Brakos' NFL Tour 2009

Discussion in 'NFL General Discussion' started by brakos82, May 24, 2009.

  1. hermhater

    hermhater Guest

    OK then post a picture of you with that days newspaper like they do to prove where/when they are.
     
  2. brakos82

    brakos82 30% more cats than last year!

    Day 10 - Sunday, Sept 20 (Texans at Titans)

    Where do I start? How about: Take THAT you filthy bastards!

    Probably couldn't've picked a worse weather day for a game, but at least we got it out of the way before the major squall moved in around 4:30.

    The game started out quick, as our "Boom-or-Bust" defense reared its ugly head again with 2 long TD plays by Chris Johnson. Couple that with an acrobatic catch by Andre Johnson and a TD pass from Collins to Washington, I figured that would be a good time to start drinking LOL. I got through about two swallows of beer when Andre Johnson broke open for a 72-yard TD catch. After that, the Texans closed back in with another strike to Jacoby Jones, on a questionable catch that went in the Texans' favor for possibly the first time in franchise history LOL.

    Tied up at 24 at the half, the Texans had Tennessee pinned back at their own 1. Five plays later, the bust equation of "boom-or-bust" shows up again, as Chris Johnson breaks off a 91-yard TD run to put the Titans ahead 31-24. After exchanging 3-and-outs, TE Owen Daniels had his drive in the spotlight, converting a 2nd and 23 after a Houston penalty, followed up by the TD catch to tie the game back up. The second questionable call of the day happened on the punt return by Jacoby Jones. Jones muffed the punt, but a Titan player made contact with him before the ball hit the ground, so it was ruled fair catch interference.

    In the 4th, tied at 31, Titans coach Jeff Fisher elects to attempt a 4th and 6 at the Texans' 33 yard line. After an unsuccessful pass attempt to Gage (dejavu, anyone?), Houston took over on downs. Not long after, the brawl of the game broke out on the Texans sidelines, eventually leading to the ejection of one Titan player. On the next possession, the Texans connected on a deep pass to Jacoby Jones for 44 yards, putting Kris Brown into field-goal range for the eventual game winner with under 3 minutes left.

    For us being in enemy territory, the fans around us were quite civil. We met a couple in the row above us that travelled from Nevada to come to this game, so we weren't the only foreign ones LOL. The fans here were easily excited by every play, letting the referees know when they didn't like a call. It seemed a lot more relaxed-lively in the 1st quarter, but once the Titans started losing grip of the 21-7 lead they had, the crowd was visibly and audibly more intense. Also, it seems to me that the stadium itself is still lacking an identity in the NFL. If you showed me the stadium without all of the Titans logos and colors on the wall, I wouldn't have guessed that the Titans played there. It's not all that unique. All in all, for this being a fueled rivalry, it was a good experience for a Titans game. If I can make a trip up here for another Texans match-up, I easily would.

    Now, on to the random side-bar things that always accompany these updates. I figured that being this close to the airport would make it really loud in here, but it's not bad. Maybe it's just that we're not directly in line with the runways or what, but it's not bad.

    Plan for the rest of this week: Head around downtown tomorrow, and then the only thing set in stone after that is the Tuesday Night Opry, which is actually on Wednesday. Okay, it's not really on Wednesday LOL. We're also likely to head back to downtown again, along with that lake we found yesterday.

    And another thing... Megann stole the camera as we were heading to the game, and somehow she managed to get the camera to only display in French. And since none of us know French at all, we can't figure out how to get it to go back to English. I swear, we're great at breaking technology. LOL Anyways, before she stole it, I was able to get one snapped from across the river. And Vista still sucks.

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    Okay, it's 1 AM, I'm tired as hell, and I'm going to bed. LOL
     
  3. hermhater

    hermhater Guest

    Megann needs a stern talking to...


    Awesome update brakos!!
     
  4. brakos82

    brakos82 30% more cats than last year!

    She always breaks electronics... usually I can fix them, but I don't know French. LOL
     
  5. ball in the baskett

    ball in the baskett First Team All Pro

    awesome pic
     
  6. hermhater

    hermhater Guest

    I'd uninstall and then reinstall Megann.
     
  7. brakos82

    brakos82 30% more cats than last year!

    Take her out, blow on her, and put her back.








    All NES-related puns intended. LOL
     
  8. hermhater

    hermhater Guest

    :icon_lol:
     
  9. brakos82

    brakos82 30% more cats than last year!

