Counting the Days...

With eight days to go for NaNoWriMo, I have a good idea what story wants to be told. It lost the battle for July's Camp NaNoWriMo, but the story that wants to be told is one I started over three years ago, Return To Origin. The story is inspired by one of my favorite History Channel shows, Ancient Aliens.

I started writing this story soon after finishing the first draft of The Curse. Then I made the worst mistake involving Return To Origin. I stopped less than halfway through to begin editing The Curse. Since then, the writing process has sputtered at best. There were other issues, but they're mostly resolved now. However, that's no excuse to stop writing a novel in favor of editing another one.

In December, I have another decision to make. With four novels somewhere in the editing pipeline, should I participate in the April and July Camp NaNoWriMo? If I had to decide now, the answer would be no. However, it depends on how much time the upcoming edits and revamps take.

Speaking of, I'm currently revamping my novella, Rickshaw, New Mexico. So far, there are some minor rephrases and clarifications that were needed. The challenge will be my novel, The Curse, which is getting an overhaul. The story will remain intact. However, as my two-star reviewer said, it needed another edit. He was right and that's what's happening. After Rickshaw, The Hunted is next, followed by The Acts of 1.


Now for some sports trivia...

• Congrats to the Kansas City Royals for winning Game 1 of the World Series. This is their first World Series game they won in 10,587 days.
  
• Since we're counting days, here's another one. It has been 38,725 days since the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series (1908). The days continue.
  
• There are quite a few for football. Here are the teams who never made it to the Super Bowl, with the number of days since their last championship: Detroit Lions - 20,752 days (1957) and the Cleveland Browns - 18,197 (1964). The Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars were born in the Super Bowl era, but never played in one.
  
• For one of the Super Bowl contenders, it has been 19,659 days since the Philadelphia Eagles won an NFL championship (1960).
  
• It's also been a long drought for three former AFL champions. The Buffalo Bills last won the AFL title 17,833 days ago (1965). It's been 18,554 days for the 1963 AFL Champion San Diego Chargers. Finally, the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) won their last AFL title 19,296 days ago (1961).
  
• One of the most famous Super Bowl games, Super Bowl III, it has been 16,720 days since the New York Jets won their only championship.

Counting all these days makes one thirsty. So who's drinking the beer in the cellar in the NFL? Why that would be this week's Kings of the Cellar, the 0-6 Oakland Raiders, who are on a 12 game losing streak and haven't won one since November 17 against the Houston Texans. This week's honorable mention goes to my 2-4 New Orleans Saints. This is a talent laden team who has performed like the New Orleans Saints teams of the 1970's. By no means is the season over nor have the Saints collapsed as past teams have. Unless they get their act together, they will be mentioned here again.

Here are historic scores for teams playing each other this week, October 23,

1955  Chicago Cardinals 24 - Philadelphia 24
1983 - Denver 14 - San Diego 6
1988  Minnesota 49 - Tampa Bay 20
1994  Denver 20 - San Diego 15
2011  Atlanta 23 - Detroit 16
2011  Houston 41 - Tennessee 7


Have a great day!!!

Last Place Update - Week 12

Welcome to this week's Last Place Update. At least there's no tie to break. The 1-10 Kansas City Chiefs sit alone at the bottom as this week's Kings of the Cellar. The 2-9 Jacksonville Jaguars, who had been tied with the Chiefs, played like an NFL team and beat a Tennessee Titans team who had two weeks to prepare for them. Job well done, Jags. The Chiefs have now lost eight straight since beating the New Orleans Saints in overtime in Week 3. Jacksonville is now a game behind Kansas City, with four teams trailing the Jags by a game.

   This week's honorable mention, and this sounds like a broken record, goes once again to the 4-7 Arizona Cardinals and 3-8 Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams lost winnable games increasing their losing streaks to seven games. Both teams led at one point in their respective games and both teams blew those leads. Arizona goes to New York to face the Jets and Philly goes to Dallas to face the Cowboys. Once again, they face vulnerable opponents, but until they can win a game, neither is an upset special pick.

  A hats off to a former honorable mention: The New Orleans Saints defense kept the San Francisco 49ers offense to 375 yards. This is the first time this season that the Saints defense kept an opponent to under 400 yards.

Next Loss...

