The Gun's They Are Ablazing

In the last week, three Philadelphia police officers have been shot, including two in the last 14 hours.

The officer that was shot last night, was shot about a block away from my office. The perpetrator had shot three people only minutes before he fired at the officer. The officer even though wounded chased the suspect. The suspect in an attempt to elude police jumped into the Schuylkill river. An extensive search went out for the suspect. A few hours later his body was recovered, hence saving the taxpayers a lot of money.

The officer was taken to Jefferson University Hospital, where he is recovering.

Another officer was shot in the head earlier this morning. So far no details have been released as to his/her condition.

The murder rate is already out of control, here. The Mayor is burying his head in the sand (and his iPhone), shootings are commonplace. What is it going to take to get this shit to stop.

Not a lot of brotherly love of late here in this fair city, and doesn't seem like anyone cares...

--gfo

Happy Halloween

Hope the trick or treating is good to you

14 Years of Wedded Bliss

Today marks my lovely bride and I 14^th anniversary. Seems just like yesterday that we said our I do's.

She is a just as beautiful today as she was then.

--gfo

Congratulations

To the Boston Red Sox and they city of Boston for their 2007 World Series win.

I wish the world series was a little bit more exciting than it was, but the better team prevailed.

--gfo

An Early Taste of Winter

When I woke up this morning and came downstairs, and I checked the temperature on the computer, it was 38°. Instead of wearing my light jacket, I had to get one of winter coats out.

The long term forecast looks to be much of the same, with daytime temperatures getting to just about 60.

I even had the heater in the car on too.

The heat in the house however is not and will not be turned on for at least a couple more weeks...at least if I have anything to say about it.

--gfo

Eagles 23 Vikings 16

As I blogged earlier the Eagles squeaked out a victory in the land of 10,000 lakes. QB Donovan McNabb has at least temporarily silenced his critics, including this author, having a pretty good day, completing 23 of 36 passes for 333 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. He had TE LJ Smith wide open in the end zone, but threw it about ten feet over his head. McNabb spread the ball around pretty well, hitting seven different receivers.

The running game was very ineffective today. Brian Westbrook gained 46 yards on 21 carries, and had the same amount of receiving yardage on four catches. Why the Eagles kept running up the middle, when the Vikings were very efficient in clogging up the middle, and established that early on, yet the coaches kept dialing up the middle runs.

Overall it was a pretty evenly matched game with both teams not doing anything spectacular. Hopefully the Eagles will come out better next week against the Cowboys.

So the Eagles are now 3-4, not very respectable, but they still have a pulse.

--gfo

Boston Envy

Must be nice to be living in the Boston area. They have a team on the verge of a(nother) world series. A football team that is unbeatable, and has dominated this entire decade.

Am I jealous, hell yes, but am still a die hard Philly fan despite our championship drought.

--gfo

Eagles 23 Vikings 17

An win albeit an ugly one. More to come later.

Helping my daughter with a science project

--gfo

Can The Eagles Pull One Out Today

In a battle of 2-4 teams, the Eagles travel to Minnesota to play the Vikings in what will probably be the pivotal game of the season. The Eagles are 1.5 point favorite.

It is this blogger's opinion that if the Eagles don't win, the season is pretty much over, as the next few weeks they have some pretty tough games, save for the Miami Dolphins on the 18^th, and if the Eagles are to salvage the season, they must pretty much win out the remainder of the schedule, and the way this team is playing, that is a daunting task.

Should the Eagles lose today, I imagine the locals will start bellowing for Rookie QB Kevin Kolb. As much as I would like to see him get some playing time, I would hope that if the Eagles do decide to go with Kolb, I would start him at the Miami game.

The debate on whether McNabb will be back next year has already begun, the same with Coach Reid. Although owner Jeffrey Lurie came out publicly this week showing his support for the head coach, ironically the owner was silent on his support for McNabb. Which surprisingly. the local media didn't pick up on. (just an observation on my part)

Let's hope the Eagles come out strong today, and show some offense, and better defense, and most importantly win the game.

Next week the birds come back home for a prime time game against the Cowboys.

