Balding Quarterbacks in the Super Bowl

Folically challenged quarterbacks are a rarity in the Super Bowl. Did you know that Seattle Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck will be just the third different balding starting quarterback in super Bowl History? The other two Terry Bradshaw and Trent Dilfer are combined 5-0 in super Bowls. Is there a connection between being a folically challenged QB and Super Bowl success? I don’t know, but if there is look for a Seahawks victory on Sunday.

A Random Fact About Super Bowl XL

Since I’m a huge fan of random sports facts , I decided to do a little research about this year’s Super Bowl to see what random fact I could come up with. After much research here’s what I have discovered, the two coaches Mike Holmgren of the Seahawks and Bill Cowher both have mustaches. The interesting fact here is that this game will mark the first time in Super Bowl history that both Head Coaches have mustaches. Never in the previous thirty nine Super Bowls have both head coaches had a mustache !

Sweet Shaun Alexander
It's Super Bowl week so I've decided that all my blogs this week will be about the Northwest's very own Seattle Seahawks. The other day I heard an amazing song on the Radio, "Sweet Shaun Alexander" by Dustin Blatnik it's sang to the music of "Seet Home Alabama" composed by Ed King. So here's the lyrics and a link to the website.

SWEET SHAUN ALEXANDER
Words by Dustin Gratnik
Music by Ed King

His wheels keep on turnin
'Carry him home to the end zone
Singing songs about the Big Man
We're in the playoffs once again, and I think we'll win

Well I heard Mike Holmgren thinks about him
When he needs to make the first down
Well I hope Mike Holmgren will remember
Southern Man will gain those yards anyhow

Sweet Shaun Alexander
37 jersey blue
Sweet Shaun Alexander
Super Bowl we're going to!

In Puget Sound we love the Seahawks
Make all the noise that we could do
Now other teams they do not bother me
The Washington Redskins, who?

Sweet Shaun Alexander
37 jersey blue
Sweet Shaun Alexander
Super Bowl we're going to!

Now special teams has got the Josh Brown
And he's been known to kick a ball or two
Lord they always split the uprights
They pick me up when I'm feelin' blue

Sweet Shaun Alexander
37 jersey blue
Sweet Shaun Alexander
Super Bowl we're going to!!!

http://www.sweetshaun.com

Go Seahawks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My readers have spoken and they overwhelming voted that I should cheer for the Seattle Seahwaks in Super Bowl XL. So I am officially announcing my support for the Great Northwest's very own Seattle Seahawks. As a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, I take great pride in the fact that our beloved Seahawks are playing in the Super Bowl.

After thinking things through, how could I not cheer for the Hawks. I'm only 283 miles from Seattle, so this has to be my team! I've always had great respect for this first class organization. From their owner Paul Allen all the way down to the Beer guys at Qwest field this Oragnization is first class. Growing up in Seahawk country I have fond childhood memories of NFL greats like Jim Zorn, Curt Warner, Dave Kreig, Steve Largent, Kenny Easley, Cortez Kennedy, Rufus Porter and my favorite Hawk of them all Brian Bosworth.


If the Seahawks win next Sunday, which I believe they will, it will great moment for football fans throughout the Great Northwest. The Seahawks are not just Seattle's team they belong to all of us in the Great Northwest. From Southern Oregon to the Canadian border and east into Idaho, Montana and Wyoming this is Seahawks country. Go Seahawks, beat the Steelers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing to Blog About
My friend Justin posted a comment on my last entry criticizing me for my lack of blogging since Tuesday. The reason for my slacking off is that there has been nothing that I've felt compelled to blog about. There's no football this weekend, my ducks are terrible, I could care less about the NBA, the Olympics are still a couple weeks away, I haven't seen any movies since I saw Glory Road last week (If you havn't seen it yet, go see it!!!) and I have no progress to report in my search for a wife. I could write about Samuel Alito and why I believe he's going to make a great Supreme Court Justice but I've made the decision to stay away from politics on this blog (if for some reason he's not confirmed, I may fly off the handle though). I could write about the War of 1812 and why its name is misleading, but I doubt anyone really cares. I could get really deep and philosophical but that's not really my style, if that's your style I suggest Justin's Blog. So if you do have any ideas let me know and may just blog about it.

On a totally unrelated note you may have noticed that my Blog is now known as "DDR 163". Dennis' Daily Rant was just too difficult to say, so I shortened it to DDR and 163 is my apartment number. I see endless marketing possibilities whith this new name, t-shirts, coffee mugs, boxers and trendy bracelets to name a few. None of this will probally ever happen but there's nothing wrong with dreaming.

