Author: Greg

Week 8 observations

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What a week 8 it was for the household.  The Steelers get past New England and have now created some debate as to who is the top team in the AFC and the Eagles smoke the Cowboys and are hopefully rounding into shape for a run to the playoffs.

Eagles:  Any win against division rival Dallas is a big one – doing it in convincing 34-7 fashion made it that much more enjoyable.   This was as close to a perfect game as they could play – no turnovers, well more than 200 yards rushing, more than 250 yards passing, a significant time of possession difference.  I’m going to keep saying what I’ve been saying since week one – the Eagles offensive line is one of the top run blocking lines in the NFL, and in the past two weeks, their play calling has adjusted the play mix to this reality.   Give McCoy credit for his running, but he had massive holes to run through all night.   Peters on the left side was a monster, Herremans on the right was tremendous in the traps and draws to his side.  Celek, not well known as a run blocking TE, sealed the edges on runs all night.    Defensively, I didn’t see one blitz all game.  The coverage was outstanding and the front four got enough pressure on Romo to create a couple of sacks and hurry a number of his throws.   This defence looks like it’s starting to gel.    A completely dominant performance from top to bottom – it was a great game to watch! 

Steelers:  They managed to keep the Patriots off the field and the ball out of Brady’s hands with 5 drives of more than 10 plays.  It looked like the Steelers stole the Pats playbook and used it against them with 50 passes in the game, many of the short/intermediate variety to keep the chains moving.   The Steelers secondary was outstanding in coverage all night.   Underneath routes were well covered, and there was never anyone running free down the field for Brady to find.    The Steelers are an under-appreciated passing team.   Roethlisberger doesn’t look smooth, but he’s highly effective and needs to be considered among the top QBs in the league.

A few other things I saw in what was otherwise a Sunday of underwhelming match-ups on paper:

  • Patriots – If anyone other than Belichick put together this defence, there would be mass mockery of that individual.  The Pats defence has let the team down the past few seasons and is poised to do so again.   Some of Belichick’s shine as a personnel genius is wearing off.   You have to be able to win games in multiple ways and right now it doesn’t look like the Pats defence can win a game or cover up for a sub par offensive day.  On the other side of the ball, with no deep threat (wasn’t that supposed to be Ochocinco and why hasn’t he been cut yet?), teams with reasonable corners are going to play press coverage, take away space underneath and dare the Pats to beat them throwing deep.  Not all teams have the personnel to do this, but if the playoffs go through the Jets, Steelers, or Bengals, the Pats are going to struggle unless they find a deep threat to open up the field.
  • I continue to think Baltimore is overrated.  Yes they had a wonderful comeback from 24 down to win, but it should never have been that close against Arizona.  I’m not sure they can string together the 3-4 playoff wins in a row to be Super Bowl champs this year.
  • Washington is a mess.  Much of it has to do with an OL that has been decimated by injuries.   It’s good to see Shanahan lose – he’s got to be one of the most overrated NFL coaches. 
  • Detroit really rubbed it into Denver in their 45-10 beat-down.  Tebow looks completely lost, and to add insult to injury, was mocked at every turn by the Lions defenders.  
  • Good to see St Louis get their first win of the year.  Early in the 2nd quarter with the game close, they went for it on 4th and 2 from around mid-field.  After they were successful, you could see the emotion build.  Later, 4th and 2 from inside the Saints 40, they went for it and were successful again.  I loved the calls as they have nothing to lose and I think it helped spur them on to a victory no one saw coming.
  • The Chargers must frustrate their fans like the Eagles to do theirs.   Fighting from behind all game, a fumbled snap costs them a chance for a last second winning field goal before they lose in OT.   A fumbled snap on what was a straight ahead run play is inexcusable.   Suddenly the AFC West is a 3 team race now.

Snacks:  Because of Sobeys’ lack of ingredients for a Queso Fundido (that’ll be next week), I went with pita chips early and relied on an old trustworthy (and easy) slow cooker rib recipe for supper so we wouldn’t have to take our eyes off the Steelers game (2.5 lbs of back ribs liberally salted/peppered and browned in a frying pan on all sides; then added to a slow cooker with 500ml of Coke, garlic salt, 1/3 cup of soya sauce and 1.5 cups of brown sugar for about 5 hours on low).  Put together with some fries/aioli and a delicious Steam Whistle (smuggled back from a recent trip to Toronto) and it looks a little something like this:

Montreux

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October 11 – We spend a cloudy, rainy morning on the train from Milan to Montreux.  The clouds obscure what would have been spectacular mountain views as the train enters Switzerland and turns to the north west before hugging Lake Geneva.   We’ve been fortunate with weather so far – almost perfectly sunny, not a drop of rain has touched our skin and the daytime temperatures have been in the low 20s.   As the train pulls into Montreux, the rain has stopped.

