Ugh
That's about the only word I can use to describe today's Patriots game. I mean, you knew they were going to lose at some point because no one goes undefeated, but the way they lost this game just kills me. The Pittsburgh players were talking smack all week, and I just really wanted to go in there and smack them right back. As hard as it is to believe, Tom Brady lost the game for the Pats with his fumble and two interceptions which led to 21 points.
That's what makes the loss even more unbearable. It wasn't the Steelers who beat the Patriots, it was the Patriots themselves. The Patriots could move the ball at will against the Pittsburgh defense, they just couldn't contain the Steelers' awesome running attack and so it turned into a game of keep away.
Hopefully this will be the wake up call the Pats need to kick it into high gear. The defeat was pretty demoralizing, and the fact that we couldn't stop the run, or slow it down, was pathetic. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of film being studied this week and a lot of changes being made for next week.
Curse No More!
It's a little bit difficult to explain what the Red Sox winning the World Series means to Boston. The last time the Red Sox won the World Series was in 1918, when Babe Ruth was pitching. At that time, there was no NFL or NBA, my grandparents weren't even alive, and the following year, the Curse of the Bambino was born.
Winning the World Series is something you're brought up in Boston to believe cannot be done, along with beating the Yankees. You are conditioned to wait for the moment when they screw it up, when the inevitable happens, and the Red Sox go home disappointed yet again. Fathers teach it to their sons, and they to their sons. For Boston, there isn't anyone who wouldn't trade all of the Celtics champsionships and both Patriots championships for a single Red Sox championship...that's how important this is to the region. It's amazing, it's incredible, and it's something that will transform the Boston Red Sox in the eyes of their fans forever.
Red Sox And Patriots
It was a good, if not tiring, weekend for Boston sports fans. The Patriots continued their win streak by defeating the Jets, making that 21 in a row including playoffs, 18 in a row excluding playoffs...which finally means that the NFL actually recognizes the accomplishment now. Who knows how long this win streak will last with tough games coming up in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and (yikes!) Kansas City (who put up 56 points yesterday...56!!!).
A little further north, it was the Red Sox handing the Cardinals two straight losses in the World Series. I want to get excited, I really do, but I watched hopelessly in 1986 when the ball when through Buckner's legs. We in Boston know that the only time to celebrate is when the deed is done. Which, if the Cardinals can't get any better offense or pitching, may be this Thursday. The possibility of having a baseball championship this year along with the football championship in February is almost too much to take!
World Series, Here We Come
It doesn't sound right when you first say it: the Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees to win the American League penant and their first World Series appearance since 1986. The Red Sox beat the Yankees? In the playoffs? What strange world does this happen in?
Yet, it did happen, somehow, some way, the Red Sox came back from an 0-3 series deficit to win 4-3, the first time any team has done such a thing in Major League Baseball, and only the third time in all four major sports (baseball, basketball, hockey, and football).
But folks, the curse hasn't been broken yet. The curse had nothing to do with beating the Yankees, it has everything to do with winning the World Series. The Red Sox have gotten to the World Series a few times since 1918, they've just never been able to bring home the championship. Hopefully, this will be the year that the curse is finally broken and we can enjoy a baseball championship next to the two football championships the Patriots brought home.
We Still Believe
When the Boston Red Sox started in the postseason this year, every Boston sports fan believed that this could be the year we get back to the World Series. Posters, signs, and other memorabilia were printed up with the phrase "We Believe 2004" on them. When the Yankees went up 3-0 in the best of 4 series, Red Sox fans were stunned, possibly anticipating the worst, but upon the second game in Fenway Park, new signs showed up: "We Still Believe".
On the day of game seven in the latest duel between the Red Sox and the Evil Empire, I, as a baseball non-fan, have been completely sucked in to the excitement. Coming back from 3-0 is an amazing thing, and I have been up every night watching these games like the bandwagon jumper that I am. 
20 And Counting…
I just can't believe that the Patriots keep winning. I guess I now know how Yankees fans feel, always knowing your team is going to be one of the best in the league. But come on now, 20 straight wins with 17 straight regular season wins? Who does that? This year's New England Patriots, that's who!