  Kansas City hosts the Carolina Panthers, who are fresh off their Monday night win over the Eagles. Upset Special? Uh, no, not until they can beat somebody. Maybe Jacksonville's win will inspire them, but probably not. The Chiefs will face a mobile quarterback who, if he throws with a decent degree of accuracy, will pick that defense apart and if Kansas City drops too many players back in coverage, then Cam Newton will run all over them. The Chiefs will make a game of it, but will get loss number 11.

   Jacksonville travels to venerable Rich Stadium to take on the Buffalo Bills. Upset Special? Possibly. The Jags took Houston to overtime, but lost, and they beat Tennessee. Buffalo is vulnerable. The Bills are 2-6 since Week 2 and a candidate for the Honorable Mention. However, they are also 2-2 at home this season and four of their next five games are at home. Also, southern teams tend to struggle in the cold, so chances are this will be a solid Jaguars loss.

Here are some series trivia notes:

   The Arizona Cardinals are 2-5 against the New York Jets. The Cards have not beaten the Jets since 1975, when they were the St. Louis Cardinals.

   The once old NFL opponents, Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions, have only played each other nine times since the NFL/AFL merger. Indy is 6-3 against the Lions in that span, not losing to Detroit since 1997.

   The Seattle Seahawks are 9-4 against the Chicago Bears. The Seahawks are also 5-2 at Chicago, winning their last two meetings in Soldier Field.

   The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 2-5 against the Denver Broncos, not winning a game in the series since 1999. The Bucs lost their last two games against Denver, each by a 16-13 score.

   The Cincinnati Bengals, who trail their series with the San Diego Chargers 11-19, won their last meeting in 2010. If the Bengals win this week, it will be the first time the Bengals beat the Chargers twice in a row since 1988-90. The most consecutive games Cincinnati beat San Diego was 3, from 1970-73.

   The Cleveland Browns trail the Oakland Raiders in their series 8-11, but are 7-3 since 1987.

Here are some historical scores for teams playing each other this week, on November 27:

1949  New York Giants 23 - Washington 7
1966  Green Bay 28 - Minnesota 16
1966  Washington 72 - New York Giants 41
1966  Boston Patriots 20 - Miami 14
1977  Minnesota 13 - Green Bay 6
1994  New York Giants 21 - Washington 19

Last Place Update

Welcome to this week's Last Place Update. Congrats to Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints for breaking a once considered unbreakable record of throwing a touchdown pass in 48 straight games. Job well done!! Tom Brady owns the next longest streak, which is less than a season of games behind Brees. Trivia note: Johnny Unitas wore number 19. His number was called in the record breaking play, as Brees threw a touchdown pass to number 19, Devery Henderson. Unitas' son Joe handled Brees surpassing his father with class, by attending the game and supporting Brees with his accomplishment. Now to the Update.

   The 0-5 Cleveland Browns fought the good fight against the New York Giants, but they are now this week's Kings of the Cellar. They are the lone winless team in the NFL. The San Diego Chargers made key mistakes against the Saints and Brees made them pay the price, which were the first victory of the season and the record. Cleveland is 0-5 for the first time since 1999, their first year back after the original club moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens in 1996. The 1999 Browns started 0-7. The Browns are also sporting a 11 game losing streak, their last win coming in Week 11 last season against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

  There are five teams with a 1-4 record and the loser of that group is the Carolina Panthers, who lost three straight, including a 16-12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Although the Panthers were 4-2 in the final six games of last season, that promise was broken by not being able to overtake or put teams away. They also started the season 1-4 last year and went 1-5 before beating the Washington Redskins. At least they last beat a team with a winning record last season.

   This week's honorable mention goes to the 2-3 Buffalo Bills. Although the showed a spark by beating the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland, other opponents exposed they weaknesses. The New York Jets (honorable mention runner-up), New England Patriots, and San Francisco 49ers all spanked the Bills by scoring a minimum of 45 points, with the Pats putting up 52 on them.

Next Loss...

   Cleveland returns home to face their cross-state rivals the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals swept the series last season. The Browns have beaten the Bengals only three times since 2004, the last time in 2010. The last time Cleveland swept Cincinnati was in 2002, the Browns' first winning season since their return in 1999. However, this could be an upset special and if there is to be one, this is it.

