Monday Soup | 02.02.2015

Posted on by Bryan

1 part broth, 1 part noodles, and 1 teardrop from Pete Carroll…

+ What a game last night. Wow. Probably the most dramatic ending of a football game I’ve ever seen with the twists and turns and the stakes so high. And the fact that the team I was pulling for came out on the winning end? That definitely felt good, not gonna lie.

More thoughts in a minute, but did anyone win my Prop Best Contest???

The 3rd Annual BryanAllain.com Prop Bet Contest Results:

12 Correct – no one!

11 Correct – no one!

10 Correct – Shawn Smucker and Isaac Llanes!

They win the book prize pack, which is funny considering one of the books is Shawn’s!

Who got 9 right and just missed out on the book package? Danthecas, Brad Aldrich, Eric Geisbert, Kevin Sauder, Greg Krauss, Ken Swiney, Roger Miller, Brandon Weldy, and Andrew Desjardin.

Who was the worstest? Mimi Hilt with 2 correct.

Hope you enjoyed it! We’ll definitely do it again next year with higher stakes!

We’ll get back to the game in a minute, but first…

+ Ever had nacho cheese? Actually, no you haven’t. Because apparently it doesn’t exist.

+ Ever wanted ESPN a la carte? It may be happening via DISH Network sooner than you think.

+ Today’s the last day to sign up for the Author Launch course Jon Acuff and I told you about last week. If you think you have a book in you, this could be the help you need to bring it to life. I’ve never seen anything as thorough as this course. Closes tonight at midnight.

+ Speaking of closing, we’ve had FreeTravlr open for the past week, but we’re closing the doors on this current class tomorrow night. If you want to save hundreds, if not thousands on flights and hotels of YOUR choosing like Tyler and I have, check it out. Closes tomorrow at midnight.

+ My Super Bowl thoughts the morning after…

1. I cannot believe that Kearse catch happened. The Patriots were THIS CLOSE to losing 3 super bowls on a helmet catch, a perfect Eli sideline throw, and a juggling fluke catch on the ground. I was in shock.

2. I cannot believe Belicheck didn’t call a timeout after Lynch’s first down run. There was about a minute left. You have Tom Brady. He looked like he was paralyzed with indecision on the sideline. Then again, maybe it was brilliant.

3. I cannot believe Pete Carroll let them pass on 2nd down. I wonder, if the Pats HAD called a timeout, would they have thought it through and run instead? There is a case to be made for throwing it in that situation, and Bill Barnwell makes some sense of it, but still…no. Carroll and the Seahawks fans will NEVER forget that.

Then again, look how open Lockette looked right at this exact moment!

Butler had to make the perfect play on the ball, and he did. Unreal. I mean, seriously…watch this play a few times and focus on Butler. Look at how quickly he realizes what is about to happen and how fast he gets to the spot. He literally breaks for the ball before Lockette even comes out of his cut!

UPDATE: watch it from this angle!!!

4. I thought NBC had a great game last night. No one watching knew that Jeremy Lane suffered a grotesque arm injury on that first Brady interception and they didn’t come back after commercial with the video queued up. (You can find it online if you want…yuk). NBC said he was unlikely to be back and moved on.

They also cut right away from Doug Baldwin celebrating a TD by pooping out the ball. I’m not taking a moral high road on that one, it is what it is. But I’m glad no one in the booth pulled a Joe Buck/Randy Moss “that is a disgusting act.” They just ignored it and never showed the reason for the 15-yard penalty.

This photographer got a great shot of it, though:

Like I tweeted during the game, Al Michaels and Collinsworth are the best team to me and it’s not even close.

5. I was so annoyed with the “I guess cheaters do win” tweets last night afterwards. I find it so ignorant because A) as it turns out this #deflategate thing was probably overblown, B) few people understand SpyGate and how incredibly overblown that is, and C) the Seahawks are probably the league’s biggest “cheaters” between PED suspensions and illegal practices.

Everyone is trying to get an edge. There are shady salary cap practices (49ers, Broncos, Redskins, Cowboys). There’s stickum on gloves, which dinged the Buccaneers, led to the Chargers being fined for not handing over evidence to the NFL, and which Jerry Rice just admitted to using! There’s the Ravens’ Ray Lewis and his deer antler spray (which he denies), and there were 37 players suspended for PED use IN 2014 ALONE. Oh, and what about coaches interfering with plays? Happened with the Jets and the Steelers. Can you imagine the outrage if Belicheck did this:

Like Aaron Schatz said on the BS Report last week, #deflategate was like speeding. Everyone drives 75 on the freeway and the Pats got a ticket for going 82. If it’s true, they should be fined. But they should not be jailed or killed by a firing squad.

Everyone tries to get an edge. Stop crying about the Pats videotaping coaches’ signals DURING A TELEVISED GAME and stop crying about balls that were slightly under-inflated. It’s not a good look for you.

6. Tom Brady might be the best ever. Yes, he plays in a different era than Montana, but he also has far less superior weapons, so I think those things cancel out. What a career, all from someone every team passed on multiple times…and he’s not done yet.

7. Finally, what a great end to the season. The NFL has plenty of problems, but they still have the best product for my buck.

Can’t wait for next season…so much so that I’ll be working on a project for next season over the next 6 months. Stay tuned.

Have a great week everyone…