the only nfl preview that matters
(to me)


"the nfl is our national pastime. it is our church. it is cocaine, and we are darryl strawberry."

what a great, great line courtesy of mjd in this morning's debriefing. great, because it is so true. in the land of sports, one league reigns supreme and that league is the nfl. if you are a sports fan and you watch espn, you are well aware of this. and don't get me wrong. i love, even luff, college football. i love that alabama destroyed western carolina high. i love that michigan lost. i love that brandon cox started earlier in the season than i thought at making me look like a prophet. i love the sec. i can't wait 'til saturday when i will be traveling with the tide to their true season-opener against vandy. i love that i'll be back home in time to see the auburn game, notre dame starting a true freshman at quarterback and the lsu/va. tech game. i love all of that and will love every bit of the college football season. but i am with mjd. the nfl is the straw that will stir my drink beginning tomorrow night and ending with a super bowl party at my or one of my friends' house. this is true for all sorts of reasons, and many of those reasons include my fantasy team, but i won't bore you any more with that. i'll just say that i pulled off a trade, ended up with peyton (pictured above) and all is well with my world. i cannot wait to get home tomorrow night to watch the colts and the reggie bush's. tomorrow will be a good day.

there are times when i feel alone, though, with my nfl love. i have my fantasy league, and all of the guys in the league are big enough sports guys that we will have fun competing, but if we were to all get together, it would be alabama or college football that would rule the conversation. deep down, i think kiker is more excited about his college fantasy team than his nfl one. andy's more of a college football guy. i am pulling heath over to the dark side i think, but it's going to be a slow process. being alone, though, is ok. that just means i can enjoy the fruits of my hours in front of the tv or the computer with myself. i can deal with that. hell, i'll probably enjoy it more that way than talking nfl with a friend kind enough to humor me and just throws out a michael vick reference here or there to make me feel like he's paying attention.

off the nfl page for a second, things at home are going pretty well too. my attitude is improving a little bit each passing day. hannah was finally ruled shigella-free and went back to kindergarten this morning. it was only three hours, but it was three hours that were very stress-less and that proved easy to get a workout in. sarah is still feeling pretty good about her and caroline's nursing habits. and caroline, herself, is a very calm baby (knock on wood). she sleeps (sometimes loudly)a lot. is happy to eat when she's awake. takes a pacifier well. most of the time, she has a very calming presence. when she's fussing, hannah has taken to mocking her, which is really funny until she passes "that point" that she becomes annoying. caroline and the family made it out to her first postpartum softball game last night. it was a doozy of a game against a really good team and daddy got the barry bonds treatment and was walked with the game on the line. i was pissed, but it was kind of cool too that i had performed well enough during the game for them to fear me. i like that.

church...wow. church has kind of become an afterthought, i guess naturally, the last few weeks. we are talking about going to the wednesday night kickoff tonight, which could be ok. i am not excited about it, but we probably should try and include that in our new routine. i tell you what. i've said this out loud to a couple folks, but not being on a church staff means that waiting on "something to happen" feels like waiting for paint to dry. things are moving dreadfully slowly, thus far, as it concerns my finding a new place other than sunday school to be involved. some of this may be on my end. after coming away from my and julie's conversation somewhat uninspired, i think my motivation has taken a hit. i'll have to make intentional efforts to do something about that moving toward the end of the year. i'll keep you posted.

moving away from the diary portion of the post, i'll end this "preview" the same way i ended the college one. with a few tidbits of sarcasm:

- who will win the super bowl this year? i hope the colts, but really, who cares? i am fairly sure that most of my readers don't give a shit about the nfl, but dammit, we will still use the super bowl as an excuse to hang out and die slowly with some kiker burgers, am i right andy? kiker?

- will michael vick ever play in the nfl again? too soon for that call. if the judge surprises everyone and only gives mike a year in the slammer, then maybe. if it's more than two seasons, then the next time i see mike vick in person again may be running around the bjcc in a steeldogs uni.

- is tiki barber a dick? for those of you that don't know, tiki barber is a retired running back, formerly of the new york giants, that retired with gas left in the tank. since retiring, he has ripped his old quarterback, eli manning (pictured above), called out his coach and ripped his teammates some more. for as much i throw the word around here, if you ever wanted definition 1a of "douchebag", this is it.

- are the falcons still my favorite team? great question and i'll be honest. i think the answer is no. not this year. and i hate that. it just goes to solidify my own realization that i am, in fact, a fairweather fan. and the falcons will be in my top two, but they will fall behind peyton and the colts this year. r.i.p., falcons, until jesus brohm comes next year to raise you from the dead.

- will you stop talking about sports anytime soon? this one's for my brother, brian, who is now peeking at the site. and the short answer is no, but all my posts, sports entries included, will always include something for everyone i hope.

enjoy the weekend. remember the name, star jackson. brandon cox for president. war saban.