Walking through this town feels comfortable.  It’s a quaint, quintessential French town.  Being able to easily understand the language feels reassuring after the first half of the trip battling through our limited understanding of German and Italian. We keep our streak alive of being able to check into our hotel early (traveling in October has its perks).   The Hotel Splendid is an older property that hangs over Grand Rue.  The view from our room over Lake Geneva is spectacular (more on that later).   After a quick spot of lunch, we leave by bus for the Chateau de Chillon.

The castle dates back to 1150 and was developed in a number of stages.  We take an audio-guided tour which tells the story of the castle (construction, battles/occupation, trade, prisons).  It’s a fascinating afternoon wandering through the halls of the castle and learning about life in this area over 7 centuries.  Here are some photos of the castle and views from its many towers:

Leaving the castle, we head back into town.  As it’s Canadian Thanksgiving and we have a room with a view and a deck, we decide to pick up a few items from a grocery store on the lake.  On the way to the store, we walk past this statue of Freddy Mercury:

A view from the lake front boardwalk:

Thanksgiving supper, so we pick up a roast chicken, some potato salad, some cheese, a baguette, and of course some wine (a local one from Sion):

The hotel succeeds because of it’s spectacular location.  Inside the room, it’s a bit grimy in places.  In particular, the two drinking glasses are really dirty – luckily wine comes in its own drinking vessel:

As the sun begins to set over Lake Geneva, it lights up the town perched on the hill:

Too bad the crane is there, but here’s a view of snow-capped mountains as we look east from our patio:

This is how we spend Thanksgiving evening – watching the sun set behind the mountains and into Lake Geneva on the horizon:

Not a traditional Thanksgiving, but appropriate nonetheless.  Although we only had the one day/night in Montreux, the evening spent passing a wine bottle back and forth in the shadows of mountains with a spectacular view of a sun set was special.   We both were smiling from ear to ear thankful to be in such a beautiful place.

Everything is better in Italy

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October 8 – Two days in beautiful Milan start with an easy check-in to Hotel Berna close to the train station.  We drop our bags and head to Santa Maria della Grazie for a 15 minute appointment to view The Last Supper by da Vinci.   Spending time with the painting was moving – it’s fragile based on the technique used, and there was a door cut where Jesus’ feet were painted (I guess no one thought it would be such a big deal). Pictures are strictly forbidden so all we have is this picture of the outside of the beautiful church:

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Week 7 observations

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It’s the Eagles’ bye week, so for me, it was a fun Sunday of watching football without much emotionally invested.   I watched most of the Jets-Chargers game early, the Steelers-Cardinals game late afternoon then the Saints-Colts game late (with NFL Redzone running throughout to keep me posted on everything else)  Here’s a few things I saw:

Tim Tebow: So I was wrong in my prediction that he wouldn’t see the field this year.  For a bit more than three quarters, he was absolutely terrible.   He looked confused, started to run around whenever he felt any pressure and was as inaccurate as any QB I’ve seen in a while.  Truly, it was one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen by a quarterback, and it was against one of the league’s worst defences.  But (and a big but), in the end, he rallied his team past the Dolphins.   Good on him for getting his team the win, but much tougher challenges lay ahead for him.

Coaches of bad teams coaching scared:

(1) Arizona scores to close the gap to 12 points against Pittsburgh with less than 4 minutes to go in the 4th quarter.   Instead of attempting an onside kick (they need 2 possessions to have any chance of winning), they kick deep and never see the ball again.  

(2) Minnesota plays a competitive game against perhaps the top team in the league and is losing by 6 to the Packers with less than 3 minutes to play.  On a 4th and 10, they elect to punt (with the hope that they can use their timeouts and get the ball back for a game winning drive) – they never see the ball again.  

It baffles me that coaches of teams with nothing to lose continually make ultra conservative decisions like these.   By making the conservative calls, they are taking the heat of failure off themselves and putting it on their players (I’m not sure I’ve ever read that tactic in any book on leadership).   Every week you’ll see a couple of examples of this type of coaching behaviour, but never from championship-caliber teams.

