The Child is Grown, The Dream is Gone, I Have Become, Comfortably Butt

Its not the playoffs, not the regular season, its not even the preseason. Nonetheless, Lambeau Field was sold out earlier tonight when the Packers gathered with the Buffalo Bills for the first scrimmage of the 2005 NFL season. Thank God I have the NFL network so I can get at least a preliminary look at my boys. I mean, it doesn't mean anything, but its close enough to football for the first week of August. There are alot of questions going into this season for the good guys, two new guards, a defense which struggled mightily against the run and despite relative success on passing downs, has prolly its biggest problems in the defenseive backfield that isn't Al Harris. First defensive series, we looked alright actually. Ahmad Carroll broke up a good pass, Roman made a tackle in the flat, and Cole, the tackle who played a couple games during our injury filled December, looked pretty good. I've read quite a bit about the new defensive scheme thats coming with Jim Bates, but its not exactly unbiased testimony. There have been pretty much no additions to the D-line, so I have my doubts that we will be able to engineer a pass rush besides what KGB can do.

The offense is a bit skewed for this scrimmage, since Klemm (the new left guard) is not playing and Favre is missing Franks. Steele's not a bad or small target, but still, its never the same as throwing to Bubba. I don't really care what Favre does in this situation, I know how the dude plays and this is not gonna be relevant to the season. He completed a couple passes and threw a couple which weren't really on target. The Bills have a pretty solid defense, so at least the fact that he was under pressure several times is explainable. Aaron Rodgers came out to run a couple series and I was fairly pleased. Completed a quick one to Chatman. He threw another that Chatman dropped and one that wasn't good at all. It was nice to suggest that there is a reason to live in the post-Favre era, God forbid it ever comes. Brett returned to throw a couple touchdowns; nothing like the first "Bang on the Drum All Day" of the year. Anyway, it was fun to watch. Thank you NFL network.

No one has had anything to say on the subject of Conneticut's state song. So I'm gonna give it some thought and decide by the end of the weekend. Other states which can consider themselves excused: Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois. Illinois gets special props, btw, for naming their state song "Illinois" and thats what I'm looking for. We'll see what happens to the rest of you state-like homeys.

Have you ever sat down and given some consideration to the word "tastycake?" Try it sometime. Tastycake. Yumm.

I really miss the various types of fast-food that are obtainable in areas beyond Buffalo. I mean, techincally you've got your Tim Hortons and your Mighty Taco that don't exist many other places, but damn would I kill for Chipotle, or LeAnn Chin, or freaking White Castle. The lack of White Castle in this area is so ricockulous that I can't even begin to articulate it. If I wanted to make some money and live in Buffalo even a moment longer than I had to, I would make a freaking crave case available near the University. Make it a nice suburban one, an increasingly rare commodity. I would say keep it clean, but I'm somewhat worried that cleanliness and true slider taste are mutually exclusive.

Hippo and I are tired. She is meowing at me to go to sleep so she can scamper around in the dark and I will oblige.

Peace,

MB-K