Happy New Year!

Christmas week has come and gone and now we are finally getting some snow.  I guess we'll have to settle for a white New Year since we didn't get the white Christmas.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Something very strange happened to me on Sunday afternoon.  I actually found myself rooting for the Broncos to win a game!  Yes I know that it could potentially cost them up to eight spots in the draft (absolute worst case scenario) but it was really nice to see them win a game and make plays in crunch time.  How many times have we seen the Broncos come up just short in the past two years?  It seems like any time the game was on the line Orton would fold under pressure (literally) and take a sack or fumble the ball.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing Tebow to Elway by any means or even saying that Tebow will be a great quarterback for the Broncos but it was nice to see a comeback victory at home.  That being said, let's not ruin things by beating the Chargers this week.

Well, I don't have much else to report this week.  We finally decided to fill baby girl's prescription (doctor told us to wait a week) and now she has had two nights in a row of uninterrupted sleep with no cough.  Now that she's feeling better Angie is sick.  Round and round it goes.

Happy New Year!

Moh...Moh...Moooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh

There isn't much to say about the Broncos after the 39-23 loss in Oakland but I'll try.  Tim Tebow got the first start of his NFL career and didn't look too bad considering they only let him throw the ball 16 times and most of the game he was running (literally) for his life thanks to the swiss cheese offensive line.  At times he even looked very good (sideline pass to B Lloyd and should-have-been-touchdown to Lance Ball.)  I was really excited about his 40 yard touchdown run in the first quarter until I heard the reason for the QB draw on third and 25...it was supposed to be a RB draw but Tebow got the call wrong.  Oh well, at least he showed some athleticism which our previous QB showed only when sprinting and diving for the one-yard-short-of-a-first-down line.

The real story here was the defense, and I'm using the term defense very loosely.  The play that sums up the season was the dump-off pass to 240 pound fullback Marcel Reece that turned into a 73 yard touchdown that proved to be the game winner.  The play should have been stopped for a gain of around 10 yards had David Burton (shaming the #30 in Denver) been able to make an open field tackle.  After Reese got past Burton, you could see #55 (former captain DJ Williams) jogging after him at half speed.  Maybe DJ had Reese as his FB in fantasy football and needed the points to win his playoff match-up.

The near perfect weekend of football was completed with wins by Carolina, Detroit, Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Dallas.  Denver now is tied with the Bengals for the second worst record and are now only one game behind Carolina.  Please don't ruin this with a win against Houston on Sunday.

So much for not much to say about the Broncos...

After finding themselves down by 21 points with less than 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter the Philadelphia Eagles and top dog (sorry!) Michael Vick rallied to tie the game with 1:16 to go.  The game was headed to overtime when punter Matt Dodge actually kicked the ball to DeSean Jackson (even though he was told to kick the ball out of bounds) who promptly returned it for the winning touchdown as time expired.  While Dodge should have done any and everything he could to kick the ball out of bounds you have to put some blame on the coaching staff for calling three straight passing plays and not running out the clock to go to OT.

Kids really are amazing aren't they?  I have always rolled my eyes when parents gush about how smart their kids are.  Now that I am a parent I find myself doing the exact same thing.  Baby girl has known quite a bit of baby sign language for awhile now but has recently started having her dolly do sign language.  It is so cute to see her grab the doll's arms and make the doll sign please, all done, thank you, eat, and more.  Of course she talks now (baby girl not the doll) so she doesn't have much use for sign language unless she really wants something.  Just last night she was saying "pees, pees" (please) while jabbing her chest (rubbing chest is the sign for please) because she wanted another sugar cookie before bed.  Unfortunately for her it didn't work and she wasn't allowed to have a third cookie (although it did work to get cookie number two!)

Do you remember when we were kids (OK there might be some "older" folk reading so think back to the 80s) and we wanted to change the channel on the TV we had to actually get up off the couch and change the channels on the TV or, later, cable box?  Things changed drastically with the invention of the remote control.  We were able to surf through channels during commercials by simply pushing a button.  Then, with the invention of VCR, and even better the DVR, we no longer had to watch commercials because we could record a show and skip through commercials in a matter of seconds.  Now watching live TV is like torture because you have to endure the drastic volume changes of each commercial and 400 car commercials at every break.  (Side note: remember when Chuck Woolery would say "we're back in two-and-two" on Love Connection referring to the fact that the commercial break was 2 minutes and 2 seconds?  Now he'd have to say "we're back in five-and five.")  Anyway, going back to my previous paragraph our little girl has quickly picked up on technology and now has no, I repeat NO, tolerance for commercials.  During any of the ten nightly showings of Disney's "Prep and Landing" (very cute show that should be watched by all at http://abc.go.com/shows/prep-and-landing) at the Eckdahl household our little girl will start saying "moh, moh, moh" (more) while holding her fingertips together (the sign for more) about five seconds BEFORE the commercial break.  She knows exactly when each break will occur and will give us the preemptive warning that we'd better get the remote before the commercial starts.  Oh boy, what have we created?

