Four In a Row, Baby!

yesterday was a good day.

thursday night i was surprised by a call from sister epiphenita and st. barbara offering me a ticket to yesterday's match-up between the houston texans and the tennessee titans. and how could i say "no"?

luckily for me...sister e is not a big fan of the football. st. barb is.... and you know where i stand on the whole thing.

barbara and i sat 26 rows up from the field in the endzone....lined up directly behind the right hash.

good seats.

i had the best time with barbara... we drank our beer. chatted with the season-ticket holders around us.... we yelled. we jumped out of our seats. we shared some frightfully inappropriate stories that may have shocked any of the straight people around us.

we checked out the cheerleaders and compared notes. we admired my new favorite, kevin walter, and discussed how mario williams scares me a little bit and that turns me on.

and when it was all said and done...it may not have been the prettiest win.... but we broke our seven game losing streak against the titans. final score: 12-13 houston.

for the first time in texans's franchise history... they have won four in a row.

the texans seem to be turning a corner. they have found ways to win ugly...something that has always escaped them in the past. last week they pulled off the win after four turn-overs in green bay.

and yesterday.... the texans became the first team this season to hold tennessee from scoring a single touchdown.

tennessee.... the team with the best record in the nfl at 12-2.

and how did we play? from the houston chronicle today:

Johnson scored the game’s only touchdown on a 13-yard reception from Matt Schaub. Slaton is the only back to rush for at least 100 yards against the Titans, and he has done it twice. He finished with 100 yards on 24 carries, including 46 on the last drive when the Texans were running out the clock.

we looked impressive enough that peter king of sports illustrated actually put houston in his "fine fifteen" at number 15 with the caveat:

What? The Texans at No. 15 over the Jets and Cards, two division leaders? No question.

mr. king, in his monday morning QB column that i always highly recommend, also listed andre johnson as his offensive player of the week:

Andre Johnson, WR, Houston. At various points this year, I've considered Brandon Marshall or Larry Fitzgerald the best receiver in football. Not the past two or three weeks. In the first 20 minutes of Sunday's game against the best team in the conference, Johnson had five catches for 129 yards and a touchdown. He finished with 11 for 207 and the TD. In the first meeting between the teams, in Nashville, Johnson dropped two touchdown passes, so he made this game his personal shot at vindication. He succeeded and went over 100 catches for the season in the process. Johnson is big, fast, acrobatic and, though he doesn't have the soft hands of Fitzgerald, his hands are plenty good to be a superstar for a long time

king also went on to say:

I think if Steve Slaton (last five games: 156, 73, 130, 120, 100 yards) had been playing this big a role all season, he'd be challenging Adrian Peterson for the rushing title right now.

...

I think the receiving race is going to be a good one down the stretch. Andre Johnson's up on Wes Welker, 103 catches to 102, and Johnson has a 98-yard lead on Roddy White for the yardage title. Johnson's amazing. He's averaging a 100-yard receiving game per week. Exactly.

i know this may be confusing to a lot of texans fans.... but this is called praise.

several people are now predicting an above .500 winning season for the texans for the first time in franchise history. next week we play at oakland and should win. then our final game is against chicago at home.

if we can pull these two games off....we'd not only win six straight, but end the season 9-7.

i don't think we're quite a play-off team yet... but we're close. next year, we should honestly be able to hope for our first playoff berth.

fingers crossed.

e.

Notes From All Over: 200th Entry Edition

so....did you know that this would be my 200th blog entry? kinda kooky, huh?

seems like it came out of nowhere...

of course, between the storm. the fifteen (yes, count them: 15) days without power. this week being the close of last month's books at work. not to mention the 2009 budget was due this week.

and did i mention i didn't have power for fifteen days?

yeah... this blog entry came out of nowhere.

so, i kinda feel like a bit of a recap. maybe some thoughts on the past 200. probably more thoughts on the past three weeks.

but some thoughts. for the 200th entry...

hurricane horror stories
it seems so long ago now that a series on the horrors of the storm just seem, well, dated.

my friend steven and i hunkered down in my place with his two dogs, 96 bottles of water, six gallons of water, lots of bread and peanut butter... and WAY too much junk food. oh - and booze.

