neilp

I am a cheat, a traitor, a liar, unfaithful and I hate myself.

I have fallen in love all over again.  I cast off my old, tired and boring one and replaced her with a new soft, fresh and gently yielding one.  She is something that fits my new needs, she pampers me, makes me feel good about myself all over again. She's new, exciting and man does she look good and in turn she makes me look a whole lot fresher, more vibrant, more me!

Now I am living the guilt trip and it makes me feel so bad.  Why did I abandon her?  Why does she look at me like that.  I am only human, I have needs, wants, desires. I needed something to give my tired, sad and boring image a lift.  People look at me now with a smile, they notice how much different I look, how much more excited I am, how much more alive I have become and its all down to her.

But every day I am forced to look at the old her and the guilt trip gets bigger and bigger.  Should I dump her, should I just forget all about her after all we have been together for a longtime now, its time for a change, maybe someone else can make good use of her, come to love her as I once did.

What do I do? Should I find room for both of them in my life? Should I treat them as equals and hope they don't get jealous of each other? Am I crazy?

I guess I should just wear them both, I loved my grey hoody once, maybe I will again but for now the new Red one looks so awesome and if its good enough for Bill, it should be good enough for me!

I see people now posting recipes for sickly American goo so I thought I would get my own back by posting some recipes from my own country, England:

This is real easy to make, costs very little yet if done right looks and tastes awesome. The recipe calls for Raspberry Jam ( Jelly to you guys) but you can substitute any flovor of your choice:

Queen of Puddings

Ingredients

1 pint of Milk

1/2 oz of Butter

4 oz of fresh breadcrumbs ( can be either white or wheat)

2 oz of Sugar

Grated zest of one Lemon.

2 Large Eggs

3 Tablespoons of raspberry jam

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

You will also need a 1½ pint  oval pie dish, generously buttered.

First, pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, breadcrumbs, 1 oz of the sugar and the lemon zest, and leave for 20 minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to swell.

Now separate the eggs, lightly beat the yolks and add them to the cooled breadcrumb mixture. Pour it all into the pie dish and spread it out evenly. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until set.

Meantime, in a small saucepan melt the raspberry jam over a low heat and, when the pudding is ready, remove it from the oven and spread the jam carefully and evenly all over the top.

Next, using an electric hand whisk, lightly beat the egg whites in a large scrupulously clean bowl until stiff, then whisk in 1 oz  of the sugar and spoon this meringue mixture over the pudding.

Finally, sprinkle the teaspoon of caster sugar over it all and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the topping is golden brown.

Note If you want to serve 8 people, double the ingredients, use a 3 pint baking dish and give both stages a fraction more cooking time.

To any of you who can be bothered to try it let me know what you think of it....it is truly really easy to make and I guarentee you your friends will have never seen anything like it before..honestly!!!

 

Lets go back in time to the 1993 Super Bowl, the teams playing were the New York Giants and The Buffalo Bills. The storyline, a fast high powered offense vs a superb defense.

Fast forward if you will to the 2008 Super Bowl, the teams The New York Giants and The New England Patriots. The storyline a fast high powered offense vs a superb defense.

They say the more things change the more they stay the same.  Okay so I may have been a little liberal in comparing the 2008 Giants defense with the 1993 version but you get the point.  The man responsible for slowing down that high powered Bills offense on that day was non other than Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.  Many have documented that they thought that was one of the greatest defensive game plans ever devised, certainly in it’s day it may have indeed been so.  Since then Belichick has placed another one of the all time game plans on his resume when the 2001 Patriots downed the "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams!

Asides from Bill Belichick the common bond that ties these two games together is the fact that BOTH the heavily favored and high powered offenses ended up losing the game.  However, before the fans of the New York Giants read too much into that fact there was a matter of the winners having a defensive genius on the sidelines and a very special and unique game plan.

History has taught us that even the so called best can be beaten, even in the biggest games.  The formula for the Giants to win is not so dissimilar to the two games above:

1) Control the clock.  They absolutely have to keep the Patriots off the field for as long as possible even a 5 or 6 minutes drive without a score is a victory here.  Limit the amount of possessions the Patriots have.

2) Touchdowns.  When they get into the red zone they must score 7 not 3.

3) Win the turnover battle.  I know this gets mentioned in every game but it is an absolute necessity.

4) Pressure Brady with the front four.  You cannot blitz with 5 and 6 defenders too often because Tom Brady will kill you.  The defensive linemen of the Giants are good enough to do this on their day.

5) All of the above.  The Giants need to do all of these things to win.

A lot has been made of the pressure on New England to go unbeaten and it is a valid one, this has also being used to question why they have been slowed down so much in their last 4/5 games.  Well, some things will be different for this game for a start off the weather and temperature.  I am prepared to believe the Patriots receivers will be one or two yards faster on this surface and with the warmer atmosphere.

