All of the starters on offense are settled. The only things being decided between now and Saturday are who the backup QB will be and how many at each position will be kept. Things are a little more unsettled on defense but not much more. I don't think there will be any big surprises when cuts are made Saturday. One thing is certain. They're going to be releasing a few guys who can play in this league.

7 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Five Star playlist:

1. On The Turning Away - Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
2. Tea For The Tillerman - Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman
3. Woodstock - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -Déjà Vu
4. Gallows Pole - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
5. The Load-Out - Jackson Browne - Running On Empty

Quote of the Day

If you live in New Orleans and die of old age it's your fault.

Angus Lind, Times-Picayune

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "The Tennessee Titans have not really been what you could call a blitzing team. In 2009, they brought only 4 rushers 79.9% of the time, tops in the league."

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Just 9 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane "Recently Purchased" playlist:

1. Alone and Forsaken - Dave Matthews & Neil Young - Hope for Haiti Now
2. Praan - Garry Schyman & Palbasha Siddique - Where The Hell Is Matt?
3. Heartless - Adrien Reju - A Million Hearts
4. Fall Down - Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
5. I'm Shipping Up to Boston - Dropkick Murphys - The Warrior's Code

Quote of the Day

I'm shipping up to Boston whoa
I'm shipping off...to find my wooden leg

The Dropkick Murphys, I'm Shipping Up To Boston

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Since 1996, Boston's Dropkick Murphys have been leading the young and old astray with their own brand of Celtic punk rock and rugged pub leanings."

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I think it safe to say we didn't learn much from the Chargers-Saints game Friday night. The Saints won. Big deal. The offenses alternated between going on long drives and punting. The defenses alternated between giving up those long drives and forcing punts. The Saints were deeper. Their reserves did a better job and are most responsible for the win. The Saints travel to Nashville to take on the Titans Thursday night and the preseason will come to a close. Good riddance. Brees, Vilma, Greer, Porter, Bush, Will Smith, and Pierre Thomas need not even make the trip as far as I'm concerned.

10 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Five Star playlist:

1. Temptation Eyes - The Grass Roots - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best Of The Grass Roots
2. The Jean Genie - David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
3. Mississippi Queen - Mountain - Hard N' Heavy: 70's Greatest Rock Hits, Vol. 1
4. Classical Gas - Mason Williams - Am Gold 1968
5. Megalomania - Black Sabbath - Sabotage (Remaster)

Quote of the Day

But even if, as Ettlinger writes, many of the Twinkie’s ingredients are “more closely linked to rocks and petroleum than any of the four food groups,” they still technically come from the Earth, right?

Laura T. Coffey

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Wow. That was one of the worst games I've ever watched. The good news is that NFL.com has gotten back to regular-season form as far as the quantity of videos. Unfortunately, the Titans didn't really do anything worth putting up. Only 1 more week of this silliness, though!"

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It’s Monday morning. I should be getting ready for work but there's no work today. New Orleans is shut down. Hurricane Katrina roars ashore near the city at about 6AM. She reaches CrabAppleLane in all her power and ugliness at about 7AM. The power goes out here and the anxiety begins. If you're a fan of big weather and you have no stake in the outcome, this is the ultimate event. The winds howl for about 8 hours. Trees all around the house are lying down. A tree trunk or a limb snaps every few minutes. You hear a blast like a gunshot when it does and you worry for a few seconds hoping it doesn't come crashing through your window or roof. Speaking of the roof, a piece of flashing keeps tilting up and down as the wind hits it. If it doesn't hold up, wind will be able to get underneath the metal panels. It holds up. When the storm is over, we have no power, the yard is a mess, and the phones are down but we're safe.

Almost immediately after the storm passes, we hear chainsaws. People are out cutting up the fallen trees on Highway 1083. CrabAppleLane is right off of 1083. We can hear the chainsaws until it gets dark 3 or 4 hours later. I figure they've cleared the roadway. There is always a tree or two down on Highway 1083 after a big thunderstorm. Hurricane Katrina was more than that so I figured there were 20 or 30 down. 1083 is about 5 miles long from Highway 40 to Highway 21. Those guys aren't even trying to clear the roadway. They're just trying to clear a path so one vehicle can pass. There are hundreds of trees down. There are trees every 10 feet. One tree sometimes but clusters of trees most of the time. It is an enormous undertaking. They are not done but they surely did a lot. What those handful of guys got done with their chainsaws in such a short period of time is nothing short of amazing.

On the south shore, there is street flooding in the places where it traditionally floods in and around New Orleans after a heavy rain. That's expected. There is an elaborate drain and pump system in place in the greater New Orleans area but it can't keep up with torrential downpours. After the rain stops, it usually takes a couple of hours for the water in the street to go down.