Coach Gets Technical Foul for Heart Troubles
This has got to be one of the most absurd sports stories that I've read in a while. University of Houston head Basketball coach Tom Penders was called for a Technical foul after he colapsed during a game Saturday. The referees thought he was reacting to a foul called on one of his players. It soon became obvious that there was something wrong when he didn't get up. The refs refused to reverse the call even as Penders was given oxygen and carried off the court in a stretcher. What were they thinking? I don't know about any of you but I don't see very many coaches feigning Heart Attacks in protest of a call. As one my favorite sports radio hosts Jim Rome put it "if a guy goes Dick Cheney during a game, you can't hit him with a technical"

C-USA criticizes officials for foul against Penders

Who Should I Cheer for in Super Bowl XL?
Since I don't really like either of the participants in the Super Bowl this year, I am asking my readers to help me decide who to cheer for. Please vote in my new poll and stay tuned for my announcement on January 30, 2006.

Nobody's Perferct
I was wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fearless Predictions for this Weekends NFL Playoff Games
On paper this weekends matchups look great however that's on paper! In reality we have two mismatches this weekend, you may laugh at me now but I am a football genius and I am always right! so here are my breakdowns of this weekends NFL action.

Seachickens Vs Panthers
Those of you who know me, know that I can't stand the Seattle Seachickens. I was actually mad when Paul Allen purchased this team and kept it in Seattle. There are so many cities in this country that are more deserving of an NFL franchise than Seattle. Heck, I'd put a team in Canada before I'd put one in Seattle.

On to the game, Seattle has no chance! If an outstanding Chicago defense could not stop the Carolina offense and wide receiver Steve Smith, how can an average Seattle defense stop them? Simple answer, they can't! On the other side of the ball Sean Alexander will get his yards but it won't be enough, the Carolina defense will force seachickens QB Matt Hasselhoff to make plenty of bad decisions. If something happens and the Seachickens win it would be a sad day around the NFL. It doesn't matter though because it won't happen! Panthers 38 Seachickens 10

Broncos Vs Steelers
This another easy pick for me. Pittsburgh does not have a chance , the Broncos will shut down the Pittsburgh running game and I'm predicting four interceptions by Pittsburgh QB Ben Worthlesberger. Jake Plummer will have a monster game against the overated Pittsburgh defense, he'll show everyone why he's the best bearded Quarterback in the NFL. Denver 56 Pittsburgh 14

Rain, Rain Go Away
It has been raining all day today! It has not stopped even for a moment today! All this rain has reminded me of one my favorite sunday school songs as a kid:

The Lord told Noah, there's gonna be a floody, floody
Lord told Noah, there's gonna be a floody, floody
Get those animals out of the muddy, muddy
Children of the Lord.

The Lord told Noah, to build Him an arky, arky
Lord told Noah, to build Him an arky, arky
Build it out of gopher barky, barky
Children of the Lord

The animals, the animals, they came in by twosies, twosies
Animals, the animals, they came in by twosies, twosies
Elephants and kangaroosies, roosies
Children of the Lord.

It rained and poured for forty daysies, daysies
Rained and poured for forty daysies, daysies
Almost drove those animals crazies, crazies
Children of the Lord.

The sun came out, and dried up the landy, landy
Look! There's the sun, it dried up the landy, landy
Everything was fine and dandy, dandy
Children of the Lord.

Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory (3x)
Children of the Lord.

Glory Road
I'm usually not one to go out and see a movie within the first week it's in the theatre but ever since I saw the first trailers for "Glory Road" I knew I wanted to see it right away. Since I was out of town all weekend I didn't have a chance to go see it until Monday. I had high expectations of this movie and other than a few minor details I was not dissapointed.

I'm not going to go into a ton of details about the movie because I think everyone needs to go see it but here's a brief summary. The movie is the true story of the 1965-66 Texas Western (now University of Texas El Paso) basketball team and their young coach Don Haskins. There was unwritten rule in the south during that time that teams would play no more than one black player at a time at home or two on the road. Haskins broke that rule when he recruited seven black players for his team. This was met with a lot of resitance from fans, boosters and other programs. Throughout the movie you see the players and the coach go through many trials on their way to the NCAA championship game where they would face the top team in the country the Kenntucky Wildcats and their Legendary coach Adolph Rupp. In that game they became the first team in NCAA to start five black players.

It's not fair to label this a "sports movie" because it goes much deeper than just sports. Whether you're a Basketball fan or not, go see this movie, I don't think you'll be dissapointed.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

The Beatles
In recent years my taste in music has changed. Gone are the days of me rocking out to people like Michael W Smith and Steven Mullett Chapman on a regular basis. Every once in a while I'll play some Smitty CD for old times sake, after all "I celebrate the guy's entire catalog". Along with my Smitty catalog, my Ipod is loaded with selections from artists like Bon Jovi, James Taylor, Bruce Springstein and John Mellencamp, heck there's even a few country songs on there. But my favorite group to listen to now is the Beatles. I've been asked on numerous occassions over the last couple of years why I'm so obsessed with a group that split up over thirty five years ago, who's last original album was released seven years before I was even born. I could answer that by talking about how they were musical innovaters or how they had a greater impact on music than any other band or individual in twentieth century, but I don't feel qualified to make statements like that, I'll leave those type of statements to people who actually know a thing or two about music. I could answer the question by talking how their music impacted the world as a whole or how it contributed to the fall of communism, but I think that would be overstating their impact. So why do I like the Beatles so much? I just do!