   Since Carolina,  New Orleans, and the Jacksonville Jaguars have a bye this week, let's focus on the other 1-4 teams.

   The Kansas City Chiefs travel to sunny Florida to take on the 1-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This could be an upset special and if Jamaal Charles runs against the Bucs like he did against the Saints, then it will be a definite upset. However, Tampa Bay's defense is much better than the Saints' defense, which makes the upset less likely.

    The Tennessee Titans will host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. Much like the Saints-Falcons rivalry, the records don't matter much for this game. Pittsburgh swept the series last year. but if the Titans can get their running game in gear, this too, could be an upset special. Tennessee has never swept a Pittsburgh season series with Ben Roethlisberger as Steelers' quarterback. In fact, the last time the Titans swept the Steelers was in 2000. As with the Saints, Lions, and Packers, the Titans are a better team than their record indicates, but until they show up for sixty minutes, the Steelers will emerge victorious on Thursday.

   Here are some historical scores for teams playing each other this week, today in:

1977  New England 31 - Seattle 0
1977  Houston Oilers 27 - Pittsburgh 10
1994  New York Jets 16 - Indianapolis 6
2011  San Diego 29 - Denvver 24
2011  Pittsburgh 38 - Tennessee 17

Today in 1995 - Miami Dolphins vs Buffalo Bills

Today in 1995, the Miami Dolphins went to the frigid cold of Rich Stadium to take on the Buffalo Bills in a Week 16 contest.

Buffalo provided the only scoring in the first quarter on a Steve Christie 24 field goal.  He kicked a 20 yard field goal in the second quarter to increase Buffalo’s lead to 6-0.  Miami responded with a 50 yard field goal by Pete Stoyanovich.  Thurman Thomas ran 2 yards for a touchdown to give Buffalo the halftime lead 13-3.

Miami scored first in the third quarter with a 30 yard Stoyanovich field goal.  The Dolphins tied the game on a 25 yard pass from Dan Marino to Eric Green.  The Bills took the lead again on an 11 yard pass from Jim Kelly to Thurman Thomas.

In the fourth quarter, the Dolphins tied the game 20-20 on a 5 yard run by Bernie Parmalee.  But Buffalo would not be denied.  The Bills took the lead for good on a Christie 25 yard field goal.  The Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins 23-20.

For the Dolphins, Dan Marino passed 17-27 for 244 yards with a touchdown and an interception.  O.J. McDuffie had 4 receptions for 79 yards.  Eric Green had 4 receptions for 38 yards and a touchdown.  Jeff Cross had a sack and Calvin Jackson had an interception.

For the Bills, Jim Kelly passed 16-28 for 139 yards with a touchdown and an interception.  Thurman Thomas rushed 35 times for 148 yards and a touchdown.  He also had a reception for 11 yards and a touchdown.  Phil Hansen and Bryce Paup each recorded 1.5 sacks and David White had an interception.

Miami fell to 8-7 with the loss.  They finished the season at 9-7, second in the AFC East.  They lost their rematch in Buffalo in the Wildcard Round of the playoffs 37-22. 

Buffalo went to 10-5 with the win.  They finished the season at 10-6 and were AFC East Champions.  The Bills lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 40-21 in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Trivia

• There were 6 Hall of Famers present: Dan Marino and head coach Don Shula for the Dolphins, and Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, and head coach Marv Levy for the Bills.
  
• This was Don Shula’s last season as head coach of the Miami Dolphins.  He coached the team from 1970-95 and led the Dolphins to five Super Bowl appearances and two Super Bowl championships.
  
• This was Marv Levy’s 10^th season as head coach of the Bills.  He coached the team from 1986-97 and led the team to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.  He was also the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs from 1978-82.
  
• Shula was also the head coach of the Baltimore Colts from 1963-69.  He led the team to the fated Super Bowl III, losing to the New York Jets.
  
• Shula played defensive back for the Cleveland Browns (1951-52), Baltimore Colts (1953-56), and Washington Redskins (1957).  He wore the number 25 with the Colts.  Defensive back Jerraud Powers wears that number for the Colts today.
  
• Miami’s Terrell Buckley played one season in the Atlanta Braves farm system.
  
• Buffalo’s defensive coordinator was Wade Phillips.  His career has been featured in other entries.
  
• Miami backup quarterback Dan McGwire is the brother of St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire.
  
