NFL Conference Championship games

Time for the NFL Conference Championship games. I won't rehash how these teams got to this point, just rest assured that they did.

I'll make my "what I hope for" picks. What I hope for and what I really think will happen are two different things.

1990 NFL ProSet, All-Time Team
Bart Staff (card # 36)

2001 Fleer Game Time
Brian Urlacher (card # 64)

A scrappy Packers team led by Aaron Rodgers goes to Chicago.

1993 Playoff
William Perry (card # 235)

I hope that the Bears can win.  It will be tough.  And cold.

2002 Score
Chad Pennington (card # 159)

2001 Fleer Game Time
Plaxico Burress (card # 41)

The scrappy Jets are in Pittsburgh.

1990 Score
Joe Prokop (card # 416)

I hope that the Jets can pull it off, but I think that Roethlisberger is too potent.

Fantasy Football Trophy From Card

I've been playing organized fantasy sports for the last 23 years or so. Started out with Fantasy Baseball in the late 1980s. Then on to Fantasy Football. A bunch of guys from church got together and we drafted, and then every Monday and Tuesday we would get the USA Today and figure out scores. Several phone calls and faxes later, we got the scores. And the next Sunday we'd turn in our lineups to the commissioner.

A few years passed and we got high-tech. We purchased a software package (KFFL) and each week we'd download the latest stats and run them through the program.  I was the assistant commissioner by then.  Some people from work wanted in, so another league was formed. 

Then I moved to Tennessee.  I was apart from my fellow fantasy managers.  But I made new friends and then the Internet took off.  I could play in a public league on Yahoo!.  And I did.

The next season I invited several friends from my old league, from work and from church to join a 12 team private league.  Thus was born the Red Headed League.  Bonus points if you know the reference.

That went well enough, until more people wanted to join.  I think that after 12 teams are in, it gets rather cumbersome.  It can be done, but it isn't too much fun.  I started another league, the Super Secret League.  The two leagues worked in concert.  Too many times a manager will throw in the towel about week 7 or 8 because his team has tanked.  Haven't won a game in forever, can't trade with anyone.  Not fun for him, or the other managers when he decides that it just isn't worth it to even make an effort.  You've all been there.  Heck, you might have even been that manager.  So, with two leagues, managers move up and down each season.  The top four teams from the Super Secret League move up to the Red Headed League the next season, and the bottom four teams from the RHL shuffle off to the basement.  It gives the managers something to play for.  Sure, you might not win the championship, but at least you aren't going to the Super Secret League.

I created this trophy from a 1998 Topps Action Flats Ryan Leaf card.  I say card, but it was actually a card and a figurine crafted from the photo on the card.

It is supposed to be passed to the winner of the Red Headed League each year, for prominent display at their home or office.  Many of the wives desire it to be displayed at the office.

I was the commissioner in both leagues for several years.  Then, I hit a slump.  I finished last in both leagues.  Yes, I tried to win, but couldn't.  It wasn't fair for me to hang on to the title of commissioner and deny someone moving up, so I stepped down from the RHL.  I stay in contact with the commissioner of that league, Steve S.  Steve was the first to invite me to play Fantasy Football and he and his family are very dear to my family.

1998 Topps Action Flats - Kickoff Edition
Ryan Leaf (card # K6)

image lifted from amazon.com

This year I finished first in the 'regular' season of the SSL.  And fourth in the playoffs.  At this time I'm planning on sticking around in the basement, if for no other reason than to keep --David company.

Here are some of the team names I've used in Fantasy Football:

• The Red Grange Halls
• Cardiff Giants
• The Phantom Creeps
• Pocket Protectors
• Hitchcock's Shadow
• Humongous Melonheads
• The Humbert Humberts
• A Bunch of WaWas
• Taekwan Dodos
• Croutonic Knights
• Sweet C's
• The Anglo Files
• Oneaders
• The Rogue Nessies
• The Terror Dacktals

At least I'm doing better than Ryan Leaf.

Another time I'll chronicle some my other fantasy sports exploits.

A Visit From UT Football!

If you're a parent of a child who is in kindergarten then you know the type of school papers that the teacher sends home. You've all seen them. They go up on the fridge for a few days until the next one comes home.

Despite my smarmy tone of the opening sentences, I'm very proud of the work that Caroline is doing. Last week they were working on the capital letter N. Since then she's been spelling her name CaroliNe. Kind of cool.

Also last week they had some special visitors to their class. Some of the University of Tennessee Volunteer football players. I don't know who set it up or exactly what the purpose was, but this came home in her school bag...

We have:
Corey Miller, #80 - freshman DE
Myles McKee, #18 - freshman QB
J. M. B???, ?
Chase Ketron, #8, freshman DB
Brent Slusher, #89, senior TE
Jacques Smith, #55, freshman DE

I'm stumped by the J.M.B. auto.

This will end up in Caroline's kindergarten scrapbook.

What I did in 24 hours

Football.  Lots of football.  Well, lots of football for me.  

Kyle is a friend of Edison, my son.  Kyle attends Gibbs High School.  He plays trumpet.  Edison attends The King's Academy.  He plays football.  TKA's season has finished.  Gibbs' season has continued into the post-season.  Kyle invited Edison to see a game.  So we went.  I'm friends with Kyle's father, so it worked out rather well.  

