October 2009 Archives

Excellent articles on Billy Cannon at ESPN and at The Boston Globe. The ESPN piece is the longer read but well worth the time. I first saw Billy Cannon as an Oakland Raider on TV in the old AFL in the 60s. He played tight end for owner/coach Al Davis back when Davis was still sane. I was a Raider fan then because there were no New Orleans Saints yet and NBC featured the Raiders almost every week here. Billy Cannon's legend was 100 feet tall in Louisiana at the time. He had led LSU to one football national championship in 1958 and to within a whisker of another in 1959. By far, the most famous play in storied LSU football history is his punt return against Ole Miss on Halloween night 50 years ago tonight. That was a Saturday night, too. The ESPN piece has a video of that fabulous play. Amazing even 50 years later.

Billy Cannon played at LSU in 1957, 1958, and 1959 as a sophomore, junior, and senior. Freshmen didn't play then. He played behind LSU and Green Bay Packer legend, Jim Taylor, in 1957, and was in the same backfield as LSU and Kansas City Chief legend, Johnny Robinson, in 1958-59. He played both ways. At 6'2", 215-220, Billy was big for a running back and even bigger for a defensive back, especially in college, at that time. At 9.4 in the 100 yard dash (Weren't using 40 yard dashes then), he was ridiculously fast for a college football player of that era. He was also very strong. Threw the shot put for the track team. Size, speed, strength, he had it all. Won the Heisman Trophy in 1959. The Halloween night punt return is said to have clinched it.

His trouble with the law broke a lot of hearts in Louisiana. To some, it was a betrayal. They need their legends to be 100 feet tall and pristine. To me, it was disappointment. I couldn't read all of the stuff that came out about the trouble he got himself into. I know the basics but I don't care to know any more than that.

I'm glad to see he's found peace and is a part of the LSU family again. His legend may not be 100 feet tall any more but it's at least 98 feet tall and the restoration is almost complete. Good on you, Billy. GEAUX Tigers.

LSU plays old rival, Tulane, tonight for the 50th anniversary of that legendary return, and the series is going to go on the shelf for a while. It's not much of a rivalry any more and I won't miss it. LSU has taken a path to big time athletics and is one of the premier programs in the country in all sports. Tulane has taken a different path. They dabble in athletics just enough to maintain their Division One status but not enough to be serious. I'm sure LSU would have loved to schedule Ole Miss for tonight but the game is in Oxford this year and Ole Miss is more than a little sick of hearing about that play.

Quote of the Day

I think it's the time or the moment that makes a great play stand up. But it was a lot of fun doing it.

Billy Cannon

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "God, it would be good for the Tigers to have a boring ol' skull-dragging this week versus Tulane. The Green Wave are terrible and it might not be all that meaningful a football rivalry anymore, but it would be good just to see the Tigers flex their muscles against a team we know they can do it against."

Once again, I wonder why artists, their tour companies, and the venues on their scheduled tours put up with TicketMaster. I understand why fans do. They have no choice. On top of my ticket prices, I was charged these fees:

• Facility Charge US $2.00 per ticket
• Convenience Charge US $10.55 per ticket
• Order Processing Fee US $4.10
• TicketFast Delivery US $2.50

Years ago, before TicketMaster, the City of New Orleans imposed a 5% "Amusement Tax" on special events. It kept events away in droves. I think the Amusement Tax has since been repealed. 5%. The fees listed above represent about 25% of the purchase. These are tickets I printed on my own printer. Cost me $2.50 to use my own paper and ink. I just don't understand why the venues and artists can't get together and do this. They could lower prices and keep more of the profits. Not a big fan of TicketMaster here.

Quote of the Day

The Birds will be fine -- until Drew Brees gets out of his car.

Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal Constitution

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Couple the NFL's most prolific offense against an Atlanta defense that made Tony Romo look like Troy Aikman on Sunday and it's a recipe for a long night in the Big Easy (and we're not talking about those type of fun nights on Bourbon Street that involve a lot of boozing, beads and another "B" we can't talk about on a family blog)"

Cliff Lee --- WOW. He looked all that Yankee mystique right in the eye ... and spit. Watch the video at that link if you didn't see the game. Guy's got ice water in his veins.

The first paragraph of a Sporting News piece:

The NFL has no reason to fear anything Major League Baseball does. Ever. Even a World Series that features MLB's most popular team can't put a significant dent in football's audience. Yet for some reason the NFL is caving by not scheduling a Sunday night game this week to go against Game Four of the World Series.

They're right, of course, but I like that the NFL is yielding the stage.

I don't know that Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker article started it but the concern over NFL players with significant head trauma has picked up considerably. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell testified before Congress yesterday. Some of the testimony heard yesterday doesn't make any sense. From the MSNBC article:

Gay Culverhouse, former president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said NFL team doctors are not advocates for the players and called for an independent neurologist to be on the sidelines.

The problem isn't the doctors in those instances. It's the players. Doctors need truthful information from their patients. The patients/players know there is a guy on the bench just waiting for a chance to take his job. He is likely to say or do whatever he thinks will keep him in the game. An independent doctor isn't likely to get any more truthful information than the team doctor but I'm not opposed to having more than one doctor, a specialist in concussions, on the sidelines. A second opinion is always valuable. I'm all for making the game safer. More study and more data is needed. Congress should perhaps tone down their wrath. Threats from Maxine Waters aren't helping. Want wrath? Outlaw football.

Today's QOTD is about the Cincinnati Bengals Carson Palmer. He completed 20 of 24 passes and had 5 touchdowns. Four incomplete passes, five touchdowns. Man, what happened to the Bears?

Quote of the Day

If your QB has a game where he throws for more touchdowns than incompletions, he's had a good day.

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Which is the more impressive victory, the Saints' 48-27 over the New York Giants, who had the NFL's No. 1 defense going into last week's game, or this Sunday's win over the Dolphins? New Orleans has now scored 46 or more points three times in six games."

