Good God, It's Tough To Be A Die-Hard Fan Sometimes

I'm not the type of person to like people or things immediately. Most people assume I fell in love with Tom Brady at first sight, but I didn't. After the Joe Montana years (Montana was my first QB crush until I started crushing on my classmates who were QBs...hahah), I actually stopped watching pro football all together. I was a cheerleader from 5th grade to about 9th grade, but gave up cheerleading for ASB. Football (and sports in general) was still very much part of my formative years since I was always at games and football players often got elected into ASB positions (that WAS a popularity contest). Fast forward to graduating from college (UCI did NOT have a football team, so I spent my time mastering the art of failing classes) and...BAM! My beloved Albert reintroduces me to pro football.

Albert thinks it's weird to call yourself a football fan without claiming a team (I think he'll give you a pass if you're a gambler because you need to stay partial). He asked what my team was and I said the 49ers, but I wasn't able to name one player on that team at the time (2007). He suggested that if I claim a team, I should probably know some players. Made sense to me, so that's how I got hooked every Sunday into watching football trying to learn teams, players, coaches, etc.

The names coming out of every sports commentator's mouth...Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots. That season, there was the whole Spygate scandal and the Patriots going undefeated in the regular season. Being the deliberative person that I am, I didn't want to claim to be a Tom Brady fan that whole season for fear of being called a band-wagoner and I didn't know much about him other than people either really loved him or really hated him. To make a long story short, the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season only to lose to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. That was a heartbreaker....but I officially became a Tom Brady fan that night. Sure, it's easy to be a fan when the team wins...not so much when they lose.

2007: Lose to the NY Giants in the Super Bowl

2008: Tom Brady has a season-ending injury in the FIRST EFFING WEEK.

2009: Patriots are one and out in the Wildcard playoffs

2010 (aka this past Sunday): Patriots are one and out in the Divisional playoffs

Fmylife. I think everyone and their momma knew how much I wanted Brady to get to the Super Bowl and win. I watched in horror as that turned to shit at the hands of (who else?) my protege Mark Sanchez. The feeling I've had all week is indescribable. I'm doing all my best to shake it off, but I feel like I'm somewhere worse than Sad & Disappointed and not as severe as Depressed. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED??? Now that I'm a couple days removed from the game, I can accept that the Jets' defense rocked the shit out of the Patriots (the Pats have a young defense who ranked 24th out of 32 teams). And, probably the hardest to admit, the Pats were out coached.

Monday morning, I got pity looks from coworkers who know about my Tom Brady obsession. I even got an email from Pam, who moved back to Louisiana, urging me to "get of bed...brush it off...life goes on". She's a Saints fan, so I knew she could genuinely relate. Monday and Tuesday I could barely eat. Yesterday, tears started welling up out of nowhere. Was I really crying over football? Yes. Well, Sunday definitely over football. Yesterday was a combination of fasting, being tired, and thinking about going to Vegas for the Super Bowl. I could barely even utter the word football or anything having to do football until this morning when my mom asked why I took my Brady jersey down (it was hanging on my door as motivation to get in shape). I didn't go to the gym at all week because all I could think was, "What's the point? Brady isn't going to be in the Super Bowl."

I took to this blog to help write this crazy sadness out of my system because I do want to be more positive this year. But I am so, so heartbroken by Tom Brady not getting to and winning a Super Bowl. 2011 will be his 12th season and he'll be 34 years old by the time the season starts. People are already questioning whether he has it in him to win another ring. My answer...hell yes he has it in him, but the rest of the team needs to get with the program...especially the defense. No more being man-handled by other teams, especially the Jets!

...and with that my friends, for better or worse, I've already put most of my football eggs in the Brady Basket for 2011.

