rosephile

So football yesterday sucked. The Chargers lost. Then the Packers lost. That would've been a FUN Super Bowl, y'know? Chargers vs. Packers?!? Le awesome. Now we're all reduced to rooting for the Giants to spoil the Patriots' perfect year.

The Packers had chances but didn't capitalize on them, and they didn't play as well as is usual. Defense, particularly against the pass, was uncharacteristically sluggish, and special teams were a bit off on returns (and punting, dear lord). Too many 3-and-outs. Maybe the defense was tired by all their time on the field (though if I had to play in -1 to -4 degree weather with -24 windchill, I'd prefer to be on the field, getting "warm" through exertion!). They were truly lucky that Tynes missed those field goals in regulation. I couldn't *believe* he missed that fairly short one at the end of the game. What a relief!! A short-lived one, of course, since he had to go and *redeem* himself in overtime (the nerve!).

It was a great run though--13-3 and through 2 of 3 weeks of playoffs.

Interesting in the first half, when the Rams were scoring ahead of each responding Packer score, slow in the second, when no one did anything most of the time, with the Packers scoring now and then just for fun. Final, 33-14.

Blackmon is a hard hitter. I'm continually amused by the way commentators sometimes call him "Black-man". Anyway, he did great on Special Teams today. They were working on both of Woodson's knees on the sideline at one point, but he played (excellently) the whole game, as did Nick Barnett--and they're just the standouts on defense. On offense, the achievements were spread around more than usual. It's the norm for several Packer receivers to get the ball in a game, but today it just seemed a truly (ego-free) team effort on the offense.

Favre got that last big record, for passing yards (60-something thousand, which they helpfully told us was nearly 35 miles), breaking Dan Marino's record, and they showed a couple fun Packer fan signs ("Sorry[,] Dan" and the other said something similar with a cute/sad frowny face at the end). At the end of the game, they spoke to Brett briefly (asking if he'd planned/wanted the record-breaking pass to go to Donald Driver; he'd wanted to give Driver a chance at it), and ol' Smooth Skin snuck up behind him and smacked/hit/pinched/SOMETHINGed him on the ass (twice)! Ahaha, good times.

Aaaaand we're at 12-2!

Well, the Cowboys won, but it was pretty close, considering the good players who were injured & didn't play at all (Woodson, who's a key defender, and KGB, who's pretty reliable) and the fact that Brett Favre was injured(!!) in the first half and didn't return to the game (his right arm was hit and they reported that his hand/fingers were numb afterwards, whatever that means...nerve-related?). Aaron Rogers did as well as he did in the preseason as backup QB, completing plenty of passes, running for a couple of first downs, and getting his first regular-season TD pass. He brought the Packers to within a field goal of the Cowboys, but it wasn't enough. There were at least three bad ref calls and a few iffy ones as well (the biggest being that pass interference call in the 4th quarter that could easily have been ruled that the players' feet tangled together. The ref who was standing right there called it merely "incomplete" but some other ref decided it was interference). Come on, refs, this is the *NFC*--you're supposed to prove you're not rooting for the home team! ;)

Good Packer things...

--rookie Ryan Grant *running* 20 or 30 yards for a TD. He ran right through the defensive linemen and (seemingly) no one was even IN the secondary to stop him!

--cool defensive action, such as tackling the receivers twice in a row behind the line of scrimmage, bringing up 3rd and 19, and then...

--a defender encouraging the crowd to get loud, causing Tony Romo to unsuccessfully try to quiet them again, unable to hear the play, and resulting in a delay of game (*snicker*). (*sigh*, followed by a long pass to TO for a 1st down)

--random act of referee kindness (wtf?/wow!): A ref helped Aaron Kampman up after he'd gotten thisclose to sacking Tony Romo.

--and, of course, this. my comment to stormi:

HOLY SHIT WTH HOW DID THAT *HAPPEN*?!?!?!?!

TO had a TD pass in his arms in the middle of the endzone and it somehow popped out of his arms for no reason at all and Al Harris caught it!!! He was tackled in the endzone so they'll get the ball at the 20. THE COWBOYS SHOULD'VE SCORED THERE BUT NO POINTS FOR THEM, omg. If the Packers can score in any way right now the game'll be tied or they'll be ahead for the first time. !!!!

The Packers didn't score that time, but the Cowboys did on their next possession, bringing their lead back to 10 points. The Packers then got a FG, but then so did the Cowboys, and with under 2 min left and no timeouts, the Packers couldn't score again, so that's where the game ended up, 37-27, Cowboys.

Well hey, I didn't *expect* the Packers to win, but of course I didn't expect them to lose either. ;) There's nothing wrong with 10-2 either. Here's hoping Favre's better by next Sunday. He's got three extra days, so that's good. He spent the rest of the first half with his helmet still on, as if he could return at any time, but it was clear after halftime he wasn't returning tonight. My hopes are high--if he can play right after dislocating his right thumb, he can play through almost anything.

