A Redskin Tale

Friday Afternoon:

I was doing my usual walk about the building at work Friday afternoon and I came across our friendly neighborhood security officer manning the front desk.

He is a huge Redskin Fan and has season tickets. So I naturally started talking about the game this weekend. Asked him if he was going and he got this strange look on his face.

Oh yeah, I’m definitely watching it. My dad and I are all psyched up and ready. He said.

Huh?

(I was thinking to myself, did he just say watching – as in on TV?)

I thought you’d be going for sure?

Ummm

(uh oh, he has a look on his face that no fan ever wants to see . . .)

I sold the tickets.

(WHAT! I yelled inside my head – How Could You!) (But the PC and sensitive fan inside my head said . . .)

Oh? Oh yeah, they are really going for prime money. Up to 5 or 6 times their value! Definitely will help pay for all that Christmas shopping. Right.

(Please tell me you are not a complete idiot)

Ummm.

(OMG, what could be worse than selling out for prime cash? . . . )

I sold them after the Carolina game when they were 3 – 6. Thought I did not want to go to a meaningless game out in the elements in December.

(You idiot! – not only did you you fail by not making a huge profit but I bet you sold them right after Shanny said we were in evaluation mode!)

You know what this means don’t you?

(Inside I am actually laughing at him hysterically)

Yeah, I’m a terrible fan.

———————————————————-

I wonder, as the camera pans the crowd today, if our friendly neighborhood security officer will spot his seats up in the stands and see the folks he sold his tickets to?   And think –  that could be me – experiencing one of those incredible events of a life time.

I also wonder what other great stories there are out there about snagging prime tickets to a prime event?

Got any good tales to tell?

Still Smarter Than A Six Year Old

This year has been quite a year football wise for our family.  Both my younger boys really got into fantasy football and pickem games.  And of course our favorite local sports team, the Washington Redskins, have been doing quite well lately too!

All in all, football life has been pretty good in our household.

For the last regular season week of the NFL, it looks like TacoMan has is all but locked up in our pickem contest.

I, could have done better if I had not spent the last couple weeks picking as a true Redskin fan and betting against teams such as the Vikings (sorry Sam) or the Seahawks.  But hey, loyalties run deep and here the points don’t matter…

Once all the playoff slots are set, we will be huddled over our stat sheets and game logs; each of us coming up with our own playoff brackets.

Meanwhile, here is our last and final prediction for the 2012 NFL regular season.

Week 17	TacoMan	SuperCarlos	NinjaSailor	RedskinDoug
SUN, DEC 30
Baltimore at Cincinnati	Ravens	Ravens	Ravens	Bengals
Dallas at Washington	Redskins	Redskins	Redskins	Redskins
Tampa Bay at Atlanta	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons
NY Jets at Buffalo	Jets	Bills	Bills	Bills
Chicago at Detroit	Bears	Bears	Lions	Bears
Jacksonville at Tennessee	Titans	Titans	Titans	Titans
Houston at Indianapolis	Texans	Texans	Colts	Colts
Green Bay at Minnesota	Packers	Vikings	Packers	Vikings
Miami at New England	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots
Carolina at New Orleans	Saints	Saints	Saints	Saints
Philadelphia at NY Giants	Giants	Giants	Giants	Giants
Cleveland at Pittsburgh	Steelers	Steelers	Browns	Steelers
Oakland at San Diego	Chargers	Chargers	Raiders	Chargers
Arizona at San Francisco	49ers	49ers	49ers	49ers
St. Louis at Seattle	Seahawks	Seahawks	Rams	Seahawks
Kansas City at Denver	Broncos	Broncos	Broncos	Broncos

 

Catching Up

This post is a combination post because I have about 10 million half drafts sitting on the back-end of my blog and I have some catching up to do.

Fan Appreciation:

 

Both Martellus Bennett of the NY Giants and Emeka Okafor of the Washington Wizards celebrate wins by catching drunk falling fans!

 

Usually teams throw some sort of online shopping special or give-away or a special tailgate party to show “fan appreciation”. However, there has been some disturbing trends in sports lately; specifically, catching drunk fans falling from high places. OK, catching them and saving them is NOT disturbing, but IMHO, this year there have been a lot more reports of falling fans. At first they tragically fell to their deaths. Now it seems teams are strategically placing their sports stars below said drunk falling fans in order to catch them. Now THAT is true fan appreciation!

 

Dallas Fans Have Class:

 

Yes, I RedskinDoug said that. Some Dallas fans were heard chanting “RGIII” at Dallas Stadium when, and even after, the Cowgirls were losing to the Skins. Yes, the chant was probably started by Redskin Fans, but nobody got into a fight or fell was thrown off of an exit ramp or balcony; so, I tip my hat to the Dallas Fans for honoring a local hero. Even one who is a Redskin and helps orchestrate a Dallas loss. Bravo! Encore! Encore!