As night falls, we're in the dark. We have no TV because we have no electricity. A generator would get here two days later. After a major disaster of any kind, the reporting is pretty haphazard and, usually, wildly exaggerated. Remember the early reports of the San Fransisco earthquake of 1989, the early reports in the first Gulf war, the earliest reporting from 911? Katrina reporting was like that, too. People are calling into WWL (The designated emergency broadcast station in the New Orleans area) and saying some of the most ridiculous things that they'd heard or claimed to have seen. One thing was consistently reported, though. The water is rising. It should have been receding.

The water is rising.

I offer the two photos below that I took at work some three weeks after the storm. The city was still shut down. You needed a special pass to get off of the interstate. Once you were off of the interstate, it was the wild west. You could go pretty much anywhere you wanted but everyone except me was armed to the teeth. No one else is supposed to be in the city but people ARE in the city. Some are just trying to protect their property but some are up to no good. Many businesses hired security. These are not the part-time rental "mall" cops. They are very serious and heavily armed. The photos show both the start and the finish of Hurricane Katrina. The clock stopped when the power went out. About two feet above where the clock is hanging, well, look at the next picture.

When time stood still

The rest of the wall

I'm facing the north cinder block wall. The big roll-up doors on the east and west side of the building were blown in by the winds. Hurricane-force winds got inside the building and blew the wall out. Somehow, the clock remained hanging.

It's Sunday. Hurricane Katrina is headed our way. She's a Category 5 hurricane and she is enormous. She's due to come ashore near New Orleans tomorrow morning. Most of the residents and businesses there have evacuated or are in the process of evacuation. We've made the decision to stay home and ride it out. Mom is coming up from Kenner to stay with us. CrabAppleLane is about 15 miles north of Interstate 12 and evacuation is voluntary. The area south of I-12 is under a mandatory evacuation order. It's very calm here. We're about as ready as we can be. We've been through hurricanes before. We can fend for ourselves for a few days. We expect services to be restored before we run out of anything. They always are.

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Five Star playlist:

1. Prairie Wedding - Mark Knopfler - Sailing To Philadelphia
2. You've Got Another Thing Comin' - Judas Priest - Living After Midnight
3. Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress) - The Hollies - Rock Of The 70's
4. Not Fragile (Quad Mix) - Bachman-Turner Overdrive - The Anthology [Disc 2]
5. In My Time Of Dying - Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti [Disc 1]

Quote of the Day

The Saints might have plucked another exciting young running back from the ranks of the undrafted. Rookie Chris Ivory turned a swing pass into a tackle-breaking, zigzagging, 76-yard score in New Orleans' 36-21 preseason victory over the San Diego Chargers on Friday night.

NFL.com

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Two days after Katrina hit, 80% of New Orleans was flooded and some places were 15 feet under water. The storm supposedly caused 50 breaches in levees, built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers."

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Hurricane Katrina

It was a Saturday five years ago today. I had guys coming over for a fantasy football draft on Sunday and I had a few things I wanted to get done around the house. I'd had a late night Friday and got up for the last time around 9AM. I was drinking my coffee and making some rounds on the internet when I got a call. One of the fantasy football owners was going out of town and couldn't make it to the draft. He was evacuating. Really? I didn't think it was that serious. As I was considering what to do about that, I got another call. Another owner, same thing. I started calling the other owners to tell them we'd reschedule the draft after Katrina passed through. After I'd made all of my calls, I started watching the news.

I'll be the first to tell you that I hate the dire rhetoric that public officials and the media use during these times. I admit it's a tightrope and a horribly unfair task. Warn the public but don't induce panic. It's like a bit of a twist on the "Cry Wolf" fable. The crier doesn't get eaten by the wolf, though. The town does. Cry "Hurricane", everyone evacuates, no hurricane. Cry "Hurricane" again, everyone evacuates, still no hurricane. Cry "Hurricane" a third time, no one evacuates, killer hurricane. I tend to watch the local guys. They've usually been through it before and tend to exaggerate less. The statements coming out of the not-easily-shaken local public officials and the local media was quite alarming this time. It unsettled me.

"Just evacuate. Better safe than sorry". We all hear that a lot. Evacuations are very stressful and expensive. Traffic is bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see. Will you be able to get gas along the way? Will your car overheat? Can you even find a place to stay? What will you take with you? Bear in mind that whatever you leave behind may be lost forever. We decided to stay. Most didn't. It is an intensely personal and difficult decision. It turned out to be the right decision for us. Two of our windows leak in horizontal rain conditions. I've never been able to find the source of the leak but it only does it during those relatively rare conditions. During Katrina, two more windows leaked. We were able to manage the leaks because we were there. Had we not been home, we would have had mold. That would have meant a remediation team, gutting the house, an insurance fight, and major upheaval. We were lucky.

