Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 33: The Shame of a Yankee Hat.

Episode 33 was the Vertically Striped Party Line. Face Ventura and The Whale both hopped in and helped us discuss the first round of the playoffs in the NFL and we all decided that the Cowboys were the best bet of the weekend...which I REALLY hope we're right about.

I then had to clear the air by admitting that I wore a Yankee hat back when I was a freshman in college. The photographic evidence had surfaced on Facebook this week, and I needed to clear the air and apologize. I'm not sure I'll ever get over the shame...I'm day to day.

Jerry Fairish, big Yankee fan but otherwise a good guy, called in and challenged me to a bet involving our avatars on Dameshek.com. I took the Cowboys in their game against the Eagles. I will have to keep the photo of me in a Yankee hat for a month as my avatar if I lose. Jerry will need to post a photo of him in a hard hat climbing a ladder if he loses. Needless to say, I'm STRONGLY cheering for the Cowboys!

The Ed called in towards the end of the show to share his thoughts to fix football...because it's apparently in trouble.

The Vertically Striped Music Recommendation was "New Wave" by Against Me!

The controversial photo in which a much skinnier me is wearing a Yankee hat. I'm not proud of this photo, but I can't live a lie and say it didn't happen. I'm in a very strict rehab program, we're going to get through this together.

NFL Weekend Preview: Wildcard Weekend

Packers versus Cardinals is one of three rematches from last weekend in the Wildcard round.

New York Jets at Cincinnati – (Sportsbook.com Line: Bengals by 2.5) I feel like Vizzini in the “Princess Bride” trying to discern whether the Jets or the Bengals contain the Iocane powder. “On one hand, the Jets have a rookie quarterback and got lucky with the schedule or else they would never have made the playoffs, So I can clearly not choose the Jets in front of me. On the other hand, the Jets have a ton of confidence after just lambasting the Bengals only days ago, so I can clearly not choose the Bengals in front of you. Of course, only a great fool chooses a rookie quarterback on the road in the playoffs, I am not a great fool, so I clearly cannot choose the Jets in front of me!” Cue the Man in Black, “So you’ve made your decision then?” Me: “Not remotely! Because the Bengals come from Cincinnati, as everyone knows, the Cincinnati Bengals are entirely populated with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as the Bengals are not trusted by me. So clearly, I cannot select the Bengals in front of you! (Truly I have a dizzying intellect.) If you think I’m just stalling right now, you’re absolutely right, although I don’t think that the teams are going to give anything away in the next few days leading up to this game so I choose…“What in the world can that be!” Okay, so I am clueless on this game. I have no feel at all for what I think is going to happen in this game but I’m taking New York. Truth be told, I hate both of these teams, and I’m playing the Jets on a slight hunch. Although, I suspect that the Bengals and the Jets both contain Iocane Powder. Jets 17 Bengals 14

Baltimore at New England – (Sportsbook.com Line: Patriots by 3) No Wes Welker, a Tom Brady who is not completely healthy, a Randy Moss who may or may not care, a Bill Belichick that has been roundly criticized for being unorthodox…it feels like the Pats are ripe for an upset. The Ravens played them close earlier this year in New England, and surely Ray Lewis and company are not going to be intimidated going North into that environment. This FEELS like a game that the Ravens could pull out. However, I just have a gut feeling that the Pats are going to make a little bit of noise this postseason. It feels like a game the Ravens could win, but won’t due to their propensity to do stupid things. Plus, as sketchy as the Patriots have looked away from Foxborough (their only road wins this season were against the Bills and the Buccaneers, and the Bucs game was a neutral site) it is worth noting that they are undefeated in Massachusetts. The very human Pats still have enough magic to win a first round game and I think they will. Patriots 23 Ravens 13

Philadelphia at Dallas – (Sportsbook.com Line: Cowboys by 4) The Eagles had everything to play for this past Sunday in Dallas, had they defeated the Cowboys they would have earned the 2nd seed and a bye in the NFC. With everything to play for, they still got waxed 24-0.The Cowboys throttled them in every way, and while clearly the Eagles had a bad game…perhaps their hot finish was more of a mirage than an actual impressive streak. In their late season six game win streak they beat a bunch of teams that were either sorry teams all year or who were slumping to the finish. The Bears, Falcons, Redskins, Giants, 49ers and Broncos were not impressing anyone late in the year, and so I feel like the Eagles are somewhat of a paper tiger. The Cowboys have already taken down the Eagles twice this season, and I see no reason why they don’t do it a third time. The Cowboys finished with a three game win streak against the Saints, Redskins and Eagles…a more impressive set of victories than the Eagles to be sure. Tony Romo has caught fire, and the Cowboys just seem ready to finally win their first playoff game since 1996. Cowboys 37 Eagles 20

