As any early reader of this blog might have discerned, I may have been a giant Bills fan as a youngster, but in addition, I was a giant Steve Young fan. After Young won Super Bowl XXIX in 1995, thirteen year-old me asked my father if he thought Young would make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “Maybe. It really depends what else he does,” said my father.

“Well, if he does, can we go to Canton to see the ceremony?” I asked.

My father, knowing that this was several years down the road at that point, if it happened at all, nodded. “Sure. Why not?”

I’m sure he thought I had forgotten his promise, until I called him on a Monday morning in February of 2005 – ten years later – to tell him I had four tickets to the Enshrinement Ceremony, and that we were going to see Steve Young get inducted.

Being in Canton during Enshrinement Weekend was one of my favorite experiences as a sports fan. It is a true celebration of the sport of football, one that even the most marginal of football fans will appreciate. To read about our trip to Canton in 2005 – the first family vacation my immediate family had ever taken – read the following blog post: “Earning the Fabiola.”

I plan on returning to Canton at some point – hopefully for a 2010 induction of Jerry Rice and Steve Tasker? Rice is next year’s shoo-in, and as evidenced by both Wilson’s and Smith’s speeches this evening, Tasker greatly deserves the honor, but he’s been overlooked by voters for a few years now. Maybe his continued broadcasting career will help him in securing spots in the voters’ minds. All I know is that if I was choked up watching Smith’s induction speech on NFL Network tonight, I would just bawl through Tasker’s.

First off, he called ESPN “dumb.” Oh Steve, for all of your smarts, you can sure put your foot in your mouth sometimes. Like the time you called out Phil Simms on national television. I despise Simms as well, and think he was wicked overrated as a quarterback (just like his son), but I’d never call him out on it on national television.

Hmm…maybe I would, but I would do it under a pseudonym and hide for a few weeks following.

Steve, I’ll offer you the same piece of advice I offered Bill Simmons a few months ago. Don’t publicly “dis” your employer. Don’t blog on a underground Blogger account about how ESPN is the man and how they don’t let you post every 7,000 word tomb you write, even if you have a legitimate point. Don’t call out ESPN on ESPN, even if you have pent up anger about having to do a show with Emmitt “I Have Never Heard of Subject-Verb Agreement” Smith and Stuart “Boo-yah!” Scott. Both are examples of burning bridges. I tell my students all the time not to burn bridges, especially with employers, potential employers, and the like. If you ever want a job, it probably isn’t a good idea to burn bridges.

Steve and Bill, you need a career counselor to give you the counseling you obviously didn’t receive at Brigham Young and Holy Cross, respectively. I volunteer. Email me. I’ll help you.

Secondly, in the most egregious assault of one of my favorite athletes since Saturday night’s BU-BC game, a Carolina Panthers fan threw a beer cup at Steve Young. Fortunately, he missed. Steve stayed calm and professional throughout the incident, which does not surprise me. Think about it. For one, he’s a lawyer. Lawyers get stuff thrown at them all the time. (Well, I mean, not all the time. But they are the recipients of a lot of vile comments and hate, which are metaphorically thrown at them. Right?) Additionally, Steve Young has like five children under the age of 10. He has toys, clothes, diapers and cut-up-bits of food thrown at him every single minute of his waking life.

Therefore, having a empty beer cup thrown at him was not going to phase Steve Young. Nothing phases Steve, except for sharing a show with Emmitt Smith or Michael Irvin. But then again, wouldn’t that bug you too?

You have been the object of my squee since I was old enough to have a celebrity mega crush. Even though I am now older, engaged, and have moved on to other objects of squee like Gabe Kapler and Jason Bay, you will always be my number one.

I try to catch your commentary on Monday Night Football every Monday. (I must say, Emmitt Smith makes you sound even more eloquent than you already are.) Although I had to work late on Monday, I was able to catch your post-game analysis after the Packers-Saints game. While watching, I had one overwhelming question:

What happened to your hair?

Did you dye it? It looked much lighter. Is your hair negatively reacting to the New Orleans weather? If so, I can point you in the direction of some excellent anti-frizz products. (Then again, so could your ex-model wife.) Are you so busy with your multiple children that you didn’t have time to comb it? If so, that is completely excusable – you have like five now, and not everyone can look as good as Kate Gossalin when running after their multiple young children.

