The NFL network had a countdown of the "100 greatest NFL players of all time" last night. Jerry Rice took the #1 spot. I think this is a good choice. Jerry Rice led his team in catches even at age 40 (though he was playing for the lowly Raiders at that time).

Their list has Jim Brown at number two. I think Jim Brown is slightly overrated because his success had a lot of implications for race relations in America (his contributions off the field were also very important). For instance, Barry Sanders had comparable accomplishments, and they rate him #17 on the NFL list. Their careers were the same length and Barry Sanders had 3,000 more yards than Jim Brown with only 7 fewer touchdowns.

Anyway, here is the official list at NFL.com. Above the list, you can click FAN RANK and see how "the public" voted. The fan-voted version has Barry Sanders (my childhood athlete-hero) at #4.

I lost my wedding band for about an hour last night. We thought it had come off in the meatloaf when I was mixing/mashing it up, but we didn't find it there (we ate very carefully). I ended up finding it under the oven. That sucked.

As per the recent standard, I am having very bad luck with my desktop PC. It's randomly freezing. The forums and such claim that my specific problem is fixable, but none of their suggestions have worked. I'm debating between setting up WinXP immediately or just sticking it out and waiting for the new version of ubuntu to be released next month. I'm also thinking I should ditch ubuntu and go back to linux mint. Ubuntu is working like a champ on this laptop though. Super stable. In the words of Method Man, a demolition crew couldn't wreck it.

Stephen may be getting past his shy stage. He had a lot of fun with Steve last night and he showed no trepidation around my in-laws this weekend. He's doing lots of cool stuff. He's having a lot fewer tantrums now, and he can suddenly keep himself entertained for long periods. His favorite "toys" are still ridiculous, though. A pen inside an empty coke bottle. A carabiner with an empty key ring on it. Remote controls are still near the top of the list.

My wife's fantasy football team is a perfect example of the manipulative ability of wives. She's been softening me for six months. It started off as "Will you help me with my team next year?" This would receive a definitive response of "Hell no. I hate fantasy football." Then she would whine even though the draft was 6 months away. That behavior kept up the same for a while.. then as the draft approached she was always asking me what she should do (like I know). Then, during the draft, she didn't want me to go on a beer run because she couldn't possibly make any picks without me. Now it's the beginning of "who should I play?" every week. I found myself staying up until after 1am last night to see the conclusion of the last game of the week so I could make sure my wife's team won (they did, even though Ray Rice and her receivers completely sucked). Why am I constantly doing things I don't want to do? Oh, that's right--I'm married. I'm starting to see where all the cliche wife/husband jokes come from.

When I was a kid, it was guaranteed that Barry Sanders (Sr.) would show up in the NFL highlight footage... every week.. without question.

You know that kid in the old neighborhood that was just too good at sports for the rest of you? Maybe he was a little bit older or maybe he was just really athletic. This is the kid that didn't need any help when he had the ball because he was just so much better/faster than everyone. Well, that's how Barry Sanders was to NFL defenders. Bo Jackson famously said "When I grow up, I want to run just like [Barry Sanders]." (Bo Jackson was, of course, older than Barry Sanders).

Highlight videos:

1988 College highlights (poor quality video)
NFL highlights and interviews (excellent compilation. my favorite is at 1:59 vs the Cowboys)

I could go on forever about the guy. He had the most prolific ten-year span of any NFL running back and he played for an awful team with no supporting cast. He never once taunted/celebrated despite his endless string of phenomenal touchdown runs. He set 35 NCAA records in his only season as a starter in college--a season in which he AVERAGED over 238 rushing yards per game and nearly 300 all-purpose yards per game. His only season in NCAA football is widely considered the greatest accomplishment for any single player in the history of collegiate sports (for instance, his 1988 season was the only college athlete's campaign to rank in ESPN.com's "End of the Century" list covering all sports). A lot of people like to speak in hyperbole regarding sports and/or athletes, but in all honesty, Barry Sanders did things with his body that most athletes simply can't do. His ability to start/stop was so refined that he could fake out entire defenses with no blockers in front of him. He is also credited with "inventing" the spin move that nearly all running backs use today.