Dennis' Top 10 Beatles Songs for anyone who cares
1. Blackbird
2. Helter Skelter
3. Yesterday
4. Let it Be
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
6. Help
7. We Can Work it Out
8. Mother Natures Son
9. Hey Jude
10. Get Back

This list changes daily as I have not yet heard every single song they've recorded. I only wish I celebrated their entire catalog, currently my Beatles collection stands at 105 songs.

The End of College Football Season
Last Wednesday another college football season came to an end. While I was disappointed with the outcome of the Rose Bowl, it was still the greatest National Championship game I’ve ever seen. Every year I’m faced with the dilemma of now that college football season is over, what am I going to do with my life? There’s still NFL playoffs left so that will keep me busy through the first week of February, but then what? Normally I make a smooth transition right into Basketball. That’s not going happen this year, my Ducks are so unwatchable that I would rather watch one of those sappy love stories on the Hallmark Channel and my NBA team the Blazers well they’re the Blazers, enough said. So that leaves me with a few options, I could get to work on accomplishing my three goals for 2006 (finding a wife, losing 20 more pounds and running a marathon), I could find a new hobby such as floral design or modern art or I could study the works of Homer (not Simpson). With the exception of accomplishing my goals none of these things sound too appealing so if you have any other ideas for me please let me know.

A New Look For 2006
Since I'm turning 30 in just over a year I've decided it's time to go with a new look. I've ditched the spiked hair in favor a part and even though it's hard to see in this picture I grew a mustache. I've also ditched the T-shirt in favor of a tie. I feel that since I'm getting older it's time that I look like it.

Reflections from a Day Off
To start the new year I decided to take a few vacation days, not that I'm going anywhere I just wanted some time off. So this morning I woke up at 10:00 and went for my daily six mile run and sat around my apartment contemplating what to do with my life. Finally at 1:00 I got cleaned up (with the exception of shaving because I'm refusing to that until I go back to work) loaded my trunk with five bags of empty cans and bottles and was off to Safeway. I thought that 1:30 on a Tueday afternoon would be a great time to acomplish this task that I've been putting off for the last month, I was wrong! I pulled up to Safeway and there must have been 10 people two cart loads a piece waiting for there turn. Knowing that I would be there forever I drove down the street to Albertson's. There wasn't any line as I walked right up to the machine an started putting my cans in. There was one problem though, the dude at the machine next to smoking a ciggarette. I thought I could put up with it but I finally had to politely ask the guy to put it out, the guy glared at me and mumbled some kind words to me but he did put it out. I finally finished, washed my hands and collected my $7.00. For an an hour of my time it wasn't worth $7.00, I miss the days when I could just take my cart to the back of the store and someone would count them for me.

DCS National Championship Game
Today is bowl day in the world of College Football, games such as the Outback Bowl, Capitol One Bowl, Tostito's Fiesta Bowl and the Nokia Sugar Bowl are all being played today but the most important game of them all the first annual "Widmer Heffeweizen DCS National Championship Game" took place in my living room this morning. About two weeks I started my quest to crown a real undisputed national champion in Division 1A college football and by all accounts the "DCS National Championship Tournament" was a smashing success.

The Championship game matched the Penn State Nittany Lions against the USC Trojans. Lead by the running of Reggie Bush and the arm of Matt Leinhart USC took an 7-0 lead. The Nittany Lions responded as USC could not stop Penn State Quarterback Michael Robinson in the first half. Robinson confused the USC defense with his arm and his legs, he finished the first half with 200 yards passing two two touchdowns an 36 yards on the ground. Penn State went into halftime leading the trojans 20 to 13.

The second half began with more of the same from the Nittany Lions as Robinson took them down the field on 75 yar touchdown drive to give them a 27-14 lead. USC would respond with adrive of their own capped by 19 yard Reggie Bush touchdown to make it 27-21. Penn State would come right back with another drive capped by Robinson's fourth touchdown pass of the game. Trailing 34 to 21 late in the third USC needed someone to make a big play. On the kickoff following Penn State's touchdown, USC Sophomore Running Back Desmond Reed fielded the kick at the 13 yard line and took it 87 yards for a tochdown making it 34 to 28. Following a Penn State interception USC took the lead on 34 yard touchdown by Reggie Bush. Reggie Bush Bush wasn't done though as he returned two second half punts for touchdowns to give USC 49-34 lead in the fourth quarter. Late in the fourth he added one more rushing touchdown to give USC a 56 to 34 lead. That would be the final score, following the game Bush was named MVP his numbers for the game, 206 rushing and four touchdowns, 22 yards recieving, 188 return yards and two touchdowns for a total of 416 all purpose yards and 6 touchdowns. Congratulations to the Undisputed champions of College Football the USC Trojans.