Sunny Sunday. Surprise!

So, since I wrote yesterday afternoon, the NY Mets have suffered a no hitter (Max Scherzer's second of the season in which he tied Nolan Ryan's 17 strikeout record for a no-no) and went 7 + innings without scoring a run on the final regular season game of the year. Lucky for them, the Mets' pitchers were almost as good as Scherzer today. They held Washington hitless into the 7th inning and tossed a shutout punctuated by Granderson's solo home run in the bottom of the 8th.

The last day victory gave the Mets 90 wins for the season, put them 7 games ahead of second place Washington, and sent them into the post season with a wee bit of momentum.

The Mets begin their post season play at Los Angeles against the Dodgers on Friday, October 9th. Jacob deGrom, who started today's game and threw 4 hitless innings while striking out 7, will be on the mound. Noah Syndergaard will start game two. Mat Harvey will start game 3 back in New York.

******

Oh yeah, the Jets (3-1) and Giants (2-2) won today.

******

I spent a couple of hours this morning over at the range. It was the Sportsmen's Club's annual work day. Guys were there to repair shooting tables and rails, weedwack around the target pits and do general repair and maintenance. I have been a member for a couple of years but have never taken advantage of the range. It's got rifle targets out to 200 yards as well as a pistol area and a rim fire area. They have sponsored pistol competitions and various types of rifle competitions. (A running deer competition will start on November 1.)

In the past, I would take my rifles up the Bolt Hole and shoot on the 50-yard  lane that I created. Now that we've sold that place, I need to find some other place to shoot. Besides. I couldn't take my pistols up north into New York.

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Today's weather was surprisingly nice. The last couple of days were cold, rainy and dreary. We had 0.45 inches of rain in the gauge this morning. Today, contrary to the forecast earlier this week, we had clear, sunny skies with a high going up to 65 degrees. All with Joaquin heading further and further out to sea. I bet there are lots of folks in the journalism community who are very disappointed. Except for the exceptional monsoon-like rainfall in South Carolina, they have no "disaster" to write about.

Sunday's 8 PM prediction fr Joaquin

Good News!

Got the word today that the closing on the Bolt Hole went without a hitch and that the checks are in the mail. Along with no longer paying town and county taxes (spring), school and library taxes (fall), phone bill, electric bill, and insurance bill, I'll no longer have to worry about mowing the grass, maintenance, rebuilding the garage, repainting the barn and finishing the painting of the roof, or any of the myriad number of things a neglected piece of real estate really, really needs. Which is mainly some TLC.

Yeah, I'll miss it a little. But the extra $$$ and the time will free me up to make some additional trips in the travel trailer to places near and far.

******

Did some further declutering today making a quick run to the dump with a few bags of assorted trash and half a dozen half empty paint cans. Still sorting through some of the stuff from Terry's Mom and the Bolt Hole. If I ever get around to doing inventory, I might have more stuff in my shop than Mr. Burns had in his hardware store when I worked there 50 years ago. (Some of it might be as old, too.)

******

I was notified that the ATV--a Yamaha ProHauler--was repaired and ready for pickup. All, that is, except for the tail light cover which is backordered. Okay. I can't pick it up until Monday anyway, how 'bout if I call you Monday morning to see about that light cover? (I've no immediate need to use the Hauler, anyway. AND I've still got to clean out a spot for it in a cluttered garage!)

******

Mets swept the Nationals in a three game series. They had to come from behind in all three games bit opened a 7 game lead in the NL East. Then they went and beat the Braves to make it a 7 1/2 game lead. Things are looking pretty good for some post-season play!

Oh! And the Jets and Giants open their NFL play on Sunday.

******

My Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-0) will be playing the Washington State Cougars (0-1...they lost to he Portland State Vikings for crying out loud!) on Saturday at 3:30 PM EDT.

