Cranky Old Man Predicts - Giants 24 Packers 16

Cranky Old Man Predicts - Giants 24 Packers 16

It’s about time this blog showed a little testosterone.  My friend Scott says that one more step back and I’ll start getting hot flashes.  What could be manlier than talking football?  NFL Football.  New York Giant NFL Football. 

I am uniquely unqualified to talk football or to make predictions on this Sunday’s playoff game as I only know about 5 players names on the Giants and maybe 2 on the Packers.  But....

I know the Packers are very good.  They have a QB, Aaron Rodgers, who is very very good and does a champion belt thing after touchdowns (I know that from a commercial for insurance or something.)  They also have a very good pass rusher or linebacker or something named Mathews (I think), and they have a whole bunch of good players.  They must have good players because they won the Super Bowl last year and have only lost one game this year.

The Giants have lost a bunch of games this year, but they did have a very tough schedule.  They have a Manning for QB so that has to be good, and their team is the healthiest going into this game as they have been all year.  Ahmad Bradshaw is underrated as a running back.  When he is healthy he is great.  The really big guy, number 27 is also healthy.  If he runs straight up field and stays low, he is a beast.

The Giants are also very strong on the defensive line.  Jason Tuck is finally healthy; Peter Saint-Pierre is great, and Uminiminyura and Yomomota are excellent pass rushers.

Ok my credentials are weak, but the expert’s picks usually suck so I’m going to give it a shot.  Giants 24 Packers 16.  Actually this is an easy call.

In the first quarter Bradshaw breaks loose for a 55 yard run.  Number 80 then scores on a 12 yard pass play from Manning.  The Packers answer back with a 48 yard field goal…..wait….make that a 43 yard field goal…I forgot about the Giants going off-side.

In the second quarter the Giants score when Osi Uminoto blocks a pass into the arms of Paul Saint-John who barrels 30 yards for a touchdown.  The Packers will respond when Rodgers throws a 60 yard TD to one of the Packer receivers.  The extra point is blocked.

In the third quarter Manning marches the Giants 80 yards on a 12 play drive capped by the really big guy pounding the ball in from the three.  The Packers return the ensuing kickoff 105 yards for a TD.  Manning then leads another long drive eating up clock into the fourth quarter and ending in a 28 yard field goal.

The Packers get the ball back, and drive to the Giant 6 when Rodgers gets hit and fumbles.  Murry Saint-Luis recovers for the Giants.  After two first downs the Giants are forced to punt.  The Packers go three and out and the Giants get the ball and run out the clock. 

New York Giants 24 - Green Bay Packers 16.

Oh did I ruin it for you?  Sorry….there is always figure skating on channel 35.

CROSSING MAIN STREET – UPDATE

CROSSING MAIN STREET – UPDATE

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a letter written by a slightly over-enthusiastic resident my little town. 
http://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2011/12/crossing-main-street.html
The letter was directed at the tragically unsafe situation in town of crossing Main Street.  She is so concerned about this issue that her children wear yellow reflective safety vests and bright traffic-cone orange hats before venturing into town.  She claims she has almost been killed twice trying to cross Main Street.

The section of Main Street which she was concerned about is less than four blocks long.  There are two traffic lights along this stretch.  The two blocks without a traffic light have a cross-walk with a pedestrian button which when pressed initiates a series of lights along the crossing walk alerting cars to stop.  Cars that do not stop for pedestrians are subject to a moving violation ticket.   A sign in the middle of the road makes this fact clear.

With the possible exception of a drunken lunatic running a light at 50 miles per hour, which is almost impossible in normal hours, crossing Main Street is very safe. 

I recently read that this concerned citizen has been appointed to the town Traffic and Transportation Commission. 

This is what makes me nervous about government.

Write a hysterical letter about the danger of crossing four blocks of Main Street in this tiny one mile in diameter town of 15 thousand people and you end up on the Traffic and Transportation Commission. 

Why does this town even have a Traffic and Transportation Commission? 

Who on this commission is going to stand up to this lady and challenge her sanity with regard to the difficulty of safely crossing Main Street?  How much will this town spend on ridiculous new regulations to placate this over-enthusiastic (trying to be nice here) resident?

Will we have crossing guards all day every day (not just for school) at every intersection?  Will every child under 13 be required to wear a yellow reflective safety vest and orange cone hat?  Will cars even be allowed on Main Street (one resident has already suggested a ban on cars)?  How about pedestrian control; on my last trip down Main Street I encountered four different pedestrians crossing in the middle of the road? 

There used to be a TV public service announcement, “Cross at the green, not in between, because if you don’t, you may get…dead!”

Maybe the town Traffic and Transportation Commission could just adopt that simple message along with “Look both ways before you cross!”

It really does not take a rocket scientist to safely cross Main Street.              

WHY IS THE USA A MULTILINGUAL SIGN COUNTRY

WHY IS THE USA A MULTILINGUAL SIGN COUNTRY

The USA is a melting pot for peoples and cultures from all over the world.  Our citizens and visitors speak many different languages.  I am not like many in our country decrying the fact that some in this great land do not learn to speak English.  My objection is the proliferation of multilingual signs.

Printing signs in multiple languages is not cost effective, and I think it is insulting to those that do not speak English.  If you see a big yellow sign on the floor with a picture of a dude slipping on his ass, is not “Caution Wet Floor” enough?  What cretin, regardless of his preferred language does not figure this sign out?  How many times do you need to see this sign before you learn that “Caution Wet Floor” means “Cuidado Piso Mojado”?

If you are going to a rest room and don’t speak English, which door do you take; “MEN” with a picture of a dude, or “WOMEN” with a picture of a dudette?  If I spoke only Spanish I know I would be relieved to also see “Senor” or “Senora” because I would be too stupid to figure it out.

Maybe I have too much faith in mankind, but I think that a picture of a lit cigarette in a circle with a line through it would be enough for most people to figure out smoking is not permitted.  If not, is it asking too much to expect Non-English speakers to learn that “No Smoking” means the same as “No Fume”?

In NYC the pedestrian signs only say “Walk” or “Don’t Walk”.  I have never seen a confused foreigner standing on the curb unable to figure out when he is allowed to cross the street.

Do we really need our exits to be marked both “EXIT” and “SALIDA”? Maybe this is convenient for my Spanish friends, but I get confused.  Is this the way out of the building, or will I end up standing in the salad line?

What happens to all the visitors of this country that speak neither English nor Spanish?  It is just so sad to see all those foreigners falling on their asses running through the “Caution/Cuidado” signs, walking in unexpected to the wrong rest rooms, not knowing how to leave a building, and smoking like a chimney right under a “No Fume” sign.

Do we need to put up signs in every language that visitors or residents speak?  Where do you stop?  Signs in Russian, French, Japanese, Chinese (twenty dialects), Arabic, and Yiddish, would not only be mind boggling, but would still not cover everyone. What of people from India, or the twenty plus languages of our own Native Americans. 

Do we need “No Parking” signs to also say “No paaking” for our Massachusetts residents?  Do our signs really need to be multilingual? 

I don’t think so.  Creo que no.