Where are Dave's heart pills?

Dave and I watched last night's Patriots game amid the snow, sleet, and driving rain that was hammering against my house in our first real snow storm of the winter.

Despite the natural phenomena occurring outdoors, we were both glued to my TV, as the Patriots finished their closest game yet, against the Baltimore Ravens.

Here is Sports Illustrated's boxscore and recap of the game.

It was a game of catch-up for the Pats, something they are not used to this season, with an average winning margin over over 25 points per game in their so-far flawless year.

One observation I made last night was about the Pats' defensive line. With potential -- and almost all likely -- future Hall of Famers like Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Mike Vrabel, Adalius Thomas and Roosevelt Colvin (who did not play last night due to injury), their combined 58 years of NFL experience showed in that they are all over 30 years old. I wondered aloud if not having any injuries (except for Colvin last week) means that the D-line is just getting worn down. Still healthy enough to play, but not at their peak.

Pats' fans may recall that in recent years, injuries have provided backup players a chance to shine and they have not disappointed, providing a few of the best and most successful seasons in the franchise history. For better or worse, these backups are not getting the opportunity to make their presence felt on the field because the starters are just so darn healthy!

Now, I am not saying I hope the Pats start getting injuries -- far from it. The starters are in those positions for a reason: they are really, really good. But when I watched the tired D-line march down the field at the end of the third quarter, as opposed to the Ravens' O-line pump fists in the air and call for the crowd to cheer them on, I realized that although these men are elite athletes, they are still men.

The last 10 minutes of the game were real nail-biters, especially for Dave who has adopted the Pats as his team. Dave hasn't watched much football before, so he was unaware of Tom Brady's history of 20 fourth-quarter come from behind game-winning drives. Last night made it 21. It was great to see Dave's enthusiasm (he will never be known as a wallflower), jumping up, yelling, cheering, high fiving, sighing, and generally enjoying the game, while Tom did his thing and got the Patriots up the field to score the game-winning points.

The craziest part of the game was the end to this drive, in which the Pats survived 3 fourth down attempts, two of which were stuffed by the strong Ravens' defence. In fact, if the Ravens' coach hadn't excitedly called time in an effort to "ice" the Patriots first attempt at fourth-and-short, the game literally would have been over. The Ravens stopped the Patriots short of converting their fourth down. If not for the call of timeout by the Ravens sideline, Baltimore would have received the ball and could have taken a knee to let the clock run out, giving the Ravens the victory and ruining New England's dream of a perfect season.

The second attempt at fourth-and-short was called back due to a penalty against the Ravens. New England is too good to let a reprieve like that go to waste. The Tom and Randy show came through and put the Pats ahead.

The game wasn't over because there were still 44 seconds left on the clock and Baltimore was receiving a kick-off. Many games have been decided in less time than that. Unfortunately for Baltimore, lack of discipline led to two unsportsmanlike conducts penalties as well as an offside penalty on the TD conversion. This led to New England kicking off on Baltimore's 35-yard-line!!! I have never seen that before and it was unreal. Usually kickoffs after scoring are from the scoring team's 30-yard-line. The three Baltimore penalties of 15, 15, and 5 yards put the New England kicker in a position that he merely booted it through the Ravens' end zone to force them to start at their own 20-yard-line.

The game still wasn't over, as Kyle Boller played one of his best clutch performances and actually completed a Hail Mary pass which was caught on the Patriots' 3-yard-line. Thankfully, there were three Pats' defenders who were immediately on the receiver and they forced him to the ground as the clock ran out.

It was quite possibly the most exciting game ending I have seen for a while. This is what happens when the Patriots' opponent puts all of their effort into winning, trying to be the ones who knock off the kings' crowns. I expect to see more of the same from Pittsburgh, who are the next team for New England on this Sunday. More on that after the game.

Now that we have that out of the way

The Patriots will go undefeated. I was hopeful of this before last night's game. Since they withstood some of the most one-sided officiating known to the NFL and came back from the edge of defeat to gut out a win, I think they really can go all the way.

