Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arizona, Cardinals, football, God, Pittsburgh, points, prediction, Steelers, Superbowl
I’m not much for professional football, I prefer college football. For me the Superbowl is all about the commercials, the food, the beer….you get the picture. I tell MFH that it’s about the money. College football is about the glory and the potential, they’re not playing for money (per say), professional football is about the money! Either way, we attended church this morning and it got my mind wondering. If God liked football, who would he want to see win today’s big game? So then I thought about breaking it down this way:
Cardinals: I know that the mascot is actually a bird but Catholics have “Cardinals” too. Score one point for the Cards.
Steelers: The 7th Commandment is “Thou shalt not steal”. Okay, it’s not the same as “steel” (I get that, it’s a metal) but it’s close enough so score another point for the Cardinals.
Cardinals: Based in Arizona, a place that God must really smile upon because the weather is always beautiful and hot. Another point for the Cards.
Steelers: Have you been to Pittsburgh? I don’t want to offend anyone but someone once described it to me as the armpit of America, need I say more. Yet another point for the Cardinals.
Cardinals: A beautiful bird, one of God’s beautiful creatures. Point.
Steelers: Not quite as graceful as a bird, but heavy duty, strong and useful. I’ll give a point to the Steelers for that one.
So, when we add it all up, it’s Cardinals 5, Steelers 1. That’s my prediction: Cardinals will win…..but unless I’m completely crazy 5 to 1 isn’t an actual football score so we’ll say that there will be 4 points difference in the final score, with the Cardinals to win. Plus, red’s a better color on me 
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beavers, civil war, college, ducks, family, fans, football, mascots, Oregon, Rose Bowl, uniersity
I’m a duck. Not the kind that quacks. OK, I’m more like a duck fan…..I was born in the place where The Ducks rule the town. If you’re not familiar with Oregon then you probably think I’ve lost my mind. I haven’t, I just find it hilarious that I live in a state where the two largest universities have mascots that are either a duck or a beaver. Those are not very imposing figures when it comes to sports teams!
The Bears, the Devils, the Lions…..those are mascots that are a whole lot more imposing than a duck. Yet living in Oregon, in the Fall during football season and attending the UofO football games, the mascot just makes sense! After all, there is very wet weather here and it’s perfect, if you’re a duck.
This Saturday, November 30th marks the 114th annual “Civil War” football game between the UofO Ducks (sometimes called The Fighting Ducks) and the OSU Beavers (a.k.a. The Beavs). This is one of the oldest rivalries in college football. It also happens to be a bit of a rivalry in my family and my neighborhood!
My brother graduated from OSU a few years ago and I believe that he was the first member of our family to have attended the school. My dad and grandfather both attended UofO. Brother Ryan’s smack talk about his Beavs has created a bit of animosity with me but my dad and MFH are less sensitive than I am and they’re having fun. There is also a very clear line of delineation in my neighborhood and I think that it’s a sad fact that more of my neighbors fly college flags than the American flag!!
Tomorrow’s game should prove to be a great match up, these two teams are very strong. A Beaver win could send them to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 40 years. In a way it would be nice to see to them win for that reason only. Then I remember that about 8 years ago the Ducks had the chance to go to the Rose Bowl and the deciding game was the Civil War……which the Ducks lost, smashing their Rose Bowl hopes. Can you say revenge??
So tomorrow we will don our green and yellow shirts, obnoxious pom-poms and our even more obnoxious duck bill quacker noise makers and cheer on the Mighty Fighting Ducks (because we need as many imposing adjectives as we can get)!! Let the game begin!
MFH has a new hobby, and it’s going to get me killed! He has taken to collecting flags, and not just any flags, these are special.
Before I explain further, I must tell you that MFH has some personality traits that make this story amusing. Since I know that he reads this every once in a while I will try very hard to not hurt his feelings by defining one of these traits as “cheap”…..nope, he’s not that. He’s just thrifty, which in all reality is why we are very fortunate to be financially sound in this crappy economy! In addition to thrifty he is also crazy, and you’ll probably agree after I tell you this story.
MFH and I love to tailgate at the University of Oregon Duck football games. This was our first year with season tickets and we have had a lot of fun! Prior to leaving for the first game day of the season we visited our local sporting goods store to get all “ducked out”. We bought hats, car decals, t-shirts and a flag. You may have seen these flags before: you roll down the window, clip it to the glass then roll the window back up. They fly in the wind and are a true showing of school spirit. If you don’t have at least one, you’re not a real fan!
The first couple of times that we drove to a game were uneventful. Every so often MFH would notice a flag on the side of the road and would comment “Oh that’s too bad. Someone lost their flag.” and I would respond with “Some dumbass must have rolled the window down doing 65 MPH. That’s not too bad, that’s hilarious!” MFH would also remind me how much those flags cost and that it was such a waste that the ill-fated flag should be left fraying on the freeway.
Then it happened. On the game day drive home one late afternoon MFH spotted a flag on the side of the road. “Flag Down!!” he yelled……..startling the ever living shit out of me!! He pulled off to the side of the freeway (I think that we had been going around 80), came to a screeching halt, threw the clutch in reverse and backed up all the way to where the flag lay waiting. I was not amused, in fact, I was pissed! That was incredibly dangerous and ridiculous. Upon retrieving the flag he announced “This is a good one, practically brand new!”
Yeah, that was worth it……I don’t think so! I was ghost white and all he could say was “What?”. When I finally regained my voice the words that came out next weren’t something that I care to repeat. Suffice it to say I asked him to swear that he would never do that again, but he refused. He told me I was being silly, that we were fine and then he reminded me that he is a very safe driver…..this may have all been true however it did little to calm my nerves and would not erase the stains in my drawers (sorry to be so gross!).
So that’s when it began, MFH’s new hobby. After that first initial grab he made “flag finding” not only a hobby, but an obsession. I know he would argue this fact but I have been with him on non-game days on the freeway and he will still announce “Flag Down!!”, and all I can do now is brace myself for landing and hope AND pray that we don’t get hit by another car!!
Most recently he’s expanded his hobby: he is now locating downed flags from the OSU Beavers and he’s created a point system to grade the actual condition of the found flag. A 5 would be a new or barely used flag and a 1 has a broken “pole” and is tattered. To date MFH has amassed a collection of 9 flags, but only 3 are 5’s.
If these flags cost between $15-$20 and he’s found only a few really good ones and a few tattered then the net worth of his collection may total around $100. That’s got to be worth a few harsh words and your wife’s sanity, right? I’ll be driving to and from the games next year!
