It’s amazing how time flies. We’re already beginning the 2nd half of our beloved NFL season,  So of course, it’s time to see how your favorite team fared midway through the 2011 season. Only, instead of giving actual grades, I’m breaking them up in categories. Same analysis as ESPN, but better because it’s not so formal. So without further ado…. the midseason report cards.

F*ck It, I’m On One!: Green Bay Packers

The Packers deserve a column of their own. As far as NFL class goes, there’s the Packers and then there’s everyone else. No one is touching them right now and to be honest, I don’t know who will. Aaron Rodgers is playing like he’s possessed right about now. I like Green Bay but the little hater in me says they need to sit their bragging asses down somewhere. No reason why I feel that way, I’m just a little green and tired of seeing them win.

They Are Who We Thought They Were:  Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots

The Steelers started out old and slow, but they’ve finally got the ball rolling. They’ve been on fire the past few weeks, and have picked up from last season, thanks to the emergence of guys like Mike Wallace and Emmanuel Sanders. The Patriots make this list because they’re still a team of concern if they’re on your schedule, but they can’t stop a nose bleed (Bart Scott voice) so unless they figure out to stop good teams, they may be in trouble….

Well I’ll Be John Brown (c/o @DragonflyJonez): Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills

I dedicate this category to my Twitter buddy, who always uses this term at the right time and better than anybody I know. Most of us looked at contenders for 2011 and didn’t think about any of these teams, for a lot of reasons. New players, lockout hangover, inconsistent or not good in years past…. for whatever reason, unless you were a fan of these teams, they simply weren’t on your radar. Well I’ll be John Brown if they aren’t now. The Bengals are 5-2 with a Top 5 defense and have shown success with Andy Dalton and AJ Green. The 49ers changed their coaching staff and brought in Jim Harbaugh and have only lost one game so far, even giving Alex Smith some life. And the Bills, who had every bounce against them in 2010 despite playing hard, are finally getting the ball in their court. The Lions are probably the least bit shocking, since they finished 2010 strong. But it’s the Lions…. you still haven’t forgotten about 0-16 and Matt Stafford gets hurt if you blow on him hard enough. Alas, no bad karma and all teams are doing big things

They’re Good, BUT……..: Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants, San Diego Chargers, Houston Texans, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons 

These teams have a winning record so they’re good based on record but we really have no idea what to expect for the 2nd half of the season. The Ravens have beaten quality opponents in Pittsburgh, Houston and the Jets, but have crapped the pot against teams they should have beaten in Tennessee and Jacksonville…… The Giants are decent, but their schedule the next 6 weeks is beyond brutal and one has to wonder will the injuries they have finally start to catch up….. The Chargers are actually starting out with a winning record for once, but QB Philip Rivers (my boo!) hasn’t looked like the Rivers of old, and fumbled control of the AFC West away last Monday night……. The Texans are good, but losing Mario Williams for the year and Andre Johnson for some time may hurt them in the long run…..The Jets have seemed to regress a little on defense, and Mark Sanchez not getting much help from his run game is an issue…..The Saints WERE in my “They are who we thought they were” column, but they lost to the Rams, The WINLESS ST. LOUIS RAMS, WITHOUT SAM BRADFORD! Yeah, they go down a notch after that one….. The Bucs have youth on their side, but their lopsided loss to San Francisco puts them in this category….. Atlanta always leaves me scratching my head at the end of their games. With all of the offensive weapons they have, I don’t see how they don’t put up 30 points easily, each week. They have some inexperience on defense that holds them to this category.

Ehhhhh……………..: Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans

It’s not that I don’t think these teams are good or can’t be good… it’s just that I couldn’t add them in the “They’re good but” category because they’ve done something not worthy of that category. The Bears’ offensive line blocks like Cutler stole their girl……The Eagles started out slow, and with the “Dream Team” talk prior to the season, expectations were above normal so their 3-4 record is underachieving at best… The Cowboys need a TV time out with the way they’ve played football lately. I thought they’d be better than this at this point. I haven;t totally written them off, tho. They have talent….. The Chiefs started off rough (remember Matt Cassel’s blow up with HC Todd Haley on the sidelines??), but they’ve rebounded well. It’s the AFC West so it’s hard to be impressed just yet…..The Raiders looked like they were gonna have a good season before Jason Campbell went down. Oakland traded their 2012 #1 pick and a conditional pick to Cincy for Carson Palmer, but all Palmer did was stink it up in his debut. He’s not the same QB he was before 2005 and quite frankly, I wonder if Al Davis came back from the dead to make one last WTF personnel decision… Despite Carolina’s record, I’m gonna put them in this column because I seriously believe they try hard each and every week, yet fall short. This team reminds me a lot of Buffalo’s team last season. They hang in there, but can’t get the “W” in the end. I can’t be mad at that. They should be added in my next group but I love their resilience. The Titans are here by default, because they have a good record. But Chris Johnson got paid and told the Titans, “Fcuk your couch”. He’s still holding out but we didn’t know until now. With Kenny Britt going down, that hurt big time for Tennessee. Good thing is, the AFC South could be a 2-man race, and they’re still in it.

