Sitting Pugs: Sports Movies

The New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons, the Superdome, Monday Night Football.  I was going to view the first half at my neighborhood Taco Mac but opted to “watch” it on NFL.com’s Game Center instead (much like my previous intake of Georgia Tech games on ESPN’s GameCast).  I actually spent the majority of the first half of the MNF telecast watching public television.  I checked twice online for score updates, and each of these times the Saints and Falcons were tied (7 points a piece and then 14 points a piece). But then, at the bottom of the second quarter, the Saints broke that tie with a TD.

I continued with Game Center and a friend of mine gave me commentary in real-time via gchat.  It was surprisingly fun.  There I was once (or twice) removed from the actual game-play but still able to know what had just happened via two sources of information.  The suspense was just awful too.   I didn’t always know if the lag in Game Center updates was due to a commercial break or a challenge.  Luckily, my friend provided illumination when it counted  the most.  By the way, I hadn’t noticed until last night that the Game Center’s field graphic has a default setting of Top view (aerial view of the staging area), and there’s also a Side view option (you get to see the sky and moon/sun).

We ended up chatting for an hour.  Here, have at it; it’ll spruce up your Tuesday commute through life.

Friend: Hey… sorry I’m on my fantasy page, need michael turner to have a big game.
Me: It’s fine, I was looking at the game center.  You sound like you need…as Monty Python would say, “And Now for Something (Completely) Different.”
Friend: A falcon victory tonight might help the mood here. I really should be in bed, gotta work tomorrow, but I can’t sleep when there is a game on.
Me: You can watch the highlights on the morrow? and then if they didnt win, it wont feel so bad? and if they did win, you can jump up & down for joy wherever you are.

Friend: I know but it’s not the same as watching it as it happens.
Me: I understand. The suspense is even worse when just going by online updates.
Friend: I am the same way when i go to games, i stay until the end. You’re not watching?
Me: I dont have cable and i was too tired when i came home from work…and didnt feel like washing my hair again, otherwise id have gone to Taco Mac.
Friend: gotcha
Me: ive “watched” a few GaTech games on game cast—-so suspenseful cause im just waiting for words to appear…

Friend: fumble atlanta ball. NO is challenging the fumble.
Me: aish. Oh we’re only four points down.
Friend: Looks like a fumble to me… but I’m a bit biased. Atlanta wins challenge
Me: Ryan got sacked twice tonight….yes?
Friend: Yep
Me: Did the camera cut to him afterwards for a close-up? Did he look all flustered?

Friend: Big run from turner. Um, yes but still looked in control of his emotions. NO intercepted at goal line. great game!
Me: 3 mins left to play.
Friend:Yep, i think it’s done barring a miracle play.
Me: You gonna stay with it til the clock says :00?
Friend: Yep… there’s always a chance, maybe a pick six for 99 yards. Here we go…touchdown saints… dang it!
Me: handbags

Friend: Yes. Still a great game, I’m glad i watched.
Me: interesting. I was just gonna say that im glad i couldnt. i think i enjoyed your commentary a lot more than the sight of Ryan getting sacked twice or having to “see” and “hear” Roddy White’s 3rd quarter TD taken back.
Friend: Both teams played great and left everything on the field.  That’s all you can ask for.
Me: what happened to Babineaux?
Friend: saints may be the best team in nfl. I think he came back… i’m not sure. Uh oh.. fumble by ryan.  Atlanta is challenging of course. Tuck rule… his arm was moving forward… again, i am biased. Atlanta wins challenge.

Me: Truth is stranger than fiction, yes,but can it defy the laws of the space-time continuum?
Friend: we need 2 scores with 1:59.
Me: well, actually..yes it can. ive experienced it before…twice.
Friend: truth is stranger than fiction… I believe that. 4th and 10… this is it.
Me: Oh poor Ryan. He must have that lost-parent-at-macys feeling. Yhat description is universally…representative of anxiety, of not being able to find one’s parent at a retail store.

