Upholding An Ideal: The Chivalrous Defense Of Brett Fav-ruh

I'm not a Photoshop guy....imagine it says Vikings

Fortuitous timing and all, with the Vikes and Brett Favre squaring off against his former lover, the Green Bay Packers. Below you will find a text message transcript between myself and The Fav-ruh-pologist from last Sunday. I was in the car and heard on the radio that the Vikings rally had just stalled out and they looked like they were going to drop one at home to the 49ers....so I started talking trash. Obviously I texted too soon because Favre had one of his most grand prayers ever, answered in dramatic fashion. The below exchanges may seem extraordinarily mundane but I found them funny on two counts:

1. The dedication that one fan could have towards a player over a team (keeping in mind that The Fav-ruh-pologist has followed Favre from one team to the next).
2. The shear volume and length of texts in response to such innocuous statements.....I hope his texting plan is cheap.

Without further adieu:

What Happened to your boy?

(an innocent query)

Shut Up and go talk shit to someone else :)

People like you are the reason I continue to defend him. You are a hater. I've asked you to join me, and you sat back waiting for a moment to criticize and you forgot that there was still time left on the clock. Shame on you for lying in wait to attack a holy man. You should go to church and repent. GO VIKINGS AND GOD BLESS BRETT FAVRE!!!!!

(Favre=Messiah? Favre-ssiah!)

I haven't seen a response...kinda quiet huh? Oh I get it. It's game time for the Chargers. Time for next installment. I hope it turns out ok today. Good Luck! By the way it's Favre 2, AP 1. Hmmm.

(relax I can't type a message that fast...and I'm driving)

Another thing...I think I owe you a thank you for speaking too early. I thought it was over. It's the superstitiousness in me. So thanks.

(that's a valuable scrabble word)

That was vintage Favre...wing and a prayer

(Time to ramp it up! I have now given the angry bear a real good poke)

Whatever hater. Last second passes have to be right there. Did you watch the SuperBowl??? I suppose everything is on a wing and a prayer if you don't have all the talent the Chargers do. Go hate somewhere else. It was vintage Favre, you are right though. All the work leading up to the final pass was probably just him getting lucky. He would never get any true credit for what he brings to that team. Just go back to watching your DUMB team with all the other SD haters and idiots. 3-0 feels good. Just so ya know.

(the Chargers are not DUMB....they are BAD)

Glad to see the true Viking fans being rewarded.....you one of those?

(additional pokes and prods)

Keep grasping hater. I am defending an ideal. Not a normal situation for me, I concede, but I have stood by my point of view from start to finish with full conviction. I did for a brief time appreciate your semi unbiased sports point of view. I now see I was way off. You are just like everyone else. You want to look for a reason to take swipes at him. It's called player hating and it annoys. I have always given the Chargers the credit they DESERVE. I even admire a few players a bit. Your point of view is getting as old as everyone else. Just keep putting out your high quality opinions about the Padre colors and important stuff like that. And just try to leave the subject of Brett Favre alone for real blog sites.

(Following Brett Favre to the end of the Earth is not the pursuit of an ideal.....it is sedition in the eyes of all Packer fans. Blog sites are inherently crap and none are really 'real'. Really.)

'Real blog sites' are much more critical of your boy. I've actually given you the opportunity to voice the Favre point of view.

(what I meant to say---Fuck Yea I'm biased and I didn't mean "the Favre" point of view. It should have read Brett Fav-ruh point of view)

Don't worry, I'm not going to sit here and make you defend what YOU believe in. And I have read all the other blogs too. Once you filter through the idiots, there are some educated points of view. Some good and some bad for sure. But you and the surplus of other haters out there make it seem like that. Just keep up your good work.

Just admit you tried to talk shit too early and it will all stop. I'm not trying to be a hater. I'm just a little defensive as you can see. You aren't the only one sending me texts.

(I hope the Vikings get it handed to 'em tonight.....just so I can continue to poke the bear)

I'm still in awe with the velocity at which each one of these texts flew into my message box last week. Let's see what happens tonight.

Go PACK

Chasing the Chicken Man's 70 on a Northbound Train and that Son of a Punter

I had to take a break and while I have some pressing issues related to the plummeting Padres I must recap a couple of things first:

---Seeing the Padres on the road
---The kid who blew the U.S. Open

6/14/2009
I will begin with the train ride up to Orange County a week ago Sunday where The Ghost of Sid Going and I saw the Padres willingly submit to a weekend of domination by The The Angels Angels of Anaheim. The game sucked. It was another complete joke of a game where the little border town team looked very minor league. Chris Young completely sh*t the bed.......couldn't find the strike zone..... and when it was all said and done the board read 6-0 with CY headed to the DL.

Chris Young is incredibly frustrating....he is much like leaving the comfort of San Diego to watch the Padres play on foreign turf. I am now 0-5 lifetime.....two 6-0 losses on Sunday afternoon games to the Angels and Dodgers and the woeful sweep in NY last season at the hands of the Yanks. That being said: the fans were really nice, the stadium clean, and the lasting tribute to Nick Adenhart was touching.

When you willingly decide to follow around a AAAA team I suggest the following:

1. Expect that you will lose and it will BE ugly
   
2. Search out an ancillary storyline

Number one was achieved once again quite easily and for number two.......enter The Wade Boggs Effect. I had mentioned the drinking prowess of Wade Boggs prior to setting off for Anaheim and while The Ghost and I pushed the pace early (10:05 am-11:24 am) we fell dismally short of hitting the Magic 70. It was not to be on this given Sunday, however we quickly discovered the joy of taking the train to see a ball game and would like to give kudos to the designer of my Jansport backpack as it seems to have been engineered precisely for the purpose of transporting an 18-pack whilst still in the box.

'Twas good fun and I look forward to 2012 (?) when MLB's infinitely wise inter-league rotation deals us back into the AL West......why would we play a team every year that's but an hour train ride from San Diego? Anyways, I recommend the train for a good time as well as chasing after the Chicken Man and his Magic 70.

6/21/2009
I'm not a big golf guy but I do have a rooting interest in Phil Mickelson so this last Sunday I began my Father's Day by turning on the Open coverage at about 8 am where I caught an interview with then leader Ricky Barnes.

The viewer received all of the necessary Barnes background information: from LA, great Amateur player, high expectations but no results, athletic family......the son of a former NFL Punter:

Yes his father was a punter and he did his ball striking for none other than the New England Patriots. While this Patriot football talk was annoying to listen to as was the flashing of the ol' time football card (crappy facsimile--best I could do) it all became worth while at the end of the interview when Ricky Barnes simultaneously gave me a Happy Father's Day shout-out and a giant middle finger to Patriot Fan when he uttered one of my favorite phrases.......Go Chargers!

Suck it Patriot Fan! (although I can now see that I have opened myself up for ridicule as Barnes ended up choking horrifically down the stretch a la The 2006 edition of the San Diego Chargers who folded against the Patriots......but you can STILL suck it Patriot Fan!)

Go Chargers!