I have finally submitted something to my employer that showcases everything I am capable of doing given enough time. In case some of you are wondering, I have been working on a web page that employs some of the latest and greatest technologies. It's nothing you as the general public can browse to and see. Though it is a web page, it is also an internal application bought and paid for by customers of my company. It's pretty cool just the same. The stuff I'm doing now is the next evolution in web page development. It's a damn good thing I'm on top of it. I have to be if I want to stay in the business.
As I was bringing my coffee upstairs, I took a moment to glance at my two kids sitting on the couch together. Emmett adores his older brother, Jackson. They were sharing a blanket. Jackson had turned off the television after a half-hour (twenty minutes on TiVo—sans commercials) of Ben-10, and was playing Nintendogs on the DS. I could tell by the sound of dogs barking. There is a feature of the game that displays a record player—you know, a phonograph record, 33 RPMs. The kids have mastered the art of using the stylus to drag the needle to the record, pressing the "record" button and making silly noises until the needle reaches the smooth middle. Then they laugh—no, they crack up—at the grunts, screams and fart noises they have left behind.
Hours of quality entertainment.
As I saw their two heads pressed together, faces alight from the glow of the screen, I gave myself a mental pat on the back. They will always have each other, long after I am gone.
My football team has quietly advanced to an eleven and one record. If it weren't for the raging success of the New England Patriots, our ascension would have attracted a lot more attention. This is the best time to be a fan of a football team, after years of rebuilding and frustration, to be a witness to the magic before the world knows what is about to happen.
The Dallas Cowboys are going to win the Superbowl this year. I can feel it. The Patriots are fading down the stretch while the Cowboys are getting better each week. Our defense is getting ferocious. New stars are blooming on each side of the ball. Bill Parcells built this team, but it took Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett to take advantage of the considerable talent Bill had collected.
If you love another team, I understand that you either don't or won't believe. Feel free to tell me so. But come February, in Tempe, Arizona, allow me to say that I told you so.
16 comments:
Other than the excessive drooling I do at the men in their uniforms, I'm not a big football fan Scott. ;-)
Good luck with the webpage. Hope the writing is going just as well.
Pride comes before a fall, Scott. Watch out for them Patriots!
Oh whine whine whine whine...like it's been that long since the Cowboys were good. ;-)
I'm hoping the Lions can hand them their ass on Sunday, but I have no real belief in them. ;-(
Hmmm. My Hero does the same work you do. Is that a coincidence I wonder?
"As I saw their two heads pressed together, faces alight from the glow of the screen, I gave myself a mental pat on the back. They will always have each other, long after I am gone."
No, it's no coincidence. :-)
Oh hey now, my beloved Colts have a shot, but I'll tell you this, I absolutely ABHOR the Patriots. I told my husband the next team that beats the Patriots, I am their LIFELONG fan. I mean it. I was really glad it wasn't the Steelers, but I'm telling you, I am that committed to hating the Patriots. So if your guys win and beat the Patriots, I say YAHOO.
(lovely vignette of your boys ... love those stories)
As much as I hate the Cowboys (sorry Scott), their OL is the strength of that team. Their OL are monsters, straight out of Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. This is probably sacrilege and something you don't want to hear, but one of the reasons why Romo is so good is he has a full six seconds to throw the ball. Six seconds is a QB's wet dream. And nobody's going to cover TO for six full seconds.
Will the Cowboys be able to beat the Pats this year? Tough question. I think Bill Bellichek sold his soul to the devil for a perfect record in '07. We will see if the devil will keep his bargain or not. Bill Bellichek may not have read the fine print. He might have to sacrifice a Patriots player in order for it to work. I just hope it's not Junior Seau. I've always liked that guy.
I was rooting for the Lions to hand you guys a defeat. It's such a shame. It came down to that missed 35 yard field goal. Poor Kathleen.
Good luck with your work. As you probably know, I too work in computers. I always have some dumb relative come up to me and say "you're a software engineer, can you fix my _____?"
I simply say "are you running Windows or Unix?"
Then they'll reply "what is Unix?"
And that's where I got them. "Nope! You're running Windows. I don't run Windows so can't help you."
So yes, I know where you're coming from when you say the general public can't play with it.
