Monday Morning Hoochi Koo

That minor soreness in the knee we complained of Friday is almost certainly gout. As per usual, the actual attack his healed but residual soreness remains. Gout is a fickle, impossible to please bitch. 

Zerohedge reports that Libertarian Scott Horton annihilated Neocon puff-boy William Kristol in a debate about war and empire. We'll catch it later. Without commenting on the points, in 2003 this blog agreed with Kristol entirely. Yes, war and empire. We believed that US military might could remake the Middle East for the better. And maybe it did. Who knows? But Iraq didn't leave us wanting more. This blog isn't calling for Neocon Boondoggle II: Syrian Boogaloo. No. The Iraq campaign has given us great pause. Why hasn't it done the same for Kristol and Donald Kagan? These are supposed to be the smart guys right? We only went to an internet college. 

What Will's Watching. We caught only a little sportsball yesterday. We see the Giants still suck. By Wellington Mara's ghost, it's been a decade since the Giants played a big game. What a disgrace. Mister we could use a man like Eli Manning again.  Like we said, we didn't watch much sportsball. Instead we watched the first episode of Maid, which is about a young woman running out on her abusive husband. Send the man-police if you want, but it's more interesting than what passes for football these days. 

Monday Metal: Ladies and gentlemen we give you Rick Derringer and Rock n Roll: Hoochie Koo:

This is 70's era rock n roll convergence. It is impossible to make a more 70's hard rock song outside of laboratory conditions. Rock n Roll Hoochie coo is glorious. Todd in the Shadows says it better than this blog ever could. Watch him. We'd like to call attention to this performance. It's all piss and vinegar, a young man filled with self confidence having a great time.  Check out the way Derringer opens and closes the solo with jagged riffs. He bends the fabric of spacetime.  Magnificent. By way of contrast, here's Derringer performing sometime in the 2010's. He's a master guitar player a professional virtuoso. He's also in late middle age. In 1973 Derringer misses a note early on. It takes the backup singers a verse to get their voices right and it's still awesome. See the difference?

The NFL: a Personal History: Eli Manning

Yesterday New York Giants' quarterback Eli Manning announced his retirement. The press conference will be tomorrow.

Mike Francesa has Eli Manning's measure, we think.

Eli Manning played sixteen seasons, threw for 57K + yards, 366 touchdown passes and, oh by the way was the victor and MVP of two super bowls.

Here's his greatest play. Here's his other greatest play.

When the Giants drafted Manning in 2004, we wished they drafted lineman Robert Gallery instead and stuck with current stating QB Kerry Collins.

Manning was an iron man, he was never hurt and started 2010 consecutive games. He was a fearless gun slinger as shown by the players above. And he was utterly unflappable.

People who think Eli Manning isn't a hall of fame quarterback don't understand football and should find something else to watch, like spelling bees. 

He won me two super bowls.

The NFL: a Personal History: Introduction

Today we recall playing football in our grandparent's backyard with our father and grandfather and asking about the Giants. They were 6-10 last year, we were told. We looked it up. That year was 1979, so this must have been the winter of 1980.

And that was our introduction to the NFL.

Being a child of the 80's we came of age when the Giants were good, the San Francisco 49rs dominated and the game was still defined by the Raiders, the Dolphins, the Steelers; the great teams of the 1970s.

The first player we remember is Giants' kicker Ali Haji Sheik. We attended our first game in 1983. The first Super Bowl we watched was the Bears utter destruction of the Patriots in Super Bowl XX. Don't be fooled, in 1985 everyone thought the Super Bowl Shuffle was cool. There's some Monday (not) Metal fodder. Our first favorite player? Why Lawrence Taylor of course, later Phil Simms.

During this era the great Bill Parcells was the Giants' head coach. Check out his numbers. He averaged 10 wins a year with the Giants, five playoff appearances, eight playoff wins and two Super Bowl victories. They were a Monday Night Football mainstay. Oh, and those great 49rs teams, the Giants gave them fits! You're damn right Bill Parcells is in the Hall of Fame.

We ended our first decade of football accustomed to Giants dominance.

Monday Metal: Gridiron Edition or Thoughts on the New York Giants

See how I did that? This is why I get paid the big-bucks people.

The New York Giants are 11-5 and the 5th seed in the NFC. This is good.

They have the best Giants defense I've since since at least 2000, maybe 1990 (I turn into a sentimental fool over that team).

The offense is Eli Manning to Odell Beckham, but running back Paul Perkins has been coming on lately.

This team has an uncanny knack for making big plays. Just see yesterday's game.

That game, a 19-10 victory over the Foreskins would terrify me if I were playing the Giants. A game without meaning for Big Blue, the defense came out and kicked ass anyway.

They remind me a bit of the 2000 Ravens, great defense, bad offense, with the former carrying them to victory.

If this team won the Super Bowl, we would have to rate them as one of the great defenses ever.

That's a big 'if'. Win a playoff game first.

Of course in 2007 and 2011 I was satisfied with a single playoff victory. Look how those seasons turned out.