Football

And Also: Osama didn't change everything. He changed some things, but if we let him change everything, well insert trite saying here. Such is what I like to do -- some things you can hang on to, and when you hear anguished cries from reporters that a 100 floor tower collapsed, well, a bit of normalcy is a good thing. You fit in the changes, but some baseline stays the same. Overall, that is how 9/11 affected me. Others had some kind of conversion experience that warped their minds in some fashion. But, as with the neocons, I think something was there already. Everything didn't change, even if some things did. A hole, thousands dead, and political realities alone point to the truth of that. Anyway, I'm for a quiet remembrance.

Football season started on Thursday with a back-up QB and a late red flag. Today was the first Football Sunday. The primetime game was Manning Bowl. I came home right before halftime and got a look at a representative snapshot. Manning the Younger (Giants) drove to make the score 13-7, Colts. With less than two minutes to play, older brother drove them quickly for a field goal. Mention was made meanwhile that the Giants (Jersey/A or B? ... TMQ?) earlier missed a 40YD field goal and three potential picks. Toss in too many penalties, and you have the "coulda but didn't" five point loss.

The Jets had a better conclusion, but not much easier time of it. The Jets are due to win 6-8 games, and this was one of the ones they had to win. The Titans do not have a promising year ahead of them, though they have a QB of the future (the QB of the present is a lot more iffy). The Jets went up 16-0 and held there to the 4Q. They should have been ahead more. The field goal was a 19yd affair -- this is not ideal, since it means you missed a First and Goal shot by not much. Good thing it was made -- the guy missed an extra point and two 30ish field goals.

Thus, tossing in a score (two pt) and a fumble at the other team's goal line (score/two pt), the Jets had a finger biting 16-16 score, and then needed to hang on to a 23-16 lead by their fingernails at the end of the game. It ended on a drive starting at the Jets' 12 and ended with thirty or so seconds on a failed 4th Down play. The moral is that when you make repeated missteps, do it against subpar competition. Meanwhile, Seattle beat Detroit 9-6 (no, not baseball), Pats came back from 17 down with a safety for the win, and Chicago embarrassed Packers ... first shutout for BF. Really?

How this year promises to play out, maybe he should have retired.