…and a good offensive line, a quarterback that doesn’t hold the ball forever, avoiding huge penalties on offense, and a defense that can actually stop game-winning drives – none of which the Steelers had yesterday during the Giants 21-14 victory over Steelers.

I was fortunate enough to go to the game yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. I love going to football games as a neutral spectator because I don’t have to invest my energy into either team, and the fans don’t bother me because their anger is directed in other directions, mainly other fans. On that note, it was crazy how many Giants fans were at the game. Seriously. It was very similar to the type of Steelers fan turnout you see in other stadiums. Their numbers definitely created an interesting atmosphere in my section with the jawing going back and forth all game. The real comedy is that the people who wanted to start stuff with the Giants fans in front of us were actually the older Steelers fans, not the typical young, drunk fans.

Anyway, the Steelers looked like crap against the Giants. I mean, aside from two big play touchdowns, the Steelers couldn’t move the ball at all. Ben couldn’t find receivers open even when he had time, which probably helped aid in his 5 sacks and 16 hits. The guy just can’t see the field and holds the ball way too long. Either that, or Santonio Holmes is so good that he just gets open faster. Um. Right. Some of his interceptions were so bad and there’s no excuse for them. The sad part is that Ben is in his fifth year and just got a huge pay day, yet he’s showing that he still plays with the same ignorance that he had the past 4 years. He looked no better than that rookie named Flacco yesterday. I don’t care if he has success avoiding sacks and extending plays from time to time. The reality is that people are going to start getting a good hold on you and taking you down, and we’re seeing that more and more. For all of the amazing plays he’s made, he’s also made a ton of awful ones while trying to make something out of nothing. He still hasn’t learned to throw the ball away fast enough. He’s always trying to Favre it out when it’s not the right decision. I like the gunslinger mentality sometimes, but yesterday he helped throw the game away with 4 interceptions – 2 of which were definitely on him. I’m going to continue with the thinking that his strong statistics have a lot more to do with who’s been around him than with Ben himself. When the game is in his hands, he’s so hit or miss against good teams. At least his QB rating yesterday was better than his appearance in Super Bowl XL.

While I wasn’t amazed by the Giants, they were impressively consistent all game. Their running attack was stifled by the predictably strong run defense of the Steelers, but they just kept pounding away at the Steelers with the same enthusiasm for the entire 60 minutes. While the Steelers were hit hard by some holding penalties on crucial plays, and the loss of their long snapper, the fact is that the Giants won because they just kept hammering away and the minute the Steelers offered up some momentum, the Giants’ consistency was there to take it all out of Heinz Field and back to Jersey. The Giants play for 60 minutes, and teams like the Ravens, who have lapses throughout the game, are going to pay the price if they don’t stay disciplined for the entire game. The fact that Eli didn’t get sacked once by the Steelers also shows how good the offensive line is for the Giants. They win with consistency, discipline, and solid play from their quarterback. Those are the three things that the Steelers just didn’t have yesterday.

I’d also like to add that I still believe that Mewelde Moore is the best running back on the Steelers. Although it’s purely hypothetical – making it completely useless, yet I’ll still bring it up – I have to believe that Willie Parker wouldn’t have come close to 84 yards against the Giants. His inability to bounce outside and push up the middle would’ve left the Steelers with even less of a running attack. It’s a shame that Willie will probably regain his starting spot despite the fact that Moore’s performances the last few weeks – including his game changing play in overtime against the Ravens – could possibly be the main reason the Steelers don’t have a few more in the loss column. I like the way Mewelde plays. Hopefully he doesn’t get pushed back down the depth chart without a fair fight.

Oh, and the long snapper thing was amazing. Yesterday, Greg Warren, the Steelers long snapper ended up hurting his knee in the third quarter. It’s amazing how that changed the game. After the Giants pulled within two points at 14-12 with another field goal, and held the Steelers deep in their end, Pro Bowl linebacker, James Harrison, filled in for Warren at long snapper. The result was a snap that went way over the punters head and out of the back of the end zone for a safety that would tie the game at 14-14. You knew at that point that the game was over, and I seriously couldn’t believe how I never really thought much about how important the long snapper was. I mean, when’s the last time you even thought about the long snapper. They rarely make mistakes and only do one thing, so they sort of fly under the radar. Never again.

Of course, I don’t really care that the Steelers lost…at all. In fact, on a day that the Ravens would crush the hapless Raiders at M&T Bank Stadium during the one o’clock game, this Steelers loss was a nice way to keep the division close (although, I still don’t know if the Ravens can beat a team like the Giants, either, to win the division). Regardless, today sees the Ravens only one game back with plenty to play for. We’ll see what happens after next weeks game.