I like 'em both but the win versus the Dolphins was awesome. -Rob

While the talk of the town here is the Saints, there are other sports being played. The New Orleans Hornets open their season tonight in San Antonio. The Hornets were fairly quiet in the ridiculously short offseason and I doubt they gained any ground on the top teams. They figure to be in the second tier of playoff teams again.

I just don't know what Major League Baseball is thinking by starting a World Series this late in October. A lot of their cities start getting get cold, rainy, and even snowy this time of year. Did you see that football game in New England (Foxboro, MA), a few weeks ago? Shortening their season would probably mean shortening their revenue stream. I get that but, still, their showcase event should be played in better conditions than these two very deserving teams and all baseball fans will get. That's too bad. And

Quote of the Day

But the Saints this season aren't that team, the one that knows how to prosper only when the wind is at its back and the opponent has been doubled over by a gut punch.

John DeShazier, Times-Picayune

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "But while the dopey Wrangler jeans spokesman's career won't come to its end in Green Bay, it didn't start there, either: He entered the league way back in 1991 as a second-round draft pick of the Falcons. Apparently their coach, Jerry Glanville, had been in the bathroom or something when it was time for them to pick, and he hated the guy so much that he declared the only way Favre would see the field was if now-forgotten starter Chris Miller died in a plane crash."

Smarter and more eloquent people than I have weighed in on that Northwest Airlines flight that flew past their destination the other day but I think I'll add that today's QOTD gives me ZERO comfort. I love to fly even though I don't get to do it much. The incident won't give me pause because I feel certain that it's isolated and even more certain that it will be forcefully addressed. Still, I'm a little concerned that the only things mentioned here are that what they did was "strictly against the airline's flight deck policies and violations of that policy will result in termination" and that "they were under investigation for possible revocation of their licenses". I'm sorry but this seems a little more serious than that to me.

Quote of the Day

The pilots said there was a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from (controllers).

National Transportation Safety Board

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Sometimes after a tough loss, like the Falcons 37-21 day at Dallas, I find myself trying to get in the heads of players. I focus more on mental toughness than in-game decision making. I'm fascinated by professional athletes who, in the wake of plays good and bad, can refocus on the next pitch, snap or shot. With football's weekly opera and buildup we're left with the additional variables of time."

For the first time this season, the Saints faced a team that had a charge in them. The Dolphins had won their last two games, had an extra week to rest and prepare for a home game, had the Saints coming in after a tough game with the Giants, and had a great game plan early. They got after Drew Brees, confused him and the offensive line into interceptions and sacks, and jumped out to a big 24-3 lead that most fans thought would only get bigger. The home crowd was sensing blowout. The "at home" crowd (Mainly me) was sensing that, too. Then, a break, a fumble, a touchdown just before the half, and there was life. The Dolphins will be talking about their meltdown all week but the truth of the matter is ... they were gassed by the end of the 3rd quarter. All that energy and enthusiasm on full display in the first half was gone. They had nothing left. The Saints have outscored their opponents, 74-12, in the 4th quarter, including yesterday's 22-0 fourth quarter. It wasn't the best game they've played this year by a longshot but it was easily their best win. First division game next week against the Falcons on Monday night in the SuperDome. The joint will be jumpin'. GEAUX Saints.

There was a play in yesterday's Vikings-Steelers game that just left my jaw on the floor. Adrian Peterson was led right into a defensive back on a pass play. The defender had all of the advantages. The play was right in front of him. Peterson ran over him, stepped on him, and went for another 20 yards or so. Amazing. That guy can play. (Update: 5:30PM): Found it on YouTube below. Enjoy it while it's there. Probably going to be taken down.

On the fantasy football front, both of my teams still have a chance but I need a medium game from the Eagles defense and special teams and a great game from Clinton Portis. Up by 11 and done in one game, I need to keep the Eagles D/ST under that. Down by 24 in the other with Portis and the same Eagles D/ST, I need them to combine for 25 but I'd like to see most of it come from Portis. Doubt I'll watch it.

Quote of the Day

And yet here are the Saints. They played an imperfect game, but left with a perfect record.

Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Sometimes life gives you lemons and you slip on the peels, stab yourself in the hand trying to slice them in half and spray yourself in the eyes with lemon juice, turning you into a bleeding, blinded mess of agony that yearns for the sweet solace of a non-citrus death. This would be one of those times."

The Saints are in Miami for a game with the Dolphins today. The game plan for both teams is rather simple. For the Dolphins, the plan is to run the ball and keep the Saints offense off the field. Peyton Manning and the Colts only needed 15 minutes to ring up 27 points and the offensively-challenged Jets duplicated the feat in 26 minutes. For the Saints, the goal is to get the Dolphins offense off the field a few times early in the game and get ahead. The clock is only the Dolphins' friend today if they're ahead or at least close. I guess I need to say it every week. If the Saints take care of the ball, they'll take care of the Dolphins. Oh, and one more thing:

Today's QOTD (I love that "Make them stop throwing the ball!!!" bit) is on the same website that has this gem:

There were some questionable calls that impacted the game and while I hate to "go there" ...

Whine about the refs on one hand and then advocate dirty play on the other. I suppose it's better than complaining about the perfect playing conditions in Dome stadiums to the point of suggesting they should be banned but only after your team lays an egg.

I offer one from my ride yesterday. This is the Bogue Falaya.

Bogue Falaya - October 24, 2009

Quote of the Day

After the first thirty-eight touchdowns I would have just sent someone to hit Brees every play, high/low/late/more than once! doesn't matter. Make them stop throwing the ball!!!

Jesse Bartolis

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "You want to gain respect and make a statement about yourself Miami, win this game. This is a game you can win, go get it done."

