Every 6 months or so, I am good for a post (it would seem).

Wow.  There has been a LOT happening in local sports since I last took the time to waste your time.  Hell, Spring Training starts in about a month.  I am once again going to openly proclaim that I will endeavor to post more regularly this year.  As far as actually doing it?  Well, I wouldn't put my mortgage on it.

So the Ravens are one game away from a berth in the Super Bowl.  And honestly, I had absolutely no aspirations of this team getting this far.  I was hoping for 8-8 and competitive in at least some of the losses.  Instead I get 11-5 and one loss from a 2nd seed and 1st round playoff bye.  I have had my wildest hopes for this team surpassed.  No matter the outcome of the game on Sunday, this season has been an unqualified success.

That being said, if they DO lose on Sunday I am going to be any combination of

• sad
• mad
• pissed
• pissy
• grumpy
• other random dwarf
• bummed
• et cetera

I usually subscribe to the "I'd rather get blown out than lose by a couple of points" theory of football.  If you lose by 2 touchdowns or more than it is one of those games where nothing is going right and you chalk it up to that.  Even in a playoff game where it is one and done if nothing is working than nothing is working.  You could say that nothing working is the reason I am doing this right now.  When you lose by a couple of points you sit there ruing that one play that cost you the game (there is always one play that makes the difference in a game like that).  But it is different when it is the Steelers.  It is different when it is a division rival between your team and the Super Bowl.  At this point ANY loss would be cause for me to be at least 3 or 4 of the aforementioned emotions.  And it is sucky that it makes me feel this way 6 days before the game as I sit here thinking about it, and it is awesome that my team has gotten to a point where I can be made to feel that way.  THAT is what makes being a fan fun.

Now as to what I will be doing at 6:30 EST on Sunday January 18th.  I will be sitting in my house, with food that I have prepared and NOT ordered from any pizza / wing / sub / Chinese food establishment.  My wife will be in the house.  The dogs and the cat will be in the house.  They will all be allowed to roam freely about the rooms.  If Larry the Upstairs Neighbor is home, he will not be sitting in my living room.  If C3PO the Translator Lawyer is free after watching his beloved Eagles play the Cardinals, he will not be invited over.  On the off chance that Fineous is free from family responsibilities he will not be on my couch.  Why?  

I am not an overly superstitious man.  However, the last two games I have been in my house, sans any company that is not legally joined to me or of a subservient species that have been living in my house and are dependant on me for food and shelter.  Both of those games have been victories for the team I root for.  I am not going to tempt the Fates by messing with a winning formula.  It is like Crash Davis said... "If a player thinks that he is on a hot streak because he is having sex, or not having sex, or wearing the same socks every day without washing them, then he is.  And you have to respect that."

Yes, I am using Kevin Costner dialogue to justify my hermit-like existence.  What can I say?