    Day 11 - Monday, Sept 21

    I may get shot for this, but ESPN might actually know what they're doing with these Monday night games this year. Three last-minute games in a row so far.

    Today called for being lazy-asses again. We opted for waking up earlier than usual (why, I have no idea) and headed back out to the lake around 9. The showers seemed to be at bay all day today. We got back in around 11, and sat around for the most part. A late lunch out at Waffle House across the street (guess what we had? LOL) was our only real activity until we opted to head to the downtown waterfront. Even for a Monday evening, downtown Nashville seemed very lively at the time. As you'll see in the pic of LP Field, maybe this game should've been on Monday Night. Barely a cloud in sight. LOL

    And now for my random ramblings: We found an ice cream shop Downtown (Mike's on 3rd and Broadway if you're ever in town) that has some of the best ice cream we've ever had.
    We found a country radio station that's actually the home of "Big D and Bubba", a syndicated morning show. The station's call letters are WSIX. You would think they would call themselves "W6", but they don't. Talk about a lack of marketing skills. LOL
    Also, with the ongoing saga of the Camera from Hell: I fixed it. There's a reset button about six atoms wide on the bottom. LOL

    Tomorrow, we'll be spending much more time downtown, which is quite likely to include a visit to the Parthenon and Vanderbilt. After that, we'll be heading to the Tuesday Night Opry. Not sure about Wed/Thurs yet, but then we're heading to St. Louis on Friday.

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  10. hermhater

    hermhater Guest

    I knew you'd find the reset button dude!

    Great pics!
     
  11. ball in the baskett

    ball in the baskett First Team All Pro

    Nice pics as usuall
     
  12. Bulluck53

    Bulluck53 NFL-Fans

    Hope you're enjoying yourselves , especially after that game....
     
  13. brakos82

    brakos82 30% more cats than last year!

    Days 12-14: Tue-Thu, Sept 22-24

    What an interesting last couple of days it has been... That's why I've barely been online the last few days. LOL

    I'll start off with Tuesday first. We took off bright and early in the morning for the State Capitol. The rain was hit and miss once again, but in between the hits, the marble-paved ground looked more like a shallow pool than wet marble because it was so reflective. Afterwards, we headed down to Vanderbilt, which is pretty well located just outside of Downtown Nashville. A good-looking campus. Well, at least in comparison to the way U-H looked several years ago LOL.

    After that, we headed just across the street to the Parthenon. Somebody decided to try to rebuild Athens in Nashville. Not sure why, but by the looks of it they did a damn good job at it. We stayed in the downtown area for the rest of the afternoon, then stopped in at our hotle to drop off our random stuff (including about $45 in souvenirs that Megann got LOL) and head out to the Opry. The performances were great, although I would have liked to see more older acts on stage, but it was definitely worth the experience.

    Wednesday we just lounged around for most of the day. Headed back to the lake in-between storms (there weren't that many), the typical "we don't really want to do anything" days. Later on that evening Megann and I decided to take a trip around the lake, found a spot that was relatively open, and watched the sun set and twilight fade.

    And then there's today. We really couldn't make up our minds on being lazy-asses again or actually doing something interesting, so we decided to be lazy-asses in Downtown Nashville. The river-front parks are a nice commodity to the city, but they do get more crowded as the weekend rolls near.

    So, now we're trying to get packed up and ready to head out to St. Louis tomorrow morning. I'll try to get on every once in a while on the way there, but don't hold me to it. LOL

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    Apparently that last guy was important or something.
     
  14. brakos82

    brakos82 30% more cats than last year!

    St. Louis (Fri, Sept 25 - Wed, Sept 30)

    Yeah, I haven't been online much at all this week. It's a combination of: Us being too wound up in tourist-y stuff, Me being unusually tired around 8:30-9:00 at night, and Vista War II.

    Let's start with the more serious stuff: The St. Louis Rams taking on the Green Bay Packers. The home-field advantage was nulled out by a large presence of foam yellow hats. I'm not sure if it was because this wasn't a Texans or Saints game, or because of the crowd balance, or because the Rams suck, but I didn't feel like I didn't get swept into the game like I have previously. Also, I thought the Superdome was dark... this dome feels more like a cave than any stadium I've seen. I was actually a bit surprised at how the Rams tried to keep pace with the Packers through the 3rd quarter.