I'll try to come up with interesting things to say about this shutout game (other than, "HA-ha, Vikings!"). It was the first time the Packers shut out an opponent since 2002, and the first time the Vikings were shut out since 1991. The Lambeau refs even laid off the Packers today, only calling a handful of penalties on them, and no big or iffy ones. They even called the *Vikings* on pass interference! (the head ref's accent made him say "interfurrence") Favre got knocked on the back of the head and was woozy afterward, ack. But he seemed fine soon after.

My (good) uncle came over and watched with us. He's a typical Vikings fan (fair-weather) so he wasn't too bothered by them losing ("If [they] didn't have a good running back, what would be the point of even watching?").

Final score, 34-0.

While Favre sometimes picks up 'Smooth Skin' (#80) after a TD, Driver decided to mix it up a bit this time and not only picked Brett up, but spun him around and around.

8-1. I can't believe it...!

Tapes-n-Tapes was pretty good, I'd see them again. I got a ticket from a group of guys with an extra (so it was $10, oh NO! haha) and while in line (I got there maybe 10 min after 8, when doors opened, and the show was to start at 9) they sold out. It was raining and luckily I was actually warm enough in my two thin layers, two hoodies, and scarf. First Ave has a black exterior with silver stars all over it, with the names of bands/musicians who've played there on them. The only one I can remember seeing offhand was The Smashing Pumpkins, though I saw a lot more since I was sort of looking for U2's one while in line (it might've been on the 1st Ave side, I was on the 7th St side). It was my first time back there in at least four years, maybe as much as 5 1/2, and I vaguely remembered things like, seeing this low wall on the left, standing there at some show back in high school. First Ave was the place...um, well still is, where I've seen the most concerts, so it was a semi-nostalgic experience, and quite amusing seeing black 'X's on hands while I had a wristband and a stamp on mine instead (it was my first time there over 21), and I didn't remember that Target Center is right across the street either--that's where my first non-free concert was (Foo Fighters & Red Hot Chili Peppers), and next to where my first concert was (Smashing Pumpkins).

Note to self: either MN people are ruder than other concert-goers, or club crowds are ruder than large-venue crowds, or people about 4 years YOUNGER than I am are ruder. 'Cause there were lots of annoying people (mostly high schoolers who seemed to all know each other), even tall guys, who just insinuated themselves in front of me and the really short girl next to me and her two friends who were about my height. And a few of them were bopping back and forth, taking up 2-3 times the space of one person (or just hitting everyone around them, and no, there wasn't a mosh pit!).

The first two acts were not amusing. First guy was like going to some avant garde art exhibit. I like a guitar, but if you can't give me that, I need a melody of some sort. The drums became the highlight, and he rocked them, but only for about 5-10 seconds per "song", then it went back to random tones and stuff. No singing either--that would've been too close to a melody, I think. The most obnoxious dude in the crowd, who started out behind me but ended up either in front of or next to me, who did the 2-3 people-wide back-and-forth moving throughout the entire concert, was REALLY into this guy. The second band was called Halloween Alaska (I think) and just weren't that good. AND, the bassist only played half the time, the other half was spent playing "air bass" very unrealistically, and he'd also pretend to fiddle with real and imaginary things on the body of the bass. The female friend of the extremely short chick and I wondered why he didn't just leave the stage for those songs, or unplug the bass so he could play anything (but still TOUCH THE STRINGS) and we wouldn't hear it, and wondered what the hell he was thinking, since anyone who looked would be able to tell! Weird.

Tapes-n-Tapes got a great reception (they ARE local, after all), and from the first couple notes, I was excited/relieved since those few notes already showed they'd be more rockin' than the first two acts. The sound was such that I couldn't make out the lyrics, but the music (and yea, I could hear the bassist/he wasn't faking!) sounded good, the band was energetic, and they were even pretty decent-lookin'. ;) The drummer was especially into it--my first view of him, he was pounding away with this huge grin on his face. The keyboards guy multi-tasked, sometimes grabbing a drumstick and banging on one of the symbols or a tambourine, sometimes rocking some kind of tuba-looking-but-slightly-smaller horn. I considered merch but decided not to battle for it since the singer said that most of their shirts were stolen in Australia(! ...sad) so there weren't many of those but there were some limited edition tapes (ha, of course) from Japan, "but we still sing in English on them." Anyway, I got back to my car around 12:45, got slightly lost trying to go back the street way I came from before just taking the highways way, and got home to find everyone still up.

Early day tomorrow--it's the last sports bar day/last football game of the season, and, since the Giants won earlier tonight, unless the Cardinals, Dolphins, Vikings, Lions (I think?), and, of course, Packers win, it's the last Packers game this year. Then, of course, New Year's with Anderson. Heh. :P Lame? Sure, but I comfort myself by thinking that, if I were still in LA (and hadn't come back here for winter break), I'd have plans. If nothing else, *I'd* be hosting. I had more parties those 1 3/4 months of "new" apartment than ever before (unless you add up all my birthday parties), it was fun. ANYway, no one cares. G'night all and hope you have a nice New Year's! I'm sure I'll be hanging out with some of you in the Anderloads chat :)