I feel bad for you, and I feel even worse for pointing out in a public forum. However, I just want you to know that I’ll still be a fan, through good hair and bad, through ESPN moving you off Sunday NFL Countdown because they no longer wanted commentators with an IQ higher than 80 and your Samsung HD television advertisements where you are inexplicably wearing shabby flip-flops.

Best wishes,

Sports Girl Kat

Your #10 fan since 1992

*************

I am off to see the Boston University Terriers take on the Crusaders of the College of the Holy Cross. The Terriers have played very well against non-conference opponents this season – they are undefeated against them – but we know what we’re pretending didn’t happen last weekend. Let’s hope this evening ends well.

My knee-jerk reaction was, “Oh, Perez is going to be all over Young ’cause he’s Mormon and probably all for the proposition.”  Then I read the post.  It turns out Young’s wife is very publicly against the proposition, and has donated a significant amount of money to the cause and has signs in front of their California house urging people to vote no on the proposition.

Perez Hilton was praising the Youngs for their stance. Wow.  I never thought I would see the day that Steve Young and his blink-and-there’s-another-kid family would be on the Pepto-Bismol pink pages of the craziest celebrity gossip site there is, let alone Perez singing their praises.

Hey, this can only benefit me – maybe now when I mention Young to anyone who doesn’t follow football, they might actually know who I am talking about!

• the start of football season
• the pennant race
• NHL and AHL training camps
• and, most importantly, the countdown to college hockey season. (T minus 8 days, if you are a Boston University men’s hockey fan, and if you follow the women’s team, 2 days.)

Those aspects alone make this time of year one of my favorites.  It’s all sports, all the time.  I can’t complain.

In addition to these general reasons why late September is wonderful, here are four things making this week better than most:

Steve Young's already in Canton, now he'll have his #8 retired by the 49ers.

Steve Young is getting his number retired by the San Francisco 49ers on October 5th. – In their game against the Patriots, the 49ers will retire Young’s #8 in a halftime ceremony. Because it’s against the Pats, Bostonian-me might actually get to see a snippet or two of it!  Now let’s hope JT O’Sullivan can make like Young and crush the Patriots that day.

Jason Bay Gets To Play Baseball in October, Seems Dazed and Confused - I was at Fenway Park when the Red Sox clinched their fifth playoff berth in six years on Tuesday evening.  Jason Bay, despite botching a few plays earlier in the evening (which I attribute to him having a newborn at home and for having played like every game this season, be it be for the Sox or Pirates), batted in the winning run for the Sox.  During the post-game celebrations, he was seen carrying around a case of Bud Light in a daze on the field.  It was amusing – I couldn’t get a great picture of it, but at one point they showed him on the Jumbotron just with this half-awake smile on his face.  You gotta love that the number of Bay shirts at Sox games has increased a hundred fold in between the game I went to on September 9 and Tuesday.

Also of note is Will Leitch’s great column for WEEI.com last week about Jason Bay – I choked on my coffee reading it, it was so amusing.  Choking = I highly recommend it.

Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Started His First NHL Game – John Curry, aka “Everyone’s Favorite Goalie” (unless you think Cory Schneider was better…which I don’t), was in goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday evening’s preseason game against the John Tortorella-less Tampa Bay Lightning (eh, Barry Melrose is full of mullet-y goodness, but as a Rochester girl, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Tortorella.) He stopped all 15 shots he faced, after he entered the game for Dany Sarbourin, in a 3-2 Penguins win.  Sarbourin then went on to play a full game on Wednesday against the Leafs, where he let up two late goals, but the Penguins still pulled out a win.  Marc-Andre Fleury and Sarbourin haven’t been incredible (one might argue Sarbourin’s never been), and Curry hasn’t been sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s camp yet.  According to the best AHL blog out there, Penguins’ Insider, the Penguins may bring Curry to Sweeden for their upcoming games there.

Listen, Pittsburgh – if you want a boost in merchandise sales, keep Curry in the big leagues, start selling his jersey, and find a way to get about 500 up to Boston.  I promise you’ll have no problem selling them out.

