COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Super Bowl XLIV & Banned Super Bowl Ads. Place your predictions.





WHEN THE SAINTS HAVE THE BALL

For 14 weeks, the Saints’ offense was a multi-dimensional monster. Undersized whiz Drew Brees orchestrated the show, with receivers Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem attacking the seams. Jeremy Shockey resurfaced as a tight end threat. Pierre Thomas powered the running game, with former Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush lurking like unused dynamite.

Then the Dallas Cowboys’ pass rush showed up at the Superdome in Week 15, beat up the Saints, ended their undefeated streak and provided a blueprint for stopping Sean Payton’s team. The truth is this: Since then, the veneer has faded somewhat for this offense — the Minnesota front four tormented the Saints during the NFC Championship Game.

If the Colts can pressure Brees, they can prevent the fireworks. Much of this relies on the health of DE Dwight Freeney — which has been discussed ad nauseam — as he and Robert Mathis attack from the edges. But it also depends on the play of Saints offensive tackles Jermon Bushrod and Jonathan Stinchcomb. If they can handle the outside, the Saints won’t need to keep a tight end in for extra protection. Still, the Indy defense is extremely fast — especially in the red zone, when space is at a premium. And to beat this Colts team, you need to score touchdowns.

WHEN THE COLTS HAVE THE BALL

The quarterback is named Peyton. He’ll be the fellow gesticulating wildly before each play and draining the play clock down. The television announcers will probably talk about him a lot. Anyway, he’s the best in the game. Without a hearty running game — Joseph Addai and Donald Brown might not factor much into the outcome today — Manning drove this offense to 16 victories this year. In fact, the Colts won every game in which the starters played throughout. The offensive line protects Manning well and he has extraordinary pocket sense. So how will Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams attack him? He pledged to blitz earlier during the pregame hoopla. But with Manning, it’s usually boom or bust.

If the Saints blitz Manning, as the Jets did in the AFC Championship Game, they can get burned. If you settle into coverage and just rush four, as the Ravens often did in the divisional round, Manning can pick you apart and gobble chunks of yards. New Orleans’ lead cornerback, Jabari Greer, will probably track Reggie Wayne for most of the game. So expect Manning, as he did against the Jets, to look to wideouts Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The big stage used to be Bush’s place. Back at USC, he excelled when the camera lights burned. Sunday night, Saints fans hope he displays the form he had there — or in the NFC Divisional round against Arizona, when his 83-yard punt return TD closed the proceedings. The Colts can’t counter with a similar game-breaker. Indy’s Chad Simpson is serviceable, but nothing special. Interestingly enough, both teams switched their kickers during midseason. New Orleans dumped longtime vet John Carney for Garrett Hartley (who kicked New Orleans into the Super Bowl) and Indianapolis scooped up 42-year-old Matt Stover after Adam Vinatieri underwent midseason knee surgery.

ONE MORE THING

The Colts and Saints both played in Miami this season against the Dolphins. Both teams won, although it wasn’t easy. In Week 2, the Dolphins held the ball for more than 45 minutes against the Colts. But they kept accumulating field goals, and Manning’s 48-yard scoring strike to Garcon gave Indianapolis a 27-23 victory. In late October, New Orleans roared back from a 24-3 first-half deficit to win a 46-34 shootout. Brees threw a TD, ran for two more and the defense returned two picks for scores.

By Andy McCullough/The Star-Ledger
February 07, 2010, 9:00AM


48 comments:

  1. No football fans, eh? Okay, on to the "Real" Superbowl:

    Car Sales up 84% in January - in China

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  2. Is it a "bubble?" Yeah, I guess.

    Is it a "World-changer," anyway? You Betcha.

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  3. The Chinese are going form 1930 to 1974 on steroids..

    1.3 billion Chinese AGREEING to be the same nation?

    The more information spreads the more of a crisises will China be put under...

    As 85% of the Chinese populace gets "connected" there will be uprisings on scales that we have never seen... Remember we are talking about CHINA scales of measurement...

    They could have a civil war are loose 24 MILLION people and it wouldn't be a speed bump...

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  4. Two and a half feet in this little corner of SW PA. Transformers started popping Friday night. That was bad enough. When the snow tapered off yesterday, the trees started falling.

    We just had our power restored after a 24-hour outage. And we're lucky. Some areas around here are wholesale tree falls.

