Miscellaneous Items, Various Topics, and Sundry Others

Three good words there. The first is used the most. The second gets you out of jams when you don't know what else to say. The third is my favorite, but you can only use it in conjunction with "others" so possible uses are limited.

First things first: My buddy Corey has started his own myspace page. I'm taking bets on how long it takes him to get seduced by a 45 year old man.

It did my heart good to see this, a home video of Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan dropping the crystal trophy they got for winning the NCAA title last year. Stupid Florida.

In case you haven't taken notice of this story, there's some interesting stuff going on at Gallaudet University in DC. A lot of students don't like the new choice for university president and feel that they're not being paid attention to enough by the administration. So they shut down the university for three days with protests. Friday night, 133 students were arrested. The really interesting aspect from an outsider's point of view is what happens when a deaf person gets arrested and put in handcuffs. Since they communicate with their hands, it's like tying them up and putting a rag in their mouths at the same time. Only considering what it must be like to be deaf in a hearing world, you'd have to multiply it by many, many times to get the full effect.

The Mighty Saints improved to 5-1 yesterday with a 27-24 win over the Eagles. You can see highlights of the game here. The Eagles entered the game leading the league in sacks, but didn't get Drew Brees down once. How? I'll tell you. The offensive line protected well on pass plays, and they mauled the Eagles defensive front on power runs up the middle. The latter allowed them to get the defense back on its heels a little bit and set up play-action. Second, the game plan was a great mixture of the aforementioned runs and p-a, plus quick passes that allowed Brees to get rid of the ball before pressure could get to him, either from the front four or blitzes. The run game and quick passing made it tough for the Eagles to blitz as much as they wanted to.

As for the game itself, it was a matter of big runs on either side. Saints went up 10-0 and 17-3 at halftime. Eagles came out in the second half and scored 21 straight. Saints bounced back immediately and tied it at 24, then held the Eagles with 8:26 to go in the game. The Eagles never saw the ball again. The Saints drove and drove and drove, getting first down after first down. On 3rd and 1, Deuce McAllister bulled ahead for a first down and brought it to the two minute warning. McAllister ran great and tough the whole time he was in the game, with only a hamstring pull taking him out of the game in the first half.

This brought us to an interesting turning point in the game. Sean Payton, who has done seemingly everything right so far this season, called for three straight kneel downs. The Eagles were out of timeouts, so the Saints were able to run it all the way down to three seconds before calling their last timeout and kicked a field goal to end the game. A lot of people probably knew what he was doing, but may not have agreed with it. Why not at least try for a touchdown before settling for the kick? He didn't want Donovan McNabb to have the ball again is why. Score early and you give them a chance to tie. Score late and that chance never happens. If Carney misses the kick he looks like a dope who doesn't have confidence in his team. If Carney makes it he looks like a smart, clever coach who is always thinking ahead. Carney made it, so Payton looks pretty smart.