It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring.
Greetings to one and all. Yes, it's true. Today is Tuesday and this is my blog. Topics to be discussed: the topic on everybody's lips (their chapped lips), the legend of "Ol' Man Gibbs," my winning weekend, the fall TV schedule, and the continuation of my man-crush. On we go!
We've just got to talk about this right away while it's still blowing up Twitter. That Monday Night Football game last night... (Pause to wait for all female readers to stop reading...) You know... I've seen some pretty bad officiating in my lifetime. I still think the NBA takes the cake, as far as overall terrible-ness, but these replacement NFL refs are something else. I didn't have any problem with them until Sunday afternoon as I watched the end of the Saints-Chiefs game. There were some pretty obvious offensive pass interference calls that they missed. Then, toward the end of the game, a Chiefs player got tackled, was clearly down, and the ball popped out of his hands as he hit the ground. It was clear to me - and anybody watching the game - that the ground had caused the fumble and the player should have been ruled down. But there was no whistle, the Saints picked up the ball, and returned it for a potentially-game-ending touchdown. The call was eventually reversed - and rightfully so - and the Chiefs went on to win the game, putting my beloved Saints at 0-3 for the season.
Last night, the officiating got completely out of control. I only saw the final five minutes of the Seahawks-Packers game, but that was all that I needed to see. Seattle had the ball, down 12-7 and driving. Again, there was blatant offensive pass interference on one play, where a Seattle wide receiver was grabbing and holding the Green Bay defender the entire way - including hands to the defender's facemask - and they ended up calling defensive pass interference. That was a little bogus, but that happens all the time, so you can't get too heart-broken over a blown P.I. call. (Am I right, Ute fans?) But then things got really interesting on the final play of the game. After seeing a 50-plus-yard Hail Mary to end regulation in the Tennessee-Detroit game on Sunday, I was hoping for something wild to happen and, well, I think I ending up getting a lot more than I had bargained for. Russell Wilson of Seattle heaved up a bomb into quadruple-coverage in the corner of the endzone. At first glance, to the astonishment of my parents and myself, it appeared to have been caught by Seattle! It was a jump ball and there were five guys in the air, but, as far as I could tell, I thought that the Seahawks had hauled in the game-winning score! Amidst the confusion, one referee signaled for a touchdown. The home town crowd erupted and a brawl broke out in the endzone as players fought for possession of the ball. As we watched replays on the TV, there were a couple things that I noticed: First of all, the Seattle receiver got away with a HUGE push-off on one of the defenders, and, the more replays I saw, it seemed more and more unclear who actually had come up with the ball. Was the catch simultaneous? In that case, the offense would have been awarded the ball. But the more I watched the replays, the more it seemed like the Green Bay defender had intercepted the pass, which would result in a touchback and a victory for the Packers. Because it was ruled as a scoring play, the referees spent the next few minutes reviewing the play to make sure that the ruling on the field was correct. To make a long story short (too late), the ruling on the field was upheld and Seattle got out of there with a rather controversial win.
I'm no stranger to losing games because of a no-call on a push-off and I'm definitely seen my fair share of wacky finishes, so I don't necessarily have a problem with a lot of the things that went down last night. I have no problem with the play being initially ruled as a touchdown. Looked like one to me in live action. But the thing that's crazy to me is that the refs reviewed the play and didn't overturn it. Yes, I know that all the Seahawks fans would have been outraged, but the public outrage that was shortly to follow could have been largely avoided. What followed was something I have never seen before. As has become customary, I hopped on Twitter to see what people were saying. I've never seen so many furious pro athletes - probably due to the fact that if it were the NBA, for instance, every single player that said one negative thing aboutofficiating would have been fined. NFL players were dropping F-bombs at the league and the commissioner, athletes from other sports were openly mocking the referees, and even SportsCenter anchors and other journalists absolutely ripping into the league... It was chaos, unlike anything I've ever seen! What will be the fallout from Monday night's little incident? What punishments will be handed down? How will this affect future officiating? I'm not sure what will end up happening, but one thing is certain: things got out of hand fast last night. (For those of you who are interested, which is probably, like, one of you, here is a link to the NFL's official statement concerning the play in question: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000066164/article/nfl-supports-decision-to-not-overturn-seahawks-touchdown?campaign=Facebook_news)
I considered having a replacement blogger write the Newsletter, but I figured it would be pretty bad timing for something like that.