“Insert Comment Here”: Cleveland Browns, Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, Washington Redskins

Face it- these teams’ style of play are boring and uninspiring more times than not (minus the Vikings the past 2 weeks. But that’s because Ponder now has the keys). Put yourself in my shoes…. What could you possibly say about any of these teams individually that doesn’t sound like the others in this group? Can’t figure it out? Me neither. So feel free to insert your own comment here.

Bad…. Real Bad Michael Jackson: Indianapolis Colts, St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos

I guess this group could be called the “Suck For Luck” lottery, but that’s unoriginal and overused at this point. These 4 teams stink and I’d bet my money on LSU or Alabama if they played any of these teams at this point. Probably the worst team of them all is Indy. Never have I seen a franchise fall so fast from one key player going down. That’s a direct reflection of the GM and ownership and it’s inexcusable. The Rams have some good pieces and aren’t AS bad as Indy (not saying much), but their defense isn’t that good, particularly their secondary (although they did hold NO to one offensive TD in Sunday’s win) and there isn’t a true #1 WR on the team. The Dolphins need a new makeover, period. Not only did you celebrate the FLORIDA GATORS championship in MIAMI HURRICANES-land, you let Tim Tebow beat you in the Final 5 minutes of the same game. Yeah, you suck, Miami…….. Speaking of Tebow, he is getting KILT in the media (yeah, I said it… not killed, but KILT!) on what most of us already knew: Great college player, lots of heart and passion, not going to translate into the NFL. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so much attention lay on one guy like this. Denver officially came into the Top 5 pick race as of Sunday.

Yesterday’s game was overwhelming for me for so many reasons. We recognized the 10th anniversary of September 11th which was extremely patriotic, as the fans chanted, “USA” often. It was opening day from a LOOOOOOOOONG offseason full of lockout talk and off-the-field drama. And it was against the Ravens most bitter rival in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Going into this game, I admit I had my doubts. The offensive line hadn’t played fully this preseason and the defense was pretty slow in that same span. But the Ravens were tired of all of the trash talk and mental edge the Steelers had over them, and it showed. Not only did the Ravens come out to play, they came out with a plan to show them how serious they were on the disrespect. All of the offseason changes they made paid off, at least for Week 1. They beat the Steelers like they stole something. Final score Ravens 35, Steelers 7.

The best part about yesterday’s game was how happy my son was. He was celebrating a milestone birthday (don’t ask!) And going to the game was a birthday gift. When he said that he had the best birthday ever, I knew yesterday was special. That’s what football does, especially after a win like that. His happiness means the world to me, and we have the Ravens to thank.

OT: I’ve said this over and over like a broken record, but I’ll say it one last time. Joe Flacco is a GOOD quarterback. Is he a great one? Nope. He still has some things he can change to better his game. But he’s efficient.. efficient enough to win football games for the Baltimore Ravens.

I don’t think there’s a question on who’s better between Flacco and Roethlisberger. Big Ben is a 2-time Super Bowl winning QB who knows how to make plays when he needs to. But yesterday, Joe Cool was the better guy. And while he’ll have struggles this season, he’s growing and maturing. I like it and I believe this is the start of finally getting the respect he’s long overdue for.

Double OT: “God can have his soul, but his ass belongs to me”- Terrell Suggs on Ben Roethlisberger after his 3-sack performance. Best quote I’ve ever heard!

The Colts are bad… real bad, Michael Jackson (hell, add the rest of the Jacksons too!). We knew the Colts would struggle without Peyton Manning, but if yesterday is what’s to come for the Colts without Pey-Pey, this is gonna get ugly QUICK! It kind of amazes me how the franchise had put so much stock into one guy with no insurance policy. The Irsays should learn from this.

