Here’s my hit list of thoughts about the game and season that I don’t have time to expand upon right now:

• For the past two seasons, the Patriots season has came to end with a loss to a Manning.
• With the Patriots losing, the season no longer seems a loss. After the Colts lost to San Diego in the second round of the playoffs (and the second time this season), I seriously didn’t care about the playoffs any more this season, and my only interest was in seeing the Patriots lose. And honestly, I’m a little shocked due to what I know of football history.
• As I said before the game, the “odds” makers were off their rockers. These two teams played a tight game in week 17 and the Giants have been playing better while the Patriots seemed to be slowing down towards the end (just look at Tom Brady’s touchdown numbers plus the win margins). A two touchdown win either way was highly unlikely.
• Only after losing in the Super Bowl, the mainstream media admitted that a win by the Patriots would have been covered with a”cloud” due to their being caught cheating. Ya think!? Now maybe you backpeddlers can stop trying to teach my children that cheating is okay, as is “winning” at any cost.
• Roger Goodell needs to get some kahones and some smarts…
  • Fines and the “loss” of the 31st draft pick as the only means of punishment for cheating is ridiculous. Please, take a page from the NCAA’s punishment book…
    • Fines (the NFL has figured that one out).
    • A deduction in a teams’ salary cap for a certain period of time (to equate to the loss of scholarships in college). I’d personally allow them to keep their draft picks since that is the future of the team, not the “now”, which is who should be punished.
    • No post season play at all for a certain period of time, regardless of regular season record (that one might have worked out well for the Patriots this year though, depending who was still on the team after the salary cap cuts).
    • But we know the later items will probably never happen due to money and there’s probably some clause somewhere that forbids such action. I’m no lawyer, but I can imagine they’ve covered just about every angle.
    • I have heard the excuse that, “every team is doing it”. If that were the case, dish out the punishment across the board and give yourself a bit of integrity.
  • The destruction of the evidence is mind boggling and throws up conspiracy theory flags. I’m interested to see what the Senate is able to pull from that, but regardless, that just seems like a foolish move to me if there was nothing to hide.
• While Peyton still got quite a bit of air time, Eli has finally stepped out of Peytons’ shadow, at least somewhat. Eli still has a way to go to being as good as Peyton, but he also has his ring now, and did it faster than Peyton.

That’s all for now…let the usual flaming from Patriots fans begin. In the meantime, I’m personally looking forward to the Combine here in Indy, the 2008 draft and then what will hopefully be another spectacular season (including what should be a good game up in Green Bay). Wouldn’t it be a nice story line to have a Manning vs. Manning Super Bowl?