The weather was just too perfect. Decided to load up the bikes and hit the St Tammany Trace from another point today. This time, we started in Covington.

St Tammany Trace - Covington, LA - October 24, 2009

Not the biggest fan of urban cycling as portrayed in this USA Today piece. Although it has been hammered into my head since I was a kid that bicycles have the same rights on the road as drivers, I do something a little different. I have always deferred to the driver when I'm cycling and to the cyclist when driving. Challenging each other as they seem to be doing in that article is a prescription for road rage in my view. Dan and Delmer are both CrabAppleLane faves and avid cyclists. Would love to hear their views. I'm fortunate in that I live in the country and have ample less-traveled roads and wonderful made-for-bicycle trails like the St Tammany Trace very convenient to me but urban dwellers don't have the same options. I don't know the solution but making drivers angry by tying up traffic or getting in their way when they don't have to is definitely not it. The statement below is from the same piece from Jeff Peel.

The idea is you are slowing traffic, which may be frustrating to some motorists but making the road safer for everyone. Creating safer roadways and right-of-ways for all users sometimes requires taking space away from automobiles.

I don't think that's the course to pursue. The roads are mostly safe. It's the users that make them unsafe. Mixing a group of users that travel anywhere from 15-40 miles per hour below the speed limit with a group of users that are going the speed limit or more and trying to get somewhere in a vehicle that will win most collisions with cyclists ... well, you get the idea. You can be right if you like but you may also be severely injured or dead. That'll show 'em, won't it? As for a cyclist occupying the middle of the road when there IS a parallel bike path or a shoulder, I have no words. A little more cooperation with each other would be in both groups' best interest.

The QOTD is for my friend, Dave.

Quote of the Day

Plus, every time I see Brad Childress with his weird headset I want to super size my value meal.

Ralph Malbrough, WWLTV.com

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Time for all the Dolphin fans to get behind our young QB and show why Chad Henne is better than any Brees!"

WOW. CrabAppleLane does NOT share that opinion. -Rob

Apparently, the Three Dog Night show we wanted to see at The Washington Parish Fair last night went on in spite of the pouring rain. I wanted to see them but not bad enough to sit/stand in the rain and mud. In my hard core youth, that would have been no problem. I'm a lightweight rocker these days.

Beautiful day today, though. Haven't decided what to do yet but a bicycle and camera are quite likely going to be included.

Quote of the Day

I miss old-school journalism. Nobody plays anything down the middle anymore.

Chris Rock

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The Nation is releasing a fake version of Sarah Palin's book on the same day her book comes out. It sounds the same and looks the same, how many dumbasses are going to buy the wrong one?"

CrabAppleLane will be rooting for you in the World Series. Very happy for blog friend, Kate.

Three Dog Night at the Washington Parish Fair tonight. Might try to make it although it's supposed to rain.

Not liking the comparisons I'm seeing between the 2009 Saints and 2007 Patriots. It's only 5 games, there are too many other teams playing very well (Colts, Falcons, Patriots, Vikings, Broncos), and that 2007 Patriots team didn't finish the job. The goal is a championship, not 18-1. We like what we've seen so far here at CrabAppleLane but it's a long season and we're not even a third of the way through. There are way too many land mines still out there. The focus this week is and should be on the very tough Dolphins in Miami this Sunday. Best to follow Head Coach Sean Payton's advice: "Don't eat the cheese".

Quote of the Day

L.A. doesn't have a traffic problem. They have a douche bag problem.

Craig Ferguson

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "During a Wednesday conference call with the South Florida media, it's hard to tell what seemed to annoy New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees more -- this week's subplots of how the Dolphins could have had him in free agency in 2006 or in the 2001 NFL Draft's first round or that the team spurned him both times."

About the QOTD: It's a quote from a Wall Street Journal article that has this unbiased title:

Is It Time for the NFL to Ban Domes?
Indoor Teams Learn to Dominate With Fast, Precise Offenses; Jerry's Three-Day Headache

Can't have them doing that, can we? Better for them to build slow "3 yards and a cloud of dust" offenses. Mouse is right. ALL NFL games should be played in perfect conditions and it's something I've been saying for a long time. The outdoor elements don't add to a game. They detract from it. If your team needs the wind, the rain, the snow, the heat, the cold, the mud, and maybe the groundskeeper to help your team keep up with their opponent, your team is in trouble and should be. There's a lot of whining around NFL cities, particularly in New York (Wall Street of all places) after the Giants were trounced Sunday by the first team they've played that can throw the ball, and that whining is about Dome teams because it looks like the road to a Super Bowl might run through a Dome in Minnesota, New Orleans, Atlanta, Phoenix, or Indianapolis and they may have to learn how to defend a pass that is on target more times than not. The elements have a place in the NFL ... right alongside the leather helmet, the single-bar facemask, stickum, and those awful Denver Broncos throwback uniforms ... IN HISTORY. The Dome teams want homefield advantage in the playoffs so they can play their game. The outdoor teams (I'm looking at you, Chicago, Green Bay, and New York) want homefield advantage so the Dome teams can't play their game ... or so they think. Man up, crybabies.

On a completely different note: I give Jeff Fisher a pass here. The Titans are having a rough season and Fisher deserves some responsibility for that but what he did at a charity event is have some fun. If you're angry about that, then you really should ponder how much time you want to spend out there on the ledge.

Quote of the Day

Make sure everyone has a dome. You're going to have the best execution, the best spectator games. Let's not start banning the domes! Let's make it as exciting as possible.

Darrel "Mouse" Davis, Former NFL offensive coordinator,

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "It's going to be a long day for the Dolphins' D if safeties Gibril Wilson and Yeremiah Bell don't begin to earn their keep, a pressing concern that kicks off today's talking points."

