Journey North to Stirring Win

I’ve got a real bone to pick with my Army career.  I am now totally incapable of sleeping in. I’ve tried, yesterday serving as a great example.  I had nothing important to accomplish (well except for the tasks my wife left me with – but I’ve got two more months for that). I decided to stay deeply buried in the quilts and see how long I could warmly luxuriate on the frosty morn. It was not to be, I could not keep my eyes closed. Damned Army career which frowned seriously on late morning rising, something I used to be very good at.

The Very Fun Crowd i watched the Game With

As part of my pledge I was not going to sit at home and watch the Patriots first playoff game so I packed Buddy into the car in the late afternoon and journeyed north to watch the game with a pair of Keene Friends. Keene Friend 1 still had to work the third shift last night but he rallied to host the game for the rest of us with his usual aplomb. The game was just about to start when I received a call from my left coast daughter so we could compare notes and pump each other up.

Fleet-footed Brady Scores the First TD

The game turned out to be a game for the ages as the Ravens twice attained 14 point leads and were their usual classy selves about the whole affair. As I’ve said all year though this is a different Patriots team, they just keep on grinding. Reminiscent of their championship year teams they took what the other team was giving them. The Ravens completely stuffed the run so the Patriots didn’t try to run it and Brady just passed them to death. This is a team with flair and one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen in a very long time.

The Patriots' Panamanian Fan Base 

It was so much fun watching the game with friends and the attendant high fives whenever something good happened. Keene Friend 2’s girlfriend showed up just before halftime and Brady threw an interception. We immediately blamed her for the bad karma (tough crowd) which in reality means she’s firmly part of the group now. Despite the tough reception she rangered her way through our rudeness and we eventually assigned credit for the win to her. I’m not sure she’ll ever voluntarily watch a game with us again though. 

The Family Partied While My Wife Watched Football

Throughout the game I was exchanging texts with my wife who was leading the Panamanian Patriots’ fan base which basically consisted of herself and our niece. There was also another family gathering as my brother in law and his wife journeyed down to Panama City to join the fun. The end of the game was kind of tense and my wife was texting questions asking me what was happening – not exactly what I wanted to be doing at that precise moment (too busy wringing hands dontcha know!). 

It was a great time and Buddy even behaved about 43% of the time.  Any time food appeared he would invariably earn a sentence in the kennel (just can’t help himself).  He wanted to scarf some of the maple bacon cookies (not kidding) that appeared.  Post-game the crowd had to leave and even Keene Friend still faced work which I will go on record as saying –really sucked.  This pledge thing is working out great as this was definitely the way to watch the game vice sitting at home alone.