SWITZERLAND FORUM

[Emeritus]

If I can steal a line from a Saints fan, our substitutes played so poorly against the Vikings that the starters on the sidelines wore bags over their heads. Actually, our backup quarterback Leinart looked sharp, completing 13 of 16. But every single drive was killed by holding penalties. The vets need to teach those kids how to not get caught.

Oh, after the first three preseason games the Texans were leading the NFL in total defense. OUR joke defense!

[cklaurence]

That's pretty funny, Em. Our second teamers didn't look all that bad for the most part when I finally saw the game last night, but they were playing against Dallas' second teamers, who did look pretty awful. Poor kicker missed 3 or 4 field goals from pretty close up. It's hard to tell if our team is so good or theirs is so bad in a situation like that, but I guess next week will tell the tale...

[SteveTheCat]

CK I support you always and want you to know that!!

[cklaurence]

CK I support you always and want you to know that!!

Thanks, Steve. We liberals are a rare bunch these days. Counting on my fingers and toes, it's you, me and Try Thinking, lol. It's always nice to see faces from the old crowd with their thumbs up coming around in support of me--especially when it's my brother that's giving me a hard time .
It's interesting to find how many conservative friends I've picked up through my sports blogging--and I mean really dear friends at that. Ms. Bags, Absolute Truth, Your grumpy other half (even though he has chosen to fly away for the time being ), Smitty, Maine and so many others. Fortunately, at least I have learned to be more respectful in my political discussions and I listen more carefully before I respond. Their friendship is more important to me at this point in my life than all of the bullshit that comes with politics...

[dredwak]

[SteveTheCat]

Yes dearest dred... Like the scarecrow I love you most of all

[dredwak]

[Emeritus]

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Too bad this isn't over San Antonio, where it's really needed. Here in Beaumont it is rainy, gusty and thirty degrees cooler than it was yesterday. Everybody is thrilled. The Monday night low is expected to be sixty degrees. After months of temperatures over one hundred, everybody is much relieved.

[Emeritus]

(Beaumont it between Lake Charles and Houston, where the weather is.)

[cklaurence]

I YOU, DRED.

[Emeritus]

I have always had an aversion to politicians and politics. It is hard for me to trust people who are convinced that they know what is best for me. I have the most trouble with the fundamentalist ones, who feel that they have a mandate from God to run my life. I've just thought of an oxymoron: liberal fundamentalist.

[cklaurence]

Well maybe that's why I love football so much. I can throw myself into it fully, without letting anything else breaking through during the entire season! I eat, drink, sleep football, football, football.

HAPPINESS IS FOOTBALL!

[Baglady]

Lots of "rumors" about Peyton needing another med procedure. Hoping (and yes, praying) the reports are bogus....
IF he's good to go:

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[Emeritus]

This is what I posted on the Texans page at Fox Sports on the subject:

Emeritus
9/5/2011 7:30:18 AM
I hope that the rumor is false. Football would be diminished without Peyton Manning. He's one of the greatest players that I ever saw. I certainly want the Texans to own the Colts and win the division, but I don't want it to be against a crippled team. I don't want the naysayers claiming that the Texans victory was somehow tainted because Peyton didn't play. A win is a win, but I'd rather beat Peyton.

[cklaurence]

Yeah, that's how I feel about all the teams owning the Dolphins since Danny left. What fun is it to be able to beat a team with no owner, no coach, no solid QB, receivers, blah, blah, blah?
I sure do hope Peyton rumors are false and/or malicious Ms B. Losing my Brett and Peyton in one year would be way too much for me. To think that Brady will be up and running and the 'glory guy' this year would be enough to turn my stomach and make me sicker than I already am...

[dredwak]

[Emeritus]

When the Texans played the Jets in preseason, Wade called for an all-out rush. They sacked the Jets quarterbacks seven times and won without difficulty. The Cowboys might want to approach the game in the same way.

[cklaurence]

There are some really interesting match-ups for week one. I'm looking forward to it. Sunday I was thinking of taking Try sightseeing, but we're going to have to work it out between games. I have to check out game times. Our game is covered--MNF. Have to see where the Indy/Houston game is playing (I'm getting the Pittsburgh game here at home dammit) and I'm pretty sure that's where we'll be. Too important a game for Ms B to miss out on, for sure! I am so psyched for the weekend. Got the two inside guest rooms finished just in time, as the guest house is under construction. It's being pressure cleaned, patched painted (inside and out) and all new stuff. It's just a studio, but I like to keep it ready for company, even though I do have room inside the house. You never know when you're going to have a crowd. Josh moved into his apartment last week, and before his room was cold, Abigail had commandeered it. It's the largest bedroom in the house--even bigger than the master (mine), and it's downstairs on the other side of the house. Our house is built like a fortress, close a door to a room and you don't hear anything from the other rooms--bricks are amazing. I guess that's because a builder was the one who built it for his own family. He was the first owner, second was a famous singer and concert pianist and third was us. It was built in 1949 and why am I boring you with all of this? I've been so chatty the past couple of days. I'll stop now--if anyone is still reading, apologies.

[Emeritus]

As a matter of fact, I found it very interesting, ck. As somebody who was raised and again lives in an old house, I'm interested in their construction.