Anyway, I said all that to say this: Barry Sanders Jr. is coming up through the ranks in highschool football, and he seems to be a chip off the old block. Short stature with a low center of gravity and extremely muscular legs. He also seems to have the same reactionary style that his father did. Don't worry about blocking schemes and all that, just run. React to the defense. He certainly has the same knack for making defenders look like idiots.

Amazing touchdown run (freshman) - I count 6 guys who fall while trying to tackle him
3 TD runs in state final (freshman)
Another sweet touchdown run (sophomore) - in this game, Barry Jr. scored three times in the first 13 minutes
67 yard punt return for touchdown (sophomore)
An interview with Barry Jr.

This kid might be good enough to get me to actually watch NCAA football someday.

If you believe what he just said in his press conference, Kurt Warner has officially retired (See, Favre? That's how it's done! None of this wishy-washy retiring business). His is one of the greatest and most improbable stories in NFL history, to say the least.

After playing in college, he was not drafted by an NFL team. He then tried out for the Green Bay Packers in 1994 but did not make the team. He (now-famously) stocked shelves at a grocery store for $5.50/hr until he signed with an AFL team in 1995. He was eventually signed as a third-string quarterback to the St. Louis Rams in 1998. Teammate's injuries forced the coach to use Kurt Warner as a "temporary" starting quarterback. In his first four games as a starting quarterback in the NFL, Warner threw a total of 14 touchdowns. He led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory that same year, throwing for 414 yards in the big game (still the most ever in a Super Bowl game). He received league MVP as well as Super Bowl MVP awards in the same season. He had a few more good seasons--including a second Super Bowl appearance--followed by a couple of shaky seasons, and the Rams released Warner in 2004.

He immediately signed a two-year deal with the Giants. After starting the 2004 season with a 5-4 record, the Giants benched Warner in favor of the rookie Eli Manning, who finished the remainder of the season with a 1-6 record. Warner signed with the Arizona Cardinals in 2005 and had two tumultuous years in which he was benched and replaced with untested quarterbacks several times. In 2008, the Kurt Warner of old was back. He made all his former teams and coaches look silly for benching (or releasing) him in the past. With the exception of losing the Super Bowl, his 2008 postseason was the best on record. He set the yardage record and tied the postseason touchdown record. The 2009 season saw him break more records and reach career milestones (such as reaching 200 career touchdowns). He had a playoff game with 5 passing touchdowns against the Green Bay Packers but was nearly shut out by the New Orleans Saints the following week. After enduring several sacks and a brutal block-from-behind following an interception, Warner left the game for a time. The Cardinals suffered a 31-point defeat to end the season (and Warner's career).

Now the talk has shifted to "does Kurt Warner deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?" Some rankings and records in favor of Warner:

• Career pass yards in Super Bowls: 1,156 (1st)
• He owns all three of the highest yardage performances in Super Bowl history.
• Pass yards in a single postseason: 1,147 (1st)
• Career MVP awards: 2 (T-3rd)
• Career Pass Yards Per Game: 258.8 (2nd)
• Career completion percentage: 65.4% (2nd)
• Pass Touchdowns in a single postseason: 11 (T-1st, Joe Montana)
• Highest completion percentage in a single regular-season game: 92.3% (1st)
• Consecutive 300+ yard passing games: 6 (T-1st)
• Number of games to reach 30,000 total yards: 114 (T-1st, Dan Marino)

The common arguments against him are his refusal to rush for yards and his tendency to be very streaky (in both the negative and positive aspects of the word), but the general feeling has shifted and most experts now believe he belongs in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Bye, Kurt. Now who will be my wife's fantasy quarterback?

Wow. Way to go, NFL. Worst playoffs ever. There were so many blowouts and boring games, I don't even know where to begin. Despite there being some upsets along the way, the two teams with the best records made it through to the Superbowl. How boring. We could have predicted three months ago that these would be the two teams that made it to the Superbowl, and we would have been right. Where's the drama? Where is this "parity in the NFL" that we hear so much about?

