Opinari.net
Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy. |
Monday, January 22, 2007
One To Remember:
The Colts are my favorite team for one reason – Peyton Manning. In the nine years that I’ve watched the Colts, I’ve seen them dominate games and do amazing things on the offensive side of the ball. I’ve seen Peyton do the kinds of things that we came to expect from him when he was the Vol signal caller in the 90s (things that have spoiled us, I might add). But we also felt a sense of consternation as Peyton Manning fans because of the outcomes of his big game confrontations, most notably with the Florida Gators.
It should be noted though that football, above all other sports, is a team game. It requires contributions from everyone for success, and that goes doubly so in big games. Although sometimes is seems like it, great quarterbacks can’t win the game all by themselves. Just ask Dan Marino.
Vol fans always felt that Peyton deserved better. The Heisman trophy debacle in 1997 extended that frustration even further. No one in their right mind in 2007, 10 years later, would have chosen a journeyman cornerback over a franchise future Hall of Fame quarterback.
During the NFL draft, conventional wisdom was that Manning was superb, but Ryan Leaf of Washington State had more “upside”. Talk was of Leaf being the number one draft pick that year. To Vol fans, the fact that this debate was even happening was an insult. After watching Leaf’s career tank, and Manning flourish, the Orange Nation was somewhat vindicated.
Then came the Patriot juggernaut, led by Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck. Each time the Colts looked superior, along came the Patriots to end their dreams.
I bring up the Peyton Manning history for a reason. Vol fans live vicariously through Peyton, pull for Peyton, because we know what a special player he was in college, and how he was shortchanged during the Heisman voting in ’97. But those things affect us as fans. They don’t seem to affect Peyton. This is probably what endears us so much to the guy. He has always been unflappable in adverse conditions. Successful, not so much in the big games though – until last night. Last night, after years of hearing about how the guy just can’t win the big one, makes it all the more special.
Not only are Vol fans still as adoring of Manning as they were 10 years ago, but so it seems are his competitors. Did you see how congratulatory the Patriot players were at the end of the game? Their own success aside, I think every player in the NFL wants this kid to win a championship. And no one deserves it more than he does.
My kids are just babies. My oldest barely knows anything about football, although he recognizes it when it’s on TV. But when I’m much older and Peyton Manning is enshrined in the Hall of Fame, I’ll wax a little bit to my boys about how special Peyton was, not only on the field, but off of it. I’ll remind them of his stellar career in Knoxville, one which I witnessed in person. And I’ll tell them that while they were sleeping in their cribs, Manning was leading the greatest comeback in NFL championship history.
In an era where athletes talk trash, and behave badly, there are still a few icons that are worth admiring. Peyton is one of those few. Congratulations, Peyton Manning, for shrugging that proverbial monkey off your back, even if you won’t publicly admit that it was there. And good luck in the Big Game™ in two weeks.
.: posted by
Dave
11:49 AM
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Mossberg and Me:
Walt Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal that he prefers the Blackjack to the Treo. Now Mossberg is pretty well respected in the tech review world, but in this review, he illustrates exactly why many users, myself included, prefer the Treo:
The Treo maker is starting to respond, but haltingly. It has brought out a couple of slightly smaller new models, but they're no match in sleekness or style for competitors like the Motorola Q. They also aren't as cheap. They do, though, have some advantages in software and functionality that, for some users, will make them preferable.
Thanks for making my point, Walt. That’s precisely what I do NOT need from a smartphone – style. What I DO need is always-on email, remote access capability, project management tools, instant messaging, multimedia capabilities, and Outlook/Office compatibility. The Treo line gives me that.
Which brings me to the already overhyped iPhone… says Mossberg, in conclusion:
But if you're in the market for a smart phone and can afford $499, you might want to wait until June for the Apple iPhone. The Apple entry is so full of promise that anyone buying a smart phone in 2007 should at least wait for the full reviews and a chance to try it out.
What are the compelling reasons for waiting? Oh yeah… style. I forgot. Anything beginning with “i” is euphemistically stylish, but there’s still the functionality issue. What I know about the iPhone is precious little, except for hype. What I know about the Treo is that it accomplishes everything I listed above, and much more.