13 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Five Star playlist:

1. I Will Find You - Clannad - The Last Of The Mohicans
2. Rockin' In The Free World - Neil Young - Freedom
3. I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick/In Color/Heaven Tonight (3 Pak)
4. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - The Andrews Sisters - 50th Anniversary Collection Volume One
5. Firefly Main Theme Song - Joss Whedon - Firefly

Quote of the Day

Someone once said that life is either looking forward or looking back. There’s never The Moment. In New Orleans, The Moments come with joyful ease if you open yourself up to them.

Paul Oswell, London Daily Mail

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "I have nothing new, or good, to report. Happy 4-year anniversary."

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14 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. Ferry Cross The Mersey - Gerry & The Pacemakers - AM Gold: The Mid-'60s
2. Dreamboat Annie (Reprise) - Heart - Dreamboat Annie
3. You're My Best Friend (1991 Remix) - Queen - A Night At The Opera
4. The Man's Too Strong - Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
5. You Make Loving Fun - Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Quote of the Day

With thousands feared drowned in what could be America’s deadliest natural disaster in a century, New Orleans’ leaders all but surrendered the streets to floodwaters and began turning out the lights on the ruined city — perhaps for months.

Associated Press, September 1, 2005

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Nine and a half years ago, I fell cheesebox over toes for a small city in the Dirty South of the USA called New Orleans."

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Today's QOTD is from Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo's girlfriend. TMI.

15 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle from the CrabAppleLane Four Star playlist starting with "B”:

1. Budapest - Jethro Tull - Crest Of A Knave
2. Bloody Nose - Earlimart - Mentor Tormentor
3. Blue Tarp Blues-(w Mark Knopfler) - Sonny Landreth - From The Reach
4. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve - Urban Hymns
5. Beyond My Wildest Dreams - Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris - All The Roadrunning

Quote of the Day

He has good hygiene.

Candace Crawford

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "Brett Favre‘s return, Percy Harvin‘s migraines, and Sidney Rice‘s overdue hip surgery and likely half-season sidelining have stoked my Bernard Berrian fire. The Minnesota Vikings‘ BB gun has already boasted profit potential as a No. 5 or lower wideout in many drafts. I took advantage twice even before the Rice news broke."

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There's always going to be some shoddy tackling in preseason. The Saints took their turn last week against the Patriots. The Texans did so this week against the Saints. I found this line funny from a Texans fan board:

There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you enjoy the rest of the season. By the way, is there anyone on the board that knows how to tackle a football player?

Fantasy football tip from CrabAppleLane: All AFC West teams are pretty awful on defense and roll up big yards against each other. Statistically, those are usually their best games. They're almost always shootouts. They play five games against each other. Technically, they play six but one of them will be in Week 17 by NFL mandate so the sixth game won't matter in most fantasy football leagues. I loves to have AFC West players on my team.

Anxious to see Ryan Matthews against the Saints this Friday night. I picked him for my fantasy football team.

For better or worse, undoubtedly worse, the 2010 Border Reivers fantasy football team:

Starter QB - Kevin Kolb - $20
QB - Sam Bradford - $1
Starter RB - Jamaal Charles - $23
Starter RB - Ryan Matthews - $32
RB - Fred Taylor - $1
RB - Marshawn Lynch - $2
Starter WR - Miles Austin - $25
Starter WR - Calvin Johnson - $25
WR - Lee Evans - $3
WR - Anthony Gonzales - $1
WR - Dexter McCluster - $1
Starter TE - Brent Celek - $8
TE - Todd Heap - $1
Starter PK - Adam Vinatieri - $1
Starter D/ST - Titans - $1

The homer in me is disappointed that I didn't get any Saints players. They're slightly overpriced here but only slightly.

17 days until football season ...

5 song iTune shuffle:

1. I Just Want To Make Love To You - Foghat - Live
2. On Fire - Van Halen - Van Halen
3. An Old Fashioned Love Song - Three Dog Night - The Best Of Three Dog Night
4. Oh, Susannah - James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
5. The Railroad - Grand Funk Railroad - Caught In The Act

Quote of the Day

Up each morning at five o'clock
Seem like the noon day sun aint never gonna stop
The work is hard in a railroad yard
Hey, hey, gotta make it today to punch a time card
Workin' on the railroad

Grand Funk Railroad, The Railroad

Blog of the day is here.

Quote from said blog: "So in short, enough is enough A.J. Time to stop worrying about your reputation and start worrying about the success of your team. Give McNeill a contract and get this offensive line back on track."

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