Merry Christmas to you and your families!

Sweet tooth

I meant to write on Monday but this week has been so busy I didn't have time until now.  Let's start with the Broncos game on Sunday.  After watching the first few minutes I was terrified.  There was no way the Broncos could lose to the Cardinals.  They were terrible.  Luckily the Broncos were even worse.  It has now become the standard for the Broncos to easily move down the field and score (only a FG this time) on their first possession only to be held scoreless until the fourth quarter.  Sure enough after taking a quick 3-0 lead the Broncos found themselves down 19-3 entering the fourth quarter.  The only TD the Broncos gave up to that point was on a fake FG.  I think they must have set some record for giving up the most fake kicks (FG plus punts) for a season.  Are the Broncos now the nerd of the NFL walking around the hallway with a sign on their backs that says "fake kick-me"?  Then all, you know what, broke loose.  The Cardinals, who hadn't scored an offensive touchdown in 11 quarters, exploded for 24 fourth quarter points to win 43-13.  Yes you read that right, the Cardinals scored 43 points against the Broncos.  I actually found myself laughing out loud a few times during this game.  It's now like watching a car wreck.  I know I should just walk by the TV, glance at the score, and keep walking but I can't help but sit down and watch to see how bad the damage is.  My thought that the coaching shake up, in addition to playing a very bad team, would lead to a win was way off.  From the perspective of next year's draft week 14 was just about perfect.  Denver's loss coupled with wins by Buffalo, Detroit, Arizona, and San Francisco (teams Denver is "chasing" for the #2 pick in the draft) made for a great week.  This is what makes me happy now...how sad.

I forgot to do my Hillis update last week and I feel like I need to give Moreno some props for his 161 yard effort against the Chiefs.  Here is your Hillis update for the past two weeks:

Hillis (weeks 13 and 14): 39 carries for 165 yards
Broncos (weeks 13 and 14): 54 carries for 293 yards
Hillis (season): 238 carries for 1070 yards
Broncos (season): 303 carries for 1166 yards (YES the entire team is finally ahead of Peyton Hillis!!)

A word of advice to Broncos' kicker Steve Hauschka.  If you lift your helmet up just a little bit, so you can actually see the field, you might have a better chance to kick the ball more accurately.  Just a thought.

Once again word from the Broncos was that Kyle Orton was going to start Sunday against the Raiders leaving Broncos Nation scratching their collective heads.  Why, for the love of Friar Tuck, won't they play Tebow?  As far as I could see it had to be one of two reasons.  One, they see how bad he is during practice and don't want the world to see how badly they screwed up the draft.  The other reason I thought of is that they were waiting for the next home game to announce Tebow as the starter so they could actually fill a few of the over 13,000 empty seats from the last home game.  I guess all these points are moot now that Orton is hurt and Tebow should get the start Sunday against the Raiders.  What a place to start your first career game!

This week the Philadelphia Phillies signed ace Cliff Lee who now joins Roy Halliday, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels to make one of the best rotations (on paper) I have ever seen.  The Phillies are now the "Yankees of the NL."  Maybe it's just jealousy but I really hate the Phillies.  Hated them before and hate them even more now.

I'm so tired of all the Carmelo Anthony rumors going around.  Every day a new rumor comes out.  I wish Melo would just come out and say what wants to do.  Either you want to stay or you want to get traded.  Let's just get this over with and get rid of the guy and move on.

Unfortunately I don't have anything fun or exciting to mention outside of the world of sports.  Last weekend was spent making chocolate covered peanut butter balls, caramels, and almond rocca.  This weekend we will be focused on making chocolate crinkle cookies and lefse.  Of course the candy has to be taste tested before we give it out to friends.  I only hope there is enough left next week to give out.

Have a great weekend!

No no no noooooooooooooooooo

Wow, what a day.  I thought the biggest news would be the announcement that Jon Embree had accepted the head coaching job at CU (big shocker there) but then we were hit with the McBomb.  The Denver Broncos have released Josh McDaniels of his head coaching duties.  I guess I have to give Pat Bowlen some credit for cutting ties now but I didn't actually think he would do it before the season was over.  You would like to think he's doing it now because he has some big name coach waiting in the wings but that is unlikely as they quickly named Eric Studesville interim head coach.

