A pillar for every parking spot. Boston blog. (The, merciful, end)

Art · October 28, 2007

Hello all. Missed me, haven't ya.

We're going to win by 20. Bank it .

Here we go:

Noon, Friday -- Wife and kids flown to D.C. so wife can run a marathon and my mom can watch the girls. I call my boy and we settle on a night drinking. The simple life. Nothing eventful, just drunkenness. So, to Boston.

2 p.m., Saturday -- Land at Logan. The baggage claim area is about 15 steps from our plane. I stop, grab a bite to eat before leaving the boarding area. I go to the bathroom. I'm the last person out to the claim area and....NOTHING. So, I sit, and read a book, drink a juice. And nothing. I could have personally taken each piece of luggage and delivered it to every passenger before the buzzer goes off. I write this off to union labor .

2:30 p.m., Saturday -- Waiting for the Dollar shuttle. Like forever. Four Avis shuttles pass me. Three Hertz. In fact, there are TWO Hertz parked in front of me. No Dollar. So, I jump Avis and go for a cold car.

2:40 p.m., Saturday -- Leaving airport drive, Boston takes you on a wonderful journey to the center of the earth. Tunnel after tunnel. You almost don't mind paying the 15th toll just to experience daylight again. I did drive by Fenway Park and was glad no game was taking place as a ball would be certain to hit the car.

3:20 p.m., Saturday -- Closing in on the Weston. Valet parking or self parking. I pick self, entering an engineering marvel beyond comprehension. A parking structure that has accomplished what no other structure ever could hope to achieve. There's literally a pillar in every single spot. On the right side of you in one spot and the left side of you in the other. Not just some of they way for special reinforcement or sharp turns. But, every single spot for floor after floor of dark, creepy deck.

3:41 p.m., Saturday -- In the hotel room, about as far as can be from anyone else. I change and head down for a workout. Some 8-year-old is using the equipment I wanted to use. Avoid urge to crush him and pick something else. I am nothing if not kind.

5:15 p.m., Saturday -- Finished working out, starting to iron. Call JP, but, no answer. Must be on the way. Team isn't in yet either. Late start or maybe tunnel traffic. Who knows.

6:00 p.m., Saturday -- Showed up, ready to roll. Head down to the bar. Team is now in the house. Sellers wearing a suit that matches the little blonde dip in his goatee. Smootie and Rogers wandering off to their room together.

6:10 p.m., Saturday -- I get a Martini and move into the lounge area just to people watch. Couple of fans waiting for autographs break line and make it to the lounge before most chubby private security guard ever catches them and throws them out. Stephon Heyer goes into the bar and sits down, so I move back that way. Bram shows up and we talk a bit. He and a couple guys are going to head into town with Kelly Johnson and the Comcast crew.

6:20 p.m., Saturday -- Heyer is getting chatted up by these two 30-somethings, as they get his life history. They are Skins fans who won tickets somewhere and one of them apparently has a friendship with one of the Junkies, as they are singing Junkie praises. Heyer is just a good, nice guy. JP finally shows up, oddly able to find me at the bar, as if expecting it.

6:50 p.m., Saturday -- Joined by a friend of the site and Redskins guy who gets you all your discounts and your chat function. Drinking and chatting. Pete Kendall comes down that way and sits at the bar watching some of the Tennessee/Game****s game and talking football. JimmiJo chats him up about Boston College.

7:50 p.m., Saturday -- London Fletcher comes down wanting the Penn State versus Ohio State game on the tube. Bartender changes it with the warning, "When the Sox are on we're changing to that."

9:45 p.m., Saturday -- Daddy body clock demands bed and good nights to children. I go up to the room. A guy is walking a magnificently groomed French Poodle in the hotel. We get on the elevator. He turns to me and says, "Hey, you guys are staying here?" Only a guy with a French Poodle thinks I'm a player. Well, and really dumb, hot blondes in Dallas -- see Dallas blog a couple years ago. I said yep. Should be a good game. He said we have a good team. I said, "We're winning by 20. Bank it." He was shocked and I guarantee you he called all his friend and said a Redskin player predicted an easy win. Good. Let it spread. That's what we need anyway. Confidence, false or real. I don't care.

