Mad Season

So I haven't stalked Peyton, but it's just Tuesday afternoon. There's plenty of time for that.

I hear he's in Ft. Lauderdale. I should call in sick tomorrow, Dear Roxy. I mean, you did it yesterday.

The Bears happen to be staying at the Hilton.... so close to me. Why couldn't it be the Colts?!?!?! I would have definitely been staking out the place.

What is the big deal about the Colts arriving yesterday and not A DAY earlier. We're not talking two or three days before the game... geez. Shut it everyone!

You know what's funny though? The curfews set for each team. You gotta be careful with those young, single players and South Beach! LOL. Cracks me up everytime I hear it.

Starting to feel the Super Bowl commotion now. I even watched SportsCenter this morning :D

-Criss

PS. Barbaro was euthanized :(

Photo: AP Mike Conroy

Hanging On

I find it hard to believe that you have little interest in the Super Bowl, Dear Criss. Hello? Your stinkin' Peyton's gonna be in town! You gotta be hyped. I'm not stalking hotels with you to find your beloved Colts players. Forget it! Before the Colts won, I was really worried about how I would be able to skip work to try to catch practice or a glimpse of the Pats when they were in town. Oh, it was a beautiful dream.

Anyway, so Doug Mientkiewicz is a Yankee. I can't believe that. I remember two years or so ago feeling kinda bad about the whole Ballgate situation, but NOW! He better relinquish all rights to that final-out ball! I am disgusted to see how he went to the other side.

I do feel an emptiness now without football. I turn on the t.v. on Sun. and no Chris Berman, Steve Young, Terry Bradshaw, Jerome Bettis... Sigh, I guess I'll prepare for Spring Training.

Roxy

Photo: Matthew Stockman, Getty Images

Oh, so close!

This weekend will be a preview of things to come once the Super Bowl is over. There will be no sports watching until baseball season starts in April. It'll be a boring two months. This of course happens every year, but I still haven't gotten use to it, Dear Roxy.

I guess I better enjoy that Super Bowl game! And hopefully it will be a great one :)
I haven't really paid any attention to SB news but I'm sure that'll change come next week. If you have any, please tell.

Baseball baseball baseball... I heard the Yankees are shopping in China. Weird but true.

They also have reserved #22 for Roger just in case he decides to give the Yankees and a World Series run a try.

I heard your guys signed JD Drew. Whatever.

Have a fabulous weekend.
-Criss

WHYYYYYYYY??!?!?!?

I have nothing to say. I need to reflect. Good for Peyton so he can finally get his Super Bowl win. Then Brady will no longer be the bad guy holding everyone back. No, seriously, good for Peyton and Dungy, but I'm still a little bummed. But not super bummed, just kinda annoyed.

The Tuna retired and Trot is an Indian. I mean, come on. Give me some good sports news. The Tuna made me laugh. Trot brought inspiration!

I need some time to myself, Dear Criss. ;)

Roxy

And then there was the Super Bowl-bound Colts

Yes, I am ecstatic, incredibly happy and thrilled to see that Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy and the rest of the Colts are finally going to the Big Game, Dear Roxy!

I wasn’t having any fun during the first half and neither was Peyton. I could see how frustrated the guy was. I couldn’t believe we were down by 18 points!

Tony wasn’t having any fun either and must have given the Colts an earful during halftime because they came out to fight. And fighting they did! The Colts had tied the game at 21!

That back-and-forth scoring was the kind of game I wanted to see. Not good for the nerves or the nails!

And then that running touchdown by Addai with exactly one minute left! The longest minute of my life, and the Colts’ too. I could hardly watch it. But I had to do it for Peyton… poor Peyton couldn’t bring himself to watch it. He’s been there before and with the same team – the last minute scoring by Tom Brady and the Patriots. But not this time. This was Peyton’s time. Long awaited time.

