Super Bowl LIX Reaction

 

There’s not much of a reaction to be had…

The Chiefs simply just didn’t show up! They thought they were going to turn it on at the end and the Eagles would just roll over, allowing them to coast to victory. It’s how they’ve been playing for the last 2 or 3 years.

Super Bowl LVIII Reaction

Even though this year was a bit rocky, I feel like we backed into the matchup of the 2 best teams in the league this year.

I feel like the NFC is the weaker conference with San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Dallas being the front runners easily in that exact order.

The AFC is a stronger conference because everybody’s got a Quarterback.

The Chiefs as the defending champions should’ve been a lot stronger during the season, but coasted their way through the season. But they ultimately ended up where they should have been, and with the outcome most expected them to have, as being Super Bowl champions back-to-back.

They just had way too many distractions. Taylor Swift, Wide Receiver issues, penalties and/or injuries by the Offensive Tackles. We should have beat teams by 50, but we still won the biggest game of the year. So, as Brett Veach said at the rally, if this is what an off year looks like then I’ll take it.

For the 1^st three quarters of the game, we basically played like we have all year. Pacheco runs the ball, we rely on our strong defense, while Butker is the only player that scores for most of the 2^nd half, and Tommy Townsend our Punter helps us play field position.

I knew it was going to be back and forth all game when both of the star Running Backs for each team fumbled the ball which neither do very often. And then the 49ers busted out trick plays like a throwback pass to Christian McCaffrey for the only touchdown of the 1^st half.

Freak occurrences started to happen. Greenlaw tears his ACL hopping up and down on the sidelines and then running onto the field before the trick pass!? The muffed punt by the Niners that really turned the game in the Chiefs favor in the 2^nd half. The touchdown pass, right afterwards. The Chiefs offense looked like the highflying offense we are used to for a moment, but they still couldn’t punch it in for touchdowns on a regular basis until overtime. The Niners kept sacking Mahomes, we took the points with Butker, and Mooney matched Butker field goal for field goal for a little while. Mahomes picked up a few key 1^st downs with his legs, even though he’s not the fastest guy. 

And then, like MeCole Hardman, we ALL blacked out from excitement after the game-winning touchdown. The same MeCole Hardman, who did absolutely nothing during his 1^st go around with the Chiefs, and was shipped to the Jets, comes back and becomes a Super Bowl hero.

Super Bowl LVII Reaction

My initial reaction after watching the Eagles/Chiefs Super Bowl was… That game was back and forth. It was 1 of the more memorable and exciting Super Bowls in recent memory.

Some Super Bowls you know are going to be snoozers because it’s obvious who the dominant team was all year. The other team is the Cinderella story that no one saw coming. They’re just happy to be there.

Other Super Bowls, you do get the true 2 best teams in the league all year who battle it out for 3 hours. That was this year for sure.

I know this is going to sound blasphemous for a minute, but I felt like Jalen Hurts actually outplayed Patrick Mahomes in the 1^st half. I felt like the defense kept the Chiefs in the game. For example, Nick Bolton’s fumble return on the Quarterback Draw in the 1^st half.

And speaking of the Quarterback running, how many times did Jalen Hurts Quarterback Sneak? I lost count after about the 6^th or 7^th time.

Our newly built Offensive Line held up pretty well against the Eagles Defensive Line, who is considered the best in the NFL. Which they did not do against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a few years ago.

Much like any other Kansas Citian, I held my breath when Patrick Mahomes was crawling around on his hands and knees like I do at home, after being tackled around his bad ankle. Luckily, Super Bowl halftime’s double what it is in the normal regular-season (15 minutes most games, and 30 minutes during the Super Bowl). So, it gave him time to do whatever he needed to do to heal up.

I felt like the Chiefs offense got it together more in the 2^nd half. The defense was able to hold them to field goals in the 2^nd half also. That helps. Against high-powered offenses, like the Chiefs you can’t settle for field goals, and can’t punt the football. That’s why the Chiefs nor Eagles really punted the football, or kicked a lot of field goals. The flow of the game was geared toward whoever has the ball last will probably score, and win.

Finally, Harrison Butker hasn’t been his clutch self this year. He’s still good, but has his moments. He clanked one off the goal post. But drilled it at the end when it mattered most for the win.

Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers Uniforms

So with last night’s Monday Night Football game in Los Angeles at Sofi Stadium being in a lightning delay (which is the only way a football game is ever delayed for those that don’t know), even though they were in a dome, which defeats the purpose when the sides are open. It really got me to thinking.

1. They’re in a dome which protects them from the elements, so that they can play the game no matter the weather. So why make the sides open like an outdoor stadium with no roof? It defeats the purpose right? The commentators were out on the field, the fans were told to shelter in place, but the players and coaches making thousands and millions of dollars are allowed to go back to the locker room for their safety. So if you’re making the big bucks, apparently you’re allowed to take cover right!? Everybody else is seen as expendable as far as I can tell. LOL.

2. Any sports, and especially football fan knows that the classic nineteen sixties powder blue and white Chargers uniforms are considered the best in football from an artistic standpoint. I always said that the Chargers should make a modern version of those sixties uniforms, and just continually wear those. And sure enough, all it took was for them to move back to Los Angeles in 2016 for them to permanently change their uniforms into a modern version of those classic powder blues that I mentioned before. They were the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960 which is the year they were founded. But starting in 1961 and continuing until 2015 they were the San Diego Chargers, with a darker navy blue, gold, and white color scheme, starting in the seventies.

I totally feel like they ripped off my idea, but I digress.

I also feel it important to make it clear that I’ve always felt that the Chargers should’ve stayed in San Diego, because that’s where they've been for most of their history, except for 1960 and 2016 to the present. I feel the same about the Rams, who share a stadium with the Chargers now. They were in Cleveland from 1937 to ‘45, and then LA from 1946 to ’94. ‘95 to 2015 they were in St. Louis. I feel like they should’ve always been the Los Angeles Rams. Even the great Eric Dickerson has backed me up on this. As far as the Raiders go, I’ve always felt they should’ve stayed in Oakland because from 1960 to '81, they were in Oakland. Next, they moved to LA from ‘82 to ‘94. Then back to Oakland from ‘95 to 2019. Now, they’ve moved to Vegas as of 2020. 2021 is the 1st year fans were allowed in the new stadium since COVID.

The Olympic Games

So being that the 2020 AD (CE) summer Olympic Games are actually taking place this summer of 2021 AD (CE) because of COVID. I felt it important to drop some Olympic knowledge on everyone being I’m such the sports fan and history whiz.

Our modern Western societies on the continents of Europe, North America, and South America are derived from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Carthage, and ancient Rome.

Out of all of these there is none more revered than ancient Greece. Every city functioned like its own nation. There wasn’t a unified Greece. Every city state had its own laws, culture, and unique way of doing things. While there were many city states (at least 1,000), Athens, Sparta, and Macedonia were the 3 most important. Sparta created the foundations of Western military culture. They literally ate, slept, and breathed martial arts, military strategy, and unadulterated ass kicking 24/7. Every day of the year. Their laws would not permit them to do anything else once so ever. Athens had an army just like Sparta did, except Athens was way more of a naval power. Spartan society thought fighting on land was more manly than the sea. But the main thing that separated Sparta, and Athens was the fact that Athenians had way more freedom than Spartans. So therefore, Athens is the birthplace of democracy, philosophy, science, etc.. All the great teachers of the ancient world were from a city within Greece, and/or traveled to Athens.

Now the only time that the various cities would not quarrel amongst themselves was when they traveled to the city of Olympia, which is named after the Olympian ancient Greek gods that reside on Mount Olympus. Why did they travel to Olympia every 4 years between 776 BC (BCE) and 393 AD (CE)? To help those non-historical people, we are in 2021 AD (CE). The original ancient Greek Olympics.

The ancient Greek Olympics were very different from our modern Olympics. All the events were open to any male of any social class over 5 days. Women could not compete, but the loophole was any rider who won a chariot race was not awarded victory, but the owner of the chariot was. And women could own a stable of horse chariots in ancient Greece. They competed naked. False start in a track and field race caused the men to be subject to capital punishment. These 2 are my own personal favorites being a martial arts historian. The Spartans were not allowed to compete in the Pankration events because they had no impulse control. They were brought up in a strictly kill, or be killed world. Pankration is the unarmed mixed martial art of the ancient Greek city states. It’s a combination of Boxing, and Freestyle Wrestling. My other favorite fact is that when the ancient Persians invaded Greece in 480 BC (BCE), the Olympics were so revered by the Greeks that they could not form the closest thing to a coalition to protect their land because all the soldiers were preparing for the Olympics. That’s the classic example everybody thinks of when discussing the history of the Olympics. And finally, there were no point systems, or medals. The victor of each event received an olive wreath.