On Saturday, I was on a local TV show talking football and one of the topics we discussed were injuries. I predicted that this season we would see an abundance of injuries, mainly due to the lockout. And so far that looks to be true. The Rams were plagued with injuries by key players yesterday, Bengals QB Andy Dalton went down, Charger RB Mike Tolbert got banged up..and the list goes on and on from yesterday’s games. Its alarming, especially when you have skill players taking the hit. As a fan, its a huge concern, but I’m sure as a player/coach that concern is 10x worse.

Isn’t it funny how we witnessed a near-perfect QB play in the Green Bay-New Orleans game last Thursday, only to see a Romo/Sanchez slop fest last night? The Cowboys-Jets game was the exact opposite of Thursday’s show down, but the excitement was all the same. Mistakes clouded last night’s game big time, but those very same mistakes kept the game interesting. Down 24-10 in the 4th quarter, the Jets found a way to not screw it up when it counted to beat the Cowboys, 27-24. That’s the beauty of football. You can see a squeaky clean game and then see a sloppy, mistake laden game but the awesome levels are still the same. One of the reasons why football is so great.

OT: Tony Romo can’t catch a break.. mainly from the fans and the media. I’m not saying its not warranted, he’s given folks plenty of reason to criticize him. But the QB is always a position that gets held at a higher regard than any other position. The fact that he plays for the Cowboys makes it worse because his stage is much bigger than other teams. It’s recipe for disaster. As long as he continues to make critical mistakes, how good he is will be debated. Its the nature of the beast, whether you like it or not.

Donovan McNabb, SMH………… My, how the mighty have fallen.

Someone posted this on Twitter yesterday. In less than 140 characters it was quite simple yet the truest tweet of the day. In a sentence, it said, “The Harbaugh’s>>>>>> The Manning’s”. And as of right now, that’s exactly right.

I’m not a Bills fan, but I empathize with what they’ve been through the past few years, mainly because of my football sister Pigskin Loving Lady. I was happy for them in yesterday’s 41-7 shellacking over the Chiefs. Maybe my empathy is more so pity, because the Bills should have won at LEAST 2 more games last year (Ravens, Steelers). I’m not picking them to go to the playoffs or anything, but I do believe they’ll be better than we expect.

OT: this is only Week 1 but I’m gonna say it. Kansas City is overrated. Not that they can’t be good, they have a core group of youth on their team. But they continue to show me that they aren’t ready to take over the drivers seat in the AFC West. You have to dethrone the Chargers, who are a penciled in pick every year as long as my boo (Philip Rivers) is running the team. The Chiefs are young, so the experience will come. I just don’t see them repeating as AFC West champs.

Until the Falcons win a playoff game, they’ll always be regular season champs to me. Outside of Michael Turner, they didn’t show me much yesterday. I realize they’re a very good team on paper. People LOOOOOOOVE Matty Ice, so I get it. But until they can show me they are consistent and able to win playoff games (which they have yet to do since Ryan was drafted), they gets no love from me…. sorry.

Cam Newton looks like the real deal. Even in a losing effort, he did the damn thing, passing for 422 yards in his NFL debut. His confidence and poise is impecable, and that is the key to how far Carolina can go this season. I used to think Newton was a bit cocky, especially after seeing his smirks and facial responses at the draft this past April. Now I see it’s a bit deeper than that. He believes in himself and what he can do for his football team. And I can’t be mad at that!

And last but not least, the Redskins beat the New York Giants yesterday… the DC/MD/VA area is about to explode with Super Bowl talk….. pray for me!

Steelers S Troy Polamalu is known for his long, beautiful hair.. It’s so beautiful, he has a contract with Head And Shoulders shampoo. But there are some Polamalu hair haters out there… and Troy got punked!

Someone took the page out of the Jackass Movie book and took a pair of clippers to the star’s hair, taking a nice lock out of his mane. Troy was NOT pleased, to say the least. That being said, I laughed my ass off at his facial expression. He’s PISSED and he should be. You don’t see real hair like that anymore walking these streets.

The good thing is, Troy’s hair will probably grow back in about 3 mins. He’ll be fine. But damn, homey! As a woman who’s hair is her crown, I feel your pain…… and snickering at your response all at once.

