Here is the Low Down for the final week of the regular
season and 2008 (with some other nonsense):

 

Congrats to FFP for having the balls to go all in and the
brains to hit it? biggest gain of the week and #1 spot after regular season.

 

And way to go, Contessa!!  I am so happy that you’re
in the playoffs!!

 

2008 was chock full o’ exciting news and events - gas
prices ranging from as high as $4.15 to as low as $1.35, the historic election
of a new prez, our introduction to Sarah Palin, a complete and total financial
meltdown with a side of housing crisis for good measure, hurricanes, bailouts,
the resurgence of the mustache as the facial hair must-have, Michael Phelps and
a walrus playing the saxophone. I hope that you all had a
wonderful year and are well positioned for an amazing 2009.

 

What a week! I don’t even know where to start. Well,
before we get to the NFL action, it was announced that Tom Brady is engaged to
Giselle Bunchen. So sad. On many levels. One, I really preferred Bridget
Moynahan. Also, I was holding out hope that one day I would be Mrs. Brady.
I guess I will have to cross him off the list. Romo was #2, but I’m really not
sure how much I love him right now. I guess that puts Big Papa in the #1 slot!!

 

16 Sunday Games. 10 1:00 Games - 6 of those games with
playoff implications, PLUS the implications of the Lions going 0 fer. (Way to
go Detroit!!)
We saw the Rams and the Raiders play some decent ball with nothing on the line.
We saw Matt Cassel kick a punt. And we saw both Carolina
and Minnesota
lining up for Game Winning FGs at the same time with :05 and :06 remaining.
Then Drew Brees almost break Marino’s record. In the late games, we had the
Fins who were 1-15 last season winning the AFC East title and the frickin
Eagles shellacking my beloved Boys. Humiliating. Followed by a good ol’
fashioned behind the shed beating of the Broncos in San Diego. Finally, Sunday was brought to a
close with the firing of 3 coaches.

 

I learned a lot about gambling this weekend. With 16
Sunday games, it was impossible not to get into a little action. I learned to
love (and then hate) the round robin parlay. You pick 3 games, in a parlay
sense, then the round robin comes into play. You basically end up with 3 2-team
parlays. Team A and Team B. Team B and Team C. Team A and Team C. Then there’s
the If bet and the Reverse Double If bet. It got a little confusing. I couldn’t
keep track of who I was cheering for and why. That may have been the gambling,
or it may have been the Jaeger. Hard to tell. Anyway, the best action of the
day came in the Giants game. We bet the Giants first half, getting 3. Vikes
were up 3-0, which would have been a push. But then Peterson broke the 67 yard
TD run making it 10-0. The Giants were surprisingly aggressive. There were some
starters that were benched, but Eli was still in and airing it to a high
degree. Of course, if Plaxie would have been in the game, it would have been a
little different. But Hixon has a hard time coming down with the ball the way
Plax did. Ward scored a TD that was nullified by a NYG penalty. The G Men had
to settle for a couple FGs. With 31 seconds remaining in the 2nd Quarter, the
score was 10-6. It looked all but lost for the first half bet. But then Minnesota went for it on
4th and 1 with a QB sneak and lost 4 yards. Giants got the ball on their own
43. 4 consecutive completions later and the Giants were lining up for a FG from
the Vikes 24. Nothing like a garbage FG to win some cash! Oh, and don’t worry?
we thought that Minnesota going to take control in the 2nd half when the Giants
benched their starters, so we bet the Vikes in the 2nd half and promptly lost
all of our 1st half winnings.

 

2 other notes on the Giants game? Fox spent a full 5
minutes talking about how Adrian Peterson is so great at holding onto the ball.
They even had flashy graphics to show. They called his grip "one of the
strongest in the league". 2 seconds later, he fumbles. I swear, they do
this on purpose. Speaking of the commentators, Brian Baldinger was one of the
announcers for the game. Every time they cut to him in the booth, he would make
every effort to accentuate his point by talking with his hands. Now, I talk
with my hands all the time. So I don’t necessarily have an issue with someone
who likes to illustrate a point using their hands. However, if your pinky
finger is super mangled and is perpendicular to your hand, perhaps you should
stick it in your pocket while you talk. It is distracting and disgusting and
just plain wrong.

