REDSKINS 7 PATRIOTS 52

THE REDSKINS ROCK!!!!!

My boys managed to hold the vaunted Patriot offense to a paltry 52 points on Sunday!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahaha...ha...heehee...heh...hoo boy...sigh.

I suppose it could've been worse, hee hee.

Megadeth and other stories...

MEGADETH: UNITED ABOMINATIONS TOUR, SEOUL OLYMPIC HALL, OCT. 28, 2007

This past weekend was a good one. I went up to Seoul to meet my buddy Konrad for a weekend of drinking and metal music. Megadeth played Seoul last Sunday, and Konrad managed to score some tickets. I was pretty psyched because it'd been almost three years since I last had a chance to see a real concert.

Since the concert was on a Sunday, I figured I'd make a weekend of it and head up to Seoul the Saturday before. I rarely go to Seoul, so I was thinking I'll have a fairly relaxing party weekend. I had forgotten, however; that it was the weekend before Halloween, so when I got up there, I found all the hotels in and around Itaewon were booked solid. I'm not into the whole Halloween craziness, so I went and got something to eat and pondered what I was going to do since the bars I usually go to in Seoul were going to be packed full of drunken lunatics. Fortunately, Konrad called me and said to meet him at a bar called Dolce Vita, which turned out to be a mellow little pub off the Halloween bar circuit. We stayed there for most of the evening playing pool with the owner, his wife, and a few of the regulars, drinking Jaeger Bombs (Jaegermeister & Red Bull), and generally having a good time. Around 2am, Konrad and I headed to another bar on what is known, for the obvious reasons, as "Hooker Hill". One of the problems with Itaewon is that everything there is uphill. It seemed to drunker Konrad and I got, the steeper the hills became (my legs are still sore). Finally, around 3-4am(?) we staggered off to this guy Jim's house - of one of Konrad's friends - to crash. This guy's apartment is at the top of a road which I swear is at an 75 degree angle.

I woke up the next morning on this guy's floor hungover as stink and feeling like the entire 6th Army had marched over my tongue. The three of got up and showered and headed down the hill for some breakfast. At the restaurant, we met up with Konrad's girlfriend who dragged him off to church after the meal was over. Left to my own devices, I headed back into Itaewon and ended up at the Seoul Pub, which is a great place to hang out on a Sunday afternoon. Given that breakfast had not helped my hangover in the least, I figured a little hair of the dog was in order. So I sat there, drinking pints and listening to the retired military guys tell their stories and trying desperately to get rid of my hangover.

I met up again with Konrad around 5pm and we headed off to the show which started at 6:30. The opening bands were pretty bad, so Konrad and I sat outside smoking cigarettes waiting for Megadeth to come on. Finally around 8pm, Megadeth started their show. The crowd was relatively small, only about 3,000 people (maybe a third westerners), but very enthusiastic. Megadeth played for close to two hours throwing in a great mix of new and old material. About the only problem I had was that Dave Mustaine's vocals were often drowned out by the music, but other than that it was a kick ass show. At one point Mustaine comes up and asks the crowd, "How many of you have seen Megadeth before?" About half the crowd roars. Then he asks, "How many are here for the first time?" Part of the crowd roars. "How many non-Koreans are here?" Westerners put up a shout. Finally he goes, "How many of you understand a single word I'm saying?" Roar from the crowd with a lot of laughter from the waeguks (foreigners).

The show ended around 10pm, and since I needed to get back to Daejeon that night, I hopped on the subway thinking I had plenty of time to grab a train back. However, much to my dismay, I got to the train station only to find out the the trains stopped running at 11:00 (it was 11:15 a that point. Ok. No problem. I'll head to the bus station and get home that way. I hop in a cab and get to the bus station at about 11:50. The last bus for Daejeon left at 11:45. So there I am, sitting at the bus station at midnight wondering how the hell I'm going to get back home. My first class on Mondays is at 6:50 am, and I couldn't miss it without causing more aggravation than I was prepared to deal with. I finally found a cabbie to take me the 400 km to Daejeon which cost me about $140! Fortunately, the guy drove like a bat out of Hell, and I made it home by 1:30 exhausted but content.

