Dome Sweet Dome

In case you were one of the maybe five people in America that did not hear about the Monday Night game last night, the Saints rolled over the Falcons 23-3. It was something to see, watching the fans, seeing the stories of the devastation in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast region, and, of course, watching the Saints use the emotion and the fans' enthusiasm to play better than I've seen them play in years. It started in the first 90 seconds of the game. Despite the fact that the Saints lost the coin toss, which President George H.W. Bush tried to help them on, they kept the Falcons to a 3-and-out. On the punt, Steve Gleason blocked the punt, without touching the punter mind you, and Curtis Deloatch (nope, I hadn't heard of him either) recovered the ball sliding into the end zone. The crowd erupted and the Saints were on a roll. Love those boys!!!

Reggie didn't disappoint although I was hoping for a touchdown for him, just because it was an historic night and it would have capped it off so well. He did manage to distract the Falcons' D who followed him and watched for him, while not paying as much attention to Deuce and the receivers.

Reggie is my new hero and not just because he plays so well. He could have easily let his paycheck and ego grow out of control like some of the high draft picks out there, but he didn't. He managed to become a savior to New Orleans before even signing his contract. Through his endorsement deal with Adidas, they saved a school from closing and rebuilt a football field for schools in New Orleans. Through his deal with General Motors/Hummer, they provided a number of Hummers to police departments throughout Louisiana. Through his deal with Diet Pepsi (yep, laughed at those commercials with the machine), they will donate money for every yard that he rushes. How awesome is he? He doesn't have to do this, but he is. He's trying to make a difference. Maybe it's a great marketing ploy, maybe not. The point is he's out there giving back to the community and you have to love him for that.

Monday Night Football!!!

It's hard to believe that the Superdome went from this to this in just over a year. While many people disagree with pouring money into the Superdome when so many families are still without homes, and I can certainly see why they're angry, it helps to lend some normalcy to New Orleans. This will be a spectacle not to be missed. Since last year's home opener that was at Giants Stadium while they were playing the Giants, thanks Mr. Tagliabue, the Saints had a wish-we-could-forget-this-year season. The beleagured Saints are finally returning home with a 2-0 start to the season. Unfortunately, the Falcons aren't just going to roll over for the Saints to win at home. Sean Payton has made a number of personnel changes, and I will admit that I was a doubter at first, but to have the Saints come in with a swagger they have been lacking since about 2001, he has done a good job. I hope the emotion and outpouring of support motivates the Saints to send the Falcons home with a noticeable limp.

In other football news, what happened to Michigan State? They were well-poised to send the Irish home hurting from another butt-whooping, but managed to lose their significant lead. After the flag incident last year, as well as having Michigan pave the way with the loss in South Bend last week, State should have trounced Quinn and the Irish. Instead they let them come back and win at East Lansing. Who has bragging rights now?

1st and goal at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com!

Doughnuts...mmmmm

Okay, I have become a slave to the little round bits of dough fried in oil dripping with fat and sugar. Gotta love 'em. I'm convinced that the Krispy Kreme creator is the devil. I know they are soooooo bad for me with almost no positive nutritional value contained within and yet I could easily pound a couple of them back-to-back. While my favorite is the Krispy Kreme, plain glazed, still warm from their little fryer (which you can only get from a Krispy Kreme store, which we still lack down here). It's heaven on a napkin.

I had not experienced such nirvana until I visited the in-laws in Louisiana. They had a new Krispy Kreme store that, suprise, surprise, was always packed full of people. Got the dozen to go and was instantly hooked. As you can imagine, I was hoping they would put such an establishment near us. Not so much, which I guess is a good thing as I am fat enough as it is. Have to settle for Dunkin' Donuts which isn't bad either, but not the same. Of course there are some Dunkin' Donuts stores down here that are also Baskin' Robbins too. Oh the horror.

Would you like some coffee with that sugar at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com

Weekend Recovery

It was a good and bad weekend for football. This was the highlight of the weekend. Though the Michigan game was excellent, this one not so much. Totally thought that LSU got hosed by the officials whether the SEC wants to believe it or not. I think there were some Auburn fans on that side. Very disappointing when even the commentators are remarking on it. Anyhoo, back to celebrating the stomping of the Irish.

I especially loved when the Michigan fans, in South Bend mind you, chanted "Overrated!" I think it was around the time that Brady Quinn threw his third interception. It was music to my ears. Almost as good as "Hail to the Victors" but not quite. Don't think that Brady Quinn will be on anyone's Heisman ballot this year.