The modern Olympics the way we think of them did not begin until 1896 AD (CE). The summer takes place every 4 years, while winter is every 2 years. They still continue to try to be a vehicle to bring peace amongst the sociopolitical squabbles of all 196 to 250 unified nations on this Earth, depending on your definition of a country. And before I forget, let me end with this important tidbit for everybody to take under consideration… From 1896 AD (CE) to the 1970s AD (CE) only amateur athletes could compete. It wasn’t until the 1980s AD (CE) that professional athletes began to compete.

In this day and age of technology, where you can program which events you want to watch, instead of having to watch whatever is live.

Here’s what I’ll be watching over the next 17 days:

Archery
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Fencing
Judo
Karate
Modern Pentathlon
Shooting
Soccer
Tae Kwon Do
Track and Field
Wrestling

The only Winter Olympic sport I watch:

Ice Hockey

Super Bowl LV Reaction

I’m just floored how much we came out flat, and basically forgot how to play football apparently.

In all seriousness though. The story of this game was injuries. Especially to our Offensive Line. Patrick Mahomes ran the equivalent of 400 yards sideways, and backwards. He had no time to throw. We need to replace them ALL as soon as possible.

With the 1^st moves in the off-season being on the Offensive Line. You should then focus on replacing our Linebackers. They were atrocious. That’s why we played Nickel and Dime defense a majority of the time all season.

Don’t get me wrong. We had a great season! But it amazes me that we got this far with glaring weaknesses, due to injuries, COVID, opt outs, and lack of depth.

I have a hard time believing that the Chiefs played great all season, and didn’t think they were going to lay an egg in the most important game of the year. We lit up everybody, but you can only be lucky for so long.

Kudos to the Buccaneers. Their defense stopped our offense. This is why I tell everybody, yeah it looks fun to score 50 points a game, but if you can’t stop anybody, it won’t matter. Defense wins championships. Offense just tells you by how much.

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!

Christmas decorations up, chocolate covered pretzels, and Russian tea cakes bought and/or made, and eaten. Presents under the tree, Christmas cards sent, and Christmas specials watched. Now listening to my Heavy Metal Xmas... And Headbanging New Year CD. Some people like to listen to Mariah Carrey sing Christmas carols. I prefer Lemmy Kilmister, Ronnie James Dio, and Tim "Ripper" Owens. I don't listen to metal cause I'm mean and angry fine people. It's cause it rocks, hard! haha. 

 

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays everybody. PS. Christmas sweater pic...PULLING...IT...OFF! LOL.

2020 Sports and COVID?

So as a sports fan, with the way 2020’s going on, I have to ask myself a few questions.

1) If COVID is as bad as everyone says it is, then why are they playing games in the 1st place, if you care so much about player safety?

2) Since football coaching is 1 of my many possible “careers”, and I know a who’s who of KC North Metro coaches whose high school seasons have been canceled. As well as having every college conference start at different times within the duration of the season, how can you gauge a true national champion in college when teams aren’t even playing the same amount of games?

3) These are all honest questions that I’ve asked myself over the year. I knew I wasn’t being a hypochondriac about COVID when a high school buddy of mine who is a coach for a Major League Baseball franchise contracted it. I myself had an unofficial meeting with an NFL franchise axed because of it, so something is definitely going on.

Sports Stadium Music

So as many of you know, 1 of my aspirations is to be an NFL defensive coordinator. Those of you who know me, also know that I prefer hard rock, punk rock, and heavy metal music, and that it is very much my own thing. So in this age of the Covid pandemic, and no fans in stadiums. The teams are using hard rock, punk rock, and heavy metal songs to make it difficult for the road team’s offense to hear. Which allows the home team defense to feed off the energy, that they would otherwise get from a full stadium crowd. Not only could I hear the foreign-language code words that made up each play call, but I could hear each song through the public address announcer speakers. It made me giggle because people use to go “oh I can’t believe you like that.” And make the occasional snide comment. But yet sports stadiums across the country use it to pump up their athletes, when it’s much more acceptable to be a fan of rap, country and pop these days. After each play call, I started to pick up on which play was going to be ran by both teams, and then I recognized the 30 second snippets of songs being used in the stadium that I grew up listening to. Pantera, good Metallica, Anthrax, Alice in Chains, Danzig etc. so it cracks me up hysterically!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everybody. Even though I don’t walk around a lot and have to do things from home like people have been doing for a while now, instead of writing 87,000 messages because I’m highly sociable. I just simply wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving, especially with these awkward circumstances. :-)

Happy Election Day!

