Nick's Knacks

Happy New Year from the Hoff!  See you next year.  Ha!  See you next year.  Man, that one never gets old.  Good stuff there.

Tom Benson (owner) and the rest of Saints Nation can now celebrate.  The road to the Super Bowl will go through New Orleans.  I don’t know what the party from his couch looked like last night, but thanks to the Fox Sports cameras, we all got a glimpse of Benson’s premature merriment from the owner’s box on Sunday.

Garrett Hartley lines up for the potential game winning 37 yard FG…YAY!

But wait!  That didn’t look right off his foot.  Why is my wife the only one still celebrating?

He missed the kick, woman.  Get off me!

See ya Monday...go Pack!

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

The video speaks for itself, but listen to the announcers: “We think it’s his ankle.”  Really?  What would suggest that to be the case?

Here's Joe...just for fun:

First Devin Hester (click HERE if you haven’t seen that video…though if you haven’t, shame on you for not reading this blog regularly!), now Tommy Kelly:

I’d gone 30 years without ever seeing that, now it’s twice in a single season! Maybe the NFL needs to switch to the MLB leather belts. I mean, with the exception of Steve Lyons (and we know you did it on purpose, Steve), you don’t see pants comin’ down very often in baseball.

Poor Tommy. At least Hester’s pants snapped back into place, sort of. Kelly’s incident had that look of the little kid in the john who has yet to grasp proper urinal etiquette - just standing there, bare bottomed, with his pants and superhero undies down around his ankles. You feel for the kid. Fortunately for the child in that analogy, he’s blissfully ignorant to the fact that he should be embarrassed. The same cannot be said for Kelly, though I have a feeling he isn't too red in the face.

Good stuff.

Philadelphia fans suck. I realize that I’m generalizing here, and in process, lumping in the good with the bad, but I don’t see a whole lot of brotherly love being extended to these San Francisco fans.

What’s the deal, Philly? It’s not good enough for you to smoke your opponent by two TDs? You have to make it so physically uncomfortable for the visiting fans that they are actually forced to leave? Nice work, ash-masters. And way to continue the aerial assault after security arrives, you classless bums.

But as my buddy Brad pointed out, what can you do? Eject an entire stadium?

Credit the San Francisco faithful for just taking it. I’m sure they knew that to retaliate would be to die, but they certainly could have walked out long before they were encouraged by the red jackets. I hope they were escorted to a pair of indoor club seats. At the very least, those guys deserve a free shot on the losers sitting in front them.

Ludicrous. Insane. Stupid. Idiotic. Reckless. Dense. Irresponsible. Nails.

With 3:58 to go and a two point lead, Mike Tomlin did the unthinkable and seemingly illogical – he onside kicked. It’s easy to call him a moron. Heck easy is an understatement. I don’t know what the success rate is of kicking deep in that situation, but I do know that the recovery rate of an onside kick is 20%. So by opting for the improbable, Tomlin essentially handed the Pack an 80% likelihood of posting go ahead points, even with Crosby’s head more messed up than the east coast right now.

It may have been ludicrous and insane and stupid and idiotic and dense and irresponsible and other synonyms, as well. It also was ballsy. It was take charge. It was aggressive. With a gassed and porous defense, Tomlin stared down the great odds stacked against him…and won.

What do you mean he won? They lost the kick! We scored the go ahead TD! Yep, and Pittsburgh won the game.

Tomlin’s decision to give Green Bay a short field, preserved 2 minutes of clock. And we all know what happened then. In an ironic twist of fate, Mike Tomlin’s onside kick with under four minutes remaining and two point lead was the perfect call.

It’s not the decision I would have made. I still believe it to be the wrong decision. But it was precisely that seeming lapse of sanity that gave Pittsburgh the opportunity to claim victory. And they did.

Omar Epps…err Mike Tomlin…whipped out the church bells last night. And when the clock hit :00, the rings of triumph were unmistakable.

Next time, Tomlin. Next time.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Who knew we had such musical talent in this building?  I mean, I knew they spun the hits over at WIXX, but I had no idea they could lay them down!

They don’t exactly give Weird Al a run for his money, but they’re ours, and we love them.  The long awaited…well, the awaited…“Packerama,” as performed by Katie and Maino:

"PACKERAMA"

When I went to St. Norbert, I had the privilege of living in the school’s oldest dormitory for two years – the first by assignment…the second by choice. It wasn’t tough to get into Burke Hall. It was the sort of dorm that you avoided if you could. It was like moving into a fixer upper – the delusions of what could be far outweighed what really was.

But there was a certain charm to Burke Hall that one learned to appreciate (which explains why I went back for a second dose). It was like that old, broken in baseball cap. It was so beaten to he*l that you knew, no matter what you threw at it, it couldn’t look any worse than it already did. It was comfortable. It was reliable. It had bats. Burke Hall had bats, that is, not your baseball cap. It also was a fairly happenin’ place to live. Read into that what you will. It was college. I make no apologies.

