Feeling Fall... and Other Thoughts

With the temperatures in the 60s and 70s this week, and college football set to kick off this Thursday, you can't help but feel that Fall is in the air. It was nice to take advantage of our office location in N. Old Town and get out for a run last night. While attending the DC United games this summer has been great, I cannot wait to watch the Penn State game this Saturday (against Coastal Carolina). Speaking of which...

My rant of the week has to be about how ridiculous Comcast is (not surprising). After enough fans complained last season that Comcast should pick up the Big Ten Network (as DirecTV did), Comcast conceded and added the BTN to their sports pack lineup. As it turns out, the PSU game is only being televised on the BTN this Saturday, and as a Comcrap subscriber, I was very excited to be able to watch the game in the comfort of my own home rather than needing to go to a bar. But no... Comcrap comes through again with runny brown colors... They must have purchased the rights to show ONE channel and ONE game at a time. So, instead of getting the Penn State game at 12 on Saturday, we will only get the Ohio State v. Youngstown State game. If I really want to watch the PSU game, my only choices are to head to Carpool or catch the game on Comcast's BTN channel, Sunday at 11am. Thanks Comcast... as always, you continue to meet my expectation of being an absolutely worthless service provider. If my neighbor did not have the largest tree on the block which happens to stand on the SW side of our house, I'd drop you like the worthless POS you continue to be.

In other news, Fantasy Football is around the corner with both of my league drafts set to take place next week. With FF drafts taking place, it obviously means that the regular NFL season is set to start, with the Skins taking on the Gints next Thursday. I actually got my Sean Taylor #21 jersey on Monday and am ready to wear it proudly at the first game I'll get to (Cardinals game on 9/21).

BTW - the Match update is that she's doing well. She seems to have finally taken to her crate and understands that it is her home when we're not home. She will go quietly into her crate and not put up much of a fight at night when we go to sleep, which has been great... that and the fact that she can pretty much make it all night now without having to go out. Nice to finally get 6 consecutive hours of sleep for a change.

Recovery & Premiere Week

If you're wondering why it's taken me a few days to post since Sunday, it's because it's taken me this long to recover from the abysmal sports weekend that took place. If you know me at all, you know how emotionally invested I become in both Penn State and the Redskins... throw that on top of the two fantasy football teams I manage and it becomes borderline dysfunctional. And then imagine how you feel when all these teams lose and not just lose... but REALLY lose... a la Penn State or Redskins lose... If you caught any of the highlights of either game, you can understand how these two losses were felt like a backhanded slap or an oncoming migraine. I won't use this space to launch into a tirade about Penn State's coaching, or the Redskins complete offensive breakdown in the second half because I wasted too much of my time on Monday rehashing every possible scenario with my fellow Skins and PSU compadres. Just know that I am hoping for a rebound this weekend in some way... some glimmer of hope for the sporting future... Until then, there is TV premiere week to distract me...

So... what shows are we DVRing this week?

Monday: Heroes, Journeyman, Chuck, and How I Met Your Mother
Tuesday: Really nothing on this day unless you count Dancing with the Stars - Which Lauren can't stand anyway... oh wait The Unit!
Wednesday: Bionic Woman, and for now the Practice
Thursday: Smallville, Earl, and of course THE OFFICE
Fri-Sat: Nada
Sunday: Family Guy

What are my winners so far? Well, I have to say that Family Guy definitely opened with a very good premiere. Their "Star Wars" spoof was hysterical which featured Stewie as Darth Vader and Peter as Hans Solo. I had planned on adding a link to the clip on YouTube, but believe it or not, Fox made a copyright claim and forced YouTube to take all of their Family Guy clips down... Unbelievable.

Anyway, on top of a stellar Family Guy, I was very impressed with The Unit and HIMYM, giving them all 4 stars. After watching Journeyman, I definitely think it has potential and will give it 3 stars with a strong likelihood it could reach 4. To me, Heroes was only mediocre this week also earning 3 stars. Bionic Woman could be interesting, but I was not really that impressed last night giving it 2 stars.

Left to watch from DVR: Chuck, Kid Nation, and the Practice. Stay tuned for my reviews on these three as well as my commentary on tonight's premieres!

At the Beach

After a relatively uneventful drive yesterday, Lauren and I arrived down in Kitty Hawk to join my family for a week in the Outer Banks. 6 adults and 3 dogs, one of which is still a puppy. Can you say craziness?

