Television Returns from its Summer Hibernation.

Dust off your remotes and check the DVR settings it is time for another new season of our favorite shows!  It feels like such a long time for some of our favorite characters.  Every May you get that happy, but sad feeling: happiness because of some sense of resolution for your characters and wonderful cliffhanger episodes, sadness because you know you will have to wait until September to get new and exciting episodes and story lines.  The long summer is over and what better way to catch up on your favorite shows and discover some new gems, then Matt’s Welcome Back Television Special!

How I Met Your Mother

The last we saw of the gang was at Barney’s wedding where Ted was the best man.  Ted and Zoey had broken up and Marshall and Lilly were finally pregnant and ready to have a baby.  Robin still has feelings for Barney and that is shown when Barney and Nora rekindle their relationship.  This wedding is what season 7 of the show revolves around.  Some of the burning questions to watch for this season on How I Met Your Mother are, who is Barney getting married too?  Will Marshall and Lilly actually have the baby?  Does Ted finally meet the mother of his unborn children?  We shall watch with anticipation.

 

How I Met Your Mother         CBS         Monday, September 19 8 pm EST/7 pm CST

Two and a Half Men

Did you guys hear about Charlie Sheen?  Ok, ok I know everyone has.  This is the first season of “Men” without Sheen and his replacement is no newcomer to television.  Enter stage right, Ashton Kutcher.  Kutcher, who was a veteran on That 70’s Show, is now a major character who decides to buy Charlie’s old house.  He also allows Alan and Jake to continue to live with him because he is lonely.  Some of the burning questions to watch for this season of Two and a Half Men are, how will Ashton Kutcher go with the cast and story lines?  Will killing off Charlie turn out good or bad?  Will that kid grow up and finally move out?  This will be a make or break year for “Men”.

Two and a Half Men            CBS        Monday, September 19 9 pm EST/8 CST

 

Glee

Glee is one of those shows with great stories and an even better cast.  The entire ensemble cast brings their A game every episode.  All of the gang is back and ready to enter senior year at McKinnley High.  The glee club finished last season without a national championship and are hungry to finally win one this upcoming season. Finn and Rachel are back together and it is safe to say that nobody knows how that and this season is going to end.  Jane Lynch and Matthew Morrison are set to return next year but expect a major cast shake up with the departures of the entire glee club.  Some of the burning questions to watch for this season of glee are, will Finn and Rachel remain together through the entire year?  How will Kurt and Blaine far in their relationship?  Will Sue ever respect the glee kids and Mr. Schuester?  Will the glee club finally win the ultimate prize?  This is a season of growth on glee, and I can’t wait to see what the writers have in store!

Glee                    FOX        Tuesday, September 20 8 pm EST/7 pm CST

 (oldie pic but goodie)

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit

Say it isn’t so NBC.  No more Detective Elliot Stabler on SVU anymore.  Yes it is true.  This will be the first of its 12 season run to not feature Christopher Meloni as Dect. Stabler.  Mariska Hargitay (Det. Benson), Richard Belzer (Det. Munch), and Ice-T (Det. Tutuola) are all back and ready to bring justice to the perps on the streets of New York.  New to the cast is Kelli Giddish (Chase) and Danny Pino (Cold Case) as two new detectives who work in SVU.  This season will see multiple detective pairings and plenty of new cases.  Some of the burning questions to watch for this season of SVU are, how will the departure of Det. Stabler affect the characters and the overall effect of the show on the audience?  Will Det. Benson find a relationship?  How will the new cast and characters gel with the others?  I look forward to solving many more cases with the Detectives at SVU.

Law and Order: SVU            NBC    Wednesday, September 21 10 pm EST/ 9 pm CST

This is just a small sample of what I am most looking forward to this season.  What are your thoughts?  What shows are you most looking forward to?  Write them in the comments section below or tweet us @DaGoodOlBoys on twitter.  Hope to hear from all of you soon.  Enjoy your new seasons!

Matt

#sheenroast

The brewers losing made me sad.  Eli Manning not getting me enough fantasy points to win in fantasy football this week made me sad as well.  Nothing made me sadder as the end of the Charlie Sheen roast.  I’m not talking about how Charlie Sheen told everyone he is no longer #winning because he already won.  I am talking about Stevo, and how he went and broke his nose going up against the fist of Mike Tyson.

