The Steussy Ranch

Football Season is over. Eight months until the excitement returns. The strategies. The new players. The old players. Victories. Defeats. Eight months before I can once again read Peter King’s extensive and excellent Monday Morning Quarterback column, wherein he masks his problem with stimulants by discussing his love of coffee each and every week.

The best of 2009 were the following:

— The whole Brett Favre saga. How a 40 year old man who already holds most of the all-time NFL records for quarterback turns in his best performance ever. And then to see him targeted, beaten up on a New Orleans playing field, getting up to play another round. Losing. Heartbreaking.

— New England vs. the Colts, Round One. Belichick goes for it on 4 and 2, from his own 30 yard line. Doesn’t make it. Colts beat New England. They do so again in Round Two, without any drama this time.

— The Jets and the Bengals. Teams that hadn’t won since I started watching football. Heck, the Jets had to look all the way back to Joe Namath to find a winning season. And they played really well.

— New Orleans. Yes, they beat the Colts. But they didn’t do it by beating down Manning, as they had Favre. They did it intelligently, making good calls and creative moves. Something that the Colts lacked. And you have to love the fact that, after hosting all of those Superbowls, they actually won one of their own. Hats off to the Saints.

— The Colts. My team. Yes, I wanted a perfect season. Failing that, I wanted a Superbowl victory. But, we got a Superbowl trip. The defense is stronger than in years past (with nods to the evident failures last night). Manning has been in fine form with a series of rookie receivers. Next year. Next year, maybe. Next year.

— Please, no more 65 year old rockers singing in the Superbowl from a group which has lost half of its members to drug overdoses over the decades. It makes me feel older than I am. “Teenage Wasteland”. Bah.

Next year, I promise not to watch all three games on Sundays. It’s just too much. Choose one morning game to watch closely on Tivo delay, leave the TV on during the second one while doing other things around the house, and watch the usually superior evening game as Gabi nods off next to me.

Time to occupy my Sundays with better things to do. Raising four kids. Big and strong and tall and smart. That’s the goal.

Depressing.

The Colts beat the New York Jets, and are off to the Superbowl!

I’ll admit to some personal conflicts on this victory. By default, I had the Jets in the family pool (the only team not chosen by anyone, so they fell to me). They did pretty well, considering!

Don’t mind Veronica. She normally naps while watching football with Dad.

Only three games left to go. Still alive are Minnesota (Cally), New Orleans (Dad), Indianapolis (Mom) and the New York Jets (me).

We’ve only had two good games during the post-season: Green Bay vs. Arizona and Jets vs. San Diego. The others have been blowouts. Next week’s games should be better.

Whatever the outcome of the Jets-Indianapolis game, I’ll be happy. If the Jets win, I have a pool team in the Superbowl. If Indy wins, I have them in the Superbowl. Win-win. Personally, I want to see Favre and Manning in the Superbowl, but that’s just me.

It’s a big weekend in football. First, the Arizona Cardinals (Gabi) fly to New Orleans to meet the Saints (Dad). Will father of seven children, geezer quarterback extraordinaire Kurt Warner have the same amazing day he had last week (33 passes, with more touchdowns than incompletions). Wow.

Next comes the Baltimore Ravens (Andy) vs. the Indianapolis Colts (Mom). Go Mom! Go Colts!

Sunday finds us with Dallas (Gabi) vs. Minnesota (Cally). Again, one of our favorite geezer quarterbacks is there, Brett Favre. But Dallas has been hot through December, so it will be a fight. Go Dallas!

Sunday afternoon will find us with the Jets (Ed) visiting San Diego (Rich). It’s not often you see a rookie quarterback this deep into the playoffs, but the Jets’ Mark Sanchez has held up very well so far. Let’s see if he can go further.

On one other note, the Wall Street Journal ran a numbers article on professional football. There are only eleven minutes of actual playing time in each game. On average, the networks spend 50% of their non-commercial time showing people just standing around. Only a very, very short time is spent on cheerleaders. Clearly something is wrong here. Article can be found at this link.

It’s shaping up as a Temecula (Gabi and me) vs. Lake Zurich (Andy and Ashley) weekend. Each of us has opposing teams in each of the four games this weekend. So far, Temecula is on top, 2-0, with wins from the Jets and Dallas.

Today, it’s Baltimore (Lake Zurich) vs. New England (Temecula) and Green Bay (Lake Zurich) vs. Arizona (Temecula). May the best man/woman/team/city/couple win!

UPDATES: Temecula has three teams alive next week (Jets, Cowboys, Cardinals) vs. Lake Zurich’s Baltimore. Of course, the main contention will be the four bye teams: Indianapolis, New Orleans, Minnesota and San Diego.

Mom – Indianapolis
Rich – San Diego
Cally – Minnesota
Dad – New Orleans
Ed – New England, NY Jets
Gabi – Dallas, Arizona
Andy – Philadelphia, Baltimore
Ashley – Green Bay, Cincinnati