Looks like Saturday is becoming more and more about survival these days in the college football ranks. The parity that exists these days seems to make each week about winning and moving on... Penn State managed to do this, though allowing 3 TDs in the final quarter surely won't sit well with JoePa (we listed on XM on the way down). Three teams that didn't make it through the weekend: Georgia Tech, Louisville (goodbye national championship hopes), and UCLA (same to you). With Louisville now having a loss, it will be interesting to see if they dash the hopes of their fellow Big East teams, i.e. West Virginia and Rutgers. Same with UCLA... do they have enough talent to bounce back and knock of USC later this season when they get their chance?

On to the big boys... My FFL matchups today are going to be tough with me down a few points in both leagues to my opponent. That being said, I was not favored last week as well and pulled off two very convincing wins. Will the trend continue? At least I don't have to stress about the 'Skins today with them playing tomorrow night in Philly. That being said, it still looks like it's going to be a nice day of sun and football...

Yay.

White Out Notre Dame

What Penn State is all about...

Bring on Michigan...

#12

Latest AP and USA Today Poll is out and Penn State is ranked #12. I suppose it's no surprise given that both Georgia and Virginia Tech lost ahead of us. With the Big Ten season looming two weeks away we only have an opportunity to beat two ranked opponents this year... Ohio State (#10) and Wisconsin (#7) and both of those games are at home...

I like our chances.

Redemption

After a sluggish start and two turnovers on our first two possessions (one which was returned for a TD), Penn State was able to pull away, led by a very strong defensive performance. Personally, my biggest takeaways from seeing my first game on TV this year are:

1. Our defense is going to be pretty beast
2. Our offensive line needs a little work
3. Morelli has to work on his decision making skills
4. D Wheels has earned that nickname for a reason... he is so fast
5. Our stadium and fans are #1 in the country - check out this whiteout

After two weeks, our campaign for "the season" is still in tact... Next week, we've got another warm-up game against Buffalo (who actually thumped Temple good yesterday) before heading up to the Big House to face what could potentially be an 0-3 Michigan team... Who would have thunk?

2 Month No Show

Well, the fan mail has been pouring in, wondering where I have wandered off to, so I figured it was time to return from my hiatus and entertain the masses. To everyone who expressed their concern, thank you, I'm fine, we've just been busy being busy.

What have we been up to over the past two months?

Well... a simple check of the Google Calendar, which by the way we swear by, shows that we've been to a friend's wedding, Lauren has been to the DR, Beckham came to town (prior to ending his season), we spent a weekend in Ocean City, our parents finally met, and at work, it's been about the busiest as it has ever been in the 7 years I've been there (more on that next week).

So, the summer is now over and we're entering what has to be one of my favorite times of the year... Fall...

What does Fall mean to me? OBX, FFL, NCAA, and NFL... translated... Outer Banks with my family, Fantasy Football, Penn State games, and Skins games. This is the time of year where a man's happiness is directly proportional to how his teams do during the weekend... when we'll ask one another, how did you do, and we'll respond 2-2 or 1-3 or if it's a great weekend... 4-0. What does this mean? That your fantasy teams won, Penn State won, and the Redskins won.

Anyway, with week 1 upon us, Socks but no Drawers takes on the Scrappy Irishmen in the WeatherBug league, and Young Action takes on the DC Lions in the AFL. Penn State hosts Notre Dame, while the 'Skins host the Dolphins. It's too early to call the fantasy games since I have yet to see how my guys are going to do this season, but I'll call for a convincing Penn State win, and a close Redskins win.

For those of you who care, and are still reading, I'll paste my fantasy rosters at the end of this post... To everyone else, the hiatus is over. Please check back as the fall progresses to stay up to date on all of the sports happenings, the wedding planning, and all of the exciting things happening at WeatherBug. Until next time...

Socks But No Drawers Roster
J. Cutler QB
R. Brown RB
L. Johnson RB
P. Burress WR
D. Driver WR
M. Stover K
K. Winslow WR-TE
D. Dolphins DST
B. Favre QB
D. Foster RB
J. Lewis RB
A. El WR
B. Marshall WR
D. Hackett WR-TE

Young Action Roster
T. Brady QB
W. McGahee RB
C. Portis RB
R. Brown WR
L. Evans WR
J. Hanson K
S. Holmes WR-TE
D. Seahawks DST
J. Campbell QB
J. Norwood RB
D. Williams RB
D. Bennett WR
J. Cotchery WR
K. Curtis WR-TE