Once upon a time, my family was in the process of moving from South Jordan to Draper. Our house in South Jordan sold before our house in Draper was finished, so we rented a house in Sandy for the summer while we waited to move in to the new home. It was a tiny little house, so we all became very well-acquainted with each other during that summer. There wasn't a whole lot to do. I mean, what were we going to do? Go out and make friends with our neighbors? We were already attending our future ward in Draper, so we weren't going to church with our temporary Sandy neighbors. The only people that lived on that street were old folks and little girls, anyway. So we got season passes to the now-extinct water park over on the Point of the Mountain and we watched a lot of TV. It was during this time frame that Austin and I not only memorized the "Law & Order" theme song, but also got our entire family hooked on professional wrestling. None of them will admit to it, but the whole family was into pro wrestling, not just me. I'm the only one that still talks about it, but we honestly invited our extended family over to watch Karl Malone wrestle in WCW's "Bash at the Beach." It's true. I digress. Anyway, one of our next-door neighbors was a mysterious old man that would seemingly only leave his house to take out the trash. Every once in a while, Austin and I would see him. Not a word was ever spoken between the three of us, mostly out of fear. We knew absolutely nothing about him. We named him "Ol' Man Gibbs." We have no idea what his name actually was, but "Ol' Man Gibbs" worked just fine.
As I have recently pondered my current situation in life, something very disturbing has come to my attention. Think about it. I'm getting up there in age, I'm very mysterious, I rarely leave my house - and when I do, I don't talk to anyone... I am becoming "Ol' Man Christensen"!! Oh crap!! Seriously, though. I was recently asked to describe my perfect day. I started, obviously, by saying, "Well, I'd have the day off work..." The inquisitor then informed me that I could not ask for the day off of work. I replied, "Ok, so I'd get home from work and my parents would surprise me with tickets to Disneyland..." They told me to describe my realistic perfect day. (Doesn't that take all the fun out of it??) Anyway, I said, "So, I'd go to work, come home, and..." I racked my mind to think of the "perfect" post-work activity. Um... "There would be a... stake softball game?" What else? What else can I do to impress this person with my idea of a "perfect day"? ("Don't say 'Rock Band with siblings...' Don't say 'Rock Band with siblings...'") But really! What could I possibly say? Keep in mind that I was talking to a current college student. If I were a female college student, my ideal day would probably consist of sleeping in until noon, sluffing class, going to a late brunch, going home and having a party, going out for dinner, having dessert, inviting people over for another party, watching a movie, staying up late, going out for dessert again, then having another party before going to bed. Honestly, now my ideal nighttime activity is anything that's not remotely related to work. That usually consists of watching one of my favorite TV shows and possibly going on a date if a girl will say that she can make time for me. I can't live that college/party lifestyle anymore. I don't think my body can take it! After playing softball with Austin, Cody, and Scott Aylett, I was sore for like three days - and I didn't even do any running! I played laser tag with Austin and Cody last weekend and I don't know how long the game was. Fifteen minutes? I felt like I just ran a marathon. I played toilet paper dodgeball last night for my ward's FHE activity. I felt like I blew my arm out and I pulled a couple muscles in the so-called "nether regions." Playing dodgeball. With toilet paper.
So, all things considered, I think that Austin and I should have given "Ol' Man Gibbs" a little more credit.