Tip of the day from CrabAppleLane: If you get a price from a merchant that's a little higher than you like, it's rather rude to ask him/her where you can get it cheaper. At best, it's unfair and probably takes money out of their pocket if they volunteer that information. At worst, they could get fired for doing so.

One of my undefeated fantasy football teams tasted defeat this week in a shootout to another undefeated team. Those are fun in the middle of the season when a loss can still be overcome. At 5-1, I think my team will be fine. My other fantasy football team remains undefeated at 6-0 but it required quite a bit of magic in the form of not one, but two return touchdowns by the Broncos last night. Needed both of them to victimize my friend, Hyde, once again. My team is 5-4 against his since 1999 and I'm pretty sure two of those games were won by me on tiebreakers.

Quote of the Day

Women want to be Swedish.

Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "This week is a huge callenge as perhaps the NFL's best team comes to Land Shark Stadium...the New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees has been unbelieveable, and we face the toughest test so far. Hey, to be the best you have to beat the best. Bring them on."

That's the spirit. -Rob

Fun game for Saints fans yesterday. When Drew Brees and the offense comes out smoking like they did against the Giants, they're hard to stop. The opposing defense has to account for AND cover EVERYONE on the field. The BOTD brings up the same point a lot of people have been bringing up. No one has really pressured Drew. In the past, that has been the optimal way to play the Saints. Play deep and wait for the Saints offense to make a mistake through their impatience. If they score on you, that's OK because their defense can't protect the lead. The last three teams the Saints have played, all from New York, have embraced that philosophy. They're answering the what-ifs and if-onlys and I'm quite OK with that. I expect the Dolphins will try something different this week. The game plan the Dolphins executed against Peyton Manning and the Colts is what I expect Sunday. Basically, it's ball control and keep away. The Eagles had some success with the Wildcat versus the Saints but they abandoned it once they got behind. I'm hoping that will be the case Sunday, too.

Both of my fantasy teams are in danger of losing for the first time tonight. I need the Broncos defense and special teams to step up and get some turnovers or even do some scoring but I also need the Chargers' Antonio Gates to have a good game.

From George Winkler's fantasy football column in Sporting News:

And a few of the more popular queries leading up to Week 6's games included whether to start Drew Brees, Adrian Peterson or Andre Johnson in tough matchups.

From CrabAppleLane: If I have ANY of those players, I'm starting them ... regardless of the team they're up against. You can also add Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Reggie Wayne, and Larry Fitzgerald to that list.

Quote of the Day

Seven different guys score touchdowns today.

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "So Brees was not hurried and his receivers were not challenged and it was not pretty.

Note to Dolphins: Don't do that."

Not quite a playoff atmosphere in the Greater New Orleans area today but about as close as you'll ever get to one in October. WOW. This game won't make or break either team's season. The Saints have 11 games after this one and the Giants have 10. A lot can happen and I'm just not going to worry about homefield advantage, NFC supremacy, rankings, and implications further down the road. For one thing, there are teams in Minnesota, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, and Green Bay that will have something to say about that. For those reasons, I won't be watching any of the pre-game shows. I'll turn the TV on at noon. I'm looking at today's game as sports entertainment of the highest order. For the Saints, the formula is simple and hasn't changed since Head Coach Sean Payton got here. If the Saints take care of the ball, they'll take care of the Giants. There are other great matchups this weekend, too, like Ravens-Vikings and Bears-Falcons. On this perfect autumn Sunday at CrabAppleLane, I'll be staying in during the best portions of it. Oh yeah, just one more thing:

After running a few errands yesterday, we stopped in Abita Springs and took in the sights. They were having something called "Dem Fest" in the Abita Beer Plaza so we walked the other way and headed east down the St Tammany Trace. We plan to go there on the bikes one day but it will undoubtedly be a weekday the first time we do it. The Sunday images are from that excursion. More below the jump if you're interested.

UCM Museum - Abita Springs, LA - October 17, 2009 - A gas station in a previous life?

Quote of the Day

Barring an unlikely tie, the numeral "1" will appear in one team's loss column for the first time this season.

Joe Lapointe, New York Times

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "But this is crazy. It's roughly 2 and a half hours before kickoff and they are rehearsing for the halftime show which (spoiler alert!) will feature a cast of hundreds, a marching band, cheerleaders, dancers, zombies and music that includes Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Santana's "Black Magic Woman.""

It's a magnificent autumn day here and I've got to get out in it. The Clearing Project I started a few months ago has been abandoned temporarily until the vines die down a bit. I'm already fighting a rash that won't go away and I don't need much more exposure to the poison ivy. A few images from CrabAppleLane to illustrate (I'm trying a few different colors on the borders just to see where they take me):

CrabAppleLane Firecrackers - October 17, 2009

CrabAppleLane's neighbor's ditch - October 17, 2009

CrabAppleLane Clearing Project - October 17, 2009

CrabAppleLane vine with nowhere to go - October 17, 2009

CrabAppleLane Backyard - October 17, 2009

Quote of the Day

According to an organization whose members make money from building public-infrastructure projects, Virginia needs to spend a lot more money on public-infrastructure projects.

Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Our son had found the former location of the offices of the Gestapo and S.S. A museum is planned for the site, which is called the Topography of Terror, with basement interrogation rooms exposed to the sky: an inappropriate playground for a two-year-old. But after a few minutes of wandering after him among the Nazi display boards, it seemed that one could do worse than treat the city with the darkest history on earth as a place for the living."

Damn right. Amazing picture to illustrate his point. I agree wholeheartedly. -Rob

Having experienced puzzling and weird, but not catastrophic, issues with Windows Vista, I'm almost certain I'll be upgrading to Windows 7 ... but not right away. When I got home the other day, my machine was frozen while performing "Update 2 of 16" for several hours. I finally pulled the plug. It didn't seem to do any harm and that both puzzles and frightens me. This morning, it performed three updates on startup. Bit of a nuisance to me in the morning. I don't fully understand how or why Vista performs updates at shutdown AND at startup. If they were present when I shut down, why weren't they performed? If they weren't present, where did they come from at startup? Curiouser and curiouser but not attributes I want in my PC.

