One for the ages
October 12, 2009
As far as sports goes, most importantly “my” sports teams, this was one of the greatest weekends of all time. Every single one of the sports teams I affiliate with, root for, or played for, came away victorious.
The High School I played at, the college team I grew up loving, my Bengals, and even the Blue Jackets were on the smiling side of the scoreboard, all on the same weekend. I have no idea how long it’s been since that has happened, maybe the late 90’s. All I know is, it’s an overload of blessings.
The best part really, is that 3 of the 4 games came against big rivals, the only exception being the Jackets and their back-up goalie shutting out the ailing coyotes.
Clearly someone up there likes me.
The biggest win, had to be my Bengals. Going into the week, I had written this game off as a loss, mainly because I thought the team was already behind the 8 ball after nearly playing an entire extra quarter in an over-time win against Cleveland the week before. I knew it would be close, way closer than the spread Vegas was giving. I even may have scored some free beer out of the deal.
Friday evening, i was stocking up on beer for our tailgating festivities, when I ran afoul of Steelers fans, who were just loitering around near the cash register at my local carry-out, the way Steelers fans do. I figured they were going to hit me up for cash (Steelers fans are the lowest form of life on earth), but I beat them to the punch. They were spewing retarded Steelers talk, about how they’ve gotten screwed in every game they lost and how they were sooooo much better than the Ravens, and especially the Bengals. Like all Steelers fans, their logic was based on the fact that Pittsburgh is awesome, and they had been drinking paint thinner for several hours. I corrected them when I heard them say Baltimore would destroy the Bengals, and would do so by double digits. I could not let that pass. I asked them why they thought that would be. The answer was what I thought it would be, coming from the mind of a steelers fan who knows nothing about football, and had a mullet. They claimed that Baltimore’s defense was awesome. I’ll give them good, not awesome. They are getting older, lost their best player from a year ago, and have holes in the defensive backfield.
Then they really got me going, about how great Joe Flacco is. He’s like the diet coke of Ben Rothelisbergers according to the one Steelers fan. I asked them who he was going to throw to, and as expected, they didn’t really have an answer. I decided it was time to make it interesting. We had to bet on this one.
They had both concluded that it would be a lopsided win for the Ravens, as Cincinnati had no defense in their eyes. I sandbagged a little, and we decided that they would give me “at least two touchdowns”. I informed them that when making bets, and giving points, you kind of had to be exact, so we went with 14 points for the Bengals. I decided it would be worth catching crabs, swine flu, or aids, and shook their hands. We had bet a case of beer.
I figured I would be safe for the most part. The Ravens, even when they were awesome don’t blowout the Bengals, and even if I lost, all I would have to do is buy 2 cases of Nati-light or Keystone, which would still be less than 20 bucks. If I won, and was able to track down the strangers, I was going to be drinking Erdinger, and i would savor every drop.
All this was before I found out about Mike Zimmer’s wife, which totally blows. I like that guy. I’m glad they pulled it off, and gave him a little bit of something to smile about.
What I based this on, is maybe the best kept secret in the NFL. Not just the Bengal’s defense as a whole, people are finally taking notice of them, and they deserve it. The real secret on this defense, and it hurts me to say it, cause I have been pretty hard on him in the past, and almost vomited when they drafted him, is Leon Hall.
Check the stats. Week in, week out, he lines up against the opponent’s top receiver. Each and every week, he very quietly shuts them down. No big interceptions, but no big mistakes either. They don’t even get balls thrown their way when he covers them. Brandon Marshall, Greg Jennings, Santonio Holmes, pre=”">Braylon Edwards, and this past week the fake receivers Baltimore lines up with. Leon, has pitched more shut-outs than he has given up TD’s, which is impressive, especially considering who he lines up against.
I’m not saying he’s Rod Woodson, or even Champ Bailey, but he so far has taken the opponents best player completely out of the picture. I’m slowly falling in love with Leon hall. What is this world coming to?
On another note. Baltimore players and fans, please shut up. I realize you’re certain the only reason you’re not undefeated is because of the refs. How else? It’s the NFL. For every call you think you got screwed on, the Refs let about a dozen they could have called on you go uncalled. When you run your mouth in front of the cameras complaining about the ref’s, you kind of set yourself up to not get any breaks. Refs hear about it when you complain about them. They know when you are bad mouthing there boy’s. Refs are like cops. If you shoot a cop, go on the run, and get busted in some other city, the cops who pick you up aren’t gonna be real friendly. When you call out refs in front of cameras, don’t expect to get away with a whole hell of a lot.
I hope the league comes down hard on Ray Lewis. Maybe not a suspension, but a big fine, for the cheap shot he put on the Ocho. I think the best thing to do with his fine money, will be to donate it to the families of the two guys who were mysteriously “stabbed to death” after the Super Bowl a few years back.
How did this weekend go?