This past weekend, Hall Of Fame inductee Deion Sanders hosted his 2nd annual youth football tournament, along with former Ravens/Browns RB Jamal Lewis, in Atlanta, GA. Teams from Dallas, TX, Baltimore, MD, Atlanta and Athens, GA took part in the weekend of football games that were separated in 3 age groups (10 and under, 12 and under & 14 and under). Sanders’ TRUTH team from Dallas, TX was there to represent.

During the tournament, I was able to sit down and have a conversation with Primetime. While the interview was great, it’s extremely hard to hear him due to his soft spoken demeanor (who knew?!).

Here are a few tidbits from his interview that are hard to hear:

On his reason behind the youth tournament:

I gotta reach [out to the youth], I gotta touch them, I gotta inspire them… hopefully to motivate them to get educated and to just dream….I think it’s a direct result of us [as adults], we stopped dreaming… we gotta get back to the roots, the basics, the core…and start spending time and loving [the children].. to let them know, they can make a difference

On the teams to watch for the 2011 season:

You have to fall back on the teams that faired well from last year… you gotta love New England  because of Tom Brady, the Pittsburgh Steelers are always gonna be there as well as Baltimore in the AFC and I can’t sleep on the New York Jets…. when you move over to the [NFC], I like New Orleans…. Tampa Bay came out strong…the Atlanta Falcons, I always save the best for somewhat last and I cannot discount, the Dallas Cowboys

On a take your pick segment that I quizzed him on:

Nnamdi/Revis: I like Revis… he dominates and plays both sides of the field

Andre Johnson/Calvin Johnson: Andre Johnson, and it’s not even close. Calvin is a young, grown man who’s coming on strong, But Andre is a grown man already… one of the better receivers of the game

Chad Johnson/Chad Ochocinco: I like Johnson. Johnson put up better numbers than Ochocinco. Ochocinco is my boy, I love him….but when Chad Johnson was Chad Johnson (pauses) Whoo… he was on.

T.O./Randy Moss/Plaxico Burress: Plaxico ain’t even in that conversation. I love him… but, T.O.could go down in history as one of the greatest to ever play the game. Randy Moss, WILL go into the Hall Of Fame one day and statistically is one of the greatest receivers to ever play the game.

Sanders also hosted a Red and Black Gala, to celebrate his Hall Of Fame induction. Those that came to celebrate his honor were NFL Network’s Jamie Dukes, Chilli from TLC, MLB player Brian Jordan and Keith Sweat, just to name a few. Sanders walked the red carpet with his gorgeous wife, Pilar. The event was a success, ending the night with Sweat serenading the audience with his old school hits (don’t judge me, I was amused!).

The AFC North of course! I blogged last year that Victoria’s Secret were releasing gear for all 32 NFL teams for the 2011 season. The “First Round Picks” of their new line were all teams of the AFC North, which means my Ravens, Steelers, Browns and Bengals. The rest of the teams/divisions were released hour-by-hour via their Facebook page. You will be able to buy these items starting next month.

I’m sooooo excited about this. It’s very hard to find football gear that’s truly sexy, so having more options like the VS Pink line as well as Touch by Alyssa Milano gives us the resources to not only root for our favorite team but look damn good at it! Now all we need is for the lockout to end and football to resume so we can express our fandom fashionably!

Over the years, Ravens fans have had to sit through a lot of tough losses, especially to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Santonio Holmes “catch”, the 2008 AFC Championship game, and most recently the 2010 game where Troy Polamalu makes a hell of a play. But the one play that may stick with us for a long time and still hurts to this day happened just 6 months ago on this day.

On January 15th, 2011 I, along with 3 other friends, headed up I-70 W to see our beloved Ravens take on our arch rival, the Steelers. We had a good feeling going into Heinz Field. It was our time, we thought. After finally opening up the offense against Kansas City the week before, the Ravens were gonna go to Pittsburgh, win the game and advance to the AFC Championship. We could feel it.

It started off according to plan. The Steelers had a 1st round bye, and looked sluggish the 1st half. Mistakes and turnovers were costing the Steelers and the Ravens took advantage. Halftime came, 21-7, Ravens ahead. We were all smiles, taking pictures and having good natured smack talk with Steeler fans (we knew we had to get out of there alive, so no heckling from us!).

But as my friend Kiss and I waited patiently for the 2nd half, we had this feeling in our guts…. kinda hard to explain, but we knew it was far from over. We knew that the Steelers had our number, and if we didn’t keep our foot on the gas, they would find new life and start a comeback. We knew our Ravens all too well. This is the same team that put us through many a heart palpitations and anxiety attacks the entire season, despite their 12-4 record. We knew what was to come.