• Jeff & I had a DJ gig which was fun and interesting at one point. It’s just a hobby and both of us are extremely busy, so don’t expect that to be a common activity for us. And for those of you wondering, I’m the DJ, he’s the rapper. (And if you don’t get the reference you’re either too young OR you’re too old.)
• I had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe for the first time since the sale and I have to say I like the old menu better and the prices seem even higher than before.
• I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra down at the Fieldhouse. Great two hour and forty-five minute show. A little loud at the end (how old am I?) and probably not for everyone, but if you’re into “rock opera”, you’ve got to check it out.
• My wife and I celebrated our anniversary. (Christmas weddings are awesome by the way.) Man, do the years pass quickly and looking back at the photos, there’s no denying that I’m looking older.
• I saw Sweeney Todd (for my anniversary). If you’re not familiar with the story line I’ll just say that it’s NOT appropriate for children AND it is NOT appropriate for some adults. Johnny Deep did an excellent job and Tim Burton worked his usual magic. But it is a bit bloody and “dark”, so don’t see it solely on my “thumbs up”.
• I ate at the Rathskeller for the first time (and also for my anniversary). German food is excellent, though I’m not sure why it is a bit pricey (at least it has been at the German restaurants that I’ve been.)
• Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, Christmas get-togethers’ & family time.
• My wife and I had our annual viewing of How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, guest staring Lily Tomlin and Edward Asner, while we wrapped presents on Christmas Eve. Even if you’re not a fan of the X-Files, this is a must see episode and in my opinion the best of the bunch (and I’ve seen them all).
• For the second year running, I watched It’s a Wonderful Life by myself very late Christmas Eve while I was finishing up my own wrapping and Christmas projects (that’s what happens when you procrastinate). This year it occurred to me that this is more of a “guy movie” and why just about every female I know would prefer to watch White Christmas or Holiday Inn (both of which I don’t have to watch every year). But It’s a Wonderful Life resonates with me and I’d guess that’d be the case with just about every male who has a family to take care of. And the whole small business vs. big business conflict also draws me in.
• Also late Christmas Eve I put in the short old version of Miracle on 34th Street. Classic.
• I watched A Christmas Story with some friends. That movie never gets old. “My old man … worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master.”
• We watched The Polar Express while we put up the tree. Excellent family movie.
• We watched The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. Nowhere near as good as the first two and I’d only suggest buying it to complete the trilogy.
• Jeff & I recorded a few Trolley Dodgers and Utter Oddcast episodes.
• The Future Karnies of America wrote, recorded, mixed and released Karnie Christmas 2007 (a.k.a. Karnie Christmas 3). A fun time was had by all. (#2 is still my favorite, though the recording of #3 is a step up.)
• I started some new blog ventures which should be a bit more “there” within a few months.
• Football, football and more football. Man I love December and January football.
• And of course the usual being a husband, father and small business owner.

So, that give a limited idea of what I’ve been up to. Normal posting should resume shortly.

While I’m glad that there was a veteran available to step in, the loss of Freeney is another painful nail in the injury coffin this season, especially on defense.  But the Colts are still the Colts and will make it through.  Someone who’s a second or third stringer always seems to step up to the task.

That said, let us please be done with the injuries for the season and get on with the rest of the season.  Then we’ll worry about the playoff picture at week 16 or 17.

GO COLTS!

But in the overall scheme of things, the loss last week wasn’t such a huge deal. It only means that there’s a better chance that we’ll have to play in Foxboro in January instead of the comfy Dome.

Now to the game tonight against the San Diego Chargers…

I’ll start on a positive note as to not sound too bitter.

• Our defense (which supposedly sucks according to all “expert” accounts) was excellent. They allowed only 10 points, all in the first half. They had two interceptions. And they recovered a fumble for a touchdown. Oh, and did I mention that they suck?
• Our offense controlled the ball for 60% of the game.
• We had 386 yards of total offense.
• We only had 21 penalty yards.

Now to the more negative, the excuses as to why we lost this one that should have been another mark in the “W” column.

• We just came off of a bad loss.
• Peyton Manning threw a career high six interceptions. Not one. Not two. Not three. Not four. Not even five. SIX interceptions. He had four interceptions total in the whole first half of the season.
• It was raining.
• Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
• We only had 17 active offensive players (and 15 by the end of the game).
• Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
• Our special teams were anything but special, allowing for two touchdowns and not realizing that a touchback, or even an out of bounds kick, is better than giving up a touchdown.
• Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
• Vinny was apparently having trouble seeing where the uprights were located. Twice. (Dare I mention nightmares from our previous kicker who was also one of the NFL’s elite?)
• Peyton Manning threw six interceptions.
• We received the losing end of an “inadvertent” blown whistle after an interception.
• Dare I mention for a sixth time that Peyton Manning threw six interceptions?

Say what you will about the above game killer list, but in my opinion this loss has to rest on Peyton Manning’s shoulders with the ridiculous amount of interceptions. Sure, it’s tempting to point to the special teams issues and the fact that so many players were out of the game on both sides of the ball, but you can’t really do that when your quarterback has an extremely unusual “off night”.

