It's that time again. Letting out what my mind keeps in.
+Gas prices are finally dropping back down again. It comes right in time for the holiday travel season -- I just hope they stay down at least until after the first of the year, since I'll be on the road again for the days right after Christmas.
+Thanksgiving takes on a new meaning this year as well. My brother, Brian, hits the trail for the Air Force in December, so Mom Hunt is making sure everyone can get together for the last time for probably at least a couple years.
Luckily, my boss allowed me to have the day before Thanksgiving off work so I can make it back to T-town and see my brother off. It will be the quickest trip I've taken in awhile, but definitely will be worth it. In addition, it looks like I should be able to make it back to Tiffin for the night before Thanksgiving bar celebration, which is always awesome, seeing high school friends you haven't seen in a long time.
+After nearly six months producing the 10 p.m. newscast, I've decided that the 2nd shift is probably the worst of the three you can work.
1st shift is obviously ideal, waking up at a fairly normal time, going to sleep at a fairly normal time, having time in the afternoon and evening to relax -- or, mostly importantly for someone who's new to an area, to meet people for a drink or dinner.
3rd shift might not be the best for sleeping, but if you can block out enough sun in your room it's fine. Some of my fellow producers who work that 3rd shift find it easier to sleep twice a day, which I would agree with doing. The thing about the 3rd shift is that you can tailor your schedule to allow yourself time to hang out or have dinner with people in the afternoons and evenings.
The 2nd shift, though, allows none of that. Waking up isn't the hard part - in fact, you wake up just about any time you really want to wake up. You spend the free time of your day making lunch, watching daytime television or running errands. If you try to get up early, you spend your workday just trying to make it to the end.
You finish working anywhere between 11 and midnight, giving you maybe two hours to meet friends out somewhere, but likely sending you home to finish off your day with a movie or late-night television show. 2nd shifts do not assist with meeting new people, getting together with the people you already know or dating anyone. OK, that's my rant.
+I'm thinking about trying to grow a playoff beard. It might have to be amended to be called a "postseason" beard, mainly because it looks like Notre Dame will have at least one extra game this year and the Browns will not. That means I MIGHT have some facial hair by the time ND plays in a bowl game. How I love being baby-faced.
+How crazy has it been to be a Cleveland Indians fan the last two years? In 2007, the team tied for the best record in baseball, led by pitcher CC Sabathia - their first Cy Young Award winner in years - and was a win away from the World Series.
This season, the Tribe finished at an even .500 (which, by the way, was just seven games out of first in the Central Division) and had two big winners on the field - Cliff Lee grabbed the AL Cy Young Award and Grady Sizemore won both a Golden Glove and the Silver Slugger Awards. And Cleveland traded away a guy who finished 5th in the NL Cy Young Award voting.
Despite what many believe, there was no way the Indians were going to re-sign CC Sabathia. If he didn't sign before the season, he was not staying in Cleveland after the season. For the Indians to get what they got out of Sabathia, it was a HUGE victory for the Tribe. It might have cost them a playoff run this year, but at least the Indians got something for Sabathia, unlike the same situations with guys like Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome, who left town with nothing coming in return.
+That's all I got. Go Browns. Need a Monday Night Football encore from the win over the Giants.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Christmas Comes Early
I remember one of the best Christmas presents I got when I was a kid - Football Pro ‘95 for our family computer. It was basically the undersold, under-appreciated little brother to the “Madden” series put out by EA Sports. But it was mine and now I could play football games on the computer.
The trick was installing the game. Apparently Santa Claus hadn’t paid the very close attention needed to find out that the family computer didn’t have enough RAM to support the game. And since Santa Claus had already made his trip (and because, back then, RAM was expensive, Santa couldn’t really afford to make another trip to our house that year), I had to put Football Pro ‘95 on the shelf.
The next year I got a small present that said something to the effect of, “I know you’ve been waiting a long time for this. It’s for your computer and I think you know what it can do.” Santa delivered what I needed and the game was played for hours.
That was over half my life ago. Saturday, April 28, 2007, Santa Claus gave Browns fans a gift. But like my computer game from years past, the gift couldn’t be used until a year later.
Tonight, Brady Quinn starts for the Browns against the Denver Broncos in a “nationally-televised” game (it’s on the NFL Network, which isn’t national enough for me). Unlike his fellow first-rounder, former Wisconsin offensive lineman Joe Thomas, who started from Day One, Quinn had to take a back seat, originally set as the team’s third-string quarterback.
Of course this will all come across as biased as any recent column written by a political analyst who already knew whether Barack Obama or John McCain was getting his or her vote. I’m from Ohio, grew up a huge Notre Dame and Cleveland Browns fan and played high school football for four years, very similar to Quinn. (But make no mistake, the comparisons stop there. What I’m trying to say is that he is a more handsome, more athletic, more talented, smarter, more accomplished person who is also 10 months older.)