Wes Welker is now my favourite Patriot. How the Dolphins traded this guy who led their team in most offensive statistics last season to their division nemesis is beyond me. Welker showed the multi-dimensional rushing, returning and receiving skills at key times in yesterday's game, as he has a number of times already this season. It should be noted that Troy Brown (even though he isn't playing right now), Tom Brady and Randy Moss round out the top 4 of my favourite Patriots. That's just on the offence! Then there's Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel... OK, OK, they have a lot of good players, we get it.

The Patriots built their team with the best combination of acquisitions ever, with Moss, Welker and Donte Stallworth and Adalius Thomas rounding out the talent that the Pats needed and didn't have for the past few years.

I still hope that Brady gets the TD passing record and league MVP, he is well on the way with 33 so far and 7 games to go. That is on pace to complete 59 TDs which would obliterate Peyton Manning's 2004 record of 49 passing TDs. Randy Moss has 12 TD receptions this season. This is slightly below the pace he needs to break Jerry Rice's 22 TD reception record, but I figure the Pat's second half of the season will provide more than 10 TDs for Randy. This will go well with Randy's rookie TD reception record from 1998 of 17 scores. Those milestones will really complement the Super Bowl rings that I expect these gents will have, come next February. Not to mention the 19-0 season and playoff record that they will produce.

How will I get through the next 2 weeks with no Patriot games?!?

Better late than never

It seems like I have a problem in following up on the concerts that I have been going to see this year.

Without a doubt, the Van Halen concert was my favourite concert ever. The seats that were 10 rows from the stage and about 20 feet from the runway that extended into the floor seat area helped a great deal, but just seeing one of my favourite bands of all-time, playing with their first -- and best -- singer, David Lee Roth was exhilarating.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jonathan knew most of the songs and we sang along to a few of them together. The atmosphere of the show was thrilling and I was able to get about 170 photos and 20+ minutes of video (the entrance, first song, drum solo and 2 guitar solos) on my camera.

There was a brief crazy moment, when I got into a bit of a scuffle with some drunk guy who insisted on falling on top of me while mistakenly trying to get in my seat. I dealt with hom and then turned back to enjoy the show, then waited for the punch or knife to my back. It never came, but you don't know about these things when they are happening. I later saw him in the row behind me, a few seats over. I guess he did have a ticket for a seat, but his drunkenness got in the way of being able to count to eleven (his seat was in row 11).

We had a good time visiting Cheryl's aunts and uncles, who were all nice and friendly (this was my first time meeting 3 of the 5 of Cheryl's mom's siblings). The weekend went by so quick, although I am glad we stayed until Monday to give us that extra day to visit with family.

I posted a couple photos on my Facebook page. I don't want to put a lot of them on the internet because they are for my enjoyment, not for some stranger to re-produce them for a profit. Let me just say, there are some pretty good shots among them. My favourite is the photo of Eddie leaning on his son Wolfgang as they play together. You can tell that Eddie loves his son very much and he told us himself that night that he loves having Wolfgang in the band.

If you can do the thing you love for money AND have your family work with you, can you ask for anything more?

The Patriots will go undefeated if...

They can get through the next few games. This Sunday, the Pats play the Cowboys (who are also 5-0) in Dallas, where the Pats have never won. Having said that, the current era Patriots have beaten the Cowboys in their last two meetings, in 1999 and 2003. The Pats have had a good record against NFC teams, with 7 straight victories since 2005, including going 4-0 last season with a combined score of 111-41. I think Tom Brady can continue to air it out all over the field, with a number of targets including Randy Moss (who I hope gets the TD record as well as a long-waited-for Super Bowl ring this year), Donte Stallworth, and Ben Watson. The Pats defence should be able to take it to Dallas QB Tony Romo, who is almost like Rex Grossman with his interceptions and collapses amidst some great plays. The difference between Romo and Grossman is that Romo can get it together with confidence, which Rex just doesn't seem to have. Anyway, I can see more interceptions than touchdowns for Romo on Sunday, courtesy of Asante Samuel, Junior Seau as well as some bone-crushing hits by Adalius Thomas. If I was Tony Romo, I would not be looking forward to this game.