The Patriots now have a really tough schedule coming up, facing the New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, and St. Louis Rams. How long can the streak go on?
Google Desktop Search
When I first heard about the Google Desktop Search, I was very skeptical. A Web-style search for my computer? Didn't seem like a worthwhile idea. Plus, the interface used a Web browser, so where was my personal information being indexed? I decided to download it and find out.
I was very pleasantly surprised with the Google Desktop Search when I found out that it does, indeed, work from within Firefox as well as Internet Explorer. The only downside is that it doesn't index Firefox's history like it does for Internet Explorer. However, the functionality still works great for searching files on your computer.
As for where the indexed data is stored, it's right on your own machine. Google Desktop Search actually installs a small Web server on your machine that uses port 4664, so it shouldn't interfere with any other Web server software you may be running. Additionally, it will only work when accessed by using "localhost" or the IP address 127.0.0.1, meaning that no one can access it from outside of the computer.
As for search time, it's blazingly fast. It indexes your files only when the machine is idle, therefore not interfering with anything you're doing. Plus, it starts out by indexing the My Documents folders, so if you use My Documents regularly, those files should get indexed in relatively short order.
Thusfar, I'm pretty impressed with Google Desktop Search. While I'd really prefer a regular-old Windows application instead of a Web interface, it's still a great step forward for searching on the PC.
The Patriots Make History
It was really a foregone conclusion looking at the Patriots schedule after Week 1. The Colts are always a tough opponent, and if the Pats could get by them, it looked like smooth sailing to the NFL record for most consecutive victories. After all, the next three opponents were the hapless Arizona Cardinals, who haven't been good since...well...no one really remembers. Then there was the equally hapless Buffalo Bills with former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe (know for throwing away seemingly winnable games). And then, the battered and bruised Miami Dolphins, who had lost star running back Ricky Williams (who decided to leave the game to pursue pot smoking full time), deep threat David Boston (injured, out for the year), nnd Williams' replacement Lamar Gordon (injured, out for the year).
Yesterday, the Patriots fulfilled what all believe would happen: they set the record for most consecutive victories (including playoffs) at 19 in a row. No other team in the history of the NFL has done this, despite a bunch of teams reaching 18. Who would have believed that a little over a decade ago, when the Patriots went 1-15, that in the new millennium the Patriots would win two Super Bowls in three years, become one of the recongized elite teams, and broke a record that everyone thought had no chance of being tied.
Make It 18
The Patriots won their 18th straight game (including postseason) yesterday with a not-terribly-impressive defeat of the downtrodden Buffalo Bills, who drop to 0-3 on the season. Once again, the Patriots proved that good teams aren't the ones that don't make mistakes, they're the ones that can recover from their mistakes and still win.
The Patriots now tie several other teams, including the "greatest of all time" 1972 Miami Dolphins that one all 14 regular season games and three playoff games before losing in the second week of the following season.
This is, of course, an unofficial record since the NFL separates win streaks into regular season and postseason, but the Patriots have also won 15 straight regular season games, which puts them only two behind the 17 straight won by the Chicago Bears decades ago. The Patriots next two opponents include a horribly bad Miami Dolphins team next week and then their second-biggest test thusfar in the Seattle Seahawks.
Lovin’ Thunderbird
I've recently downloaded the latest version of Mozilla Thunderbird, and I must say, I'm lovin' it. Along with the same great features it previously had, this version adds an RSS reader that will either load the description of the RSS item (like FeedDemon) or take you to the associated URL.
Because of this, I've actually started using the RSS feeds from various sites I frequent and I find it much easier. The news items appear just like e-mails in the interface, and you can use the preview pane to view the description or the actual Web site. Unfortunately, the description isn't as nicely formatted as in FeedDemon, but it's still a nice (free) alternative.
In my humble opinion, this is the way RSS readers will be done in the future: inside of e-mail programs. No one wants to open two or three different programs to check up on their news and e-mails, which is why newsgroups were first introduced into e-mail programs. Sorry to programs like FeedDemon (which I really think is great), but I think your days are numbered.
