Weekend!

Jaybird

Jaybird is Birdmojo on Xbox Live and Jaybirdmojo on Playstation's network. He's been playing consoles since the Atari 2600 and it was Zork that taught him how to touch-type. If you've got a song for Wednesday, a commercial for Saturday, a recommendation for Tuesday, an essay for Monday, or, heck, just a handful a questions, fire off an email to AskJaybird-at-gmail.com

Related Post Roulette

34 Responses

  1. Troublesome Frog says:

    I will be hunkering down and trying to avoid the traffic since we’re just a few miles from the stadium.

    My wife works at Intel right by the stadium, and she received a site-wide email last week that basically said, “Due to the Super Bowl, traffic is going to be insane here next week. So, [this is where I expected them to suggest telecommuting], employees should try to take alternate routes.” I suppose they were talking about the secret route that every Silicon Valley commuter keeps as a backup just in case things get really bad. You know, the really secret one.Report

    • The game is in Santa Clara, but the Superb Owl Week festivities are in downtown SF, a few blocks from where I work, and it’s been rampant insanity. The streets have been closed off not only to cars, but also to pedestrians who aren’t official Owl revelers, e.g. people living their normal lives, walking to work or transit. Walking on some of the streets that are alternates to the ones blocked off required passing through a metal detector. Getting in the ferry to and from SF now requires a search of my briefcase, Cops ares everywhere ($4 million in police overtime, it’s been reported, all coming from the same taxpayers it’s being used to harass), making sure the Owlers don’t have to mix with the rest of us.

      Honestly, we’ve had three World Series, an NFC championship game, and an NBA championship series in the past few years and there was none of this crap. The Owl as an institution has little to do with sports; it’s a conspicuous consumption fest for our poor excuse for an aristocracy.Report

  2. El Muneco says:

    Even as a pre-“12s” Seahawk fan, I didn’t see the 48 result as even a possibility, so weird things do happen in big games.

    That said, I see no chance that a 10-point game will be 38-28 or so. It will be 20-10. If Denver wins, or is even close, it will be under the Vegas line (45 +/- the vig). If there’s an over, it’s because Cam Newton and his posse are dabbing and running up the score, completely unlike what Johnny Unitas and Earl Morrall and Bob Griese would have done back when quarterbacks weren’t like… Newton and Wilson and Kaepernick(1).

    (1) Spell-correct suggested “Pumpernickel”. That’s wrong in so many ways.Report

  3. Damon says:

    I’ll be finalizing setup on the gaming rig and shopping for food for Sunday. I’m required to watch at least half the game with the lady friend, and since there is no way out of it, I’m making fish tacos, chille reanos (sp), and a few other things.Report

  4. dragonfrog says:

    There’s a thing called the Flying Canoe festival going on this weekend (Flying Canoe Volant since it’s francophone focused). Quebecois, Metis, and Aboriginal dance and music and stories and food, a giant snow slide, a bike chariot race. Apparently there was a downhill canoe race on Thursday.

    Around here the football fans seem to be pretty well behaved, and the real misbehaviour (anywhere from one column-inch “assaulting an officer” charges, to the rioting over the Stanley Cup in Vancouver, or (extra pathetically) over the Western Conference in Edmonton) goes with hockey.

    It is possible I am biased in this impression by the fact that I live a ten minute walk to the hockey arena, and more like 3/4 of an hour to the football stadium. If football fans also walk around yelling obnoxiously, peeing in the street and littering beer cans, I don’t experience it.Report

  5. Burt Likko says:

    But Denver already has a good quarterback, so there’s no need for Kaepernick (or some cognate thereof). Unless there’s something wrong with Brock Osweiler that I didn’t observe during his stint as Denver’s starter?

    I’m sticking with my earlier call: I’m taking the Broncos and the points. You’re not giving the “D” in Denver enough credit, @jaybird .Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Burt Likko says:

      Darkness will enter John Elway’s heart and he is going to say “Brock Osweiler who?”

      He will then demand an “established” quarterback for “his” franchise.Report

      • Burt Likko in reply to Jaybird says:

        Right. Because that mirrors his own career: he got really established in another pro team and then free-agented his way to Denver.

        Oh, wait.

        He got drafted by the Baltimore Colts after missing the Heisman Trophy, thanks to a bizarre last play in the last game of his college career when he was on the sidelines. Then he didn’t want to play for the Colts so he was going to play for the Yankees, and the Colts wound up trading him for (I had to look this up) a couple of pretty good line players and a backup QB who never really got a chance to do much of anything until a few years later when the by-then Indianapolis Colts traded the guy to San Diego.

        Point is, when Elway became the starting QB for the Denver Broncos he was in no way “established.” He was the high-profile college prospect picked first overall, a role also filled by guys like Bledsoe, Aikman, Stafford, Palmer, Luck, Vick, Newton, both Mannings, and most recently by Winston.

        But who’s going to be that guy in the 2016 draft? Likeliest prospect seems to be that Goff kid who declared early — and would Elway really draft a kid from Cal, even if he makes it to the Broncos’ pick?Report

  6. Miss Mary says:

    A weekend away at the Oregon coast with the whole family, including the dogs. Some people would think saying “the whole family” would imply the dogs would be there. Those would be dog people. I’m more of a turtle person, but the dogs that live with me are pretty cool, for furry creatures who chewed up my favorite pair of flip flops and two entire couch cushions. I will also be researching doggie day cares.