I thought this pic was perfect for today!...It's always important to make your voice heard America! 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everybody!

 For those of you trick-or-treating still, please stay safe. In this day and age of Covid, a lot of neighborhoods aren’t trick-or-treating. So whatever you’re doing to celebrate the holiday this year, please enjoy yourselves, and come back in one piece. :)

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day! May you be rested from your constant struggles. Whether that’s work, or just the daily toils of life.

What you have to do is make the best of the situation, and find some joy in whatever you’re doing to make it seem less burdensome, and make the time go by easier, while being stress-free, and less life sucking!

2020 Projected NFL Standings, Playoff Results, and Super Bowl Matchup

Here’s my 2020 projected NFL standings, playoff results, and Super Bowl matchup, as well as the winner in my opinion.

 

NFL Standings

AFC East:
New England Patriots
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
New York Jets
 
AFC North:
Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals
 
AFC South:
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Tennessee Titans
Jacksonville Jaguars
 
AFC West:
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Denver Broncos
Las Vegas Raiders
 
NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Football Team
New York Giants
 
NFC North:
Green Bay Packers
Chicago Bears (Nick Foles should be the starting QB)
Minnesota Vikings
Detroit Lions
 
NFC South:
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers
Atlanta Falcons
 
NFC West:
San Francisco 49ers
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
Arizona Cardinals

 

NFL Playoffs

AFC Playoff Picture:
1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Baltimore Ravens
3. New England Patriots
4. Houston Texans
5. Buffalo Bills
6. Pittsburgh Steelers
7. Indianapolis Colts
 
NFC Playoff Picture:
1. New Orleans Saints
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
6. Los Angeles Rams
7. Seattle Seahawks
 
AFC Wildcard Playoffs:
2. Baltimore Ravens defeat 7. Indianapolis Colts
3. New England Patriots defeat 6. Pittsburgh Steelers
5. Buffalo Bills defeat 4. Houston Texans
 
AFC Divisional Playoffs:
3. New England Patriots defeat 2. Baltimore Ravens
1. Kansas City Chiefs defeat 5. Buffalo Bills
 
AFC Championship Playoff:
1. Kansas City Chiefs defeat 3. New England Patriots
 
NFC Wildcard Playoffs:
2. San Francisco 49ers defeat 7. Seattle Seahawks
3. Green Bay Packers defeat 6. Los Angeles Rams
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat 4. Dallas Cowboys
 
NFC Divisional Playoffs:
1. New Orleans Saints defeat 5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2. San Francisco 49ers defeat 3. Green Bay Packers
 
NFC Championship Playoff:
1. New Orleans Saints defeat 2. San Francisco 49ers
 

Super Bowl

Kansas City Chiefs defeat New Orleans Saints
 
*1^st off, I realize this is the 3^rd year in a row I picked a Chiefs/Saints Super Bowl. But much like the elusive San Francisco 49ers/Buffalo Bills Super Bowl that never materialized in the nineties, these are the 2 best teams on paper, but then they start playing games, and other teams wither away, or show themselves to be better than projected by year’s end.
 
*Again on paper the Saints look like the obvious representative of the NFC. But will they be able to maintain their usual production, or have they started to decline, and show their deficiencies due to the last couple of fluky and miraculous collapses of the previous few years?

*Being that the 49ers lost last year’s Super Bowl, will they be able to repeat their success, or like most teams that lose the Super Bowl the previous year, will San Francisco have a drastic fall off and find it too difficult to return to the Super Bowl?

*In New England, now that the Brady/Belichick era is over, does that mean that the Patriots dynasty is over? The New England Patriots as of 2001 are considered 1 of the most successful teams of all time, but much like the 49ers dynasty of the eighties and nineties, is this the end of their winning ways? When will the dynasty collapse? I’m not implying that Cam Newton isn’t talented. His skill set just is totally different from Tom Brady. McDaniels and Belichick preferred style is a pocket passer. However, if anyone can get Cam Newton to a Super Bowl by playing within himself, it’s Bill Belichick. He is considered the modern Vince Lombardi after all.