The week after that, the Pats play the Redskins, who seem to be doing well this year. The Redskins's demolition of the Detroit Lions last week may say more about the Lions than it does the Redskins, since they are now 0 for 21 in Washington, a record that dates back to 1934. The Lions's number-one passing offence had made up for its woeful 29th-ranked passing defence, until the game against Washington. The Redskins kept Jon Kitna to 144 total offensive yards! It's hard to win a game when you only cross the 50-yard line twice. Redskins QB Jason Campbell had a fine showing, but I think the Pats will eat him up for breakfast (or maybe supper, since it is a late-afternoon game).

In between is the classic "trap" game, that the Pats may go into thinking they have already won it, since the Miami Dolphins are winless this season. However, the Patriots have had trouble beating the Fish on occasion, so with the bookends of the Cowboys and Indians (Washington Redskins), the Patriots may choke on a bone they find in the Fish.

After Washington, it is off to Indy, to face the next-strongest team in the AFC, if not the NFL. The Patriots have some revenge to exact on the Colts, after the loss in the AFC Championship game last year, if they have the fire in their belly(-chick), the Pats can get past their toughest challenge of the season.

After Indianapolis, the Pats have a rest with their bye week. The second half of their season looks to be fairly easy, with only Pittsburgh standing in their way of a perfect season. At that point in the year, injuries will have taken their toll on players. I think New England has the deepest pool of talent in the league and they have proven themselves flexible enough to substitute position players and have strong enough second-string guys to be able to finish strong.

Bottom line for the next few weeks, I am glad that Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison are back in the lineup. Those defensive players haven't been missed too much, but they can only add to the force that is the Pats's D-line and secondary.

I think the off-season additions of Randy Moss (who is the most talented receiver in the NFL, even at the ripe old age of 30), Wes Welker (who is now in contention for my favourite player on the team), and Adalius Thomas (who provides a menacing threat to any QB) were all genius, adding even more rounds in the gunbelt that Belichick wears each week.

As strong as the past Super Bowl champion Patriot teams were, I believe that this year, they are the most talented they have ever been. If they don't go all the way, I will be shocked -- shocked! -- and deeply disappointed.

Once the Patriots go undefeated this year, it will finally knock off one of the oldest and hardest streaks to beat: the 1972 Dolphins won all of their 14 regular season games as well as three post-season wins, including Super Bowl VII, in what has been called the Perfect Season. The urban legend is that the '72 Dolphin players still get together to celebrate when teams are now beaten late in the season, like the Steelers and Colts were a few years ago. They deny the rumour, but I wonder if these contemporary streaks go completely unnoticed by the '72 Dolphins players.

One may argue that the 16-game season is harder to complete without a loss, and one would be correct in that assertion, but it remains that unless a team goes without a loss in their regular season and through to win it all, the '72 Dolphins will always have that bragging right as the sole owners of the Perfect Season. I think this is the Patriots's best chance for the Perfect Season. Let's hope that it come true!

T.O. Twice in 3 months!

Follow up on our trip to Toronto to see The Police:
- Good concert, although this experience taught me that if one is going to fly to another city to see a concert, the concert tickets are only a fraction of the total cost of the trip. Therefore, it makes sense to pay extra to get good seats.

- Philson and I enjoyed our brief visit to Toronto, including Philson's first visit to the CN Tower Observation Deck. It is freaky to stand on a glass floor at 1,122 feet above the ground! Fortunately, the glass floor can withstand 595 psi pressure, so there was no need to worry. It is counter-intuitive to look past your feet down to the earth over a thousand feet away!

- We shared a hotel room with Dave Dawood and we three were the youngest people in the hotel pool when we went there and generally horsed around, much to the chagrin of the older patrons.

- Philson and I saw the Blue Jays from great seats behind home plate, thanks to Dean (who couldn't join us due to double-booking himself).

- We had breakfast with an old friend of mine from Sigma Chi - Sully Ahmed. Sully is doing well, has a beautiful little daughter and works for Apple. It was great to see Sully after so many years.

- We saw a disturbing scene on Yonge Street as we walked to our hotel. An obviously mentally disturbed man was sitting against a building across the street. At first glance, he appeared to have a red long-sleeve shirt on under his white short sleeve shirt. Then we realized he was slashing his foreamrms to the point of being completely bloody from his elbows to his wrists. Philson and I kept an eye out for police to tell them about this man, but he got up and walked away, behind the building and out of our view. Philson had never seen anything like that before and he was shaken up by the experience.