Okay, so back to the bats…

Every once in a while Burke Hall would erupt in screams – not the usual “hey it’s college” screams, but earsplitting, wall piercing shrieks of genuine terror. That’s when I knew it was go time. The slamming doors and cries of helplessness were my call from Commissioner Gordon.

It was time to grab my Prince CTS Synergy DB 26 Mid Plus and go to work.

Positioned in the doorway, it was a fairly simple task, to tell the truth. Just wait for Batty McBat to approach, and – THWAP – give him a little cat gut sandwich. Order restored to Burke Hall.

The toughest part was waitin’ around, so I can’t claim any legitimate heroism. I mean, it was a tennis racquet. That’s a fairly substantial striking surface. It’s not like I was using a hockey stick! Now that would be impressive. I’d like to see that. You? Well here you go:

Well played, gentlemen.  Well played indeed.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

“It gets late early out there,” Yogi Berra once said. Of course, Yogi was referencing the adverse sun conditions in Yankees Stadium’s left field, but it more than applies to the folks out Bristol, CT way.

With a just over 1/3rd of this year’s NCAA basketball schedule in the books, Joe Lunardi already is engaging in some tournament bracketology. Nothing like talkin’ who’s in and who’s out in December! We haven’t even developed the NFL post-season picture, and Lunardi’s already got the NCAA basketball playoffs in the photo album.

But alas, he’s simply doing his job…and I have to admit curiosity.

This much is true: even with the season just past infancy, half the tournament field is a given. All Lunardi is doing is identifying trends and projecting out. It’s no different than if he simply had ranked the teams 1-65. But something about seeing the nation’s top programs in bracket form implies finality, and finality invites criticism. That’s just the way it is.

But upon examination of Lunardi’s bracket, any inclination I had to critique was overwhelmed by impish delight. Midwest quadrant – Providence site - #14 seed…UWGB! And wait a minute. What’s that I see? A forward slash? Horizon League automatic qualifier? Sweet! CHECK OUT THE BRACKET HERE

It’s early. Scratch that. It’s REALLY early. But no matter how this map unfolds between now and Tuesday, March 9th, right now it’s fun. GB is on the map, and that doesn’t happen very often around here.

Well done Coach K and company. Keep it goin’.

So Mike McCarthy-Corleone paid a visit to Fredo Crosby yesterday , stating at his press conference, “I’ll just say this, I have all the confidence in the world in Mason Crosby.”

Yeah. So do I. “Winkie” ;)

It’s not a surprise to hear this type of verbal affirmation from the Packers. I mean, what is Mike McCarthy supposed to say? “We’re just gonna start going for it every time because Mason is clearly ‘bleeped’ in the head?” That’s not going to happen, especially considering the position in question, and the lack of viable options at that position.

Kickers are quirky. They’re fragile. And for good reason. If they miss, it’s rarely a “no problem” scenario. And when a miss occurs, they might not get a chance to redeem themselves for another week. The opportunity to get back out there and right a prior wrong simply isn’t there for kickers.

Lonesome kicker

J | MySpace Video

So protecting Mason Crosby is a foregone conclusion.

Then consider the pool of talent from which Ted Thompson could pluck a leg, and shielding ours from the slings and arrows of malcontent is even more critical.

Mike’s doing the right thing here. He will protect his player in the public, and deal with the doubt in private. But let’s not kid ourselves. There is doubt.

Take this for what you will: Biren Ealy is now on the waiver wires, opening a roster spot at 1265.

It’s not insane to believe that Ted is simply cutting dead weight, preparing himself in the event that a sudden move would have to be made (at any position). He is, of course, primed at every area to act in the blink of an eye, armed with a list of characters he’d pursue in the event that a dude goes down. Biren Ealy wasn’t doing anything for this team, so perhaps Ted is simply eliminating step one.

But I’m not sure that, in professional athletics, such a thing as pure coincidence exists.

Kevin Spacey is hit or miss with me. I want to really get behind him. I do. I think he is a brilliant actor…one of the best of our time. He just freaks me out. Like in ‘Se7en’ – he was way too good at playing serial killer guy. I’ll admit that I don’t know too many serial killers, or any serial killers (I hope), so my assessment of his portrayal doesn’t carry the most weight, but he pretty much fell in line with how I think most of us treat that subject. It’s givin’ me goosebumps just thinking about it. And then there was ‘American Beauty’ guy – an eyelash away from making Chris Hanson’s next documentary. Just flat out sick.

The irony of struggling with the acceptance of a man whom I’ve come to know only through his portrayal of fictional characters is not lost on me. I get it. I just can’t get beyond it. That being said, his appearance on SNL a while back, and his “Christopher Walken Han Solo Screen Test” skit, was one of the best pieces of impersonation comedy I have ever witnessed:

Kevin Spacey Star Wars Auditions - Christopher Walken

| MySpace Video

So, from Kevin Spacey as Christopher Walken, to Christopher Walken himself. Sort of. Here’s Christopher Walken doing Lady Gaga:

And now for the mash-up:

Priceless.  Thanks for the mash-up heads-up, Susan.