10:20 p.m., Saturday -- JimmiJo joins me back in the room. Life is not as exciting on the road with Larry in dinners with the Snyder.

11 a.m., Sunday -- Heading to Foxboro. We're about 25 miles away. JimmiJo gets us lost. Slack ass navigator he.

11:30 a.m., Sunday -- Ask helpful female driver for directions to Foxboro, realizing even before we asked the total futility.

12:30 p.m., Sunday -- Back on the right path, heading to the stadium, arriving in a good parking spot that is much better than the one on the picture of the stadium seems to make it look like. JJ goes and takes illegal photos while I work up to the box.

12:50 p.m., Sunday -- In the box. Only a handful here. One who is, the one, only, John Clayton of ESPN fame. This is the most unattractive human being the world has ever seen.

1:15 p.m., Sunday -- Head down to eat lunch. Good food. FedEx remains the worst press box/food setup.

2:00 p.m., Sunday -- Ryan O from the Times comes over to chat up JJ. Apparently Mr. Pappas doesn't know our job is to antagonize and anger, not befriend . Dave Elfin comes up a little later to say hi. Everyone anticipates a bad loss for us. Not me. 20. Bank it.

2:20 p.m., Sunday -- Colts game on. A photog gets run over out of bounds. Media members shout, "Help him up."

3:23 p.m., Sunday -- Teams warming up. Smootie is inactive. Make it a 13-point win now .

3:52 p.m., Sunday -- I am the only one here who thinks the Redskins will win. One national writer, sitting in front of me, has a lead for a story on the Colts/Pats game that goes like this, "To the extent there can be an in-season Super Bowl, this is it. Undefeated teams with a rivalry dating back to the 2003 playoffs, quarterbacks of historic magnitude, the ability to shut down their opposition....." He's watching the Colts win on television, writing the showdown game lead as if our game has taken place. If you read this somewhere tomorrow, I'll be sad . Let's hope we can make them change it.

3:58 p.m., Sunday -- Wow, the Pats cheerleaders just arrived and, wow. They are wearing sexy hot Halloween costumes. This is why Halloween is so much better than ever. JimmiJo better get MANY damn photos of this.

First drive -- Opening it up with a pass --- ALMOST intercepted. That's the kind of play that scares Gibbs. But we keep passing. That's what we have to do. Lloyd's in because ARE has a mismatch from the slot against their backers. Good to see him involved early. This is the kind of drive you had to hope for. Short, efficient passes. Judicious running. Not trying to bang our heads into a brick wall. Campbell's miss to Cooley had Cools and ARE wide open. Damn pressure. Drive stalls, pressure again. Good Time of Possession and change field position. Now the defense gets to show it's for real.

Pats on offense -- Classic counter. We're playing nickel, they run. If they run effectively, they win. That simple. Generous spot on the Faulk dump on third. We're going to have to step up on the run or come out of nickel. The Pats have us on our heels, unsure defensively. Not a good sign. 7-0 bad guys.

Rogers knee injury -- No specifics, but, they said he's out.

ARE pass -- Lloyd running wide open. Cooley open. Bad pass. Damn. Nice idea there. Then Campbell misses as Brady did the series before. Not sure Moss would have had the first, but, he's really got to catch things.

Pats are good -- We're taking away a lot of what they're doing downfield, but, then they delay and flare the back out and get yards. And they are doing a real nice job of spreading it around. Brady ties his career high with touchdown passes only 8 games in. Everything they do seems organized and calm, which comes from Brady. We seem frenetic. Have to respond now. 14-0 bad guys.

Well....-- We did what I thought. We opened it up. Trying. It's just not clicking. Daniels makes a possibly saving play. Now, do something with it.

The Pats are a class team right now. They are good in all phases and we are not. I thought we could get on them if we opened it up, but, they easily withstood that and just got too much distance. We don't have confidence as a team and that's a killer.

You are left to hope the team is angry about thinking the Pats ran it up on us. You're left to hope instead of taking the fact they were outclassed, out organized and out prepared heading in that they will take something that makes them so angry they strive to match it one day, but, for now, that's not a league were REALLY in. Hard to figure out why the team has been largely together for this long and still seem to have such trouble executing the simple stuff.

Next week will tell you if this team is going to fold up shop or keep plugging. No idea which way it'll go.

Art · October 28, 2007