The New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals hook up tonight in the NFL Hall of Fame Game. It is the opening preseason game. First things first.
Congratulations to the Saints' Willie Roaf and the other inductees on their entrance to the NFL's Hall of Fame. All of you are deserving. I was still a Saints season ticket holder when they drafted Willie in 1993. I remember a game against the Eagles when Mike Mamula just ate his lunch. That is the only bad game I ever saw him have. He was a great player in New Orleans. He left here under unfortunate circumstances involving infidelity among other things. I'm glad to see him as a proud member of the Saints family again.
Condolences to the Andy Reid family. Very sad.
The HoF game starts at 7PM CDT. If you want to see NFL superstars Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, and Jimmy Graham, I suggest you tune in early. I think Graham might play a while but I expect Brees and Fitzgerald to be off the field in a hurry. The Cards will be missing their two starting running backs and the Saints will be missing their two starting cornerbacks. If there was a game plan tonight, it would include "look for Fitzgerald and throw the ball to him lots". I expect this game to get really sloppy and really fast. Each team has 90 players and about 35 on each side will be doing something else in a few weeks. More thoughts on the Saints and the game here if you're interested.
Attn: NFL - Please lose Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, Brian Baldinger, Joe Theismann, and Shannon Sharp. Bring in some new guys who don't try to be so cute with each other and the audience.
Patsy has wanted to see Salmon Fishing in the Yemen since she heard about it. I suppose I did, too, even though it looked a little like any other typical romcom, except that it was British. That makes all the difference to me. They simply do small movies better than Americans. All romcoms are small movies to me but I love small movies so that, in itself, is never a dealbreaker for seeing something. The film has a lot of quiet moments and a few disquieting ones.
A rich sheik wants to introduce salmon to the Yemen River and he has the resources to do so. Money means nothing to him. He enlists a British salmon expert to oversee the project through the sheik's representatives in the British Isles. The fish expert thinks the project impossible mainly because it would be so ridiculously expensive and impractical even if it could be done. Political obstacles abound, too. The Yemen River locals see it as an attempt to westernize their land and the British fisherman don't want to give up the number of fish it would take to stock the river. The impossible dream part of the movie was OK. The relationship between the fish expert and the sheik's British representative, who are both already in relationships, make up the other part and that one turned out to be pretty sweet. It was a movie best seen in a quiet home rather than a chatty theater but definitely a movie worth seeing.
Speaking of fish, I usually don't order it at a restaurant. Not a big fish eater but I do like broiled or grilled trout. Last night, I decided to go with the grilled trout. It was disappointing but not for the usual reasons. It was grilled very nicely. It seemed to be fresh and a pretty nice piece of fish. Unfortunately, the last thing someone did before they brought it to me was douse it with lemon and I'm not talking about a little bit. It had to be a lot because it totally overpowered the fish. I was able to eat it anyway but it surely would have been better without that extra bit of juice. Restaurants should skip that last step or lemon very lightly and leave a wedge or two on the plate for the diner.
Today's BOTD is from Wendy Rodrigue, wife of George Rodrigue of Blue Dog fame.
31 days until football season ...
I offer one from the CrabAppleLane backyard today. The wildlife has adjusted nicely to the new feeder. In addition to these three crested songbirds, I saw a hummingbird today on the newest feeder addition. Will probably start replacing all of them one by one over the next year or so.
CrabAppleLane Feeder - August 5, 2012
5 song iTunes shuffle:
- Greenback Boogie - Ima Robot - Greenback Boogie
- Under My Wheels - Alice Cooper - Killer
- Black Mountain Side - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I
- I'm In Love With My Car - Queen - A Night At The Opera
- No One's Gonna Love You - Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Quote of the Day
The fact that I grew up in Arkansas, went just two hours down the road and played ball at Louisiana Tech, and then played my pro career in New Orleans. I grew up and became a man in Louisiana and most of my ties are down there.
Willie Roaf, New Orleans Saints Hall-of-Famer
Blog of the day is here.
Quote from said blog: "For George and me, this was an oddly welcome diversion from society, from fundraisers and dinner parties, from lectures and book signings, from the curiosity and gossip that accompany his fame."
That is a lovely picture, Rob.
Thanks, Marie.
It sounds like Brees and the first team offense looked sharp for their series. Mission accomplished for the week.
How are people feeling about the team adjusting to the coach suspensions?
The Cardinal defense got their hands on Brees on the first two plays. He was able to turn both plays into positive yardage but that concerned me a bit. After that, they never got near him again. The offense is going to be difficult for most teams to stop.
The loss of Sean Payton is the great unknown. I think the game-planning and play-calling will be fine. The game day stuff is what concerns me most. Payton is a motivational maniac. I don't know how much of his sideline antics makes a difference but some of it surely must. Joe Vitt has a lot of that in him, though. I don't see the wheels flying off of this cart. This team will be a contender.