P.S. Officially, the 49ers are still my team. I can name players and even tell you a bit about their new Head Coach. I'll put a few football eggs in that basket as well. However, until they listen to me and get a good-looking, outrageously talented poster boy of a QB, then Tom Brady will be covered more. FYI...Tom Brady is from San Mateo and was also a 49er fan :)

Hip Fractures Suck

...no, I don't have one. But Frank Gore does, which is why I was horrified watching the game the other night. This also means I'm without my star Running Back going into "qualifying" weekend for our fantasy football league (aka I need a significant win to clinch a spot in the playoffs next weekend). Sad Face. Major Sad Face. I'm a bit anxious going into this weekend's game, especially since I'm matched up against Albert, who apparently has been rooting against me the whole season (thanks for that beb :P).

In any case, the following is long overdue...

To: bestniner2010@yahoo.com
From: OCWordSlinger
Re: Until Next Season

Dear Frank,
I've only heard the nicest, most respectful things about you - how you're a great team player, how you're going to be one of the best RBs of all time, how you work hard and love what you do. So, I can only imagine how much you must HATE finishing this season on the sidelines. Although the injury has ended your season, it's not the end of your career. That's one silver lining. The team does have a chance to win the division this season, but it's going to be tough and most of the fans want a coaching change so maybe it's a good thing for you to have a chance to observe the rest of the team. Basically I want to say, yeah it sucks you got injured but there's next year to look forward to. I'm sure you've already heard that a hundred times today, so I'll stop there.


I also want to thank you for being the most consistent player on my Fantasy team. I know I don't have the best record in the league, but I could always count on you to get me points and give my opponents a run for their money. You were one of the main reasons that I kept up with the 49ers  this season even though the team fell short of fan expectations. Although I am biased toward quarterbacks, you've made an argument that I need to watch other players - not just for looks but talent as well. You've made a fan out of me.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

P.S. You may want to suggest that the team draft a sexy QB. My theory is, if a team has a well-mannered, handsome quarterback with a sense of humor, then they're gonna win games. Just a theory, but look at the top teams in the league...QBs are pretty good looking and/or have a great personality that makes them wildly popular which can also be perceived as "sexy".

Countdown to Monday

I have never looked forward to a Monday because of sports so much in my life...

For the record, I don't know who these guys are and I don't know if they still play for their respective teams. I just needed a picture that illustrated the rivalry and this worked.

Well, I was looking forward to the 49ers playing Arizona too, but the 49ers aren't doing that great this season and the Cards are doing worse so I lost some of my interest in that game mid-season. I still watched...and was horrified. I'll explain that later.

Anyway...the Jets play the Patriots this coming Monday! AND they play at Gillette Stadium (aka Patriots' field). It doesn't help that I keep SportsCenter on in the background while I'm at home and listen to sports talk radio any time I'm in my car. They are hyping this game up like crazy and I'm TOTALLY buying into it. Besides, it's Tom Brady going head-to-head against Mark Sanchez - how can I NOT be into it?!

For those of you who don't follow football, The Patriots and The Jets are division rivals. The Head Coach on each team have wildly different coaching philosophies from the other and its reflected in their players. Both teams have a 9-2 record. And, let's not forget, they arguably have the hottest QBs in the league. This week's game is basically a battle for first place in the division and spot in the playoffs. The two teams have already played each other once this season (in September) and the Jets won.

In case you're wondering who I'm going to be cheering for...

...I've loved him longer :) Beat the Jets!

Done with designing...

...so it seems all I've been wanting to do with this blog is change the design. There's a lot I've been wanting to write about for this blog, but I've been writing posts for our corporate blog at work so that's kept me pretty busy. Now, I'm having writer's block for the other blog so I'm back here, where I can just write whatever without having to worry about being "corporate" or not. Plus, I think I've finally found a design that suits me.

Fantasy Football Update: I'm sucking. I've officially dropped to 8th place (4th place in the other league, but that one doesn't have money involved). I do want to give a shout out to Steve Johnson of the Buffalo Bills.

I have no idea who this guy is, but he scored me 34 freakin' fantasy points this past weekend. I still lost my game, BUT I'm glad I picked this guy up because Hakeem Nicks got injured during his game against the Eagles and will be out for a couple weeks.