Green Bay at Arizona – (Sportsbook.com Line: Pick) This is the third game of the first round that is a rematch of the final game of the season. The Packers absolutely destroyed the Cardinals 33-7 on Sunday, but unlike the Eagles who had something to play for, Arizona was locked in to their position, and had zero reason to put forth an effort. They played an extremely vanilla game, and I think that there is every reason to believe that this contest will be much more competitive. Kurt Warner should play longer than just the first quarter, and I feel like Arizona is going to try this time…call it a hunch. However, even though I think the game will be much more competitive, I still think the end result will be the same. Aaron Rodgers is rolling, the defense has been pretty good lately except for one game in Pittsburgh, and I just feel like Green Bay is primed to move on. The Cardinals had their insane run last year, and I don’t think lightning strikes twice in two years in the NFC. The fact that I picked the Packers to win it all doesn’t hurt either when it comes to my final prediction. Random thought while picking this game: Pack or Cards sounds an awful lot like Pack of Cards…I have no idea what that means, though. Packers 30 Cardinals 23


My Picks Scorecard:

Last Week: 9-7
Regular Season: 161-95
Playoffs: 0-0
Playoffs Against the Spread: 0-0
Year to Date: 161-95

Why? Oh!

Why?

Oh!

Powerlines: Week 17 NFL Power Rankings (Heading into Wild Card Weekend)

I shouldn't laugh, because I stick my tongue out when I'm concentrating too, but man is that funny.

Alright! The preliminaries are complete, and it's time to get down to the serious business of crowning a champ. Here is how I see the power lying amongst the teams that have qualified for the postseason: (I just lumped all the eliminated teams into groups, no point in ranking them now.)

1. Chargers – I am becoming more and more convinced that the Bolts are going to win the whole shebang. This is an abundantly talented team that has rolled off 11 straight wins, and has no fear of going in to Indianapolis. I don’t see anyone in the playoffs that I envision beating them with the possible exception of the Patriots...who may just be their first playoff opponent. Man, I love the playoffs.

2. Colts – Despite being the best team for the majority of the year, there is something karmically wrong with the way they ended the season just not caring at all about dropping their final two games. Perhaps they bounce back, but perhaps they don’t. The fact is that in less than two weeks either the Bengals, Jets or Ravens are coming to town, and the Colts had better be ready to roll.

3. Cowboys – To completely lift the moniker of “team that folds”, they probably need to beat the Eagles in the playoffs. They soundly thumped Philly in the season finale which was significant for both teams, and I feel like they win the sequel as well. They have already beaten the Eagles twice, and I don’t think winning the third is far fetched at all. If they can get past the Eagles, I very much like the Cowboys odds of taking out the Vikings.

4. Saints – Such a strange dynamic going in to the playoffs in that the NFC top seed has lost three straight and the AFC top seed has lost two straight. The Saints appear to have peaked too early, as they haven’t looked the same since they railroaded the Patriots. Can they get their groove back in time for the playoffs? One thing is certain, this team is the one that most of America wants to win it all.

5. Packers – The Pack is white hot, and they get to go run with the Cardinals in the desert for the second straight week. If the Eagles find some way to beat the Cowboys, and the Pack can once again shuffle the Cards… do you realize what that would mean? Yup, the NFC divisional round would be Saints-Eagles in the bayou AND Favre-Packers III. What a wonderful playoff weekend that would be, and we haven’t even mentioned the possibility of Bengals-Colts and Patriots-Chargers. I’m giddy with the possibilities!

6. Vikings – That’s right, I’ve put the Packers above the Vikings and the 40 year old quarterback. Sure, the Vikes swept Green Bay which is why they are enjoying a bye this upcoming weekend, but Minnesota has slumped to the finish, and the Pack have surged. I’m just praying we get to see this match up one more time, and that the Pack can finally take down Brett when it matters most.