    It was seven degrees last night and the temperature upstairs in the kitchen reached a low of 41 early this morning. That's in an extremely well-insulated house. Thank God for gas-assisted fireplaces.

    It took the guys three hours yesterday to snowblow the drive and shovel the walks.

    There's no going down to DC today or tomorrow or maybe even the next day. Black ice on the turnpike, which threatens partial closure again at any minute due to accident; the Garret Co. drive's even more hazardous; and we can't get into our neighborhood down there anyway.

    Lost part of a tree in the backyard of the home we own, as did our neighbors, who at least all managed to keep their electricity throughout.

    More snow Tue/Wed?

    You have GOT to be shitting me.




    Our amusements long exhausted, we'll all have killed each other by then.

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  5. Sarah is my girl.

    She's made a couple of mistakes of late, but----

    Sarah is my girl.

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  6. Still looking at a generator...

    have backed off the ideal 15,000 watts plumbed in...

    they want $7200 installed...

    I am opting ( i think) 7,000

    7000
    - 12000 watt portable generators

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  7. Our amusements long exhausted, we'll all have killed each other by then.

    :-D

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  8. My parents have talked about buying a generator - as they have getting their driveway down to the garage heated - for at least a couple of years now.

    Sorry bunch of procrastinators, this family.




    Supermarket shelves in the Metro area: Picked right fucking clean. Hope nobody needs nuthin' in the event they can get to it in the first place.

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  9. My brother walked into and right back out of the Super WalMart in Washington, PA, this afternoon. The lines are at least 45 minutes long.

    Poor guy just needed toilet paper, for heaven's sake.


    Beer-wise we're down to some nasty, dark Spaten and a half case of HB.

    My mother was going to make gluhwein, the street swill of wintertime Germany, but I talked her out of it. We'll spike the coffee instead.

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  10. i'm kinda tapped out, investing in inventory for valentines day, easter and such...

    i have on more employee working 37 hours a week than i did in december so my extra cash is gone...

    maybe after valentines day i can "steal" a grand for the generator...

    i got 70 or so orders this weekend (so far) so I'll run to the office to prick, sort and distribute orders for tomorrow morning and might miss the super bowl..

    but MY superbowl is happening as we speak...

    and I like the point spread....

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  11. The Superbowl last year was pretty good, we both sat there and actually watched it. This year Miss F is working and I'm blogging the Bible. Normally I don't give a flying crap about men dragging a ball back and forth for three or four hours. I'm a non-sports minded individual and always have been, even if you're talking about women's softball or tennis. But at least football resembles a war and rewards the best strategy and execution. Basketball is usually about who made the last shot when the clock ran out. Hockey and Soccer (or in French, futbol) would be better if the scores weren't usually 1-0. Baseball is about as exciting as Tiddly Winks.

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  12. heh, you luckless, snowbound, drive in that, see how you come out, while here we seem to have gotten our cold snap past earlier, in December, and the animals are all stirring around, the meadowlarks....the geese...you can do worse than low down in Idaho....

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  13. And if you are sorry for yourself, you can remember the tick of the sleet on the oil drums in the Dakotas, where the eagles eat well, and if you are really lucky, you can remember the sound of the tom-toms a beating...and that sound of silence where the mind remembers all...and carries you ..past sound and silence...where love is all...

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  14. And if you love someone, tell them so, tell them now, for Christ's sake, tell them so, time is passing, tell them without shame, you may not have another chance, tell them now, and damn fast.

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  15. "And if you are sorry for yourself, you can remember..."

    Spring.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiLTwtuBi-o

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  16. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZtQh5EIgWQ

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  17. (Gratuitous Neil Diamond)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AzrVmyfNXY

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  18. Bob, I hope you're not going somewhere just yet. I wish I had a cherry juice type potion for correcting overwhelming thoughts of mortality.

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  19. "I wish I had a cherry juice type potion for correcting overwhelming thoughts of mortality."
    ---
    He's a Swede, for Chrissake!
    What do you expect?

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  20. I won't ask, Doug, if you don't tell.

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  21. Fabulous day, here.
    A little rain in the morning, but the clouds burned off and the sun is shining through.

    Did not get to warm, mid 50's I guess. But really nice, birds were singing outside the window, earlier.

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  22. I just learned that Santa Fe is 400 years old.

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  23. ...and DH Lawrence was a fan.

