This week Jeff & Brian discuss:

ANNOUNCEMENT #1

• New Podcast Format — Well, sort of new anyway. Starting with episode #27 we’re going to be focusing on Sports & Entertainment news, with a continued focus on our local Indianapolis scene as well. And of course we’ll still cover the occasional Squirrel News. So, unless it pertains to sports and entertainment, the odd news is going elsewhere…but not too far away (see announcement #2).

SPORTS – BASEBALL

• Buehrle tosses first no-hitter of season
• Barry Bonds blasts No. 738 to help Giants edge Cardinals 6-5 in 12

SPORTS – FOOTBALL

• Urlacher fined $100,000 for Super Bowl hat
• Colts to host Saints in NFL season opener
• Patriots-Colts play again Nov. 4
• Colts’ David gets offer from Saints
• Colts sign LB Boiman to one-year deal
• Sorgi signs Colts offer sheet
• Bledsoe calls it quits
• Jones says he will appeal suspension
• Packers WR Robinson on electronic monitoring
• Moon arrested for investigation of DUI

SPORTS – BASKETBALL

• Pacers’ season ends with loss
• Pistons’ Murray not hurt in shooting
• Ohio State’s Oden to enter NBA draft: report
• Big Ten adds to basketball schedule

SPORTS – HOCKEY

• Two Panthers Hockey Players Arrested

SPORTS – TENNIS

• Tennis Fundraiser Goes Wrong

SPORTS – OLYMPICS

• Sewers to help heat 2010 Olympic village
• Chicago is U.S. candidate to host 2016 Games

SPORTS – OTHER

• Astronaut expects odd challenges in space marathon

SQUIRREL NEWS (courtesy of squirreldish.com)

• CBS fires Imus
• CBS says Couric unaware video essay plagiarized
• BREAKING NEWS: Don Imus to join Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News

ENTERTAINMENT – MUSIC

• Belgrade horses may be drugged for Stones gig
• Rolling Stone Richards “snorted father’s ashes” – April Fools?
• Ozzy hits sobriety milestone with new album
• Rapper Snoop avoids jail in L.A. case
• Johnny Cash’s Tennessee house burns down

ENTERTAINMENT – MOVIES

• Christina Ricci gears up for “Speed Racer”

ENTERTAINMENT – OTHER

• Custody of Anna Nicole’s baby still unclear
• O.J. Simpson book sale canceled

ANNOUNCEMENT #2

• Coming VERY soon from Jeff, Brian & Surge Bucket Media…Utter Oddcast. The odd news segments truly warranted their own venue and we’re thrilled to add the “oddcast” to the mix. If you’ve enjoyed the odd news from previous Trolley Dodgers episodes, you’ll love the Utter Oddcast.

HOUSE KEEPING

• Leave us a voicemail at 317-565-4250
• Snail mail us at:
  Trolley Dodgers Podcast
  c/o: Surge Bucket Media
  P.O. Box 78306
  Indianapolis, Indiana 46268
• Recorded, edited & encoded by Watershed Studio, LLC in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Here are some of my overall thoughts surrounding the Super Bowl:

DWIGHT CLARK & REGGIE BUSH

They seriously need to take the microphones away from the field reporters & commentators. On more than one occasion they referred to Dallas Clark as Dwight Clark (and so was the case among the sports writers as well) and during the game they even talked about Peyton Manning’s touchdown to Reggie Bush (not Reggie Wayne). Seriously folks, please do your homework before a game of this magnitude. You’ve had two weeks to familiarize yourself with the rosters of both teams and to figure out what Johnson’s and Clark’s were on the field, which Clark is long retired and which Reggie was playing in the big game. Come on, you’re getting paid for this, right?

INDIANAPOLIS 2011 SUPER BOWL BID

While seemingly many people don’t want a Super Bowl to occur “up North”, my hunch is that a big part of that would be from the whiny media who merely want to relive their college spring break days half clothed on the beach for a week with a beer in hand and attending parties every night for the week leading up to the big game. While that is nice and all, did they forget that there’s always the Pro Bowl in Hawaii the following week? And I bet it kills them that the NFL Combine is in Indy every year.

Anyway, I think that we would do a great job hosting. We’ve done it year in and year out with two large races (and a third one that most of us don’t think too highly of), Big Ten basketball tournaments, NCAA basketball tournaments (including multiple Final Fours) and the Pan American Games, not to mention the myriad of other events that we host throughout the year. And anyone that has traveled much at all can tell you that even the worst traffic in Indy isn’t really all that bad. The only real issue would be the weather outside, but as for a game you’d have no problems at all like the rain soaked game last night.

MVP

It’s nice to see Peyton get the MVP, but I think he knows as well as the rest of us that there wasn’t really a stand out MVP and that it was truly an all around team effort. Maybe Rex Grossman should have been considered the MVP as an honorary member of the Colts. Seriously though, we were getting close to this sort of team play last year and this year it finally clicked. Nothing against Edge, but the dual running back plan worked fabulously.

