10 Awesome Things That Happened This Past Weekend (9/23-9/25)

10. “Real Steel” Continues to Be Heavily Advertised on Television

            I’ve seen commercials for “Real Steel” roughly 1,200 times over the last three weeks. Every time one starts, I burst out laughing. Amazingly, someone doled out $80 million for a movie where Hugh Jackman becomes a creator of a life-sized Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robot (and we wonder why the economy is in the toilet). This film is supposed to be a “science-fiction drama”, but I’ll be stunned if it doesn't leak out that this movie is supposed to be a satire. That’s the only way it makes sense. 

9.  Bengals Wide Receiver Jerome Simpson Plays Four Days After Drug Bust at His Home

            Weird off the field situations always seem to impact the performance of a team. The most memorable incident for me was when Eugene Robinson was arrested for attempting to solicit sex from an undercover cop the night before Super Bowl 33 (made even more humorous because Robinson was named the NFL’s Man of the Year just hours before getting arrested). Robinson was roasted by John Elway multiple times, and Denver blew out Atlanta for their second straight Super Bowl victory.
            That event, and others that have followed (Raiders center Barrett Robbins going AWOL before Super Bowl 37, the man hunt for Vince Young a few years back) have taught me that messed up crap inevitably leads to losing. I originally was going to select Cincinnati to win this game before quickly remember that Jerome Simpson had almost 10 pounds of marijuana confiscated from his home. Without even considering that Alex Smith was going across the country to play a 1pm game on the east coast, I penciled in the 49ers as my pick. The offense looked like a limp noodle for three and a half quarters, but woke up just in time to make me feel really smart.

8. Texas A&M Officially Announces 2012 Move to SEC

            Not that the move had anything to do with their last game, but it is humorous to see Texas A&M bolt the Big 12 a day after giving away a 17 point lead at home against conference rival Oklahoma State.
     
7. LSU Takes Over #1 Ranking From Oklahoma
            I watched about ten minutes of LSU going on the road and dismantling West Virginia Saturday night. I’m not sure this team is any better than Oklahoma or Alabama, but they deserve he top spot after defeating three ranked opponents in the first four weeks.

6. Darren McFadden Runs All Over Jets, Leads Raiders to Victory

            I thought Oakland had a chance if it was a low scoring game, but never would’ve thought Run DMC would go completely bonkers in this one. For those of you that drafted him in the early part of the second round of your fantasy league, congratulations.

5. Lions Comeback From 20-0 Deficit, Win in Overtime Against Vikings

            I was at Story Land (a rinky-dink amusement park in the Mount Washington Valley, for those of you not familiar with New Hampshire hot-spots) during the early games, so while my wife was changing my son’s diaper, I called my dad for some scores. My dad has been Vikings fan for years (someday we’ll let him do an essay on this site about how much it sucks being a Minnesota fan), so I opened the conversation by asking how much the Vikings were losing by. Surprisingly, he informed me that Minnesota was leading 20-10 at the start of the fourth. Without blinking, I replied, “Well that’s plenty of time for Minnesota to blow the game.” Needless to say, laughter filled the Muir house when I got home and saw that Detroit won in overtime.

4. Tony Stewart Wins Second Straight Chase Race in New Hampshire

            If Stewart wins again next week, feel free to never read any insight into NASCAR I have to offer. 

3. Giants Break Michael Vick’s Right Hand, Stun Eagles in Philly

            This game would’ve been more fun for me if Vick weren’t the quarterback for one of my fantasy teams (a team that also lost Kenny Britt, who probably shredded a knee ligament or two against Denver today). Nevertheless, I’m very happy to see the “all-hype team” (copyrighted by Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan) struggling. You could argue that if some guy named Mike Kafka wasn’t involved the Eagles would be 3-0 right now, but I’ll take Philadelphia losses anyway I can get them.

2. Packers Take Care of Business in Chicago

            This is exactly what should happen when a champion travels on the road to play a mediocre team. Even more important for Green Bay, Ryan Grants looks like he has his mojo back.     

1. Bills End 15 Game Losing Streak Against Patriots

            I was chatting with a stranger the other day about how I thought the Patriots defense was terrible and Buffalo was going to score a ton of points on them. The guy, clearly perturbed, told me, “People that actually know what they are talking about say that New England will have the best defense in the league by Week 8.” Apparently who ever he listens to is under the impression that the Patriots’ cornerbacks will have growth spurts and become four inches taller. New England couldn’t cover anyone, and Brady kept throwing the ball to the wrong guys. Huge win for the Bills.