As the 2nd half proceeded it went from good to bad, in what seems like an instant. Ray Rice fumbles… Joe Flacco interception… and other careless mistakes. The Steelers have now scored 17 unanswered points going into the 4th quarter. And it looked like they were sucking the life out of my team, minute by minute.

We weren’t prepared with that happened next. With 2:07 left in the game, the Ravens and Steelers were tied at 24. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked for a 9 yard loss 2 plays prior, and had an incomplete pass on the last play. The down was 3rd and 19. The Ravens put pressure on Big Ben pretty regularly throughout the whole game, so we were confident Terrell Suggs was coming to get his 4th sack of the day.

When the defensive line came to the line of scrimmage, we instantly realized there were only 3 linemen there. It was pretty odd to us, but we figured, maybe they’ll blitz with LBs or even a DB, no sweating it, right?! WRONG!!! No one snuck up on line… not one extra defender. Just as I looked to Kiss and asked, “Why are they only rushing 3 guys??”, they snapped the ball. Then, it happened………

Antonio Brown runs right past LarDarius Webb for a 58-yard completion.

Shock

Disbelief

Anger

Torture

Those are just a few words that described what we felt after that pass. If there was ANY hope that the Ravens would come back before that play, it just flew out of the window with that completion. The Steelers eventually scored the go-ahead TD and the rest is history… 31-24, Steelers advance to the AFC Championship.

(to see my initial reaction on the game, click here)

Six months later, that play and that game STILL haunts Ravens fans. Every now and then, I’ll see a random Facebook update or a tweet that says those three words: “3rd and 19″, and nothing else. In Baltimore we all know what that means. It’s a symbol of the day our football hopes and dreams went right down the drain. It’s a symbol of what happened on that awful day of January 15, 2011.

The good news is the Ravens are still a good football team. Once a new CBA agreement is put together and football is back in our lives, the Ravens should be a contending team yet again. In 2011, they should have the chance to fight for the Lombardi Trophy. But if they have to play the Steelers again to get there, 3rd and 19 will ALWAYS come back to mind……..

Steelers LB James Harrison will be in the August edition of Mens Journal magazine, and he goes no holds barred on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

In the article, Harrison holds nothing back when discussing the commish, calling him a, “crook” and “devil”. But Harrison didn’t stop at the name calling. Harrison also said,

“If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn’t do it. I hate him and will never respect him.”

Well alright!!!

In addition to “crook” and “devil”, Harrison called him, “stupid,” ‘’puppet” , “dictator” and a anti-gay slur.

Harrison is still reeling over his $100,000 fine he received after the league enforced new safety rules last season. Also on the receiving end of Harrison’s ether were  other NFL execs, Patriots-turned-commentators Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi (he referred to them as ”clowns”), Houston’s Brian Cushing (”juiced out of his mind”),  and teammates Rashard Mendenhall and Ben Roethlisberger for their performances in the Super Bowl loss (about Ben, he says, “Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand the ball off and stop trying to act like Peyton Manning. You ain’t that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does”).

Read the rest of the article here

Harrison does simma down a bit to start discussing his theory and solution to illegal hitting situation. Harrison believes that non-guaranteed contracts make players more likely to hit high, because in the short term, a player would take a concussion over a torn knee ligament. Harrison believes the solution to prevent a head injury is to shorten the season to 14 games, delay the start time for offseason workouts and trim the length of training camp so “we’re not bangin’ heads so much in August; that’s where the brain trauma comes from.”

Harrison’s points are valid, but we know the NFL is all about money. His suggestions won’t happen, probably in our lifetime, if ever.

I always thought Harrison was a bit angry, but this article confirms it for me. I wonder if Nicki Minaj is song #1 in his football playlist, cause he sure sh*tted on a few people in this article, and these are just the tidbits. I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side….

Okay, the title of my post is pretty harsh, but you have to admit it’s pretty fitting for the this morning’s news. Steelers WR Hines Ward was arrested early this morning by Georgia Police for driving under the influence.

According to ESPN, Ward was booked into the DeKalb County jail in suburban Atlanta at 3:41 a.m. and charged with driving under the influence. He was released on $1,300 bond.

Ward was the Super Bowl XL MVP and just recently won Dancing With The Stars.