--gfo

Well That Sucked

I hopped on the bike this morning, and I knew from the get go that it was going to be a tough ride. Normally I average in the 21-23 MPH range, but this morning, I was only able to spin it up to about 20.7 MPH average. My legs felt heavy, and I was very tired. I thought I had a pretty good nights sleep too.

After about 6 miles I decided to surcease and call it a day. As fastidious a cyclist I am, I was thoroughly disgusted with myself at such a lackluster performance. In the last week, I have had no problems with fatigue at all, in fact, I spun out two 15+ milers, and one 17+ miler.

When I feel like that, I at least try to make a better effort. I was going to try at least get ten miles in, then, eight. Once I hit the six mile mark, I knew I had hit my limit, and that pushing on would be pointless.

I guess tomorrow is another day.

--gfo

Gas Prices On The Rise

In the last week, prices at the pump have gone up 8¢ a gallon from 2.679 to 2.759. I just saw that the price for a barrel of oil is now over $90.00. So I am sure, that 3.00 gasoline is coming in the near future.

I can't imagine what the price for my oil is going to be this season.

Guess it will be another record profit year for the oil companies this year.

--gfo

The Sky Isn't Falling

It's raining a lot here in SE Pennsylvania, but contrary to popular belief the sky is not falling, although some think it is.

We got through it once, we should have no problem getting through it again.

--gfo

Salvaging A Season

The Eagles travel to Minnesota this weekend to try and save face, and most importantly try and turn this debacle of a season around and re-right the ship which is listing fast.

Both the Eagles and Vikings are 2-4. So the loser of this game is likely going to be facing a long season.

The Eagles are facing Head Coach Brad Childress, who was Offensive Coordinator for a number of years here in Philadelphia. So for the second time this season the Eagles are facing a team that a former Eagles assistant in a prominent role. The first was against the Giants and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo who was a defensive assistant last year for the Eagles.

Can the season be salvaged, I believe so. I sound like a broken record here, but the Eagles need to retool their offense, and most importantly, put touchdown's on the board, especially when in the red zone. Field goals only will not win games.

I have been avoiding sports radio, print media, and the Internet for the last few days, related to the Eagles as, the Eagles apologists are out in force, and even the coach at his post-game press conference was dismissive to the problems facing the team. The local media here in Philly has always been tough on the coach's here, but for some reason, they are reluctant to be critical of Coach Reid. I'd like to see the media start pressing Reid more, although the coach is as much to blame, since even when he does talk, he doesn't really say much, or leaves a lot open for interpretation.

Burying one's head in the sand will not solve the problem. The coach and his staff don't need to talk and keep taking responsibility for their player's tribulations, they need to fix it, and fix it fast. The player's need to step up as well.

--gfo

Eagles 16 Bears 19

For a defense that was very effective most of the day, to allow the Bears to got 97 yards in a little over 1:40 is inexcusable. The Bears end up squeezing out a victory in the waning seconds of the game.

The game for the most part was a kicking display until late in the fourth quarter when both teams scored their only touchdowns of the day. The Eagles, finally got out of their red zone slump, and at least scored a touchdown, but three field goals with only one touchdown is not the makings of championship team.

The offense needs some serious help, and the defense came up way short on this one. As much as you can blame the McNabb and company for not getting it done on offense, this loss goes totally on the defense. Punter Sav Rocca did his job and pinned the Bears way back on their own three yard line, but the defense folded under the pressure, and allowed Griese and company to move up field almost at will.

At 2-4 and going into a tough part of the schedule the Eagles have a lot of work to do.

and I wonder if Devin Hester was getting paid a commission for every time his name was mentioned, because every time he was in the game, the commentators had to point that Hester was in there. I found that extremely annoying.

Its going to be a long rest of the season if the Eagles continue to play shitty football like this.

--gfo

A Rare Night Out

Last night both of our kid's went to a school dance/pep rally, which we thought only one of which was going to...the girl.

This fortuitous encounter the Mrs and I had gave a chance to go out for nice quiet dinner for two, at local Italian restaurant that we really like. Although it was only three hours sans children, we enjoyed the few hours we had alone together, and got a chance to catch up on things, and enjoy each other's company, which our busy lives and activities was a much needed hiatus from life albeit a brief one

As a bonus, I slept in until a little after 1300 last night, it was a little after 2300 last night that I went to bed too. Although I woke up a few time throughout the night, I did manage to catch up on some sleep that I must have really needed.

