MNF

Sorry I missed ya'll last week, it has been hectic around here. Working a trip to the Quad Cities for Matthew to see his Grandma one last time. Thank Goodness he got there in time! She did end up passing. She was one of the most selfless people I've ever met. Rest in Peace Grandma Marilyn Starofsky. I will take care of your grandson!

Back into the football world, this is the most frustrating fantasy season I have ever played.

At the moment, here in week 5 I am getting burnt out as NFL Football is on 3 days a week, and Saturday we are getting emerged in NCAA Football. We are even rooting for the USF Bulls, Florida Gators, and FSU Seminoles.

At the moment I am in love with many of the NFL commercials, especially the Ray Lewis commercial with the little girl interviewing him! Simply adorable.


My prediction for tonight is that the JETS lose big no matter who is under center (aka playing quarterback)

Leverage

With every passing week the NFL's locked out officials are gaining leverage. The brand is being ruined and Roger Goodell is allowing it to happen, by turning a blind eye. Its as though he doesn't care as long his pockets continue to get lined.

I am less excited about football than I have been in many seasons. It's painful to watch these games.

My other and last gripe of the week... I hate having games every Thursday! It's hard to know what decisions to make for fantasy lineups.

The run down on my 3 fantasy teams...

The MONEY league... Coming into this week I was 2-0, and on top of not just my division but all 80 teams in this league. (5 leagues of 16, that changes into the top 16- 10 division leaders and 6 next highest in points scored) I won again by 20 points. I didn't score as high as I'd have liked with only 82. I left too many points on the bench... the story of my fantasy season!

The Tampa radio league, I was 2-0 and am now 2-1 after a disappointing week, I remain in 3rd place. Philip Rivers scored 4 points... If you can win with a QB scoring 4, please tell me how... :-(

The family league... I was 0-2 and in DEAD LAST! I am now 1-2 after a comeback victory decided by less than half a point. Thank you BEASTMODE! The win catapulted me into 8th place overall.


My other thoughts:

The Buccaneers need to be as aggressive on offense as they are when playing rush defense. I would like to see them throw the dang ball before they are trying to mount a come behind victory!

The Colts have a way to go, but they do look better than last year. I am sorry to Austin Collie got injured, but I think the organization has a responsibility to protect his future if he is unwilling to do so himself.

I cannot believe that the Vikings beat  the Forty Niners, the Raiders beat the Steelers, the Cardinals are 3-0, and that the Seahawks sacked Aaron Rodgers 8 times in the first half putting them in the position to win on a bad call.

The Denver Broncos do not look good. Peyton and the receivers need to put in some extra hours.



The best news of the week Brighthouse finally got NFL network and Redzone channel, after a 9 year standoff!

The upset special...

This weekend saw a lot of craziness in the NFL.

The Colts are 1-1, after winning their home opener against Minnesota.

The Bucs gave away a huge lead, and allowed Eli Manning to throw for 510 yards.

Seattle upset Dallas.

Philadelphia upset Baltimore, and is the first team in history to win week 1 & 2 by a single point each.

The big names in fantasy football aren't the guys getting the points.

I am 2-0 in two leagues, and 0-2 in the other. (hope to expand on this tomorrow)

The referee situation is abominable. While the locked out refs are not perfect, they are professional and not swayed by the players. The crew in the MNF game, could not make a call without double questioning themselves, this lead to an hour long 1st quarter.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

So the regular season is here! (cue the music) 'It's the most wonderful time of the year....'


What did you do to celebrate opening weekend?

What did you take away from opening weekend?

How'd your fantasy team(s) do?

