Prison Break, Heroes and Football

That's a pretty good Monday night! While I know that Prison Break is extremely unrealistic, the story is good and you become invested in the characters. And who doesn't like a little government conspiracy? Plus the show is easy to follow...unlike Heroes. It doesn't help that I've missed the first few episodes, but I have no idea who is who and how everyone is related. Who are the good guys and bad guys? I'm guessing we're not supposed to know. Over the past few weeks, Heroes has become a must-watch show for me. Are there other people who read this who watch the show and can fill me in? Is this like X-Men where the people are mutants who are misunderstood by everyone else? The person responsible for the tagline "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World," which has been featured in ads for weeks, deserves a lot of credit. I'm guessing that more than a few people tuned into the show just to see what that means.

While I'm sure some of you are expecting me to write about the Steelers, I'm going to wait until next week. To me, next Sunday's game at Baltimore will define the season.

It's halftime of the Jaguars-Giants game. I'm rooting for David Garrard and the Jaguars defense to have a good second half and hope that Jeremy Shockey does nothing. Here's how you (well, me) know that you have a fantasy football problem: I'm going to go to bed soon, but will not sleep well tonight because I'll be thinking about whether or not I won this week.

TiVo Questions

I've talked about TiVo for months, and I think we're finally close to getting it. I do have a few questions for any TiVo folks out there. There's a current offer for a free 80-hour TiVo Series2 DVR. For $70, I can get the same thing except with the ability to record two shows at once. There's also a 180-hour series for $170. We can probably get by with the 80-hour model, but is it worth $70 for record two shows at once?

I'm also weighing the costs/benefits of the monthly versus prepaid plans. The prices for the monthly plans are: $19.95 per month with 1-year plan; $14.95 per month with 2-year plan; $12.95 per month with 3-year plan. The prepaid plans are: 1-year for $199; 2-years for $299 or for a limited time offer, 3-years for $299. If you use TiVo, what plan do you have? Any recommendations?

Feel free to post a comment or email me at seanramblings [at] yahoo [dot] com or my personal e-mail if you have it. Thank you!

Ohio State-Michigan

I'm having a hard time with today's game. I received my graduate degree from The Ohio State University and attended about ten football games when I lived in Columbus. Granted, I was OSU the last two years of the John Cooper era, so the team was not as good as past and present Buckeye teams. Therefore, as an OSU alum, I am rooting for the Buckeyes.

On the other hand, I really like Steve Breaston, the leading punt returner in Big 10 history (I believe), who went to my high school as did Michigan's Ryan Mundy and Ohio State's Devon Lyons, but as a sophomore, Lyons does not play much. Besides Breaston, I'm kind of rooting for Michigan because of the passing of Bo Schembechler yesterday.

Well, I guess I'll just watch the game and appreciate some (hopefully) really good college football.

Oh, I want to thank ABC for showing Ohio State's marching band (TBDBITL). You have to get goose bumps watching them do Script Ohio.

Random Ramblings

* Did you know that Ohio State and Michigan are playing each other on Saturday?

* For years, I have seen NFL coaches on the sidelines and thought they looked ridiculous wearing sweatshirts and track suits. It's actually refreshing seeing Joe Paterno and Jim Tressel wearing a tie on the sidelines. Apparently, there's a reason why NFL coaches don't wear a coat and tie anymore; the NFL has a rule requiring coaches to wear apparel from NFL-licensed suppliers on the sideline. According to Mark Maske of The Washington Post, San Francisco Coach Mike Nolan has been permitted to wear a suit this weekend as a tribute to his dad. That's very kind of the NFL. Just a prediction: you'll see Nolan wearing a 49ers hat or tie.

* This is a few days late, but Andy Katz of ESPN wrote a nice article about the Duquesne basketball team. The team and entire university have gone through so much over the past few months when five players were shot. Sam Ashaolu is making a remarkable recovery. You can't help but root for the Dukes and although it was only one game, it was great to see them win.

* We ate at a restaurant next to a Best Buy tonight, where we saw people camped out in tents for the PlayStation 3, which goes on sale on Friday. Is it really worth it?

* After losing to Cortland last Saturday in the Cortaca Jug game in overtime, Ithaca College football ended the season 7-3 and did not make the Division III playoffs. Surprisingly, Cortland (9-1) also did not make the Division III playoffs. Anyway, the Bombers ended their season with a 7-3 record and only one school at any level of college football has a longer streak of winning seasons than the 37 Ithaca has recorded. I don't know what school has more than 37 straight winning seasons.

Links Part Two

I'm a little disappointed that no one else posted a comment about their celebrity matches or if the accent thing worked. Please feel free to add your comments.

