Let it snow, let it snow, let it....OUCH

Now that football season is over I'm finding it hard to find sports related topics to talk about although  I'm not sure why as we still have NBA, NHL, and NCAA hoops going on (as Ryan pointed out in my last blog.)

I am so over all the drama surrounding Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets.  Even though I'd like to keep Melo and Billups around (and get rid of JR, K-Mart, Birdman, and others) at this point I just want the Nuggets to get something out of Melo instead of letting him finish the season and move to New York in the off season.  The more I watch of the Nuggets, however, I find myself wishing they would get rid of the entire team (keep Lawson and Afflalo) and start from scratch.  Two games in a row now the No-guts have jumped to an early 15+ point lead only to lose the game due to poor shooting and even worse defense.  These guys are no fun to watch and I can usually only make it 5 - 10 minutes before I start channel surfing.

Things aren't any better for the other Pepsi Center team as the Avs have now lost 8 games in a row after last night's 9 - 1 beat down at the hands of the Calgary Flames.  There was at least something to cheer for when Peter Forsberg returned to the team but that lasted only 2 games and he is now officially retired.  The team is in serious need of a goalie and some quality veterans although at this point in the season there is no reason to add payroll.  Speaking of payroll, the Avs are second to last in the league (or right around there) in team payroll and are something like $15M under the salary cap.  Apparently the Kroenke family spent all their money bringing Josh McDaniels to St. Louis that they don't have money to spend on the Avs.

I never thought I would say this but the local college hoops teams are actually the talk of the town right now.  Tad Boyle and the CU Buffs  had a very hot start to the Big 12 season by beating ranked teams Missouri and Kansas St.  Although they have cooled off a bit of late (although a big win Saturday against Kansas St.) they still have the chance to win 20 games this year and potentially make the NCAA tourney.

Up in Fort Collins CSU is currently at 17-7 and, with a few more wins and a decent run in the MWC tourney, might find themselves in the NCAA tourney this year.  I think they still need a signature win (still have games at #7 BYU and at #6 San Diego St.) but I've been very impressed with they way they have played this year. 

OK enough sports, I need to add some reading in here for those non-sports fans *cough*Angie*cough* that read my blog.  Although snow is far from my mind right now (currently 66 F in Erie) a few weeks ago I remembered why I hate shoveling snow.  I've got nice boots and a warm coat so I don't mind the cold.  I don't even mind the back pain because at least it means I'm actually working my back.  The worst part of shoveling snow is the constant handle to the gut/crotch when the blade of the shovel hits the gap between sections of the driveway.  I often get lazy when I shovel and decide that the best plan is just to push the snow as far as I can before I have to scoop and dump.  Most of the time this involves crossing at least one gap in the driveway.  I assume the position of shovel out in front of me with both hands on the handle and the handle pointing directly toward my gut area.  It doesn't matter if it push up the driveway or down the driveway the blade of the shovel always seems to dip into the gap, stopping all forward momentum, all the while I walk into the handle.  I usually look around to see how many neighbors were watching, tip the handle down a bit to free the blade, and continue to push until...I hit the next gap.  Thank goodness I inherited a snow blower so my shoveling related injuries are at a minimum.

While I was happy to get the snow blower from my Dad I am sad that I got it because my folks moved to Senegal.  I dropped them off at the airport on Saturday morning, said my goodbyes to them and Mike, Melissa, and family, and went home to feel sorry for myself.  Luckily my sweet wife Angie decided to cheer me up with a dinner at Village Tavern and a movie.  We went to see True Grit which I thought was very good and would recommend it.  I miss you Mom, Dad, Mike, Melissa, and girls!

Thoughts and prayers to baby girl's newest friend and second cousin.  We hope you and your folks are doing well and we can't wait to meet you!

 

The call

A lot has happened in the past week for the Denver Broncos.  First, and most notably, Andrew Luck announced he would stay at Stanford for at least one more year.  This, to me, was big news for the Broncos because there had been so much speculation whether or not John Elway (Stanford alumnus) would try to trade up to the first pick in the draft to grab Luck.  Now that Luck is out of consideration it will be interesting to see what happens.  My guess is that both Carolina (pick #1) and Denver will try to move back in the draft in order to pick up additional picks.  I'm not sure whether or not this will happen, however, and there doesn't seem to be a consensus top pick so Denver might be stuck with the #2 pick (not that I mind.)  I'm hoping for either Nick Fairley or Da'Quan Bowers.

A day after Luck's announcement that he would remain at Stanford Jim Harbaugh announced he would leave Stanford to take the head coaching job in San Francisco.  Wow, as I'm writing this the Broncos have just announced John Fox as the new head coach!  I was about to waste a bunch of space on this blog saying why John Fox is the answer and Rick Dennison isn't.  Don't get me wrong, I like Rick Dennison and wouldn't mind to see him here as a coordinator but I still have memories of him being the special teams coach of Denver's average at best special teams units.  Although it may have been nice if Fox was coming off of a year off to recharge, I think he was the best option out there.  He doesn't need to be head coach/GM/master of everything.  He can concentrate on being the head coach and, hopefully, bring some good assistants with him.  He also has eight games of playoff experience, one Super Bowl appearance, and a history of turning around a losing franchise.  I don't blame him in the least for Carolina's 2-14 this record this season.  It seemed pretty clear the powers that be were happy with a losing season in order to get Andrew Luck.  OOPS!  The Silver Panther is now the Silver Bronco! Bring on the 2011 - 2012 season!