- Philson and I went to both Hard Rock Cafe's in Toronto. We watched batting practice from our table in the Skydome HRC, which was fun. At the other HRC on Yonge Street, we took advantage of the deal they offer on HRC glasses by purchasing a beer in the signature pilsner glass. Philson paid for the glass and I paid about two bucks for my beer! I saved about five dollars versus buying the beer alone and the glass in the souvenir store. Every little bit helps!

- Porter Airlines is the best way to fly to Toronto. You land at the City Airport, they provide a shuttle bus to Union Station, plus you get free booze and food on the plane as well as in the terminal while you wait for your flight! How cool is that? Air Canada needs to take a page out of Porter's book and remember the the passengers are the reason that they are in business, not the shareholders.

On Friday, Cheryl, Natalie, Jonathan and I are flying to Toronto (Air Canada, since we are using Air Miles)so that Jonathan and I can see Van Halen in concert.

Van Halen-with-David-Lee-Roth Van Halen.

I am so excited! They are one of a handful of bands who I absolutely want to see in concert and I didn't think it would happen because of the band members's internal fighting over the years. So it turns out 2 of my must-see-before-I-die bands -- the Police and Van Halen (the others are AC/DC, U2 and #5 changes between Beastie Boys and James Taylor, believe it or not) are both touring this year, so I get to see two shows in the span of three months.

I will post again after we return!

Bachman Cummings

Sunday: Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings

The third concert of the weekend was probably my favourite overall, maybe because it was such a great surprise. Cheryl and I scored some floor seats which got us fairly close to the stage and luckily the audience was generally of an age that they may stand up to applaud a song, but they are very quick to sit back down, either out of respect for people behind them or because their hips are about to give out (I am not sure which it was). This was the first concert that I attended where I saw two different men in the audience wearing suspenders -- in a non-ironic way. Cheryl and I also enjoyed seeing the stage lights shining through one lady's blue-rinsed hair in front of us. We felt like youngsters in this crowd!

I was blown away by Burton Cummings's vocal ability, even after his 40 years in the biz; I don't think they keyed down any songs (which is typical for older singers to be able to sing the songs) and he was able to sustain high notes for a long time. Burton's piano playing was extraordinary and I appreciated his showmanship and the gratitude that he and Randy expressed numerous times during the performance. Randy did not disappoint with his performance either, playing his guitar flawlessly and enjoying the songs that he sang, both with The Guess Who and with BTO. The whole band seemed to really enjoy themselves and so did the entire audience. The opening act was a female solo singer/guitar player who had quite the impressive voice. As with the Joel Plaskett concert, we were late getting to the show and only heard the opening act's final song, but it was quite good.

Randy and Burton talked quite a bit in between songs, about their careers together and as independent acts, their relationship was music partners that had its ups and downs, and the stories behind the songs, which was neat for the fans to hear. For the finale, everyone was on their feet for the whole song and there was a definite feeling of love and admiration going both ways to and from the stage. Good times.

Dave and Jenn's Wedding

Cheryl and I went to the reception for Dave and Jenn Finlayson's wedding on Saturday, July 21. It was held at Pier 21 on the Halifax waterfront. I have been to a few functions there and it is a good space to hold large events.

It was great to see Dave and Jenn so happy and it was also fun to see so many Sigs, especially some whom I haven't seen for year. As I mentioned at the time, this was the most successful Ball that Dave has ever organized! There were probably about 30 Sigma Chi's in attendance out of a few hundred people, so when we gathered together to toast the bride, the other guests must have been surprised.

Big Fish were not as spectacular as I remember them, maybe because they changed their male lead singer since I last saw them in concert. As with most bands, changing the singer (surprisingly even for a cover band like Big Fish) substantially alters the sound of the music, so that was disappointing.

Since the reception, Dave and Jenn have bought a house in Bedford (a few doors away from Tony and Liz), so they are well on their way to building their life together. Cheers, you two!