I firmly believe this game will be decided at the line of scrimmage when the Patriots are on offense, if the Giants do not get pressure on Tom Brady I think he and his receivers will just over power the Giants secondary big time.  The interesting thing to see is what kind of offensive game plan the Patriots are going to throw at the Giants it could be just about anything.  My gut instincts tells me the Patriots are going to come out spread the field and challenge the Giants to stop them, screens and draws as well as the long ball will all be a part of the game.

The Giants must stay patient and get their running game going because whatever the so called experts tell you there is no way the Giants can run with the Patriots on the scoreboard, they are simply not cut out for that kind of game.  Eli Manning has had a tremendous post season so far, he needs one more game.

The Patriots defense is already being maligned again, it is vulnerable to the run, it is old, it can be worn down...really?  It’s amazing that a team that goes 18-0 is considered weak, its linebackers worn out and tired, it’s defense fragile, last time I checked the Patriots were the number two scoring defense in the NFL and had the second highest number of sacks (The Giants being number 1).

I think we are in for a good game Sunday and despite the fact I am a Patriots fan  and could be accused of being a "homer" I think they will win and win well.  I am not saying the Giants cannot win just that they won’t.   I think you can forget about blowouts and I am thinking the final score will be 34-20 New England and the first 19-0 unbeaten season in NFL History.

You can bet Bill Belichick has taken a long look at the Giants vs Bills from 1993 and the Patriots vs the Rams in 2001 and will have pointed out to his team the similarities to this upcoming Super Bowl.  The question is how closely will the Giants have done the same thing?

I was very aggravated to see a piece in todays Boston Globe by Bob Hohler concerning some recent and some not so recent comments by Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora.  It is really a development of what the game of football has become these days and to me reflects a wholly unwelcome side of the game that frankly we could all do without.  To some it is called bulletin board material, to me I prefer to give it a title I feel it deserves, verbal diarrhea.

I should preface my blog concerning these comments by quoting a statement made by Umenyiora at the start of the 2007 season it reads as follows:

"I, Chief Osi Umenyiora, have officially declared myself to be the best defensive end in the NFL. To prove that fact, I will have one of the best seasons ever by a defensive end. If not, I will jump off the George Washington Bridge. I do not want to jump off the George Washington Bridge because it would be detrimental to my health. Thanks for listening."

My first reaction upon reading that comment was what a total idiot, how stupid and arrogant can you be, why draw so much attention to yourself.  Just what is the motive behind such a strange comment, the wording is almost childlike and is followed up by a gesture clearly he never had any intention of fulfilling.  I wondered to myself what tribe he was the chief of and kind of concluded that in lieu of his naming of a specific tribe I would acknowledge him as Chief of inane and stupid comment tribe of New York! Fast forward from May 2007 to this week and Umenyiora is at it again, this week  Umenyiora accused Patriots left tackle Matt Light of breaking the rules when the teams met in week 17 of the regular season in part by hitting him after the whistle. He went on to add: "He did a couple of things that maybe he shouldn't have done. Basically, in the heat of the moment, anybody can react like that. He may not have seen that as being dirty. He might have just seen that as playing to the whistle. There's no telling what he's thinking, but I perceived it as being a little unnecessary." When pushed for more reaction Umenyiora went on to say: "It wasn't that big of a deal," he said. "He's not that bad. It wasn't like he was trying to end my career or anything stupid like that, but he knows what I'm talking about." Well Osi my question to you is if it's no big deal why are you trying to make it one, why even mention it? To compound his team mates stupidity Michael Strahan a defensive end who has an established reputation that at least warrants being listen to went on to say:

"Osi really didn't say anything," Strahan said. "Everybody is so worried about who is dirty. I will be honest with you, if you [make me mad], I will stomp on your neck, too. Everybody does it. We are punching, we are clawing, we are under the pile grabbing each other God knows where. That is just the game of football. I love it when I read, 'Oh, he is a dirty player.' To be honest with you, we are all dirty."

Whoooooaaaaa slow down Michael "Stomp on his neck, we are all dirty".   Needless to say Umenyiora did not add to those comments, well let us be honest how can you? The interviewer did not ask Umenyiora if if thought Strahans comments included him.

I remember it was not all that long ago the NFL used to impose a fine on players for throwing the ball into the crowd, I believe at its peak it drew a fine of $1500.  That fine was levied whether the ball was thrown into the stands with venom at the opposing teams fans or gently tossed into the waiting hands of wheelchair bound child. Crazy?  You bet it was, but words and actions like these are becoming even crazier still.

Has the time come for the NFL to step in and start fining players for these kind of remarks or should we just let the players settle these arguments for themselves on the field of play?  To me there is no accountability, a quick scan through these message boards any day of week will find certain members of the community spilling hatred and contempt  on to other members, it has it seems become a way of life to spew forth inane, stupid and ill-conceived comments just to cause upset to others.

Maybe, just maybe some of that comes from people listening to guys like Osi Umenyiora.  I would like to finish by inviting Mr. Umenyiora to do us all a favor and fulfil that promise he made back in May of last year, for although he had a decent season it clearly was not one of the best seasons ever by a defensive end in the National Football League, we shall see if his words and promises are like a certain area of his brain... empty!