Now the Mrs and the girl are at a haunted hay ride, and the boy is in a near somnolent state on the love seat watching TV and I am in the midst of folding, sorting, hanging four loads of laundry.

Yeah, a bunch of party animals we are here at the Cappy estate

--gfo

One Of The Dumbest Ideas...Ever

The city of San Francisco is considering opening the nation's first legal safe-injection room (my emphasis) for heroin, cocaine and other drug users, which will be supervised by a nurse.

I can't believe this is even being considered, although it doesn't surprise me when you consider that its in San Francisco.

Not only is this a bad idea, but they would be breaking the law by allowing drug use, and I am sure that the nurses that would supervise said injections could risk losing their license.

The fact that an employee of the city would even float the idea under the guise that its a public health issue is even more asinine.

I hope that a facility such as this never becomes reality, and is only some jackasses idea of solving the overdose and drug problem, because if it does, I can only imagine what the people in San Francisco will want next.

--gfo

Steroids Round IV

Will start in about thirty minutes.

Lucky for me I got a supply of peppermints, which will kills the metallic taste that I get in my mouth after the treatment.

Hopefully this treatment is better than the last one, as that one only seemed to help for about 2½ weeks.

--gfo

Brothers In Battle, Best Of Friends

I just finished reading this book last night. Its written by two of the original Band of Brothers, Wild Bill Guarnere and Edward Babe Heffron. Both of these men are featured in the HBO miniseries and the book of the same title that was written by Stephen Ambrose. It gives their first person actual accounts of the actions during World War II. Having seen both the HBO series and read the book, I knew the story of E Company, but this books takes it to the next level. It gives you a first person perspective, that can only be told by people that were actually there in battle, not by an author, albeit a well respected one or an embellished Hollywood version.

If you saw the miniseries and/or read the book, definitely pick up this book and read their chronicles. They will have you laughing, and crying.

Babe and Bill grew up blocks from each other, here in Philadelphia, yet never met until 1944, and since have been best friends.

Tom Hanks, wrote the introduction, and afterwards were written by Robin Laing and Frank John Hughes who portrayed Babe Heffron and Wild Bill Guarnere respectively in the miniseries, were very well written, and are true testaments to the men they portrayed.

Their stories are very humbling and marginalize the true spirit of what we call the greatest generation, when ordinary people achieved extraordinary things, without question, politics, and bias. They did their job, most came home, some never did and their sacrifices should never be forgotten.

Babe and Bill are reminders of why we should be proud to be Americans, and that we should never ever forget our Veterans.

--gfo

A Red Hat For One of Our Own

Archbishop John Foley was elevated to Cardinal earlier this morning in an announcement by Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Designate Foley is a native of Sharon Hill, which is where I live and graduated from and was a parishioner at Holy Spirit Church which is my current parish.

Cardinal Designate Foley still considers Holy Spirit his home parish, and our current pastor as Foley's pastor.

This is exciting news for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, our hometown, and our parish, as one of our receives a red hat.

He will receive his red hat in a consistory to be held at the Vatican 24 November 2007

--gfo

London Super Bowl

Reports from the NFL office that a future Super Bowl may be played in London , England have been all the talk on sports radio and in the Internet.

I understand the NFL's desire to expand globally, but putting the biggest game and most watched television event of the year overseas doesn't make sense. The logistics alone would be tough. I just don't see this as a good idea. The international audience doesn't seem to be as intrigued with football as we Americans do. The NFL's initial attempt at marketing the league in Europe resulted in the league folding earlier this year. So its obvious the interest is not there. Although games that have been played outside of the state's (pre-season) have been well received.

Football is probably the most popular sports in this country, and the NFL has become a powerful marketing machine, but I don't see the interest outside of this country. I am for playing international pre-season or regular season games (there is also talk of adding a 17^th game played abroad) but not the Super Bowl. It belongs here in the states, where most of the fan's are.