7. Patriots – Yes, the talk a few weeks ago when Belichick went for it on 4th down, and the Pats fell in Indy was all about how New England was finished. However, I would not want to face this team right now. You may not like Belichick, but he is the best coach in the playoffs by a ridiculous margin. Seriously, look who is coaching the rest of these teams…Norv Turner, Jim Caldwell, Wade Phillips, Sean Payton, Mike McCarthy, Brad Childress, Andy Reid, Ken Whisenhunt, John Harbaugh, Marv Lewis and Rex Ryan. Anyone on that list give you any sort of confidence that they can trade x’s and o’s with Bill? Yeah, me neither. The Patriots are lying in the weeds. They aren’t the favorites, nor should they be, but they are scary.

8. Ravens – Baltimore may have been one of the last teams in, but they definitely belong in the postseason. Their game against the Patriots next week should be excellent, and I have them as an underdog to be sure, but an underdog with bite. I will not be shocked in the least if they emerge from Foxborough victorious.

9. Cardinals – They can’t do it two years in a row, can they? They played a game against the Packers on Sunday where they had something to play for and they were bombed by a 33-7 score. I won’t say it’s impossible that the Cardinals come from nowhere as we saw them do it last year, but I think the Packers are a terrible matchup for the Cards.

10. Eagles – For all the talk about how hot the Eagles were down the stretch…if you look at their schedule, you’ll quickly see that it was Downy soft, and not only that, but they didn’t win a single game that they shouldn’t have. Seriously, their most impressive wins are against the Broncos, Falcons, and Giants. They only played four games against playoff teams, and they lost all four. I don’t feel like Philly will be in the postseason for very long at all.

11. Bengals – This may be another team that peaked too early. They could have improved their playoff position with a win last week, but if they had won they would have had the Texans instead of the Jets…and getting the Jets is probably better for them, so I don’t feel like their no show last night against New York was a horrible thing for them. The thing I would worry about is that they are now facing a Jets team that is all kinds of confident that they can beat them, and they haven’t beaten anyone stronger than the Chiefs or Browns since the middle of November. The Bengals-Jets game is clearly the worst game of the Wild-Card weekend to me.

12. Jets – Is this a solid team that is peaking, or a mediocre team that benefitted from playing two good teams late that had nothing to play for. The Jets have to be kissing the scheduling gods in that they got to play the disinterested Colts and Bengals teams, but now lets see how they do on the road against teams that care. I can see New York moving on from the first round, but only because they get to face a limited Bengals team that looks somewhat declawed. They will not advance any further than the divisional round, if they can even get there.

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Good, but not quite good enough:

Texans – Best season in franchise history still has them looking in from the outside of the playoffs. They haven’t been around enough long enough to develop a rival, but they can’t be too happy with the lack of effort the Bengals showed last night in a game that would have put Houston in the playoffs.

Steelers – A great team most of the year, done in by a five game skid against many crappy teams. Not much of a title defense from Pittsburgh this year.

Dolphins – Decimated by injury, they still hung in there. Against the Steelers on Sunday, they were down to essentially their fourth string quarterback, and STILL had a shot at the end. (By the way, did you see the hit that Pat White took? OUCH!)

Falcons – A very quiet 9-7 season in Atlanta.

Good start and then fell apart:

Broncos – A great 6-0 start foiled by an absolute embarrassment of a 2-8 finish. At the end, this team just really proved that they didn’t belong at the big boy table.

Giants – They looked great, and then they looked mediocre, and then they looked miserable. The G-men played like they were Cinderella and midnight was week 11. From that point on, they pretty much played like pumpkins.

Jaguars – I didn’t really want to put the Jags in this category, as in my opinion, they were always fairly subpar, but the fact is that they were 7-5 at one point, and in an excellent position to make the playoffs. Their four game losing streak collapse to end the season showed that the football gods can be just. This team finished exactly where they should…at 7-9, just slightly below average.

Surging at the end, but from too deep a hole to matter:

Titans – The anti-Broncos: They looked hopeless at 0-6, losing the final game of that skid by an embarrassing 59-0 score, but they then went on an 8-2 run to pull even as an 8-8 team that would have possibly made the playoffs if the season were just a week or two longer.

Panthers – The Panthers surge to 8-8 coincided with Jake Delhomme sitting due to injury. That is not a fluke. Jake had an abysmal season, and Matt Moore should open 2010 as the Panthers starter if they don’t bring in someone else.

