Let’s see, what have I been up to? Well I have been keeping my writing group going and we had some pretty good classes, some better ones than usual which is always fun. That is probably one of my focuses now that we are in the offseason and we are unfortunately not playing anymore, is spending time at the Boys and Girls Club. I still get up and work out in the mornings over at Dove Valley and everyday that I am over there I spend about an hour or more with my guys from the equipment room and go and support their basketball team. They were 2-1 before I started going to the games and now they are 0-2 since I have been going. So hopefully I am not bad luck.
I did get away for a little bit. I went to New York during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and saw The Color Purple. It was ok, I am not much into musicals but my girl wanted to see it so I went with her. It was fun and as good as a musical could be.
My girl is involved with Teach For America and she is an English teacher so she has a lot of speeches on her iPod. So on the flight, I felt it was apropos to listen to the mountaintop Dr. King speech on the way there and back. I felt like I did my duty in celebrating the holiday by listening to the speech. It was kind of lazy, but it was one of the better speeches that I have ever heard. It took place right before he died and he references death which is a little scary.
I watched the presidential debates, which I guess is a halfway decent segue because Dr. King was some what of a political figure. The debates were kind of WWF-ish, which made it more interesting and fun.
After New York, we went down to Washington D.C. where she is from and hung out with her family and I got to see my brother who lives in the area also. We had a good time.
While I was there I learned how to play Guitar Hero from her little brother. His name is Peyton Manning, so I played a little Guitar Hero with Peyton Manning. He is like 13 and his grandfather’s name is Peyton Manning so it is not like he was named after the quarterback. I always give him a hard time about it and he always gives me a hard time because we haven’t fared well against the Colts. I had a good time hanging with him learning how to play Guitar Hero. I was exposed to a lot of classic rock that I don’t think under normal circumstances I would be exposed to. But now I can play Barracuda, Rock and Roll All Nite and some Tenacious D. Let me see what else can I play? Ummm… can’t think of any more but we had a good time competing on the Guitar Hero. I didn’t think I was going to like it, but now I think I am going to have to invest in my own. It is the type of game that you need to play with someone because it is kind of weird to play with a plastic guitar all by yourself.
I guess we should talk a little football. I am excited about Coach Slowik running the defense. No offense to Coach Bates, but I was surprised that Coach Slowik didn’t become the coordinator last year. Not that Coach Bates didn’t deserve the job, but I think Coach Slowik is just as deserving. We all expected him to be named the coordinator last year and we were looking forward to playing for him, but I guess when you get the opportunity to have a coach like Coach Bates you don’t pass that up. I am happy that he is stepping in. We are all happy with it, we expected it last year but it took one year to get there but we are happy that it is here now. I am really looking forward to it.
When we played our best defense last year we were doing a lot of the things that we are going to start doing now. It is going to give our playmakers better chances to make plays and I think it is going to shift a lot of pressure on the secondary. He is a secondary coach so I think he feels comfortable with the pressure of us succeeding being on the secondary and hopefully that alleviates some of the pressure on the front seven. I can’t think of anything bad about the situation, I am happy about it.
I have a much better relationship with him than I did with Coach Bates or Coach Coyer, obviously since he has been my coach for as long as I have been in the league. It is very very sweet, but just a little bit bitter because he will no longer be able to focus on the secondary so he won’t be in the meeting room with us anymore. But it is part of the game and something that it took some getting used to. In college you go into the room as a freshman and that is pretty much going to be your core group for the next four years with a few additions and a few graduations. But in the NFL, it is subject to change.
I expect a lot of changes; including Coach Slo in the secondary, I expect a lot of new faces in the secondary to be honest with you. It is going to be a little sad, but hopefully it will make our team better and I definitely feel like it will.
As far as the Super Bowl is concerned, it is hard to go against the Patriots right now. I don’t know if anybody in their right mind can go against the Pats, but upsets happen and the Giants are probably playing the best that they have played since the ’90s. They are playing some really good football right now and they showed that they can compete with the Patriots in that last game of the season. I think that game was the catalyst for their playoff run and maybe the catalyst for them making the biggest upset in NFL history. They definitely have a shot, but it seems like it will be a long shot.
I don’t really watch football when we are not playing. As my job I get more than enough of it. I assume everybody reading this, whatever their job is, doesn’t immerse themselves in their work during their free time or at least they try not to. I try not to get too involved in watching football but I definitely try to catch the end of each game because they are pretty exciting. I enjoyed the Giants game, as a compassionate person it was good to see Lawrence Tynes hit that field goal. I guess you can look at it a lot of different ways, it was sad to see Brett Favre… I don’t know I have never been a big Brett Favre fan so it wasn’t that sad to be honest.
I have been able to catch a little college basketball. In fact, while I was in New York I came into the hotel and saw the (Maryland) Terps and the (North Carolina) Tar Heels were playing and I was sure to text Dre’ Bly cause the mighty mighty Terrapins pulled off a big upset. It was a great game and I was impressed. I don’t know anyone on the team because I have been gone for so long, which really reminded me how old I was because there was not one person on the team that I recognized. I have been in the league three years, so maybe there is one guy that was a freshman then and is now a senior, but who knows. I enjoyed watching it and I got to know a couple of guys; (James) Gist played well and the point guard from Venezuela (Greivis Vasquez) was really impressive. So go Terps!
Anyway, I will talk to you all again after the Super Bowl.
All ready!