About today's QOTD: Seems to me it ought to be the other way around. 1-From the cow 2-to the packager 3-to the store 4-to you seems like a shorter and less expensive route than 1-from the cow 2-to the plant 3-to the packager 4-to the store 5-to you. If they're skipping 3-to the plant, why are they charging more? I'm guessing it might be the liability.

Quote of the Day

Drinkers of raw milk pay many times the cost of pasteurized milk, said McAfee, who charges $10 per gallon -- compared with a national average of $3.17 for pasteurized milk, according to the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Jessica Leving, USA TODAY

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I can't wait. Big Blue is going to run through that city like Katrina. (too soon?)"

The need to look at the price football players pay for the violence they endure in their profession is real but comparing it to dogfighting is a little over the top in my estimation. Kyle Turley, featured in that otherwise excellent and very sobering New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell, is a former Saints first round draft choice. The first time I heard him on local radio right after he was drafted, he said he liked football for its violence. I think that was the first time I ever heard a player use the word violence in describing his profession. It's fairly commonplace now. Pittsburgh Steeler Head Coach, Mike Tomlin, said the most violent team was going to win the game between his Steelers and the Tennessee Titans on the season's opening night. Maybe quarterbacks aren't the only players the NFL needs to protect. I have no statistics at hand but the overwhelming majority of ex-NFL players with serious mental and physical problems that I read about were offensive linemen in their playing days. That makes sense. Those guys take punishment on every play. Modern equipment helps a little but the players are bigger, stronger, and faster than ever now and I think that negates the new equipment technology. I have no solutions except maybe to limit their playing time or their careers but the only entity that can really suggest that is the players, themselves.

Quote of the Day

We'll trick those race-car-loving wide-loads into watching your lefty, homoerotic propaganda hour yet.

Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "They say football is a game of inches, but for the Giants, it has become a game of feet. The most famous one is Eli Manning's sore right heel. But the chronically sore right foot of running back Ahmad Bradshaw is beginning to prove just as vital to the success of the offense."

I'm wondering this morning how a mailbox right outside of a post office can fill to overflowing. Why can't they be emptied before the postal workers go home for the night or even several times per day as needed? I tried to put a piece of mail in the lone drive-thru mailbox at the Abita Springs post office last night and it was filled to capacity. This was at about 6:20PM. The post office closes at 5PM, I think. I don't mean to single out Abita Springs because I've seen the Covington post office with 3 or 4 drive-thru boxes and the Metairie post office with 8 or 10 boxes also filled to where the mail in all of the mailboxes is almost spilling out into the street. People are only sending and receiving a fraction of the mail they once did. I used to buy stamps in rolls of 100 at one time. Now, a book of 20 Forever stamps lasts me 5 or 6 months. I just cannot understand this phenomenon.

Quote of the Day

However, if things do not go the Giants way on Sunday (again, not what I expect), it would mean less to them then it would to the Saints....

Mike, Giants Big Blue Blog

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I'm Guessing Drew Brees won't be chuckling this week."

Seems the Giants fans are as confident as their Jets brethren were a few weeks ago but not quite as brash. I like it. They should be confident. Their team is playing very well. -Rob

The President is coming to New Orleans Thursday. When I worked in New Orleans, I dreaded the traffic snarl his motorcade produced. Now that I don't, I'd like him to take a full day and tour the city and hear from as many people as possible to get a full picture of the still ongoing recovery effort. A little selfish of me, I know. The situation in New Orleans is very complicated and a whirlwind half-day event doesn't do it justice. Fully restored and rebuilt homes in New Orleans are next to empty and blighted houses that have hardly been touched in the four years since Katrina passed through. He should be curious about why that is. I surely am. I wouldn't want an empty, blighted house in sight of my house. The President can be and should be a catalyst for getting the recovery moving again. City, State, and Federal agencies are still squabbling over just about everything. Money is a necessary component of the recovery but it's not the only one and I'm not even sure it's the highest on the list. Stay a little longer, Mr President.

Quote of the Day

Where we stand. From everything we've seen, the president is looking to get feedback from the population of the area on how things are going and where do we go from here.

Mike Rivault, University of New Orleans' chief marketing officer and the school's liaison with the White House

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "The Giants are #1 in the league in team defense.
The Giants are #2 in the league in team offense.
Eli Manning is the #2 rated passer in the league.
Steve Smith is the #1 WR by yardage in the league.
How much of this is a function of the schedule through 5 games?"

Hide your heart, girl

Eli Manning, that is. He's coming home to New Orleans and leading his 5-0 Giants against the 4-0 Saints. This will be a fun week for the fans of both teams. We shouldn't be hyping this game so much. It is only October but the side stories are juicy so it's inevitable. Besides Eli coming home, we have Jeremy Shockey playing against his former team for the first time. I'm guessing this game will draw Fox's A-team of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck.

The Giants had their way with the awful Raiders in New York yesterday much like the Saints did in Oakland during the preseason. The game yesterday was so lopsided that the Giants felt safe removing Manning in the first half. I'm a big fan of Eli. He's a good football player and a genuinely nice guy. I'll be rooting for him the rest of the way. Not this week, though.

Quote of the Day

Walk walk, but you'll never get away
No, you'll never get away from the burnin' a-heartache
I walked to Apollo by the bay
Everywhere I go oh, Eli's a-comin'

Laura Nyro

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Thank goodness the Junior Varsity portion of the New York Giants' schedule is complete. I love winning, and I love total domination of the opposition. But, the Giants have barely been challenged for three weeks now and I am ready to see them match up with real NFL competition."

