The weather should be good, and our seats are in the west end-zone.  We will be heading off to a tailgate in short order, and I know this will be a good time.

I am personally looking forward to seeing my grandfather there.  He went to–and was a season ticket holder for–many Baltimore Colts football games.  He was also the person who took me to what was my first (and at the time) only football game when I was a little Jason.  Consequently, this event has a bit of emotional significance for me.

Here’s hoping for a good football game and a Ravens win!

That said, while having some off Comcast difficulties while working around the house on Saturday afternoon, I missed Maryland beating Cal at College Park.  (GO TERPS!) Even better, though, was that I missed the highlight from that game.

Click here to view the embedded video.

WOW.  The cornerback hit the receiver so hard, he threw up.  It was a clean and legal hit, and the receiver never saw it coming.

• Friday night, I joined some coworkers (and friends) at Mick O'Shea's for some Happy Hour Guinness (Guinni).  Friday turned out to be a bit more busier than normal, so it was a welcome respite.
• Yesterday, I puttered around the house, taking care of a couple of things in advance of going to last night's Ravens preseason game.  The only thing on my agenda yesterday was to get a haircut in the afternoon, and that was an easy mission to accomplish.  Yesterday was, for the most part, a fairly lazy day for me.
• Speaking of the game last night, I am still amazed by how early folks start tailgating--even during preaseason.  My afternoon haircut yesterday was before 2:00 PM, and I was chuckling at some of the early tailgaters that had already set out their spreads.
• My lone comment from last night's game (as I am keeping it to just one): How about passing the ball a bit more than the Ravens did in the 1st half?
• Today was spent finishing up my laundry, tidying around the inside of the house, and getting some small tasks done around the house.  I also spent part of the day making a random list of things to get--a sort of macro-personal to-do list.

Any other productivity today was blunted by the wonders of a MythBusters marathon on Discovery.  Thankfully, the DVR has helped with any hindrance today.

As I have said to others, there was a sadistic side of me that wanted to see this upset happen. I truly wanted to see the air of superiority and invincibility surrounding the Patriots dispelled. Part of this was my desire to see someone upset the undefeated cart. Another part of this was the infatuation most of the major sports media outlets had with the Patriots, and I actually saw one of the blathering talking heads on ESPN admit this last night. The Patriots play in an incredibly weak conference division, and everyone was taken with the way they dismantled incredibly overmatched opponents. While that takes nothing away from their accomplishment this season, you saw how this team was vulnerable in their games against the Colts, Eagles, Ravens, and Giants.

The bigger reason I wanted to see the Patriots lose was to deflate those transplant Patriot fans--people who went to school in or around Boston who have taken the Patriots and other area sports team as their own. These transplants are part of the obnoxious New England fan I have railed about in the past. I have nothing against lifelong Pats fans--I know too many of them. To the transplants, suck it!

This loss hurt, but I am pretty certain the Patriots will reload in the off-season. (Sorry, R.O.B., but your Pats will be alright.)

By the way, I really do not care about either teams playing tomorrow.  I have a sadistic desire to see the Patriots lose tomorrow, partly to shut the pieholes of already obnoxious New Englanders.  All we really need is for two of their four major sports teams to win championships.  Red Sox fans would be even more obnoxious when their hordes descend upon Baltimore during baseball season.  So, go Giants.

They lost, but at least it was not as much of an ass-whooping as I thought it would be. Still, it sucks to lose. I would have been content if the Ravens were the ones to lay the loss on the Patriots, but if I am the Patriots, I am scared of the bullseye now on their back.

This is scary.

UPDATE: What was I thinking? Not with this porous pass defense and the luck this team has had. Nothing like blowing it in OT after allowing a field goal on the luckiest bounce ever.  Not with a team that gives the ball up like a girl on prom night.  No playoffs this year, and thus my luck with bad local sports teams continues.  

• a quarterback who has gone from being a capable signal-caller to an also-ran in the space of a few games;
• repeatedly bad and poor offensive play-calling displaying a large amount of  inflexibility by the coaching staff;
• a basic inability to hold onto the football;
• continuously committing stupid penalties that point to a problem with fundamentals; and
• a head coach who holds himself to be infallible.

How does it take until well into the 4th quarter of the game.  I tailgated with an old friend before the game, and I headed back home when they headed into the stadium.  I watched the game, and I had it on in the background while doing some stuff around the house.  I could not believe what I was seeing, and watching the end of that game was embarrassing--turning the ball over repeatedly near the end of the game was truly the last straw.  I was pained knowing how the defense must have felt considering they were keeping up their end of the bargain.

It does not look pretty for the Ravens as the loaded part of their schedule is upon them.  Who knows if they will pull something out, but from the looks of it I supremely doubt that will happen.  Maybe the season can end gracefully, and the front office can attack some of their problems in the draft.

Last night, the Ravens were in the Monday Night Football spotlight.  Again, when the lights are the brightest, the Ravens put on an even worse performance.  In a performance that will win them no accolades, the defense allows 5 touchdowns in a rout.  The offense proceeds to turn the ball over 4 times, and the team commits needless penalties.

One can make the argument that the defense played as expected without two of their starting cornerbacks, and another argument can be made about the playing conditions caused the turnovers.  Nonetheless, the turnovers and penalties are caused by what in my mind is poor discipline.  Poor discipline comes from poor coaching.  No matter how you try to spin it, the coaching of Brian Billick and his staff has left much to be desired thus far this season.  I am not even going to mention the incredibly poor play calling.

After Monday night, the second half of the NFL season is going to be a long one for the Ravens.