TMZ.com has posted Ward’s arrest picture…. Hines isn’t smiling, and I don’t blame him this time:

I’m not really sure if this tarnishes anything, to be honest. Ward is entering his 14th season with the Steelers and is on the sunset end of his career. He has 2 Super Bowls under his belt plus the MVP honors. As much as I’d like to crack a few Ward jokes at his expense, I can’t because I don’t think this will be relevant in about 2 months. What I am interested in, however, is how the Rooney family handles this sitcho. They tend to be a stickler when it comes to their players and behavior (except for that one guy….. you know who……rhymes with Jig Jen)

The way players are going, the NFL may not have available players by the time they end the lockout. They need to get a deal done SOON!

Hey ladies and gents. I hope you’ve all enjoyed your holiday weekend as much as I did. I took the time to go tweetless this weekend (Shameless plug: Follow me on Twitter @theNFLchick). But in doing so, my brain was working non-stop with random thoughts about everything, from football to music to movies. While I could have tweeted my thoughts, I decided to collect them altogether and create a blog post, similar to Peter King’s 10 Things I Think I Think from his MMQB column. Hopefully it’s not TOO all over the place and you can enjoy (and understand) my thoughts.

Happy Birthday Al Davis!

How ironic is it that the Oakland Raiders owner shares the same birthday as America’s Declaration of Independence. While Al’s birth certificate says he turned 82, he looks as old as the 235 year-old document of our freedom from the British Empire. Al’s still here with us, and still running things in Oakland. Happy 235- excuse me-82nd birthday, Mr. Davis. Something tells me Skeletor will see a few more birthdays form now.

I’m On To You, SWV!

As I get older, I translate a lot of music that I listened to growing up, in a way that my immaturity didn’t allow me to before. This weekend, I learned that one of my favorite 90′s groups SWV (or Sisters With Voices) were great singers, but their biggest hits were always about chasing someone else’s man or was on some freaky ish to try and grab/keep one. Think about it…. “So Into You” and “You’re The One” were about men that were unavailable but they wanted to get with them anyway. “Downtown” was about freaky things you had to do to get some of their, “love”, while “Anything” explained that they would do just about anything to keep that [unavailable] man around. I had no idea how naive I was back then, but I’ve seen the light in 2011. I’m piecing the puzzle together. I’m on to you Coco, Taj and Le Le… I’m on to you……….

Transformers Was Great, But…………….

I love summer blockbusters. It’s part of the 19732836826 reasons why summer is one of the best seasons of all. Vacations, sundresses, cookouts and blockbuster movies all play a role into how awesome the summer season is. So when I went to see the 3rd installment of Transformers movie this holiday weekend, I wasn’t let down. It was excellent and definitely worth the $14.50 that was spent ( since when did movie tickets get so high before 6pm? 3-D my a$$!!). There’s just one problem: I’m an analytical maniac when it comes to movies and songs (see above for SWV analysis).

I usually pick out how parts of a movie make ZERO sense if it were a real life scenario. Now I know Transformers is from the old school cartoon (which, I’m proud to say I was an avid fan of the original back in the day. And don’t you dare judge my age), so of course logic goes out the door and this fictional tale is all about action. Aside from the fact that Shia LeBeouf should have died, I dunno…. 2 movies ago, I notice other things that just don’t quiet make sense.

For instance, Rosie Huntington- Whiteley (who portrays Carly, the girlfriend of LeBeouf in the movie) is beautiful without any question. But can someone tell me why was she beautiful the WHOLE DAMN MOVIE? Transformers was extremely messy.. lots of fire and destruction took place, yet Carly’s hair looked as good in the end as it did in the first scene she appeared in, early in the movie. While LeBeouf gets pretty dirty as the movie goes on, she’s still near perfect in the same duration. Her clothes looked clean, her hair was still in tact and oh… she was running full speed in Christian Louboutins for a good part of the movie. Now, I know what those shoes feel like. Man-made shoes are HARD on women’s feet. So you mean to tell me, she felt no need to kick her shoes off at any time once she knew she had to run for her everlasting life? Other than some dust on her cheek, she was almost flawless the entire movie. I know what you’re thinking.. it’s just a movie and you’re doing WAY too much right now… but this is how my brain operates. Pray for me, especially 10+ years down the road……..