You won't hear me dispute that the better team won yesterday's LSU-Florida game. The Gators won, 13-3. LSU did nothing on offense to make you think they could win. All of that said, I wonder how the game might have gone had they called offensive pass interference or holding on Florida's touchdown. The Florida player clearly pulled the LSU defender's jersey and created advantage for himself. It WAS pass interference or holding or something. LSU's offensive line looks slow to me. Florida was able to get around them. QB Jordan Jefferson didn't help them much with his indecision. The defense made some mistakes and some stupid penalties but they didn't lose the game. The offense did. And, lastly, I played football when I was a kid. Obviously, I didn't play at the speed these guys do but I don't ever remember my hands getting up around a guy's facemask. It just wasn't done. I don't understand how that happens.

I feel for the fans in Buffalo. The visiting, winless Cleveland Browns' quarterback only completed 2 out of 17 passes for 23 yards today and your team still figured out a way to lose. I also feel for anyone who watched that pathetic 6-3 game. Us Saints fans know that pain. It's usually ours, too.

Another week of anticipation has begun as the Saints take on yet another New York team next Sunday in the Giants. They did OK the last two games against the Bills and the Jets but the 5-0 Giants will be a step up in class if you ask me. The Giants can play offense and defense. They're talented and experienced. Quarterback Eli Manning grew up here, probably cheering for the Saints, and I'm sure he'll get a nice round of applause when he's introduced to the SuperDome crowd. The Mannings are royalty here. We can expect some shots of Archie and his wife, Olivia. We might even see Peyton next week because the Colts have a bye. Should be a great game. And one more thing:

The weather, the LSU game, and some other things conspired to keep us in this weekend. We addressed our cabin fever with a trip out to eat tonight. We love Buster's in Covington. I had the Buster's burger with cheese. This place is the only one I've been to that can get "medium" consistently right. I'm really not that particular about a burger. I order medium because I can eat it medium rare or medium well if they mess up. It never happens. It's never pink on the inside like medium rare or crisp on the outside like medium well. It's always cooked all the way through without being burnt. Perfect. Patsy had a catfish po-boy which she said was excellent. I offer a couple from our night out.

Boston Street - Covington, LA - Sunday, October 11, 2009

Boston Street - Covington, LA - Sunday, October 11, 2009

Quote of the Day

You saw what happened out there Sunday afternoon (and if you missed it, good for you).

Bob DiCesare, Buffalo News

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "My guess is that the Giants will expose the Saints for being a bit on the over rated side, but, plenty of time for that. Giants fans, get ready for a week of "Shockey talk" and antics---it should be lots of fun...."

Not an authority on him but I'm very surprised I had never seen this. WOW. Damn, Jimi.

Today's QOTD mentions the game between LSU and Ole Miss played on Halloween night in 1959. I've posted about that here. A funny thing happened as I was searching and re-reading what I had written about it then and that is I had forgotten all about the comment on that post by Richard Noyes. I don't remember how I responded to him or even if I responded to him. A moment's search revealed that the book, Guts in the Clutch, has been published and I put it on my Amazon Wish List this morning. I had no idea. Wonder if he used that paragraph he inquired about. For what it's worth, I was two and a half years old when that game was played. My account of it is mostly from my Dad sharing it with me and from Peter Finney's 75 Years of LSU Football, which I think is probably out of print. I have no idea how historically accurate it is but I know it's pretty close. The game is legend in Louisiana and personal accounts of it have been handed down from generation to generation as ALL great sports stories are. If someone could find the original broadcast in its entirety and put it on DVD, people would line up for it.

As for LSU-Florida, the Gators have more experience and they may or may not have Tim Tebow but they don't have more talent, speed, or great athletes. 15-20 of the guys you'll see on the field tonight are NFL-caliber. I don't think Tebow will matter much. I think the Tiger defense can hold Florida to a reasonable score if the LSU offense has any success against the Florida defense. If they don't, the game will get ugly in a hurry. As for the atmosphere, there is nothing like a big game at Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night, except the Army-Navy game at the Vet in Philadelphia. Catch it if you can. Oh, and one more thing:

Quote of the Day

The LSU-Florida game brings the highest combined rankings for a matchup in Tiger Stadium since 1959, when No. 1 LSU beat No. 3 Ole Miss, 7-3.

Rachel Whittaker, The Daily Reveille

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "At this point, the question is not will Tim Tebow play tonight at LSU. It is how much will he play."

From a lawyer quoted in an AP article that I find kinda sad:

I'm stunned by the verdict

Nothing like family, I suppose.

MSNBC's Mike Celizic on the ideal World Series:

What it needs is the Yankees and the Dodgers in the World Series.

That may be good for ratings but it's not good for baseball. The big market teams already have enormous economic advantages. One only need look at the Pirates and the Royals to see what economics is doing to competition. Yankees and Dodgers don't need the media cheering them on.

ESPN's John Clayton on the "Brady Rule" and other rules and intents designed to protect marquis NFL quarterbacks:

As much as fans love the thrill of a good hit on a quarterback, the league rightfully feels its shouldn't subject fans to a season of backups. As good as the quarterback play is at the top, few teams have backups capable of playing at a high level.

Former backup, Tom Brady, for whom the rule is kinda jokingly named after, might have never had his Hall-of-Fame career if not for an injury to Drew Bledsoe. For what it's worth, I have no problem with the NFL trying to protect quarterbacks standing in the pocket. They're vulnerable there. If they start scrambling or running, they should not be protected any more than any other ball carrier. Also for what it's worth, I think Tom Brady might be the only guy to have two rules instituted for plays he was involved in. The "tuck" rule came about after his fumble against the Raiders in a playoff game was ruled an incomplete forward pass.

And, finally, the QOTD is a pronouncement from USA Today about whether you should get the H1N1 vaccine. I'll bite, I suppose. Where can we find the definitive "facts and science" on H1N1? I've seen nothing but conflicting opinions on it not to mention a good deal of hysteria.

