The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

Live Blog 101

4:31PM The restraints of modern technology will make the decision for me - the laptop battery is about to die, meaning I will have to sit inside for most of the first half of the upcoming game to let it recharge. Also, I'm going to start a new post for the first half of the Pats/Chargers game, just to re-organize my thoughts (even though I seriously doubt it will help.)

4:28PM I've got a serious decision to make here. I can either suffer through the CBS announcers (likely to involve some conbination of Dick Enberg and/or Randy Cross) or I can pop in the iPod, but not be able to make snide comments on the terrible announcing. Tough call. Of course, I could just turn off the TV and go listen to the game in the rental car. I don't think the Wi-Fi access would reach to he parking lot though...

4:24PM Holy Crap! I just terrified myself. I flipped the TV to over to CBS-4 for the Patriots game, and I was greeted by... figure skating? What the Hell? Then I suddenly remembered I was in Orlando (the weather, birds, live grass and all should have told me...) and the stations are, surprisingly, not the same as they are in Boston. How about that?

4:21PM Robbie Gould... hero? Or the next Bartman in Chicago? Snap, kick... Hero. Nice.

4:19PM Third and ten, and the Seahawks choose to let a reciever run free up the slot for about twenty yards. Hmm. Curious decision. Personally, if I was their defensive coordinator, I might have told one of my players to cover Rashean Davis. Maybe it's just me.

4:17PM Watching the Seahawks line up to punt, I just keep thinking to myself "I'll take Devin Hester for the win..." I'm such a loser. Luckily for Seattle fans, the punter Plackemeyer is smart enough to not put the ball anywhere within 30 yards of Hester.

4:14PM It's funny... do you think FOX keeps that "We want the ball and we're gonna score!" tape cued up for all Seahawks' playoff games, just in case they make it to overtime again? I mean, they had that ready awful fast. I'd like to see the Bears' run end here, just because if the stars align and the Patriots & Bears made it to the Super Bowl, twenty years after their last playoff meeting, I'd be subjected to two straight weeks of Super Bowl Shuffle highlight films. Of course, it could lead to a resurgence of Refrigerator Perry sightings, so maybe there would be a silver lining...

4:08 PM Overtime. Great. I always wondered what would happen if a playoff game were decided by a coin flip. (Yes, I remember the Packers/Seahawks debacle. Oh, but in case I didn't, FOX just provided me with a handy-dandy reminder. By the way - I had bet on the Seahawks that day. I was not pleased. Funny that the Seahawks didn't even allow Hasselbeck near this toss today...)

4:02PM Nobody wants this game. Chicago goes three-and-out, then decides to punt the ball into the end zone and give Seattle 1:40 and three timeouts to drive fifty yards. Remember, the Seahawks have Josh Brown - a game winner from 50 is well within his range.

3:58PM Seattle just basically gave the game away. They went for it on 4th and 1 from the Chicago 46-ish yard line. Hasslebeck blew the snap, couldn't get a clean handoff to Shaun Alexander, and the play lost three yards. Chicago only needs about 30-35 yards here to get the winning field goal. Amazing.

3:45PM There's two things I should probably mention immediately. First, I'm sitting in a lounge chair inside a screened in porch at the condo that my company rented for the conference. It's about 74 degrees with a little breeze and almost no humidity - basically, it's perfect. So if I suddently don't post anything for an hour or so, assume I fell asleep. Or I'm at the airport. Second, I made the mistake of not checking the lounge chair before sitting down... it rained this morning. The chair had quite a little puddle in it. And I am far too stubborn to let something as small as some water and a wet ass deter me from sitting perfectly still, watching football and typing. And as I finish this little rant, Joe Buck just manage to work in the most blatant promo I think FOX has ever run... "And we're back here in Chicago, it's 24 to 24, and the season premiere of '24' is tonight on FOX...". If I didn't need to hear the phone ring, I'd already have my headphones on.

3:40PM Devin Hester is an absolute beast. It's too bad that play got called back on a penalty - that's the type of thing that can absolutely turn the entire game around. Especially with only 10 minutes to go in such a close game. By the way - the whole "Live Blogging" idea looks like it just got completely shot to shit - I have to drive to the airport to pick up one of my co-workers sometime around 6:30 or 6:45. You know, pretty much during the 4th quarter of the Pats' game... Figures.

3:30PM Hmmm... interceptions on back to back plays. See, this is why I can't get too excited
about any of the teams left in the NFC - I just don't trust any of their quarterbacks at all. Although, I am looking forward to at least one more game of Rex Grossman just saying "Fuck it - I'm going long!" at least once or twice, kind of like he just did to end the Bears' last possession with another three-and-out.

3:15PM I'm going to try my hand at Live Blogging today folks. I know what you're thinking - "Dear God - head for the hurricane shelter! Stock up on bottled water and bread!" But don't worry. I expect this to be no less of a disaster than that time I tried to bike to work in the morning but forgot I worked 37 miles from my house. (That's much funnier if this was television and I could insert a Family Guy-style flashback right here...)

That analogy makes more sense if you know the whole story. Needless to say, that day qualified as a disaster.

By the way - I'm only running the Live Blog on the Blogger/BlogSpot site. So if you're reading the Xanga site, you're reading the finished version. Not that it's going to be any different from the Live version - I have no intention of clearing up spelling errors or grammatical inconsistencies. Just saying, is all...

I'll be back with some nonsensical ramblings about Florida and the things I hate most about travel, and maybe I'll even talk about football before the Patriots game starts.

Lata.

posted by Big D @ 3:21 PM