Besides the logistical aspects of planning an event of this magnitude, you have a time difference to deal with, and what about marketing. As this is one of the most marketed events of the year, I wonder how the sponsors would feel about branding, etc., and most of all the TV networks which pay a prodigious amount of money to broadcast football, and considering the amount of money the networks pay for the rights, I would think that the NFL would consider the network's opinion above all others.

Internationally, baseball, hockey, and basketball seem to do well as those sports are played all over the world. Football is pretty much limited to the United States and Canada.

I think the only football folks in England are interested in is, soccer. Although it would be interesting to see how the soccer hooligans would be at a football game...especially when its the most watched event of the year.

--gfo

Eagles 16 Jets 9

Well after an abysmal start the Eagles continued their streak of winning after the bye week under Coach Reid. The record is now 9-0 coming off of the bye week. Although it was not very high scoring game, the Eagles ultimately prevailed with some good defense and good offensive efforts.

The defense got off to a slow start, allowing Jets running back Thomas Jones to some big gains early on, buckled down and shut down the Jets offense, not allowing any touchdowns, and holding the Jets scoring to just three field goals.

Wide receiver Kevin Curtis scored the lone Eagles touchdown with a beautiful 75 catch and run in the first quarter, and led all receivers in receiving yards with 121 on five catches. Reggie Brown and Brian Westbrook each had six catches. Donovan McNabb was 22/35 for 278 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Overall the game was not very exciting, mostly a defensive show with some occasional offensive sparks. CB Sheldon Brown played an excellent game, intercepting one pass, and breaking up what would have been a Jets touchdown in the fourth quarter.

David Akers who is normally very reliable, had a so-so game, although in his defense the winds at the Meadowlands looked to be pretty tough.

Hey at this point a win is a win, and after the slow start this year it was nice to see some offense today, although I would have liked to have seen some more points on the board. So it looks like the bye week was just what the Eagles needed, and this win is what this town needed

--gfo

Rest In Peace Mr. Hall

Was looking through The Philadelphia Daily News today, when I noticed that a man that I met only once, but made a real impact on my life passed away.

Mr Hall served on the Aircraft Carried USS Monterey (CVL-26) during World War II, and was shipmates with former President Gerald Ford. Mr Hall and Ford maintained a life long correspondence after the war, and Mr. Hall spoke of the letter's he received from President Ford while the President was in office.

Although I only spent one day with Mr. Hall, he was very gracious with his time, and answered a lot of my questions, and was a pleasure to spend time with.

Above is a candid shot of Mr. Hall at the WWII memorial in Washington D.C, taken about 2½ years ago.

Rest in Peace Mr. Hall, and most importantly thank you for yours service to this great nation.

picture from my personal collection

--gfo

Brrr

We went from temperatures in the upper 80's, to overnight temperatures in the upper 40's.

Right now its 56°, but there is a real gusty wind.

Now it feels like fall

--gfo

A Slow Week

Here in the blogosphere, not much to write about this week. About the only thing coming up is the Eagles/Jets game Sunday, which is a must win for the birds. All the talk on sports radio and in the paper's has been speculating on whether or not Andy Reid will resign or be fired now or at the end of the season. I think he will be here for awhile. Sure some of his coaching calls this season have leave a lot to be desired but he has had a lot of starters (pro-bowlers) injured.

I am hoping for a big win. The Eagles are 8-0 under Coach Reid coming off the bye. I am sangenuinely optimisitic about the Eagles this weekend, and I hope the players play with some heart, as this is a must win game.

--gfo

A Record Setting Day

Today, the temperature reached 89.1°, beating a record high that was set in 1887. The ten day forecast looks like we will have one more day of hot stuff, then an afternoon thunderstorm tomorrow is likely to bring more fall like weather. Heck even the ocean water temperatures are still in the 70's.

Weird to be wearing shorts this time of years...and still using air conditioners.

I am sure the global warming crowd, is having a field day with this.

--gfo

It Was Fun While It Lasted

The Phillies dropped the third game of best of five series to the Colorado Rockies 2-1, which means the Phillies are now eliminated from the playoffs, and end what was one of the most exciting baseball season's this town has seen in a long time.

It was a shame that the Phil's couldn't have at least won one game. This is the same team that showed so much offensive prowess this year, yet once in the playoffs the bat's were lifeless, and the pitching mediocre.