I mentioned laser tag. Austin has recently become addicted to laser tag. He took Cody and me over to the local bowling alley, where they recently set up an arena and we had a little free-for-all the other night. Only the three of us were playing, so we had the whole dang place to ourselves. Ideally, there would be like, oh, say 10 other people there so you could play in teams or something, but this time it was just Austin vs Cody vs A-Town. I felt like I was getting whooped the entire time, so I spent a considerable span of the game huddled in the corner in the fetal position, crying. But, when I was feeling courageous, I'd venture out into the wild and mount an offensive. I'd try to track down Austin or Cody (usually getting shot in the process) or I'd try to take out one of the robot bases, but I really felt like Cody and Austin both destroyed me. As we headed back to the headquarters to obtain our final results, I fully anticipated finishing in third place. Who would have guessed that I would, in all actuality, walk out of All-Star Lanes as the laser tag champion? Well... That's what happened. I narrowly defeated Austin and Cody by a margin that the worker said was the smallest he had ever seen. It was a beautiful, glorious thing. My laser tag victory was only the beginning of my winning ways last weekend. On Sunday, I also won three straight hands of cards and a game called "Wits and Wagers" - or, as Austin would call it, "Whits and Whagers." I'm a champion. What can I say? #winning
I'm no stranger to losing games because of a no-call on a push-off and I'm definitely seen my fair share of wacky finishes, so I don't necessarily have a problem with a lot of the things that went down last night. I have no problem with the play being initially ruled as a touchdown. Looked like one to me in live action. But the thing that's crazy to me is that the refs reviewed the play and didn't overturn it. Yes, I know that all the Seahawks fans would have been outraged, but the public outrage that was shortly to follow could have been largely avoided. What followed was something I have never seen before. As has become customary, I hopped on Twitter to see what people were saying. I've never seen so many furious pro athletes - probably due to the fact that if it were the NBA, for instance, every single player that said one negative thing aboutofficiating would have been fined. NFL players were dropping F-bombs at the league and the commissioner, athletes from other sports were openly mocking the referees, and even SportsCenter anchors and other journalists absolutely ripping into the league... It was chaos, unlike anything I've ever seen! What will be the fallout from Monday night's little incident? What punishments will be handed down? How will this affect future officiating? I'm not sure what will end up happening, but one thing is certain: things got out of hand fast last night. (For those of you who are interested, which is probably, like, one of you, here is a link to the NFL's official statement concerning the play in question: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000066164/article/nfl-supports-decision-to-not-overturn-seahawks-touchdown?campaign=Facebook_news)
Wouldn't want the Newsletter to end up like this, would we?
Once upon a time, my family was in the process of moving from South Jordan to Draper. Our house in South Jordan sold before our house in Draper was finished, so we rented a house in Sandy for the summer while we waited to move in to the new home. It was a tiny little house, so we all became very well-acquainted with each other during that summer. There wasn't a whole lot to do. I mean, what were we going to do? Go out and make friends with our neighbors? We were already attending our future ward in Draper, so we weren't going to church with our temporary Sandy neighbors. The only people that lived on that street were old folks and little girls, anyway. So we got season passes to the now-extinct water park over on the Point of the Mountain and we watched a lot of TV. It was during this time frame that Austin and I not only memorized the "Law & Order" theme song, but also got our entire family hooked on professional wrestling. None of them will admit to it, but the whole family was into pro wrestling, not just me. I'm the only one that still talks about it, but we honestly invited our extended family over to watch Karl Malone wrestle in WCW's "Bash at the Beach." It's true. I digress. Anyway, one of our next-door neighbors was a mysterious old man that would seemingly only leave his house to take out the trash. Every once in a while, Austin and I would see him. Not a word was ever spoken between the three of us, mostly out of fear. We knew absolutely nothing about him. We named him "Ol' Man Gibbs." We have no idea what his name actually was, but "Ol' Man Gibbs" worked just fine.