Gibbs played Scott County.  A very exciting game.  Bottom line, Gibbs won, 48-45, in OT.  They move on in their quest for football excellence.

This is Scott Co.'s band.  Yes, the whole band.  I'm not mocking them, just showing their size.  They played the opening part of halftime with a tribute to Green Day.

Gibbs' band.  I've forgotten what their musical theme was.

It always is a good thing when the twirlers use flaming batons.  A fun way to spend a very cool Friday evening.

Edgar D. McRary, Lenoir, North Carolina

Edgar is part of Phillip and Kyle's family.  My guess is that this photo is from the mid 1930s.

Then, on Saturday, it was down to Neyland Stadium.  A friend of mine, Jay, called me on Thursday, asking if I had plans for Saturday, because he had two tickets that he couldn't use.  After checking with Angie, I quickly accepted Jay's kind offer and made plans for my father and I to attend.

And attend we did.  We parked about two miles away and took a Knox Area Transit shuttle to the campus.

Behold, the glory that is Neyland Stadium.

 Pregame with the Pride of the Southland Band.

UT is steeped in tradition.  Volunteer guy, Smokey, and Mascot Smokey, after a UT score.

Kick off.  It seemed that most of the scoring went on at the other end.  The only decent chance I had to get a photo of UT scoring, the fan in front of me stood up quickly.  I got his back and three squares of orange and white.  Sorry for the lack of clarity on some of the photos.  Blackberry camera with 3x and 5x digital zoom.

UT won their homecoming game, 52-14.

Now, a post wouldn't be complete without some cards, right?  As we were walking toward the stadium, people were giving out some cards.  Athletes In Action.  Decent looking cards.

Nick has come out to The King's Academy and shared his story at chapel.  Edison says that he's a pretty cool guy.

So, that's what I did in 24 hours.

Ed McCaffrey

Ed McCaffrey was a wide receiver in the NFL, spending most of his playing years with the Denver Broncos. He was a Pro Bowler in 1998 and played in three Super Bowls.

I don't have his card. I lifted this one from an ebay auction. I'm blogging about him this morning because he's now an entrepreneur. He is a speaker, runs football camps and sells mustard. Yes, mustard.

He's sold a lot of this stuff. If you want some, go to PLBSports.com. They'll hook you up.

Back to the football camps. A lot of players lend their name to a camp. They'll show up, pass a few balls, pal around with the kids and head home. I hope that Ed does a bit more than that. Towards the end of June his camp is having a mini camp. It is the Dare to Play Football Camp for children and young adults with Down syndrome. Two days. He's also hosting a cheer leading camp for children and young adults with Down syndrome

I wish that Caroline was older and I wish that we were closer to Colorado. She'd enjoy participating in that. Either the football camp or the cheer leading camp. I'm not sure which one.

Super Bowls

In honor of the Super Bowl, I created a card.

I don't remember this Super Bowl. I do remember Super Bowl V. The Cowboys and the Colts. I was conflicted on which team to root for. I made a pennant with the Cowboys on one side and the Colts on the other. I taped it to a thin bamboo cane and spent the game waving it around.

I also remember the Dolphins of Super Bowl VIII. Not watching the game, but going on an errand with my mom. She had to go visit somebody. I was begging to have the game turned on so that I could see some of it.

The church we attended was next door to a Pontiac dealership. The dealership was next door to a small AM radio station. Before evening church started and right after it was over my brother and I would rush over to find out the score.

I had moved to the Chicago area the season that da Bears won Super Bowl XX. Talk about fun.

After I got married, my dear wife and I would join a few other families and watch the game, commercials, and halftime shows. Those were good times.

This year we're hosting the party. A few couples from church are coming over. Our teenage children will be having their own party at church. Caroline will go to bed about 7:30.

We'll try to keep it down.

High School Football Programs

I am working with my son's school to get some of their football records in order. Well, gathered together in one place. The library has a small stash of scrapbooks, annuals, school publications, photos, slides, films and videos. The librarian is allowing me to take some of the material home to recreate the records.

The first thing I took was a scrapbook that held mostly newspaper clippings, although it also had some individual game programs. The time frame on these programs is from the late 1940's through the early 1950's. They are stock publications, generally sponsored by Coca-Cola, with images of the official's signals inside. The host school would print the team rosters and school information. They were sold for ten or fifteen cents at the games. I have seen other examples of these in local antique shops for about $2 each.

I hope to scan these later, but they are pasted into the scrapbook and the librarian will have to remove them. I'll help, but they aren't mine and I don't want to ruin them. For the time being, I snapped the photos with my BlackBerry. They didn't turn out too bad. Better lighting would have helped.

So, without further commentary, I present nine football programs from games that Harrison Chilhowee Baptist Academy played. HCBA is now known as The King's Academy. Another note (okay, I can't stop with the commentary) is that TKA finished their third winning season in a row this year. Go Lions.

Now the programs...

1962 Salada Football Coins

Trying to keep with a (semi) themed series of blog entries leading up to Super Bowl XVIII, here's my very small collection of 1962 Salada Football Coins. These coins, along with hockey and baseball coins, were produced in the early 1960s. The 1962 Salada baseball coins were plastic and the 1963 Salada baseball coins were metal, as these are. The manufacturing materials seems to echo the hockey coins of that era.

More examples can be found using this ebay search. More on the Salada baseball coins later.