    The tradition of mom sleeping in while the kid watches Saturday morning cartoons lives on in my home. Teaching my son to operate Netflix and pour himself a bowl of cereal was the most selfish thing I think I have ever done, but now I get to sleep until 7 am on the weekends so my sanity is really a gift for everyone.Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Miss Mary says:

      Teaching my son to operate Netflix and pour himself a bowl of cereal was the most selfish thing I think I have ever done, but now I get to sleep until 7 am on the weekends so my sanity is really a gift for everyone.

      Growing up in the 70’s was awesome. My parents raised us to make our own breakfasts (cereal at age 6 or whatever, eggs at 8) and watch cartoons AAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Saturday Morning.

      We later learned that Saturday Morning was their together time.

      In any case: You’re doing it right. Don’t feel bad. Don’t let it happen on Sunday, maybe… but Saturday? OH HECK YES.Report

    • Kazzy in reply to Miss Mary says:

      @miss-mary

      How old is your little one? Mayo turns 3 in April and is pretty self sufficient. But on the rare days where he is up before me, his favorite early morning activity is sneaking into my room and staring at me from the far side of the bed.

      I work with children for a living. I’ve seen all manner of crazy kid things. But sensing someone is in your room, watching you, but you can’t find them because their stupid little head doesn’t quite clear the edge of the mattress is about as terrifying a wakeup as one gets. It is what I imagine the beginning of an alien abduction feels like.Report

      • Miss Mary in reply to Kazzy says:

        That is amazingly creepy. I love it.

        Junior is six. He was about three when I started teaching him to “focus his independence”. I’ve got him unloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, taking out the trash, feeding the dogs, vacuuming, doing his own bath, and of course choosing his own cartoons. He’s a bottomless pit, so he’d be pretty thin if he couldn’t get himself some fruit and cereal any time he wanted. I simply can’t spend five hours a day prepare the little guy meals who burns thousands of calories a day driving me and his kindergarten teacher bonkers.Report

        • Kazzy in reply to Miss Mary says:

          Mayo’s pretty independent. Or, I should say, he is highly capable and moderately cooperative. What’s been a big help is the introduction of Little Marcus Allen. While there has been some (expected) regression and (a typical amount of) attention seeking, he is also really eager to help. The other day he insisted on feeding both LMA and me… which means I can count on him to care for the both of us when I end up a decrepit old man.Report

        • dragonfrog in reply to Miss Mary says:

          We’ve gotta get a new faucet for the bathtub – a real simple one, two separately turning faucets.

          The current one tries to be fancy with one knob thing that controls both temperature and flow rate via movement in two dimensions. What it means in practice is that I can barely get the temperature right on my own showers, much less the kid running hers.Report

  7. aaron David says:

    Iam actually in SF right now, no traffic on the bay bridge. Weird.

    I dropped my phone and shattered the screen so i will be shopping for a new one.

    And rooting for the donkeys.Report

  8. Kazzy says:

    I think people are underestimating the Broncos. Their defense was really, really, REALLY good. Like historically good. And while the Panthers are a legit team, I think there are points in the Broncos’ favor. The Panthers led the league in points, but that was somewhat inflated by defensive/special teams points and field position. So while their offense is good, I don’t think it is truly best-in-the-league good. Much of their prowess was built on a highly effective running game. I don’t know if Denver can stop it but they can focus on it. Carolina doesn’t have much in the way of WRs, meaning Denver can take the opposite approach they used against the Pats (wherein they HAD to rely on their front 3/4 to generate pressure because you have to pressure Brady but you can’t blitz Brady). They can commit their front 7 to containing the run and force the Panthers’ WR to make plays. And while field position, take aways, and special teams is somewhat skill based, I think the Broncos will seek to minimize this by leaning heavily on their run game and imploring Manning to be really smart with the ball (which he has been since his return).

    I think the Panthers are rightly favored, but 6 feels like too much. If I was in Vegas, I’d take the points. But it wouldn’t shock me to see the Broncos use a ball-control approach and creative defensive attacks to stymy the Panthers and turn the game into a slugfest. And while we tend not to think of Manning as the sort of QB to win slugfests, this Broncos team can win slugfests.

    This all breaks down if the Panthers can control the line of scrimmage and use enough creativity on offense to slow the Denver pass rush. If they do that, they’ll put the Broncos on their heals and force the offense to take chances. Their opportunistic defense will capitalize.Report

  9. Tod Kelly says:

    I will spend most of tomorrow day interviewing current and ex-members of Scientology, and most of tomorrow night inserting quotes into a long-from piece on Scientology, and then shooting everything off to my editor, and then immediately after that spending the rest of my life hoping that I never, ever hear the word “Scientology” again.

    And then, once that’s filed, I will go and listen to people talk about their sexual quirks live on stage. Because I live in Portland, so of course that’s a thing that people do.

    Sunday I will watch the game at a friend’s house. He and his wife have a 7-month old, and so I have been asked to bring something from the BBQ/BGE to help feed his hordes. Am considering doing a couple of standard wing recipes, only with a few huge piles of drumsticks rather than actual wings.

    Tonight I plan on hunkering down with a few books. I recently bought/borrowed/been given a huge stack I have been wanting to get to. I’ll let y’all know which ones and how they are on the next few Sundays! to come.Report

    • Kim in reply to Tod Kelly says:

      I’m told wearing a mask while interviewing Scientologists may be the only effective way to keep from hearing from them ever again. Hope your life turns out better than Wise Beard Man’s did.Report

  10. Saul Degraw says:

    My girlfriend’s friend had baby number 2 so tomorrow we are driving down and visting them. Unfirtunately this in the direction of Soortsball. I want to see Hail Ceaser!Report

  11. Lois Bujold has written a new Vorkosigan book! Life is good.Report