It will be interesting to see how the Scarlet fair in the running game (last week they had something like 280 yards on the ground) and who the quarterback will be. Both did well last week against Norfolk State, but the second half combo of Chris Laviano and receiver Leonte Carroo (three complete passes for 129 yards and three TDs) have earned Laviano this week's starting assignment.

Go R U!

******

[Added]
Almost forgot we harvest more acorn squash today. That brings the total to nine. Pretty good considering I didn't plant any. These are volunteers that grew in the compost heap from seeds dumped there last year. Guess I need to distribute the compost to the growing beds of the garden!

Here's hoping this puts the offense on the offense.

At first I thought it said "Tony Soprano" which would have been alright by me. Capice? After all, Soprano's a Jersey guy. Would have ended any discord in the huddle right quick, too.

But Saprano could be a good hire, too.

Jets hire Tony Sparano as offensive coordinator

Still think that Soprano would have put the fear of God into Sanchez and the O-line, forcing them to step up their game.

Aerie Report, September 12, 2011

Hey! The J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! pulled on out last night. The Cowboys had never lost a game where they led by 14 points in the fourth quarter...until last night. Blocked punt, fumble recovery on the 2 yard line (keeping Dallas out of the end zone), an interception, and a 50 yard field goal with 26-27 seconds left and the J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! come away with a 27-24 victory in week one.

******

Terry was out all afternoon so I entertained my self by peeling, slicing and canning 26 pints of peaches. SHE can carry the things downstairs! (Along with the 7 quarts of tomato sauce.)

With blueberry jam, strawberry jam, tomato sauce, and now peaches, all that remains is to find a source of apples for some applesauce.

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Terry did go out late this afternoon to pick from the garden and reports that the string beans seem to have finally given up the ghost. (Perhaps they drowned?) The zucchini, too, are no longer producing. Might be time to pull both the string beans and zucchini plants and put them on the compost heap.

Freezer is packed with string beans, zucchini bread and grated zucchini, and blueberries. What's missing is meat. Which is sorta okay since there's no room in the freezer for it at the moment.

******

A most unusual day here at the Aerie: No rain. But, hey! The day ain't over yet!

Steelers 24, Jets 19

Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers for winning their respective Conference Championships yesterday. Two of the most storied teams in the history of the Super Bowl will meet on February 6th down in Arlington, TX.

I would have preferred my Jets but they had no answer to the Steelers in the first half on either side of the ball. The Jets' defense may not have allowed the quick scoring strikes, but it yielded yards and first downs like water passing through a sieve. Time passed inexorably while that was going on and the Jets' offense could only watch from the sidelines. The Jets O didn't get the ball until 10 minutes had run off the clock. It was 24-3 at half only because the Jets got a field goal with 9 seconds left.

The second half was what I had wanted to see from the National Anthem. The Jets managed to march up and down the field, completed a couple of beautiful long passes, and crossed the goal line twice. On defense they scored a safety and, contained and sacked Roethlisberger and shut down Pittsburgh's scoring attack. In short, the Jets came up with answers, but it was too late. They lost the first half 24-3, won the second half 16-0. The Jets either gave up too much too soon, or had too little too late. In either case, it spells the end of the season for the Green and White.

From a comment on the CBS story thread:

Our Father, Who Art in Pittsburgh,
Football Be Thy Game.
Thy Kingdom Come, Six Super Bowls Won,
On Earth as it is in Heinz Field.
Give us this Day a Playoff Victory,
And Forgive Us our Penalties,
As We Defeat those who Play Against Us.
But Lead Us into a Victory, And Deliver Us to Texas!
A-Ben

Jets 28, Patriots 21

back in Week 2 of the NFL season--that would be September 19th--the Jets defeated the New England Patriots 28-14 in the Meadowlands of New Jersey. Then in the thirteenth week of the season, the Patriots thumped the Jets in Foxboro, 45-3. It was that game that all the sports analysts were thinking about as today's game approached.

