September 11, 2001

To be honest, I was hungover when I woke up on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

The night before I had watched the New York Giants and play the Denver Broncos in the first Monday night football game of the year. I watched the Giants lose and watched Broncos Wide Receiver Ed McCafferty suffer a horrific broken leg during the game. I woke up that morning remembering how horrific it had looked on TV.

I left from my apartment in Arlington – three miles from the Pentagon – at around 8:20 a.m. and got into work a little before 9 a.m. On the way to work, I don’t remember if I listened to sports radio talk show or if I was listening to a CD. I know for sure that I didn’t hear anything about the events that were unfolding in America that morning.

When I got into work, my colleague Mark told us that a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. No one thought for a second that it dealt with terrorism. Still we went into a meeting at 9:30 and discussed during the meeting how nuts the news was.

By the time I got out of the meeting, we learned that a 2nd plane had flown into the Trade Center and another one had crashed into the Pentagon. Of course, we all knew then it dealt with terrorism. And the news instantly affected everyone in the office because of the Pentagon’s proximity to our office. The second we heard, I really think that all of us literally feared for our lives. We all wondered what would come next. Would a plane crash into the White House or Capitol? The CIA building was right down the street from us…Would something happen there? The scariest thing was the unknown.

So, for three hours, our small office sat in front of the radio listening to the news come in. I’ll never forget the face of my boss Alison when she told us that her sister heard a bomb go off in nearby Alexandria. In reality, I think it was the sonic boom of jets rushing to secure the U.S. airways. The entire morning was just surreal.

After hours of waiting for traffic to thin out around Arlington, I made the usual 15 miles trek home. Traffic wasn’t thin that afternoon though. As I drove down Glebe Road – a main thoroughfare in Arlington – a trip that usually took a half hour, took me three hours that afternoon. We were forced on numerous occasions to drive up on the curb to allow ambulances to get pass us on the way to the Pentagon. Traffic was packed and you could hear everyone tuned into the radio to listen to the news.

I got home after three hours and sat by myself in front of the TV watching the same images over and over. I was mesmerized. I was sickened. I was sad.

That day, as it did for millions of people, left an undeniable scar on my life. I didn’t know anyone who died in the Trade Center or the Pentagon. I didn’t know anyone on the planes that crashed. But at the time, I lived 3 miles from the Pentagon and grew up in the NYC area, so I felt as if I was somehow affected. To this day, I tear up when I think about that day. I can’t read anything about it. I’ll never watch movies about it. And I won’t watch it if it’s on the news.

Six years later, it’s still hard for me to look back and remember that day. I’m not sure when it will be easy.

Scars take time to heal. These scars are deep.

Giants Defense Stops No One in 45-35 Loss

When you drop 35 points on an opposing defense, you are usually going to win the game a large majority of the time. Not last night though. Last night against the Dallas Cowboys, the Giants suffered an embarrasing 45-35 loss at the hands of the Wade Phillips-led Dallas Cowboys.

While the Giants juggernaut offense led by Eli Manning performed tremendously despite the early loss of Brandon Jacobs to a knee injury, the team couldn't make up for the ineptness of its horrendous defense. There were highlights to the game -- like Eli's 4 TDs and 314 yards passing and Plaxico Burress's 144 receiving yards and 3 TDs -- but they were only offensive highlights.

Tony Romo, who in my opinion is an average quarterback, looked like a freaking all-star last night throwing for 345 yards on 15 passes and 4 TDs. I know he was on the Pro Bowl last night, but is more deserving of that honor because of his catch of Carrie Underwood than for his football prowess. I can't even count how many times Terrell Owens and Jason Witten were completely wide open during the game. It's like the Giants defense didn't even prepare for the game. I won't even blame the first half injury to Osi Umeniyora for the Giants tremendous ineptness on defense. In total, the defense gave up 478 yards, sacked Romo ONCE, and allowed the most points in the first game of the season in the franchise's 83-year history

Late in the game, it got even worse as Eli went down with a shoulder injury in the 4th quarter. Hopefully all three injured Giants aren't out for an extended period of time because if they are the Giants season is over before it barely started .... God help us all.