Teams win championships, Zombie. I've watched every Cowboy game for the last who knows how many years, so I know all about what makes a quarterback good and what makes a quarterback bad. Drew Bledsoe stood in the pocket and took sacks. Behind the same line, Tony Romo came in and moved out of the way and bought time and still strung together 300+ yard games. This year on more than one occasion, Romo has squeezed himself out of trouble. Once in the St. Louis game, he turned a thirty yard loss into a first down just by being a scrambler. Romo has got it all, and if you think different, then you simply haven't been watching or paying that close attention. Believe me, Cowboys fans didn't just annoint this guy overnight. We've watched ten different starters since Troy Aikman flounder behind center; our standards are pretty high. Even Troy Aikman, who knows a little something about being a quarterback in this league, says that Romo is outperforming even himself, and lumped Stauback into the equation as well. No, Romo is not just the product of a great line; he's got special, once in a decade type talent.
That said, the line makes him better. You could see that in the Lions game. Columbo had a bum ankle and gave up a sack (or two) and several quarterback pressures. Yet still Romo eclipsed the three hundred yard mark.
And what about that floater to Barber with an all-out blitz for a touchdown. Pure sweetness.
And before we get all runny about that missed field goal, just remember that it took Wittens' fumble on the one yard line to make that significant. That was a little bit of luck in the other direction. No?
"Tony Romo; A Real Man's Mancrush!"
I'm betting more than six-eights of all sports-watching men across the country wish they were this guy. Dunno if they want Jessica Simpson on their arm -- aw, who am I kidding. Of course they do!
Scott, tell me what this means; "...before we get all runny..." Is that a way to say "...before we start to cry about it..."? Because I'm about to lift it!
Alan - I don't know about man-crush, but I am totally with you on wanting to be Tony Romo. Regardless how you feel about his choice in women (but I'm totally digging his groove), he basically can make any choice he wants to. He's got sixty seven crisp dollar bills in his possession, and the national spotlight, and a Favre-esque aw-shucks good-ole-boy humble quality that is hard to criticize.
For me, all money and women aside, it's all about being the quarterback. In my opinion, there is no higher station in all of sports than to be the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Romo is adding to that mystique, advancing the legend.
I mean, how is it possible to handle so much pressure that the spotlight necessarily brings?
Alan - make that sixty seven million, and you are correct in your interpretation of the word runny. Lift away.
LOL, brilliant! The phrase will be featured in an upcoming "Redeemable Life" near you!
Since your novel is based in Texas (if I remember correctly), are you inspired just a wee bit by Romo's off-field life? When I first met My Hero, I pounded out the NaNoWriMo novel last year based on the inspiration that he gave me, so I'm wondering if you're subject to the same process.
I don't get a vicarious thrill out of Romo's off-the-field life. Perhaps some of his on-the-field, but I think I'm over wanting to be someone else in this life. I used to think that way to some degree. I'm more inwardly focused, and perhaps I've always been, though I've always been prone to envy as well. The best antidote for all that is to succeed at achieving ones own goals, and for me right now that is writing a novel.
Most of my inspiration comes from my own past. I think all my characters are a shade of myself.
Oh no, not denying at all Romo's ability. I hate watching mobile QBs because every time you think your guy is going to sack him, he eludes your guy and gets it off.
But I really think that with any QB, it's probably 3/4th the QB and 1/4 the OL. Dallas and NE have the best OLs in the NFL. Colts come in next. Unfortunately for us Packer fans, GB's OL is average. I think that's why you'll be representing the NFC in the SB and not us.
One thing Dallas has always understood is the importance of an OL. You had it in the 90s with Aikman & Smith too. I really wish GB knew how to draft better offensive linemen.
Zombie - We've been very fortunate. We actually had Marco Rivera from the Packers for a while, but he had to retire I think due to injury. We replaced him with Leonard "Bigg" Davis from Arizona, and that was the final piece that sealed it. He's a monster. Columbo was a former Bears first round pick that we got for a song. They thought he was washed up; he was injured. Bill got him and let him rehab on our roster and the patience paid off. We had some really awful drafts for the offensive line, and its amazing that it has finally come together.
One person who gets no credit outside of the organization is Tony Sparano (no, not Soprano!), the offensive line coach. He's next in line for the offensive coordinator job, and will be a head coach some day.
You are right. This club understands that it all starts with the front five. Does anyone think that Emmitt Smith could have done it without that monster line? I don't think so. He was good, but Barry Sanders he wasn't.
Ahhh, I love this football talk.
And your boys are cute.
Wow. I wasn't going to go there (Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith). I actually liked both of them, but thought Barry was the better of the two. Smith though played his heart out, so I hate to take any credit away from him.
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