As I have recently pondered my current situation in life, something very disturbing has come to my attention. Think about it. I'm getting up there in age, I'm very mysterious, I rarely leave my house - and when I do, I don't talk to anyone... I am becoming "Ol' Man Christensen"!! Oh crap!! Seriously, though. I was recently asked to describe my perfect day. I started, obviously, by saying, "Well, I'd have the day off work..." The inquisitor then informed me that I could not ask for the day off of work. I replied, "Ok, so I'd get home from work and my parents would surprise me with tickets to Disneyland..." They told me to describe my realistic perfect day. (Doesn't that take all the fun out of it??) Anyway, I said, "So, I'd go to work, come home, and..." I racked my mind to think of the "perfect" post-work activity. Um... "There would be a... stake softball game?" What else? What else can I do to impress this person with my idea of a "perfect day"? ("Don't say 'Rock Band with siblings...' Don't say 'Rock Band with siblings...'") But really! What could I possibly say? Keep in mind that I was talking to a current college student. If I were a female college student, my ideal day would probably consist of sleeping in until noon, sluffing class, going to a late brunch, going home and having a party, going out for dinner, having dessert, inviting people over for another party, watching a movie, staying up late, going out for dessert again, then having another party before going to bed. Honestly, now my ideal nighttime activity is anything that's not remotely related to work. That usually consists of watching one of my favorite TV shows and possibly going on a date if a girl will say that she can make time for me. I can't live that college/party lifestyle anymore. I don't think my body can take it! After playing softball with Austin, Cody, and Scott Aylett, I was sore for like three days - and I didn't even do any running! I played laser tag with Austin and Cody last weekend and I don't know how long the game was. Fifteen minutes? I felt like I just ran a marathon. I played toilet paper dodgeball last night for my ward's FHE activity. I felt like I blew my arm out and I pulled a couple muscles in the so-called "nether regions." Playing dodgeball. With toilet paper.
So, all things considered, I think that Austin and I should have given "Ol' Man Gibbs" a little more credit.
"Don't you EVER call me 'Ol' Man Gibbs!!"
Janae Balibrea, long-time Subscriber, recently made a plea to all her Facebook acquaintances to go unsubscribe from her comments and "likes" on the popular social media site. That's a bold move. Good work. I'm afraid that I probably need to get on Facebook and ask people to re-subscribe to my comments and "likes." But yeah. Facebook is bugging me. There's a reason I try to keep my "likes" and comments to a minimum - because any time you "like" or comment on anything, EVERYBODY sees it these days. Your friends, your enemies, your parents, your cousins, your exes, EVERYONE. And that annoys the heck out of me. It bothers me that my own so-called "privacy" is being invaded - and I know that once you post something online, it's technically not "private" - but I didn't intend for people in Brazil to see pictures of Austin, you know? And I don't need a bunch of notifications telling me how handsome Austin is in Portuguese. Good old Facebook.
**QUESTION TIME!!**
Q. "Hey A-Town,
We know nobody really cares, but have you seen any good TV shows lately?"
Just Curious,
- The Junior Mounties
A. It's funny you should ask! (SALUTE!) After wading my way through the dog days of the television summer (lame AGT joke - I'm still bitter), now I've reached the part of the TV year when I feel like there is almost not enough time in the day for me to watch all my shows. I've got "The Voice" on Monday and Tuesday (and sometimes Wednesday, too), there's "Revolution" on Monday nights (how much do you wanna bet it gets canceled since I am watching it live in its premiere season?), I've got an all-new cast on "Survivor" Wednesday nights (looks like it should be a good season so far!), there's NFL games on Thursdays (and Sundays and Mondays), the occasional BYU or Utah game on Thursdays or Fridays and their traditional games on Saturday nights, and the freakin' "Amazing Race" is starting up again on Sunday nights, too! Goodness. And, by the way, did you all hear that on the upcoming season of "The Amazing Race" - the season that Austin and I should have been chosen for - there is a potential two million dollars at stake? TWO MILLION DOLLARS?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Holy crap!! I threw up when I saw that commercial for the first time. All over the family room carpet. Anyway, amidst all those plentiful programs, I have also found time to watch season one of TNT's sci-fi drama "Falling Skies." Has anybody seen this show? It was awesome! I'd say it was the best "new" TV drama I've seen in a while. Much more intriguing than season one of CBS' canceled show "Jericho." Much cleaner (from a blood-and-guts standpoint) than "The Walking Dead." In fact, put those two shows together and substitute aliens for zombies and *voila!* you've got yourself "Falling Skies." I thought it was awesome. Anybody else care to comment? Anybody?