I also cheated on Tom Brady by playing Mark Sanchez one week. Both QBs are punishing me. Brady does fantastic the week I play Sanchez, then Sanchez does awesome the following week when I play Brady. It's like they both know. It'd be crazy if they are actually reading this and coordinating when the other one plays well. It's highly unlikely since Tom Brady could give two shits about what the Jets do, but it's just a thought. Well, since there are no more Bye Weeks, it's Tom Brady all the way (sorry Mark!) until the season is finished. 

Work Update: Good news, I was promoted last month. My new title is REALLY fancy: Business Development Executive. Unfortunately, I do NOT make an executive salary BUT it'll be really pretty on a resume (hahah). Bad news, one of my favorite coworkers of all time, Pam,  resigned from the company and move back to her home town of New Iberia in Louisiana. Luckily, she got a Facebook account so we've been keeping in touch that way. With those two changes, work has been VERY different from what it was just two months ago. New boss, new project office to work with, new territory - all of which I'm trying to get used to without Pam to provide the comic relief or a lunchtime bitching session. I'll write more about all of that in separate blogs, but that's a quick summary of what's been going on at work.

Home Update: My mom and brother moved back into the condo in Diamond Bar. For a while my grandpa and his wife were staying with us too, but they moved in with other relatives in Garden Grove. So, in a matter of weeks I've went from living by myself, to living with four other people, to now living with two other people. It's been quite a challenge for all of us to get used to each other and the living habits we've developed over the past year and a half. I do think about moving our EVERY day, but I figure I have to stay put for now and try to save a down payment for something. It'd be nice to move into a place I own instead of one that I'm renting.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I hope to post more stuff up soon. Thanks for reading!!

Saved By A Giant

I've been trying to avoid writing this particular post, but after this week in football it's unavoidable and well-deserved...and since he was drafted by the Giants in 2009, I'm a little more okay with doing this.

To: ItsMyNicksInABox@gmail.com
From: OCWordSlinger
Subject: Diamond in the Rough


Dear Hakeem,
There have been very few bright spots to look to this season in football. All the teams and players that I thought would be doing amazing have been falling short of expectations or a bit lackluster. You, however, have been the saving grace of my Fantasy Team and I thought it would only be fair to write my first Fan Email of the season to you.


This past week I was down about 18 points going into Monday's game and you were the last player to get on the field for me. It was a pretty important game to me because I was playing against Victor who had the same record as I did (3-3-0), so I needed a win to have any kind of hope of getting to the playoffs and it all relied on you. Victor has also had MONSTER games, where a lot of his players put up double-digit numbers, so I was nervous. Did you buckle under pressure or decide to take a vacation day?? 9 receptions, 112 yards, and 2 touchdowns tells me, "Nope!"


Anyways, thanks for being my awesome player this week! I know this is long overdue since you also saved me in more than a couple games so far this season, but you're a New York Giant and as a Tom Brady fan it's hard for me to be thankful for a Giant. I've tried to delay it as much as possible, but you've been really stellar when it matters. Keep up the great work!

I heart football...

Football is finally back in session! We're about to enter Week 4 of the regular season and Tom Brady is 2-1, while the Niners are 0-3. It's off to a bit of a rocky start for me being a Brady fan and a Niner fan, but it's still early in the season. If the 2007 Patriots taught me anything, winning in the post-season is what matters the most.

The beginning of football season also means the start of Fantasy Football. I'm in 2 leagues this year, but one has money involved, so that's the one I'm paying really close attention to and I'm currently ranked 2nd in that league (yay!). The other league is just for fun with Albert's cousins. I'm ranked 9th in that league (boo!), but it's okay since Tom Brady was snatched from me (double boo!) - No Brady, No Point. I'm still playing actively, but it's just so that I don't finish last. I'll be starting Fan Emails to my best players from my Fantasy teams in the next week or so...and I promise they won't all be to Mr. Brady.