The bottom line is this – if you want a device that will help you run your business and communicate with clients, suppliers, vendors, etc, then the Treo is the right choice. If you want something that will ooh and ahh the masses, then yes, by all means, wait for the iPhone. And then switch to a Treo after you realize how precious little software is available for the new apple device.
.: posted by
Dave
1:24 PM
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
An Eventful Holiday Season:
The clan and I are back home, finally, 3200 miles and 12 states later. Traveling with 2 infants, one large dog, and a tired wife is no picnic sometimes, but it’s my family we’re talking about and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. In 16 days, we visited friends in Illinois, and family in Michigan and Knoxville. We received so many gifts, it required the purchase of a cargo carrier to transport them. Our families are terrific. I don’t know what we’d do without them. And Michigan and Knoxville are great places, especially Knoxville, which I truly miss. But for the first time in forever, I left Knoxville not missing it. I missed my family, but not the town. Perhaps I’ve outgrown it. Perhaps I’ve finally laid my familial foundation here in Texas, and am encouraged that this is indeed my home.
For sure, my wife was happy to get back. She was fatigued and in obvious need of rest, for this 16 day sojourn was certainly not a vacation. A three-year old and a one-year old will take everything out of you.
Well, it turns out that things are about to get a little more fatiguing. How’s that? Well, ladies and gents, the Opinari household is about to welcome another mouth to feed. We don’t know exactly when, but at least we know how it happened. Heh. My wife and I will in 7-8 months have not one, not two, but three little ones in diapers (unless my three year old quickly learns that he needs to use the potty all the time, and not just when he remembers.)
I’ve learned a bit with some introspection today. I’ve learned that it’s not relocating that is our secret to fertility. It’s travel. I’ve learned that diapers will be omnipresent in my house… well, at least until the next mid-term Congressional elections in 2010. I’ve learned that fatigue and sleeplessness is perpetual, but easily dealt with using the tools God gave us – with caffeine. Wonderful caffeine. This means that I will have to augment my cache of Caffeine Free Diet Mountain Dew with some caffeinated stuff, but that’s okay. I’ll manage. I’ve learned that even when the financial tap seems dry, you can (almost) always make room for another little one. I’ve learned that you can never have enough love in your home. And, I’ve learned that God has given me the most wonderful gifts I could have ever imagined.
Two gorgeous baby boys, a beautiful, devoted wife, and a third child on the way.
  
Life is good.
Sit back and enjoy the next several months. It should be a blast.
.: posted by
Dave
5:21 PM
“Perspective”
I’ve been away for a few weeks, and getting back into the work groove has been a bit slow for me, so I’ve spent some time catching up on some blogs. Michael Silence, who I respect and read often, posts something today that catches my eye. He authors a post about “perspective on the costs of war.” Now Michael, like many others, is against the Iraq war. I can respect that. There are myriad objections to war, from the absurd to the sensible. However, I fail to grasp the comparison Michael makes between dollars allocated to a war (whether it is endorsed or not) to dollars potentially allocated to global social ills.
As far as I can tell, Michael’s proposal is to allocate American taxpayer dollars to negate maladies which have their root cause either in poor choices, poor regulation, or poor circumstance. There is no amount of money that will ever eradicate a malady of choice. “Four million smokers die annually.” This is an example of a poor choice by four million individuals. Will the US war expenditures cure smokers’ deaths? Highly unlikely. Reading over Michael’s list, I believe that the issues that are preventable could be prevented without spending very much. Power plant pollution killing Americans? Try using nuclear power instead of electric power. Thirteen million people dying from preventable environmental causes? Try eliminating the ban on DDT. And if children are being born into less fortunate societies, is there anything realistically that tax money can do to prevent it? Are we going to hand out condoms instead of fighting the war in Iraq? I don’t believe even Michael is advocating that.
What I think is that all of Michael’s listed global ailments are tragic in their own rite. But I, unlike Michael, believe that a war in Iraq, where we are fighting terrorists where they live instead of on American soil, is an enterprise worth undertaking. I believe no amount of money that is thrown at the things Michael lists will ever prevent them. I believe a diligent, well-financed, and purposed war in the Middle East against an evil perversion of Islam and its adherents, adherents that want nothing less than the destruction of Western civilization, is a far more necessary and worthy endeavor. After all, without the Western world, there will be no one to tackle those unfortunate situations anyway.
.: posted by
Dave
5:02 PM
| |
Recommended Reading
|