Quote of the Day

The decision whether to get it, for yourself or your children, should be driven by facts and science, not advice from people who play doctors on TV or the Internet.

USA Today

Blog of the day via Kim is here.

Quote from said blog: "The pork chop was huge and had a dollop of blue cheese butter and a lime on top. The waitress explained the anatomy of the pork chop."

Go see that pork chop. OK, I'm hungry. -Rob

The QOTD is attributed to Guy Ritchie in an article by Myrddin Gwynedd. Cool name. I think I object to his reference to Ritchie, 41, as a "gruff cockney geezer" unless "geezer" means something else in New Zealand. Speaking of Ritchie, have you seen the trailer for his film, Sherlock Holmes, opening on Christmas Day? I'm sure Kem won't approve. The trailer depiction depicts Ritchie's Holmes to be quite a bit more physical than cerebral. I'm not that much of a purist about Holmes although I think a good, modern movie in the Sherlock Holmes character, maybe with Kenneth Branagh and Geoffrey Rush as Holmes and Watson, would also do well. Ritchie's film looks like good, fun CME to me.

About Michael Crabtree and his negotiations with the 49ers: No other way to spin it. He won. Not only did he get a deal that was more to his liking, he lowered expectations on himself for this year and got to skip a grueling training camp. Essentially, he gets a relatively work-free season at a pretty healthy salary. As one of my old work colleagues used to say, "The only thing wrong with that is it's him and not me." or as the old song goes, "Nice work if you can get it".

Fairly dull day in the MLB playoffs yesterday. All of the home teams won. No late game heroics. Maybe they're saving the good stuff for the weekend. Hope so.

Quote of the Day

And, of course, here you go: I still love her ... but she's retarded, too

Guy Ritchie, Director and Madonna's ex-husband

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Two awesome directors are due to release movies this year."

Fantastic account of yesterday's Twins-Tigers game at the Detroit Free Press. Not often you see a line like the QOTD or one like this:

Two dozen plays could have decided this epic. We still don't know which one did.

Tip of the cap to the Twins and Tigers on delivering a game worthy of its stakes. The experts say the Twins are cannon fodder for the imposing Yankees tonight and maybe they are but the pressure in that series is squarely on the Yankees. The Twins are playing with house money.

A little vaccine hysteria courtesy of Dan.

The "new conservative Bible". There are a few cheap shots in there, of course, but some of them are good for a laugh. The one about the fishes and loaves still has me laughing this morning.

Can I just say that ranking NFL teams is irrelevant. The NFL HAS a playoff system. They have Number One right, though. The Colts are playing fantastic right now mainly due to the presence of Peyton Manning, who is playing some of the best football I have ever seen. He is a great player by any standard and it looks like he wants a few more championship rings.

Quote of the Day

If you had to make a list of the remarkable events in the Twins' extra-inning, extra-game, extra-painful elimination of the Tigers on Tuesday, the indoor rain would be ... what, 47th on the list?

Michael Rosenberg, Detroit Free Press

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "It took the entire team to win this division and it took the entire team to win this game."

From MSNBC.com about an ongoing squabble between merchants and credit card companies over the fees merchants are being charged:

Sharon Gamsin, vice president of communications with MasterCard, said there is nothing stopping retailers from telling customers what the fees are.

But Craig Shearman, vice president for government affairs with the National Retail Federation, said the fees vary so widely that it would be impossible to give customers an accurate amount for each transaction.

"The amount of time to calculate and put it on the receipt would be impractical," Shearman said.

I would think a computer system could do that fairly easily but I don't think it would help their cause. Rather than pay the fees, consumers will find someone who doesn't charge them. The only course of action is to factor those fees into ALL of your transactions. That, of course, means cash customers will pay extra to compensate for credit card customers. One of the oil companies tried to give a discount for cash transactions but that never caught on. In this day and age, it never will.

I will say a couple of things about New York Jets rookie phenom, Mark Sanchez. If he continues to hold the ball low and away from his body like he did against the Saints, he will not last the season. Someone will break his arm. ALL defensive players will hack at that. And if he dives at a player's knees again, someone might break his neck.

About today's QOTD: Just another celebrity apology more for the benefit of the celebrity than the injured party. I can't honestly say I think any less of him, though. Never thought much of him to begin with.

Quote of the Day

And at that point, there's only two things that can happen: Either you're going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you're going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you, folks, I got my work cut out for me.

David Letterman

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "I read in the New York Times this week that I'm an ice queen, I'm the sun king, I'm an alien fleeing from District 9 and I'm a dominatrix. I recon that makes me lukewarm royalty with a whip from outer space. What do you think?"

For all the bluster I read this week about the Jets aggressive, blitzing, hard-hitting defense, it turns out they decided to play the exact same laid back defense the Buffalo Bills played against the Saints last week (See QOTD). That strategy might actually work if anyone gets ahead of the Saints. Baseball and football are very similar in that respect. You play deep and conservative on defense when you're ahead to keep the other team from scoring and getting back in the game. If you play that way when you're behind, you're just trying to keep it close hoping your opponent makes a mistake or you're just trying to keep the score respectable. It's a cautious strategy. Something no one expected from Rex Ryan. The Saints help those teams that play this way by having no patience. They want to take shots downfield even when their opponent is determined to do nothing else but take that part of their game away. In past years, it was critical for the offense to score on almost every drive because the defense was suspect and gave up way too many big plays. That has probably contributed to their downfield at all costs mentality. The defense this season, so far, seems to be more of an asset than a liability. This is new for this team in the Sean Payton era. Hopefully, the offense will adjust without losing their killer instinct. It's early and way too much can still happen but it looks like we have ourselves a contender here in New Orleans.