Friend: I had a similar experience when my daughter decided to hide in a clothing rack. We had a long talk about not freaking dad out.
Me: The older you get, when you lose sight of family at a retail store, anxiety turns to inconvenience. and you whip out the cell phone
“helloooo? where did you go?”
Friend: i know, isn’t that crazy.
Me: and then you stare them down from across the store once you see them.
Friend: been there done that.

Me: clock strikes midnight. Coach is gonna turn into a pumpkin. Indeed babineaux is back in the game.
Friend: falcons recover fumble… hold the phone. Another review… c’mon. 1:23 to go. Atlanta ball.
3rd & 10. 1:03 to go. Another review of jenkins catch/non-catch.
Me: i like that phrasing.
Friend: 54 seconds. Ryan sacked three times.
Me: Goodness graceland.
Friend: Field goal attempt…good. Now for the onside kick. :28 sec. Time out by NO c’mon. Atlanta ball. big scrum for ball.  Atlanta gets the ball. Holy cow?! what a game. Atlanta ball @ 50 with 11 sec. intercepted… it’s over.

New Orleans 35 and Atlanta 27. Final Score.  Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

I had Italian food for dinner with my soulmate and my best friend earlier tonight. I could’ve finagled my way in front of someone’s hi-def wide-screen tellyvsion to watch the LSU Tigers and the GaTech Yellow Jackets grind poppy seed muffins at the Georgia Dome for the 2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl crown, but I chose to decline. Thus, I experienced the game-play via ESPN gamecast like I did a month ago when the Miami Hurricanes lost to GaTech.

By the time dinner ended, I got home, washed my hair, and flipped on my laptop, it was halftime and LSU was kicking GaTech’s hot cross buns 35 to 3. The Tigers had five touchdowns (one in the first quarter by running back Charles Scott, the rest in the second quarter courtesy of Charles Scott two times, quarterback Jordan Jefferson once, and running back Keiland Williams once). As for the Yellow Jackets, a field goal in the second quarter by kicker Scott Blair.

The third quarter sulked to the bottom before anyone scored. LSU kicker Colt David sent a fifty-three yard field goal sailing. Tigers 38 and Yellow Jackets 3. GaTech had gotten into the red zone in the bottom of the quarter but was unable to score before it ended. The fourth quarter began with GaTech quarterback Josh Nesbitt getting sacked by LSU defensive end Lazarius Livingston. Jordan Jefferson connected with wide receiver Brandon LaFell for eighty-frickin-some-odd yards for a touchdown…which was then retracted on account of an offensive hold penalty. GaTech got back into the red zone in the bottom of the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Nesbitt fumbled and the ball was recovered by LSU defensive end Kirston Pittman. Et puis il est fini. And then it ended. LSU tore the Eat Mor Chikin Noodle Bowl from GaTEch by leaps and bounds, 38 to 3. Final score.

Observations & Miscellania:

1. “Watching” via gamecast wasn’t so weird after all. The suspense factor was much stronger. The “ticker tape” had most of my undivided attention. My ears were tuned in to the first season of Soul Food.

2. One of my friends, and a GaTech alum, informed me when halftime was over. And then there was a brief chat that went a little something like this:

me: the pain one field goal? what was the halftime festivities
Friend: the only good thing about this game are the BLUE uniforms we are wearing – i love them!
me: how blue. navy?

Friend: i dunno i finished unpacking while halftime was going on. yes navy blue tops, gold pants, gold helmets.
me: why does that sound like Notre Dame?
Friend: it’s not, their gold is shinier. our gold is more of a mustard gold. Players love wearing blue. this is the first time since the acc championship game of 2006 that we have worn blue jerseys. the fans are divided on the blue. it’s our “accent” color.

me: anyone sing the national anthem?
Friend: they didn’t televise that. all the announcers are wearing tuxes.
me: dayam
Friend: yeah all black tie.

me: how did LSU get five TDs in the first half? i can read the stats & what not, but.
Friend: no defense. they also shut us down fast.
me: how has GT’s defense fared throughout the season.
Friend: we’ve been so-so, but we are coming off our WORST defensive effort of the year against UGA. we let them score 42 points on us. The preview article on AJC today–Tech’s defense had season-worst performances for points allowed (42), yards allowed (488), passing yards allowed (407), yards per play allowed (7.9) and most big plays (20 yards or more) allowed.