During the week of preparation, there was a lot of talk by Rex Ryan and the Jets' defensive backs. Ryan kept talking about how HE was going to be the best coach on the field on Sunday and how his beef with Bill Belichick was personal. The defensive backs more-or-less dared Pats' quarterback to throw in their direction.

The New England coach and his players were quiet. (Except for Wes Welker who made some veiled remarks about feet and Rex Ryan. Comments that caused Coach Belichick to sit Welker down for the first Patriot possession.)

This difference in attitude and comportment had the analysts fawning over the professional approach of the Patriots. Combined with the ease with which the Pats handled the Jets in the Week 13 (45-3) the experts fell all over themselves handing the Patriots today's game.

You do have to play them, however.

Jets 28, Patriots 21

Brady threw an interception to end the first Patriot possession. It was his first interception since Week 6 against the Baltimore Ravens. And, although it didn't result in any points for the Jets (a missed field goal) that interception and return set the tone for the Jets' defense. The Jets' defense kept Brady hopping all game. There were four sacks and many, many hurries.

On offense, Mark Sanchez tossed three TD passes to as many different receivers. Shonn Greene ran for another to put the Jets up 28-14 with about a minute and a half left.

Brady did complete 29 of 44 for 299 yards and two touchdowns in a losing cause.

The Jets now head to western PA to face the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC title. The Jets had never beaten the Steelers in Pittsburgh when they squared off on December 19th. The Jets started that game with a 97 yard kickoff return by Brad Smith and ended the scoring with a Jason Taylor safety. The final was 22-17 J-E-T-S.

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.

******

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.

J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS!

The Jets did the job today in defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 24-14. They gave up 171 yards rushing. (169 of them went to Cedric Benson who was the one bright spot for the Bengals.) But Sanchez threw one TD to Dustin Keller sandwiched around rushing TDs by Shonn Green and Thomas Jones.

As a team, the Jets matched the Bengals with 171 yards gained on the ground. But they also had a fumble recovery and an interception

The quarteback lines were:
M. Sanchez 12 of 15 for 182 yards 1 TD 0 INT
C. Palmer 18 of 36 for 146 yards 1 TD 1 INT

Palmer got sacked three times including twice in a row to end the Bengals final drive.

******

The Jets will be in Indianapolis next week. [Or maybe San Diego?]

My Day with the Pros

So, I've been sittin' on my butt all day watching pro football all afternoon. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and the temperature rising to the mid 60s.

So far, so good. The Steelers beat the Vikings. (I felt sorta bad about the Steelers ganging up on the "Old Man" like that.

The Jets went to Oakland and beat the snot out of the Raiders. The Jets ran and ran and ran some more. Despite losing their best runner early to an ankle injury, they still gained over 300 yards on the ground. (The Jets had more than 300 last week against Buffalo in a loss. First time in fifty years that a team has had back to back 300-yard games.) It's always good when someone beats the snot out of the Raiders. I was super pleased when the Giants did it earlier in the season, but today was icing on the cake. 38-0 Wahoo!

The Giants are yet to play against Arizona. Eli will have to have a good game to match his older brother. (Eli completed 23-34 for 235 yards and 3 TD while leading the Colts to an easy 42-6 over the Rams.) I may not make it passed the first half tonight, so I hope he gets out the gate quickly.[UPDATE: I did go to bed at the half. As a result, I missed the Giants' offensive collapse in the second half that saw them lose to the Cardinals.]

Miami looked like it was going to trounce the Saints, beating them to death with the Wildcat. At one point the Fish lead 24-3. But then New Orleans saw the light, Drew Brees threw for another gazillion yards, the Saints put 36 points on the board in the second half, and the managed to remain undefeated.

New England played in London. They should stay there. And based upon the way their opponents, Tampa Bay, played, the folks in Tampa may want John McKay back.