 

I loved the Texan kicker, Kris Brown, recovering a
fumble! I am guessing that this was the first Sunday during the season that he
was not stuffed into the locker!

 

How about the Battle
of the Pirates - the Buccaneers and the Raiders? Should have been way more
swashbuckling and whatnot. The first quarter was a stink fest. Back to back to
back to back to back (and so on) punts with both teams averaging 2.5 yards per
play. And here’s the thing, it wasn’t necessarily that the defenses were
playing tough. The offenses were just a bunch of scallywags. Arrrrgh!! Someone
should have walked the plank. (if I had to vote for someone to go to Davey
Jones’ locker, it would be Monte Kiffin? TB Defense has always been strong and
tough? not so much lately? Bucs close the season losing 4 in a row)

 

We sat next to the most annoying guy during the early
games. He was one of those know-it-alls that has to just talk nonstop about the
most inane things. I was overjoyed when he paid his tab and left after the
Cowboy game started. I was afraid we were going to have to give him the ol’
Sleeper Hold, or perhaps stick a rusty screw in his eye.

 

Did you see the Jets miss the extra point after their
first TD? I thought, ‘oh no, there are play off implications here? you don’t
really want to miss any automatic points’. (I only say the automatic thing
because I have read so much lately that the extra point kicks are way too easy
these days?). Anyway, the Denver
game started much the same. Denver
scored a TD for the go ahead score in the first quarter and they missed the
extra point. I wrote ‘over’ in my handy little notebook at that point.

 

I hate the recent series of Lexus commercials (that they
play nonstop on Sundays) where the kids are recollecting their best Christmas
gift ever (big wheel, atari, pony, etc), only to have that gift trumped when
he/she grows up and gets a Lexus for Christmas. You really mean to tell me that
the guy who got a wicked awesome atari for Christmas when he was little is
somehow more pleased later in life when he is working 80 hours a week trying to
pay off his mortgage and losing more than half of his retirement this year and
is finally breathing a sigh of relief after paying off his Camry, when his
stupid wife, who has absolutely no idea how dire their financial situation
really is, goes out and puts $5000 down on a lease for a Lexus with a monthly
payment of $600 requiring him to pay a $500 registration fee and his insurance
goes up 25%?? I’m sure he is kicking his heels.

 

Speaking of commercials, I love the ESPN commercial for
the Fantasy Playoffs. It shows the teams who have had a disappointing year -
Romolicious, House of Cards, One Giant Step, Behind the Steel Curtain, Boston
TD Party. I just love the Romolicious girl, with her mascara streaked face.
Perfect! (that wasn’t too far from the reality I felt on Sunday)

 

I am so glad that it sounds like 7 is going to be ok. I
was so worried when I saw the stretcher. I didn’t breathe until I saw him give
the thumbs up. That was scary. It was sad that it happened during such a
meaningless game, but I really admire when coaches play their starters down the
stretch. At least for the first half. Hope he mends well during the bye week.

 

I still enjoyed the meaningless games. I mean, with the
Manning boys not really playing for anything, Archie could finally spend the
day with Cooper. That really warmed my heart.

 

Did you know that there are 2 NFL teams with marching
bands? Washington and Baltimore. Love the Aflac Trivia questions!!

 

I have to run now? I’m working on my resume; I’m applying
for the Cleveland
job. Wish me luck.

 

Just kidding… I’m actually heading to Dallas to go to the Cotton Bowl on
Friday.  Texas
Tech versus Ol’ Miss.  It’s the last Cotton Bowl ever.  Go Red Raiders!!!

 

This email is dedicated to the memory of our friend and
fellow point pooler, Jim Neary. Jim passed away this weekend. He was a ML
employee and in the PP for years as a member of Team 4, Grumpy Old Men and most
recently Team 2. Big Papa says that Jim was one of the nicest guys he has ever
met. He will be missed.

 

I hope everyone remembers to laugh and love more than you
thought was possible today and every day.

 

And remember that throughout the New Year!

 

Happy ‘09 Everyone.

 

Cheers!

~Juicy

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 8:02 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.