Week Three finds me wrapping up a whirlwind week of travel. As you read this, I’ll be on my way home from a six-state, five-day, four-bed tour that’s left my head spinning.
Inside This Edition:
Running out of Band-Aids
Boston's '07 Darlings Square-Off
The Stunning Pace of Drew Brees
Grandma Would Have Been 110QUESTION OF THE WEEK Why Should I Cry For You? Claiming a point each are
Larry Blackburn from J-Ville, FL,
Steve Zimmer from Chicago, IL and
Jim McManus from Oakland, CA who collectively something like this: “You shouldn’t, because Argentina called and said they’re still trying to cry for me.”
Grant Nodine from New York is back in the mix with “Cry for me because I haven't been to Lugar's in over a year, and yet another promising Eagles season starts with a week 1 quarterback injury (
McNabb in Atlanta,
Randall in Green Bay). There will be no crying by this Giants fan for any Eagles fan. Two points, yes. Crying, no.
Taking the cake, and the three points that come with it, is
John Donahue in Portland, OR, who had a really bad weekend. “Cry for me because my eyesight sucks and while I was on trip up to Seattle last weekend, I was cleaning my glasses and inadvertently broke them beyond repair, even with a few Bandaids. Not to be deterred, I headed out blind, and promptly fell down an entire flight of hotel stairs. So, I headed back to my room and ordered up a pizza and three Hard Ciders, which would do… until it all arrived and I realized that the bottles weren’t twist-offs and I didn’t have a bottle opener. So I tried to cleave a bottle open on the edge of a table like I did in college but instead shattered the glass neck, cutting up my hand to hell and I didn’t have any more friggin Bandaids! No, it’s cool…how was your weekend?” Hopefully three points, helps, JD.
This Week’s Question – If you were an football umpire and saw a big pile of players coming your way, what would you do?
Send responses to tleyden@wxyz.com, leave a comment on Facebook or send a response via Twitter to @tomleydenSONG OF THE WEEK On the LOG again… just can’t wait to get on the LOG again.
FOUR TOPS The best four games of the week (with a twist…)Stop one for me this week was Mamaroneck, NY. My sister-in-law is expecting a baby any moment and my Saturn Outlook was packed with hand-me-downs. Aaaah – space in the Leyden basement. Handing off the goods, though, made me remember some good times with my babies, much like
Jeff Fisher and Titans are remembering the good times of starting 11-0 last year. Tennessee’s 0-2 start is a far cry from what we saw in ’08, but it’s made Sunday’s date with the Jets particularly critical. After shutting down
Tom Brady and the Patriots last week,
Rex Ryan shifts focus to grounding
Chris Johnson, who single-handedly won a lot of folks some fantasy football games last week. The Titans 0-3? Possible
Stop two – Bethpage Black! You got it, the site of this year’s US Open. When you get an invitation to play the Black – you make it happen- plain and simple. 102 shots later, I was thinking about the Silver and Black, who host the 2-0 Broncos in Oakland this week. Even with the Raiders struggling the last couple of years, they’ve still managed to split the season series with Denver. The one thing you can count on here – like my sand wedge at Bethpage – is
Jay Cutler putting up big numbers.
Stop three – Beantown. Nothing like visiting the alma mater, which is what I had the chance to do Tuesday at Boston College. The Dustbowl, Mods and Cityside are all still standing, a lot like the Falcons – led by former Eagle
Matt Ryan. Atlanta’s started the year 2-0, but the Falcons face a stiff challenge Sunday when they face New England at the Razor. Two years ago, they were the darlings of Beantown – Ryan with BC, ranked #2 in the country. Brady with the Pats, going 16-0. This weekend, they square off – the up-and-comer facing the vet. Should be interesting.
Stop four – TPC River Highlands. Home of the Travelers Championship, formerly known as the Greater Hartford Open. With our foursome, it’s not the GHO, it’s the Not-So-GHO. This of course led me to think of other not-so’s. Did I think the Niners and Vikings with both be 2-0 entering their Week Three battle? Not so. The proof is in the record, though and suddenly this game has some juice. We’ve seen
Brett Favre have big outings against San Francisco before, but
Patrick Willis might have something to say about that this week. And if you didn’t have Chris Johnson last Sunday, hopefully you had
Frank Gore. The man was sick.
In review – Michigan, through Canada, to New York, to Boston, to Hartford, to Michigan through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The five-day, four-bed tour!
HOW’D I DO? Grading last week’s Four Tops Vikes/Lions – 25 minutes does not make a good football game. Both the Lions and I learned this last week.
C Saint/Eagles – A lot of points does not make a good football game – when most of them are scored by one team. By the way, Drew Brees is on pace to throw 72 touchdown passes this year.
C Giants/Cowboys – A lot of points makes a good football game – when they’re evenly spread and the final three are scored as the clock winds down.
ABrowns/Broncos – A lot of playoff history does not make a good football game. The Browns have a long way to go – STILL.
CSeason Totals – 4 A’s, 1 B, 3 C’s OVERTIME Other games to watch New Cleveland/Old Cleveland – Are the Ravens for real? Did you see that Ray Lewis tackle?
Saints/Bills – The Saints offense is becoming Must-See-TV.
Steelers/Bengals – Child please.
Colts/Cardinals – Tough week for Indy – A trip to Miami on Monday, followed by a trip to Phoenix on Sunday.
Panthers/Cowboys- Dallas can’t lose their first TWO games at the Dallas Palace, can they?
PICK UP Jaguars/Texans, G-Men/Bucs, Lions/Skins, the pieces
RUN OVERBears/Hawks, Chiefs/Eagles, Packers/Rams, anything that gets in your way
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Fred Salmu,
Dale Leslie,
Karen Newman,
Scott Menig,
Kurt David,
Michael Rosenberg,
Danielle Adler,
Kimberly Craig and
Peg Leyden (my grandmother) who would have turned 110 years old Friday.
Please accept my apologies for no video this week – the microphone on my camera was acting up. We’ll be back in business for Week Four – technology permitting.