But consider for a moment what Brady Quinn has already done in his life. Few people realize he is ninth in NCAA history in TD passes thrown. He took nearly 2,000 snaps in his college career (1,856) and finished in the top four in Heisman Trophy balloting his junior (4th) and senior (3rd) seasons. When he graduated, Quinn was 7th in career pass attempts and 10th in career passing yards in NCAA history. And those numbers don’t mention the 36 Notre Dame school records he broke.
In essence, Quinn’s no chump.
2007 was one of the most ridiculous for me as a Browns fan. It began with Charlie Frye as the starter… for one game. I watched that 34-7 blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers via webcam at 2:30 a.m. while on my study abroad trip in Adelaide, Australia. I thought there was no hope for the Browns season. In other words, I thought it was just going to be another year.
But Cleveland traded Frye after that one game. Enter Derek Anderson. He finished the season with nearly 3,800 yards, 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. In the other games of his career, all of Anderson’s averages and ratios are lower than 2007.
It seemed like this incredible, out-of-nowhere, not-seen-in-a-million-years season was just an oddity. (For perspective, 2007 was just the second year since 1988 that the Browns made double-digits in the win column. 14 seasons at or below 9 wins.) On the Leap Day this year - a day set up to get everything back to normal in the calendar year - the Cleveland Browns re-signed Derek Anderson to a three-year deal.
And Browns fans waited. But there comes a time when you’re sick of waiting. You just want to play that computer game. You just want to see your team win. You just want to see if Brady Quinn is a waste of time or a good use of trading up on Draft Day 2007. Tonight is the first glimpse of that answer.
Brady Quinn just turned 24 years old ten days ago.
Happy Birthday, Brady. Merry Christmas, Browns fans.
The trick was installing the game. Apparently Santa Claus hadn’t paid the very close attention needed to find out that the family computer didn’t have enough RAM to support the game. And since Santa Claus had already made his trip (and because, back then, RAM was expensive, Santa couldn’t really afford to make another trip to our house that year), I had to put Football Pro ‘95 on the shelf.
The next year I got a small present that said something to the effect of, “I know you’ve been waiting a long time for this. It’s for your computer and I think you know what it can do.” Santa delivered what I needed and the game was played for hours.
That was over half my life ago. Saturday, April 28, 2007, Santa Claus gave Browns fans a gift. But like my computer game from years past, the gift couldn’t be used until a year later.
Tonight, Brady Quinn starts for the Browns against the Denver Broncos in a “nationally-televised” game (it’s on the NFL Network, which isn’t national enough for me). Unlike his fellow first-rounder, former Wisconsin offensive lineman Joe Thomas, who started from Day One, Quinn had to take a back seat, originally set as the team’s third-string quarterback.
Of course this will all come across as biased as any recent column written by a political analyst who already knew whether Barack Obama or John McCain was getting his or her vote. I’m from Ohio, grew up a huge Notre Dame and Cleveland Browns fan and played high school football for four years, very similar to Quinn. (But make no mistake, the comparisons stop there. What I’m trying to say is that he is a more handsome, more athletic, more talented, smarter, more accomplished person who is also 10 months older.)
But consider for a moment what Brady Quinn has already done in his life. Few people realize he is ninth in NCAA history in TD passes thrown. He took nearly 2,000 snaps in his college career (1,856) and finished in the top four in Heisman Trophy balloting his junior (4th) and senior (3rd) seasons. When he graduated, Quinn was 7th in career pass attempts and 10th in career passing yards in NCAA history. And those numbers don’t mention the 36 Notre Dame school records he broke.
In essence, Quinn’s no chump.
2007 was one of the most ridiculous for me as a Browns fan. It began with Charlie Frye as the starter… for one game. I watched that 34-7 blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers via webcam at 2:30 a.m. while on my study abroad trip in Adelaide, Australia. I thought there was no hope for the Browns season. In other words, I thought it was just going to be another year.
But Cleveland traded Frye after that one game. Enter Derek Anderson. He finished the season with nearly 3,800 yards, 29 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. In the other games of his career, all of Anderson’s averages and ratios are lower than 2007.
It seemed like this incredible, out-of-nowhere, not-seen-in-a-million-years season was just an oddity. (For perspective, 2007 was just the second year since 1988 that the Browns made double-digits in the win column. 14 seasons at or below 9 wins.) On the Leap Day this year - a day set up to get everything back to normal in the calendar year - the Cleveland Browns re-signed Derek Anderson to a three-year deal.
And Browns fans waited. But there comes a time when you’re sick of waiting. You just want to play that computer game. You just want to see your team win. You just want to see if Brady Quinn is a waste of time or a good use of trading up on Draft Day 2007. Tonight is the first glimpse of that answer.
Brady Quinn just turned 24 years old ten days ago.
Happy Birthday, Brady. Merry Christmas, Browns fans.
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