COMMERCIALS

I wouldn’t say that there was anything that I really liked this year, except the David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey CBS promo was hilarious. If I had to choose a favorite normal commercial, I’d say probably the Career Builder one where the delivery guy gets into the action.

PARTY IN INDY

The town is unofficially closed today, including many of the schools. The Indianapolis Public School (IPS) even closed, not due to the frigid weather nor directly to the Colts winning, but instead because their bus drivers decided to call in today and there was no way to get the kids to school (excellent and why didn’t they think of that while I was in IPS!?).

Monument Circle was packed last night, but I couldn’t convince my podcasting co-hort to join me in the festivities so I headed home after the party and watched the coverage into the wee hours of the morning. There were only a five “booze” related arrests and one unclear gunfire incident (someone apparently got a welt from being shot by some sort of gun). Overall, not to bad and no one was out flipping cars and setting them ablaze.

Today people began cramming the stores to land some Colts gear and there’s a parade at 4pm which ends at a pep rally at the Hoosier/RCA Dome before our Pro Bowlers head out to Hawaii tomorrow.

The town is electric and rocking and we’re ready to see what next season brings, but in the meantime we’re going to enjoy the Lombardi Trophy that we’ve all longed to see on display in Indianapolis, but have wondered when and if that would occur. While we all know that this is just a game, it is something that is truly bringing the city together and you just can’t put the ambiance into words. It’s just amazing to say the least.

“Look at the nations and watch –
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told. ”

-Habakkuk 1:5 (NIV)

Everywhere you go there are flags, banners, Colts gear, etc. and everyone you see says “Go Colts!” to you in passing as if it were your usual Christmas greeting.  And Christmas is probably the best way to describe the feeling around town.  There’s just something in the air that you can’t quite explain, and beyond the occasional football Scrooge everyone seems to be into even if they’re not normally into football.

So this is a quite exciting time for those of us in the Circle City and hopefully our offense and defense will show up tonight and shine like we have all seen during the regular season.  My only worry is that almost everyone I’ve heard from in the national media gives the game to the Colts by a touchdown or two.  While my gut has to agree with their assessment, the up front “no contest” expectations aren’t always a good thing.  But I’m sure that our Colts are up for the challenge.

Now I must get ready for the evening festivities.  Go Colts and Go Horse!!!

* And yes, for the No Fun League knuckleheads, on a larger than 55″ screen and with more than one television.  And yes, I will be discussing the game afterwards as well…what in the world is the “for private use of our audience” warning all about?  And hopefully no Bengals or Chargers will be arrested before, during or after the game.

• Getting Inside a Great Receiver’s Mind
  Marvin Harrison speaks to the media
• Column: Manning vs. Grossman a Contrast
• James happy Colts made it to Miami
• Manning Savors Shot at the Title
• Even the squirrels know
  Katie looks a little biased, egh?
• Bears helmet breaks on statue of lion
  Don’t Bears break just about everything?
• NFL to Offer Video Downloads on iTunes
  Neat idea, though I’d rather record it myself.
• Indy to make 2011 Super Bowl bid
  Now it’s official
• “Hot” patients setting off U.S. radiation alarms
  Radioactive people are everywhere? The players better stay out of the stands.
• Chargers’ Kiel Cited for Urination
  The Chargers and the Bengals need a serious off-season talking too…and could you please stay out of the football news until after the Super Bowl & Pro Bowl?
• Raw Cougar Meat Blamed for Trichinosis
  Who’s eating cougar meat? And eating it raw!? I guess that hasn’t made its way to Indiana yet.
• French health minister seeks nap study
  Sounds good to me…only if I weren’t running my own company
• Chicken Born With Duck’s Webbed Feet
  Next stop, your chicken nuggets
• Military Shows Off New Ray Gun
  As mentioned in Trolley Dodgers Podcast #20
• Bonds can lose contract if indicted: source
  But why sign him? Oh, the steroid induced “record”, right?
• Yankee Stadium to Host ’08 All-Star Game
  Farewell to Yankee Stadium
• Student wants to ‘rent’ a girlfriend
  Ugh…in this country that’s called something else.
• ‘Gender’ Blamed for Katie Couric’s Low Ratings
  Riiight….I’m sure that’s the culprit

The game was quite exciting and everything that a true Championship game should be like (though a bit taxing on the nerves of fans). And you college football BCS knuckleheads should take some notes…here you had the #3 & #4 seeds in the AFC battling it out in easily one of the best NFL games in history proving that the post season is a completely different animal that the regular season…and I can guarantee you that viewership was far better that if it had been a blowout game.

With that said, the town is hopping and I’m ready for an excellent & historic (the first black coaches in the Super Bowl and one guaranteed to be the first black coach to win the Super Bowl…very cool regardless of what your own skin tone may be) football game with the Chicago Bears. Man, it’s about time AND we have to pull out the win!

GO COLTS!!!