Category: NFL (Page 4 of 8)

Keeping The Faith: Why I Hold On To the Bills

3 December, 2010 / Kat

The glimmer of hope at the Bills-Pats game on September 26th. (Photo taken by Kat)

This is what being a Buffalo Bills fan in Boston is like.

It is going to work for sixteen Mondays every year and having your boss throw his hands in the air, sigh heavily and say, “Kat! Those Bills! So close!”

It’s your newest star wide receiver Tweeting his best Nancy Kerrigan impression (StarGames and Jerry Solomon, jump on that like a trampoline and sign him up.)

It’s your mother-in-law asking you for sixteen Sundays every year if your team lost again and asking you why you don’t root for that “Brady fella.” Continue reading

Thoughts from a Train Without Wi-Fi

11 August, 2010 / Kat

I wrote the following Tuesday morning on the train, but didn’t have internet to post it until Wednesday.

The man in front of me has a Verizon Mi-Fi card. I have been staring at this card and his MacBook for three straight hours, as he command-1-2-3s from Gmail to TweetDeck to Excel, and my iPhone and Mac keeps telling me, “Hey, there’s internet right in front of you – but it’s password protected. Haha!”

Mean, Mi-Fi. Mean, mean, mean Mi-Fi.

I’ve written one article – a piece for the Brookline Patch about the birth of Skating magazine – because all of the sources were hard copy Skating magazines from two years ago, along with one email from Ben Wright (someone I never in my life ever thought would email wanna-be journalist me, but there it was, Sunday morning in my inbox…ask my husband, I fell over in my chair) that I was able to bring up on my phone.

But can I post this piece and assure my editor that it’s done? No, because Amtrak doesn’t offer internet. Greyhound, of all means of transportation, now offers internet, but Amtrak can’t. And because I’m too chicken to ask the man in front of me for access to his Mi-Fi in exchange for five bucks. (Yes, I’m willing to pay at this point.)

There he goes again. Command 1. Command 2. TweetDeck, Excel, GMail. Mean Mi-Fi.

So while he justly hogs his internet, here are some sports related thoughts: Continue reading

Happy Retirement, Gibran Hamdan

6 June, 2010 / Kat

Photo: BuffaloBills.com

A quick note to wish the only recent Buffalo Bills quarterback not to give the fan base heartburn a good retirement. Late last week, Gibran Hamdan, former Bills third string quarterback, announced his retirement from football at the grand ol’ age of 29. Hamdan had been released by the Bills midway through last season, having taken only two NFL snaps. He had signed with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts in March, and had been competing against Cleo Lemon and Ken Dorsey – two quarterbacks with NFL experience – in training camp.

I wish Hamdan had been given a chance to take a few snaps with the Bills (his two NFL snaps were with Washington). He had shown his worth in NFL Europe (where he was a league MVP in 2006), and had a few inches on Ryan Fitzpatrick and a bit more sturdiness than Trent Edwards. All things considered, Hamdan was the only Bills quarterback of the past two years not to evoke any ire in the fanbase (because he didn’t play, but still.)

WGR 550 reports that Hamdan aspires towards a broadcasting career – not surprising, given that ESPN football writer Tim Graham once remarked that Hamdan was one of the “more passionate and insightful interviews” he had done on the beat. Happy trails, Gibran Hamdan. Best of luck in your future endevors.

The Steve Tasker of the BU Hockey Team

9 February, 2010 / Kat

Luke Popko in the 2009 Hockey East Championship Game (InsideHockey.com)

While livetweeting the Beanpot for BU Today last week, I remarked how much I enjoyed watching BU senior forward Luke Popko on the penalty kill. He may be diminutive, but he is one of the most effective penalty killers I have ever seen. He is especially effective when BU is two men down. He also doesn’t shy away from blocking a shot, and stays out there and gets peppered, often barely limping off the ice after taking several shots to his body. He truly plays like a second goalie, just without the extra padding.

During the Beanpot championship game this Monday (which BU lost 4-3), I was watching Popko on the penalty kill for the seemingly millionth time in the past four years when it finally hit me. Popko is a short, extremely effective, and fearless special teamer.

He is, by analogy, the Steve Tasker of the Boston University Terriers.

Uneasy Moments in Dunkin’ Donuts

20 September, 2009 / Kat

Not an iced coffee, but an example of how much both my cat and I run on Dunkin'. And why it's weird to go in their as a Bills fan.

Not an iced coffee, but an example of how much both my cat and I run on Dunkin'. And why it's weird to go in there as a Bills fan.

Sunday morning, I woke up earlier than usual, and decided to take advantage of this extra time and do laundry. I got ready, threw on my Buffalo Bills sweatshirt, Bills earrings and jeans, and beat the crowd to my local Allston laundromat by all of five minutes. I snapped up my three washers, started my laundry, and headed over to the Dunkin’ Donuts across the street. This is the DD’s where one of the employee’s routinely refers to me as “Ms. Cinna-mina-mon”, after the morning I was more dead to the world than usual and couldn’t say cinnamon to save my life. (Because I live on a small cinnamon iced coffee with cream and sugar. If this is not drank in the morning, than my day will be largely unsuccessful.)

Being 8am on a Sunday morning in Allston, Massachusetts (aka college party central of America), my usual swamped Dunkin’ Donuts was dead. One person in front of me getting a Coolata, one person at the doggie window getting something equally as complicated, so my Bills clad self waiting patiently in line, ready to order my iced cinnamon when it was my turn.

Someone else entered the Dunkin’ Donuts and got in line next to me. He cleared his throat and then stifled a laugh. I snuck a glance. This young man was wearing a new but fashionably antique-y looking Pat-the-Patriot-sporting New England Patriots sweatshirt.