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Behold, the navy jerseys:

Image caption: LSU’s Chad Jones (3) breaks up a pass intended for Georgia Tech’s Demaryius Thomas (8) in the first quarter of Chick-fil-A Bowl NCAA college football game Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008.

Picture cred here. Scroll to the fifteenth image.

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

…Because resin, like amber, is pretty and sweet but sticky. You touch it, you get stuck in it.

I “watched” Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets host a puddin’ flinging bash against the University of Miami Hurricanes via ESPN’s Gamecast function. I had planned on seeing it at a restaurant but Lady Luck had other ideas. There was no televised aesthetic for me tonight. I suppose what I experienced could be called the “ticker tape/news ticker aesthetic.”

The Yellow Jackets packed the first half with punch with 24 points to the Hurricanes’ 3. GaTech’s numbers came from a field goal in the first quarter and three touchdowns (in the second quarter), courtesy of defensive end Michael Johnson (who intercepted Miami quarterback Robert Marve) and running back Jonathan Dwyer (who TD’d twice). The Yellow Jackets boosted their score with a field goal in the top of the third quarter. The Hurricanes put their first TD on the board not long afterwards (Marve threw to tight end Dedrick Epps). The Yellow Jackets replied with a touchdown, a one yard rush by quarterback Josh Nesbitt. On their next possession, they did it again in the bottom of the third quarter with running back Lucas Cox’s thirty-two yards of endzone-seeking. GaTech 41 and Miami 10.

The fourth quarter took off with Miami recovering a fumbled ball that GaTech quarterback Jaybo Shaw couldn’t quite sandwich. That turnover led to a touchdown for the Hurricanes; wide receiver Leonard Hankerson caught Jacory Harris’s thirteen-yard pass. A two-point conversion was no good. Yellow Jackets 41 and Hurricanes 16 in the top of the fourth. Miami rose up another notch with a TD by wide receiver Kayne Farquharson in the bottom of the fourth quarter. The Hurricanes’ first half was probably an experience that they would like to forget. Although they brought out a stronger second impression, their gusto ultimately could not overcome that of the Yellow Jackets. 41 to 23. Final score.

Observations & Miscellania:

1. Robert Marve quarterbacked in the first quarter and some of the second quarter. Jacory Harris took over in the top of the second after Marve was intercepted. Marve resumed QB work just after the middle point of the second quarter. He also started in the third. Jacory Harris was back in the fourth.

2. There are times when I watch football games (college and pro) on the tellyvision and the pacing of the game-play seem slow. The news ticker approach lacks the audiovisual component of a televised game, but time ostensibly passes by faster. I suppose it’s because there aren’t any commercials to watch or mute. My eyes are also fixed on the lower left part of the internet window. While it’s true that my love of football is predominantly informed by the televised game, my enthusiasm does not diminish just because I cannot see or hear the game-play. Whenever GaTech got into the red zone, I’d shot the usual “come on! get a touchdown!” I think the main difference in viewing experience is the processing of suspense. The game information is updated in real time but cannot be posted until the play has already happened. So the “live” casting is, from a certain angle, watching the past.

3. For a group of GaTech seniors, today’s victory will go down in their personal histories. Four wins in a row against Miami?

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

Check out this article for some factoids such as what Thursday Night football means for the Yellow Jackets.

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I saw some game footage on local news stations.  Lucas Cox and Jonathan Dwyer–wowness.  Apparently T.I. was at the game cheering on the Yellow Jackets.