I've also written about Chunky's Click for Cans. A few weeks ago the Steelers were in first place just ahead of the Bengals. The Packers have now taken a commanding lead with over 558,000 votes, almost 100,000 more than the second place Steelers. Great job by the Jets fans in having a whopping 3,228 votes. That's about the same number of Kevin Federline CDs sold.

Fun Links

Here are some fun links if you are looking for something to do besides (or during) "Dancing With The Stars."

What American accent do you have? Click here, answer about 15 questions and get your result. Apparently, I have a Midland accent, which means I am from Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois or Missouri. That is true. One flaw in the quiz...there is not a category for a Pittsburgh accent.

Have you ever wondered who is your celebrity match? All you need to do is enter your birth date and the site gives you five matches. Here are my celebrity matches:
- Miriam Pielhau (No idea who she is)
- Christina Aguilera (I always thought we had a connection)
- Lisa Snowdon (The name was familiar but I didn't know why. She was the host of VH1's "Rock the House" and the BBC's "Top of the Pops" so that may be it. I guess she was also involved with George Clooney.)
- Cat Deeley (No clue)
- Amy Jo Johnson (She was the pink Power Ranger and I always thought she was cute. I don't think she's done much since leaving "Felicity" except for being on the pilot of "What About Brian." If she was still on the show, maybe the ratings would be better.)

I love fantasy leagues. I've written endlessly about fantasy baseball, football and television. Here is a new league that I probably won't enter: Fantasy Congress.

Follow Up to I Am An Idiot

Despite a 4:15 kickoff for yesterday's Steelers-Saints game, I was at the stadium by 1:30. I just wanted to make sure that there was no problems with the tickets. I made it to the specific gate and window as instructed and hooray the tickets were there. I handed the person at the ticket window my credit card and was told that it was cash only. Therefore, I had to go to the ATM where I had to pay the $2 service fee.

(Just as a side note, I really hate ATM fees and never go to ATMs other than those of my bank. Al Franken wrote a very funny book called "Why Not Me?: The Inside Story Behind the Making and the Unmaking of the Franken Presidency" where Franken's entire campaign platform was eliminating ATM fees.)

I paid the money, received the replacement tickets and entered the stadium. About 45 minutes before kick-off, Heinz Field security came by the seats to check the tickets. They wanted to make sure that the tickets we had really were the replacement tickets. If they were the real tickets, I'm not sure what would have happened. Maybe we would have got ejected or maybe the season ticket holder may have had his tickets revoked. I'm not really sure.

As for the game itself, it was nice to see the Steelers win. They really needed it. Fast (but maybe needs to be a step faster) Willie Parker had a huge game with over 200 yards rushing, but was tackled twice after 70+ yard runs. Yesterday really showed what happens when the Steelers have success running the ball and don't turn the ball over.

The Saints are a legit team. Marques Colston looked like Jerry Rice. I can't believe he is only a rookie. With Drew Brees, Colston, Deuce McAllister, Joe Horn (when healthy) and Reggie Bush, the Saints could make a nice playoff run.

I Am An IDIOT

I may have done the dumbest thing ever in my life today. In fact, they should feature me in a commercial where I would get hit in the head by a Vonage box with the tag line "one smart decision among many, many stupid ones." I was on the Pennsylvania Turnpike less than 50 miles to Pittsburgh and 3.5 hours into my drive when I realized that I LEFT THE TICKETS TO THE STEELERS GAME IN MY KITCHEN IN VIRGINIA! My only thought was that #(&%, I'm going to have to turn around and drive back to Virginia. Of course, being on the PA Turnpike, I had to drive another 15 miles to actually get to an exit.

When I reached the exit, the phone calls began. I called my parents, who suggested that I call the Steelers. Fortunately, Joey Porter was not answering the phones. The ticket office asked if I was a season ticket-holder. Nope. However, the tickets were from a season ticket-holder. (Specifically, the tickets were a gift and came from a season ticket-holder. Does that make sense?) After about a dozen phone calls, the season ticket-holder (how many times can I use this phrase in a paragraph?) contacted the Steelers and I am OK. I have to go to a specific ticket window at Heinz Field, pay for the tickets, and when I get home, I will mail the original tickets for a refund.

The morale of the story is that I made a dumb move, but things will be OK. At least I realized the tickets were in Virginia today and not on Sunday.

Updates

In case you were wondering (or even if you were not), here are some updates of things I have written about in the past few months:

- I finally switched my shampoo from Pert Plus to Vive pro for men. This is a "daily thickening 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner." After only a few weeks, I can already feel that my hair is approaching the fullness of Fabio's hair. OK, maybe not.

