I read that new villas have been built and sold at NJMP. The properties will be taxed. All this is positive. I just hope we don’t find out that the property taxes on the villas are at a rate not commensurate wih the $425,000 price tag of the homes . . . Congratulations to the Colts and the Saints. I like it when a new team makes it to the show. Go Saints! . . . Speaking of football, I think moving the Pro Bowl to next week at the same site as the Super Bowl the following week is an excellent move on the part of the NFL. It will drive viewers and give football fans something to watch as they wait for the big game . . . I love the smell of the woods on me after hiking. It should be packaged as a cologne (not) . . . For some reason, the older the children grow, the more difficult it seems to stay ahead of the laundry . . . This is why I disdain James Carville. Going with the Blame Bush defense has grown tired, much like the Cajun himself . . . I used to link to New York Times articles. I don’t any longer. I have no illusions as to what effect that has, however, few sites I read these days link to the Times. A few years ago the NYT placed its editorial content behind a fee schedule. It abandoned that when it saw how much money it lost. Not having learned anything from that experiment, the NYT is prepared to put all its content on a meter. Links are king and no one links to PPV content online . . .
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper is a simple seasoning. It is, however, an awesome seasoning. The standing rib roast was excellent with just s&p. I just enjoyed a leftover rib. Yummy . . . Holding my children during mass while singing Silent Night really was a special moment for me today . . . The excitement as children open presents is amazing. Being thankful for their rich lives is something that makes parents proud . . . It seemed like every channel is trying to glom off of TBS by running Christmas movie marathons all day. Jeers, however, to whichever channel thought Bad Santa was worthy of being shown over and over. It was bad when we saw it in the theater. It is no better in re-runs . . . Next year I vow to be better with Christmas cards. We ended up with just a photo card with no note this year. I long for doing better . . . This has me wanting coal in my stocking . . . I am not sure how Comcast does it, but whatever is on the NFL channel is available to digital subscribers on 733 without subscribing to the NFL channel. The Chargers trounced the Titans . . . Now it’s time for baseball. MLB is showing Ken Burns’ Baseball, which is a spectacular documentary on the game . . . I’ve never been a fan of the Santa Shoppes schools offer during the school day. This year I had to foot the bill for Beetle to buy gifts in one. Grrrr! My tune is changing. I love the keychain she picked out for me. I will carry it with me daily. Thank you, sweetheart . . . Thank you to the men and women who are overseas, many away from their families, working to keep us safe and free so we can celebrate without worry . . . The aftermath of partying and gift giving. I appreciate the hard workers who will come around tomorrow morning and clear our trash . . . Remember, Christmas is a 12-day celebration. This is just the beginning of the festivities. Merry Christmas to the readers of eCache . . .
Going in I kept saying, “I’m tooting for the Cardinals, but I expect the Steelers to beat them fairly handedly.” What a game! What a game.
It certainly looked that the Steelers were the better team two and a half quarters into the game. Then the Cardinals seemed to figure out the Pittsburgh secondary. The Cardinals came back big.
Warner seemed to choke on the one drive. Kudos to Arizona for punting and pinning the Steelers deep. Personally, I thought the back’s knee was down for a safety on the play before, but that was inconsequential. The Cardinals came down and took the lead with 2:37 left.
Too much time. Way too much.
The Steelers marched right down. The winning touchdown pass to Holmes was remarkable. Two plays in a row he was open. The Cardinals needed to close that up and they didn’t. That was the ultimate difference.
The Cardinals have nothing to be ashamed of. I am not one who accepts moral victories. In the end they lost, but they played well. Congratulations.
Congratulations to the Steelers, the only team to win six Super Bowls.
Thank you for an exciting game that I watched until the end. Awesome!
I am not much on halftime shows. Springsteen announced he had but 12 minutes and he played exactly that. And while the Freehold native has ticked me off quite a bit in recent years with his politics, I have to say I cannot think of a finer halftime show ever. He rocked Tampa. A lot of fun. Of course, I would have loved Rosalita and Sandy, but I suppose the song selection was okay. Little Steven was having a blast.
I grew up and live in South Jersey. This is the Philadelphia market. As such, I tend to root for Philadelphia teams, but I do have some other teams that get me excited too.
Baseball I am a baseball fan through and through. I love watching the game whether it be my World Champion Phightins or a local Little League game. Baseball is a thing of beauty.
There is no doubt that the Philadelphia Phillies are my team. I first saw them play live in 1971. I watch oodles of their games each year.