    Now, for the "Well, where the hell have you been Brakos?" stuff.

    Well, on Saturday we didn't do too much, at least in comparison to the rest of the days. Saturday, we went to a historical neighborhood called "The Loop". We just sort-a lounged around there for most of the afternoon. That evening we watched the Houston/TT game, and the neighbors actually complained about our cheering after Keenum ran it in for the game-winning TD.

    Sunday, just went to the game, then crashed in the hotel.

    Monday, we lounged around for most of the day, toured the downtown area late in the afternoon, including a visit to the Arch. No, we didn't go up, but the park that it's based at was a nice break before we headed back to watch the Monday Nighter. I fell asleep in the 2nd quarter, and I apparently didn't miss much. LOL

    Tuesday, we went back to downtown in the morning (it warmed up some, but still a bit cold for September). For lunch, see my random ramblings that I'll put in shortly LOL. After that, we took a gambling trip out to the Casino Queen. It used to be a riverboat casino, but they moved onto the mainland. I think Megann finally got the hang of blackjack, but she still spent half her gambling time at the slots. LOL

    And then today. Nothing exciting, just staying in town (for those who know the area, Cumberland), laundry day, getting packed to head out to Chicago tomorrow.

    Okay, now time for the Random Ramblings. LOL

    I have a stitch in my side. It really hurts.

    Okay, so Dan got the camera to zoom in real close so we could get some good shots of the game. Now, we can't get it un-zoomed. LOL

    Now for the previously mentioned Tuesday lunch. We went into Arby's out across the river in Illinois, about 12:30 or so. Anyways, we're walking to a booth when I see somebody I recognize. Lo-and-behold, it's my ex-girlfriend Cheyenne. Okay, I'll just cut to the chase because I don't feel like typing that much LOL. And who just happens to be her fiance? Megann's ex-boyfriend. Turns out they met back in Houston and moved together to St. Louis a couple years ago. Talk about a small world. LOL

    I'll post pics later. I'm too lazy right now.
     
  15. 86WARD

    86WARD -

    Post pictures of the game?
     
  16. brakos82

    brakos82 30% more cats than last year!

    Fine. I'll post some damn pics. LOL

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  17. hermhater

    hermhater Guest

    Wow, that is a small world...

    Damn...
     
  18. brakos82

    brakos82 30% more cats than last year!

    Lions at Bears - Sun, Oct 4

    Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, leaving for Chicago. My only real thought on that is that I-55 trying to get out of Lincoln really sucks. We stopped there for lunch, tried to get back on the freeway, but the lane we got into ended up exiting about two seconds later, so then we ended up somewhere. Governor Blagojevich should've fixed that rather than the senate. LOL

    Friday, nothing really. Went to downtown for a while, but then we figured out about Saturday and headed back.

    Saturday, we went to the Country Music Festival in downtown Chicago. If you're not a fan of country music, it probably wouldn't be all that entertaining, but we all are. We got to see a few local artists, along with Lee Ann Womack and a few songwriters, one that I recognized right-away as being John Michael Montgomery's writer (hell if I remember his name LOL).

    [Howard Cosell impersonation] Then today, the battle at Soldier Field, where the Monsters of the Midway were poised to take on the Detroit Lions. The crowd very much alive as the Bears took the field, with their qwaaterback Jay Cutler.[/impersonation] Maybe it's just me, but this was possibly the most united crowd that I've seen at a game so far. The Dome was a bit more relaxed (doubt it's that way when I get back), the Titans game I was too busy watching the game, and the Rams game had more Cheeseheads than horns. The Lions played a great first half considering expectations, but they just fell apart on both sides of the game in the 2nd half.

    I should be asleep right now, but insomnia just hit again. We're leaving bright and early in the morning for Minneapolis for that game tomorrow night. It's about a 6 1/2 hour dive according to Google, so hopefully we make it in under 7.

    Random Ramblings:

    I think we finally got the camera working normally.
    Giordano's pizza is great. We've had it two nights in three days.
    What the hell UH?! What was that?! *sighs* Whatever.
    The way the highways are situated in this neighborhood makes it harder than hell to try and get out.
    I really hope it doesn't snow. I don't think any of us can drive in it. LOL

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  19. hermhater

    hermhater Guest

    Awesome pics dude!
     
  20. DawkinsINT

    DawkinsINT Tebow free since 9/5/2015.

    Odd seeing a dude wearing a Peterson jersey there.