Chargers slipping?:  I think Darren Sproles was more important to this team than many thought.  They lack a dynamic backfield presence, and that’s allowing opposition linebackers to help out in underneath coverage on short passing routes.   Their offence against the Jets looked confused at times (none more so than during their 4th quarter 2 minute drill where they couldn’t get plays called and when Rivers threw a pass out of bounds to avoid a sack on 4th down that ended the game).   With Kansas City suddenly coming on, perhaps they’ll be in for a challenge for the NFC west title.  The Chargers do have a habit of improving through the course of the season, so perhaps the loss to the Jets was just a bad day at the office.

Defences catching up:  The days of video game style offences seem to be cooling off (well, except for the 62 points that the Saints hung on the Colts).  Although the NFL is still a pass-oriented offensive league, the gap between offence and defence has narrowed as the affects of the lock-out on defences have mostly vanished after 7 weeks of practice and games.

Colts:  I probably should write about the Saints and their 62 points, but the Colts defence offered absolutely no resistance.   The Saints ran 30 offensive plays and put up 28 points before they had to convert a 3rd down.  Receivers were running wide open by 20 yards in places.  Granted, the Colts lack talent in their secondary, but they looked poorly coached.  If ever a team looked like it gave up on a game, it was the Colts on Sunday night. 

Steelers quietly win another game:  Without much fanfare, the Steelers have rolled off a couple of wins in a row.   Roethlisberger was as impressive as ever when scrambling to make passes downfield.  For the first time in years, the Steelers have speed to burn at WR.  The match-up next week against the Pats should be a great high scoring affair.   I foresee Brady and Roethlisberger battling to see who can get the ball last with a chance to win the game on the final drive.

Ravens offensive woes:  Their Monday night game was horrible.  No first downs until well into the 3rd quarter.   Joe Flacco looking like a rookie for most of the night.  That team can look spectacular one week and downright awful the next.  I still feel they’re not a true Super Bowl contender because of their ability to stink up the joint on any given day.

After 3+ weeks of almost constant traveling (10 places in 23 days in 5 countries), it was a week for easy repeat snacks.   Previously made and frozen pretzels early with nacho dip later in the afternoon. A nice twist this week was a 1L jug of homemade beer from Jodi’s brother.   It’s was outstanding with had a European blonde/wheat flavour.

Milan: Duomo in pictures

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October 8-9 – Ask people what they think of when you say “Italy”, and Milan will be a fair bit down the list for most.  We booked these couple of days here on speculation since we were so close, had never been to Italy before, and I thought I would be getting to see either AC Milan or Inter Milan play at San Siro.  The soccer schedule didn’t work out for me, but the time we spent around the Duomo more than made up for missing out on soccer.  More on our two days in Milan in a later post – for now, here’s a photo blog of the beautiful Duomo in Milan.

The Duomo at around 9am, before the crowds:

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Airports

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I wrote this at the airport waiting for my flight home last night…

Maybe it’s the death defying cab ride from my hotel to the airport this afternoon (115 mph on I-95 and lane changes that would make a NASCAR driver proud) that has me thinking about life as I sit in a rocking chair across from a Chick-fil-A at PHL.  But then again, maybe it’s just the airport itself that has this affect on me.  I’m wondering about the stories of each of the people that walk through my view.  Is the young woman heading off on a voyage she’s been dreaming about for months?   Is the gentleman in the orange sweater leaving or returning to a lover?

I think airports are a portal to deeper thinking about one’s life.   I know of no one who has set foot in one who hasn’t thought of the opportunities waiting for them or dreaded an inevitability at the other end.  Airports are places where your mind can wander uninhibited into the brighter or darker places within yourself.  The time before or between flights is a sort of artificial suspension of your life.  You’re trapped between your origin and where you are headed – physically and spiritually.  In that space, the mind is freed to explore.

Though I have a ravenous traveling soul, in a near empty airport tonight, I’m longing to be back home, in my bed, next to the woman I love.

A taste of Italy, before Italy

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October 6-7 – Our itinerary called for 2 days between Zurich and Milan.  Scanning some Swiss tourism brochures, I picked Lugano for a couple of reasons: it looked stunningly beautiful (something we came to learn applied to everywhere we went in Switzerland), there were well reviewed red wines made in the region, and it is a unique pocket of Italian culture tucked inside Switzerland’s border. 

