ON THE MARK.

Hebsy blog for Sept 23/2012

My head is about to explode.  In a good way.   I have just finished up one of the wildest days on the sports calender and I'm exhausted.   I know it's part of my job to stay informed and abreast (I love that word) of the goings on in the world of sports, but today I went above and beyond the call of duty.   Since my wife had to leave for work at 6:30 a.m., I was already up and channel surfing when I happened upon an Italian soccer match between Udinese and A.C. Milan.  A bit later, the English Premier League was on, so I caught Manchester City and Arsenal play to a 1-1 draw, and saw Man. U. knock off Liverpool 2-1.   Fortified by three soccer matches, a pot of coffee, two loads of laundry and a quick trip to Wal Mart, I settled in for an afternoon of clicking, flicking, shouting, cajoling and praying......and that was before I even returned to the TV. 
The Jays and Tampa was a great pitchers duel, and the one thing I love most about baseball is the ability to change channels and know exactly when to flick back.   I had the Buffalo Bills taking on the Cleveland Browns on this channel, the Detroit Lions against Tennessee on that channel, the Jets and Dolphins, the Saints and Chiefs and a couple of other games I can't remember now.  By the way, three of those games went into overtime and one of them, the Lions and Titans, featured a botched quarterback sneak on fourth and inches by Detroit that handed the win to Tennessee.  

And while all this was going on, and the Yankees were trying to sweep the Oakland A's (they couldn't) and the Twins were in the midst of sweeping the Tigers in a doubleheader (they did), I almost forgot about the 10 million dollar prize up for grabs at the Fed Ex championships (golf).   It was supposed to be a battle between Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, but instead it ended up being a guy named Brandt Snedeker who won the whole thing.   Snedeker is the opposite of a methodical golfer.   He steps up to the ball, gives a quick waggle and, before you know it, has whacked it 300 yards down the fairway.   If he played by himself, he'd finish 18 holes in about two hours.   Anyway, after a quick dinner, it was an evening of Tom Brady and the Patriots against the Baltimore Ravens and Joe Flacco (I love that name) sandwiched around the Dodgers and Reds.

As I write this, at 10:52 p.m., the Patriots are leading, my eyes are getting heavy and I'm happy for one thing:  There is no NHL hockey to talk about.   Even if there was, I'm not sure I'd have room for it.
When all was said and done, I watched all or part of 3 soccer matches, 7 football games (I forgot the Argos-Alouettes), 3 baseball games, one golf tournament and numerous wrap up shows, pre-game shows, halftime shows and highlight shows.   Now if that isn't dedication, I don't know what is.