2009, Week 17: Packers 33, Cardinals 7
Contrary to what I believed going into the game, there was nothing on the line when the Packers and Cardinals kicked off. No matter what, they'd be facing each other in the exact same stadium a week later. Then the two teams went in opposite directions - the Packers playing it like any other game for three quarters, while the Cardinals mailed it in. The result was a 33-7 pasting that could have been a shutout if not for a horrendous pass by Matt Flynn late in the fourth quarter.
Charles Woodson returned yet another pick for a touchdown, while Aaron Rodgers did something Brett Favre never did - finished the season with a QB rating over 100. It was a solid game overall, at least for the three quarters the Packers actually tried.
But it all goes for naught if the Packers can't duplicate the feat next Sunday. Packers-Cardinals, Sunday late afternoon, wild-card matchup. The winner goes on to either New Orleans or Minnesota. I'll preview this matchup coming up, as well as pick my favorites for round 1.
+'s & -'s:
+: Obviously Woodson and Rodgers, but also the Packers in general for deciding to play to win instead of just mailing it in like so many other teams did this weekend, including the Cardinals.
-: Flynn for proving that Rodgers is this team's Most Valuable Player - if Rodgers goes down, the team is utterly hopeless.
2009 Green Bay Packers: 11-5, wild-card
Incidentally, I predicted the team would go 11-5, but I expected a division title and a #3 seed. That didn't happen, but they're still here in the playoffs. Now they visit the team that they just defeated, also the defending NFC champions and the only team to make the playoffs from last year's Super Bowl. Now, can they duplicate the New York GIANTS' feat of 2007 and go from #5 seed to Super Bowl champions? Bring on the playoffs!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Anime Bowl 2nd podcast
Okay, so let's try a 2nd podcast. I promise I'll write again, it's what I'm better at, but this is kind of fun. Topics today include Haruhi, Rose Queens and bowl games. It's a lesson on how mean people can be on Twitter.
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Friday, January 1, 2010
Anime Bowl 1st-ever podcast
Okay, so I'm trying out my first ever podcast for this blog. Check it out and tell me what you think.
Download
Download
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Auld Lang Syne
2009 - Year in Review
Best anime convention-related moment - ColossalCon. 4-day con where I met a bunch of cool people and had a real blast. Close second: Tekkoshocon.
Worst anime convention-related moment - MatsuriCon. Not the con itself, but a certain person that bothered me at the con and ruined it for me. Close second - same person throws fit at ColossalCon for about 5 minutes.
Best sports-related moment - Penguins win Stanley Cup. Close second: Penguins victory parade.
Worst sports-related moment - Packers lose to Steelers. Close second: Super Bowl XLIII.
Best anime development - InuYasha returns. Close second: release of Evangelion 1.0 in the US
Worst anime development - Endless Eight. Close second: The Diamond Dust Rebellion.
Best Bleach dub episode - Episode 141 (Orihime nearly kisses Ichigo).
Worst Bleach dub episode - Episode 134 (The cake episode).
Anime character of the year - Orihime Inoue
Wow, not much happened this year. The end of the Bount arc, the disappointment of the Arrancar arc, and Endless Eight pretty much summed up anime for me. (I still haven't gotten around to seeing the rest of Haruhi season 2.) In sports, it's been all about Pittsburgh this year - either annoyances (Steelers winning) or jubilation (Penguins winning). The Packers have recovered to make the playoffs; Penn State had a quality season. It was the year of anime conventions for me, as I went to four, and greatly enjoyed three of them (with the fourth being enjoyable as a con, but not outside of the con, so to speak).
What to look forward to in 2010: the Packers in the playoffs, Penn State in the Capital One Bowl, and no Bleach for a long while. New cosplay for me at Tekkoshocon, which should be fun, and the possibility of getting into new anime? Who knows. We'll see. A new decade should bring something new to the table, including something new to this blog. We'll find out as the new year rolls around, won't we? Happy New Year and go Pack go!
Best anime convention-related moment - ColossalCon. 4-day con where I met a bunch of cool people and had a real blast. Close second: Tekkoshocon.