A couple weeks ago we decided to be nice and answer a quick telephone survey.  Big mistake.  Two nights ago they called again to tell us that we had been entered in a prize drawing and, here it comes, we won the prize!  They said they would have a delivery man in the area the next night and asked if he could drop off the prize and would we fill out a brief questionnaire.  Long story short we said OK and last night we were blessed to be visited by a VACUUM SALESMAN!!!  Yes, apparently there are still traveling vacuum salesmen out there.  Luckily Google had prepared us for the fact that we were in for a home demonstration of the Blue Max Air 2000!  While it was an impressive vacuum we had no intention of buying it and I think the guy got that impression because near the end of his demo he promptly packed up the vacuum, gave us our prizes (more on that later), and booked it out the door.  I even tried to lead him into giving us the price or the "I'll have to talk to my manager" and "my manager said I could take $500 off but now we're losing money" speeches but they never came.  Maybe the fact that baby girl bonked her head and started crying helped him out the door.  If that was the case, thank you baby girl, I love you!!!  I looked up the price and it is well over $3000!

Oh, the prizes turned out to be the same prizes I "won" when I bought my car.  $500 of free merchandise (you only have to pay the $500 in shipping!) and 3 day vacation where you have to sit through timeshare meetings 24-7.  Lesson learned.  This has been a public service announcement.

In case any of you have been on the edge of your seats waiting to see my beard pictures here you go.  Enjoy. Please no comments about my multiple chins, power alleys, or gray hair.  I blame it on global warming.

                                          DAY 1

                                          DAY 5

                                          DAY 10

                                          DAY 15

Fear the Beard

What an exciting time to be a fan of the Denver Broncos.  No, they aren't gearing up to play a playoff game this weekend but they did secure the #2 pick in the NFL draft and John Elway was just hired as the chief football executive.  I just listed to his press conference and it sure pumped me up.  Let's get the next season started already!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting the Broncos to move from worst to first but hopefully they will start moving in the right direction.  They kept Xanders as GM which I'm not 100% on board with but Elway sure threw McD under the bus for all the dumb personnel moves.  Maybe Xanders isn't to blame for losing Cutler, Hillis, Marshall, etc. but I have my doubts.

Speaking of the draft, I've seen mock drafts (yes I'm already scouting out mock drafts) and a lot of them show Denver picking LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson.  I don't know what to think about that.  Denver's defense could have had Champ and Darrelle Revis as corners and it wouldn't matter when there is no pressure on the QB.  I'm still thinking we need to bolster the defensive line and get a solid pass rusher.  If, however, we could swing a trade for Albert Haynesworth and getting back a healthy Dumervil, now a stud cornerback is starting to sound better.  It will be interesting to see what happens but the news that Carolina will absolutely take Andrew Luck with the first pick is good because we don't have to worry about drafting another QB in the first round and letting the top defensive players go to other teams.

I'm also interested to see who the Broncos get for a head coach.  I'm still on board with talking to Marty Schottenheimer (yes that same Marty that the Broncos always beat but also that Marty with a 61% winning percentage) but I'm hearing Jim Fassel, Mike Mularkey, and Jim Harbaugh's names being thrown around.  Fassel and Mularkey surprise me a bit because those guys are both offensive guys and we've been there and done that.  Same for Harbaugh but he's the hot name right now although college coaches never seem to succeed in the NFL.  Oh and San Francisco, PLEASE hire McD because I'd love to see him trade Crabtree, Gore, and Willis and ruin that franchise.

About a week ago I decided that I want to see what I look like with a beard.  Actually, I'm really interested to see if it comes in brown or grey.  Angie has been taking pictures of me every day so I can see the progress (or lack thereof.)  Pictures will be posted soon...stay tuned!

How things change when you get older and even more so when you have a kid (or kids.)  As everyone knows last Friday was New Year's Eve.  It never used to be hard to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop and, most times, the party was just getting started.  As you grow older you find yourself having to drink a lot of caffeine or play games to trick your mind/body into staying up late.  Some of us (ahem *Dad* ahem) even resort to napping from 10 until 11:55.  This past week I didn't even make it to New York's celebration.  I should say that Angie and I have been trying to fight off a nasty hybrid cold that baby girl brought home from day care, although she seems to be doing fine thank you (and amoxicillin) very much, but we couldn't make it until 10.  What's the big deal anyway?  There will be another one in 360 days.

I've talked to many friends that recommend "The King's Speech."  Go see it.

I've heard from a few people that "Little Fockers" is filthy and not appropriate for kids/early teens despite the PG-13 rating.  I say wait for DVD and after the kids are in bed.

Little girl got "Despicable Me" for Christmas and she LOVES it.  As soon as she gets home from day care (heck as soon as she wakes up in the morning) she starts saying "Meat! Meat!" which means "Me" which means "Despicable Me."  I wish they had a version that looped the movie non-stop so we didn't have to keep messing with the remote control to start it over.  That being said I like the movie too and recommend it for kids and adults. 

My Mom is retiring this week so she can prepare for her move to Senegal.  Congrats Mom but we're sure going to miss you guys.

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.