I just had Cody help me stretch my, um, leg muscle. I don't even know what that muscle is called... but it's sore.
**QUESTION TIME!!**
Q. "Hey A-Town,
We know nobody really cares, but have you seen any good TV shows lately?"
Just Curious,
- The Junior Mounties
A. It's funny you should ask! (SALUTE!) After wading my way through the dog days of the television summer (lame AGT joke - I'm still bitter), now I've reached the part of the TV year when I feel like there is almost not enough time in the day for me to watch all my shows. I've got "The Voice" on Monday and Tuesday (and sometimes Wednesday, too), there's "Revolution" on Monday nights (how much do you wanna bet it gets canceled since I am watching it live in its premiere season?), I've got an all-new cast on "Survivor" Wednesday nights (looks like it should be a good season so far!), there's NFL games on Thursdays (and Sundays and Mondays), the occasional BYU or Utah game on Thursdays or Fridays and their traditional games on Saturday nights, and the freakin' "Amazing Race" is starting up again on Sunday nights, too! Goodness. And, by the way, did you all hear that on the upcoming season of "The Amazing Race" - the season that Austin and I should have been chosen for - there is a potential two million dollars at stake? TWO MILLION DOLLARS?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Holy crap!! I threw up when I saw that commercial for the first time. All over the family room carpet. Anyway, amidst all those plentiful programs, I have also found time to watch season one of TNT's sci-fi drama "Falling Skies." Has anybody seen this show? It was awesome! I'd say it was the best "new" TV drama I've seen in a while. Much more intriguing than season one of CBS' canceled show "Jericho." Much cleaner (from a blood-and-guts standpoint) than "The Walking Dead." In fact, put those two shows together and substitute aliens for zombies and *voila!* you've got yourself "Falling Skies." I thought it was awesome. Anybody else care to comment? Anybody?
Oh yeah, baby.
Apparently it snowed in some parts of Utah this morning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s
"The Avengers" came out today. I think I'll go pick it up on Blu-ray tonight. I don't think so. I know so. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62r839bHmqE
Oh, and have I mentioned that I recently picked up the Indiana Jones movies on Blu-ray, as well? You know it, babies. Oh yeah. I talked about that last week. Oh well. Let me just say a few more things about Mr. Jones. First of all, I have such a huge man-crush on Indy. Oh gosh, he is so cool. Did I write this exact same segment last week? I don't care. He's the coolest guy ever. Secondly, I think that "The Last Crusade" is probably the most-referenced non-Church movie in LDS culture. Maybe second to "Star Wars," but definitely in the top two. Thirdly, I only saw "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" once - when it was in theaters - but will everyone give Indiana a break about that whole surviving-a-nuclear-blast-in-a-fridge scene? I mean, the guy survived a plane crash in an inflatable raft, for Pete's sake. Fourthly and finally, I want to have a #IndyBluRayMarathon this weekend. You can join me in person, you can join me on Twitter, or you can not join me at all. The choice is yours.
"You named the DOG 'Indiana'??"
The Fantasy Football Star of the Week goes to Megatron - the man with the coolest nickname in the whole league. Calvin Johnson helped propel Austin's Head Hunters into first place (by a slim margin of only 2.01 points over my Monarchs) with 10 catches for 164 yards, a touchdown, and 47.40 fantasy points. No Madden Curse so far!
Megatron.
The Shoutout of the Week goes to............. CBS. You boneheads. You could have made the Mormon brothers very, very rich. You had the chance and you blew it.
That's about it for this week, kiddos. I'm outta here. Got an episode of "The Voice" to watch. Take it easy. And if you want to join the Brothers Christensen in a rousing round of laser tag, let me know. Or don't. You know where to find Ol' Man Christensen, do you not?
Until next Time,
Move It. Sell It. And Leave the Door Open.
Aaron
1 comment:
Woo woo. Thanks for the bold move credit. haha.
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