In addition to the Phillies though, I am willing to watch just about any baseball. The game is that wonderful. In my youth, it seemed that the Red Sox were featured quite a bot on the GOTW. I liked them then. I lived in Boston for four years and attended many games at Fenway. I liked them then. I still have an affinity for the Red Sox. It is easy to like them as they are the antithesis of the Yankees. As a Philly boy, I have a natural dislike of New York teams. And I do dislike them, although I respect the history of the Yankees has had on the game.
Football I grew up a Dolphins fan. It is not difficult to understand. The first time I recall seeing them was in Super Bowl V when they lost to the Cowboys 24-3. I am sure their colorful uniforms helped (as well as being one of the better teams). As soon as I began liking them, they won back-to-back Super Bowls. Go me! Then it was a long time before they made it back to the show . . . and lose. I remained a diehard Fins fan until about a decade ago when I met my wife. She said I should root for the home team. And she was right.
It was becoming more difficult to follow a team 1500 miles from home. In their place, I watched the Eagles. I used to be a big WIP listener. Philly is much more a football town than a baseball one. I was persuaded and officially switched my allegiances. I still root for the Fins, but the Eagles have my heart.
Admittedly, however, I have noticed over the last few years I watch a lot less football than I used to. Sundays are filled with other activities. MNF is no longer an event. The Thursday game is now off limits as I do not subscribe to the NFL Network. It is just becoming easier to turn off the game.
Basketball Yup, the 76ers through and through. Chamberlain was before my time. Instead, I recall the lowly 1972 team. Soon enough the team picked it up and we had a nice run for a decade.
I lost interest in basketball a long time ago. I cannot relate to the game. Despite large leads, all games close in the fourth quarter. It appears the last five minutes are all one needs to watch. Traveling has been re-defined. Palming is not called. It just isn’t a game that I look forward to watching any longer.
I spent time living in Boston. I ran a restaurant that the Celtics coach, K.C. Jones, had a stake in. I met the team on numerous occasions for fundraisers. I have a liking for the Celtics too.
Hockey I love the Flyers. I like watching hockey, but I have not followed the game in a while. Too much going on. On occasion, however, I will sit down and watch a game. I find hockey to be very interesting. I can’t skate and never had any dreams of playing and I can’t afford to attend the games.
NASCAR Growing up I watched a lot of racing. Cale Yarborough was my driver, but I liked Petty, Pearson, A.J. Foyt, the Unsers, etc. too. Then as I went to college, I stopped watching racing. It wasn’t until I moved here 15 years ago that I got back into it. When I did, I rooted for the pretty boy Jeff Gordon. I know. I know.
As I became a Ford driver, I tried to find a Ford driver to root for. I still rooted for Gordon.
I don’t watch weekly any longer, but I casually follow the Cup. The Hendrick team is my team and Gordon is still my driver. Go figure.
It occurs to me that baseball may be the game that sticks with me as it is the only game I can afford to attend any longer. And even that is becoming an issue. I go to far fewer games than I used to. It costs my family more than $100 to attend a game these days. That is a treat once in a blue moon, not a regular gig. I used to go to 15-20 games a year. We used to travel to Baltimore, New York, D.C., and Pittsburgh for games. Now D.C. is it and only because we visit there regularly for other reasons.
Two years ago the Rutgers University football team played well on a Thursday evening on national television. They beat then third-ranked Louisville on ESPN. It’s true Rutgers had a decent team that year, but the magic-in-the-bottle can be condensed to that one game.
With the nation’s attention on the Scarlet Knights, the following game was a stinker as Cincinnati dropped Rutgers 30-11. Rutgers rebounded against Syracuse before losing the final game of the season to West Virginia. The New Jersey team then prevailed in the Texas Bowl. Bravo!
The Piscataway business university parlayed the 2006 season into a money grab. With a decent team, it was time to expand the 1993-built football stadium to hold the influx of fair-weathered new fans. There was much outrage for the project and the $102 million price tag to add 15,000 seats. In fact, so much so that Gov. Corzine did not commit tax dollars to the project. All he did was write a personal check and spearhead a fundraising drive.
The football team followed the magical 2006 season with an 8-5 record including the Invitational Bowl (the what?) win against Ball State in 2007. The grid iron gang is off to an inauspicious 0-2 record this year after it was spanked last night, a Thursday game on ESPN, by North Carolina 44-12.
Play like this isn’t going to bring in the donations to expand the stadium. It seems to me that those who are in charge of this project are on the public payroll. Isn’t it short-sighted to expand a stadium based on one game two years ago? I’d like to see some heads roll over this.