The Awesomeness Of The 4th of July

Every year for the 4th, I go to my friend’s house for their annual cookout. At the end of the night, her family gets together and light up the fireworks for their own personal show. It’s become a tradition of sorts. So much, that the neighboring street now does fireworks of their own and the 2 streets have a “Fireworks battle”, going back and forth with who has the best fireworks display.

It’s pretty awesome (and illegal, since MD doesn’t sell most of the fireworks they had, but that’s not here nor there..), and it makes me appreciate my city a little bit more. If I had one day a year to love living in the city, this is the day. You don’t have to go downtown to see the big show, folks all around the area do their own shows. And in the process of doing that, friends come together, neighbors come together and communities come together. I know I sound preachy and you may not even buy what I’m saying but it’s true. Neighbors who barely speak to each other come out and talk about the fireworks beef and judge on who had the better display (which, by-the-way, my friend’s street lost BAD! The other street must’ve gotten their fireworks straight from the factory because I thought I was at Disney World). It’s a great chance to open lines of communication and getting to know the people you live by. And since going out on the 4th is becoming more and more dangerous, I look forward to kicking it around the neighborhood with my friends each and every year.

Reed vs Polamalu Debate

The NFL Network finally showed their final 10 players for their Top 100 NFL Players of 2011. Ed Reed went ahead of Troy Polamalu by 1 slot, going 5th overall. The ranking opened up a new Reed vs Polamalu debate that we’ve seen over the years. But this is where the debate should stop.

I’ve stated publicly that I’m not a big fan of the list. I believe that some players were ranked too high or too low or shouldn’t have been ranked at all. But one thing I think we need to realize is this: This list was ranked by their colleagues, other NFL players. Fans, analysts and coaches may think they have an idea, but none of us line up against these guys on Sundays. These guys see the players on the field, whether it be through tape or live action. Who better to rank our favorite NFL players than their peers?

I’ve said over and over, the Reed vs Polamalu debate is beyond stupid, mainly because they don’t play the same position and they both do different things for their respected squads. But let me say this: Just because one is more versatile or appears to physically do more than the other, doesn’t mean he’s better. I’ve seen a lot of debate about Troy being better because he does more, which is true. He lines up as a LB or in the defensive backfield. He always seems to be all over the field. But that in no way means that he’s more valuable or better than than Ed Reed. Reed changes the entire gameplan of a QB before he even steps on the field. Throws that QBs would make against other defenses,  now have to be thought about 3 times or more when the Ravens are the opponent with Ed Reed in the lineup. A lot of Reed’s game changing ability starts in the film room, with players try to find ways to play around him. That within itself is just as big as what he actually does on-the-field.

In the end, you could probably flip a coin either way on who should be ranked higher, but both are great players in their own right. Why debate about 2 guys who’s skills are so different they could actually coexist on the same team, if need be? Would you have a debate about a DT vs LB? If not, then the Reed/Polamalu debate is moot. Let it go. I’m talking to YOU, Ravens and Steelers fans!

Manning vs Brady

Final thought, and I’ll make it quick. Brady’s SB wins gets him the #1 spot hands down. He’s worthy of it because he’s pretty good in the QB dept…. damn good actually…. but I’ve seen Belichick win games without Tom Brady.. 10 of them in 2008 to be exact. I’d bet 3 years of my salary that that would NOT happen if Peyton Manning went down with a season ending injury. Manning on the Colts is irreplaceable. I can’t say the same for Brady. But rings talk and SB losses walk, so………………..

First off, let me just say that I wish the lockout would end ASAP!  Football talk is getting reeeeeaaaaal low these days. Anytime I’m posting interviews from guys that usually ignore the media, it must be a slow NFL day… which it has been since the lockout started 100+ days ago. End the lockout NOOOW, dammit!

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, let me get to my post. If you missed it this week, Ravens All Pro safety Ed Reed sat down with ESPN’s Ed Werder during his Eye Of The Hurricane football camp in Louisiana. Reed talks about how the lockout has affected his team, his current health situation, how he would play anywhere for Rex Ryan (nearly 3 years later, this is still a subject of convo) and responds to Steelers LB Lamarr Woodley, who’s had diarrhea at the mouth the past couple of weeks.

For Ed Reed, it’s a pretty good interview. He’s never been a fan of talking to the media, so under his standards, it gives us something to talk about. But I’m so over the Ravens and Steelers yapping at the mouth. Anytime Hines Ward doesn’t feed into it, you know this is boredom talk and folks just need to do something… ANYTHING… to keep football on their minds.