Obligatory Tiger Thoughts

This is going to be relatively brief because I'm sure everyone and their mother has commented on this.  What Tiger did was wrong; cheating is NEVER acceptable.  That being said.  I didn't think Tiger owed me an apology for it; he didn't cheat on me.  What he did today was a very good first step.  He apologized, publicly, to the people he hurt: his wife, his children, his sponsors, those involved in his charities.  He admitted he was wrong, and he needed help.  It was refreshing to hear an athlete admit that he thought the rules didn't apply to him.  To someone who has done things his own way and is incredibly stubborn (you have to be to be the very best) the admission of wrong is a huge thing.  He took the blame, most people have a hard time doing that; which was incredibly admirable.  What I really liked was how he did not ask for forgiveness, because it honestly seemed like he didn't think he deserved it yet.  He asked for us to keep our hearts open in the future.  All in all it was a sincere and heartfelt apology.  He did the right thing; It is a good first step.

Post- Superbowl Thoughts

 

AP Photo/ Getty Images found at espn.com

Last Tuesday, ESPN's TMQ talked about the contrasting styles of the Saints and the Colts.  Well that was the whole story.

In a game where defense was not going to win the day the Saints's defensive game plan was a microcosm of their season.  They played one defense for a a half, they played 3rd quarter defense, then they mixed everything up in the 4th.  It was the only way to beat Manning.  He is just too smart.  The Jets showed that a good game plan only works for a half before he will figure it out.  Gregg Williams did his homework and constantly changed on him.

But it was also the Colts' inability to truly adapt that hurt them.  As Mr. Easterbrook pointed out in his column, the Colts ran the same plays from the same formations all year.  And that was their downfall.  On what should have been a game tying drive in the 4th quarter it was Peyton's predictability that cost him the game and brought back talk of choke-artist.  The entire Saints D knew what routes were going to be run on that key 3rd down and they took advantage.  Terry Porter, who made the game sealing pick, talked about how it felt like he was watching film.  The Colts finally found a team that could stop what they knew was coming.

It couldn't have been more of the opposite for the Saints offense.  Once they hit their rhythm, and wore out/ doubled Dwight Freeney they couldn't be stopped.  It took them a quarter to get the jitters out but Sean Payton did an excellent job of getting the team loose and sticking with what got them there: unpredictability.  Everyone talked about how huge a gamble the onsides kick was at the start of the second half.  It would only be a gamble if the odds were 50-50 or less; when onsides kicks are not expected, then their odds of success are much more than 50-50, probably in the 60-70% range.  But it was plays like that, or the 4th down on the goal line that inspired the Saints.  They had a goofy, devil-may-care attitude about them the whole season and it won them a Lombardi trophy (and we got to see the return of the Manning face as a result).  It was awesome.

I also couldn't believe how heavily the Colts became the favorites.  There really was no other possible outcome when you look at it in retrospect.  The Saints not only had the "No One Believes In Us" factor, but also they were playing for a city that was rocked by tragedy.  Sorry Pierre Garcon, Hati doesn't count since you don't live there and Jonathan Vilma also had family there; that karma canceled itself out.  Also factor in the fact that the Saints have been an emotional team from the start and the Colts are truly robots and I can't believe I thought anything other Saints victory.

In a year where teams I strongly dislike have won championships (Yankees, UNC Basketball, Lakers, Manchester United) it was nice to see the Saints win.  The loveable losers are losers no more.  Nothing was greater than to see Drew Brees holding his infant son (who smartly was wearing earphones) on the verge of tears as confetti rained down on him.  This was a great story that has made me a Saints supporter for life (I won't say fan because I will not be a sports bigamist or renounce my Redskins' heritage no matter how tempting it may be).  This will probably be one of my fondest Super Bowl memories along with 1992.

 

Nashville Examiner

Let's Get LOST Tonight (Well Last Night)

from abc.com

***THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS***

It's finally here. The final season of "Lost." The final premiere. I loved every minute of it. I love how they made us think, for just a second, that Faraday's plan worked completely sending everyone back to 2004 and not crashing. They even showed the remnants of the Island on the seafloor (even though I doubt the Dharma houses would have survived a Hydrogen detonation). Nope. We traveled back in time. We've traveled forward in time. Now we are traveling side to side in time. It seems that the Incident merely spawned a parallel universe, which should have been obvious since there were little things that weren't exactly right in the scenes on Oceanic 815. Things like Jack, Rose, and Sawyer's hair, Desmond's presence, Shannon's lack of presence, Hurley's luck. The great thing about the alternate reality was that everyone still seemed to have this feeling they should know each other (especially Jack). I also loved the attention to details. Like when Jack saves Charlie, he angrily tells him "I'm supposed to be dead!" or the way Marshall Mars' head bleeds when Kate jumps him is the same as when the luggage hits it.

from abc.com

The most interesting thing about this season is going to be the Book of Job, good versus evil battle between Esau (the man in black) and Jacob. The crazy thing is how John Locke is at the center of all of this, and not just the John Locke who used to be in a wheel chair because the original Sawyer pushed him out of an office building. First it mirrors the Man of Faith vs. Man of Science dichotomy between Jack and Locke from previous seasons. The second and far more interesting is that these are clearly supernatural beings that won't just die. It is a constant struggle between the belief that man is inherently good and man is a brutish and cruel animal who can be corrupted and destroyed so easily. We see Locke (the 17th Century Philosopher) versus Thomas Hobbes in the Jacob/ Esau conflict. Ironically, Esau, who is a Hobbesian is using the body of a man named John Locke. I won't be surprised if Jacob has now possessed the body of Sayid (not that the spring healed him), who is probably the best example of a good character that has done evil to survive.

Other thoughts:

I found it wildly entertaining that the translator at the Others' temple looked like John Lennon and he had the last line before a Blackberry "All You Need Is Love" commercial. That can't be a coincidence.

In alt-2004 Aaron's 2 mom's share a taxi.

Who IS Richard Alpert? Why was he ever in chains?

 

from abc.com

LOVED the exchange between Ben and Dark Locke: "You're, you're the monster!" "Let's not resort to name calling."

Can Ben somehow find redemption? He was "pardoned" by Smokey last year but we know that being pardoned by the devil means nothing. He has hit rock bottom now; I honestly want to see him redeem himself. Up until this season we have not had wholly good nor wholly evil characters. It has been the refreshing realism of the show that characters are redefined over and over again. Only now does it seem like the Jacob-Esau split is the true good v. evil. I hope characters keep crossing back and forth as they have all series.