NFL Dream

(To the tune of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream)

You reached an agreement
Without missing too much time
And if you didn't
I was gonna lose my mind.
It was frustrating
But now everything's just fine.  Just fine.

Let's vote all the way tonight.
No regrets, just votes.
Let's settle this once and for all.
You and I will work for 10 years.

You've made fans
Feel like their going to pee their pants
The way you lead them on.
Enough lockout
Go to the field
And don't ever look back, don't ever look back
Our hearts stopped
When we believed
Football might not be seen
But you came through
And thanks to you
We're gonna see sacks and every single long pass

It seemed so stupid
An owners and players fight
All over money
Which never really seemed quite right.  Quite right.

Let's vote all the way tonight.
No regrets, just votes.
Let's settle this once and for all.
You and I will work for 10 years.

You made me
Want to motherfuckin yell and scream
The way you made me wait
But now we're cool
Fall Sundays are back, Fall Sundays are back.

You all kept my heart racing
With deadlines you were facing
End the lockout for me tonight
Let them put the pads back on
Let me sing the fight song
Let them win for me tonight...

Another Dimension

Ok, so the women lost the World Cup final to Japan.  Sort of gave it away.  Or so I'm told.  I was on my way back from an awesome weekend at the lake house (not mine!).  They were heavy favorites and should have won.  Oh well.  I was over it in about 5 minutes.  I would have liked to brag about a victory, but no big deal.  That's the beauty of soccer in America.  No one expects too much.  Even from our Number 1 women's team.  And even if they do expect a lot, nobody is really devestated if they lose.  Anyway, some of the games were exciting and the ratings were big.  Props to women's soccer for actually giving us something to watch in this dorment time of the sports year.

On a totally unrelated note, I would like to discuss the new "in" thing on the big screen:  3-D movies.  Apparently, according to Hollywood, any new movie worth its salt needs to come out in 3-D.  As any avid movie goer has learned, this is to the detriment of the product.  Generally, I enjoy the 3-D effects.  There is an added element of excitement and newness with it.  But with the technology now becoming the norm, how exciting is it?  Avatar was phenomenal in 3-D, and that movie sort of kick-started this new fad.  But now Hollywood is making movies just to use the technology.  I saw a preview the other day for Shark Night or something like that.  One of those awful, gory-style-young-people-dying movies relating to sharks in a lake or some bullshit.  Seriously?  Leave Jaws as the scary shark movie.  There is not a chance in hell that this will be a good movie.  But producers think it will be supercool for audiences to feel like a shark is really attacking them.  I would argue that no one wants to pay $14 for a crappy movie regardless of the special effects.  I don't know, maybe I'm an idiot and don't understand the masses.  But to me its a gross overuse of something that really doesn't add much cinematic value.  I mean really, how many Final Destination movies do you have to make just for super gory 3-D scenes?  Those movies stopped being good 5 movies ago.  Please stop.

So when I see the final Harry Potter movie on Thursday, it will not be in 3-D.  Sigh.  I don't know.  Maybe I'll cave.  I'm the worst victim of Hollywood marketing on earth. 

Party in the U.S.A.

Ahoy!  I am a week removed from my trip to Scotland, and I gotta say it was a great trip.  Wonderful things to see and wonderful people as well.  Upon returning to the States, the world is in the throes of the Women's World Cup -- perhaps no grander stage to display pride and patriotism.  In the spirit of my travel to foreign lands and many foreign lands vying for soccer's ultimate crown, here are a list of 5 things I would love about living in the UK and 5 things I would totally miss if I ever lived in the UK:

5 Things I Would Love About Living in the UK

1.   In major cities, pubs on every corner.  I mean seriously.
2.   Public transportation.  Everything is so efficient, you don't even need to drive.  Plus you can walk everywhere, so you could be safe going to and fro the pubs.
3.  An emphasis on not working too hard.  Obviously, people work hard, but they are not afraid to take a load off over there.
4.  The lack of tipping in the service industry.  It's weird to order a drink and not have to tip each time.  Though they appreciate I'm sure, it's not entirely expected.  The cost of the drink is the cost of the drink.  Cool.
5.  The fact that in Scotland, it doesn't get dark until after 11pm in the summertime.  Obviously, the inverse is true in the winter, but we won't worry about that.


5 Things I Would Totally Miss About the U.S. If I Lived Abroad in the UK
1.  American football/sports.  Far and away.
2.  Driving on the correct side of the road.  Our side.
3.  American TV.  While I enjoy the British sense of humor, we have so many more choices for solid TV programming.
4.  Cuisine.  I loved haggis, but the melting pot that is America has a myriad of options for great food destinations.  Especially in D.C.
5.  Dentistry.

So that would be my lists.  And today you have to be super happy to be an American!  After the U.S. women's soccer team had the most improbable sports victory I can remember.  I know most of my friends would argue that soccer - especially women's soccer - has no bearing on anything relating to sports or patriotism.  But I am not that shut-off.  No matter the sport, I love championships.  LOVE THEM.  How could you not be excited about this?  In a weird way, it makes me feel like I can get out of any rut.  The team was dead and buried.  I sure wrote them off (of course, that is nothing new).  The resiliency and grit the team showed is something to be admired.  Brazil, gaining every possible advantage from the referee, thought they were a shoe-in to play France on Wednesday.  But after all the flopping and whining, all they are going to do is go home with the whole country waiting for 2014's men's team to defend home country.

Now the French await.  And if we've learned anything, it's that the French buckle under the pressure.  Go USA and Slainte Mhath!