NFL side: The Saints won another on the road...2 in a row. And the first two games of the season. Almost too good to be true. Don't want to jinx it. Next week will be a tough one as they have to play Atlanta in the Superdome. While I like Atlanta's defense, especially their Defensive Ends, I am not a big Mike Vick fan. Just think he has to improvise too much. I think that he's much like Aaron Brooks was in his early years with the Saints before they stopped him from running when he wanted to. Didn't give Aaron much of a chance before cutting him loose.
But I digress.

The Monday Night game should be quite a spectacle. Besides the football, it will be a celebration of working towards returning New Orleans to its former glory. While I know that football is not the highest priority down there, and it shouldn't be, it can help people escape their problems for a few hours and have fun.

My other team, the Lions, looked quite sad on Sunday. It was real butt whooping by da' Bears. It was almost too painful to watch. A co-worker, who is also from Michigan, said he'd bet fifty dollars that the Lions have a winning season this year. So far, I'm thinking I'm going to be fifty bucks richer in January.

Never forget

I may be a day late and a dollar short but I won't ever forget...

All over the media were newscasters and celebrities asking, "Where were you when it happened?" I was at my mom's house, four months pregnant with my second daughter, waiting to go to breakfast with my mom when I turned on the television to see Good Morning America talking about the World Trade Center. I thought it odd that they were so serious when it is generally a light-hearted show.

Then they showed the first tower smoking and burning. Was it a missile? Was it an explosion? Was it just a really bad fire? Then the second plane hit and it was like a bad movie come to life. The smoke, the horror, the firefighters and police responding, then the towers coming down and all the people running. It was almost unreal, and then the news of all the people who did not make it out of the buildings. I cried for all the mothers and fathers who would not see their children again, the sons and daughters who would be missing their parents, the brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, friends. Everyone lost was loved by someone that would miss them.

The tragedy of the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Flight 93 galvanized a nation by making us realize what is really important in life. If it didn't touch your life in some way, shape or form, you may be a lost cause.

It's about time!

The beleaguered Saints finally have something to cheer over. I will admit that I was one of the first people to question Sean Payton's saneness in cutting a bunch of veterans, namely Jay Bellamy, Donte Stallworth and, the seemingly up and comer, Colby Buckwoldt. To my great surprise, the Saints' linebacker corp, notably last on everyone's list in the NFL, showed up to party on Sunday. Maybe they saw all the reports too and wanted to shove them back in the sports journalists' faces. It was a good time had by all, well, except the Browns' fans. That Charlie Frye can maneuver though.

On a stranger note, there was an earthquake out in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. That's right, I said earthquake. Yep, not that we didn't have enough to worry about with the hurricanes, heat, price of gas, flooding rains, now we have to hear about earthquakes. It wasn't a little one either. 6.0 which is nothing to sneeze at. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes. It's been a great summer.

Bend over and kiss it goodbye at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com

Crikey!!!

If you haven't heard, today the world lost a great, well, okay a strange, man. Steve Irwin, a.k.a. the Crocodile Hunter, died today after trying to swim with deadly stingrays. Ironic that he was killed trying to film a special called "The World's Deadliest"? Probably not. I imagine that if they're called the world's deadliest animals, it's probably for a good reason. I feel bad for his family, (you remember this right?) but considering his chosen profession he may have tempted fate one time too many. Sorry Steve. Still have to like a man who can laugh at himself.

Are you ready for some football?

It begins today and ends right around New Year's Day. Yep, that's right. College Football!!!! My beloved Wolverines started on the right foot by beating Vanderbilt 27-7 in The Big House! This is not saying a whole bunch as Vanderbilt is to the SEC as Stanford is to the Pac-10. At least Michigan played someone from a decent conference though. As opposed to Ohio State kicking the crap out of Northern Illinois. Not much of a game there. Notre Dame is about to play against Georgia Tech. There has been so much hype about Notre Dame and Brady Quinn winning the Heisman. I personally hope they get the snot beat out of them. 'Course I've never had a bunch of luck when trying to put the bad mojo on them.

Just another note, there was a good deal of press about how Jeremy Bloom was no longer allowed to play football at the University of Colorado because he was a professional skiier. If this is the case, why is a professional boxer allowed to play football at Notre Dame? Their safety, I believe, started a professional boxing career recently which was profiled on ESPN. Just doesn't seem fair to me, but you know how it is at the big football schools, especially those private ones with the rich alumni.