REDSKINS 21 - CARDINALS 19

This team is going to drive me to drink. Well...umm...drive me to drink more. Despite having a two touchdown lead late in the first half, the Redskins, in their typical ulcer-producing, agony-inspiring way, came less than a foot away from blowing another game. Whatever little gust of wind or magic pixie dust that pushed Niel rackers kick, which from 55 yards out had more than enough leg behind it, just to the left of the upright was a miracle of great import.

The offense once again spoiled an incredible defensive outing by being unable to stay on the field when it counted most. One drive in the second half lasted a total of 48 seconds. 48 SECONDS!!!
That's not enough time for the defense to get a sip of water let alone catch a breath. I understand that the O-line is in turmoil due to injury and this does have an effect on both the running and passing output. However, as Ladell Betts said in a post game interview, both the starters and back-ups get paid an enormous amount of money to play a game and should be ready for any eventuality.

Next week the hapless Skins roll in to Foxboro to play New England in the first game of a brutal road trip. Barring some unforseen miracle, like a band of cannibal pygmies carting off Tom Brady and eating him for lunch or the entire Pats D coming down with salmonella, the Redskins are going to get crushed just like every other team the Pats have faced this year (the Pats are SCARY good).

The Redskins are a VERY lucky 4-2 at the moment but play the Pats, Eagles, Cowboys and Buccaneers in the next five weeks. If the offense doesn't get better in a hurry, and that means now, we're going to be 5-6 by December and on a spiral to Hell.

A Second Half in Hell...

Redskins 14 - Packers 17

The game literally slipped away in the second half as Santana Moss, the normally sure handed, fleet-footed receiver for the Redskins put the ball on the ground during a reverse, and had it scooped up by the Pack for a 57 yard fumble return for what would be the winning score.

Like the Giants game 3 weeks ago, the Skins blew a first half lead with sloppy play and careless mistakes. Jason Campbell had a great game mostly. He would have had a spectacular game but for the entire Redskins receiving corps (with the exception of the ever reliable Chris Cooley) developing a bad case of the dropsies. Santana Moss, coming off an injury, could neither catch nor hold on to the ball once he had it. It was appalling.

To add insult to injury (literally), the Redskins O-line took a beating that could have repercutions for the rest of the season. The right side of the line, already reeling from the loss of veteran stalwarts Jon Jansen and Randy Thomas in the first two games, lost all three of their back-ups in this one. The Skins, who started the season with ample depth on the O-line, are now looking at the possibility of signing gaurds and tackles off the waiver wire for next week's game against the Cardinals. the thought of a patchwork O-line for te remainder of the season spells trouble with a capital "T".

On a brighter note, after seven years in Korea, I'm finally going to get to see some decent live music. Next Sunday, Megadeth will be playing in Seoul, and I have tickets! Those of you that know me, know my love of music and especially live music. I am totally psyched. Even the weather is co-operating. It's cool enough now for me to dust off my leather and go bang my head in appropriate style.

Another great thing is that I got my tickets to New Zealand yesterday. I'm heading south for the winter to go drink a few pints with "Kiwi" Glen and see what kind of trouble I can get into. I can't wait seeing that this will be my first time in NZ. Rock on!

1, 2, 3 - DOMINATE!!

REDSKINS 34 LIONS 3

Whoooooooo-baby! Did the Redskins look good on Sunday! Complete, and I mean COMPLETE, domination of the Detroit Lions at Fed-Ex Field. The Defense came up huge, sacking John Kitna 5 times, and pulling in 2 interceptions. The real story though, was the Skins D-line. Those guys rushed like their butts were on fire. Hit after big hit rained on the Lions receivers and running backs all day long.

The offense looked incredibly sharp. Jason Campbell was poised and incredibly accurate. The O-line opened huge holes for Portis and Betts while affording Campbell plenty of protection.

In addition, with the help of good games by Randel-El and Chris Cooley, I managed to win both my fantasy league match-ups this week. It's a good day!

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!