[cklaurence]

Thanks, Em. An old home is a never-ending project. When I was relatively young, 1955, my family moved into a home that was built in a new subdivision. My mom and her good friend went shopping one day and came home to the husbands who had been babysitting, and asked what they'd bought, they answered, "new houses." They'd put $10. each down on homes to be built for $12,500. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3 stories--basement, midlevel with living room, Florida room/dining room and kitchen and bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. In the 50s they were still building good, solid homes, even at that price, so I never knew what homes were like after the first forty years, but I found out when I moved into this home in 1982. It was built in 1949, and had never been through any updating! It still had separate room air conditioners that were so loud they could blow your eardrums out. Between the guest house and the main house we had six bathrooms and none of them worked! (It had been closed down for a year--long story.) Needless to say, we had our hands full. I had two babies and one in my tummy and was leaving a gorgeous apartment on the fifteenth floor of a young building overlooking the ocean, Indian Creek and the Bay (corner apartment--spectacular views). Had to move because it was only 2 bedrooms and I already had one baby in my bedroom. I must have cried for six months while this house was under construction.
We had a crew practically living in, with some Cuban guy who played Mr. Wonderful and meanwhile was telling all the workers how to bilk us for as much money as they could. By the time we found out the work was shoddy and we were being railroaded, we'd spent a fortune. We were in our thirties, and it was a good lesson to learn early in life. Just because someone is smiling and saying what you want to hear, doesn't mean they are not twisting a knife deep, deep into your back... It left us cynical for a long time. Peter found the coffee pot that he used to make coffee in every day and I could see the rage in his face still, after all these years.
Nah, I'm lying. We didn't learn anything. We still believe in people too easily and end up regretting stuff all the time. Maybe by the time we're ready to leave this life we'll have it down right, lol.

[Emeritus]

I decided long ago that I would rather be taken for a sucker than to lose my faith in people. Whatever I may be, I refuse to be cynical and hardhearted. I'm sure that some think that I'm an easy mark, but it is a price that I am willing to pay. God please give me a generous heart.

[dredwak]

To NFL Fans:

This may be the first week of the regular season, but it has the feel of a Super Bowl week for the NFL. One of the reasons is that we will unite with the rest of the nation on Sunday to reflect on the anniversary of 9/11 and honor the spirit of America.

All of us in the NFL appreciate your patience and understanding through what was a most unusual and challenging off-season. Now we are ready to enjoy what the NFL is all about -- great players, great fans, intense competition, the performance and passion surrounding America's most popular game.

Thanks to the hard work of our players, club owners, teams, and staff, the NFL's pledge to deliver great football to our fans has been strengthened and is more secure than ever. We start the regular season and the race to Super Bowl XLVI with tremendous anticipation and momentum.

We want you most of all to sit back and enjoy it – in our stadiums, on television, and wherever else you connect with the NFL. Football fans enjoying football is what we love.

Be assured, however, that we believe in better. Players, owners, coaches, team and league staff – working together -- will be putting our collective foot on the accelerator. We have more work to do to improve our league and game on a variety of fronts. We will do that by continuing to focus on the quality of the game and innovation. And we will do it relentlessly.

On behalf of everyone in the NFL, thank you for your incredible support, and thank you especially for sharing your views with us. Please keep it coming. We value your opinion because it helps make us better. The passion of our fans and communities is what makes the NFL so special.
Thank you again. Let's get it started.


Roger Goodell

[cklaurence]

To Roger Goodell:

What a Crock!

[Emeritus]

LOL. What else could he say? "I know that we pissed off the fans with our greed and selfishness, but it's over now, so come on back. We want your money."

[cklaurence]

That would have set better with me than all the bullshit, Em. It's the same stuff the Dolphin owner is spewing at us, and I can't even get a call back when I'm trying to get an extra ticket and parking pass. I am getting sicker and sicker over the lack of honesty and the outright greed. I am definitely thinking about cancelling my tickets after this season, and even thinking of getting out of my tix for the rest of this one. Why should I continue to be taken advantage of, leave every game aggravated and insulted--not by the team, but by the callousness of the owner and the presentation he sets forth that has nothing to do with football, but only to do with his ego and dream of being surrounded by movie 'stars?' I love football, I love my team, but I can't stand watching home games turn into sure losses, with an almost funereal atmosphere...

[Emeritus]

I was just watching one of the football shows and the "experts" were at a loss about the Dolphins off-season moves. They wondered at the management's objective

[Emeritus]

Hmm. The s. at the end of that was left off. I did something wrong.

[cklaurence]

No one can figure out management's objective--nor has anyone been able to for the past thirteen years--it's just gone considerably downhill since Ross came on-board. I can't begin to pretend I understand for sure. He let some really good looking prospects go (very unexpectedly) for what? So NE could pick them up! Now what does that tell you?
For the good news...Try arrived last night. He and Peter have already gone on their adventures today. Peter's arranged for Try to go flying so he can do a little photography of the coast and perhaps the Glades. Hopefully they'll have good weather and a great time. I'll be driving across Alligator Alley to pick Ms Bags up this afternoon. Tonight we'll be doing dinner at City Hall - The Restaurant. Tomorrow I'm still looking for a bar or restaurant that's got the Indy game playing--and I know Try would like to tour the Beaches, and especially the South Beach scene. Then, of course, Monday--the height of our Demon/Diva Weekend--Dolphins v. NE. I just don't know about my dear dear Phins.

[Emeritus]

As I've been telling my friends on the Colts page at Faux, anything can happen. The Patriots game could be a turning point for the Dolphins. Most importantly, enjoy your company and have a wonderful weekend!

[dredwak]