Combs Spouts Off

"It's my opinion and it's very true."

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Posts Tagged ‘football’

More bad sports news

Posted by Richard on October 30, 2007

The Broncos failed to turn the corner tonight. That's a pun, sort of. I remember when the Broncos signed Dré Bly, people were talking about how awesome the Broncos' pass defense would be. Bly and Champ Bailey are widely acknowledged to be the two best cornerbacks in the NFL, and among the best corners ever to play the game. Some fans salivated over how many INTs the two of them would collect, while others speculated that opponents wouldn't even try to throw deep against them.

Bret Favre burned each of the super corners for a long TD. The second, against Bly, went for 82 yards and ended the shortest overtime in NFL history — one play, 15 seconds, Packers win. 

But really, the Broncos blew this game in regulation. As time was winding down, they failed to punch it into the end zone for the umpteenth time this season. Trailing by 3 with the ball on the five, 3rd and 2 with 20-some seconds to play and no time outs, Cutler ran for the first down — one of the stupidest plays ever.

Fortunately, the kicking team was able to pull off another miracle and line up in record time, and Elam tied the game with no time on the clock. But why, oh why, not try another pass into the end zone? The one on 2nd down to Marshall just barely failed. Assuming you don't screw up and throw an interception, at worst an incomplete pass stops the clock and makes the field goal a little less iffy. At best, you win the game.

And if they'd won in regulation and avoided the overtime, they'd have avoided the embarrassment of having the whole Broncos organization convinced that Green Bay would run on first down when Mike McCarthy and Bret Favre had other plans. 

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Good news, bad news

Posted by Richard on October 29, 2007

First, the good news: Football fans attending the Broncos-Packers game Monday night at Mile High won't face the traffic nightmare that had been predicted for downtown Denver.

Now, the bad news: The hoped-for traffic nightmare isn't going to materialize because 50,000 fewer people will be heading for downtown Monday evening. There won't be a Game 5 of the World Series. The Red Sox swept the Rockies.

Bummer. But a great year for the Rockies nonetheless. They won the pennant in near-miraculous fashion, at one point just one strike from elimination. They can be proud of how far they came this year, and they're a young team.

The storybook ending will just have to wait. 

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Vols come back, Rockies don’t

Posted by Richard on October 28, 2007

I admit it — I gave up on the Rockies trailing 6-0 and switched to the Tennessee – South Carolina game. I'm glad I did. The Vols led 21-0 at halftime, but completely collapsed in the second half, giving up 24 unanswered points. Trailing by 3 with a minute and change to play, they sucked it up, got within field goal range (barely), and freshman kicker Dan Lincoln tied the game from 48 yards out. In overtime, they scored another field goal from 27, and then held the Gamecocks. The 40-yard field goal to tie was wide, and the Vols had a critical win to keep their conference hopes alive.

Back to the Rockies. It looked hopeful when they made it 6-5, but once again the pitching just wasn't up to the job. Seeing the hand writing on the wall, I started drinking heavily in the 8th. Rum and Fresca, my low-cal fave.

Sox win 10-5, take 3-0 lead. Details are in your morning paper. Bummer. Time for a nightcap. Or two. Buffalo Trace, a damn fine bourbon:

Light bronze in color with streaks of gold, Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey bears a complex aroma of vanilla, mint, and molasses. Its taste is pleasantly sweet and contains notes of brown sugar and spice that give way to oak and leather. The long and dry finish has significant depth. When enjoyed with water, flavors of toffee, dark fruit and anise are revealed.

How 'bout them Vols?

UPDATE: Line of the night, from a hometown fan at a local watering hole: "Even if they [Rockies] lose, we still get to live here, and they have to live in Boston." I'll drink to that. 

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Nothing beats SEC football

Posted by Richard on October 21, 2007

If you stayed with that lopsided ALCS game, you missed one hell of a football game on ESPN. There's nothing better than SEC football, as demonstrated again tonight by LSU and Auburn. The second half was tremendous, and LSU's final-second, come-from-behind victory? Well, you just had to see it to believe it.

.
.
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No, I don't want to talk about the Tennessee-Bama game. 

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Clean sweep!

Posted by Richard on October 7, 2007

The Rockies swept the Phillies! The Rockies swept the Phillies! The Rockies swept the Phillies!

Yeah, I'm a bit excited (and just a bit inebriated). Like I said the other day, I'm not a huge baseball fan. But I admire the hell out of this team and its achievements in the past month. Tonight's 2-1 win (the winning run came from 3 singles in the 8th after 2 outs) was the 17th in the last 18 games. Incredible. Look out, D-Backs, Rocktober rolls on!

It's been a great sports Saturday, IMHO. This afternoon, Tennessee shocked #12 Georgia 35-14 in a game not as close as the score would suggest. It looks like the Vols finally found a defense, and their running game looked great.

This evening, I kept flipping back and forth between the Rockies game and the LSU-Florida football game, which was a thriller. Florida's Tebow is something else, making the previously awesome LSU defense look merely mortal. But after trailing all game, LSU scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:09 remaining, and their defense held. We Tennessee fans appreciate the big favor, Tigers!

Sunday, we'll see if the Broncos can find a defense. And the ability to finish drives. Sigh.

UPDATE (Sunday): Defense sucked worse than ever, offense sucked as well, and I turned the slaughter off early. Zombyboy has the details and thoughtful analysis. 

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BDS worsens in Seattle

Posted by Richard on September 7, 2007

Bush Derangement Syndrome just keeps getting worse, with sufferers exhibiting increasingly disturbing symptoms. Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Jim Moore describes Seattle's King County as "deep, deep Democratic blue" (and a P-I columnist probably says that like it's a good thing). So it's no surprise that Seattle has more than its share of the BDS-afflicted. Apparently, quite a few of them are so far gone that the thought of a Seattle Seahawk supporting Bush and the Republicans is almost intolerable.

