Midnight Strikes

Unfortunately, the clock struck midnight on the Tampa Bay Rays' Cinderella season. Despite overcoming my ALCS jinx, the last-to-first squad ran out of steam against the Phillies. Even a two-day "time out" wasn't enough to get the scrappy squad back on track.

Kudos to the Rays, though. It was a darn good season. Down the stretch, I figured they'd lose their steam before they made it to the playoffs. Then, I doubted they'd win in the first round. Surely, I thought in true "Debbie Downer" fashion, they wouldn't make it past the Red Sox. But alas, they proved me wrong each time and convinced me to watch a little baseball along the way. Not bad for a season's work.

Jinx

Anyone who cares to know has surely seen by now that, shortly after my props to the Rays, the team imploded and gave up eight unanswered runs to lose 8-7 to the BoSox. Lesson learned by yours truly. I shall henceforth keep any praise to myself until all outcomes are final.

On a separate but related note, I'm now feeling uneasy about the praise I heaped on the Titans two Sundays ago. Will my jinx continue??! :-O

Pacman & the Rays

I haven't had much time to write an entry lately, but I would like to weigh in on a couple of recent sports news items:

1.) So the NFL's biggest pariah, Adam "Pacman" Jones, has been kicked out of the league yet again. Well, I shouldn't say kicked out. To be fair, he's just been "suspended indefinitely" yet again.

Anyone who hasn't followed the ridiculous saga of Pacman clearly isn't a Titan fan. The Titan faithful are painfully aware of how quick that dope can wreck a team's P.R. efforts. I have a theory that part of the reason the Titans have been so successful this year is because they've purged the awful karma that was created by the Pacman the Pariah. Thank heavens that man is far, far away from the fine state of Tennessee!

Pardon me for laughing when Jerry Jones' win-at-all-cost approach blew up in his face compliments of none other than ol' Pac. Jones brings him to Dallas and assigns not one, not two, but FOUR bodyguards to follow Pacman around and keep him out of trouble. So how does Pacman respond? Why, he picks a fight with one of the bodyguards, of course!

The guy clearly has no self control. Let's put this in perspective. Everyday in this country, parents trust teenage girls to care for their young children. A 15 year-old-girl can handle a rambunctious group of kids. Yet, here we are, watching the fate of an adult man who is so out of control that his boss employed FOUR ADULT MALES to babysit him...and he still got in trouble!

Kudos to NFL commish Roger Goodell for not buying into Jerry Jones' lame attempts to pass off Pacman's latest brawl as innocent horsing around. SOMEONE needs to step in and show this guy the discipline that he needed many years ago before he reached this level of immaturity and irresponsibility. I believe in second chances, and maybe even third. But I don't believe in 15th chances.

2.) All aboard the Tampa Bay Rays' bandwagon! How 'bout them Rays?! I will openly admit I'd never watched a Rays game until three days ago, and in fact, I really don't follow baseball that closely, period. But alas, I can't help but chuckle at the way the Rays have run roughshod over the Red Sox in this ALCS. I'm officially interested in postseason baseball now, thanks to the team up I-4 West. And let me tell you, any team that can draw my attention to baseball in late October is doing something right.

EDITED at 11:11 p.m. -- YIKES! I think I typed too soon. Those pesky Sox have scored four runs since I made those last remarks, closing the gap to 7-4 in the bottom of the 7th. Come on, Rays! Don't make me look like an idiot!

Another Saturday, Another Loss

Yuck, yuck, and more yuck. That's right, Phil. Cover your nose because this team STINKS!


So here we are, sitting at 2-4. Many in the Volunteer nation predicted we'd be in this unenviable position as soon as we lost to a UCLA team that featured a third-string offense in the season opener. And the best part? We could be 2-6 in two weeks. Next on the docket is a Mississippi State team that knocked off a solid Vanderbilt team today. If the scrappy Bulldogs can beat Vandy, they can surely beat the hapless Vols. Then - gulp - the juggernaut that is Alabama rolls into Knoxville. I prefer not think too much about that at the moment.

I, for one, am still waiting to see our offense take the field after the half. Did it even come out of the locker room? Someone call the Athens police and file a missing persons report. I never seemed to see our offense after halftime. Perhaps that was because the term "3 and out" was nowhere to be found in our defense's vocabulary. Even when we did manage to get Georgia in a third-and-long situation, I would say (to no one in particular, sadly), "Don't worry, Georgia. You'll get the first down." And they surely did.


I'm having flashbacks of Pat Summitt yelling to her Lady Vols, who were down to UNC in Cleveland a couple of years ago, "Can we get a stop? Are we capable of getting a stop?!" Someone needs get that clip and make our defense listen to it nonstop for the next six days.


I wish I could be a little optimistic and say things will look up. But alas, there is no up. Not so long as Phil Fulmer and the culture of underachieving is camped on Neyland Drive. Do we really think top recruits are going to come to a school where fans are so disgusted they don't even show up for games any more? Of course they're not. And who could blame them?

The Not-So-Great Debate

I'm a little tardy in weighing in on this one, but alas...

Can I just say I've had enough of the whole debate farce? In fact, I'd had enough after one of the darn things. I should have probably prefaced these remarks by saying I'm not into politics. Never have been. I grew disenchanted with the egotistic weasels in our nation's capitol long ago.

The thing that annoys me most about the debates is the fact that no one ever actually answers a question. They have their canned responses concocted, and that's what they spew, no matter what they may have been asked.

Moderator: "Senator, what color is your tie?"

Candidate: "Let me tell you about pork barrel spending and earmarks...."

Moderator: "Senator, perhaps you missed the question. What color is your tie?"

Senator: "For the past eight years, this country has been mismanaged...."

Ridiculous. Plain and simple. If these jokers aren't actually going to answer the questions that are on Americans' minds, then it's my humble opinion that we shouldn't let them hijack all the major networks and give them two hours to spout off the same three statements 40 times.

I'll sure be glad when this election nonsense is over. I wish I could say I have some confidence that things will improve once we have a new President, but unfortunately, I have doubts no matter which candidate may emerge as the mudslinging champion.

How 'Bout Them Titans?!

I would simply be remiss if I didn't make my very first legitimate post an ode to the Tennessee Titans. That's the 5-0 Titans, for those of you who may not be in the know. When I left to attend the last session of General Conference, they were down 10-6 to those pesky Ravens. Imagine my rapture when I got home to discover we'd pulled out a 13-10 win!

Who would have thunk it? I mean, we have a QB who's like 58. (No worries, Kerry, we still love you!) Our "starting QB" went headcase and was benched like the first game of the season. And yet, here we are sitting pretty at 5-0. Big time doings in Nashvegas. And do I even need to say that this Titan uprising couldn't have come at a better time for us Tennessee football faithful? I mean, the Vols sure haven't given us anything to cheer about.

I suppose that's enough of my euphoria for now. Here's hoping this post doesn't jinx our fine team come next week. Great, now I'm going to be paranoid all week...

EDITED to read: Actually, I should have been paranoid for TWO weeks, as the Titans had a bye week the Sunday after I posted these musings.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog, "Kelly's 2 Cents." My friend Maija has sold me on the benefits of a blog, and I figure I might as well put the ol' journalism degree to work. There's no telling what you may read when you drop in on any given day. We'll see what events inspire me to pull up the computer and, well, give my 2 cents. :-)