- In my first year as part of the Alison LaPlaca Open (fantasy TV league), I am currently in 2nd place out of approximately 100 entries. I've mentioned this before, but the purpose of the open is to pick 10 TV shows that will be cancelled. Of the four shows that have already been cancelled this season, I picked three (Runaway, Kidnapped and Happy Hour). Of my other picks, Seventh Heaven has received a full-season order and I'm worried that FOX will never cancel The War at Home.

- My fantasy football record is 8-1 (1st place) and 6-3 (2nd in points out of 16 teams). Having LaDainian Tomlinson in both leagues has been helpful.

- Joey Porter must know that I'll be at Heinz Field for the Steelers-Saints game on Sunday. In today's Post-Gazette, Porter is quoted as saying "We will come back with a victory on Sunday." The Steelers have not lost a game I attended since the AFC Championship Game in 1995. They are unofficially 10-0 (I don't remember how many games I have seen in person the past 10 years) in games I have attended since.

- The referral entry I have each month is taking a short hiatus. I save all of the "cool" referrals in a Word document. When my computer died over the weekend, the files were also destroyed. I'm sure you are all disappointed in missing the latest ways people find this blog by typing Suzy Kolber, Flavor Flav or "How Can I Get You Alone" statements.

Election Night

According to MSNBC, with 1% of the votes in, Ben Cardin will defeat Michael Steele for the open Senate seat in Maryland. While the result may not be a surprise, Steele is currently LEADING 55% to 43%!

With millions of votes still to be counted, I'll predict that the Democrats will take over the House while the Republicans will hold the Senate but only by a slight margin.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans are equally concerned as to who is the better dancer: Mario Lopez, Emmitt Smith or Joey Lawrence.

2-6

I feel somewhat fortunate that I missed most of the Steelers-Broncos game yesterday. I do have some comments from what I did see.

* Ben - It's OK to throw the ball away when you are being pressured and don't have anyone open. The interception Roethlisberger threw when the Steelers had the ball inside the 20 at the end of the first half was terrible.

* Coach Cowher - It's OK to run the ball. Steelers football is all about running and defense. We tried the air attack offense with Tommy Maddox a few years ago with poor results (6-10). I know the team was down much of yesterday, but only 19 rushing attempts compared to 54 passing attempts! The running game was actually decent averaging 5 yards per carry.

* Based on Miami’s win over Chicago and Detroit’s win over Atlanta, I think it’s safe to say that the only team in the NFL worse than the Steelers are the Arizona Cardinals.

So now what? This season is over, but what can the team do to return to the playoffs next year? This is a fairly difficult question because the Steelers self-destruct more than their opponents beat them. What personnel moves should be made? Is Willie Reed the answer to return punts and kick-offs? Will Cowher stay?

Vail Updates

* When I departed from northern Virginia on Thursday, I was excited to leave behind Jim Webb and George Allen advertisements as well as the Ben Cardin and Michael Steele commercials. While I haven't watched much TV, I already hate Marilyn Musgrave and Angie Paccione, who are running for Congress.

* I am staying at a beautiful hotel and have a comfortable king-size bed. However, is it really necessary to have 10 pillows? TEN! Four of the pillows are decorative so I just throw them on the floor. That leaves six pillows which are just way too much.

* The good thing about being in Vail this particular weekend is that the Steelers game is the local TV game. They really need to beat the Broncos today, especially since I'm going to the Steelers-Saints game next week, and I don't want to watch a 2-6 team.

* This just in...Vail Village has many ski shops.

Greetings from Vail

If I ever write that I am about to go mountain climbing, please stop me. When I arrived in Vail, Colorado yesterday, I had a headache and was nauseous. Apparently, I had altitude sickness. I took some Bayer and didn't leave my hotel room from 5:30 last night until 7:00 this morning. I feel much better today and am drinking gallons of water, which is supposed to help.

In case you are wondering, there is some snow on the ground, but the ski slopes don't open for another few weeks. The current temperature is in the low 40s.

Two quick items from today's Vail Daily. The front page discusses two bear cubs that were captured in West Vail. The cubs' mother was killed after repeated home break-ins and apparently the cubs are learning from mom. Yes, this is the front page.

The other highlight is that Sara Fisher is running for Commissioner (I don't know of what). Her ad features a fish with the slogan "Fish for Commish." Nice catch phrase.

Truly Reality

Flavor Flav is expecting his seventh kid and I am shocked that the mother is not Deelishis, the winner of Flavor of Love 2. Fortunately, the mother is NOT New York. According to People, all Flav would say is that the mother is "shorty in Las Vegas." Maybe it is Celine Dion.

In the article, Flavor Flav insisted that his relationship with Deelishis isn't over, and said he recently met her family in Detroit and they loved him, despite his reputation as "the black Hugh Hefner." I have never heard that reference before.