The playoffs ended on a pretty deflating note last night. Brett Favre, after coming out of retirement again and exceeding everyone's expectations, proved he is still Brett Favre (and that is not a good thing). With his team in field goal range, he decided to make a risky throw on 3rd & 15 that was intercepted. Keep in mind that it was a tie game with fifteen seconds left in the 4th quarter. The reckless gunslinger had to take one more shot--had to throw away yet another season trying to be a hero. All he had to do was hold onto the ball and run a couple of open yards and the Vikings would have been able to kick a field goal and win the game in the final seconds. Instead the Saints marched down the field in overtime and won the game 31-28 because Favre had to try to win the game all by himself. It was all too similar to the NFC championship game in the 2007 season, where Favre was an interception machine and single-handedly lost the game for his team.

What a letdown.

Every weekend is more and more busy.

On Saturday at 11:10am, we saw Avatar in digital 3d. I have to say, I was not expecting much when we walked into the theater. I am not a fan of action movies, fantasy movies, or most any movie that cost over $50million to make. Having said that, I liked it more than I thought I would. There was definitely some poor acting by the main character and Michelle Rodriguez, but it wasn't horrible. And also, the mineral that they are mining is called "unobtainium." Really, James Cameron? Unobtainium? I understand that the term is sort of tongue-in-cheek, but it just sounds so awful when the actors try to say it with a straight face. The political and human rights side of it kind of bashed you over the head. I've heard James Cameron say that his pro-earth messages are subtle. Far from it. This is the non-cartoon version of FernGully.

Visually, it was definitely a step-up from anything I've ever seen. The first major motion picture to use CGI extensively was Jurassic Park, and to be honest, CGI characters haven't gotten that much better since Jurassic Park in my opinion. Every time Jurassic Park is on TV, I always marvel that the CGI in 1993 looked about 80% as good as most effects today. But Avatar was a step up. All the scenes where they were wandering around at night were phenomenal looking. This must be what it felt like when Star Wars came out.

Most people told me that it was not worth seeing unless you saw it in 3d. I guess 3d is the new trend to get people to go to the movies. This is marketed as some "new kind" of 3d, but this technology has been around about as long as I have. I saw 3d just as good as that (using the same technology of different polarization in each lens) in Disney World when I was six years old (Captain EO ftw). Fake 3d is more of a distraction for me than anything else. On one hand it's kind of cool, but on the other hand it's just not quite right and I'm always looking at the background instead of the foreground. Everything is just a little "off."

Then we ate at California Pizza Kitchen before picking up Stephen. Avocado egg rolls. Barbecue chicken pizza. Couple beers.

Yesterday was chores all day. I cut my hair, did four loads of laundry, and installed our new baby gate that can accommodate the weird angles and banisters at the top of our stairs. Installing that thing was no easy task. Seems like I still need to make a few adjustments, but it is going to work. We also went grocery shopping, cleaned up the house a little, and watched football.

Every NFL game this weekend turned out the way I wanted except for the Cowboys winning. That kind of pissed me off, actually. And of course, we were grocery shopping for the second half (and overtime) of the Cardinals/Packers game--the only good, exciting game all weekend. I think the Cardinals are my favorite team in the playoffs. Kurt Warner is an absolute machine in the post-season. When I was young, my family watched Joe Montana tear it up in the playoffs nearly every year, but I think Kurt Warner is just as good. He is every bit as calm as Joe Montana was, and more athletic. Warner's problem is that he will not run for yards... ever (and sometimes he likes to throw five interceptions in a game, but not in the post-season). Yesterday he completed 29 passes with a nearly 90% completion rate, and he threw more touchdowns than incompletions. Pretty staggering to throw five touchdowns and only four incomplete passes all day. The Cardinals were so efficient on offense that they only had five 3rd downs in the entire game.

We randomly started receiving Rolling Stone magazine addressed to my wife a while back. I'm not sure if someone bought us a subscription as a cruel joke or what. This month's edition features two massive articles about global warming. They do a big spread on the "earth's biggest enemies" and trash McCain and a lot of big oil executives and such. Just when I thought Rolling Stone couldn't get any worse. I know they have always focused on some things other than music, but how can you claim to be a voice of the counter-culture when you espouse the views of a major political party and Lady Gaga is on every other page?

My wife volunteered to walk the dogs for me this morning because we slept in and she didn't have time to do her normal morning routine. I said thanks and went back to sleep. Turns out it was nine degrees outside. Oops. Now she will never volunteer to do that again.

I was doing very well at making at least one post per day, but over the past 15 days I have fallen off. Things are back to normal now and hopefully I can continue.