Speaking of which, the above-mentioned Quarterback has been in the league for 11 years so his retirement is something I have to consider. Not now, of course, but eventually. After watching HBO's Hard Knocks and being somewhat familiar with his college career, I'm considering Mark Sanchez as my replacement for Tom Brady when Brady retires. Sanchez went to USC (a school I've always wanted to go to despite the alleged corruption that goes on), he's from Orange County, and, if you've watched Hard Knocks, he's a funny guy. I don't think he's as hot as Tom Brady, but he's only 24 so maybe he'll get hotter with age. Thanks to Wikipedia, I also know that Sanchez is a Scorpio...I almost always get along with any Scorpio I meet! It's almost a match made in heaven....almost. Well, at least I have my eyes on him, so I can try to establish that I have dibs on him in the future. LOL!

Anyways, I'm just super excited the season is here and in full swing! There's something about watching football and the fall weather (once it actually gets here) that is irresistible to me! Hoping to watch the Niners when they come down to face the Chargers, but we'll see...YAY FOOTBALL!

Sigh.

It's hard not to cheer for The Saints this season, but last night was a different story.  In most cases, I do cheer for The Saints and want them to make it to the Super Bowl but they played The Patriots so there wasn't any question of who I would be cheering for.  I didn't think it would be an easy game, but I was hoping for something better than what I sat through and watched. The Patriots basically had their asses handed to them and were left totally exposed. No defense on the passing game. Well, if we're being honest, no defense period. Bad decisions. 2 INTS for Brady- he was even pulled out of the game during the last quarter. I can't even use Brady's hotness to cheer me up. On the other hand, Drew Brees had an insane game. Ironically, the only other quarterback to put up numbers like Brees did last night is Tom Brady. Perhaps, the torch has been passed. Losing is not a good feeling, but just have to deal with it at this point...still Infinity% behind Tom Brady. 

There's always next week...Squish the Fish!

My Little Beast

To:cjbesttitan09@gmail.com
From: OCWordSlinger
RE: Heeellllooo Mr. Johnson!
Dear Chris Johnson- Where the hell did you come from?! How the hell did I get you on my fantasy team?! I didn't even know your first name was Chris until a couple weeks ago, but you are doing FANTASTIC this season...which helps me a lot in one of my leagues! You have almost 200 more rushing yards than Adrian Peterson this season, that's just incredible :) I now refer to you as, "My Little Beast". Anyways, just wanted to say hi and keep up the good work! Thanks for helping me kick some ass in Fantasy!! - Michelle

P.S. The Titans kinda suck...why don't you come over to the 49ers? They're still building and could always use another GREAT Running Back. If you do come to the SF, can you bring a sexy quarterback with you? 49ers+YOU+Sexy Quarterback = Winning Season fer sure!

And...just because I may not have another reason to email him this season AND it's an excuse to put up a pic of Kim Kardashian....

To:kksman@gmail.com
From: OCWordslinger
RE: You have a hot girlfriend!
Dear Reggie Bush- As much as I want to praise your football skills, I think we both know that you're not doing as awesome as everyone expected. BUT, you had a breakout game last weekend so maybe it's a sign of things to come! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have won by 4 points in one of my leagues! So thanks for that. I'm pulling for you and hope that you reach your potential in a season or two. If you ever feel down and out on yourself, don't. On the bright side, you're playing for a team that's currently undefeated and...at least you're not Matt Leinart. - Michelle

P.S. You have a hot girlfriend and I like you more because of her. Being Kim's boyfriend is a major plus on its own. Please let her know that I'm a big fan of hers and that I said hi. BTW, I saw the Kardashian Wedding Special...good luck trying to beat the ring that Lamar gave Khloe!


For those of you who don't follow football, Chris Johnson is #28 in the top picture (the guy chasing after him looks so sad :\) and Reggie Bush, the guy (duh!) in the second picture, is a Running Back who plays for the New Orleans Saints.

Ouch.

The Patriots lost by 1 point to the Colts last night. The last 2 minutes were pretty painful to watch. Should the Pats have punted at fouth-and-two? Conventional wisdom says yes, but I would have taken the gamble too. The way I see it, there is less than 2 minutes on the clock and you're only a couple yards away from a first down. Risky, sure. But, if you have Tom Brady and are confident enough in your O-line, why not go for it? No guts, no glory. Well, according to everyone in the football world this morning, it was a bad gamble/call. Of course everyone's going to say that because they lost. It would be a different story had the plan worked like it was supposed to. It was just a risk that didn't work in our favor. Not much we can do about it now. At least the loss was to Peyton Manning, who is a funny guy and a great quarterback, so I don't mind when teams lose to him...but it's the Pats and Tom freakin' Brady! Brady is SO much hotter! If only wins were based on hottness in your uniform ((sigh)). 

