Rams Cheerleaders – Some Good Clean Family Fun
Sorry folks, I pressed publish instead of update. Normally, I’m pretty good about that sort of thing. I’ll just save today’s post for tomorrow.
Premature ePublication
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Category Archives: Football
Not in My House
Rams Versus Seahawks
Not in my house
You might catch me on the road
But not in my house
It won’t happen, oh no
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no– Nelly
The main reason for Rey’s coming to Saint Louis, other than to see us was to see today’s football game. The Rams hosted the Seahawks and Rey is from Seattle. Free football tickets were also the reason that David came to Saint Louis. Dave had been in Chicago on Saturday, watching the US Women’s Soccer team beat up on the lowly Guatemalans. I mean they were short; every US player had a full head of height over the visitors. I think that the final score was 5-0, but the worst of it was that the Guatemalan team never even got a shot on goal. I think that many of the pundit class were expecting a similar route in today’s game. I certainly was. Here you had last year’s Super bowl winning Seahawks versus the lowly Rams, with a record this year of only 1-4 going into this game, but Saint Louis pulled a fast one.
Rey drove us downtown this morning, so that he could get a jump on his long drive back to Tennessee tonight. We had brunch at Rooster, the same place that Anne treated me at for Father’s Day earlier this year. We figured if we got downtown early enough, we would beat the football rush there. What we didn’t figure on was the additional hubbub from this morning’s Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon. Downtown Saint Louis was hopping this Sunday morning. Rooster is a crepes place and is part of the Bailey family of restaurants, which is sort of a local ‘chain’ except that almost every restaurant is different.
The Rams were passing out Robert Quinn (#94) bobble-head dolls at the gate. The game started surprisingly well for Saint Louis, who was up 21-6 at the half. Seattle kept coming back and the final score was very close, 28-26. The Rams pulled a couple of trick plays, both of which worked well. A fake punt gave Saint Louis the first down that it needed to run out the clock and put the game away. Even more unusual though was the first half’s fake punt return. Seattle kicked the punt and the Rams punt returner and his blockers moved to the left-hand side of the field to catch it. Almost of the Seahawks moved to that side too, to block the return. The only problem was that the ball had been kicked to the right-hand side of the field. A Rams receiver dropped back from the line to catch the punt and then ran it back for the touchdown. The only Seahawks player that wasn’t fooled was the kicker, because he was watching to see where the ball was going. It was a good game. Not quite a Cardinal’s pennant winning game six, but a suitable substitute under the circumstances.
Boiler Up!
Hammer Down!
1st and 10 on the 45 and all for only $37/seat
Spartan Marching Band Halftime Show
Mike, Abby and Dave
On Saturday, Anne and I drove up to West Lafayette to see our alma mater, Michigan State, play Purdue and to also see our son, Dave, who is a graduate student there. I had dithered about going on this trip, so to let him know that we were really coming, I texted Dave, “Boiler Up!” He answered with, “Hammer Down!” I’m guessing that that is the Purdue equivalent call and response to the MSU, “Go Green!” This is then answered with, “Go White!” This was our first Michigan State football game since college.
On the drive up, we saw an American Bald Eagle, the symbol of our country and also a carrion eater. It was on the shoulder of the road, munching on some road kill and only flew off when we slowed to watch him. Sorry, but no photo was possible. It happened too quickly. At the beginning of the game, MSU marched out to a commanding 21 point lead, but Purdue didn’t give up and with three minutes to go were still only down by one touchdown, plus they had the ball and four downs. An interception that was run back for a TD finally dashed their hopes.
We kind of crashed Dave’s football weekend, because he was also entertaining two of his Rochester alums, Abby and Mike. When we finally caught up with the three of them for dinner, they were all still recovering from the after effects of Dave having introduced them to Purdue’s “Breakfast Club”, voted best Big Ten tradition. Basically, on home game days the bars all open at 8 AM. It being October, Dave’s trio costumed themselves in Harry Potter garb. Any guesses which character Dave portrayed?
We treated them to dinner, at DT Kirby’s, a sports bar that revels in its own special earthiness. For example, both restroom entrances were fashioned from port-a-potties. Many an uninitiated patron would refuse to use one, fearing the worst and not knowing that flush plumbing and porcelain awaited them behind that plastic door. As if we didn’t get enough to eat the night before, we all went out for breakfast this morning. We went to the Triple XXX Family Restaurant, “On the hill, but also on the level”, enough said. Tomorrow is Dave’s birthday it is also Native American day, the day the white man was discovered, formerly known as Columbus Day. Thank you, Seattle!
MSU 45 Purdue 31
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Anne On The Zig-Zag
Anne On the Japanese Gardens Zig-Zag Bridge
Now Anne is not feeling well. I’m on the mend, but now she is feeling laid low. When I came home from work, she was splayed across the couch like one of the many grisly murder victims in the James Ellroy novel, “LA Confidential” that she was reading. I confess. I did it. I’m the perp. She got it from me. There is nothing like a little seedy LA noir to take the edge off how bad you really feel though. She has already cancelled her school assignment for tomorrow, which was supposed to be all day in the kindergarten. But Honey, this is perfect payback. This time you’re the runny nosed gutter snipe.
Speaking of LA, just yesterday, Anne booked flights for two to the City of Angels. We’ll be heading out to California to see Dan and then up to Monterey to see my Dad and my brothers. Today, I bought Rams football tickets. Next month Dave and Rey are coming to town and football is what twenty-something guys are all about. Speaking of football, I also have to get some Purdue football tickets. Anne and I plan on invading West Lafayette. Rey suggested that we complete this trifecta with a Blue Devils football game. Then we would have pro, college and high school football games notched on our belt.
Last summer, the company announced the Voluntary Layoff Opportunity or VLO program. I thought about it and quite a few people elected to participate, but apparently not enough. Today, the company rolled out the IVLO program, as I like to call it or the Involuntary Layoff Opportunity. Next month, management will go a hunting for a few more scalps and mine could be among them. I’m in the targeted demographic, high-grade level engineers. Some would just say old engineers, but management won’t because that would be defacto age discrimination, instead of just implicit.
Orange Is the New Bad
Sea Nettles
If you are one of the one or two people and I can think of a couple of you, who did not watch the Super bowl yesterday then let me recap it for you here. Denver met Seattle in a New York stadium, which happened to be located in New Jersey. Denver received the kickoff and on their first play a high snap launched the football over the quarterback’s head and into the Denver end zone for a safety. If never really got any better than that for Denver, whose primary team color is orange, hence this post’s title, “Orange is the New Bad”. There is also a reference to a Netflix TV series in there, but I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure that one out.
I know for 99% of you readers that the preceding paragraph imparted no new knowledge, but this is America and we are an inclusive nation or at least we are supposed to be. I grieve for those countrymen who did not share in the communal enjoyment of the Super bowl. Who did not rejoice on hearing our national anthem and “God Bless America” being sung, I meant the one in the Coke commercial.
I know that like all of the other Super bowl commercials we’ll all be able to see and enjoy this ad again, but for those few, those unlucky few, those self banded brothers, I do mourn. For those today, who watched this shed blood with me, shall be my brother; be it ever so vile. This day shall gentle our national condition; and gentlemen in England now-a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhood cheap whiles any speaks that watched with us upon Super bowl Sunday.
Super bowl Sunday is America’s secular holiday. Shouldn’t we go out of our way to include all of our citizens? When I think of the Super bowl, I see one of the few remaining tent pole TV events that can still bring this country together. We no longer have Ed Sullivan, the Beatles or even Elvis to draw us all together again, but we still have the Super bowl.