Anyway, good luck to Flavor Flav, and I hope that his new album does well. I think he's going to need the money.

Flight Restrictions

As part of today's Halloween celebration, I received pre-packaged cookies made by Cheryl & Co. They are really, really good cookies. Anyway, I'm flying on Thursday and would like to take them on the flight. Am I allowed to take the cookies on the flight or will they get confiscated by airport security?

Happy Halloween!

Today, I pulled out my old Blockbuster shirt and name-tag, and went to work as a Blockbuster employee. I was surprised at how few people dressed up for Halloween. I guess everyone wears a costume for parties the weekend before Halloween and not the day of. I only saw several other costumes on the Metro today; one person was dressed in a Cubs uniform and three other people were dressed in military uniforms (although there's a 99% chance that they actually WERE military officials going to and from work).

I also celebrated Halloween by finally having a vanilla Frosty from Wendy's. I highly recommend the vanilla version. Mmmmmm....Frosty!

Wentworth Miller - Pittsburgher?

Anyone that knows me knows that I am proud of my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and of people from or related to Pittsburgh that do well. People like Dan Marino, Michael Keaton, Christina Aguilera, Jonas Salk, Gertrude Stein, August Wilson and Fred Rogers among others. So when I recently learned through a WQED magazine article that Wentworth Miller, better known as Prison Break's Michael Scofield, was from Pittsburgh, that made me happy. My question after reading the article is whether or not Miller considers himself a Pittsburgher. He moved to Pittsburgh during his senior year of high school, went to Princeton for college and now only visits Pittsburgh once a year. Wentworth, if you're reading this and want to consider yourself a Pittsburgher, I'll certainly support you.

Oh, and if you're looking for someone to be in a future Prison Break episode, I'm your guy. According to the article, you were the star of Quaker Valley High School's "Lil' Abner" in 1990. Well, I was in the Woodland Hills High School version of "Lil' Abner" in 1992. Maybe I wasn't in the title role but my 10 lines as Government Man were essential to the show. Plus, due to my performance (according to the judges), Woodland Hills won the best musical at The Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater among Pittsburgh high schools. Woodland Hills won again in 1993 when I starred as Twin #2 in "Peter Pan." Did Quaker Valley win any awards when you were there? No. TAKE THAT SCOFIELD! (Wentworth, please note that although this doesn't convey well in print, I am displaying my range as an actor. I also know that the first year of the Kelly Awards was 1991.)

Future Ralph Kramden

From today's USA Today, a 15-year-old boy, Ritchie Calvin Davis, stole an Orlando city bus, drove it along a public transit route, picked up passengers and collected fares. He was charged with grand theft auto and driving without a license. While I certainly do not condone stealing a city busy, I admire the initiaive. I also appreciate that Davis made all the appropriate stops on the route. I'm rooting for Davis to get community service and/or probation and be able to become a bus driver some day.

I Forgot One Team

After writing about the lack of success of certain teams I follow yesterday (and the success of IC football), one team stood out and said "What about us? We're good." Unfortunately, that team is not the Pittsburgh Steelers, after an embarrassing 20-13 loss to the Raiders. More on the Steelers momentarily. The team I'm referring to is the Pittsburgh Penguins. After an 8-2 victory against the Flyers Saturday night, the Pens are 6-3 and in second place in the Atlantic division. The combination of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin has been fantastic and should be great for years to come.

OK, back to the Steelers. While the defense and Jeff Reed played well today, Big Ben threw four interceptions (two returned for touchdowns) and was sacked five times. No touchdowns in four red-zone trips equals a loss. The Steelers have now been unofficially eliminated from the playoffs. There are nine teams in the AFC with at least four wins. Unless the Ravens and Bengals both choke, the Steelers will probably need 10 wins to make the post-season. I don’t see how this team can go 8-1 in its remaining nine games with two games against Baltimore, games at Cincinnati and Carolina and home games against Denver and New Orleans. Therefore, Go Penguins!

Ithaca College Athletics

Since the Steelers are 2-4, Pitt football lost to Rutgers last week (and probably will lose to West Virginia and Louisville within the next month) and even Woodland Hills was defeated last night for the first time in nearly two months, I thought it was about time I wrote about the success of Ithaca College teams. Earlier today, the 20th-ranked (in Division III) Ithaca College Bombers defeated #14 Springfield 24-7. IC is now 7-1 with a very good chance to make the Division III playoffs. In addition, IC's women's cross country team is currently ranked 23rd in the nation and IC's women's soccer team is ranked #18. Go Bombers!

Don't forget to vote everyday for Campbell's Chunky soup's "Click for Cans" to fight hunger. There is quite a battle for first between the Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.