The Pats go against the Jets next weekend...I'm hoping they pull out the win here cuz they have the Saints after that (eeks!) and need the momentum. Plus we lost to the Jets earlier in the season, so it would be nice to pay them back ;)

Julius Who??

I should be focused on other things right now. I should be writing something more important than this blog. It seems like there are hundreds of things more important for me to do than write this post. But, you know the feeling where there's just too much going on and it's hard to even sort out your thoughts? Or something has happened that's too sad for words and you try to find other things to distract you so that you don't have to feel that pain? Well that's sort of where I'm at right now. Don't worry...you'll hear all about it in an upcoming blog. For now though, to keep my sanity in tact, I'm going to keep distracting myself.

The following fan email is to Julius Jones (#22 in the picture). If not for him (and Maurice Jones-Drew failing to be the beast he usually is on the field), I would not have tied with Reggie in Fantasy this week. I know it's not a win, but I'll take a tie for sure because I'm really sucking in that league and there's money involved. Holla Julius Jones!

To: jjones22@gmail.com
From: OCWordslinger
Re: Saving My Ass in Fantasy


Dear Julius Jones- I'm not really a fan of the Seahawks, nor did I really know who you were prior to setting my rosters on Friday afternoon, but I just wanted to say thanks for being awesome on Sunday! You scored more points for me than LT and helped me tie with the #2 team in one of my leagues!  I'm not sure I'm going to play you after this (since I have Marshawn Lynch), but you really came through when I needed it and I just wanted to say thanks! I hope you have a great rest of the season (but not better than the Patriots or 49ers). - Michelle

In Brady I Trust

I've been part of a couple Fantasy Football (FF) leagues in recent years and relied only on ONE player to help me win these games. That player is Tom Brady, of course. As my appreciation for football grows with each season (thanks in great part to my fantastic boyfriend), I learn more about FF and am really getting into it!

For those of you who play FF you know there are weeks where your players just tear it up on Sunday (or Monday) and win you a TON of points, thereby helping lay a beat down on your opponent or giving you the edge in a close matchp :) For those of you who don't play fantasy, simply put, if your players are having a good game, so are you.

Anyways, when certain players have an INSANE game, I always wish I could find some way to thank them...you know, give 'em an electronic pat on the back or, "Hey, good job!" or, "Dude...thanks so much for helping me win this week in Fantasy!" Well, since there isn't really a way to shoot a quick email to players that they'll actually receive, I figured I can take care of that on this blog! I usually post these "fantasy" emails on the Smack Talk portion of the page, so I've written to Antonio Gates prior to having this blog. But now that I have the blog, I'll be putting the emails here. So the "first" email goes to.......who else......Mr. Brady.

To: TomBrady@gmail.com

Fr: OCWordslinger

Subject: The Awesomeness that is Tom Brady

Dear Tom Brady- I think you're awesome. I've been a fan of yours since 2007 which, as you know, was a record-breaking year for you in many ways. Yes, I teared up when the Pats lost the Super Bowl to the Giants that year. And, the season-ending injury in 2008 was a heartbreaker. I was a bit nervous as the 2009 season started, but had faith that you would get back into the groove of things and it looks like you have! I just wanted to say congratulations on a fantastic game yesterday and thanks for helping me get the lead in my matchups this week (I still have to wait and see how Antonio Gates does against Brandon Marshall before I can celebrate). Have a great week...BEAT TAMPA BAY! -Michelle

P.S. I think you are insanely hot and my boyfriend has approved you being on "The List" of people it would be okay to...well, you know. The chances of this actually happening are absolutely zip, nada, zero (especially since you're married to one of the hottest women EVER). But if you're ever in Orange County and some speechless female fan is able to utter a request for a picture together...try not to say no because that might be me. Thanks!