 

 

 

Upon Further Review – I Love Loopholes and I WILL Beg To Differ:

 

The rule states that one can not throw the challenge flag on a scoring play. All scoring plays are reviewed automatically. So throwing the flag is tantamount to unsportsmanlike conduct and nulls the review of the play and the offending team is tagged with a penalty. The score stands and is not reviewable.

So. . .

If I am a coach of a said scoring TD play (in other words my team just scored a TD) with a potentially controversial event (such as stepping out of bounds, an early whistle, or down by contact – or not); then I am so throwing that damn challenge flag out there for everyone to see.

What is the consequence?

PRACTICALLY NOTHING!

The TD stands. The booth can not review. And all I suffer is a 15 yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff.

Note: If you think the NFL is not going to correct this rule next year then you are an idiot. But just once, I would love to see a coach for the scoring team do this. It would be so awesome.

 

And as a fellow blogger and friend of mine said . . .

 

How the #$!@ is Norv Turner still coaching?

 

Answer:

He must have incriminating photos or evidence against Alex Spanos.

 

Hey Norv! Catch this shot!

Just Sayin.

It Is OK To Lose To A Genius

This has been a watershed year for my kids and sports and my blog. Mark, aka TacoMan, after years of playing youth football decided he also wanted to do fantasy football as well. So I said sure, great, what took you so long? Here’s how you play.

 

He then proceeded to sign up for an online league on NFL.com. Then another on ESPN. Then yet another, also on ESPN.

 

William, aka SuperCarlos, after years of not being really interested in sports suddenly has the fever. He is interested in games, likes to play with all the kids on the block (thinks he is twelve) and loves Madden Football on the Xbox.

 

He loves doing victory dances and flips in the end zone when he scores.

 

Each week this season both Mark and Will would invariably ask me who I wanted to win certain games. As time went on, our conversations got more and more involved about the how, why and why nots of each game. And when we disagreed, each of us were convinced the other was an an idiot and didn’t know what he was talking about.

 

It only took me half the season to realize this would be a great recurring post / theme for my blog.

 

I recruited paid my daughter – who hates sports but she is a girl so I’ll forgive her on that one 😉 – to draw avatars for each of us and proceeded to add them as contributing editors to my blog. Then, as an added bonus, my visiting nephew, aka NinjaSailor, who is going to boot camp in December even decided to join in on the fun. Due to the nature of his work, he decided it was best to conceal his identity and not have a personalized avatar.

 

So for the past 4 weeks each of us has been making predictions and I’ve been keeping track here on Fumbled Returns.

 

How have we done?

 

 

TacoMan	SuperCarlos	NinjaSailor	RedskinDoug
40 – 16	34 – 22	33 – 23	37 -19

 

 

TacoMan is a fantasy and football pickem genius with an overall 40 – 16 record which translates into a .714 pickem winning average. To top it all off, he is 8 – 3 in two of his three leagues and 10 – 1 in the other. He’s in first place in weekly pickem AND fantasy football!

 

A genius among sports enthusiasts every where . . . Next year, I’m taking him to Vegas!

 

Here are our week 12 predictions.

Match-up	TacoMan		SuperCarlos	NinjaSailor	RedskinDoug
Texans vs Lions	Texans	27 – 21	Lions	Texans	Texans	31 – 17
CowGirls vs Redskins	Redskins	31 – 30	Redskins	Redskins	Redskins	27 – 24
Patriots vs Jets	Patriots	45 – 17	Jets	Jets	Patriots	34 – 10
Bengals vs Raiders	Bengals	26 – 24	Raiders	Bengals	Bengals	27 – 16
Steelers vs Browns	Steelers	23 – 17	Steelers	Browns	Browns	17 – 10
Colts vs Bills	Colts	31 – 14	Colts	Colts	Bills	37 – 24
Broncos vs Chiefs	Broncos	28 – 6	Chiefs	Broncos	Broncos	31 – 3
Titans vs Jaguars	Titans	24 – 14	Titans	Jaguars	Titans	17 – 13
Bears vs Vikings	Bears	21 – 20	Vikings	Bears	Vikings	21 – 13
Falcons vs Buccaneers	Falcons	20 – 10	Buccaneers	Falcons	Buccaneers	24 – 23
Seahawks vs Dolphins	Seahawks	27 – 13	Seahawks	Dolphins	Seahawks	24 – 17
Ravens vs Chargers	Ravens	30 – 16	Ravens	Ravens	Ravens	31 – 27
49ers vs Saints	49ers	28 – 24	49ers	49ers	Saints	23 – 21
Cardinals vs Rams	Rams	21 – 19	Rams	Cardinals	Cardinals	13 – 10
Giants vs Packers	Giants	31 – 17	Giants	Giants	Packers	24 – 20
Eagles vs Panthers	Panthers	27 – 10	Eagles	Panthers	Panthers	19 – 6

NFL Week 10: Upset Of The Week

Week 10 of the NFL season has some very interesting and key match-ups which are prime candidates for upset of the week.