• Buffalo backup quarterback Alex Van Pelt was the team’s offensive coordinator in 2009.

Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week, on December 17, 2011

1966 – Cleveland 38 – St. Louis Cardinals 10

1972 – Denver 45 – New England 21

1977 – Miami 31 – Buffalo 14

1983 – Washington 31 – New York Giants 22

1988 – Denver 21 – New England 10

2006 – Buffalo 21 – Miami 0

Game stats can be found on Pro-Football-Reference.com at Miami Dolphins vs Buffalo Bills - December 17, 1995.

Some Lagniappe NFL Series Trivia

Here’s some random NFL trivia…

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers go to Lambeau Field to take on their former NFC Central rival Green Bay Packers.  Although Green Bay’s expected to win, Tampa Bay is 8-4 against the Packers since 1998.  They have gone to overtime five times in the series, the last time in 2003, when Green Bay won 17-14.  The last time Green Bay shut out Tampa Bay was 27-0 in 1991.  Tampa Bay has never shut out Green Bay.  Their only tie game was 14-14 in 1980.

The Carolina Panthers face the Detroit Lions for only the sixth time ever.  Detroit leads the series 4-1.  Carolina won their first ever meeting in 1999 and Detroit won the rest.  They last met in 2008.

The Oakland Raiders play the Minnesota Vikings for the 15^th time, including Super Bowl XI.  Oakland leads the series 10-4, but is 4-3 against the Vikings since 1987.  They last played in 2007, which Minnesota won.  Neither team has ever shut out the other.

The Washington Redskins host the Dallas Cowboys.  This is one of those rivalry games where you throw the records out the window, but Dallas is 21-7 against Washington since 1997.  They’ve gone to overtime twice, the last time in 1999.  Dallas last shut out Washington 17-0 in 2009.  Washington has never shut out Dallas.  Their last tie game was 35-35 in 1962.

The Buffalo Bills go to Miami to face the Dolphins.  This is another one of those “throw the records out” games.  In this case, they are 17-17 since 1995.  They’ve gone to overtime twice, the last time in 1987.  The last time Buffalo shut out Miami was 21-0 in 2006.  The last time Miami shut out Buffalo was 28-0 in 1985.  Their last tie game was 14-14 in 1968.

The Atlanta Falcons lead their series with the Tennessee Titans 7-5, winning their last five games in the series.  The Titans have never beaten the Falcons under the Tennessee name.  The last time they beat Atlanta was in 1993, when they were the Houston Oilers.

The Philadelphia Eagles/New York Giants rivalry is one of the older rivalries.  They’re meeting for the 146^th time.  They first played each other in 1940, but Philly is 6-2 against the Giants since 2008.  They’ve gone to overtime seven times, the last time in 2006.  The last time the Giants shut out the Eagles was 20-0 in 1998.  The last time the Eagles shut out the Giants was 24-0 in 1996.  Their last tie game was 23-23 in 1973.

On the college football front, the Valparaiso Crusaders got their first win since 2009, beating the Campbell Fighting Camels 34-31.  Congrats for breaking the longest active college football losing streak, Valpo!!

Here are some historical NFL scores on this day for teams facing each other this week, on November 18,

1951 – Chicago Cardinals 27 – San Francisco 21

1960 – Boston Patriots 42 – Dallas Texans (Chiefs) 14

1962 – New York Giants 19 – Philadelphia 14

1973 – Miami 17 – Buffalo 0

1979 – Washington 34 – Dallas 20

1991 – Buffalo 41 – Miami 27

2007 – Dallas 28 – Washington 23

2007 – Minnesota 29 – Oakland 22

Have a great weekend!!

Some Random Musings

November 11, 2011 - Just have some random thoughts:

• First of all, thank you veterans!!  Thank you for serving our country and for protecting our freedoms!!  You stepped up when others didn’t and we appreciate your sacrifices.
  
  
• The Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers are playing each other for only the fourth time ever.  Carolina won the first meeting in 1996, when Tennessee was still the Houston Oilers, but the Titans won the other two.  They last played each other in 2007.
  
  
• As with Tennessee and Carolina, the Baltimore Ravens play the Seattle Seahawks for the fourth time ever this week.  Baltimore also leads 2-1 and they last played each other in 2007.
  