Joba Fires it Up For Yanks

In his short Yankee career, Joba Chamberlain has quickly become my favorite Yankee. I'm not alone as he's also become a big time fan favorite everytime he takes the mound at the Stadium. Joba has wowed baseball with his 100 mph fastball and 88 mph killer slider - which is as fast as some pitchers throw a fastball. In 11 games this season, Chamberlain has pitched 14.1 innings, struck out an amazin 18 batters, given up 7 hits and no runs. It's a statline that it pretty amazing.

Chamberlain was a starting pitcher in the minor leagues and to get him up to the big show, the Yankees converted him to a relief pitcher. As a result, they've gotten much, much more than they bargained for He's quickly become the best and most reliable Yankee reliever and the definitive link to getting to Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning. Last week, Joba was suspended for two games after throwing two heaters over the head of Red Sox Kevin "Lip Full of Dipshit" Youkilis. Whether they were purpose pitches or not, Joba has quickly shown himself to be a tough fireball pitcher that won't back down from anyone.

It'll be interesting to see if Chamberlain keeps his ridiculous strikeout and scoreless streak up for the remainder of the regular season and into the October playoffs.

The Yankee magic number to make the playoffs is 19...for every Yankee win and every Detroit Tiger loss (2nd in the Wild Card race), the magic number is subtracted respectively by 1.. What once seemed a ridiculously insane proposition is now closer to become a true reality. Go Yankees.

Bioshock: An Awesome Gaming Experience

Bioshock - I bought Bioshock for the XBox 360 a couple weeks ago and finished it last night. All I can say about it is that it was completely an awe-inspiring experience.

A few months ago, I'll admit that Bioshock wasn't a game that was a definite buy for me when I first heard about it (yes, I'm a dork and have a definite videogame buy list). One of the reasons that I didn't think it was a definite buy was because of the complete slew of first and third person shooters that are on the XBox 360. I'm tired of playing them and I generally like other types of games than straight up shooters.

The more I heard about Bioshock and the more I saw video for it, I thought that I would like it and at least give it a rental shot. After I read the reviews, many of which gave the game a solid 10 - which you never see with video game reviews - I knew that I had to buy the game.

Let me tell you one thing: Bioshock was a great, great game. From it's awesome graphics to its awesome sound, I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game for 20 or so hours. A lot of the reviews talk about how Bioshock is a different type of game because of the way that it makes you feel near the end of the game. When I read that, I thought it was simply P.R. jargon bullshit. When I actually experienced the end of the game though, I agreed.

Usually when I'm done with games, I immediately list them on eBay so I can sell them and buy another game. I'm not doing that with Bioshock, though. First, I'm letting the 30-Year-Old Gamer borrow it so he can experience what I experienced. And when I get it back from him, I'm playing it a second time. That's not something that I usually ever do, but I will with this awesome game.

Highly, highly recommended.

An A-Bomb From A-Rod!

If Alex Rodriguez opts out of his contract with the Yankees after this season I think I might cry.

This season, he's hit a league leading 48 homeruns, driven in a league leading 134 RBIs and scored a league leading 127 runs. You get the picture. He's clearly the MVP of the American League this season and is the most menacing figure in the Yankees lineup. He's done more this year than in the past 3 seasons put together since he became a Yankee.

Tonight against the Seattle Mariners, he hit two homeruns in the same inning; one of which was a clutch bomb to Monument Park that tied the score at 2. In one of the most important games for the Yankees of the year, Alex came up big. Finally. Last night, he literally hit the longest homerun that I have ever seen, crushing a fastball seven rows into the upperdeck. I've sat in the upperdeck with Smelmooo before and I can tell you from nose bleed experience that the ball probably went 475, if not 500 feet. The second homerun gave him 512 homeruns tying him for 17th on the all-time list with baseball greats Eddie Matthews and Ernie Banks

This season, he's done everything that Yankee fans have been clamoring for him to do since he became a Yankee in 2004. It's true, it's still September. A lot could happen between now and the end of October. A whole lot of nothing could happen for the Yankees and A-Rod in the playoffs this season like it has in the past 3 years.