Which one will it be?

Fresh off of his dominating week 9 performance, TacoMan looks to defend his 12 – 2 record and winning streak of picking the NFL upset of the week!

So without further ado:

TacoMan

Game: Dallas Cowboys vs Philadelphia Eagles

Pick:  Philadelphia Eagles

Why:  Because I hate the Cowboys more.

(spoken like a true Redskin fan)

 

Next up:

SuperCarlos

Game: Tennessee Titans vs Miami Dophins

Pick:  Tennessee Titans

Why:  I like the name and CJ can do an awesome flip when he scores a TD!  Oh Yeah!

(warning – SuperCarlos plays Madden Football on the Xbox before making all his picks)

 

Next up:  Back from his secret mission at a remote location . . .

NinjaSailor

Game:  San Diego Chargers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Pick:  San Diego Chargers

Why:  Please don’t ask about it – Seriously.  I am not sharing information or helping with any video games!

 

 

And last but not least:  Hey, I went 10 -4 last week and am second only to Tacodude

RedskinDoug

 

Game:  New York Giants vs Cincinnati Bengals

Pick:  Cincinnati Bengals

Why:  The Bengals have the talent and anybody playing against a NFC East Rival has my vote.

 

 

So there you have it.  Four choices for upset of the week.

Who do you think will fall?

Match-up	TacoMan		SuperCarlos	NinjaSailor	RedskinDoug
Colts vs Jaguars	Colts	24 – 10	Jaguars	Colts	Colts	27 – 13
Falcons vs Saints	Falcons	31 – 28	Falcons	Falcons	Falcons	34 – 24
Titans vs Dolphins	Dolphins	17 – 14 OT	Titans	Dolphins	Dolphins	23 – 17
Chargers vs Buccaneers	Buccaneers	21 – 20	Buccaneers	Chargers	Buccaneers	28 – 24
Raiders vs Ravens	Ravens	30 – 7	Raiders	Ravens	Ravens	20 – 10
Giants vs Bengals	Giants	34 – 20	Giants	Giants	Bengals	27 – 24
Lions vs Vikings	Vikings	24 – 17	Vikings	Vikings	Lions	21 – 20
Broncos vs Panthers	Broncos	35 – 13	Broncos	Broncos	Broncos	31 – 17
Bills vs Patriots	Patriots	45 – 23	Patriots	Patriots	Patriots	38 – 17
Jets vs Seahawks	Seahawks	27 – 21	Jets	Jets	Seahawks	24 – 23
Cowboys vs Eagles	Eagles	24 – 14	Eagles	Cowboys	Cowboys	26 – 13
Rams vs 49ers	49ers	17 – 16	49ers	49ers	49ers	27 – 10
Texans vs Bears	Texans	13 – 7	Texans	Bears	Bears	24 – 20
Chiefs vs Steelers	Steelers	20 – 10	Steelers	Steelers	Steelers	27 – 3

This week we saw –

Pike called up from the nether worlds to take command beside his highly effective offensive line and teammates.

BTW – That would be Tony Pike of the Carolina Panthers. Not Captain Pike of Star Trek but hey, I could not resist.

The Panthers burned through Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen and finally called Pike to get him some playing time because , well, just because.

With seemingly ever star name either out or on the bench, this team is really hurting.

But honestly, I can’t decide who is hurting more. Panthers, Bills or Cowboys.

The Bills proved that they stink no matter what country they are in.

They Cowboys proved that there is no low too low for them to go this year.

If I were Jason Garrett, and thank god I’m not, I’d be worried.

Hey Jason, here is a tip from a devoted Redskins fan. Keep calling up those wonderful passing plays!

And on a more positive note.

The Browns took it to Uncle Bill and the Pats! (I actually picked that one in my pickem league)

I know, everyone else was baffled too.

The Redskins didn’t lose.

And I am still winning the division in both my leagues thanks in part to my being able to (unbelievably) pick up Jacob Tamme off of waivers this week. If he is still available in yours, he is definitely worth a consideration.

!!! UPDATE !!!

Cowboys dot Com site goes down due to registration failure !!!

Default Network Solutions page with two kids playing soccer is shown instead of all the wonderful personnel and player headlines !!!

Ha ! Ha ! Ha !

Holding on

I’d like to personally thank both the Redskins and Cowboys for proving you do not have to play football well for it to be good and entertaining!

And maybe next time Calvin will not be so quick to celebrate! Even though, two hands, two feet, a butt and the other hand all said it was a completed catch, you still have to get back up off the ground with it.

At least the folks with the Titans know all about how to make a catch and keep possession!

Getting Ready for Dallas

BYE BYE

Failure

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