i really couldn't sleep as the night of the 12th turned into the early morning hours of the 13th of september. by 1:40 am - we had lost power. by 3am - we were in the thick of it, as the man says.

i spent the next three hours plugging up leaks on the north and west side of my apartment like some little dutch boy. all the while listening to the eerie screech of metal across cement from the construction site across the street from me. i thought for sure it was the mobile leasing office just waiting to fly into my apartment.

but it was so dark outside...and there was so much wind and rain... i couldn't see shit. and everytime i tried to peek outside the window - it felt like it was ready to pop in on me... so i ran and hid.

it was a long night... when the daylight began to break through the clouds and the pissing down rain of the early morning hours... i saw the road outside was a river... it was a giant storage unit that had been blown across the cement... and a shit load of downed trees, fences and shingles.

i am happy to admit: i was scared. i no longer need to wish for a category one hurricane.

just a tropical storm, in the future.

oh - and did i mention that steven slept through all of this.....?

15 days
it took centerpoint energy 15 days to get the lights on for me. all around me there were lights. i've discussed this. on the 15th day...early afternoon. the trucks descended on my neighborhood like bears (gay, not the animals) on an all you can eat hotdog contest. lots of hunky men flared out across the streets. and at about 4:20 pm... i watched the centerpoint man rise up to meet the blown transformer across the street from my living room.

he took the old one down. he hung a new one. he flipped the latch....and i turned to look at my ceiling fan.

15 days later...it began to spin.

jo jones: power woman
power was restored to my place of business five days after the storm. bigger problem: there was a giant oak on the building.

but councilwoman jolanda jones of houston came to the rescue and put us on the top of the priority list. (it's good being a nonprofit.) four pieces of heavy equipment and a crane later... the tree was off by friday. we reopened on monday.

jolanda jones was on survivor. and she pulled someone from a burning car a couple of months ago.

she's a superwoman. vote for her.

the election
i suppose i would be remiss if i didn't mention the election in my 200th entry. believe it or not.... the election has been going on for as long as i've been blogging.

madness, i know... but like crack for us politicos.

last week ole cryptkeeper mccain and the messiah known as obama debated in mississippi.

the debate was called a draw by most but i honestly felt like obama came off as the winner. and i say this with all due impartiality. mccain seemed confused and off his game throughout the debate... and he would fall back on stock answers obviously given to him by his handlers. "record" this and "leadership" that... and he would just unjustly attack obama with out and out lies.

and obama didn't let him get away with it....

obama was able to talk about a broader range of issues... from the economy to foreign policy. and he held his own on the stage with mccain in a foreign policy debate. was he great? no... but he was solid.

here's a simple way to know obama won the debate. my older brother is about as red as they come.... hates hillary like a good republican should... but he's not thrilled with either obama or mccain.

but it bugged the shit out of him that mccain would never...not once...look at obama.

obama would address mccain directly. he would look at him while he spoke. (you guys know i'm all about body language... just look back at my coverage of the hillary/obama debates.) but mccain just couldn't even bring himself to look at obama once.

and that really turned my brother off.

tonight... palin takes on biden and i'm probably looking forward to this more than any other debate.

my friend sally thinks biden should just bring out a globe, spin it and ask palin to name the president of any country his finger lands on. hell, ask her to name the country!

but i think biden has to be careful.... he can't come across as condescending or beating up on palin. he has a fine line he must walk.

palin...after interviews with gibson, couric and hannity, expectations are low. but don't let her fool you. we've already seen that she can charm a crowd.

also of note: both are gaffe machines. so let's see what happens.

football
the hurricane really fucked up my football viewing. i lost all of week 2 that first weekend. no college ball. no nfl. this a week after tom brady of the pats was injured and declared done for the season.

i can only imagine what i missed from the talking heads of the fox pregame show.

the following weekend... i was able to watch my beloved houston texans humiliate themselves. my friend rhoda and i went to a sports bar to watch the game. it was awful... the game, not the sports bar. the sports bar was, um, okay... some hot guys. but not nearly enough.