Yeah, I get it.  This was how he came to being famous.  His ability to “take a punch”.  But he had an opportunity here to really develop his public image.  I think he did well with his stand up.  And he “bluffed” taking a punch during the show, which was kind of a “heh” “heh” kind of.. I get it, you were in Jack Ass kind of thing.  But then to go off and do it.  I just feel bad for the guy.  I really hope I come to find out that it really was a stunt, but you can follow him on Twitter and look it up online and it seems pretty legitimate.

Kevin

Not Bradford's Quarter (3rd Quarter)

Interesting line drive kick to start the second half.  I wonder what was talked about during half time in each locker room.  Aaron Ross seems to be quite the ball hawk.  He almost picked off the first pass of Bradford in a “Charles Woodson” fashion. 

With redemption on his brain he completed a first down throw, and then some (20 yard pass) to Brandon Gibson.  

Bradford seems to be doing alright, at least when it comes to passing yards.  That seems to be enough to keep Cam Newton fans happy, but the fact of the matter is, passing yards does not win football 

games.  

So far tonight he’s completed less than half of his passes.  He hasn’t gotten into the endzone.  In his defense; no picks, but he’s been lucky a couple of times.

Threatening again, at the Giant’s 14 yard line, a harmless completion creates a third and 3.  A deflected, nearly picked off pass later and out comes the kicking unit.  

Kevin

7-6 End of first Quarter

No matter how far a defensive player will run with a dead football, it is still a dead football.  How many times do we see that?  It’s one thing to keep going in the heat of the moment, but when they are looking around, complaining as they run, enough is enough.

When Tom Coughlin throws a red flag, maybe you should respect it.  When he is challenging something that is not possible to challenge, it’s okay to laugh at.  Especially when Gruden is backing him up. 

Pretty eventful first quarter.  A couple of turnovers (including an exciting Quintin Mikell interception.  I think that was a typical pick for Eli though, as he hung the ball up there for anyone to call.  He can chat all he wants before he calls “hike”, he still won’t be able to execute the way his brother can.

Soto? Soto.

Soto.  Does that name sound familiar?  Soto.  In the bottom of the third inning, this strangely familiar, but according to his stats, nobody should know.  Yikes, this guy is bad.  These stats are all I’m really going off of here, because frankly, the guy has been a non-issue all season long. 

Oh, could it be?  This guy won Rookie of the Year in 2008?  Beat out Joey Votto and Bruce for it?  It’s sad how a player with such promise can dwindle so rapidly.  He’s down, all the way down at the bottom of the batting order, but he’s not out.  A touch of brilliance can still be seen, such as what we just saw in the inning when he knocked one clear out of Wrigley Field. Giovanni Soto.

Hopefully this doesn’t rattle Narveson and we see another 4-5 innings out of him.

Kevin

Packers Prevail Against Newton, Panthers. Move to 2-0.

The way Cam Newton played yesterday was really impressive.  I was one of many who bashed the pick of Newton by the Panthers and new Head Coach, Ron Rivera in April’s draft.  I thought he was your proto-typical running quarterback that wouldn’t be able to throw the ball and I, like many others, were dead wrong.

In his first two games as an NFL quarterback, Newton has thrown for 422 yards and 432 yards.  That is better than Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, and Johnny Unitas.  Asked about his counterpart yesterday, Aaron Rodgers said, “I’m sure glad we get to play him early before he’s figured it out.”  That “it” Rodgers is referring to is getting wins.  Newton is winless in his first two starts and in his game against the Packers it was due in large part to fantastic Red Zone defense, turnovers, and the Packers running game.

The game had all the makings of a trap game.  It was a long break for the Packers, playing the NFL Opener two Thursdays ago.  It was against a team that had a rookie quarterback and won a total of one game last season.  Above all though, it was a week before a NFC Championship game rematch in Chicago against the rival Bears.  

From the opening coin toss something just seemed off with the Packers.  First Mike McCarthy deferred the ball to the second half and put his defense out there first.  Newton was insulted and his play mirrored that thought.  Newton got out to hot start with great play calling by Offensive Coordinator Rob Chudzinski.  Quick passes and play action rollouts got Newton going.  The Panthers put together a 10 play 85 yard drive that ended in a Newton-to-Brandon LaFell touchdown pass.  Throw in a fumble on the ensuing kick return and the two quick field goals that followed, and the Pack were down 13 to 0 before you knew it. 

The Packers offense looked out of sync for much of the game but got on the board with 9:58 to go in the second quarter with a 1 yard John Kuhn touchdown run.  Both defenses did a great job of protecting the short field and preventing game changing touchdowns and making the offenses settle for field goals.  The Packers went into halftime down by 6, and they were thankful for that.  