Unless something outrageous happens tonight, it looks like my fantasy football teams will both keep pace with the Saints. In my 15 years of playing, I can't remember having a 4-0 team. I have two of them this season. Not at all sure what to do next.

Quote of the Day

Ryan builds his defenses on pressure, but on Sunday, his latest creation deflated like an untied balloon, gone along with the Jets' undefeated record. The defense failed to sack Brees and hit him only once.

Greg Bishop, New York Times

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Can we please just move on and get to the New Orleans game already?"

WOW. Looking three weeks ahead? -Rob

Today's hot ticket has the 3-0 Jets playing the 3-0 Saints in the SuperDome. I expect this game to be very fast and very physical. The formula for the Saints hasn't changed much in 4 years. If the Saints take care of the ball, they'll take care of the Jets. Just one more thing:

It was a good win for LSU yesterday over the Georgia Bulldogs. Wild finish. Sets up a huge game next week in Tiger Stadium versus the top-ranked Florida Gators. Talk about a sizzling hot ticket.

There were two penalties assessed yesterday in the LSU-Georgia game for "excessive" celebration. One against each team and both were ridiculous. There was no taunting involved but both teams were assessed 15 yards on the following kickoff, which gave their opponent excellent field position. There was an equally ridiculous call for the same thing in the Michigan-Notre Dame game. I can understand wanting to limit excessive celebrations that taunt an opponent or delay the game but the three calls I've seen didn't do any of that. A good football officiating crew, like a good fight referee, shouldn't be noticed. Officials are starting to affect the outcomes of close games. They need to back off on this zero tolerance stance.

We spent the afternoon in Ponchatoula yesterday. We're still in the market for living room furniture and there is a furniture showroom on the outskirts of town there that we wanted to see. That part of the trip was a waste but we got to visit downtown Ponchatoula and eat lunch there. I hadn't been to Ponchatoula in many, many years. I have relatives there that I haven't seen or heard from since I was a kid. Don't even know their names any more. The town had some kind of quilt festival going on. Quilts were hanging all over.

Ponchatoula is known for strawberries and the first two images here are timeless for southeast Louisiana residents. There are more images below the jump. When the strawberries start ripening, vendors and family farmers, selling flats of them out of the backs of their trucks, start lining Louisiana highways. The strawberries they sell are fantastic.

Ponchatoula, LA - October 3, 2009

Ponchatoula, LA - October 3, 2009

Quote of the Day

In addition, there is a sense of purpose about the Saints. Despite their 3-0 start and impressive statistical rankings, they very much feel they need to add more seasoning to the gumbo because it's still a ways from tasting just right.

Steve Wyche, NFL.com

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Indeed, the truth is that although when I was younger I loved the Olympics, over the past twenty years or so I've quite lost interest in them."

That sums up my sentiments exactly. -Rob

LSU faces the Georgia Bulldogs "Between the Hedges" in Athens today. It's the first time this season they're facing a ranked opponent. The Bulldogs have had trouble with turnovers this year. I like the Tigers chances if that trend continues. It's a tough game.

The Twins and Tigers are still at it with two games left. The Tigers have the easier assignment. They're a game up and the Twins face Zack Greinke tonight. He is the odds on Cy Young winner and deservedly so. He's having a great year. A 2.06 ERA in the American League is ridiculous.

Unrelated to sport: I love popups that have no "Close" button anywhere on them and are strategically covering what I'm trying to read. I didn't read your ad. I reloaded the page.

The CrabAppleLane weekend big event is tomorrow when the Saints and Jets square off. More on that tomorrow.

Quote of the Day

He must roll to and from work in a giant, government-provided hamster ball.

John Sinteur, The Daily Irrelevant

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Saints' RB Pierre Thomas did a fantastic job filling in for the still injured Mike Bell, and will look to build off his huge second half last week where he ran for 126 yards with two touchdowns on 14 carries (9.0 avg)."

Minor quibble. Bell did a good job filling in for Pierre Thomas in Weeks 1 & 2. When they're both healthy, Thomas is the starter, not Bell. -Rob

Rain expected all weekend here at CrabAppleLane. Will not, um, dampen my plans.

Really nice story on Drew Brees in USA Today. Two big Drew Brees fans here at CrabAppleLane. He's the rare combination of good guy and fiery competitor.

At the completely opposite end of really nice, we have the story of Ted Williams' abused severed head. As if severing it and freezing it isn't enough abuse and more than a just little morbid, it was also allegedly "used for batting practice by a technician trying to dislodge it from a tuna fish can.". There are people, who never saw Ted Williams play, whose only knowledge of him will be this. To me, that's the saddest part of the story. I will not read that book.

Quote of the Day

All as mean as rat snakes
All got knives in their boots
Even the piano player, man
He don't care who he shoots

Mark Knopfler, You Can't Beat The House

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "This is a team that will be very deadly all year and he is bringing a culture here that will make this a team that nobody wants to come into town to play."

Patsy called out just now. "You know you have hummingbirds at the feeder this morning already? One of them is peeking in the door.". It's still dark outside but they're starting to gear up for their southern migration and are swarming the feeders. This is the only time of year where more than one will be at said feeders. They still squabble a little but they're much more tolerant of each other now. The BOTD has a bit more on that.

After a few clicks this morning, I think Jets fans are a more confident bunch than the Eagles fans were a couple of weeks ago. I like that. They should be. Their team is playing very well.

Today's QOTD is from Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated but the the real heart of it is the quote from Detroit Tigers Announcer Ernie Harwell. I can't imagine how there was a dry eye in the house.

Quote of the Day

For his valedictory, when he retired in 2002, Harwell thanked his listeners for "taking me to the cottage up north, to the beach, to the picnic, your workplace and your backyard."

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "It is the time of year for hummingbirds, especially the ruby-throated species, to head south, and if you have a feeder you are likely to see clusters of them as they fuel up for the long trip."