The train trip from Zurich was two and a half hours of amazing views out the window – valleys and mountains, quaint towns, rivers and lakes.   It was on this train ride that I was reminded that the journey is as important as the destination.  When we arrive in Lugano, I’m actually a bit disappointed to get off the train.

It’s a short walk from the train station to our hotel.  We attempt to check in, and they don’t have any record of our reservation.   I had cancelled our original reservation and re-booked when the price dropped.  They saw the cancellation, but never caught the new booking.   After a few minutes, they apologized for the mistake with the keys for an upgraded room.  The first breathtaking moment in Lugano came when I opened the window to this view:

That made supper plans really easy – a Ticino merlot and a few staples from the grocery store would be enjoyed while we sat on our deck and looked out over Lugano.  So taken were we with the view, we took this video from our hotel room patio of Lugano.

We took a stroll around the town on our first afternoon and  it really felt like we were in a different country.  Without the Swiss flag flying, you really would have thought you were in Italy.

Some of the Italian influenced architecture:

The main town square of Lugano:

A view of Lugano from across the lake:

The clarity of the skies on our second day beckoned us to travel up one of the two mountains surrounding the town – Monte San Salvatore (912 metres).  From the top, we have 360 degree views including toward Lombardy (Italy) and of the Swiss and Savoy Alps:

Here’s the obligatory shot of the two of us from the windy peak.  We’re actually standing on the roof of a church – a location which affords the best views.

After lunch on our balcony (we really couldn’t take our eyes off the view) and an afternoon walk around the town (complete with a gelato break on a bench by the lake), we wrap up our last evening in Lugano by having a typical Ticino supper of risotto (mushroom risotto for me, saffron risotto for Jodi) along with another Ticino merlot at La Tinera just off the town square. 

I know I left part of my heart here.  The views, the laid back Italian lifestyle and the surprisingly great wines made these two of the best days of our trip.

Our take on planes, trains and automobiles

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October 5 – We’re on a train out of Zurich toward Lucerne before the sun is up.  The jump on the day is so we can spend the morning on top of Mt. Pilatus (2132m) before it gets too crowded.  We’re planning on completing what is called the “Golden Round Trip”.  From Lucerne, this involves a bus to the small town of Kriens, a short walk to a cable car station which takes us to a gondola station in Frakmuntegg.  On this part of the trip, the still air is filled with the sound of Swiss cow bells from the cows grazing on the mountain slopes below.  The descent involves a trip on the world’s steepest cog railway (48 degrees at greatest slope) to Alpnachstad, and then a 90 minute ride on a lake steamer back to Lucerne.  By the end of the day back in Zurich, we’ll have traveled on seven modes of transportation (train, tram, cable car, gondola, cog railway, boat, bus).

The early morning ascent, first from the cable car looking back on Lucerne, then from the gondola:

We arrive on top of Mt. Pilatus with only about 20 other people.  It’s perfectly quiet on top of the mountain this morning.  There’s no wind, the temperature is just below zero and we emerge above the clouds to spectacular blue skies and sun.   Heading outside of the gondola terminal, I see mountains for the first time in my life:

Jodi and I share the moment in almost complete silence, in awe of what we’re seeing.   My jaw literally drops at the beauty around me.  After a few minutes of taking in this scene, we’re off on a hike around the mountain:

Here’s the two of us as the hike comes to an end and it’s time to head back down the mountain:

After a half hour descent via cog railway, we’re on a lake steamer for the trip back via Lake Lucerne.  By now, it’s warmed up close to 20C and the early morning clouds have moved off to reveal another beautiful day.  The scenery along the lake is stunning – mountains, rolling hills and quaint towns hugging the rugged terrain:

We spend about an hour on a short walking tour of Lucerne.  The city is gorgeous – tree lined streets, German inspired architecture, and of course, their famous Chapel Bridge:

Back in Zurich after the train from Lucerne, we get ready to take in the opera “La Traviata” at Zurich’s Opernhaus.   This Verdi opera is wonderful – the symphony is outstanding and the acoustics of the opera hall are first class.  Even from our back row seats, we have a great view.

