Archive for category Football

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I am stoked. While most people  have already shifted their focus to Christmas, I have my eye squarely focused on Turkey Day. Is it because I love spending the day with my family reminiscing about the past and thinking about what I’m most thankful for? Of course not. I love Thanksgiving because I get to spend an entire day eating obscene amounts of food while watching football.

Football on Thanksgiving is one those beautiful traditions I didn’t appreciate until I was older. As a kid, I took the games for granted. They were always there. It wasn’t until I grew up and occasionally had to spend the holidays with people who didn’t watch football, that I truly missed it. There are few things in life more depressing than eating turkey while Lifetime movies play in the background.

Professional  football games go as far back as 1920. Before that colleges and high schools played on this day. The Detroit Lions have been a Thanksgiving fixture since the 1930’s. This year, the Lions square off against the Houston Texans. Although I’m not a Lions fan, I always root for  Detroit on Thanksgiving, if for no other reason than they always seem to lose.
The Dallas Cowboys, another Thanksgiving stalwart, will face off  against the Washington Redskins on Thursday. Despite their yearly presence on Turkey Day I will not be rooting for the Cowboys. Rooting for the Cowboys feels like rooting for the Yankees in baseball or the Lakers in basketball. It’s lazy and unimaginative. The only difference is those other teams have actually won championships recently.

For the night cap, the New England Patriots take on the New York Jets. Though it may be the unpopular choice in Indiana, I have a soft spot for the Patriots. The Patriots are a well run organization with quality players and a coach who dresses like a homeless man every week. Bill Belichick is one of those weird coaches who is extremely good at what he does and seems to have no personality to speak of. Listening to his postgame press conferences, it’s usually hard tell if his team won or loss. I suspect if he were to ever shed a tear, his head would explode. I find that to be an oddly endearing quality.

Who are you rooting for this Thanksgiving?

Football season is in full swing and that means tailgating season is here too! The south seems to think they have tailgating down to a science but I’d like to suggest that folks here in the Hoosier state know a thing about tailgating too.

Here are some do’s an don’ts…

DO plan ahead. Pack the cooler up the night before (as much as you can) and bring a trash bag for after.

DON’T forget your football tickets (that is if you actually plan to attend the game!)

DO wear your favorite teams colors to support them.

DON’T eat too much food OR drink too much or you will be miserable come game time.

DO make a play list on your iPod to jam too while you are tailgating of course.

DON’T forget your sunglasses OR your poncho…be ready for whatever weather might come.

DO have fun! That is the #1 rule of tailgating!

I’ve finally figured out what’s missing in my life. Fame? Fortune? Height? Nope. What my life is sorely lacking is school spirit. I think I may have figured out how to get it back.

According to a study I recently made up, people with school spirit are 23.2 percent happier than those without it. I’ve decided the best way to rekindle my love for my alma mater is to attend a sporting event. Before I can do that, I  should probably decide which school to root for.

I spent half a decade matriculating the halls of Indiana University Purdue University- Indianapolis, or as the cool kids call it IUPUI. While IUPUI has sports teams, technically no one graduates from IUPUI. You’re either an IU or PU alum. Part of me wishes I graduated with a Purdue degree so I could tell people I went to the same school as Drew Brees, my adulthood hero. However, I am content saying I graduated from IU.

One of the best ways to ignite school pride is to attend a football game. There’s something about piling into a stadium with a couple thousand friends and watching large gentlemen pound the snot out other gentlemen that promotes bonding. As luck would have it, the Hoosiers have two home games this month. I’m thinking a road trip to Bloomington might be just what the doctor ordered.

October 6- Michigan State Spartans

According to my research, Michigan State was in the top 25 up until last week’s loss to Ohio State. My research also indicates the last time they played an Indiana team they lost 20-3. Technically that team was Notre Dame and not IU. However, I think it’s safe to say that MSU fears all Indiana teams. What’s that? Michigan State beat IU 55-3 last year? Hmmm…maybe I’ll check out the next home game.

October 13- Ohio State Buckeyes

I don’t need to do much research to realize this one has blowout potential. On the bright side, a road trip to watch this game would allow me to engage in one of my favorite sports hobbies: booing Ohio State. There’s something about Ohio State football that makes me ill. I think it has something to with the fact that they routinely beat up on weak teams, but get smacked around by other elite schools, especially those outside the Big Ten. My only concern is the Ohio State fans travel well and I worry and hate to get into a fight at my first IU game. I bruise like a peach.

I’m beginning to think I may need to find a different path to channel my inner Hoosier.

Any Suggestions?

Last year I was a part of my first weekly football poll. Each week I would get the matchups and I would then rank what teams I thought would win in order.  There would usually be 16 games a week so I would rank the team I thought would win the most with the highest number.  Each week that would usually be the Steelers because I am a Steelers fan. My other choices would be complete guesses…yes guesses.

Why was I in a football poll you might ask if I just wanted to guess? It was fun!  I liked randomly picking and not really having a care about which way the games would go. After the first few weeks of my guessing game though I stopped and went and looked at the team rankings. With the help of my coworkers I would then make a better educated guess about who might win that week.

Believe it or not my guessing or better educated guessing did get my somewhere.  One lucky week my guessing won me $100!

Whether or not you guess in your football poll or make calculated choices each week, do you think you could predict the two teams to be in this year’s Super Bowl? The season is just starting but you probably can tell how some teams are going to be from last week’s showings OR you can just flip a coin and guess with me.

Why not give it a try? http://a.pgtb.me/LWXbH8

Fantasy football is a craze that has swept the U.S. Millions of people every year sit at their computers analyzing players and sweating over decisions, but why is this game so popular?  I have been a fantasy player for at least 8 years now and have been the commissioner of my family/friends league for 5 years now and I have identified a few reasons why I think it’s so much fun.

The first is obviously the competition.  It is great to have bragging rights over your friends when you beat them and you can brag all year long if you win the championship. For my league we have an added bonus because for the last 3 years we have done our draft at Buffalo Wild Wings and when you do that you get $100 Gift Cards and a Championship Flag.  When we hold our draft there my dad pays for everyone but then he keeps $90 of the gift cards and gives $10 to the winner.  That’s great to get a free meal from BW3, but the flag is what it’s all about.  My brother and my friend each have a flag and when I see it in their rooms it rubs me the wrong way, yes I’m very competitive.  Competition is always what drives the people in my league.

The second factor would be the ability to root for (or against) players on a lot of different teams.  Most people would only care about their favorite one or two teams and not pay much attention to any other games, but when playing fantasy football you could potentially have a player in over half of the games.  You’ll have an urge to keep checking the scores of those games to see how your player is doing.

Lastly, it’s so easy!  If you’re wondering why fantasy football has so many more players than baseball or basketball, this is why.  With fantasy football you only have to check your team once a week since that’s how often the teams play.  It’s not like basketball or baseball where there are games every night.  For people with busy schedules this takes 5-10 minutes per week to move your players around.  If you want to trade or add/drop players that’s only another few minutes, that’s it!

Those are the 3 reasons I like fantasy football and if you think there’s a more important reason you can post below and share your opinion!  The only downside to fantasy is when a main player on your team is playing your favorite team (the Colts for me), you have to decide if you want your player to score a lot or if you are going to root for your team.  It can be tough if you are close to winning your game. Fantasy Football is great fun between friends and I highly recommend starting a league at work or with family and friends.  The bragging rights are definitely worth it.