Browns – After looking like one of the worst teams ever through twelve games, something clicked in Cleveland. The Browns finished the season on a bit of a roll…amazingly going out on a four game win streak and salvaging a modicum of respect for Cleveland football with the final four games.

Bad, but occasionally frisky:

Raiders – Yes, the Raiders only won five games. The real story of this season for Oakland is the level of the teams that they beat: barely beating Kansas City is no great accomplishment, but taking down Denver, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Philly isn’t too shabby.

Bears – The Bears finish 7-9, but apart from being the Vikings and Steelers, the rest of their wins were against mostly crap teams such as the Browns, the Lions (twice), the Rams, and the Seahawks. Hardly a murderer’s row. If the Bears want to be good in the immediate future, Jay Cutler will need to play a LOT better.

49ers – The Niners had some good wins, including thumping the Jaguars, sweeping the Cardinals, and outlasting the Bears. However, they finished at 8-8 since they let far too many games slip. They weren’t really bad, but they weren’t really good either. They were mediocre, which is evidenced by their ho-hum 8-8 finish. Their most interesting game of the year came early in a September game where they were very close to beating Favre and the Vikings, but were victimized by a tremendous throw by Favre and an even better catch by Greg Lewis in the final seconds.

Terrible:

Seahawks – The Hawks were a trendy pick to rebound from a poor season in 2008, and while they did improve, I think the pundits were looking for more than a one game improvement. They also get the award for most boring team to watch, as only three of their games were determined by less than double figures all season. The only thing interesting that Seattle pulled all season was breaking out the infamous snot green jerseys for a game against the Bears in September. Wow, were those ugly.

Bills – Another ho hum season in Buffalo (and Toronto), the Bills finished out of the playoffs yet again, and completed the entire decade without so much as sniffing a postseason berth. It’s not easy being a Buffalo fan, and they have my pity.

Redskins – Apart from beating the Broncos, and playing a game where they SHOULD have beat the Saints…the Redskins were atrocious this year. Washington was totally justified in firing head coach Jim Zorn, which they did less than 24 hours after the season ended in a move that surprised NOBODY!

Chiefs – A very bad team, but if there is anything good to take from this season for Kansas City, it looks like they have found a legit superstar at running back in Jamaal Charles. That man is impressive. I still can’t believe this ragtag group came into Invesco Field and thumped the Broncos in the season Finale, but they sure did.

Buccaneers – The Bucs managed three wins from a roster that is exceptionally light on talent. That can almost be considered overachieving, but I don’t think they feel that way in Tampa right now.

Lions – Can a team have massive improvement, and still only win two games all year? I don’t know if it’s possible, but this year’s Lions are as close as that will ever come to happening. I don’t think a 2-14 team can ever feel good about itself, though.

Rams – The Rams were just a dreadful excuse for a football team, and it’s appropriate that they finished the season being quarterbacked by a guy named Null.

Broncos Gameday Recap: Game #16 - vs Chiefs

Jamaal Charles and the Chiefs put the final embarrassing nail in the Broncos season this afternoon.

As the curtain closes on the 2009 Broncos season, one thing is abundantly clear. The aberration was the 6-0 start, not the 2-8 finish. The Broncos finish the season at 8-8, but in truth they are much closer to the 5-11 teams of the world than they are the 11-5 teams. This horrible loss also completed something that doesn't happen often in the NFL. The Broncos won all their divisional road games, and lost all their divisional home games...Seriously, how often does something like that go down in the NFL??

The crowd thinned out some towards the end of the 4th quarter.

The final chapter of this year was an embarrassing thud of a game against a team that had previously only managed to win three times in the other 15 games of the season, and never as convincingly and easily as they managed on the Field-Turf of Invesco Field this afternoon. One thing I didn't think possible was that the best player on the field played for Kansas City...Jamaal Charles may just be the real deal for the Chiefs. Definitely he looked ridiculously dynamic for them this afternoon.

One of three interceptions thrown by Orton...and the only one not returned for a touchdown.

The fact that the Broncos managed to hang in this game for as long as they did spoke more to the low level of the Chiefs than anything the Broncos were doing. The fact that it ended up being a 20 point blowout was justice, as the Broncos played with all the enthusiasm and excitement as cottage cheese. The final scoreboard read 44-24, but it easily could have been a thirty or forty point drubbing at the hands of a real team. Perhaps mercifully, the Broncos were kept out of the playoffs, as if they had headed to New England or Baltimore next weekend, the resulting carnage would have been beyond embarrassing.