Initial reports suggested that Leslie Frazier (currently Minnesota Vikings interim head coach) and Troy Calhoun (currently Air Force head coach) were the front-runners but I just heard that Calhoun has already asked to be taken out of consideration.  I wasn't too excited about Calhoun as the head coach, although we was with the Broncos from 2003-2005, but it wouldn't have shocked me if they went with him because he would have been a lot cheaper than the bigger names out there (and the Broncos will be on the hook for three head coaching salaries next year.)  Frazier would be an intriguing choice since he's a defensive minded coach but it really sounds like he will stay in Minnesota.  I would love to think that the Broncos have a shot (and the cash) to get a coach like Gruden or Cowher but I don't think that will happen and they will probably end up with either an unproven coach or Gary Kubiak.  I really like Kubiak but it's not like he set the world on fire in Houston.  In fact, if the Broncos end up with Kubiak it will probably be because he was fired by the Texans.  Most important of all, in my opinion, is that they get a good GM.

Oh yeah, there was also a football game on Sunday.  The Broncos lost to the Chiefs 10-6 in what sounded like a very boring game.  The reason I don't know is because I chose not to watch the game.  It was probably the first time that I can ever remember being home during a Broncos game and not watching a single play.  It's just not worth the frustration anymore.  That being said I will watch this week as the Broncos take on the Cardinals because I am interested to see how the players react after losing their coach.  I said I wouldn't do this again this year but I'm actually going to pick Denver to win this one 27 - 13.

I just heard that Angie's sister is now in the hospital to deliver her second baby.  They chose not to find out the sex (just like with the first one) so I can't wait to hear if they have a new baby boy or girl.  My guess is boy!

I've got my third  rec basketball game tonight although I missed the first one.  We lost last week by 13 (I think it was more) which was actually pretty good since we started the game with only five players and had to play the second half with only four as one of our players fouled out.  I was so sore after the game last week I had a hard time climbing the stairs to my office until Friday.  I should have worked out a bit this weekend but didn't find time for it so I'll probably be out of gas fast.

We tried taking baby girl to see Santa Claus last night at the mall but as we got closer and closer to the front of the line she knew something was up.  I think kids can smell fear.  It was either fear or the smell of other kids wetting their pants as they are forced to sit on Santa's lap to the amusement of their parents.  By the time we got to the on deck circle I started to give L the pre-game prep talk.  "OK you're going to go see Santa now.  You can sit on his lap and tell him what you want for Christmas and we'll take a picture.  See, you're cousin C is there now and he's having fun.  Are you ready to go? You can do this!"  Needless to say I didn't have much luck.   As soon as L saw the man in red she immediately started saying "no no no no" and gave my neck the death grip as she tried to climb up and over my chest/shoulder.  The hysterical crying started as soon as I started walking to Santa's chair and continued as Angie sat down with us to try to calm her down.  The picture of Santa, Angie, and I turned out great but there was a red faced little girl burying her face in Angie's shoulder that was the deciding factor in not buying a picture.  As we walked away I thought I saw a dirty look thrown our way by the mall employee either because we wasted their precious 90 seconds or wasted the precious 2 MB of digital pictures that must be nearly impossible to remove from their hard drive.  And, of course, as we were leaving L smiled and waved bye-bye to Santa and said "Santa, Santa" already forgetting the longest, scariest 90 seconds of her life.

Don't you hate the "easy open" packaging these days?  You know what I'm talking about, the perforations put in cardboard pop containers or cereal boxes.  The ones that require you to rip apart the entire package to get inside and the only part of intact cardboard left at the end are the parts with the perforations.  I tried to open a package of batteries this morning using the "easy open" panels on the back and pretty much tore apart the entire package including the plastic on the front.  How are you even supposed to open those anyway?  They want you to push in the middle to start the opening process which is impossible since THERE ARE BATTERIES BEHIND WHERE I'M SUPPOSED TO PUSH.  Good times.

I Spy, You Spy

Another week and another embarrassing loss for the Denver Broncos.  For the second week in a row the Broncos scored a touchdown on an easy, efficient first drive only to be held out of the end zone until the fourth quarter.  After taking a quick 10-0 lead the Broncos found themselves down 33-13 starting the fourth quarter.  Although they had the ball with a chance to tie (or win) at the end of the game I'm at the point where I'm glad they weren't able to complete the comeback because I want to see the coaching staff replaced.
Not just the head coach but also the McDefensive coordinator Don "please stop calling him Wink" Martindale.  Just as I mentioned last week why does the defense continue to rush only four, ineffective pass-rushers and give the quarterback six seconds to find an open receiver?  Only after they found themselves down by 20 points, with 15 minutes to go, did they finally decide to put some pressure on Bradford resulting in only 63 yards allowed, one sack, and 3 points.
Speaking of the head coach, where is this offensive genius that everyone keeps talking about?  After a touchdown with 5:45 to go in the first half put the Rams ahead 14-13, Denver's resident genius proceeded to call deep pass after deep pass (all incomplete minus a 9 yard screen pass) running off only a total of 1:59 in two possessions (most of that time was letting the play clock expire before a punt and two punts with returns.)  The terrible time management (along with an Eddie Royal fumble) gave the Rams enough time to put up 12 more points to put the score at 26-13 at half.  I think Pat Bowlen should cut McD's pay by half because, apparently, he only decides to gameplan for the first and fourth quarters.
Finally, if bringing over the hoodie along with a bunch of crummy ex-Patriots wasn't bad enough, McD also brought over another Patriots tradition: cheating.  Video director Steve Scarnecchia (who was involved in Spygate while working for the Patriots) was fired for illegally video taping six minutes of the 49's walkthrough practice before the teams played on Oct. 31.  Although McD says he did not see the video, he kept the news quiet once he found out leading to $100,000 in fines for McD and the Broncos.  Hopefully no other punishment will be handed down but when the Patriots got busted for this they lost a first round draft pick.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to finish 4-12, get the #5 pick in the draft only to have it stripped away because of this?  Does Bowlen really need any more justification for firing McD?  If so please re-read the preceding paragraphs.