Week 6 observations

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After missing last week’s games (seriously, I couldn’t find a bar in Milan that carried any NFL action), I was really excited to set up the dual televisions and enjoy the last day of vacation from my sofa.   With Jodi traveling to Moncton for work for the next few days, I was on my own for snack making.  Really happy with what I pulled together…

Pita chips (pita split in half, brushed with garlic/rosemary olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder – about 7-9 mins in a 300F oven)

Pulled pork sandwiches (pork shoulder seared on all sides then dropped in a slow cooker for 8 hours with a sauce made from cooking onions/garlic in the pork fat then adding dark rum, chili sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, chili powder, and liquid smoke):

A couple of things from the games I watched most closely:

Eagles come back from the dead:  Nice to see my team play like it cared this week.   Their tackling was much better than it has been all year and they held the Redskins rushing attack in check.   The defence looked solid, but when you get to play against Rex Grossman, you’ve got to take the 4 interceptions with a grain of salt.   The Eagles continue to have an under appreciated run blocking offensive line.  I’ve been saying that for weeks, but against Washington, there were a number of well executed blocking schemes that opened up huge holes for McCoy to run through.  The Eagles are lucky to have Todd Herremans – he’s very versatile and played left tackle this week due to other injuries and looked great all game long.  Kudos to the coaching staff for a solid game plan and for sticking with the run.  The Eagles are off on a bye next week, and at 2-4 are very much still in danger of missing the playoffs.  Interestingly, the Eagles have never lost coming out of a bye week with Andy Reid as coach.  The match-up on Oct 30th against Dallas will be a big one.

49ers could be for real:  Their game against the Lions hurt to watch.  It was full of penalties, bad refereeing and incomplete passes and took more than 3:30 to complete.   However, the come from behind win and the dust up between the coaches at the end of the game made for good TV.  The 49ers play in a weak division and may only need 2-3 more wins to secure a playoff spot.   They’re solid on both sides of the ball and have very good special teams.

Cowboys-Patriots game: Both coaches made fundamental tactical mistakes in this game.  At the end of the first half, Belichick didn’t use his timeouts to stop the clock during Dallas’ scoring drive and ended up with all 3 timeouts unused.   Had he even used one to stop the clock, he would have given his offence another opportunity to score in the first half.  In the second half, it was the Dallas coaching staff making the mistakes.  Their conservative play calling late in the game made it obvious they were settling for a field goal and a 3 point lead.  That left Tom Brady with ample time for a game winning TD drive.   It was a classic example of a coach making decisions so that the blame would rest on his defence for losing, rather than on him for making more aggressive play calls.   You never want to count on your defence to win a game for you with a few minutes left – especially when they’re facing a pro bowl caliber QB.

A Swiss adventure begins…

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This is to be a different kind of trip for the two of us.  Swiss train pass in hand, we’re off across the pond to a land we don’t know much about.  Our loose itinerary has us planning to see a few cities, some mountains and to sample from the German, Italian and French areas of Switzerland (with a two day detour to Milan thrown in for good measure).

October 4
About 11 hours after leaving Halifax, we arrive in Zurich (via Frankfurt).  Condor isn’t a bad airline, but the legroom for my 6’2” frame leaves much to be desired.  At least the person in front of me doesn’t recline during the 7 hours to Frankfurt.   With a brief hour and a half nap on the plane, I’m surprisingly refreshed when we arrive in Zurich to striking blue skies and 25C temperatures.  A short train ride into the city and we’re soon in our room at Hotel Bristol. 

We pick up a bite to eat from a grocery store and find a bench in the central train station to people watch before an afternoon city tour.  The city tour as a means to make use of a jet-lagged arrival day is now a staple in our travel planning.  This one of Zurich is quite nice, taking us through a number of areas we wouldn’t have otherwise seen including some residential neighbourhoods, the university area and around Lake Zurich.

We made reservations at Hiltl (a vegetarian restaurant) and enjoyed a few interesting dishes.  Jodi’s was the most creative (a banana madras).  By the end of the meal, a very long day of travel fatigue is settling in so we walk back to the hotel via the chic Bahnhofstrasse to get some sleep.  Here are a couple of quick snaps of Zurich on the walk back.

Bahnhofstrasse:

Zurich HB (central train station):

Limmat River (the Swiss National Museum is the illuminated tower just off centre):

For a first day, it’s a pretty good one.  Flight was on-time, we get our hotel room early, get a bit of a feel for Zurich and have a nice meal.   Our heads hit the pillow for a deep, travel-weary sleep.  The alarm clock is set early for the next morning – it’s the day I’ll get to see mountains for the first time.