Positives: (Not that there were many)

Gaffney had a monster game, sadly no one else in blue matched him.

Jabar Gaffney: In a game full of non-efforts...Jabar was amazing. His 14 catch 213 yard effort was partly the result of there being no other credible NFL receivers suited up for Denver, and in large part due to the tendency of Kyle Orton to lock onto one receiver and just keep on going to the well. It probably goes without saying that if Jabar Gaffney is your best player on a given day...the odds of you not winning are off of the charts, but I don't want to rip Gaffney for being one of the few Broncos on the field who looked like he gave a crap. Good job, Jabar.

Brandon Lloyd: For a guy who was only playing in his second game of the season, Lloyd sure made some big plays, hauling in four passes for a very solid 95 yards. It helps that the KC secondary is atrocious, but still...not bad for a guy who had only been in uniform with the Broncos for 8 days, and therefore hadn't picked up the stink of failure just yet.

I don't agree with the calls for McDaniels head, but I understand the sentiment.

Mitch Berger: I know for a long time I was pinning the whole collapse of the Broncos on Berger, as the curse of Brett Kern ravaged the Broncos. I still don't think they should have dropped Kern from the roster on the bye week after going 6-0, but Mitch played a pretty solid game. Averaging over 40 yards a kick, and pinning the Chiefs inside their 20 on three different occasions. I couldn't in good conscience rip the punter today, and really, he was the second best Bronco in uniform today. So sad.

Negatives:

The Broncos defense made Jamaal Charles look like Barry Sanders in his prime.

The run defense: Okay, allegedly the Broncos were trying to stop Jamaal Charles and the KC running offense, but I'm going to go ahead and say they weren't trying very hard. Charles had 259 yards rushing on only 25 carries, for an unholy 10.4 average yards per carry. When your running back is averaging enough yards to pick up a first down every carry, there is barely even a reason to throw the ball. All in all, the Broncos were outrushed 317 yards to 84, which is the reason that they lost.

Knowshon continued his late season slide into mediocrity Sunday versus KC.

The run offense: If we're going to spend a first round pick on a running back, it would be nice if he looked better than some bum you can pick up on the waiver wire. For the past month or two, Knowshon has been exceptionally ordinary.

The likable, but limited Kyle Orton goes down.

Kyle Orton: I like Kyle, but he is ridiculously limited. He'll never be able to put a team on his back and lead them to victory. He has an alarming tendency to lock on to one receiver and pretty much ignore everyone else.

Orton will be seeing Derrick Johnson in his nightmares...Johnson had two interceptions returned for touchdowns.

Although Kyle doesn't throw a ton of interceptions, late in this season, he was throwing far too many to make up for the rest of his limitations. Tossing 3 today was another big reason that the Broncos lost.

Josh was the toast of the town at 6-0, at 8-8...not so much.

Josh McDaniels: Earlier in the season, his play calling seemed dynamic and unpredictable...during the latest four game losing streak, nothing he called worked, he abandoned the running game entirely (not that I don't understand that a little, the O-Line has ceased opening holes), and his arrogance which when the Broncos were winning was tolerable is now less so.

With Scheffler and Marshall inactive by coach's decision, the less sure handed Daniel Graham was out there trying to make plays.

His bizarre move to alienate the best player on the team (Brandon Marshall) and their best tight end (Tony Scheffler) a few days before the season ended left the Broncos painfully short on pass catchers. We were left with Brandon Stokley, Jabar Gaffney, Brandon Lloyd and the blocking tight end Daniel Graham as the biggest threats. The Chiefs weren't overly worried, obviously. Now it appears that the Broncos will probably part ways with Marshall, and the talent cupboard is looking pretty bare.

Bronco Country has turned on Josh McDaniels.

The good feelings that were flowing so freely earlier in the season have now morphed into a nasty taste in the mouths of Bronco fans. He's back to looking not so good, which tends to be the default offseason mode for McDaniels...and hey look, today starts the offseason.

Final Thought:

A season that started out promisingly has dissolved into yet another middling finish for the Broncos. Since going 13-3 in 2005, the franchise has played .500 ball over the past four years. The Broncos records over the past four years...9-7, 7-9, 8-8, 8-8. This lukewarm, middle of the road football is not too much fun. It feels like Denver is about to bottom out for about three years or so and actually really suck for the first time in a long time, and that this 8-8 season did nothing but delay the rebuilding by a year. Of course, this is the NFL, where things can change quickly, but the vibe in Denver is far from positive.