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  24. Fuck you, friends. I know I'm going to kick the bucket, all too soon too.

    "It's not death I worry about, I just don't want to be there when in happens."

    Woody Allen

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  25. Which reminds me, I must type out the rest of Ring, than make my statements to Allen bout his books.

    A bottle of Bacardi, and a wandering imagination has gotten in my way.

    And the thoughts of those I love.

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  26. You missed the condo invite, Miss Lily.

    It's gone, now.

    One of my daughters friends has rented it.

    Maybe another year.

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  27. Perhaps I can offer you peace of mind, Bob, given a little time. You trusted me on the gout thing.

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  28. Dulles Airport outside Washington was open for a limited number of flights, but it was uncertain how many would operate, the airport's web site said.

    On Friday, the storm brought school closings and long lines at supermarkets, as residents rushed to stock up on groceries and other supplies ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, when tens of millions are expected to gather in homes and bars to watch the football championship.

    Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia declared snow emergencies, allowing them to activate emergency agencies, including the National Guard, to help deal with the storm.


    Digging Out From Blizzard

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  29. I don't like it in a can. I don't like sports. My plow truck canceled on me this morning.

    But I had the most wonderful day of my life. I wish it didn't have to end.

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  30. I am happy for you.

    I mean that.

    bob

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  31. Well, hmph. The spousal unit (to swipe a Cole-ism) has decided to drive down tomorrow after all. He's taking Uncle Cracker, who's sat in my parents' storage room for the past seven months, with him. I trust he'll retrieve me on some future date.

    The rest of us are taking a field trip to the bookstore.

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  32. Dem Saints gonna win dat game.

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  33. Dem Saints done won dat game.

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  34. And there was much rejoicing throughout the land.

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  35. What the shit was that run play on 3rd down?

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  36. Haji Jamaldine, who fled with his 15-strong family to Lashkar Gah, said he had left in fear of his life. "Nobody from the government has helped us yet and we are short of food and water here," he said.

    A member of the Red Crescent relief organisation said it had counted at least 450 families in Lashkar Gah who had arrived from Marjah, which would represent about 5,000 people.

    "We are expecting more families to arrive," he said.


    Battle of Marjah

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  37. Bob,

    I was out of town Thursday and Friday but I received a message from Bill Belknap at the Community Development department at the City of Moscow. He indicated that the University of Idaho submitted a letter in opposition to your development because of its impact on their property and operations. I do not have a copy of the letter but I intend to get one on Monday and will email it to you.

    Also, do you have time Tuesday afternoon to meet? I am open from 2:30 until just before 5 p.m. If that doesn't work for you, please let me know when will as I want to go over the presentation I plan on giving to Planning & Zoning on Wednesday evening.

    Thank you!
    Susan

    Susan R. Wilson
    Attorney at Law, PLLC
    208 S. Main St. Ste 2
    Moscow, ID 83843
    sw2@moscow.com
    208-882-8060
    866-221-9397 (fx)

    Fuckers. This smells bad. I've never had to fight the U of Idaho before.



    This has a bad smell to it.

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  38. Susan is a good lady, she just gave birth to a child, she is a fighter, we will do ok.

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  39. I don't know. The U of Idaho has some deep pockets, more so that I.

    They got a lawyer on hire.

    We'll see what happens.

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  40. Melody--

    My mind is really spinning now. I would win in District Court. I know that. I would lose at the Idaho Supreme Court.

    My mind is spinning. I know what to do.

    I must nip this in the bud, kill it right now.

    Everyone hates the developers. But, I think I have the votes. On the council. Or it may go south.

    I must kill this right now, or it may go south. The University of Idaho is a big power around here.

    The wife was right, heading us back home.

    I'll fight these bastards, it's now or never.

    I think I have the votes.

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  41. The ongoing story of boob's sub-development schemes, always worthy of a chuckle.

    Now he is going to be Vandalized.

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  42. Reuters - Juan Carlos Ulate, Catherine Bremer - ‎2 hours ago‎

    Laura Chinchilla, presidential candidate for National Liberation Party, speaks during celebrations of her victory in Costa Rica's presidential election in San Jose February 7, 2010.

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  43. She will open the door to Costa Rica becoming a Chinese colony.

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  44. What's surprising is their coming in at the last moment, the bastards. It's got to do with the location of the roads, I think. I'll keep you informed Rat, I Know you are 100 percent behind me.

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