Off the Bench Sunday

I posted the above picture on social media earlier today. It's just a good reminder. I tend to live in the moment, believing in two of my favorite mantras:

"All I want from tomorrow is to get it better than today." - Bruce Hornsby/John Hornsby (sung by Huey Lewis)

"Keep moving forward" - said by many, I assume, but used frequently here.

Anyway, once in a while, I get hung up. There's nothing deeper to what I'm saying here, except to say that when I saw my old friend John Monty of Sears days (1986-1988) post it on Instagram, I had a moment of EUREKA!

Or HOLY MOLY! I'm not sure which.

So there's that. I'm just reminding myself to live in the here and now.

***** (please notice I use five stars, because 55 would look ridiculous)
So hey, er, that was some game last night in Arizona, no? A week after the utter insanity of Steelers/Bengals (Bengals=thugs, Steelers/Joe Porter=not 100% smart), we got an "off-the-hook" game last night.

Remember one key thing though: Larry Fitzgerald is one fantastic football player. One kids should emulate.

Speaking of that Packers/Cardinals games, this is a crazy good play-by-play call from one of the absolute best: Kevin Kugler of Westwood One.
He keeps it simple. Works in some humor. Gives you all of the details. Isn't too flashy. He's absolutely brilliant.

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I give the Steelers very little chance today in Denver. No Antonio Brown? No DeAngelo Williams? Banged up Ben Rothlisberger? A weak secondary?

Yeah. No.

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Pitchers and catchers report in last than a month. Consider this a public service announcement.

I was partially responsible for the notion of #Metsies15. I believed in that team, even when they weren't playing so well. Then they went to the World Series, and doggone it, they lost.

Given the offseason they're having, I'm struggling with the notion of #Metsies16.

Though, with that pitching, well, yeah.

#Metsies16 it is!

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On Friday, this happened:

The Force is strong with me, I think.

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I hope you catch the HAN Network soon (if you haven't already). We have hockey twice this week, along with hoops, programs, and more. Go check everything out at han.network.

As parodies of sports broadcasts go, this had me cracking up.

The Year of Vin Begins

The 1979 CBS Sports NFLTeam

Unless things change, 2016 will be the final year in the career of Vin Scully.

Normally I would use an adjective to describe his career, but really, what more is there to say? He's remarkable, great, legendary, iconic, etc. Words aren't necessary, but I will undoubtedly say and type so many before it's all over.

I decided, since it's January 1, and it's traditionally a football day*, I would find a pigskin highlight featuring Vinny.

* It's evolving, folks. I used to live for college football on January 1, but hockey has definitely grabbed a share. Reasons for this? The football games have all moved to other outlets (mostly ESPN), and there's just nothing compelling about them anymore. Today's games, in particular, were awful, and last night's semifinals drew terrible ratings.

Hockey, and the Winter Classic (no matter how terrible today's game was) has stepped into the spotlight. Give me that.**

** Dear Yankees, the NHL very much wanted the first Winter Classic, pre-lockout, to be at Yankee Stadium. They wanted Rangers-Bruins. You were part of the reason it didn't happen. Sadly. Let's fix that.

Anyway, back to Vin. Here's just a small highlight, from September 24, 1978. Vin is calling the action on CBS, with coach George Allen, and Jim Brown (no introduction necessary). Let's just say Coach Allen gets a touch excited, as does Brown. Vinny does what Vinny does as Earl Campbell shows why he was a legendary running back.