Survivor

First episode of the new Survivor was last night. The big twist for this season was that they let two of the actual Survivors pick the tribes themselves. I was a little disappointed because they kind of led you to believe that they were going to split the two tribes into men and women. I thought that would have been a pretty interesting scenario. There would have been totally different dynamics in an all female or all male tribe... oh well. Instead the two people picked more along age lines. One tribe has all the young athletic people, and the other has the old people. The old people are in big trouble! I think they are trying to make the challenges less reliant on pure physical ability by working in "brain" teaser type puzzles, but this doesn't really help the old people. They still lost last night and I have a feeling their tribe is gonna just shrink smaller and smaller.

Fantasy Football

Is there anything better than fantasy football? I doubt it. I am seriously addicted to my two fantasy football teams and pick 'em league right now. Every day at work I have to check the league homepages to see if anyone has made any moves with their team. I read all the articles about every team and player and can stare at my lineup for hours without doing anything. The week seems sooo long and Sunday can never come soon enough. When Sunday finally arrives I'm glued to the couch, remote in hand to switch games if need be, laptop fired up so I can follow all my players, pizza, beer, ... it's pure heaven!

One of the great things about football is that every game is important. Not like baseball where there are so many games that a win or loss in any single game is not that big a deal. The great thing about fantasy football is that it makes every play important. For example this past monday night my beloved Redskins got killed and the game wasn't even close. Despite the blowout the game was exciting to the very last play because my fantasy team depended on it! It's hard to believe you can make football better than it already is, but fantasy football does just that!

In Memory of Brandan McCombie

I was shocked to find an email in my inbox this morning with funeral information for Brandan McCombie, one of my high school friends. Brandan and two others were killed last week when their plane was lost during a Navy training mission. He was 25 years old. I wish I still had an email that I remember him sending out when he first started flying. It was during a time when a lot of missions were being flown over Iraq and I know he said something to the effect of: I know this job is dangerous but I'm ready to serve my country. To him it was not just a career, but really a service to the country. I am shocked and sad, but can still be proud of his sacrifice.

Brandan moved into the neighborhood sometime during my sophmore year of high school. We played street hockey together almost every day for a long stretch. Went to the ice rink every weekend just after I got my drivers license. Mostly just hanging out with the rolling valley crew. Lots of memories. His parents moved after high school graduation, so I think I've only seen him once since then, but he will be missed nonetheless. Peace Brandan Head!