It seems that quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and fullback Mack Strong recently attended a fundraising dinner in Bellevue for Republican Rep. Dave Reichert, along with President Bush. They presented Bush with a Seahawks jersey that had his name and the number 43 on it. (UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has a picture.) Uh oh. Incensed liberals inundated the players and the team with hate-filled calls, emails, and text messages (emphasis added):

"I had no idea," Hasselbeck said.

One guy told him: "I hate you, I'll never wear your jersey, I'll never like the Seahawks again."

"Huh?" Hasselbeck thought. "Seriously?"

"Politics can be very mean and dirty," he said. "The things politicians say about each other, and what activists say, I had a brief glimpse of that for a couple of days.

"If I ever had any questions about whether I wanted to run for office, I now know the answer — I don't."

As a quarterback, he's used to getting booed. "But this was a whole new level," he said. "I was very surprised how mean (they were)."

As evidence were these responses to Angelo Bruscas' blog posting on seattlepi.com:

"How dare Hasselbeck declare Bush an honorary Seahawk," wrote one. "Who is Matt speaking for? Bush is no Seahawk. He is the worst president of my lifetime, and I'm almost 60. Shame on you, Matt."

"To learn that two of the most popular Seahawks are strong (Bush) supporters ruins the season for me and my family," wrote another.

This is pathological. There must be some sort of drug therapy that can let these people return to some semblance of a normal life. I mean, imagine what they go through day after day — wondering if the Channel 4 meteorologist is a Rethuglican and can't be trusted, worrying that their fast food lunch might have been prepared by a neocon, suspecting their bank branch manager of being a Cheney/Halliburton stooge. 

Rush handed out some tough love to these fans on today's show (that link will probably quit working in a few days):

You people need to get lives! For crying out loud, do you know how many NFL players I know that love Democrats? It hasn't destroyed my love for the game. You people are just nuts. You people on the left are lunatics. You are certifiably insane. You can't really be fans of the Seattle Seahawks if your fandom can be shaken and destroyed. What kind of emotional midgets are you? The new castrati, you don't have any business being football fans. You're not tough enough to be football fans. If you can't handle your quarterback liking a certain president without having to destroy your season, go see a shrink. Tell you what, you people need help. …

Emotional midgets. I like that. 

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Dog lovers’ delight

Posted by Richard on August 7, 2007

If you're a dog lover with a sense of humor, you may want to check out the Vick dog chew toy. For just $10.99 (plus $2 shipping and handling), you can give your dog hours of chewing satisfaction that also provide a way to "get even" with the Falcons' alleged animal abuser quarterback. Place your order now before the NFL or somebody shuts these guys down.

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Rooting for the Saints

Posted by Richard on January 20, 2007

Craig Ferguson’s monologue tonight was all about how he’s become a big NFL football fan. He said that this year, he’s rooting for the New Orleans Saints. How could you not root for the Saints, he opined, after all that city’s been through?

And besides, "Last year, they were 3 and 13. This year, they’re knocking on the door of the Super Bowl. It just shows goes to show how fast you can rebuild when FEMA’s not in charge." <rimshot />
 

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A bit more snow for Christmas

Posted by Richard on December 25, 2006

If you watched the Broncos squeak past the Bengals by the skin of their teeth (24-23, thanks to a bad snap on the potentially tying PAT), you saw the big fat flakes coming down, at times heavily. Yes, we got a little fresh snow today.

It looked more intense on TV than it really was — at least here at my house, where it amounted to less than half an inch.

Nonetheless, it cheered me to see it. For one thing, it just looked pretty and White-Christmasy. For another, it "freshened up" all the snow left from the blizzard, which had begun to take on that dingy, dirty "used snow" look. Now it’s all clean and spruced up for Christmas.

Speaking of which, I hope you all have a very merry one. If you’re not a Christian, do what I do and celebrate anyway! Any holiday on which people exchange gifts, eat, drink, and make merry deserves to be celebrated, don’t you think?

Images courtesy of CatStuff — all the cat graphics you need.
 

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World Heart Day

Posted by Richard on September 25, 2006

Today was World Heart Day, and I missed all the festivities. It’s intended to promote awareness of heart disease and its prevention. The World Heart Federation sponsors the annual world-wide event:

World Heart Day is run by the World Heart Federation’s member organizations in more than 100 countries. Activities on the day include health checks, walks, runs, jump rope, fitness sessions, public talks, stage shows, scientific forums, exhibitions, concerts and sports tournaments. Last year in Singapore for example, a World Heart Day heart fair attracted over 60,000 participants who took part in health screenings, aerobics classes, health quizzes, exhibits, school performances, nutritional counselling and food sampling. Similar events will be taking place this year asking participants: "How Young is Your Heart?"

The "How Young Is Your Heart?" theme encouraged people to think about how their lifestyle choices affect the effective "age" of their heart and their heart health. According to the World Health Federation, the three major risk factors — physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and tobacco use — account for 80% of heart disease and stroke.

Personally, I’m doing OK on two out of three. I’m still an ex-smoker (closing in on two years), and I’ve been walking pretty regularly. Diet — well, that could be better. But I take about 3 dozen nutritional supplements a day to counteract some of the harm from my diet — and from 40 years of smoking.

In honor of World Heart Day, today I ran a 10k, ate an arugula salad with fat-free dressing for dinner, and then worked out on the rowing machine.

Just kidding!

Actually, I cleaned out the garage, ate a pizza, and hit the recliner to watch the Broncos spank the Patriots. Again! We’ve got your number, Brady!
 

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