2020 KC Chiefs Projected Depth Chart

2020 KC Chiefs Projected Depth Chart:

With that being said, there are 11 players on the field for each team at a time. So here’s how I think the roster will break down. The 1^st name is the starter, and the other names at each position, are his chronological backups. By the end, I wonder how close I get to who makes the roster.
 
There are 53 men on the football roster. At the beginning of training camp (July), and Pre-Season (August), the team starts out with 90. And by the beginning of the 1^st week of the Regular Season (which is usually the 1^st week of September), they cut the Pre-Season roster to 53.
 
Offense (25):
QB: Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne (2)
RB: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Le’von Bell, Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson (4)
FB: Anthony Sherman (1)
WR: Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, MeCole Hardman, DeMarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle, Gehrig Dieter (6)
TE: Travis Kelce, Ricky Seals-Jones, Deon Yelder (3)
LT: Eric Fisher, Martinas Rankin (2)
LG: Andrew Wylie, Stefen Wisniewski (2)
OC: Austin Reiter (1)                 
RG: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Nick Allegretti (2)
RT: Mitchell Schwartz, Mike Remmers (2)
 
Defense (25):
LDE: Alex Okafor, Tanoh KPassognon, Tim Ward (3)
LDT: Derrick Nnadi, Mike Pennel (2)

RDT: Chris Jones, Khalen Saunders (2)
RDE: Frank Clark, Mike Danna (2)
LOLB (SLB):  Damien Wilson, Willie Gay, Darius Harris (3)

MLB: Anthony Hitchens, Ben Niemann, Dorian O’Daniel (3)
CB: Bashaud Breeland, Charvarius Ward, L’Jarius Sneed, Rashard Fenton, Antonio Hamilton, BoPete Keyes (6)
SS: Tyrann Mathieu, Armani Watts (2)
FS: Daniel Sorensen, Juan Thornhill (2) 

Special Teams (3):
K: Harrison Butker
P: Tyler Newsome
LS: James Winchester
H: Tyler Newsome
KR: MeCole Hardman
PR: Tyreek Hill
 
The Punter Tyler Newsome is the Holder, MeCole Hardman is the Kick Returner, and Tyreek Hill is the Punt Returner to save roster spots.

Happy Fourth of July!

I just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July! This year’s quite strange with home quarantines, social distancing, and pandemics left and right. Normally I would be barbecuing with family, shooting off fireworks even though I have cerebral palsy, and listening to Jimi Hendrix’s version of the Star-Spangled Banner at some point, but my usual traditions have been put on hold like everybody else, so I’m trying to make the best of the situation on America’s 244th birthday! Hope everyone else is too.

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day everybody! Today is a day to remember anybody we’ve lost really. But it’s an especially important day to remember those servicemen and women of the Army, Army Air Core, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard, past and present, that gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives, in-service to our country. A lot of the times they give up not only their physical well-being, but mental and emotional stability as well, if their wounds aren’t physical, so every day Americans can live in freedom. For all those committed to the cause of liberty, I say thank you!

What’s Everyone Doing During Their Quarantine To Assault Life?

Just checking in… Making sure everyone’s doing okay. So what’s everyone doing during their quarantine to make the ultimate assault on life that I keep talking about?

Thank You to All Healthcare Workers and Scientists Battling COVID-19

I just want to give a big thank you to all essential healthcare workers and scientists that are on the front lines of battling this pandemic of Coronavirus. Thank you so very much for protecting the rest of us, and putting yourselves in harm’s way possibly. There’s nothing I can say that would be good enough. Stay healthy, stay safe, stay home!

Coronavirus Home Quarantine Update

Hi. I’m doing pretty well. With my cerebral palsy, I kind of have to do everything from home anyway being I’m not able to walk under my own power, so to a certain extent everyone is living how I live every day. Doing things from home. And using the Internet to compensate for not walking around. For me it’s another day, but at the same time when I do go places I’m cautious but not freaked out yet. From day-to-day, I’m not sure how to feel. Some days I think I need to stop being the wimp, and just suck it up with the whole pandemic thing. But then again, do I want to risk catching some life threatening disease? So my mood changes on a daily basis unfortunately. I’m not sure how to feel to be honest… I’m not germ phobic either. Stay healthy, and stay safe.

We'll all be fine eventually! Like I said in a post weeks ago, you have to find ways to preoccupy yourself, make the ultimate assault on life, and achieve greatness!