Let us know completely lose perspective, though. I did predict a 3-13 season for Denver, and to be fair to the boys, they raised our hopes with the fast start, but finishing 5 games over what we expected is an accomplishment not to be sneezed at. There is still a lot of work to do, and that work starts now. The Broncos have to figure out how to run the ball effectively and stop their opponents from running the ball. They need a punter, and it appears that they will soon need some wide receivers. Oh, and they need a real NFL quarterback. Orton is a fine stop-gap for a year or two, but he cannot possibly be the long term solution if the goal is to become a viable contender for a championship.

Let us wash out our mouths of the taste of this horrible ending, and remember that the offseason is where dreams can be built. This post ends our Broncos game coverage until August, but I remain a Broncos fan. Through thick or thin...or though just being a very average team...Go Broncos!

01-02-2010 - Happy Palindrome Day!

In honor of today's date being the same backwards or forwards, I thought I'd post a few palindrome songs for your enjoyment. The first is Bob by Weird Al where the lyrics are all palindromes, and the style in undeniably Bob Dylan. The second is They Might Be Giants...I Palindrome I, from their stint on Letterman.

Vertically Striped Radio - Episode 32: Setting fire to the Yule Goat

Vertically Striped Radio began 2010 by reminiscing about 2009. The Whale and Face Ventura helped me with a Magnificent 7 list of the Seven biggest stories in Sports, the Seven biggest stories in the News, and the Seven biggest stories for the Shek Republic on Dameshek.com.

We also went back to the summer of 2008 for a great moment in the history of Blog Talk Radio to hear Mike Dell of the LCS Hockey Show expound about how there was no way the Red Wings would get back to the Stanley Cup Finals...which of course, they did.

Finally, we had the Vertically Striped Music Recommendation of The Avett Brothers album "I and Love and You." which is an album I have become obsessed with this week. Flat out great music.

What the heck was going on in the sky in Norway last month?

I'm not even going to pretend like I understand what's going on here, but there are WAY to many reports of people seeing this. Obviously something was going on. The "official" story is that it was some Russian Missile test launch gone wrong. That story just doesn't pass the sniff test, though. Something funky is going down in Norway. It also happened around the time Obama was about to show up in Norway to accept his Nobel Peace Prize. Nutty stuff, so wonderfully weird.

Nice socks, fat man! Oh, and Happy New Year.

What better way to ring in a new decade than with a photo of a freakishly skinny dude boxing a fat dude with Vertically Striped Socks? Hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years Eve...I am so cool that I stayed up late with my wife watching "Almost Famous." By the time the movie was over, so was 2009. I wonder what me in my early 20's would have thought of me at 33 barely even acknowledging the new year coming and really only staying up past midnight as a coincidence that arose through watching a good movie? I think I'm officially old.

Actually, I was at a furniture store the other day with my wife and daughter, and Ellie (My daughter) wanted to play in all the fun bunk beds they had for sale. I realized how you can officially tell when you are an adult and not a kid. At the moment where you would rather fight for the bottom bunk than the top bunk...your childhood is over. Bunkbeds are cool these days, too. Part of me wants to get super rich just so that I can have a house with a killer custom bunkbed in the shape of a dragon or a castle or something. (Okay, so perhaps my childhood isn't ENTIRELY over, since this is something I would consider...) Yes, I need to get out more, but as I discussed earlier, I tend to do things like watch movies on New Years Eve...so all hope may be lost.

I have no idea what the point of this post was other than to ramble a bit, and to say Happy New Year to you all! May 2010 be the year that it all happens. (That wish was purposely vague so you can adapt it to whatever happens in 2010 and still be successful this year. It's all about managing expectations, people.) Okay, I'm going to stop typing now.

Edit: My wife says I'm lying by claiming to be cool in my early 20's. I think if you've been reading me for any amount of time that you've already figured out that I'm not cool, but just in case there was any doubt. In my early 20's...I was not cool...and my early 20's self would probably look at me and say, "Yup, that's about right." Sorry if you have felt misled.

Avett Brothers - Head full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise

I have fallen in love with this song...it's SO good.