Super Bowl XLIV Review

Welcome back to the blog! Well, it's been a few days since my last entry, and with good cause! Over the weekend we had our good friend Jeroen over for the Super Bowl. I'll get to the game later. For now, I just want to say that we had a great time with Jeroen. The guy is the coolest guy you could meet and sound as a pound, as they say. The trip for him included a visit to the Leisureplex for bowling and pool, going to see the Book of Kells and seeing Avatar last night. His words at the end of the movie were "Amazing!" in summing up James Cameron's multi-million dollar piece of cinematic genius.

Jeroen is heading home now, so I hope he has a safe trip! :)

Now onto the Super Bowl! The New Orleans Saints captured the Vince Lombardi trophy after a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. There were plenty of great storylines coming into the game. The Colts were 4 point favourites entering the game. They got off to a great start and seemed to have the Saints' number in the first half. In the first quarter, the Colts led 10-0 after a Pierre Garcon TD catch. The Saints, to their credit, battled back and really keyed on getting the ball down the seam to Marques Colston and Jeremy Shockey among others. Brees tried to go deep on many occasions, but the Colts always had it covered. The Cover 2 defense they run is more of a Tampa 2 from the days on Tony Dungy - fast, aggressive players are needed to execute the scheme. When the Colts stopped a run on 4th and goal from the 1 yard line, the momentum swung their way, but the Saints managed to put up six points before the half to make it 10-6.

At halftime, the discussion in our sitting room at home was rather low key when it came to the game. It was a strange game in that way. It had so many great players and great moments, but these teams are businesslike in their approach. They stayed out of the spotlight during the weeks leading up to the game. At Media Day, neither set of players spoke out except to say the cliched expressions like "We're ready for a tough game" and so on.

The beginning of the 3rd quarter was a massive turning point for me. The Saints' kicker Thomas Morstead lined up to the kick off, but executed a sneaky onside kick on instruction from ballsy coach Sean Payton - and it worked to perfection! There was a scramble for the pigskin, but the Saints came away with it. They had already garnered momentum from the 2nd quarter, despite only putting up 6 points. The Saints took the initiative after the onside kick and took the lead. I have to give credit to Payton. He is a brilliant offensive mind who sometimes takes risks, but if you live by the sword, you die by the sword and sometimes that sword is the very thing that could lead you to victory. This time it did.

I would like to point out that I predicted only moments before the game-clincing pick six that it would happen. I believe my exact words were "There is going to be a defensive TD or some big defensive play coming up!". New Orleans CB Tracy Porter picked off a slant pass intended for Reggie Wayne and ran it back. I'm a defense kind of guy, so I love to see defensive TDs in high profile games. In any games, really. What a thrilling way to essentially kill off the game. There's just something about a defensive play that steals momentum, and the Saints did that with that interception. Manning and the Colts were down 31-17 and couldn't recover.

Unfortunately this also means the end of the football season, always a sad time for me. I've got exams to focus on, however, and then the summer of work/play, so it comes around faster than you think. I'll be keeping you all up to date with my thoughts on the Panthers movements during the offseason and indeed general NFL activity. I'll also bore you with my dynasty league updates.

That's all for today. I've got three lectures now, so I have to get my concentration hat on.

Libraryzilla

Life proceeds at such a fast pace in college. One second you're in the lab doing your research project wondering when you'll finally get that lunch break you've been so craving since 10am, the next you're sitting through lectures in the surprisingly warm Chemistry Building Science Lecture Theatre (CHSCLT). It's crazy, really. Such is the nature of life. If you don't jump on the wagon, you'll get left behind.

I'm starting to get more pro-active now as far my study goes. With the end of the football season officially on Sunday with Super Bowl XLIV (to check out my thoughts on the big game, please go to nfldoublecoverage.mypodcast.com) the time to hit the books has arrived in earnest. I'll be honest with you. It's tough to get back into it after such a long time away. During my research project from September-December, I only focused on my project work and didn't have any lectures, so the disconnection from what most would consider normal college work was established. I, like most of my classmates, am struggling to remember concepts from 3rd year and perhaps further back. I liken it to being on a holiday for six months and returning having not studied chemistry.

Well, it's been a busy week for me and it's about to get a lot busier. I've got dinner plans tonight at Eddie Rocket's which I'm looking forward to, of course. Then comes Super Bowl weekend. My good friend Jeroen will be over to enjoy the festivities. We'll probably play some football and go bowling on Saturday, then take it easy on Sunday as we build up to gametime. By the way, I've got the Saints. It's more of a gut feeling than anything else. To get a full breakdown of my analysis, check out my podcast (see above!).

Plan for today, you ask? Two lectures, done at 12, get a bite to eat and then spend the next few hours studying as I wait for dinner at 6pm. That's about it!

Oh, and I'm working on a trade in my dynasty league. I've decided to take a different approach than before. I'm not simply making a speculative offer out of nowhere. I'm sending the owner a private message first basically detailing what I'm interested in and what I'm willing to trade. His answer was encouraging, and he's very strong at RB (which conversely, I am weakest at) so I hope we can get a deal done.

That's it for today! If you've got nothing to do on Sunday, check out the Super Bowl! It's going to be a heck of a game.

Future, fantasy and fun...

Good morning world!

It's a wet, dreary day here in Dublin, but that won't get my mood down. Over here we're used to relentlessly bad and moreover unpredictable weather. So yesterday I talked a little bit about Julius Peppers' future with the Panthers. A quick update on that one: Panthers GM Marty Hurney released a statement yesterday saying something along the lines of "nothing is final yet" as regards Peppers. No need to push panic buttons yet.

