 3rd, and we still haven't turned on our heat. At all. Not even for a minute since last spring. High temperatures are in the 60s. I've never been able to wait this long -- as a homeowner -- to kick the furnace on. Yes, the little victories matter now.

Also, this year marks the earliest spotting of a Christmas-related ad, my previous record being October 15th. This year, I saw a commercial that sported nearly all of the devices required to classify a commercial as Christmas-related -- decorated wreath and/or evergreen of some kind, smiling woman wearing scarf and knit hat in snow, jingle bells evident in soundtrack, imagery of little drummer boy or boy with mouth in Charlie Brown Christmas Special-esque "Ooo" shape -- on October 2nd. For the record, that gave America 84 shopping days to get... whatever the hell it was that they were advertising. Obviously, the ad was not nearly as effective as it was horrifying.

Yes, I'm Still a Fan

Packers 14 - Bengals 21

We lost again. We're 1-6. They double-teamed Driver in the second half. The second half.... This is our problem now. We used to be the team that turned it on in the second half. We might not have played too well at the start of the game, but we learned quickly about the other team's plans and their weaknesses and we'd make adjustments and we'd pull out wins.

Now Brett has too much on his shoulders again, and without the quality players playing consistently around him, it just leads to mistakes. The Bengals came in to the game with the most takeaways of any team in the NFL, but by the end of the first half, Brett had only one interception. Not great, but not bad.

Second half: Four more. Four.

Thing is, our defense, which everyone assumed would be nonexistent this year, is playing great. I hate to think our offense is the weak point, but the numbers are there for your perusal.

I just can't imagine Brett wanting this to be the way he goes out. He's coming back.

Well, that is, if Gimli doesn't end up quitting after a cellphone rings in the stands. Then all bets are off.