The best seats I’ve ever had at a NFL game!

“If you build it, they will come.” On an uncharacteristically humid night in mid-October, that statement applies more to the idea that if you let the other team build a commanding lead, eventually AE’s team Indigo Heather would show up to play. And play we did.

Despite a 3-2 record and a number three seeding, careless fielding errors and inconsistent hitting during the 5-game regular season had left our softball team in a cup-half-empty mentality going into the playoffs. While we did take the eventual number one seed to extra innings before losing a scrappy week 3 affair, the consistent batting and fielding of both the Cardinal and White teams – number one and two seeds, respectively – made our team the long shot going into the playoffs.

In the first semifinal game of the night, we faced the White team, the team that trounced us 21-10 in week 4 of the regular season, and the number two seed with a 4-1 record. During the regular season meeting between our two teams, team White took advantage of a slew of fielding errors and slumping bats at the plate by our team, to clearly show who the better team was. Fortunately, we left our inferiority complex far from the weathered Gardner Field in Troy Hill.

A combination of simple hitting, aggressive, but well-executed base running, and solid fielding allowed our underdog team to jump out to an 11-3 lead going into the bottom of the 4th inning. Unfortunately, our team’s penchant for fielding errors came back after a solid start. A nine-run bottom of the 4th, saw the White team jump out to a 12-11 lead. Fortunately, we didn’t let being on the losing side of the score line affect us like it would’ve earlier in the season. Quickly regrouping, our team in all it’s indigo heather glory continued putting up runs with everyone pitching in and hustling around the bases, regaining the lead and never looking back. Despite a strong push in the final innings from the White team, Mike’s relief effort on the mound and the sure hands of the fielders behind him and in front of him – namely Kourtney’s timely tag at home – allowed our team to complete the upset none of us could’ve have imagined during the regular season. It was a team victory in every way with players like Carmen outrunning throws to first, Meadows hitting hard and trucking the baselines, and Eric finding his form at the plate at just the right time of the season.

The other semifinal game pitted the confident Cardinal team against the underrated fourth seed – the Yellow team. In watching Yellow produce runs at ease against the previously undefeated top seed, it became obvious that we were going to have our work cut out for us regardless of who the opponent was in the final. Yellow demonstrated how to win with effective hitting up the middle and through the infield gaps while backing up their offense with flawless fielding – things that our team had only been able to demonstrate in spurts during the regular season and semifinal game. After the Yellow team effectively acted as the Cinderella team, downing the previously-dominating Cardinal team, the final showdown was setup between us and Yellow – the three and four seeds. The battle between the two underdogs and a demonstration of consistency versus inconsistency was to follow.

First, there was the erratic inconsistency of our team against the impressive offense of Yellow, resulting in a 7-1 lead after the first inning. While we began fighting back, time just seemed to be running out on a possible comeback, as Yellow continued to exceed or match our run production inning-to-inning. With the game sitting at 13-5 in the bottom of the 5th, Stinogle got us started, followed by myself, and Raina – all three of us would touch home plate before the end of the inning. With the game sitting at 13-8, Yellow managed to knock in one more run, but that would be the last run of the night for them, as the final two inning were all Indigo Heather.

The comeback gained steam in the bottom of the 6th. Down 6 runs, our inconsistency actually paid off, as everyone pulled together and showed up to play. Every batter picked up his or her game, both in the batters box and on the bases. Starting with Jeff’s two-run homer, the final 4 runs in the 6th inning came with two outs. With Yellow obviously in shock at the rapid shift in momentum, and the game knotted up at 14, the championship was now in our hands. Literally. The top of the 7th would require only four fielders – Valenty, Kourtney, Konrad, and Raina. With Valenty pitching to Kourtney, the first batter popped out to Raina. The second batter grounded straight to Valenty for an easy out to first basemen, Konrad. While the third batter made it to first, Raina’s ridiculous catch on a line drive over her head against the fourth batter ended the top of the 7th, and provided us with a chance to end the game with the next run. The once cup-half-empty team was now overflowing with confidence and hope, the end result was no longer going to be a surprise.