  
• The Washington Redskins play the Miami Dolphins this week.  Miami leads the series 11-7, but the series is 3-3 since 1987.  They faced each other in two Super Bowls.  Miami won Super Bowl VII over the Skins 14-7 to cap off their perfect season.  Washington beat Miami ten years later in Super Bowl XVII 27-17.
  
  
• In another multiple Super Bowl rematch, the Dallas Cowboys host the Buffalo Bills.  Dallas leads the series 5-3 and hasn’t lost to the Bills since 1996. The Cowboys faced the Bills in two consecutive Super Bowls.  Dallas won Super Bowl XXVII over Buffalo 52-17 and Super Bowl XXVIII over the Bills 30-13.
  
  
• Since we’re talking about NFL Championship rematches, let’s go old school.  The team once from Cleveland, the St. Louis Rams go to the Dawg Pound to take on the Cleveland Browns.  Including the NFL Championship games, Cleveland leads the series 11-10.  Cleveland beat the Rams for the NFL Championship in 1950 and 1955.  The Rams beat the Browns for the NFL Championship in 1951.
  
  
• I haven’t talked about this in a while.  The Valparaiso Crusaders own NCAA Division I’s longest active losing streak.  They’ve lost 29 games in a row and go for number 30 this Saturday against the Campbell University Fighting Camels.  Valpo's last win came in their second game of the 2009 season when they beat Concordia University of Wisconsin 20-17.

Have a great weekend everybody!!

Today in 1981 - Buffalo Bills vs Cincinnati Bengals

September 27, 1981 – Today in 1981, the Cincinnati Bengals hosted the Buffalo Bills at Riverfront Stadium in a Week 4 game.

After a scoreless first quarter, Cincinnati got on the board in the second quarter with a 13 yard touchdown pass from Ken Anderson to Cris Collinsworth.  Buffalo answered with a 9 yard touchdown pass from Joe Ferguson to Frank Lewis and a 4 yard touchdown pass from Ferguson to Mark Brammer.  Jim Breech kicked a 23 yard field goal for the Bengals and at halftime, Buffalo led 14-10.

The third quarter went scoreless like the first.  In the fourth quarter, the Bills increased their lead on a 5 yard touchdown pass from Ferguson to Lewis.  But the Bengals would not be denied.  Ken Anderson threw two 16 yard touchdown passes to Steve Kreider to take the lead for the first time in the game, 21-17.  Nick Mike-Mayer kicked a 40 yard field goal to send the game to overtime tied 24-24.

In the overtime period, Jim Breech kicked a 28 yard field goal to win the game.  The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Buffalo Bills 27-24.

Joe Ferguson passed 25-45 287 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Bills.  Frank Lewis had 8 receptions for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns.  For the Bengals, Ken Anderson passed 28-40 for 328 yards and 3 touchdowns.  He also had 2 rushes for 21 yards.  Cris Collinsworth had 10 receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown.

The Cincinnati Bengals went to 3-1 with the win and finished the season at 12-4.  They played the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl and lost 26-21.

The Buffalo Bills fell to 2-2 with the loss.  They finished the season at 10-6 and lost to the Bengals 28-21 in a divisional playoff game.

Notables

• There were 3 Hall of Famers either playing or coaching in this game, all with Cincinnati: Anthony Munoz, head coach Forrest Gregg, and assistant coach Dick LeBeau.
  
• This was Gregg’s second season coaching the Bengals.  He coached the team from 1980-83.  He also coached the Cleveland Browns from 1975-77 and his former team, the Green Bay Packers, from 1984-87.
  
• Chuck Knox was in his fourth season coaching the Bills.  He coached the team from 1978-82.  He also coached the Seattle Seahawks from 1983-91 and the Los Angeles Rams from 1973-77 and 1992-94.
  
• Bills’ linebacker Jim Haslett went on to coach the New Orleans Saints from 2000-05.  He was the head coach when the team got its first ever playoff win in 2000.

Other scores on this day for teams facing each other this week…

1952 - San Francisco 49ers 31 – Philadelphia Eagles 21

1959 – San Francisco 24 – Philadelphia 14

2009 – San Diego Chargers 23 – Miami Dolphins 13

Game stats can be found on Pro-Football-Reference.com at Buffalo Bills vs Cincinnati Bengals - September 27, 1981.