We celebrated opening weekend by tailgating at Raymond James Stadium for the Buccaneers vs. Panthers game. We got there at 1pm, the game was 4:25pm. While tailgating I listened to the Colts vs Bears on the TunedIn app plugged into the auxiliary port on the car stereo. It rained off and on the entire time, after a morning of heavy thunderstorms. So we spent a portion of our time going in and out of our ponchos! On my 'tailgaters grill' (topic of an upcoming blog) we made BBQ ribs and Italian Chicken Sausages. We tossed a football, and enjoyed the people around us! We made our way over to the stadium around 3:30, and received a Ronde Barber cinch sac. The Buccaneers were celebrating his 200th Consecutive start! Amazing!! We then enjoyed the National Anthem, sang by someone that was once on the Voice. (sidebar- Big Mike Lynche from American Idol did a way better job during the preseason game) The most amazing part was the flyover during the anthem! The Bucs then came out and dominated all sides of the ball, just leading me to believe they are way under ranked and will shock some people this year! After the win the home town crowd was HYPED! I mean random people giving high fives, People screaming TAMPA awaiting the reply of BAY from the sea of people in pewter and red! We then gave my husband's best friend his birthday beer cake. What a birthday, when the NFL kicks off the first Sunday of the season. (<-- So jealous... LOL) After that we rushed home, to see the night cap of Steelers at Broncos. We got home just in time for kick off!

Ronde Barber entering the stadium carrying the Bucs Flag!

Beer 'Cake'

Buc's Flag Training Camp 2012

I took several thoughts and opinions away after this weekend. I will bullet point them, to try and keep it clean and readable!

- Jim Irsay and the Colts organization made the worst mistake by cutting Peyton Manning. While I am still a Colts fan, I feel that this a huge error in judgement. How can you just cut ties with the man that has MADE your organization, and is the FACE of the NFL? We got NOTHING, when we could've gotten extra draft picks, or players in trade for him!!! Not that Andrew Luck won't be a superstar, but working a deal to receive someone or something of VALUE to put around Andrew Luck shouldn't have been overlooked. Especially for good Offensive linemen. . . .

- Peyton Manning is probably happy that Denver also got Tracy Porter in the offseason. Now when Porter grabs an interception and takes it back for 6, it is a positive thing... instead of having thrown the pick six... thinking back to the Superbowl against the Saints...

- Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow... did they surprise anyone else by throwing almost 50 points up? Just think I had that guy on my DO NOT DRAFT list... Let's see if Rex Ryan's Gang Green can keep it up!

- Adrian Peterson, Welcome Back Sir! What else can be said... Christian Ponder is probably the happiest person in the world that AP worked so faithfully to get back in playing shape! Tearing both an ACL and MCL just last Christmas, simply amazing.

- Conditioning is KEY. The Giants proved what poor conditioning can do to a team, as the Cowboys ran all over them in the second half. The G-Men looked slow, and tired in the second half. They better be ready when these Young, Fast, & Hungry Buccaneers come to town for week 2. The Bucs are in shape, new coach Greg Schiano has made sure of that.

- They need to end the Referee Lockout. There are too many missed calls, and then make up calls. It's just pitiful and I guess holding is legal now, because they're afraid to call it. On the bright side, Shannon Eastin is officially the first female official to work a regular season game. Congrats!

- The Madden Curse... will Megatron be affected? Calvin Johnson is on the cover, and he should be primed for another amazing season. Although the St. Louis Rams did keep him out of the endzone... We'll keep watching this!

-The blackout rule imposed by the NFL is awful. I hope that something can be done about this because I want to watch Bucs games, and cannot afford season tickets.

-The league is getting younger, with the exception of a few journeymen like Ronde Barber, Peyton Manning, and Ray Lewis, this season saw many familiar faces getting cut in favor of youth... especially for kickers.

-Kevin Ogletree and Andrew Hawkins... Did you know those names before week 1??

The fantasy scoop...

I have teams in 3 leagues. I am 1-0 in both of my 'radio' leagues. In my friends/family league the @VikeChick stomped me through the mud and back! Congrats you're 1-0, if we play again I am coming for ya!!

The Good:

In my Tampa ESPN 98.7 The Fan League, my team QueenoftheMancave is 1-0. I beat a cocky guy who named his team SUCKS TO BE U. But I came from behind and won, would've been a blow out but I made an error in judgement on RB's. I won 95.75 - 87.50. I let the heckling get to me and played Turbin RB Seattle who got .25pt and had Morris RB Washington on my bench who had 21pts. Julio Jones and Denver's Def made my game!! I am sitting in 6th place overall in this yahoo based league, that was live drafted.

