For the second consecutive year, I'm posting my NFL power ratings. They are only "mine" in the sense that I created the spreadsheet and entered the data. The concept and formulas come from the 198? edition of The Hidden Game of Football. It's the best football book I've ever read. The newer editions are supposed to be even better ( Read more... )

It's been so long that LJ has deleted my old drafts. That's a long time between posts.

We went to St. Thomas the second week of August.

THE PLAN
Wake up at 3:45 Sunday morning, shower, get dressed, dress the boys, load the car. Get box lunches and breakfast out of the fridge. Drive to airport with plenty of time for our 6:00 AM flight.

THE ( Read more... )

Interesting developments from our recent trip to Indiana:

• At no point did I have to stand in a restroom stall with my hand over the automatic sensor while one of the kids "did their business". They are growing up!
  
• I restrained myself from having a theological debate with the pastor at the wedding. His assertion that "God ordained marriage to be ( Read more... )

5 years, 389 posts. That's a lot of wasted time. For the last couple of years this LJ/blog has been exported to Facebook. I've considered blogging directly on Facebook notes, but I don't really want to abandon five years of entries ( Read more... )

The Super Bowl was certainly entertaining. There was a little of everything, especially penalties. Was anyone else disappointed by the level of play? Could Pittsburgh have the worst offensive line of a SuperBowl winner, ever? No wonder Ben gets the crap beaten out of him, he has no time in the pocket. The only other time I'd seen most of a ( Read more... )

So my Dom Capers to Chiefs "hunch" seems a little far-fetched now. Maybe they'll keep Herm around for a year and get in on the Shanahan/Gruden/Cowher sweepstakes for 2010. Of course I also thought the Iggles would blow out the Cards this weeks, so ( Read more... )

There's a profile of Dynamite Payson in (Monday) morning's BDN. Dynamite Payson is the king of boatbuilding books. He writes his books by hand (with a pencil) in the 10 x 20 shop he built from lumber cut from his own property ( Read more... )

We got back to Bangor on Sunday, after a nice Christmas visit with my family in Indiana. All three of my sisters, their kids, all my Rutledge cousins, one Baughman cousin, both uncles and one aunt were all there. Twenty-five people at Christmas Eve dinner, nine of which were under the age of 10. Pure and utter chaos. Pretty cool ( Read more... )

I'm tired.

1.  Tennessee Titans 10.38
    
2. New York Giants 10.01
    
3. Baltimore Ravens 9.34
   
   
4.  Pittsburgh Steelers 8.89
   
5.  Philadelphia Eagles 6.36
    
6. Carolina Panthers 5.73
    
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5.08
    
8. Indianapolis Colts 5.04
    
9. Green Bay Packers 4.62
    
10. Atlanta Falcons 4.36
     
11. New Orleans Saints 3.59
     
12. Minnesota Vikings 3.59
     
13. San Diego Chargers 2.96
     
14. ( Read more... )

Despite cleaning up vomit (now all three boys have had the bug), breaking my glasses and shattering a fireplace tile (try dropping the door from a pellet stove onto pretty much anything: the door will be fine, whatever you drop it on probably won't be), it was still a pretty good weekend. Sam celebrated his fourth birthday with a party at the ( Read more... )