Aerie Report, October 5, 2009

A beautiful, if chilly and deer free, day here at the Aerie. The thermometer says the low was a mere 40 degrees soon after sunrise at 7:30 AM. The "high" at 4:30 PM was just 53 degrees despite the sun's rays shining between the scattered clouds. The wind blew steadily out of the north-northwest all day and would have had those windmills atop the ridge spinning happily if they had been up and online. If the clouds stay widely scattered, we could be in for a cold--not chilly, COLD--night.

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Not seeing hide nor hair of any white tails, I spent some time in the workshop again today. I managed to cut the final pieces for the square and dry fit everything together satisfactorily. Oh, it took a little tweaking here and there, a little sanding of edges, and a little "there, that doesn't look so bad" but it got put together. Once I was satisfied, I glued everything to the backboard. Piece by piece. There are the eight large diamonds; 32 small diamonds, 16 small squares, and 16 small triangles for the corners; four larger triangles along the edges; and 16 angled pieces for the interior trim. That's 88 pieces all together. And there's still eight more to from the frame. But those are a piece of cake to cut and install.

Dry fitted pieces on the backboard.

Sorry about the poor picture, but, for obvious reasons, I couldn't tilt the board for a better angle without having to play pick-up-pieces. Maybe tomorrow after I get the frame on it I can tilt the bloody thing without having everything slide off. The wood looks exceptionally pale here but when it gets a coat of spry-on Verathane on it it will change appearance. The walnut in particular will darken considerably.

******

Well, the Giants won, and the Jets lost. The outcomes were pretty much as I expected, but who could have predicted that it would be the New Orleans DEFENSE that would beat the Jets? Come on! An interception returned 99 yards for one TD and a Jets' fumble recovered in the endzone for another. That's ridiculous when you think about it. Two plays of 99 yards and zero yards produced two TDs, while the NO offense produced just 10 points--the same as the Jets' offense. *sigh*

Okay, time to go watch some old guy in a purple jersey try to throw the football around. He's 40-freakin years old? How good can he be with that wet noodle dangling from his shirt sleeve. What? His team is 3-0? he won last week's game with a hail Mary on the final play? No way! That guy retired at least twice...didn't he?

Later.

Another Excellent Football Weekend...

...at least as far as I'm concerned. Your mileage may vary.

On Saturday, the Rutgers' Scarlet Knights defeated the Maryland Terrapins 34-13. RU now has a 3-1 record. Their only loss, unfortunately, came in their opening game against Big East rival Cincinnati.

Sunday afternoon saw both the Jets and Giants extend their records to 3-0.

The Jets jumped out to a very early lead (14-0 before Tennessee ran a second play from scrimmage! The first was an interception returned for a TD) and then held on as the Titans attempted a comeback. They failed due to the Jets D and some an offense able to take advantage of forced errors. The final: Jets 24, Titans 17. I can't recall the Jets D looking this strong since the Namath Jets beat Baltimore in Super Bowl III.

The Giants demolished Tampa Bay shutting out the Buccaneers 24-0 in a game that wasn't even that close. (I have to take the word of the reporter and the talking heads on TV for that. I was busy watching the Jets. This was one of the very few times I can recall when you had to make a choice as they usually schedule one NY area team for the 1 o'clock time slot and the other for the 4 o'clock game.)

All three teams now have three-game winning streaks. Rutgers has the week off; next playing at home against Texas Southern (who?) on Oct 10. The Giants should breeze past Kansas City in KC on Sunday at 1 PM. The Jets will have the toughest game at New Orleans against the high scoring Saints in the 4 PM slot.

Jets 56, Arizona Cardinals 35

Brett Favre threw for 6 (!) touchdowns this afternoon. That's a personal best and ties some guy named Namath for the Jets best.

The Jets scored 34 points in the second quarter. That's a team record.

Laveranues Coles caught three (3) TD passes in that second quarter. That too is a personal best.

The Jets are 2-2 and going into their bye-week. More importantly, Favre and the rest of the team looked to be on the same page today.