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Las Vegas Bowl

December 21, 2008
Las Vegas Bowl

I still have never been to a pro football game, but yesterday I did go to my second ever college game. The first game I ever went to was Michigan Vs USC in the Rose Bowl. I think the year was 1979, but I’m not sure. Last night was the Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium. Even though it was cold, we had a great time.

We were lucky enough to get free tickets to go with a group of friends. We all met up at a bar about a mile from the stadium. We had a quick beer and then decided it would be better to leave our cars at the bar and walk to the stadium rather than trying to fight the traffic. So we bundled up for the cold and got to walking. We made it to the stadium and were in route to our seats as David Hasselhoff was singing the National Anthem. We missed him singing, but stepped out of the tunnel just in time to see the fighter jets do a fly-over just at the end of the song. Wow, that was awesome to see!

We made it to our seats, which of course were on the exact opposite side of the stadium from where we entered, just in time for the kickoff. Our seats, as you can see from the photo below, are basically right on the 50 yard line.

Las Vegas Bowl

The guy who gave us the tickets was rooting for Arizona. Since I couldn’t have cared less who won, we too cheered for Arizona. This was especially fun since we were sitting on the opposing team’s side of the field. Though, the groups right in front of us and behind us were also cheering for Arizona as well. At one point one of the receivers on Arizona’s side made a really nice catch and my buddy mentions to me, “That guy is from Las Vegas.” The kid in front of us, maybe 13 or 14 years old, turns and says, “Yeah, that’s my cousin.” He was pretty stoked and was having a great time. It was pretty cool to see.

We did get pretty lucky. It was quite cold and we had to stay bundled up for the entire game, but at least it didn’t get windy. Had the wind kicked up, the cold would have been unbearable for a sissy like me and I’d have been headed back to the bar. But instead, we stayed for the entire game and celebrated Arizona’s 31-21 victory over BYU with the crowd of 40,047 people.

And before I go, here’s our friend Jason at the game.

I remember my first beer, too.

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Are you ready for some football?

September 7, 2008

Before I get started, Todd, I apologize. I promise not to write too many more times about football.

Today was the first Sunday of the regular football season. I spent the morning at the office finishing up a project. Once the football games started, I found myself checking scores and checking out how my fantasy football team players were doing. I have to be honest with you, I never would have thought I’d be this in to it, but I really am.

Later in the afternoon we went to play poker at a casino. Of course they had football games on the TVs and I spent a fair amount of time craning my neck to check the scores.

Don’t look now, but I think I’m becoming a football fan.

OK Todd, if you see another football related post from me this month, feel free to smack me. But as we get towards the end of the fantasy football season, you’ll have to allow me a follow-up post.

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Fantasy Football newbie

August 26, 2008

I’ve never been much of a football fan. But just about everybody I know is a big time football nut. So it makes it tough to hang around the water cooler when you don’t know a field goal from a 2 point conversion. OK, I’m not a complete dumbass, I know the rules and scoring of football and I watch enough Sports Center to know the teams and several key players, but if you asked me how a specific team did last year, I’d have no clue. This year, I’ve decided to take a much deeper interest in the game of football. What better way to do that than by joining a Fantasy Football league?

Our draft was set up for today at 4:00 PM. Over the past week I had done some research and even created a spreadsheet with tabs for each position and a ranking system that I had found online somewhere. I cross-checked some names, tried to keep an eye on the news for injuries and basically thought more about football in the past week than I have over the past 10 years.

By random draw, I ended up picking 11th in the first round out of 12 teams. In the second round I’d pick 2nd and then it would be a bit of a wait before I picked again in the 3rd round. As the time was getting close I double-checked that I had everything I needed. Then, it was go-time!

As players were getting picked I’d mark them off my sheet. The big names that I expected to be taken went right away. After a few short minutes I was on the clock and ready to make my first pick. My goal here, don’t make a fool of yourself. Don’t pick somebody that people are going to say “Dude, you could have got him in the 6th round…” Actually, to be honest, that was my goal for the entire draft, not just the first round. Just don’t be a complete idiot.

One thing that I realized I have going for me is that I have no pro team affiliation. I’m not a Chargers fan, I’m not a Raiders fan, I’m not a Patriots fan. As the draft was going on, you’d see certain teams picking guys off their favorite team just because they are on their favorite team. I think this is a huge mistake, but I’m a noob, so what do I know.

When all was said and done, I’m fairly pleased with my team. Our weekly team consists of 1 quarterback, 3 wide receivers , 2 running backs, 1 tight end, 1 kicker, 1 team defense, 1 defensive back and 1 defensive lineman. We also have 6 bench spots for a total of 17 draft rounds. Here’s who I picked by round:

1. Larry Johnson, RB
2. Clinton Portis, RB
3. Plaxico Burress, WR
4. Matt Hasselbeck, QB
5. Dwayne Bowe, WR
6. Jeremy Shockey, TE
7. Donald Driver, WR
8. Dallas’ Defense
9. Nate Kaeding, K
10. Jeff Garcia, QB
11. DeShaun Foster, RB
12. DeAngelo Williams, RB
13. Jerry Porter, WR
14. Nick Barnett, DL
15. Sammy Knight, DB
16. Deion Branch, WR
17. Arnaz Battle, WR

I’m fairly pleased with my team. Checking the match-ups for the first 3 weeks, Yahoo predicts I’ll have more points than my opponents each week. So that’s a good thing.

So, here we go. My rookie year as a Fantasy Football coach. How do you think I did draft-wise? Of the 17 picks I made, how many of them would you say were “good”, “OK”, “bad” or “horrible”?

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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