In my Decatur, IL ESPN 1050 The Fan League my team Stroke of LUCK is 1-0. I beat a team co-managed by Aric Lee and Tim Bruns. I won 107-85. I did this with more questions than answers at quarterback. I ended up going with Russell Wilson a rookie from Seattle over Jake Locker a 1st time starter in Tennessee. Locker had more points, but also got injured. (I am shopping the waiver wires...) I had 4 players carry me to the win: Arian Foster RB from Houston, Julio Jones WR Atlanta, Pierre Garcon WR Washington, and Baltimore's Def. All were close to or exceeded 20 points. I am in first place overall in this ESPN based auction drafted (thanks to @VikeChick for being my proxy) league at the moment. This is the most important, as you can move on after 8 weeks into a new 'league' with a new auction drafted team, for a chance at $500 cash! So I hope my guys keep it up.

The BAD & UGLY:

In  'Abusement Park' my friends and family league where we have a guys division and a girls division,
I am dead last. My husband is one spot ahead of me in 11th place. In this league I listened to an outside source who shall remain nameless and left Michael Bush and Pierre Garcon on the bench. Had I played those guys it would have been a close game if not a squeaked out win... So now I am going to have to climb one rung at a time up the ladder.

Our Pinteresting Labor Day Weekend

We scored a FREE dresser, bought some new handles and paint and refinished it this weekend!

The Before:

Three colors, missing handles.... NOT PRETTY!!

The After:

What we did:
Took off the old handles.
The DH sanded/roughed up the surfaces.
Painted 2 coats of GREEN to get full coverage, may still add some green as a touch up!
Painted the beveled edges and ridges the same color as the accent wall.
Added the handles.

What we invested:
Dresser: FREE
Handles: $22
1 Gal. Green Paint: Behr Ultra Premium Satin (someone's mis-tinted shade of Split Pea Green??) $16.66
1 Qt. Behr Ultra Premium Egg Shell (UL 260-22 Pencil Point) $15

Without charging the paint to the dresser we spent $22. The dark paint mostly painted the wall, and the green will be used for some additional DIY projects.

Will post additional pictures when we complete Phase 2 and 3: which include building a platform bed and headboard with night stands and also decorating the room.

Football Crafted Accents...

So while my life doesn't revolve around football, and we are a few days out from kickoff I thought I would post some other things showing about me and my life. One of the most important days was December 5th, 2009. That is when I officially became the Queen of his Mancave! Our winter wonderland wedding had some football accents to showcase our love of football without overwhelmingly being a football themed affair. 

The year leading up to the wedding was a long and tedious process of DIY activities. My mom and I did all of the decorations and ideas on our own, before Pinterest existed!!

The Queen taking control of the game!!

This is one of my favorite poses of our bridal party. We also took this with the ushers. 

Head Table

 On the head table, the only small accents of our love for football... Each person in the bridal party had their team's pennant at their seat with an ornament that had their name on it.

Momzilla

 This is how the wedding weekend started on Friday December 4th, 2009 at 8:00 AM. A 24' enclosed trailer and 3 vehicles full of stuff. Not to mention the dead tree that I had cut down and spray painted silver... My mom was in her element making sure everything got done correctly and up to our standards! She was quite the momzilla, and I say that only with LOVE because it was as important to her for my day to be flawless as it was for Matthew and I!!

Tammy making my bouquet.

Finished bouquet

 My gorgeous bouquet. $50 in materials, and my mom's best friend put it together in about 20 minutes. It included 2-3 dozen fresh white roses with babies breath, artificial pine greenery, 2 artificial calla lilies, and ribbon.

Ceremony Location Setup

 The auditorium where our ceremony took place. It took a crew of people to get the trees all put together. I collected them at garage sales for a whole year. We had 8 or so trees.

Paper Designs

The programs, dessert bar menus, and dessert labels that I hand made. Luckily I had help with assembly.