Happy, happy Bills fans. (Buffalobills.com)

The Bills Are 3-0, May Be Getting Media Love - Although my former idol Peter King chooses to ignore them (anyone else see the lame apology at the end of King’s Monday Morning Quarterback – Tuesday Edition for not mentioning the Bills, even mentioning that he had material to write about from an interview he did Sunday night with Trent Edwards?), the Bills are 3-0 after their heart-attack inducing win over the incomprehensible Oakland Raiders.  ESPN has begun to give them love – at least three Bills stories this week! – and Don Banks of Sports Illustrated devoted a substantial part of his Tuesday column to them.  The one beef I still have is with Tiki “I Was Never Really That Good At Rushing the Ball, Just Good At Making a Bigger Deal of Myself than Actually Necessary” Barber on his remark during NBC’s Football Night in America show on Sunday.  After a recap of the Bills – Raiders game, the floor was thrown over to Barber, Cris Collinsworth, and Jerome Bettis.  Barber said that the real story of the day had been “not the Bills, but the Raiders, and how well they played that football game.”

Umm…the Raiders let the Bills run over them in the second half and couldn’t stop two crucial Bills scoring drives in the fourth quarter.  I know the Bills weren’t impressive, but the Raiders were worse.  Does Tiki have friends on the Raiders or something? Maybe he was too busy judging on Project Runway to actually watch the game on Sunday afternoon.

I’m calling it now – there will be a Broncos – Bills playoff game.  And it’ll be awesome.   Just you wait.

I remember this combination of dread and excitement. I remember feeling it every morning of every 49ers playoff game in January 1995, back when I eschewed the Bills to make lovey-dovey eyes every time Steve Young appeared on the television screen or sports section. (I had just turned 13 – ripe age for a celebrity mega crush!) I wanted Steve Young and the 49ers to win the Super Bowl so badly that they, and not my then sickly two month old little brother, was what I prayed for when my CCD instructor made us repeat the Apostles Creed like the Rosary was made of it. (There’s a reason it’s not.) I could never eat the Wegmans bagel my father would buy me after church, and I could never focus on my homework prior to a playoff games’ 4pm or 7pm start. I was so excited for the football I was about to watch, and would bounce around our tiny house, but so nervous that I my bouncing was confined to a corner of the couch with my hand clutched on the couch arm. And when the game started, I couldn’t hear my brother cry, or my parents yelling at each other, or my little sister trying to get my attention. My stomach would churn and I wanted to stand right in front of the television set in an effort to obtain the utmost tunnel vision.

I remember all the possibilities that went through my head. Would the Bears pull a grand upset over the 49ers? Would the Cowboys dominate the 49ers in the Championship Game like they had the year before? Would Stan Humphries actually pull it together and lead the Chargers to actual “Super Charger” status, beating the 49ers in the Super Bowl? But most importantly, would this be the end of the season? Would I have to wake up tomorrow to the realization that I would not see another 49ers game for another six months? That training camp would be in the middle of my summer vacation, and I hadn’t even reached February break? That I would have to see another team win the whole shabang and know that my favourite won’t have another chance to until at least a year from now?

(And now we know why the fact that I was a total loser who wore hideous leggings and oversized sports sweatshirts and straight as a pin bangs that covered my eyes never concerned me as a teenager. I was too concerned with the questions I just listed and trying to understand the correct QB rating formula.)

This combination of excitement and nervousness hit me again earlier this week. I found myself scouring the college hockey fan boards on the hour to read anything I could find on this weekend’s Boston University – UMass Lowell Hockey East quarterfinal match-up. I anxiously examined all of the statistics from their three previous games this season. I alternated between being tempted to stay home and hide under the covers in my bed and trying to find a way to get front row seats. I even watched the Brett Bennett tribute video on YouTube multiple times for no apparent reason, other than I was excited. And nervous. But excited.

There will be twitching this evening. Maybe bouncing. Maybe overreacting to anything and everything that happens – overly dramatic groans at bad Hockey East officiating, UMass-Amherst announcer decibel level like cheers at anything good that happens. All just like I did while watching all of those 49ers games on my living room couch when I was 13, except this time, I won’t worry about waking my baby brother. It’s funny what doesn’t change when you grow older.