So today I wanted to briefly share with you my thoughts on the transition that people my age here in Ireland will be going through very soon. What I refer to is taking the next step in our life journey - college to the working world. It's the in vogue topic in our year right now. Every day chatter about the future dominates lecture theatres and the famous coffee place on campus, Java City. My feelings on the whole issue are clear enough; do what you like to do. Being in chemistry, an outsider might expect that every single one of us would logically go into an area like drug design or something like that. Not the case at all. As much as 50% of our year from what I have heard are considering a year out and going straight into the working world.

My point in all of this is not to be afraid of this inevitable transition, but at the same time be prepared yourself to make it. I'm currently researching a few companies now that I would like to work for. Unfortunately most of the larger companies had an unusually early application deadline (we're talking October 2009!) and hence I can't apply for them. A question I have for them is why have your deadline at a point when most people have no clue what their future holds?

And I guess that's it right there. Uncertainty. The feeling of not knowing what comes next is universally something humans dread. It's exciting too, however, and you need to embrace it. We as college students are so used to the day to day grind of lectures and study. Having a greater degree of freedom can be a good thing. And trust me, we will all find our niche in life. There is a place for all of us. You just need to work for it. I'll end this thought by sharing a phrase with you that I have always believed in to be true:

"Nothing in this life that's worth having comes easy."

***

Those three stars mean a change of topic. This day may turn out to be the busiest one I have in quite a while. Okay, first of all I've got a lecture at 9am. Then I intend to not go to the 10am because I am attending a careers talk at 11am which will require a lot of walking to get to. I don't have faith that Mike Lyons will finish his lecture at 10:40 to allow me the right amount of time to get there. Then comes a few hours off, which will most likely be filled with study. I've got plans to go out to Pizza Hut for a traditional meal with my good friends John, Roisin and Martina. What a great group. We've been going to Pizza Hut for years now as a quartet. Cookie dough dessert? Yes puh-lease!

After the meal, I'm off home for a movie. It's the Book of Eli. I've heard mixed reviews, so I reckon I'll give it a shot.

***

Okay, time for some quick fantasy football thoughts. In my dynasty league I was seriously lacking at RB in 2009, so since the end of my disappointing 5-9 season in which I had 6 players on IR I've been trying to strengthen. I've made a few trade offers, most of which have fallen on deaf ears or have been rejected (or I received a ridiculous counter offer which you would have to be high to accept!). At any rate, it's hard to get deals done in the offseason when people don't log on.

I offered a trade to a guy yesterday:

I give RB Ronnie Brown, WR Pierre Garcon and a 2nd round 2010 rookie draft pick

He gives RB Darren McFadden, WR Brian Robiskie and a 1st round 2010 rookie draft pick

Notice I've bolded his draft pick. The reason is that he holds a top 5 pick. I also hold a top five pick due to my finish last year. I've got some good pieces on my team and I'm not far away from being a contender, especially when you consider a division was won last year with a 7-7 record! So I'm sticking my neck out and offloading Brown, who I don't trust to stay healthy after two knee surgeries; and Garcon, who has been tremendous for the Colts in their Super Bowl run, to try to get into the top five picks to acquire two of the best rookies in the class. Preferably that would be the top two rookie running backs:

C.J Spiller (shown on the left) is a speed demon in the mold of the NFL's offensive MVP in 2009 Chris Johnson. He doesn't have the best inside running mentality, but his big play potential is off the charts.

Jonathan Dwyer (shown on the right) has been compared to Tim Hightower.

Scouts have differing opinions of him as he came out of the option offense at

Georgia Tech. He is one of the guys I am looking at, but I am likely to take the best player available at any rate.

So that's the trade! I hope the guy accepts it. I'll keep you posted.

That's it for today! It was a bumper edition, but hey, you deserve it. Please leave comments.

Later!

Better dust this thing off...

My last post on this was almost a year ago! Can you believe that? I can't.

So what's life been like since last February? Well, pretty eventful. I won't get into all the specifics today in this update, but on this frosty Monday morning, the first day of February 2010, I have a football related issue to discuss.

Julius Peppers, DE, Carolina Panthers.

Yep, it's him again. Last offseason the issue was whether the Panthers would place the franchise tag on him and then trade him. He expressed his desire to leave the team, then came back in 2009 after being paid 16.9 million dollars and had a very good season. He looked completely dominant at times. A hand injury limited his effectiveness in the latter part of the season, but he settled nicely into Ron Meeks' scheme.

After the Pro Bowl, his agent Carl Carey said that the Panthers have made no move to resign Peppers since the end of the season and he doesn't expect to hear from them, meaning if no offer is made by March 5th, he is an unrestricted free agent and can simply walk.

I can't see it.

I mean, he's the best defender the franchise has ever had. He's just been named to the All-Decade team for the 2000's! And you're going to let him walk away just because you don't want to pay him 20 million dollars in an uncapped year?! Hurney and Fox need to realise that Peppers is valuable and he should be tagged again. That way, we can get something for him in a trade if he truly does want to leave.

It appears Carl Carey is forcing the hand of the Panthers like agents should do. Just because the Panthers haven't contacted Peppers doesn't mean they won't, so all you fans keep the faith. If he goes out like this, I will be very disappointed in the front office. I respect Pep tremendously for what he has done for the franchise.

And that's all for today. I should be updating this more regularly from now on. It's more likely to be short snippets every day.

Have a good one!