The Colts are going to the Super Bowl! I'll see you soon, Peyton ;) lol

Sorry Rox, I know you're hurting but I've been there before... and at your expense. Maybe I don't feel that sorry. Still pondering about that.

Congrats to the Bears although I was rooting for the sentimental-favorite Saints.

And I guess I should add that Lovey Smith and Tony Dungy are the first African Americans to lead their team to the Super Bowl. It's hard to imagine no one has done it before though.

- Criss

Photo: AP, Amy Sancetta

Pats-Colts: Round 26,357,980,124

Since you were a blog hogger over the weekend, Dear Roxy, I'm gonna have to repeat a lot of what you said.

Yes, Rox, you said it right:
It's Pats-Colts next week.
It's You-Me next week.
It's that time of the year when we refuse to pick up each other's phone calls and refuse to read each other's text and email messages.
It's that time of the year where one of us will get to gloat.

Nice win by New Orleans and Chicago! Now they can beat each other.

In other news, Jeff Nelson signed with the Yankees and retired. What a nice gesture. Wanting to retire with the team he won four Championships with.

And, how about Andy Pettitte? He's back with the Yankees and I am hoping the Rocket is right behind him.

It'll be just like old times minus Nelson.
Not all can be perfect.

-Criss

If Belichick is Smiling, Things Must Be Good

Tom Brady loves to make me nervous. He loves the element of surprise. He loves leaving things for the last minute. But seriously, I'm getting older, as you always point out, Dear Criss, and I don't take as much pleasure out of nail-biters as I may have once upon a time. BUT, as Rex Grossman said yesterday, I'll take the win. Doesn't matter how ugly, I'll take it. And Stephen Gostkowski? A 50-yard field goal? You're not so bad, son.

So now, friend, it's me against you next weekend. As of Saturday night, we can no longer speak for about 48 hours. I hate Pats - Colts games. Argggh, here we go. And as usual, my sister will root for Payton-Shmayton. What's that all about? It's about the only team you and her have in common. Well, I am all Pats all the time, baby. And did I feel bad for Marty Schottenheimer? Yeah, a little. I rooted for the Chiefs when Joe Montana was there, so I remember Marty well. Did you know he played for the then Boston Patriots? Crazy. Marty will have his day to shine. Just not at the Patriots' expense.

Hokey pokey. Your turn to blah, blah, blah about your team. =) Hee, hee, hee.

Roxy

Getty Images Photo: Harry How

Drop and Give Me 40! Go!

Oh my gosh! Why did they ever even bring in Randy Johnson? And I know I never mentioned the whole Saban thing, but don't worry. The radio is still all over it. I will never think of the song "Sweet Home Alabama" the same way again. I cannot imagine that Bill Cowher would come down here. No way. Don't.

Yeah, I didn't care about the UF - Ohio State thing either. Blah. Did we already talk about Romo botching the snap for the field goal attempt? So sad. You feel terrible for the guy. You know, sports radio needs some new material down here. They keep talking about the same things. I'm just anxious about the playoffs. It better not come down to Pats - Colts in the AFC, or, gasp, Pats - Eagles in the Super Bowl. That would be boring to have a repeat.

Whoa! Did you see Jason Taylor on ESPN Sun. morning? He was all about the Patriots, Tom Brady and the Patriots and Tom Brady. I swear he's trying to join the Pats, but my sister is the one who first recruited him for the Pats. If only they would realize that, too. I think he'd be great there, right? And what a coincidence that he was in-studio in Bristol, oh so close to Massachusetts.

Roxy

AP Photo: Stephan Savoia

Not so good

So New York teams didn't fare so well in the playoffs, Dear Roxy, but at least our teams are still there.

I didn't think the Jets were gonna do so well, and they didn't. I did, however, think the Giants would do better. And they did but not good enough. There's always next year.

Peyton Manning and the rest of the Colts showed up, and showed up big! Manning wasn't fabulous but good enough.

Your Pats weren't so bad either. It's only gonna get tougher. Keeping my fingers crossed for the both of us.