Maybe it will and maybe it won't happen. But I know one thing. I just convinced myself if A-Rod leaves the Yankees after the season I'll definitely cry.

Shut Up Tiki Barber

Tiki Barber, why don't you shut the hell up. Since becoming a studio guy for NBC's Sunday Night Football all Tiki Barber has done is use every second of his airtime to bash the New York Giants. I'm tired of it already. Tiki just needs to shut the hell up.

Two weeks ago, he called Eli Manning's public speaking comical.

Today, it came out that Tiki is AGAIN bashing Giants Coach Tom Coughlin in his new book: "How Tom Coughlin cured my fumblitis and turned me into a Pro Bowl Player." Actually, that's not the name of it, but I'm not going to publicize Tiki's upcoming piece of garbage. In the book, Tiki says that he probably still would be playing for the Giants - rather than bashing them on the sidelines - if Tom Coughlin was no longer the coach of the team. You know what Tiki, you are Terrell Owens in sheep's clothing and I don't want you any longer.

From the playoff loss to the Carolina Panthers in 2005 to countless times during the 2006 season, Tiki took ever opportunity to bash Tom Coughlin and rip apart the New York Giants from the seams. After he mistakingly told a New York Times reporter that he was retiring at the end of the 2006 season, Tiki served as a complete and utter distraction for the whole season. Now, that's he's not on the Giants roster this season, he's trying to do it again.

This time, Tiki is using his NBC Football Podium to bash the Giants every chance he gets. Get some new material, Tiki.

It's true that Coughlin might not have been the nicest coach in the league and I totally buy the fact that many of the players on the team hate his guts, but I sure think it's garbage that Tiki continually bashes the Giants coach after Coughlin cured Tiki's horrible tendency to fumble the ball at the slightest touch from a defender.

• Under Coughlin, Tiki lost 4 fumbles in 3 years, after losing 11 in the previous 3 years.
• Under Coughlin, Tiki rushed for 1518 yards in '04, 1860 in '05 and 1662 in '06.
• Under Coughlin, Tiki made the Pro Bowl three straight years.

And now that he's not on the Giants any longer, Tiki's taking every step possible to distract the team again. Seems to me that Tiki should be thanking Couglin rather than bashing him. So that's why I say, shut up Tiki Barber.

A Super Bad Summer Movie Season

The summer movie season sure has been disappointing. I used to love the summer movie season. I used to go to the movie theater at least twice a month during the summer season to see the latest action blockbuster...this summer...not so much. Maybe it's the invention of Netflix that has caused my wife and I not to venture too many times to the movie theater...maybe's it's the $10 tickets and overpriced candy. ....maybe it's because they don't let you drink wine in the movie theater....

Whatever it is, we've seemed to not go to the movie theater as much as we used to. This summer we saw Knocked Up together and Hairspray and Die Hard 4 with our friends. No, I didn't see Hairspray. This past weekend we went on a couple date with Smelmooo and Tangent Woman to see Super Bad. While the company was awesome and our visit to Red Robin was terrific, I thought the movie was another story entirely.

Overall, Superbad was a funny movie with some great lines and immature humor. It wasn't the funniest movie ever. It wasn't even the funniest movie of the summer. For me, Knocked Up was funnier by leaps and bounds. Part of the reason for me was I thought that there were way too many slow parts in the movie. There would be a few funny lines followed by 10 minutes of mindless inaction. That fact along made it a Netflix rental for me rather than a must see movie theater movie. I'd give it 2 1/2 stars out of 4.


Maybe it would have been funnier if they allowed you to bring a bottle of wine to the theater. ...