This is what its like to have your team in the playoffs. This is where I fear that the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that, is the one where I have to wake up and know that its all over until next fall. That my Fridays and Saturdays are now free, and that some other teams fans get to celebrate – and subsequently get nervous and excited all over again.

In a post-season which is sure to future a coaching carousel, what makes the firing of Chow significant? Well, because the Bills are looking for an offensive coordinator, of course. The Bills message boards are all abuzz with the possible matchup already, with a fair amount of people pooh-poohing the possibility already, using the reasoning that if Chow couldn’t cut it in Tennessee, than he’ll never cut it as an NFL offensive coordinator. This is a rather flimsy argument – what if pro football had said the same after Bill Belichick underperformed in Cleveland? We wouldn’t have the evil genius to make fun of today. Another poster used Chow’s age as a deterrent for hiring Chow. Well, that person obviously doesn’t follow Ralph Wilson’s line of decision making much – he’s of “the older, the better!” school of thought. I think it’s most likely because everyone seems like a spring chicken at his advanced age.

To further support Chow’s candidacy, consider that Chow was in the running for Stanford’s head coaching job in 2005 – a chance he had to coach Trent Edwards, until he wasn’t chosen for the job. From the interview process, he must have a little insight into the system Edwards was coached under. He also developed many young quarterbacks – namely, Steve Young (oh, and Carson Palmer…but he’s not as hot.) Edwards is a young quarterback that needs mentoring. We saw how well JP Losman was mentored under ex-Bills offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild and the rest of the coaching staff – why not bring in someone who understands young quarterbacks trained in West Coast offenses, like Chow? Detractors may point to Chow’s inability to make Vince Young into the phenom expected of him – but who is to say V. Young would be any better off this point in his career with any other coordinator? It’s not like he’s another Ryan Leaf – he did make it to the playoffs this year, after all.

Considering the other choices out there for offensive coordinators – Cam Cameron, among others – I think Chow may be the least risky, and almost most experienced, choice. The Titans were Chow’s first NFL job – if the Redskins and others can seriously consider Gregg Williams for a head coach job after he demonstrated to all of the NFL in the early part of this decade that he really is better left as a defensive coordinator, the Bills should be allowed to seriously consider Chow for offensive coordinator.

But then again – these are the Bills we are talking about, and the hiring of Chow would make too much sense for them. I wish someday, the Bills would make personnel moves that I wouldn’t get teased about by my students.

*****

3 Things I Think I Think (copyright whenever by Peter King)

1) Musically-challenged me would give anything to be able to sit down at the piano and play Ben Folds’ You to Thank. I do play piano, but I can only sight read and can’t memorize music. It was a good thing my piano teacher was nice enough to weigh effort rather heavily in our grades for eighth grade piano at SOTA.

2) On the I-swear-I-am-not-a-figure-skating-fan-but-indulge-me-for-a-minute front, Emily Hughes withdrew today from the US National Championships due to a hip injury, making the race for the ladies championship even more crazed and unpredictable. Despite the fact that you have a reigning US champion and former World champion in the mix (Kimmie Meissner,) the scene is ripe for a take-over. And as a national federation, wouldn’t this be almost what you want? Meissner is still considered obscure, and for some reason, has not appealed to the masses like skaters from the last decade. Do you want to spotlight the Michelle Kwan skate-a-likes you have festering (Caroline Zhang and Mirai Nagasu) who could possibly bring the masses back to the sport, even though these two skaters are age-ineligible to compete in the Senior World Championships? Or do you just let the competition figure itself out, and aim to recapture public attention closer to the 2010 Winter Olympics? Would figure skating have any chance to thrive this year anyway, seeing that the sport draws fans from the same population as gymnastics, a sport that is in its Olympic year? But in this day in age, can a marginal sport afford to take a year off from full-out marketing to find itself in new faces?