Worst anime convention-related moment - MatsuriCon. Not the con itself, but a certain person that bothered me at the con and ruined it for me. Close second - same person throws fit at ColossalCon for about 5 minutes.
Best sports-related moment - Penguins win Stanley Cup. Close second: Penguins victory parade.
Worst sports-related moment - Packers lose to Steelers. Close second: Super Bowl XLIII.
Best anime development - InuYasha returns. Close second: release of Evangelion 1.0 in the US
Worst anime development - Endless Eight. Close second: The Diamond Dust Rebellion.
Best Bleach dub episode - Episode 141 (Orihime nearly kisses Ichigo).
Worst Bleach dub episode - Episode 134 (The cake episode).
Anime character of the year - Orihime Inoue
Wow, not much happened this year. The end of the Bount arc, the disappointment of the Arrancar arc, and Endless Eight pretty much summed up anime for me. (I still haven't gotten around to seeing the rest of Haruhi season 2.) In sports, it's been all about Pittsburgh this year - either annoyances (Steelers winning) or jubilation (Penguins winning). The Packers have recovered to make the playoffs; Penn State had a quality season. It was the year of anime conventions for me, as I went to four, and greatly enjoyed three of them (with the fourth being enjoyable as a con, but not outside of the con, so to speak).
What to look forward to in 2010: the Packers in the playoffs, Penn State in the Capital One Bowl, and no Bleach for a long while. New cosplay for me at Tekkoshocon, which should be fun, and the possibility of getting into new anime? Who knows. We'll see. A new decade should bring something new to the table, including something new to this blog. We'll find out as the new year rolls around, won't we? Happy New Year and go Pack go!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
This team is going to the playoffs
2009, Week 16: Packers 48, Seahawks 10
The important news is that no matter what, the Packers are going to the playoffs, despite the heartbreak of last week and whatever flaws they may have. They've made up for last season by winning 10 this year and can still reach 11 albeit in a roundabout fashion.
Granted, winning today was pretty much a gimme with the ice-cold Seahawks coming into Green Bay. If they had lost, then there would be problems galore with the Packers, but they absolutely dominated so much that I left the restaurant and skipped the fourth quarter, seeing that Aaron Rodgers was doing the same. They even scored 10 points after that, with Matt Flynn at QB.
The Packers will almost inevitably be playing the Cardinals two straight weeks, next week and the week after, with the battle in two weeks being the more important one. I'll preview the playoffs coming up, but tomorrow I will dump on the worst fans in all of sports right here on this blog.
+'s & -'s:
+: A.J. Hawk with an early interception on a 3rd-down play when it was still 0-0. Brandon Jackson for his 3 TD's. Ryan Grant did pretty well too, as did Greg Jennings. Rodgers made no mistakes, which is pretty much what he had to do.
-: The failure of the Packers to allow my fantasy team to rack up a ton of points by going to the players on my team. Yes, I'm not a big fantasy guy, but this is the championship week, so I'm allowed a little bit of fantasy talk. That's all you'll get from me, unless I win.
2009 Green Bay Packers: 10-5, going to the playoffs as a wild-card
The important news is that no matter what, the Packers are going to the playoffs, despite the heartbreak of last week and whatever flaws they may have. They've made up for last season by winning 10 this year and can still reach 11 albeit in a roundabout fashion.
Granted, winning today was pretty much a gimme with the ice-cold Seahawks coming into Green Bay. If they had lost, then there would be problems galore with the Packers, but they absolutely dominated so much that I left the restaurant and skipped the fourth quarter, seeing that Aaron Rodgers was doing the same. They even scored 10 points after that, with Matt Flynn at QB.
The Packers will almost inevitably be playing the Cardinals two straight weeks, next week and the week after, with the battle in two weeks being the more important one. I'll preview the playoffs coming up, but tomorrow I will dump on the worst fans in all of sports right here on this blog.
+'s & -'s:
+: A.J. Hawk with an early interception on a 3rd-down play when it was still 0-0. Brandon Jackson for his 3 TD's. Ryan Grant did pretty well too, as did Greg Jennings. Rodgers made no mistakes, which is pretty much what he had to do.