Cheesecake Assembly Line

Sue on Duty

Brideslave 'joke' T-Shirt

Thursday December 3rd was the day of desserts, we spent 14 hours and had three shifts of friends, family, and my bridesmaids helping to make all of the desserts. I cannot even tell you every item we had but here's the short of it: several cheesecake flavors in assorted glassware, several types cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, pumpkin bread pudding, coffee parfaits, etc... the picture directly below was the dessert bar. It was 4 6 foot long rectangular tables, and one 5' round table. The round table was the "corner" and displayed the wedding cake. We also had another setup identical to this that was a beverage area, we had a coffee bar, tea, punch, beer, and some veggie trays for those non-existent people who don't eat sweets :-)

Dessert Bar Setup

Centerpiece (1 of 4)

One of the 4 types of centerpieces. The giant pine cones that we collected and then sprayed with adhesive and covered in silver glitter. A sparkly blue ornament, and a wooden snowflake with smaller pine cones. We also had white feather pine trees, 14" gold fish bowls filled with blue and silver ornaments, and silver "branch" trees with crystals and candles hanging in them. Each centerpiece type varied in size and created depth on the tables.

One Horse Sleigh

 A photo op in the kids play area... Yes we built it. Yes we had a kids area, I am a nanny and my husband's family has multiple sets of multiples! It was a must have, a word of advice- No Cheetos in the kids room. That was the only complaint I heard the whole wedding!! Other things we had in the kids room included toys, coloring books with crayons, stickers, etc...

Lighting the Unity Candle

The backdrop for the ceremony, several artificial trees with white lights.

Finally time to Party!

Bridal Party at Rehearsal Dinner

Entering into the reception, we entered to Faith Hill's Sunday Night Football song, and the bridal party entered the Monday Night Football song. The Philip Rivers jersey was a gift and surprise entrance addition for the hubby! I had one and only one screen printed jersey, I cut it right down the middle to not be outdone by his jersey! We are a house divided... and united by football!!Notice my heels are yellow to accommodate his demand for yellow to have Chargers colors in the wedding.

Mmmm Cake by Cindy Beck

Some of the displayed desserts. Also notice the added blue bodice on the dress, I had this made specifically for the reception to dress up my bargain dress. Enjoy...

Quarterback Drama.... 1 vs 2 ; What is a Quarterback?

First and foremost, What is a quarterback? (pulled from a friends facebook page, in regards to the fact that her son is a peewee QB)

These were some of the answers and jokes about her sister asking this same basic question....

Is he the one that hits the people or runs the ball?

Isn't he the guy that throws the ball?

Isn't he the guy that stands by the ticket counter and gives everyone buying a ticket their quarter back after paying? 

The last one was obviously a joke from a guy! However C'mon Ladies!!! Let's get this together you are at some point going to have a man in your life who watches, or plays football. This may be a boyfriend/husband, brother, son, father, etc... 

So to answer this basic question, yes the Quarterback (QB) is the guy who throws the ball. He also hands the ball to the Running Backs. He occasionally even runs the ball himself, especially in Pop Warner leagues. (Pop Warner is pee wee) If your QB is tackling people it is most likely because he threw the ball to the other teams defensive players.

A few famous retired Quarterbacks you may have heard of: 

Dan Marino- Miami Dolphins

Troy Aikman- Dallas Cowboys

Joe Montana- San Francisco 49ers

John Elway- Denver Broncos

Now into the current season, here is some of the QB drama I am watching....

#1 vs #2

Andrew Luck and the Colts VS. Robert Griffin III and the Redskins

This game is Saturday 8/25/2012. This is a pre season game that puts the first and second overall NFL draft picks against each other as starting QB's for their new teams. So far in 2 games each guy has looked good. This game should see the first significant amount of time for both guys. This is really the last week to get timing down with their teammates. I am looking forward to seeing how both guys handle the pressure, how well they move the ball, and their progress in reading professional NFL defenses. Do I believe that hype that this one game will show who is better? NO! I believe this will not turn into the Peyton Manning vs Ryan Leaf debate of 1998. I fully believe that both guys will be successful, and continue to improve over their first few seasons in the league. 

What will be the deciding factor in this game? 

I fully believe that both of these highly touted Rookie QB's will continue to play well. So on that note, lets see which defense steps up!