3) Another January, another year Steve Tasker (honorary member of my father’s Steve Quarterbacks, honorary because he’s not a quarterback) does not make the finalist group for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shame, shame, shame, Hall voters. The media is so entranced with the Patriots’ Wes Welker and the Bears’ Devin Hester as of late, and they’re forgetting one of the original WR-KR combos in their Hall balloting. And now Tasker is making quite a name for himself on the broadcasting side of things, taking over for Boomer Esiason the Westwood One NFL Matchup Radio Show and holding his own on mid-level game commentating crews for CBS, and still, he is unloved. But then again, if Tasker ever does make it into the Hall of Fame, what will my father and I have to complain about every January?

**********

Note on this entry from Wednesday evening – yep, as predicted, the Bills did not hire Norm Chow. They just decided to promote from within. Because they’ve been sooooo good the past few years. Whatever. I’m just bitter now because I reside in Patriot Land. I’ll get over it.

Hmmm….

If Bill Simmons was allowed to program a whole weekend of NBA TV, during which he did a 24 hour Larry Bird marathon, I think I am allowed to give a list of Steve Young moments I want on DVD or on a weekend of NFL Network (well, provided I have NFL Network at the time it airs. That’s my next goal in life. 1) Graduate college. Done. 2) Move to Boston. Done. 3) Get NFL Network. Still working on it.)

So I thought about it as I went to bed. And here’s a partial list.

1) Super Bowl XXIX. A no-brainer. (And can I just say that while I was looking on Amazon for the DVDs, I finally finally found the 1994 San Francisco 49ers season yearbook video. You know, the collection they make for every Super Bowl Champion? I think the Patriots one is called “3 Games to Glory II” or something like that. I should know this by heart–that and “Still We Believe: The Red Sox Story” is for sale absolutely everywhere. Well, anyway, I finally found it–I didn’t own it originally because I was too young to order it when it came out. Guess what I’m buying after I finish buying my textbooks?)

2) The Deflection Return. I forget the team it was against, but it’s when he threw the ball, and two defenders jumped up in tandem to deflect it. They succeeded…but who ended up catching it?

Steve Young.

For years, my father has defended Young in any discussion about great quarterbacks by saying one sentence. “Only one quarterback that I can remember has ever caught his own pass.”

3) The Run Against the Vikings: October 30, 1988–This is when Young was still a backup. Legend has it that this run was the first time Chris Berman said, “He could….go….all….the…way!!!!!” I am unsure as to if this is true, but when I was in middle school, that run was used all the time in highlight reels. Of course, I didn’t see it when it happened: I was all of 6 years old and was a tad more concerned with first grade at the time.

4) The Spike Against The Bears, NFC Divisional Playoff, January 1995–I mentioned this in my 5 Hottest Quarterbacks entry in January. The Bears just were steamrolled over by the Niners, and it was the first and I think only time I ever saw Steve Young spike the ball after he ran it in for a touchdown.

5) “There’s Joy in Mudville” The 94 NFC Championship Game– If you lived in Western NY in January 1995, even if you hated the Niners, you loved this game, because it denied the evil Cowboys a third straight Super Bowl. I still have the newspaper from the day after that game, and the lead headline of the sports section reads, “THERE’S JOY IN MUDVILLE,” commenting on the soggy state of Candlestick Park during that game.

6) Monday Night Football Opener 1994, Niners vs. Raiders–This is when Jerry Rice broke some record that I’m blanking on against the Raiders. The Raiders were never even in it. I loved that game. I have the newspaper clippings from he day after that game somewhere in my mess of a room (I just moved into a new apartment. Don’t ask me where anything is.)

7) The Comeback II: Niners v. Packers, 1999: I remember screaming at the television with my entire family. We couldn’t believe they had finally beaten the Packers in the playoffs. I had given up on that game too–my father had actually walked into the kitchen, resigned that the Niners had lost. And all of a sudden, Owens made that catch and they won. Great ending. Young’s last playoff victory.
Any Niners game where James Brown broke in during the third quarter to say, “With the Niners up a gazillion to 3 against some really bad team, we are now switching you to a more competitive contest.” I only want those because I never got to see the rest of those games because we were switched out of them.

Those are the immediate 8 that I think of off the top of my head. There are definitely more, I just need more time and more resources around me to figure them out.

