Now for those of you who at least somewhat care about what’s on television, let me offer a few quick thoughts before I get to my real point.

• I did think that it was a bit odd that Jericho got renewed but a nut campaign. While it is indeed a neat story, and I do like the show, I’m starting to wonder if they agreed to order the seven new “mid-season” episodes so they’d have some new content in the can. That’s not really that far of a stretch is it? And who wouldn’t do that if you can see where things were headed in advance? Smart move in my opinion. And I will be watching.
• I also found it odd that only one show has been officially canceled so far and even shows like Cavemen are still seeing the light of day (I’ve not watched a full episode, but from what I’ve read, it doesn’t seem to get much love from the media and the bloggers). But when there’s really no mid-season, you might as well go with what is already available, right?
• It does sound like the writers have a valid argument (getting paid a small fee once with no royalties), and note that I have no love for the TV execs, but please guys, come to a fair resolution fast before:
  1. you’re not going to have a job to come back to and
  2. our televisions are subjected to even more “reality” garbage

Now with that said, here’s my point. Sports and entertainment strikes are a good thing.  Why?  Because they give me extra time.

From my postings, you can deduct that I do like television (especially Sci-Fi) and sports. But during the hockey strike a few years ago it became apparent just how much time I waste watching sports and other television and I have seriously cut back my “consumption”.

Hockey is no longer on television or cable on a regular basis, so I don’t watch that very often. Plus Comcast seems to have killed their “Hockey Live” streaming service this year, so it’s not usually an option anyway. (There’s no Comcast love from me.)  However, if you were to follow one team through a complete 82 game regular season, you spend 8 and a half, 24 hour days watching.

Baseball is good in September and October. Don’t get me wrong. I love baseball, especially attending games, but the time investment of 162 regular season games is way too much. If you only follow one team and watch every game and they only average two hours per game (which is a little low), that comes out to 13 and a half, 24 hour days over the course of a season. That makes the twelve hours of a sitcom (with commercials) sound like nothing.

Basketball. I don’t need to touch this much. And I’m probably one of the few Hoosiers in the state who doesn’t care much for basketball, college or pro, unless it is NCAA tournament time. (I love the brackets and those three weeks of college hoops.) At an 82 game season (for the pros), like hockey, it is still time consuming, coming in at around 7, 24 hour days a season, per team. Luckily on the college level I am no longer tempted to watch since the Big Ten Network took over and Comcast is trying to play the victim. (Sorry guys, I’m not buying it on either side.)

Football. OK, this one hurts to even mention and maybe it would be good if the NFL went on a strike (in addition to having the NFL Network, which Comcast has put on a “sports tier”) and every NCAA conference started their own channel (which Comcast refuses to air if I don’t shell out some extra dough). Because this one does suck up my time and I’m glad that it only lasts four months for the regular season (three months for college). Just on the pro level, we’re talking about 2 full days a season if I only watch the Colts games and don’t watch the pre and post game programming. But of course, on a typical weekend (Thursday-Monday) I semi-watch at least two college games and semi-watch three pro games (I do actually watch the entire Colts game when I’m not busy doing something else). While I’m not always glued to the tube (it’s often just on in the background), that still adds up to a lot of time. And please don’t ask about Bowl Week.

To put it into perspective, if over the course of a year I watched the regular season of one NHL team, one MLB team, one NBA team and one NFL team, that would equal an entire month of watching sports on TV, which doesn’t include any college games, nor time to sleep or do anything else.  And that also doesn’t include any television programs that I might want to watch.

So as you can see, it’s not such a big loss if sports and television programs that I actually want to watch just go away. It’s actually probably better that way as I have a whole lot more time on my hands to do things that need to be done.  So go on with your strike as long as you want.  I will find other, more productive, things to do with my time.

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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!

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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.

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While it’s a little hard to tell where you really stand in preseason games, it’s clear that the defense needs some improvement, but overall didn’t do too bad by only giving up 16 points.   While 16 points isn’t a stellar number, with our starting offensive we’ll win almost any game that we can hold an opponent to under 16 points so long as our offense or special teams don’t give away some free points.

That said, the time of possession for the opposing offense, especially early in the game, worries me a little.  We have a very fast offense which is useful, but our defense is a bit slow and allows teams to charge up the field with the run while chipping away at the clock.  Luckily our defense only allowed the Cowboys to reach the end zone once last night, but in the regular season I don’t see that happening.  Something must be done to give these guys a more level playing field as far as rest time goes.  But it is only preseason, right?

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The WORLD CHAMPION Indianapolis Colts kick off the 2007 NFL preseason tonight against the Dallas Cowboys, and you can be assured that I’ll be watching even though it doesn’t matter for the season standings.

I think that our offense will be stellar again this season, but the “D” is a huge question mark. So seeing what sort of defense we can put together in the preseason will matter this year and if we can do better than the seasons in which we had to put up 35+ points to win a game,we should have a chance for another good run.

And boy, is our schedule a doozie with only a handful of seemingly “easy” wins. But that’s to be expected with wining the Super Bowl, so we can’t really complain too much, especially since New England is on our turf.

Here’s the complete run down:

Go Colts!

* All times local to Indianapolis. Kickoff Times may change after Week 11 due to Flex Scheduling.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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This week Jeff & Brian discuss:

SPORTS – FOOTBALL

• NFL’s lawyers sack church’s game plan
• Indy to make 2011 Super Bowl bid
• Palmer: Bengals’ run of arrests have to stop
• Chargers’ Kiel Cited for Urination
• Foley files civil suit against officer, city over shooting

SPORTS – BASEBALL

• Yankee Stadium to Host ‘08 All-Star Game
• Provisions in revised Bonds deal holding up process
• Bonds can lose contract if indicted: source

SPORTS – BASKETBALL

• No. 25 Indiana ends Badgers’ 17-game win streak
• Green, Campbell lift No. 11 Butler to seventh straight win

TASER NEWS

• Cop shocks naked, greased student

SQUIRREL NEWS (courtesy of squirreldish.com)

• ‘Gender’ Blamed for Katie Couric’s Low Ratings

ANIMALS

• Florida hunter bags a hermaphrodite deer
• Raw Cougar Meat Blamed for Trichinosis

OTHER

• Mexicans protest as tortilla crisis hurts Calderon
• Big baby causes sensation in Cancun
• Lavender Oil May Spur Breasts in Boys
• Student wants to ‘rent’ a girlfriend
• City fights leaky carnival crowd

HOUSE KEEPING

• Leave us a voicemail at 317-215-7078
• Snail mail us at:
  Trolley Dodgers Podcast
  c/o: Watershed Studio, LLC
  P.O. Box 78306
  Indianapolis, Indiana 46268
• Recorded, edited & encoded by Watershed Studio, LLC in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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