Yes, a few weeks ago Tony Romo proved that you can pull out the win while playing very poorly, but he was really lucky with his five picks and he knew that. And yes, we had ample opportunities to win the game and came close to doing so, but regardless if we had pulled it off, the interception issue seriously needs to be evaluated so it doesn’t happen again. (And you know Peyton is probably already watching the game film as I type this.)

Now don’t get me wrong. Being 7-2 still isn’t bad. And looking at our schedule I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose one or two more games to finish the regular season at either 12-4 or 13-3, still winning the AFC South. But my worst rational fear is that we’ll do this sort of thing in playoff game against a team that can capitalize on these sort of silly mistakes (like the Patriots or the Steelers). It has happened in the past and I’d rather not go there again.

So let me stop rambling about the past and look toward the future. We have seven games left and have a good shot at wrapping up the division and possibly even getting a first round bye for the playoffs (depending upon how the Steelers play). So there’s an outside shot at one home playoff game and a handful of really good playoff games. Another trip to the Super Bowl will not be an easy task, but it is doable. Let’s see how the rest of the regular season shapes up first though.

NOTE: If you want to leave a voicemail comment for The Trolley Dodgers Podcast, you can do so at 317-565-425.

The kids took in quite a haul last night since the weather was nice and since we took them to my parents neighborhood again this year since people actually give out candy there (including full sized candy bars…and hot dogs)…for some reason most people/households in my neighborhood don’t partake in much of anything that involves decorating, landscaping, mingling, etc.  That’s fine I suppose, but it makes for a boring Halloween through New Years.

(Our first Christmas in our house I lit up the entire roof with Christmas lights…which made it easy for people to find our house (and gave me quite an electric bill)…but lately I’ve just stuck with some “icicle” lights and can tell anyone who hasn’t been to our house to look for the house with Christmas lights…and I’m not exaggerating.)

Anyway, back to Halloween for a moment…

We didn’t get started until around 7 pm (so much for the “official” trick-or-treating hours) and wrapped things up around 8:15 pm or so.  Last year it was so cold that I think the kids might have lasted 45 minutes (probably less), but last night was truly ideal…a little brisk but not too cold, on the brink of raining but not raining, with the wind howling and rustling leaves down the street.  Very ideal indeed.

But Halloween is over and now it’s time to start talking turkeys, pies, football and Christmas and New Years parties.  There are only three weeks until Thanksgiving and eight and a half weeks left in the entire year.  Where, oh where, does the time go?

The 2007 Indiana State Fair is over, the kids are in school, football season is under way, my garden will have soon produced its last “fruits”, I’ve already been apple picking (twice), the stores are clearing out the “back to school” and any remaining summer items to make way for Halloween candy, costumes and decorations, and best of all, after a seemingly long hot streak of 90+ degree days, the weather is starting to get back to normal…

While it only lasts for a very brief 6 weeks or so, I love Fall in Indiana and look forward to it with anticipation every year. Due to the hot weather the leaves probably won’t be as vibrant this year, but they should still put on a show. (If you’ve never been to Indiana in October, I encourage you to do so…especially Southern Indiana where we have a ton of trees.)

And while I’m thinking about Fall, we’re currently planning our October shows for Utter Oddcast & the Trolley Dodgers Podcast and we will need your input and help in the coming weeks for stories and such, especially for our themed Halloween podcast(s). Feel free to send items our way. And also, please check out both shows this month. We released a new Trolley Dodgers episode yesterday and will release one more episode this month. And we have a total of nine (yes, you read that right…9!!!) Utter Oddcast episodes that will be release in September (as of today, three are currently available and the other six will be released over the remainder of the month). And please leave us feedback via comment, e-mail form (td, uo) or voicemail at 317-565-4250.  I’ll post more info about that within a few weeks.

But luckily this usually only lasts a few weeks and by mid-September things get much more comfortable and it is quite enjoyable to be outside (until mid-November anyway).

But hey, training for the new football season is underway and the Indiana State Fair is just around the corner, so it’s not all that bad! Bring on the pig skin and pork burgers!

UPDATE

Within a few hours the weather prophets change their mind…

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.