-: The failure of the Packers to allow my fantasy team to rack up a ton of points by going to the players on my team. Yes, I'm not a big fantasy guy, but this is the championship week, so I'm allowed a little bit of fantasy talk. That's all you'll get from me, unless I win.
2009 Green Bay Packers: 10-5, going to the playoffs as a wild-card
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Merry Christmas, you filthy animal
Just found out that I've had a "sports" tag that I've used maybe only once or twice. Oops.
Anyway, here's hoping you don't simply have a terrible Christmastime or have a pastor who's dreaming of a green Christmas, begging you for money. Yeah, it's a "Bah Humbug" year for me. December has been as rotten as it's ever been this year.
What have I got planned for this blog, with the Bleach hiatus? A couple more Packers game reviews, maybe more if they find a way into the playoffs. A post on why Steelers fans are the worst fans in the league. And an end-of-year look back at 2009 in the world of anime and sports, where we'll be forced to relive such nightmares as Endless Eight and Super Bowl XLIII. Who is my anime character of 2009? It's an award separate from my character tournament, which takes into account other years besides 2009. Find out this and more starting after Christmas.
Anyway, here's hoping you don't simply have a terrible Christmastime or have a pastor who's dreaming of a green Christmas, begging you for money. Yeah, it's a "Bah Humbug" year for me. December has been as rotten as it's ever been this year.
What have I got planned for this blog, with the Bleach hiatus? A couple more Packers game reviews, maybe more if they find a way into the playoffs. A post on why Steelers fans are the worst fans in the league. And an end-of-year look back at 2009 in the world of anime and sports, where we'll be forced to relive such nightmares as Endless Eight and Super Bowl XLIII. Who is my anime character of 2009? It's an award separate from my character tournament, which takes into account other years besides 2009. Find out this and more starting after Christmas.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Seriously, though...
It's hard to tell at the moment where that loss will fall in the ranks of the top 10 most devastating Packers losses since 1995. My guess is that it'll be between 4 and 6. If the Packers fail to make the playoffs this year, it's most definitely a 4, possibly even higher. Considering the illusion of the Packers having a good defense was completely shattered, it has to rank high. Granted, to most Packers fans this one was just a heartbreaker, but for me to lose to the Steelers is just excruciating.
So where does this leave the Packers this season? They need 2 wins, or a win and a Cowboys loss, or a win and a Giants loss to make the playoffs. I wouldn't count on other teams losing; I think the Packers should realize that winning out is their only realistic choice. It's hard to tell what a team will do after losing one like this. They could end up so shell-shocked from losing this one that they drop one to the pathetic Seahawks next week. Or, this could make them stronger, you never know. If somehow they got everything together and went on a Super Bowl run, you'd have to make that argument. But I get the feeling this really, really hurt the team - particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
We won't get into what I feel about Steelers fans, that can wait for another day - particularly if everyone in the AFC wild-card race loses and puts the Steelers in the playoffs. No doubt they are the biggest bandwagon fans in sports - probably the worst in all of sports. But that can be argued out another time. The Packers have a lot of work to do if they want to erase this memory and make this season worthwhile. The conference is there for the taking - it's just a matter of having a defense.
So where does this leave the Packers this season? They need 2 wins, or a win and a Cowboys loss, or a win and a Giants loss to make the playoffs. I wouldn't count on other teams losing; I think the Packers should realize that winning out is their only realistic choice. It's hard to tell what a team will do after losing one like this. They could end up so shell-shocked from losing this one that they drop one to the pathetic Seahawks next week. Or, this could make them stronger, you never know. If somehow they got everything together and went on a Super Bowl run, you'd have to make that argument. But I get the feeling this really, really hurt the team - particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
We won't get into what I feel about Steelers fans, that can wait for another day - particularly if everyone in the AFC wild-card race loses and puts the Steelers in the playoffs. No doubt they are the biggest bandwagon fans in sports - probably the worst in all of sports. But that can be argued out another time. The Packers have a lot of work to do if they want to erase this memory and make this season worthwhile. The conference is there for the taking - it's just a matter of having a defense.
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