Loooong day, so this will hopefully be a short post – I need to get to bed. But I had a few updates and some other thoughts that are still fresh in my head.
My Labor Day weekend is off to a good start, and has been a combination of restful and fun. This morning I got to sleep in a bit, lounge around, picked up my drum set, watched part of the CU/CSU game, played drums at church, ran errands and had dinner with Bethany, then we went over to Michael’s and played poker. Talk about a busy day!
Poker was a blast. I lasted until 4th place, which isn’t that impressive considering there were only 6 of us. It was still a lot of fun though, I ended up playing from 9:45-1:15am, so quite a bit of entertainment for $5 – that’s why Poker is so cool It was fun hanging out with everyone though, we definitely laughed a lot.
So I went on-line to check my email then make my way over to ESPN’s site, remembering today was the day they made the NFL cuts and brought rosters down to the 53-man limit. Looking at the Broncos roster, there were a few surprises:
- Jerry Rice got demoted down to the #4 man on the roster, bumped from the #3 spot last night by Darrius Watts. I guess now he’s once again thinking about retiring and whether or not he wants to play as the #4 man. Now I have the utmost respect for Jerry Rice – one of the greatest players to ever pick up football – but I’m stating to get really sick of these "should I retire/should I not retire" mood swings that he’s getting. I’m not sure why it’s such a big deal that he’s back down to the #4 spot, considering that’s where they told him he’d be at when they signed him… Plus it’s only a matter of time he’s going to be back up to the #3 spot – Darrius Watts can’t catch!!! The Broncos need Jerry Rice – when the regular season roles around and one of our starters gets hurt, we’re going to need someone who’s been there before and can provide that spark that the team will need… I hope that he doesn’t retire, but if he’s going to be like this every few weeks, then let’s just move on.
- Quintin Griffen got cut!! Woah.. Way to go from starting running back last year to not even making the roster.. Ouch! The good news is that Colorado State running back Cecil Sapp made the team! Nice!! We were talking about this at work a few days ago, and I predicted it’d either be Griffen or Sapp, looks like I was right
- QB Matt Mauck got cut, leaving only two quarterbacks on the roster – Jake Plummer and CSU QB Bradlee Van Pelt. Arrrgh, we better hope that both these guys don’t get hurt and we have to put WR Rod Smith under center… Arrgh
- …and the dumbest thing of all WE HAVE THREE KICKERS ON OUR ROSTER!!!!!!! What the heck! We have Elam, who’s money at kicking field goals, Sauerbrun who’s a punter, and now Paul Ernster who will do kick-offs or something. This is freakin’ stupid. We can’t have 3 quarterbacks but we can have three kickers???
Kicking is so stupid in football…. I know, I know – if we didn’t have kickers then there wouldn’t be much point in calling it "football", but there’s nothing worse than two teams slugging it out for 60 minutes all over the field, just nailing each other, when a kicker – a guy who hasn’t seen any action whatsoever – trots out onto the field and is going to decide whether or not your pain, sweat and blood was all worth it. Just like in the CU/CSU game today…. What a joke!
Oh, one other note about today:
I got a little frustrated with the choir at church tonight, mainly because I’m sitting there on my drum set, trying to lay down the groove, set a tempo and lock it in with the piano, then bass, then guitars, when one of the gals who isn’t singing starts playing Nerf Tamborine. Arrrgh!
So you might wonder "what is a Nerf Tamborine", Nerf Tamborine is based off of Nerf Claves from the widely-circulated Marching Band Drumline Dictionary:
Nerf Claves (nurf clah vayz) n. What you give the bag, freakin’ ree ree, geriatric, stick jockey, or water boy to play. also Nerfwoodblock and Nerf cowbell.
I know that definition mixed in 3 or 4 other slangs, but basically it’s based off the analogy of giving kids a nerf ball. You give unskilled people the nerf ball so they won’t hurt themselves or others, in drumming/music you give them the Nerf Claves/Cowbell/Woodblock so that they won’t hurt your band. So I’m adding Nerf Tambourine & Nerf Shaker.
So this gal doesn’t have anything to do during these songs (specifically they’re Mass parts), so she decides to pick up the Nerf Tambourine. The trouble is that she’s COMPLETELY OFF TEMPO, slowing things down. And to make it worse – it’s not really a true Nerf Instrument, because guitar players are actually trying to follow her (because I’m at one end of the row and she’s on the other) and causing massive amounts of phasing during the Mass parts…
I know she’s trying her best, but I really need to take her aside and teach her how to play Nerf instruments, or I’m going to have to hide/break the tambourine & shaker… I may sound mean, but you’d feel the same way if you show up 30 minutes before everyone, haul in all this drum equipment, set it all up, write your own parts (not to mention spend 30 minutes afterwards tearing down) – only to have your efforts ruined by someone who decided they didn’t want to be bored during one of the songs and picked up a tambourine.