Scattered Thoughts

I apologize for the video quality, but what can you expect going from VHS to YouTube?

Video Removed… /sadface

Enjoy!

Posted for Jimi

<rant>
Who cares? Seriously.

Yea, they're both black, first time ever, they made history…

…but that's not what got these coaches here. Great coaching, character, class… that's what got them to the Super Bowl, not the color of their skin.

I'm so sick of sportscasters wasting (air) time talking about the color of Dungy's and Smith's skin — how about we talk about their records? Their careers? Their character?

At least I'm not the only one who thinks so.

I forgot my name tag for work today so I had to go back to the apartment to get it. It took me (no kidding) a 40 minutes to get across town and back. It would have normally taken me about 15 to twenty minutes. I was stuck behind EVERY IDIOT in Bloomington (not surprising because there are a lot of them).

I wish I had a freakin' air horn in my truck…
</rant>

The games have been played, the teams are set. Here's my take on Super Bowl XLI…

First, congratulations to the Bears and the Colts. These teams were picked at the beginning of the season to make it to the Super Bowl, they were undefeated the longest, both had hard, rough snaps, and both overcame obstacles to get to the Super Bowl.

Let's just say that the "Peyton Manning deserves a Super Bowl" and "The New Orleans Saints are America's Team" talk will stop and I'm glad. I think the game will be better for it, anyway. After watching the two games and the talk after each, I have a few things on my mind.

First of all…

Bear Down, Chicago Bears.
Make every play clear the way to victory!
Bear Down, Chicago Bears.
Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly!

We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation,
With your T formation.

Bear Down, Chicago Bears.
And let them know why you're wearing the crown.

You're the pride and joy,
of all Illinois.

Chicago Bears, Bear Down!

Go Bears!

Yes, you should know already, I'm a Bears fan — have been forever. I had a Chicago Bears stocking cap that I wish I could find… It's been lost since elementary school. Being a true Bears fan is like being a true Colts fan. Both teams have won one Super Bowl (1970 for the Colts, 1985 for the Bears) but haven't been all that great of teams since their Super Bowl appearance. To be a true fan of these teams, you have seen hard times, a few losing seasons, playoff disappointments and the like. I remember a few Colts seasons where games weren't aired on TV because they couldn't sell their quota of tickets and even the team talking about leaving the city because they weren't selling tickets.

Both teams have been through rough times, but that's where the comparisons stop.

Last night during the first Colts drive of the Colts game, a New England player became injured — sprained/strained ankle — but returned to play during the next New England drive. The reason I bring this up is at that moment, my disdain for most was verified. As the Patriot was helped off the field, the stadium was filled with boos. Classy, Colts fans, classy… I would like to think that if a Saints player was injured, that the Bears fans in Soldier Field wouldn't boo him as he's helped off the field, in fact, I know that wouldn't happen.

Now you may be thinking "Oh boy, he hates the Colts" and that's not the case. In reality, I just hate most Colts fans. I love watching Peyton Manning play, and I'm excited to see Peyton Manning vs. Brian Urlacher — for you Colts fans, Brian Urlacher does to Defense what Peyton Manning does to Offense. I'm excited to see one of the top defenses in the league take on one of the top offenses. I would say "best" in each category, but those statements wouldn't be accurate. Neither team has "the best" of anything (yea, I said it). Well, the Bears may have the best sports town in the country in Chicago — at least one Chicago team has been championship quality since the 1920s, but that's for another entry.

The reason I hate Colts fans so much is quite simple. Most people who claim to be Colts fans would be the same people wearing Raiders or Buccaneers or Cowboys regalia just a few years ago, i.e. pre-Peyton. Most of them are bandwagon fans. Normally that wouldn't anger me, but in this case it does. Maybe it's something in the water in this state, but every bandwagon Colts fan always wants to talk football. I say talk because it usually consists of "Your team sucks, the Colts rule and you're wrong, so shut up." I'd be surprised if they even understood the mechanics of the game. I'm sure they know what downs are, and what you need to do to get a first down, but do they know what a safety is? How about clipping? Illegal shifts?

Yea, probably not. I almost added intentional grounding to that list, but I'm sure Colts fans know that call all too well, especially those who were fans during Peyton's early days.

Now, about the Super Bowl. I'm not making a prediction; I don't really care who wins. All I'm going to say is that the game will be decided by who has a greater desire to win. Whether that's the Bears or the Colts, I don't care. I just want the game to be fun to watch, and I'm sure it will be. I mean, c'mon look at the matchups — Peyton Manning's versatile scoring offense between a defense who has caused more turnovers and scored more than anyone all season, Rex Grossman with the most 100+ QB rating games in the NFL (and the most sub 50 ratings) against a defense that can't decide whether they want to stop the run or not. No matter how you look at it, the teams are quite matched for each other. Both teams have a lot of momentum coming into the game, and both teams have been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde all season. It'll be interesting to see who shows up.

Ok, this is a long post, and I still didn't get everything out that I wanted to, so for a one sentence summary:

It's not the Colts I have a problem with, it's their fans and the Bears are awesome because who else has a fight song that is sung by their fans after every score and I'm excited to see how the matchups play out in the Super Bowl and if you want to talk to me about the Super Bowl matchups, you better understand football and not be a jerk about it.

I said one sentence, I never said its grammar would be correct.

That's all for now.

Evolution honors you all!

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown
Song of the Day — Jack and Diane — John Mellencamp
Quote of the Day — "Chicago Bears, Bear Down!"
Hero of the Day — Da Bears
Current Mood — — Excited

Until the next post…

So Apple released their iPhone yesterday at MacWorld.

First of all, you should click on the link and check out what the device can do; it can do some amazing things. It has one button and a huge 3.5″ multi-touch screen in which the software on the phone (full version of OS X apparently) completely replaces the hardware of a standard mobile phone. It's an iPod, phone, camera and internet navigator all in one. You can listen to your tunes, set your tunes as ringtones, take photos, set your photos as wallpaper, navigate the internet and send and recieve email all on one device.

But it's a smartphone, why do you want one?
You all might or might not know that I am against owning a smartphone. Why is that? Well, current smartphones are horrible. They're hard to use and frankly I don't want to mess with that when most of what I am going to do with a phone is place phone calls. It irritates me that I have to have a camera on my phone because that's the only way they come.

Why do I want one?
With the iPhone being a smartphone that does all the things I do not want my phone to do, why do I want to own one? Well, the main reason is simple.

Usability.

The user interface is amazing and I don't have to use my thumbs, thumbsticks, scroll wheels or any other hard-to-use-when-small means to navigate the software. It's usable and that's what's missing in standard smartphones.

I also want to own one because of the high technology included in the very small and sleek box and it's built on my favorite operating system, OS X.

Sadly the phone isn't released until June, which means I have to wait until then to get one, but the good news is that it's only going to be available to Cingular — my phone service provider. So come June, I will have saved up enough dough to purchase one of these devices the day they're launched.

That's really all I wanted to write about today.

Evolution honors you all!

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown
Song of the Day — Lovely Rita — The Beatles
Quote of the Day — This
Hero of the Day — Erin for making me lunch
Current Mood — — Hungry

Until the next post…