the texans also lost this past weekend..... but at least they were in the game against jacksonville.

and the texas longhorns are looking good so far this year. AP has them ranked at #5 after some major upsets last weekend. but i can't let this segment on football end without a shout out to my dear friend kristen.

kristen is a texas alum. and a good friend... she offered me access to her home (that never lost power) throughout my fifteen days. including for the games and the debate.

so...i took her up on the texas/rice game on the 20th.

i love kristen... i do. but never again..... and this all comes from love.

she told me to arrive early.. the game started at 6pm. "we have A/C," she reminded me. so i got there shortly before six....beer in hand. i was warned of the children. and there they were... all over the place.

the game started at 6. it was decided to DVR the game until everyone could settle down and watch it. by everyone i mean: kristen and her husband... their two children. the two sets of neighbors from across the street and their three children.... kristen's mother and stepfather and me.

first you had to corral the children... and feed them. but this one didn't like this and that one wanted grandma to sit by her.... and then you had to clean up after the children.

then the children had to play... and check daddy's ear and eyes and heart with the fake medical equipment. and one had to pretend to saw off the other kids' heads with his play chainsaw... (really? play chainsaw?) which caused problems. which caused a crying fit.

and then it was bath time and wash up time... but don't forget to go back across the street to get the toothbrush and toothpaste... and they need to change into pj's.

then it's time to say good night to everyone and kiss mom and dad and grandma and grandpa. oh - and then it's story time. but not just one story... they need two stories.

and then they were finally in bed.

so shortly after 8pm... we were able to start the game.

um, yeah... the cable company decided not to play the texas game advertised on the guide...but the fucking astros game instead. so we missed the entire first half. but found the game for the second half.

but, oh wait... first we have to feed the adults.

so around 8:30....we start to watch the game...which was a blow-out by then.... so who really cared?

and i love kristen... and it was so nice of her to open her home to me. and i appreciate everything she offered and everything she gave.

but, um, yeah.... me, children and football. it don't mix.

oil and water, baby. oil and water.

in conclusion
it's been a long, crazy journey..... this past september will go down as one of the worst in recent memory. the storm was frightening. the fifteen days were trying.

and trying to get work back up and running, handling the weeks' worth of appointments missed and needing to be rescheduled....

september was a bad month.

but i look ahead to october and the rest of this year and i see some nice weather. some good plans with friends.... a trip to san francisco.

and more blogging. to paraphrase my best friends wedding: "maybe there won't be (gay) marriage... maybe there won't be sex... but, by god, there will be blogging."

and hopefully sex... but that's a different entry.

e.

Weekend Quick Hits

well....there was a lot of good stuff this weekend and i'm all a bit tuckered out. but let's see how much of the good stuff we can get through, shall we....?


new poll numbers
always a great place to start.

the latest ap/ipsos poll of the 2008 democratic candidates has senator clinton leading the pack with 46% of the vote. she's followed way behind by senator obama at 23% and john edwards at 11%.

it's not the 53% she has in the abc/post poll...but it's still a 23% lead over barack.

the same ap poll has rudy continuing his lead in the GOP race with 27% followed by thompson at 23%, mccain at 13% and romney holding on at 11%.

speaking of ap polls
louisiana state university received every #1 vote cast in the ap college ball poll this weekend. after southen cal's stunning loss to stanford on saturday, however, how could they not be?

my second sister-in-law kelly (also the second kelly), graduated from lsu. so i'm happy.... not crazy about their caged tiger.... but that's another entry.

texas lost to oklahoma at this year's red river rivalry.... so the fucking sooners are back in the top ten but texas is still in the top 25 coming in at #23.

i like to include that for my aggie readers who want to say they're better than texas. you beat fucking osu.... who hasn't beaten oklahoma state? anyway.... texas a&m.....? nowhere in the top 25.

but i digress.....

the des moines register poll
yes, my fellow political junkies.... my lovelies. this is the big one. this is the most revered poll in the run up to the iowa caucuses (scheduled january 3rd, officially, by the way).

while the audacity of obama does lead in another iowa poll, the register shows hillary topping the list with 29%. "hope is on the way" follows with 23% and obama has appeared to stall out at 22%.