Kristen, who had played two superb games at 2nd base, stopping nearly everything that came her way, led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a great single that got through the infield. Next up came Valenty – AE’s playoff quality pitcher, who struck out in his previous opportunity to be a hero during the regular season. Fortunately, Mike wasn’t going to let himself make the same mistake twice, hitting a ball that seemingly traveled about 300 feet into left field with no hope of being caught. While the unfortunate initial result was a ground rule double because the ball ended up lost in Gardner Field’s thick outfield ivy, his monster hit advanced Kristen to 3rd base with no outs. With Ryan up next, the only meal on the menu was a deep fly ball, and that’s exactly what he delivered. What ensued as Kristen crossed home plate was reminiscent of the type of celebrations we saw when the Red Sox downed the Yankees in 2004 – cheers, chest bumps, high fives, and a newfound camaraderie between the once down-and-out players that were now champions. Go AE, er, Indigo Heather!

So…in the process of rating my iTunes music library, I came across this little recording I did about 2 months ago of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man”. While it’s very raw and sort of boring, I figured that I might as well put it out there. This was actually the first song I recorded in preparation for recording some of Aaron’s requests from way back when. Some of those requests are forthcoming, but this recording test – the first with my shiny, semi-expensive microphone, and my not-so-new-anymore Taylor – is at least my attempt at NOT being a perfectionist AND not hording recordings for my own personal enjoyment. I was never pleased with it, and Davis can attest to my inability to “let go” of songs.

This recording was also for Lisa. Now, she won’t have to request it if I see her again. She can have it to listen to whenever the hell she wants to! Ha ha. Enjoy…or not.

Simple Man (9.1 MB) (please right-click and save…)

On Thursday, Megan and I took to the road to meet Mundis for the final outdoor show of the season at Pier Six – Cake with the Winterpills! We arrived at the venue around 7, but unfortunately had to wait until 8:30 for the opening band to take the stage. With the cold weather kicking in, signaling a hint of Fall in the air, most of the vendors weren’t open along the lawn side of the venue, so food and beer options were pretty limiting, and the crowd seemed much more sparse than the last time I was at Pier Six to see Cake in the warmer months.

Mundis’ friends were actually at the show to see the Winterpills, so we traded tickets for the opening band’s set, and chilled off to the side eating awful food. The Winterpills were decent. I’d like to take a listen to their stuff on CD because their sound was pretty laid back and ended up provided us with more of a background ambience for our conversations than highly engaging tunes that I could focus on. They had a  sort of mellow Death Cab for Cutie sound, but never really picked it up too much. I’ll wait to judge them until I get better acquainted with their stuff, but their live sound was sharp and they sounded good. They also get points for having tour posters, although, I didn’t pick either one up.

By the time Cake came on, the crowd had filled in and we were enjoying our seats in the 9th row, center. The show wasn’t the best Cake show I’d ever seen, but they were excellent as usual. The beginning of the show had some sound and lighting problems that obviously angered John McCrea, but once everything was fixed, the show went really well. Cake’s just such a good band. The songs are well-written, interestingly composed, and executed with near perfection. While the whole band is excellent, their guitarist and bass player just blow me away. The bass in a live setting makes you realize just how much it drives Cake’s music. The setlist highlights for me were definitely “War Pigs”, “Stickshifts & Safetybelts”, “Arco Arena”, “Mexico”, and “The Distance”, but in reality the entire show was solid. I even think we got to hear one new song, but that’s based solely on the idea that neither myself or anyone around seemed like they had heard it before. Regardless, it was pretty good.

Naturally, our seats put us right next to “that guy”. You know, the ultra-loud, obnoxiously drunk guy that keeps screaming the band’s name before the band takes the stage. The guy who spills beer on his girlfriend. The guy who doesn’t use deodorant, but wears a wife-beater shirt. Yeah…that guy. He sat right in front of Mundis. Interestingly enough, the last time we saw Cake, there was an issue with someone sitting near us having some fierce body odor. Anyway, aside from “that guy”, the crowd was alright. Cake brings an interesting mix of fans, which are more laid back for the most part, but still fun.

Anyway, this was my 4th Cake show, so I’d obviously recommend seeing them to anyone. My only recommendation would be to study up on your tree knowledge – that is, if you want a tree to plant. At one point, the band gave away a small Granny Smith apple tree to the first fan who could guess what kind of tree it was. Without the apples, it obviously made people’s guesses pretty poor, but eventually someone got it…and it wasn’t me. The girl who figured it out got to go up on stage and take the tree home if she promised to plant it and nurture it. It seems like this is their new thing at every show. Gotta love Cake – helping the environment by improving the air quality with both new trees and great sounds. It was definitely worth the trip.