Jets 29, Vikings 20and a little bit more

I hate Monday night football. And Sunday night football. And any weeknight football that starts after 7 PM Eastern. Invariably these games run very late into the night and mean it's often the nextday when the lights go out for some sleep. It's not so bad now that I'm retired and have only Terry, myself, and the cats to answer to, but back when I was teaching, those days-after-football always dragged.

Way back, when Dandy Don Merideth, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford were doing the announcing on ABC's version of MNF, I belonged to a fall bowling league that met on Monday night. We'd start bowling around 7 PM and the football game would kick-off on the lounge's TV screen at 9 PM. (They had a a later starting time back then.) If the game included either the Jets or Giants...well, it was after midnight when the game ended and some of us made our way home.

I've not seen any studies done on it, but I'm pretty sure that workers' productivity is reduced considerably in the east coast cities with strong fan bases when their teams play on one of the night games. Folks either call in sick, late or merely drag their sorry butts through the day stoking on aspirin and caffeine on a regular basis. It can't be that bad in the rest of the country. Hell, a 9 PM Eastern time start is just 6 PM on the left coast.

(Much of the above also applies to major league baseball, NBA, and NHL post season games with the added problem that they often start at 7 or 8 PM in their local time zone.
Almost makes moving to the west coast imaginable--except for all that lefty political stuff.)

******

Last night, the Jets' game was scheduled to start at 8:30 PM but thunder, lightening and hail storms in the area caused a postponement until 9 PM and then 9:10 and finally 9:30 PM. Pregame shows on TV being what they are today, I'm sorta glad I don't have ESPN, cable or satellite here at the Bolt Hole. You can only listen to so much "expert analysis" --if you know what I mean.

I followed the game on the computer via CBSSports.com and their Gametracker and the radio. (ESPN radio was available although. sometimes, I can pick up the NYC area stations.) Pretty dull first half with neither team getting into the end zone but Nick Faulk of the Jets managed to connect on three field goals of 25, 53 and 22 yards to give the Jets a 9-0 lead at the half.

The third quarter was more offensive struggle but Faulk connected on two more FGs (34 and 31 yards) which served as bookends for a Favre-to-Moss TD for the Vikings and when the quarter ended the Jets lead was 15-7.

But the fourth quarter...ah, the fourth quarter...A combined four (4) touchdowns--two by each team--on "drives" of 5, 6, 5 and 0 plays that covered distances of 65, 66, 54, and 26 yards. (The last score in that series came on a Dwight Lowery interception of a Brett Favre pass, hence "0" plays and just 26 yards.)

The first fourth-quarter TD came early in the quarter (12:47 remaining) when Percy Harvin and Brett Favre connected on 34 yard pass and made the score 15-13. A two point conversion could have tied it, but the Vikings' try failed.

Then it was the Jets' turn as Shonn Greene scored with 4:30 on the clock on a 26 yard run. Extra point by Faulk and the Jets went up 22-13.

Vikings Favre-to-Harvin combination worked again on an 11-yard TD pass with the clock reading 3:09. They kicked the extra point this time and the score was 22-20.

The Jets' offense failed to answer on the next series and they had to punt the ball away. The Vikings had no timeouts but still had a chance with less than two minutes to play.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, Brett Favre committed his third turnover of the game. He had lost two fumbles in the first half which led to Faulk field goals, but this time an errant pass ended up in the hands of Dwight Lowery who returned the ball 26 yards for a back-breaking TD at the 1:30 mark. The Faulk extra point made it 29-20.

Having pulled one out when the offense wasn't quite clicking, the Jets are now 3-1. The Vikings drop to 1-3.

It was around 12:30 AM Eastern when the game finally ended.

I still hate Monday Night Football, but I liked last night's results.

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Now about that critter running around in the attic at 4 AM.... Don't know what it is, too big for a freakin' mouse and at that hour I do not think it would be a red squirrel. Perhaps it's a weasel wearing freakin' combat boots.

Raises a ruckus for about 15 minutes or so as it scurries over the floor boards and between the planks serving as wall sheathing--and then everything is silent again.

A weasel would explain why I haven't caught any more mice in the traps on the shelf. Or even heard one tap dancing on the collection of tins that shelf holds.