The Packers got the ball to open the second half and wasted no time claiming the lead from the Panthers.  Rodgers hit Greg Jennings in stride on a 49 yard touchdown pass to make it 14 to 13 Packers.  Big plays continued on defense where Charles Woodson intercepted his second pass of the game and recovered a fumble also.  “That’s Charles, that’s what he does,” linebacker AJ Hawk said.  “He finds a way to get two interceptions, picks up that fumble. He’s always around the ball. There’s a reason for that.”  Both of those turnovers resulted in field goals for Mason Crosby.   

Newton tried his best to steal a game from the defending Super Bowl Champs but was tackled for a two yard gain on 4^th and 4 from the Packers six yard line with just under 4 minutes to play in the game.  Rodgers hit Jordy Nelson two plays later on an 84 yard touchdown pass and the game for all intents and proposes was over.  Newton did lead his team to another score but it was with 40 seconds left and the onside kick was recovered by Donald Driver.

What should not be lost in this game is that Donald Driver passed James Loften for the most receiving yards in Packers history with his ten yard reception in the fourth quarter.  Driver came into the game needing only one yard to break the record that had stood for over 25 years.  “I didn’t expect this to ever happen, but now to be the all-time in all categories in history, that stands for something,” Driver said. “From where I came from to where I am, it’s truly a blessing.”

Also the Packers were handed a huge blow when starting Safety, Nick Collins suffered a serious neck injury which will force him to miss the rest of the season and may be career threating.  The injury occurred in the fourth quarter also, on a catch and run by the Panthers' Jonathan Stewart.  Collins lay motionless on the turf for minutes and the stretcher and cart were brought onto the field to take Collins to the hospital for tests and overnight evaluation.  “It’s tough. It’s something you never get used to it as a coach,” McCarthy said.  Sixth year pro, Charlie Peprah, who started 11 games last year for injured Safety Morgan Burnett, will replace Collins at Safety.

The Packers running game has been impressive for the number of carries they doll out.  James Starks made the most of his limited carries with 85 years on nine carries with a long of 40 yards.  Ryan Grant chipped in with 25 on six carries and as a team the Packers rushed over 100 yards for the second consecutive week to open the 2011 season.  The offensive line at times dominated in the run game but struggled a little with pass protection.  The Panthers only recorded one sack but Rodgers had happy feet and never really looked comfortable.  “That team came out swinging, but we were able to withstand their blows today,” Woodson said. “We were able to buckle down, make the plays when we needed to make them and close the deal down.”

Even with the shaky first half effort, poor pass protection and the devastating injury to Nick Collins the Packers are 2-0 and ready to head down to Chicago for a huge, early season match up  with the Bears.  

Matt

Faith in my Fellow American

I eat McDonald’s a minimum of once a day.  I’ve gone the distance a couple of times (3x).  I don’t exercise and I drink regularly.  I’m fortunate to have one hell of a fast metabolism.  Maybe one day guilt will overcome me.  Every once in a while I get on a “health kick” but it never lasts.  Never more than a week really.  I’m one of many 20 something men in America who share my mentality.  “Aren’t you worried about dying?”  “Your body is a temple.”  

I do worry about dying, and I know my body is a temple.  But I am a damn good accountant.  Follow me here fellas.  I went to school for it.  I know the numbers game.  I didn’t go to school to be a doctor.  I had to look up what a “tendon” was after a friend made reference to tendons in his hand hurting (Nate).  Why didn’t I ask at the time?  Gamesmanship, that’s why.  I can’t let him one up me with knowledge like that.  He does that enough already; no harm in me just playing along.  I knew it wouldn’t help his golf game, and I was happy about that.  I knew it made him feel uncomfortable, and I felt for him in that regard.  

A doctor knows what he’s doing.  I’m typing on a laptop now.  We can talk to anyone in the world, video chat, real time, because of this device.  Where do you think technology will be in 10, 20, 50 years?  I’m going to have a head transplant.  I don’t think I will ever die (from natural causes).  Heck, I don’t see myself getting hurt too bad from un-natural causes either.  Somehow, I always escape the good ol’ boy shenanigans with minimal injuries. 

I believe in the American way.  That’s not caring what I eat, having fun at the expense of my “long-term health”, and relying on the hard work of my fellow American’s to help me along the way.

Kevin