Consequently, this past week, ESPN Page 2 named Young’s 1994 season sixth out of the 100 greatest individual seasons in the past 25 years. Right on, ESPN. He was the highest ranked football player. Argue what you may, but I think Steve Young takes whatever accolades he can get, considering he’ll probably have to wait a while to get into the Hall of Fame (throwing my famous Hall of Fame trip off by a few years), so let him have this little one.

***

So I have become a fantasy football junkie. For the first time in my life, I have been invited to play–and not just in one league, but in two. I am going into this hard-core. I am determined for this not to be a repeat of my fantasy baseball league, where I lost all hope back in June. I haven’t won since the end of May. This is because I barely know baseball. I know enough…but not enough to really succeed. I gave it a good shot though.

But the thing with fantasy football is…well, I know football. Now, had I done fantasy football when I was 15, I would of seriously kicked everyone in the world’s butt, as I regularly did with football picks during my entire adolescence (and as I still routinely do now that I’m entering my mid-20s–eek, in 4 months I will be in my mid-20s. Freaky moment right there.) So this should ultimately be far less embarrassing than baseball was.

Out of my two teams, I have to say the Boston Bearcats outdoes The Bearcats (okay, I lack all imagination with team names.) And this is because of one reason: I drafted one far later than the other–aka, I had more time to research. Unfortunately, The Bearcats is in the most competitive fantasy football league you could probably ever be in (otherwise known as the MCFFLYCPEBI….or not.) I swear, the commish (one of my good friends from Ithaca) should probably change the league’s name to that. But not to fret–the core of both my teams is exactly the same: McNabb and T.O. My dad and I agreed that has the makings of an excellent team. It also could completely tank, but let’s hope they’re as prolific as they are being made out to be. Both my defenses totally rock as well: New England in one, Baltimore in the other. Speaking of Patriots, I also have David Givens, i.e. the only football player Marsha knows because she was forced to watch the Super Bowl and thought he was the hottest. He’s also a pretty good wide receiver. I know, I know, WRs don’t make fantasy teams, running backs do. Well, I do have to say I’m set with The Bearcats on the RB front: Bettis and Staley. Hate the Steelers, love their RBs. Anyone whose nickname is “The Bus” gets on my team.

So as of Thursday, we will see if I can contest in the land of fantasy football after a good two years of wanting to be a part of a league. Of course, I’ll still pick games. I need to back up my ego on something.

***

On the non-football front, the last week has been nuts. I moved into a new apartment and started my graduate assistantship with the Student Activities Office at Boston University. So far it is an awesome position–the office, the professional staff and the students are great. We went on a retreat to the Cape and it was very informative and a lot of fun. I just have to get used to not being student staff, but on par with the professionals. It can be very confusing. I’m still working for my Boston Mom at PERD (my boss there, Barbara, has been amazing this summer–she has become like my best friend in Boston, or at least my second mother) as well. I love my jobs…except for the florist. That is on the backburner. I’ll be there when I have time…which looks to be never.

My new apartment is nice as well, and Caitlin and I are busy reliving freshmen year at Ithaca. Caitlin’s first day in the apartment, we had crab rangoon. It’s just like three years ago…except we’re 22, not 18, we’re in an apartment in Chestnut Hill, not Tracy’s and I room in Terrace 5 and we’re in grad school, not undergrad. Oh, and the crab rangoon is not from Jade Garden on the Commons, but Chang’s House on Commonwealth Ave.

I should mention my two weeks of Olympics devotion–even though my Summer Olympic devotion is far far less involved than my Winter Olympics devotion is. For one, I was way disappointed in the makeup of the women’s gymnastics team–no “Scrunchie Girl.” Plus, I honestly don’t think Annia Hatch deserved a silver medal on vault. She’s a consistent vaulter, but not an awesome vaulter. In the individual vault event, there were at least two, three people better than she was. Plus, how can you leave off Holly Vise? It was just a weirdly put together team, but they did get it right with Courtney Kupets and Carly Patterson. Swimmers are fun to watch, but since I can’t swim all that well, I can’t relate. And that’s about it. Give me figure skating, hockey, and bobsledding over softball, beach volleyball and basketball any day.

I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to post again, but I’ll try my best to make it soon!