the poll has a plus or minus of 5 points, i believe.... so that does put hillary out above a statistical tie.

john harwood uttered what i've been hearing on every political show and reading in every poltical post over the past week: "if [hillary] wins in iowa, the democratic race ends that night."

edwards and obama have to win iowa. but even if hillary comes in second - she can still pull off the nomination. john and barack.... it's iowa or nothing.

and everyone..... EVERYONE seems to be harping on this "dean, dean, dean" bullshit.... yes, howard dean was way ahead in 2004. but so what?

that was a different campaign. bush hadn't driven the american dollar down to equal the canadian dollar in worth at that point. think about that... the canadian dollar is worth the same as a fucking american dollar. what has bush done to us....?

electability is still a big factor, yes.... but we have a great field... i think people will be voting more from their gut this year. and hillary seems to be the favorite.

quickly....on the republican side: the des moines register has flip-flop in the lead at 29% with fizzled out fred at 18%, i heart huckabee third at 12% (good for him), "ground zero" giuliani at 11% and the straight talk express pulling in last at 7%.

well, shit.....
i got side-tracked for a bit and had to watch the end of the dallas-buffalo game. after five intercepted passes off of golden boy romo (two resulting in touchdowns). a touchdown return on a kick off..... somehow.... somehow.... the bills still managed to lose in the last two seconds. field goal by dallas. final score: 25-24, dallas. jesus - buffalo just can't win.....

i'll hear it from my dad tomorrow.....

but hey - you know who loves the bills? tim russert.

meet the press quote of the week -or - let's talk about hillary
i'm happy to report that some very smart people have obviously been reading me and have picked up on my fear of hillary's non-answers.

despite the fact that hillary "broke the political sound barrier at 50%," as maggie carlson put it.... her stunning ability to dance around most answers has really begun to catch the eyes of the press corps.

ted koppel talked about being wary of "handlers" and that even they can overdo it.

i say let hillary be hillary. i stumbled across a great bit today where hill had stopped in a cafe and was drinking out of a pepsi cup. a gentleman from the press asked her: "diet or regular?" hill quickly came back: "ice tea. unsweetened." then after a pause: "news flash!"

the woman is funny. let her be herself....... if not, well, as our quote from david broder of the washington post says: "i believe if mrs. clinton sticks to her position of not saying anything about any subject, she will pay a price for that."

be yourself, hill. i saw you here in houston and you were flawless. have confidence in yourself and speak out.....

give 'em hell, hill....

other football musings
my houston texans beat miami this week to move ahead a 3-2 team. first time in franchise history. miami now drops to 0-5. ouch.

the boys looked..... ummmmm.... okay. but really - it was all kris brown. my little hottie in the compact package kicked three field goals over 50-yards long. the final, and game-winning kick, from 57 yards.

as all houston fans have been muttering: thank god for kris brown. and i don't even believe in god!

the packers fell apart in the second half of last night's game to lose to the bears. i love both of those teams...but i was cheering on my brett. who....as it turns out....shares a birthday with me. huh.

anyway...the packers fall to 4-1 which only leaves three undefeated teams in the nfl: indy, new england.... and please just kill me: the cowboys.

next week houston faces jacksonville. i want to say that we've won just about every competition against the jags. which is good... jack del rio just pisses me off. he looks like such a shithole.

but i digress.....

e.

p.s.

thank you to all my friends & readers.... i have officially topped over 100 visits to my blog. makes a fag feel proud.....

It Was All About Act II

last night.....nfl football kicked off the new season with what promised to be an amazing game: the new orleans saints vs. the indianapolis colts. madden and michaels predicted a high-scoring game. the saints, who almost made it to the superbowl last year, could have played the colts in that game. probably would have been a better game than against the bears (and it pains me to say that). all the excitement was intensified by the pageantry of celebrating the 2006 championship colts.

at least one team didn't disappoint......

if there were any lingering questions about the championship colts returning just as strong this year as they ended last year - the second half of last night's game put all doubts to rest.

after a sluggish first half sent both teams to the locker room with a score of 10-10, indianapolis outscored the saints 31-0 in the second half.

