IT'S AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Week 9 of the NFL season and I finally am able to talk about the games. I was not a happy camper after Tom Brady got hurt against Kansas City Chiefs in the first week (Sunday, September 7th). It was supposed to be the beginning of another great football season and my favorite quarterback injured his left knee, so bad that it required surgery and would miss the remainder of the season. Technically it was the whole season as Brady got hurt in the first quarter. Then I was really depressed when the Patriots suffered an eviscerating loss 13-38 to the Miami Dolphins (0-16 last season) in Week 3. (I learned the word "eviscerating" from reading the sports section.)

"It's American football", the stranger said, looking at me as I was watching the New York Jets v. Kansas City Chiefs game. We had to make a rest stop at a McDonald on the way back from a Sunday drive in Hermann. I responded, "Ya, (Brett) Farve just made a short completion, the ball is at Chiefs 18". The stranger walked away, a puzzled look on his face. He turned around giving me a second look. Only much later I realized what happened, the man thought he had to explain American football to me, little did he know that he just encountered an Asian woman who is a sports fanatic.
That was not an isolated incident. During a business meeting on Monday morning, started with the men talking about Sunday games. One person commented "Let's stop talking about football in front of a lady." as he saw me walking into the room. To which I responded, "I don't mind as long we don't talk about the Detroit Lions or what happened to Tony (quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys) Romo's pinkie." Again, the person had a stunned look that I had such knowledge about NFL teams and players. Just like the time when my husband came into the house after his Sunday morning golf league and heard me yelling, "Go for it". He shook his head in resignation when I told him the excitement because Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers) was going for a 2-point conversion to tie the game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
To understand my love of sports, please read entries "NFL Playoffs" on January 16, 2007 and other 2008 posts on January 19th and February 3rd.
These photos were from the Rams v. Giants game on Sunday, September 14th. We left when the score was 27-13, with only 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter. We got home and saw the final was 41-13. Two weeks later, the Rams fired coach Scott Linehan after the loss to the Buffalo Bills. The next day the Oakland Raiders fired coach Lane Kiffin. Yet coach Rod Marinelli of the Detroit Lions still has his job even as the Lions currently at 0-8!

With Brady being out, I guess it would be alright for me to cheer for Eli Manning. After all, the Giants are my hometown team!

The 42 years old punter, #18 Jeff Feagles (photo above) getting off the field after the warm up. I did not realize that a person could still get a job in the NFL after 40. I guess it does not require much physical to be a punter or a kicker.

I always like to take photos of cameramen at work - capturing them while they are capturing other people in action.

Of course, the highlights of any football games, to the delights of the male fans, were the performances by a group of talented, highly intelligent, lovely young ladies. It was a welcome distraction especially when the team you are cheering for had not scored a touch down, your receivers keep dropping the ball and your quarterback either got sacked or throwing incomplete passes or worse interceptions.