The Devastation That Was Sunday

For those who have no interest in football, feel free to skip this very football-y post!

Wow, I had an ugly football weekend. Both of my teams (Steelers and Vikes) started out strong, scoring first, having great drives and basically owning the game. Then slowly it all unraveled. And mind you, the games were on at the exact same time, so I had both recording on my TIVO so that I wouldn't miss any of either games and I'm pausing and flipping back and forth between the games. Near the end of the game, the Vikes were up and had possession of the ball so I flipped to the Steelers' game feeling things were quite in hand there. The Steelers were also up when our favorite (not really) returner, Colclough, muffed the punt and gave it to the Bengals on the ten yard line. Free TD for the Bengals. How many people have to scream for Willie Reid, the return specialist from Penn State and the reason we drafted him to be on our active roster list? If Cowher doesn't make the switch for our next game after our Bye week his head will be fried by the millions of fans who are sick of our horrible special teams performance of late. One thing that does make me a little hopeful is that this is awfully familiar to Ben's return from injury last year, right before he led us to the Super Bowl. He came back and lost to Indy and then barely lost to Cinci, throwing multiple interceptions. They had an 8-game winning streak the resulted in a Super Bowl Win. So, maybe he just needs a couple of games to get into it, and this Bye week will help us get in sync since Ben and Hines haven't had a chance to practice much together. As much criticism as Ben's getting around the web, let's talk about our receivers dropping passes. In the Jag game, there were at lest 5 dropped passes that would have resulted in a first down. This game, there were probably more including a dropped TD pass. I can say easily that 90% of these passes could have and should have been caught.

Well, needless to say, after that disappointing loss, I switch back to the Vikings game, expecting at least that victory, but no. Brad Johnson fumbles when we have the lead and are just trying to eat the clock and wind the game down. Chicago ensues to get a TD and the game is over. WTF? I think the Universe was punishing me for something Sunday. Argh, that was a depressing day. To top it off, I have a feeling I will lose both of my fantasy games this week. Bad football weekend.

And now a rant on Cincinnati and stupid Bengals fans. First, I hate Cincinnati, if that much hasn't been made clear yet. It's not culturally rich or diverse, it's not friendly (anybody who has lived somewhere friendly and then comes to Cinci will know what I'm talking about), it's dirty, it's conservative, it's old money and it's ugly. Yes, perhaps you may think I'm being harsh, but coming from Minnesota where it's beautiful, strangers are your best friends, it's liberal, it's super diverse and there's so much culture there, Cinci is hell. So there's that, and then on top of that is the fact that I'm every obnoxious Bengals' fan token Steelers' fan, it gets old. Now I don't mind the friends I talk to regularly who I jibe at them and they jibe at me. No, I'm talking about the people who Do Not Talk to me unless it's to ride me about the Steelers. GET A LIFE! I don't sit there hoping my team wins, just waiting to ride a Bengals' fan about it, or, a better example, a Browns' fan about a loss. I have a couple of Browns' fans as friends and when they lose a game, especially a close one like this Sunday, I call them and tell them sorry that they lost, it was a close game and it sucks even though the Browns are also my rivals. I don't live to kick a friend when they're down, especially if I never talk to them otherwise. It gets old because I'm EVERYONE's token Steelers' fan whom they can complain about for "dirty" hits that only Bengals' fans still even think of as dirty and to ridicule when we lose.

Here's an extreme example that still irks me. I have a Bengals' friend who's not talking to me right now because He texted me at the end of the Jags game last Monday mocking me because of the shut out, and of course I was in the moment and already pissed off so I responded angrily (plus another freaking text message, what the hell - I seriously need to cancel my service) calling him an asshole and he got all upset and wrote me a whole email about how his feelings were hurt because I called him an asshole, etc. I mean, what'd he expect when he texted me at the end of a horrible game? It's in the heat of the moment and I'm still fired up. The next day, fine, but at the end of a game? I've never done that to a friend to date and if I did I would expect an angry response. Nonetheless I emailed back telling him it was in the heat of the game and I was still angry about it so I responded emotionally and apologized it offended him and even sent him an e-card to tide things over, because, after all, it's just a silly game and I don't take it seriously beyond the moment, but no, he has not responded for over a week now. Seriously, grow up and get over it already!

Anyways, I hate Cincinnati and I hate Bengals' fans because they act like complete asses to me, did I mention I went to pick up a movie in my Steelers' jersey on Friday and the guy working there told me I wasn't allowed to come into his store? I did anyways and unless he physically threw me out I was going to rent my freaking movie, but why is it okay to be rude to a complete stranger? I can't wait to move somewhere where I can feel like it's home. Somewhere that fits me as a person and where people are nice to you despite your favorite sports team or your ethnicity. Did I mention Cincinnati's the only place I've seriously been racially attacked? Sure, I've been given dirty looks before in places with confederate flags and with only white people (other than me) and I've literally been not served by someone before because I'm not white, but good ol' Cinci is the only place that I've actually been verbally attacked for my race which escalated to a physical attack.

Give me a place where I can feel comfortable and where people are open and accepting of differences. It'd be nice to be somewhere where there's some diversity. I'm sick of always being the only person with different point of views, beliefs, etc. because then I'm the one everyone always wants to argue with and debate! I'm totally cool with disagreeing with people and having different points of view from people, but I'm sick of being everyone's token Steelers' fan or token liberal or token minority or token non-Christian, etc. Fine, you disagree with me, I get it, I don't care!!! Leave me alone. In Cinci, if you're not a white, conservative suburban Christian then you're the odd man or woman out and they don't let you forget it either!

I can't wait to move and get the fuck out of here.

Alright, rant over.

On a Much happier note, I had a Wonderful time with my hubby this weekend celebrating our 2-year wedding anniversary. It was everything I wanted out of the celebration and I'm thrilled and walking on air that I'm married to such an amazing man. Today is our Official Wedding Anniversary (we just celebrated it on Saturday so we could stay out late) and it just seems like yesterday that we had our beautiful wedding with all of our friends and family and our doggies of course. That day was truly amazing and seriously the best day of my life. I felt like everything in the world was perfect on that day. I never felt like that before and I haven't since. I know with hard work and lots of love that this relationship will make it to the ends of time.

Alrighty, I'm done with the mushy stuff. I'll spare you. :)