NOW Manning Won the Big One

Just a few quick thoughts....

1) I have been so busy writing and doing freelance that I have had to neglect the blog. Hopefully I can remedy that. I wanted to do a SAG/Golden Globes running diary, but ended up missing both shows. And I still haven't gotten to rant about the Oscar nominees. Don't worry - that WILL be coming. I have been saving it special just for you.

2) Peyton Manning finally won the Super Bowl. Now everyone can stop picking on him and hurting his feelings by comparing him to Dan Marino. I watched the game, and Peyton did a great job. I don't think he deserved the MVP, but there was no way that the press wasn't going to give it to him. I think the Indy running backs needed to share it. But, no one cares what I think. The more I read about Manning, the more I like him. But, after 12 years of loathing him (as a player - not as a person, well maybe) I don't think I will ever buy his jersey. I do admire the Colts organization, and like they way they do business. Kind of surprise for a team who back in the 1980s were seen as a bunch of jerks and sneaks for bolting Baltimore.

3) Tony Dungy - you just aren't going to find a better man. I am not going to say you won't find a better coach, or better black coach, or better football guy. You are not going to find a better MAN. Period. His comments on the podium were all you needed to know about him.

4) The commercials were HORRIBLE. I didn't see anything that could be seen as a true "Super Bowl" commerical. I like the FedEx Moon Office one, the Blockbuster "click the mouse" one, the Nationwide "K-Fed" one, the Bud Light "Rock Paper Scissors" one, and the Heart Association one. But none of those had that epic quality of Super Bowl commercials. I think that is more proof that advertisers are leaving that medium. The only commercial that really stood out was the David Letterman/Oprah Winfrey one. That did more in 10 seconds than most could do a half hour. We laughed our tails off. "Don't talk with your mouth full, sweetie."

5) This is the first year in about 15 years that I have not watched the Super Bowl with a big group of people. That felt very weird. It is just that kind of event. Without the group, it just felt like a game.

6) Of course, the Colts never could have pulled it off without their secreat weapon - Rex Grossman. As I have said for years, for such a good college football program, UF sure puts out lousy pro QBs. He even looks like he has no clue what is going on.

7) Those tornadoes that tore through Central Florida - scary stuff. We've been through a lot of scary stuff weather-wise down here in the last few years. Riding out Charley will go down as one of the most terrifying things I ever went through. But this one.... I didn't even know there was anything going on. I woke up at 3am and heard rain, but that was all. When I woke up and found out, it scared me worse - we felt like we had just cheated death or something. I think what made it so devastating was that it happened at night. No one knew how bad it was until the morning. I woke up to 14 auto-emails about tornado warnings, followed by looking online at the pictures. I was like, "What the heck just happened? What did we just get away with?" I hate hurricanes, but tornadoes scary the goody out of me.

8) On the flip side of the weather, the local news did a bang-up job with their Team Coverage of the recent cold snap. You know, I wish I was kidding about this. But they actually did a county-by-county synopsis of "just how cold it is going to get" during the 11pm news. They also hyped this "event" for four hours. You know how cold it got? 38. Yup. I could just imagine how that all went.
"THE COLD FRONT HAS COME THROUGH. JUST HOW DAMAGING WILL IT BE? LIVE COUNTY BY COUNTY TEAM COVERAGE. FIRST, TO ERIK VON EAGEN IN ORANGE COUNTY. ERIK, JUST HOW COLD IS IT?"
"WELL, IT IS CERTAINLY COLD OUT HERE. MY NOSE IS FROZEN."
"NOW ERIK, HAVE YOU SEEN ANY DEAD PLANTS, YET?"
"WELL, NOT YET, BUT WE HAVE CERTAINLY HEARD THAT THERE MAY BE DEAD PLANTS, AND PERHAPS EVEN SOME COLD PETS. BUT THIS COLD HAS NOT STOPPED PEOPLE FROM COMING OUT. IF THE CAMERA CAN JUST ZOOM AROUND, YOU WILL SEE PEOPLE ALL OVER THE PLACE, BRAVING THE COLD, WITH LITTLE REGARD FOR THEIR SAFETY."
"WOW - SOME PEOPLE."
"THAT'S RIGHT. WE'LL BE HERE ALL NIGHT FOR UPDATES."
"THANKS, ERIK. NOW TO GEORGE RAMIREZ IN SEMINOLE COUNTY. HOW IS IT THERE GEORGE?"
"COLD, GUYS. BONE-CHILLING COLD. THE LAST I CHECKED, THE THERMOMETER READ 41. SO, IT IS GETTING BAD HERE."
"INCREDIBLE."

9) One other Super Bowl note. It was funny to hear everyone trash Jacksonville for their hosting a couple years back and talk up Miami. At least Jax was put together somewhat. We were down in Miami a couple weeks ago and the whole place looks like it is the opening moments of a Sim City game - cranes everywhere, half done building, roads not completed. So, now the backlash has begun. All the press people have been griping about Miami traffic, crime, sordid night life, construction. That's South Florida - that's the way it has always been - and how it will always be. Did they forget this from their jaunt to Miami a few years ago? Jeez.

10) Lost returns this Wednesday. I can't wait.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I WILL be posting my Oscar thoughts before the ceremony. And I hope to do a running diary for that. I think doing a running diary of the Grammys would be fun, too. So, we'll see. Have a lovely day.