the saints.....last year's top ranked offense.....scored zilch in the second half to lose 10-41.

ouch.......

the stopping-power the indy defense displayed last night was a shock to all watching.... not to mention the saints. number one last year in offense....stopped dead by the colts defense. the defense that almost blew another superbowl run last year for the colts. amazing....

the only touchdown scored by the saints was a recovered fumble by their defense. no offensive touchdowns by new orleans. again....amazing.

as always.....manning was a sight to behold. 288 passing yards and three touchdowns. jesus - that man has mad skills. and the man came alive in the second half - taking no prisoners. to watch him find his receivers....especially those long passes into the endzone - clearly he's on his way to the league mvp again this year.

and reggie bush (who i can never quite forgive for stealing the heisman from my man, vince) was overshadowed by indy rb joseph addai. addai ran for 118 yards on 23 carries. by the way, bush only rushed 38 on 12 carries. so sad.... good thing he has all those endorsements, huh?

and new orleans quarter back drew brees, who was almost perfect last year, completed 27 of 40 for only 183 yards and two interceptions.

before a last minute lengthy completion last night in the fourth quarter, brees had captured a new record in the nfl: lowest number of passing yards per average reception. luckily - he avoided that title with just one throw.

the first half was not all that interesting..... but act 2 was a helluva sight in indianapolis last night... especially if you're a colts fan.

other observations

1) what the fuck was kelly clarkson wearing last night? her pants were about 10 inches too long.... and the girl has been packing on the pounds again. but i still love her....... and hey - i ain't no petite flower myself. i'm just saying.....

2) i'm gonna grow weary of listening to faith hill every sunday night. i understand they didn't want to use pink again.... but faith. really? what is this....nascar?

3) keith olbermann's first installment of "worst person in the nfl" was a bust. i love his regular segment on countdown for "worst person" but naming himself was a cop-out and it wasn't even funny. i think even bob costas was alarmed at how lame it was. but i remain hopeful. it's just nice to see the one-time host of espn covering sports again.

4) lovin' the new "pep talks with peyton" commercials. i love the guy....i can't help it. if he was hot like carr or some others...my obsession would have the potential of becoming creepy.

5) i hate all things mcdonald's....... but fuck me that commercial with the kid last night was hilarious.

chiefs vs. texans

this sunday..... noon central time. the houston texans kick off at home against the kansas city chiefs. i know a lot of excited people.

my excitement level will be taken at the end of the first game. i will say this, however: i'm hopeful.

and on that note, i just wanna say, i'm so happy football is back.

e.

Dallas 16, Houston 28

last night i returned to reliant stadium in houston to attend my second cowboys vs. texans preseason game. true....preseason means shit. but hey - bragging rights are always nice.

the cowboys just looked sloppy. especially ole slippery hands romo. he fumbled, he threw an interception and even bumbled a snap. it was poetry in motion.

in the meantime - on the hometown side of the ball: where did jacoby jones come from? hello, rockstar! on the texans opening drive..... well - on what was to be the opening drive....jones ran back a 91-yard punt return for the first touchdown of the evening.

from there - houston never looked back and lead the entire game. but even as my brother and father like to say - look at the score when the starters leave the game. that's your winning score. fair enough: dallas 6, houston 21.

now....i'm not about to get all excited - but it was nice watching the texans look solid. and i think the boys from wisconsin are gonna bring the texans to victory this season. watch for ex-packer ahman green and ex-badger owen daniels to dominate much of our offensive game (and direct from green bay, mike sherman returns for his second year as the offensive coordinator).

oh....and i believe in giving props where props are due. our boy mario williams looked great last night. even got himself a sack or two.

having said all this....watching the postgame analysis on sports center last night - you'd swear the cowboys had won. how about giving my boys their well-deserved kudos? it was bullshit.

fucking cowboys..... why does everyone love them so?

best shirt of the night:
front: the cowboys suck.
back: if dallas is america's team, consider me canadian.

anyway....i'm not getting high hopes as far as the playoffs go...but hell, i'll take a winning season for once. is that too much to ask for.....?

e.