ACADEMAS

Steelers are XL Champions!

Big Ben has done it! In only his second year in the pro's, which would have been his first year out of college (had he graduated), he took his team to the big game and won it. Now, it is true he had the worst QB rating of any winning QB, but hey...they still won regardless. I don't need to go into why it was the worst Super Bowl ever because everyone knows it was, but that really doesn't matter when you think of it. Us Steelers fans don't care how they get it done, just that we allowed Bettis to go down in a blaze of glory in his hometown, and that we won the Super Bowl. There would have been a lot of pissed off people in Detroit had they lost, so for the sake of the country, thank the refs for the offensive interference call on the Seahawks and that touchdown by Ben.

The Seahawks played fairly well except for dropping the ball like every 2 plays. They did catch a lot of passes and moved the ball enough. The funny thing is that after the Super Bowl, no one thinks about anything specific about the plays of the Seahawks, just that touchdown they thought they should have had. Now think about the plays of the Steelers. Good plays were very few and far between, but when you think of Super Bowl XL plays, you think of 3 total: 1)Reverse WR pass to Hines for the TD (totally awesome, I was floored), 2)Ben's rushing TD (he looks more and more like Elway each game) 3)Parker's 75 yard rushing TD. The Seahawks may have had more consistent plays for yards, but it was the awesome Steelers who had the big plays, the memorable ones that have already gone down in history. Oh yeah, we should also forget about the pick the Seahawks had for the longest interception return. No one cares about that.
02.08.06 @ 09:12 AM CST [link] [1 Comment ]

STEELERS!

Oh yeah! The Steelers are in the Super Bowl. There is much irony surrounding myself and the crazy Steelers. I grew up being a Bengals fan, as every American did in the 80's, I'm sure. I always considered the Steelers a rival and never rooted for them until last year. That was because my boy, Big Ben Roethlisberger, a fellow attendee from Miami (he's not an alum because he didn't graduate, turning pro after his awesome junior year (ironically after kicking Louisville's ass in whatever bowl game they were in)) joined up with the Steelers. His rookie year was just about as good as they get, winning all but 1 regular season game (The Patriots) but finally losing in the playoffs because he was not used to such pressure.

I was so amped last year, seeing how well my boy from Miami did in the pro's. Starting this year, I knew they could kick as much ass if not more than last year. Then Ben had some injuries and the Steeler's season was just about over. I still pulled for them, knowing that if Ben could just get back in the game after messing up BOTH knees and thumb, they could keep winning. Well once they lost 3 games with him out/in, it was pretty much a must-win situation for the Steelers for most of the second half of the season. Well they did just that. They barely made it to the playoffs, luckily knocking off the #1 defense in the league, the Bears.

In the playoffs, the Steelers were ranked #6, the crappiest team in the playoffs, with a lot of road games ahead of them. Of course they killed everyone they played because finally Ben was healthy enough to continue rocking the NFL world. The blew by the Bengals, the Colts (a big surprise for the whole country) and some other team...oh yeah the Broncos. #1,2,and 3 teams all blown out by my boy and the Steelers. So in Big Ben's second season in the NFL, he's managed to make the playoffs twice and the SuperBowl once. Just try telling me that is not amazing...go ahead, I'm waiting.

So my boys are playing against a team that were known as the worst team ever in football, back in the days that I rooted for Cincy. Don't get me wrong, I was pumped to see Cincy do so great this year, but I got a new team to root for, and will basically root for any team Ben starts for. Anyway, the PeeHawks are now in the SuperBowl with my boys and I hope it's a good game for the sake of the country, but I hope it's not close enough that I have to sweat it out and not be able to take my eyes away. I like knowing that the Steelers will prevail, even though I am usually pretty sure they will.

The drama can't get any better...the Bus is coming home, playing his last NFL game ever in his hometown, and what a last game to play. Ben will have a ring in his second year, and hell, Miami may even decide to give him an honorary degree. I wonder if they are setting up big screens around campus to see their old star play. Or I wonder if the students there even care or know who he is. Since they love their Abercrombie and their J-Crew and their StarSucks coffee, they will probably root for the GayHawks. Who knows, but we know what colors I'm wearing on Sunday. I'll be waving my Terrible Towel all day long...you should be able to feel the breeze from your computer even as you read this.

All I want is that NFL DVD that they make after every SuperBowl that highlights the winning team's year. I want that soooo bad, just because it will focus on Ben and may even mention Miami and the previous year's ass wooping in the NFL. I would pre-order it now, but I think they wait a little bit before they start to make it. Of course, they should start making it now because we all know who's going to triumph on Sunday...Team America!
02.03.06 @ 02:19 PM CST [link] [7 Comments ]

Work

Things have been going pretty great at work. I was paid to drive an hour to Lexington to train some people at a different company. I was in training myself for 2 weeks and will be sitting with someone for another 2 weeks learning what my job role will be. I did find out that my job is going to be too tough for me to do some work myself, so I will have to have someone to do some work for me, almost like having someone working for me, but not really.

I didn't recieve my salary pay on my last paycheck so I inquired about it and they will fix it on Friday. So with my new pay added to the difference between my new pay and what I was paid last, plus the reimbursement for going to Lexington should yield a pretty nice check, though rent and car payments will surely take a lot away.

We got a nice hookup from our friend Zack. He stopped by on Friday and hung out for a while, it was his first visit to our new apartment. He keeps raving about our last one, how it was so convenient for him to stop by then, which it was. But hey, sometimes you have to sacrifice seeing people all the time for a little central air/heating and cable.

I bought Bo Bice's first solo CD, produced by Clive Davis and it really isn't that great. I'm a big fan of my boy Bo, but I'm sure music that he writes himself will be better than stuff that is written for him to sing, that's just how it goes.

So I'd like to say a big F*ck Yeah to the Steelers for being the first #6 ranked team to make it to the AFC championship game. They knocked off the Colts like it was their job and they are currently, even as I type, kicking the crap about the Broncos too, so I say to the NFC: Watch your asses! Go frigging Big Ben, go Miami, go Steelers, go Cards, go Bettis, go Polamalu!
01.22.06 @ 04:36 PM CST [link] [52 Comments ]

Lots of things have happened at work. I had to train new employees on their first day doing live claims. I was expecting someone to train me on what I'm going to be doing, but instead I was the one doing the training. I saw a major improvement in the new adjusters even after just 1 day. Now a few of those people are working with me and they don't really have many questions at all, so that means we did our jobs and trained them well.

We ate at the Galt House on Friday and it was pretty nice.

New Year's came and went again without a bang. Kiley and I had mimosas (I don't know how you spell it). We had some expensive champagne but it really wasn't much better than the cheap stuff. It didn't taste as good but I think I had more of a buzz of the good stuff. The Stellers are in the playoffs so hopefully I will get to actually watch a game they are playing. So far I have missed the last 2 games because they decide to show the Bengals games instead.
01.03.06 @ 09:27 PM CST [link] [2 Comments ]