Weekly Hillis update:

Week 12: Peyton Hillis: 26 carries, 131 yards, 3 TD
Week 12: Denver Broncos: 18 carries, 119 yards, 1 TD
Season: Peyton Hillis: 199 carries, 905 yards, 11 TD
Season: Denver Broncos: 249 carries, 873 yards, 8 TD

In happier news we had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Montana.  After arriving in Bozeman to -28 F wind chill, we had a two hour, white knuckle drive to Angie's sister's house in Helena.  Once there we had a fun time of eating, drinking, and watching the new Harry Potter movie (which was awesome...why can't the last one come out sooner?)  Although it seemed to go too fast it was so nice to have four full days of vacation where we didn't have to travel.  The men were even able to fit in a pre-baby celebration that could have gone on all night had we not been responsible for bringing home dinner.  Baby girl did wonderful on both flights (although she did require non-stop stimulation and attention) and had such a good time playing with her cousin.  There was no doubt that she got in a full dose of playing because she took a four hour nap as soon as we got home only to wake up for 2 hours, do some eating and playing, and then back to bed for the night.  Fortunately we made it through security both times without having to have the full body x-ray or pat down.  I guess my "Don't touch my junk" t-shirt will have to go back in the closet until next spring.

It's How Cold?

Well, my predictions last week, for the most part, were pretty accurate.


Predicted: CSU 34 Wyoming 27  Actual: CSU 0 Wyoming 44  (More on this later)
Predicted: Kansas St. 31 CU 38  Actual: Kansas St. 36 CU 44 (Buffs will be bowl eligible if they beat Nebraska)
Predicted: MSU 24 UM 17  Actual: MSU 21 UM 16 
Predicted: Denver Broncos 17 San Diego Chargers 34  Actual: Denver 14 San Diego 35 (sigh)


Thankfully CSU is done for the season so here are my picks for the weekend:


CU 24 Nebraska 20 (Doesn't sound like Taylor Martinez will play)
St. Louis Rams 24 Denver Broncos 31 (I don't know why I punish myself by thinking this way)


What a bad ending to the season for CSU.  Just a few weeks ago I was optimistic after a 19-24 loss to San Diego St. which was a game CSU should have won.  Now, after losing the last two games by a combined score of 93-10 (the last coming against a bad Wyoming team) I'm staring to wonder if the players have given up on Fairchild.  I doubt they will get rid of him this offseason but next year is bowl game or bust.  I wonder if Sonny Lubick's phone has been ringing.


Well, it looks like the Broncos are who we thought they were.  I'm not sure what that Kansas City game was but I'm not expecting to see another one like it.  I do think they can beat St. Louis at home this weekend but other than the Arizona game I don't see any more wins on the schedule.  The game against Houston on 12/26 might be a battle of coaches auditioning for offensive coordinator jobs.  I won't waste too much time on the Broncos but why did they consistently rush three against Rivers?  Is letting the top quarterback in the league have six seconds to find an open receiver really the defensive game plan?  The few times they put pressure on him he was forced into bad passes which led to punts.  Oh, and nice tackling on the Crayton touchdown.  There's nothing like a 5 yard loss turning into a 40 yard touchdown.


On a happier note, have a very Happy Thanksgiving.  We're off to Helena, MT (via Bozeman) where the temperature is currently -9 (feels like -29.)  I hope no school buses get in our way!

At Least We've Got Monte

Not much time to update today but here are a couple predictions sure to go wrong.

CSU 34 Wyoming 27  (Bronze Boot back in Fort Collins)
Kansas St. 31 CU 38 (Amazing how teams respond after their coach gets fired)
MSU 24 UM 17 (Sorry Griz...at least you've still got Monte http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfOIB8wNNBU)
Denver Broncos 17 San Diego 34 (reverse psychology)