Tonight is the big game between Ohio State and Florida State. Do we care? If we did, I guess I could root for our fellow Floridians... but not too hard.

The Yankees have finally traded Randy Johnson back to Arizona. I don't know how I feel about that just yet. I'll keep you posted.

The Yankees decided to keep Miguel Cairo. Good move; he's a good backup.

And can they please keep Bernie for one more year? Please!

-Criss

Just Right

"Just right" as in, just enough suspense in the first half of today's Pats - Jets game, and then in the second half - WHAM! The points added up. I admit, Dear Criss, I was worried about today's game. A little. Not like last year's Steelers playoff appearances where I could barely eat without feeling like my stomach may betray me, but just like, "Hmm." Only because, my Pats blew a few strange games this year. So now, it's on to San Diego to face LaDainian and Co. But you know what? My guys have talent, too. I won't lose sleep, but it's gonna be good.

Okay, now that you have rooted against my Pats for the Jets and can move on to your darling Colts next week, you can start thinking about the Saints. It's times like these when I wish I wasn't such a sports isolationist, not caring about the other teams but only my own. Usually, toward the end of the season, I will try to watch some of the contenders playing so I know what to expect. Unfortunately, all I have to go with is Sportcenter highlights I saw over the last months.

But it all doesn't matter, because me and my fellow three Pats fans in town (two of which were in the supermarket today - I don't know them, but we're all still a Pats family) will be rootin' for Tommy, Maroney, Bruschi, Vrabel, Gostkowski, Asante, Corey and Co. Maybe coach won't knock over any photographers next week.

Roxy

Boston Globe photo: Jim Davis

Mayhem in Miami

First Coker, Saban and now Riley! Can you explain this to me, Dear Roxy? Come on! Somebody give us a break!

I heard your beloved Steelers coach resigned... maybe he can come and coach in sunny South Florida. Sounds good to me.

Crazy weekend in the NFL. The Colts play today against the Chiefs. So they didn't have a very strong finish but I'm hoping they play like we all know they can. I'll be rooting for them this afternoon!!!

The Pats and Jets tomorrow, huh? You know who I'll be rooting for!

I can't wait.

-Criss

PS My winter break is over. Another semester, another headache!#%^&*@

"Due to Contractual Obligations..."

THANK YOU, Dear Criss, for the birthday wish! You can't imagine what I got for presents. Let's see, a 49ers history dvd, Steelers Super Bowl dvd (we're still not sure we understand what Ben's saying), Tom Brady visited via playing card, a Red Sox Monopoly game in which I had to purchase Varitek for twice the price from my sister, grape Big League Chew gum (you buy it whenever you can find grape flavor) and clothes that coincidentally were in Patriots colors. I mean, it really doesn't get better than that.

So, I totally get lucky because after some game finished, they cut to the end of the Steelers game. It was tied and Pittsburgh blew a chance to score. Cincy misses a game-winning field goal. Wide right. Overtime! Steelers win coin toss. Suddenly a voice comes on, "Due to contractual obligations with the NFL, we will cut to the scheduled game in a few minutes." Which was Dolphins - Colts: wow, a thriller. Who was going to win?! HELLO?!#@$ They cut from my game for that?! No Colts OR Dolphins fan would have cared if they missed the first 15 minutes of the stupid game. Well, Ben goes on to score a touchdown in three plays. He was so happy, running around and jumping on people. So what if it had no playoff implications for Pittsburgh? It's about pride and a good New Year's Eve. On that note, please Bill Cowher, don't leave. ONE MORE YEAR! ONE MORE YEAR!

On a sad note, you gotta feel terrible about the Denver CB who got killed. Oh, so sad. Our prayers for his family.

I gotta figure out who the Pats are playing next. PLAYOFFS! Woo hoo!

Well, friend, our beautiful vaca winds to an end, and we have to plan another. ;)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Roxy

AP Photo: Tom Uhlman