I hope the Phillies management goes out and gets some better pitching in the off season, it seemed to be the missing component throughout the season, although the lack of hitting and scoring in the playoffs, raises a lot of questions as well.

On an unrelated note, Notre Dame won its first game of the year, upsetting UCLA 20-6, and one other thing we can count on this weekend is the the Philadelphia Eagles will not win or lose this weekend as they have a much needed bye week.

So thanks goes out to the Phillies for an exciting season, wish it could have kept going, but the baseball God's seemed to have not been on our side this year. So another year goes by without a championship here in the city of brotherly love, as the famous saying goes, there's always next year.

--gfo

Alarm 286 Is Now Complete

Farewell Firefighter Michael Reagan

May you rest in eternal peace

--gfo

Well That Game Sucked Too

The Phillies dropped another one to the Rockies, at least the hit the ball today.

Once Matsui hit that Grand Slam in the 4^th, you could feel that what momentum the Phil's had at that point had left, and listening on the radio, it was absolute silence.

Now its out to Colorado where they have to win both games, or they get there golf clubs out.

Even if they lose the series, I'd like to see win at least one game in Colorado, if anything to save face.

They only that sucks about the games being out there, is that they are on so late, 2130. So its gonna be a late night tomorrow night.

--gfo

A Great Place To Work

Our firm was named one of the best places to work by the Team Pennsylvania Foundation. We are in the top 50, in the medium sized company (50-250 employees) category.

I agree this is a great place to work, great benefits, flexible schedules, and most importantly good money.

Nice for the firm to recognized for truly being a great place to work.

--gfo

Well That Game Sucked

Many analyst were expecting a high score series, someone forgot to Phillies that means, you need to score runs, hit the ball, and most importantly not strike out. After the 4-2 loss yesterday, folks aren't panicking yet. Hopefully the bat's wake up today.

I caught some of the game on the radio on the way home, and finished watching the game. These 1500 start times suck, and my radio reception in the office is horrible. So I use CBS sportsline's live update to keep track of the game

and I was wondering if Charlie Manuel took offensive coaching tip from Andy Reid

--gfo

The Town Is Buzzing

For the first post season playoff game for the Philadelphia Phillies in 14 years and the first at Citizens Bank Park. First pitch is a little after 1500 (right coast time).

Not sure if I will be able to pick up the game with my radio, if not, I will probably have a live update screen on until I leave for the day.

It's an exciting time here in Philly, let's hope the momentum continues

--gfo

Eagles 3 Giants 16

The question on my and I am sure every other Eagles fan's, is which team is going to show up and play. After a record setting performance last week against Detroit, and looking like a Superbowl contender, the Eagles looked like a bunch of 7-8 year olds on the field last night, and QB Donovan McNabb, spent so much time on his back after being sacked 12 times he looked like a cheap hooker, than an All-Pro quarterback by games end.

McNabb after having a perfect 158.3 passer rating last week, managed only a 61.0, was 15/31 for 138 yards. Granted his receivers didn't help him either, by dropping the ball, or not getting off the line, but he did go back to his trademark worm killing which never helps his cause

It also doesn't help when you commit 15 penalties for 132 yards, which was almost as much offense as the Eagles put up.

The Eagles had five starters out with injuries last night (Dawkins, Westbrook, Sheppard, Thomas, and Smith). It was obvious that this team missed the sure hands and feet of Brian Westbrook, although Correll Buckhalter performed admirably in Westbrook's absence gaining 103 yards on the ground on 17 carries, and catching 4 balls for 35 yards, not Westbrook type numbers but a good effort in what otherwise was a pis poor offensive day.

Going into the bye week the team better get their heads together and out of their asses. They are in serious trouble and the bye is probably coming at a good time, since it obvious the team needs to regroup.

I am not calling for Andy Reid's head yet, but if the team keeps showing this kind of inconsistency on a weekly basis, maybe a changing of the guard is needed.

We'll see.

--gfo

Phillies National League East Champs

In exciting fashion yesterday afternoon, the Philadelphia Phillies, with a little help from the Florida Marlins, clinched the National League East division, with a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals. Florida helped by spanking the Mets 8-1.

This will be the Phillies first playoff appearance since the 1993 world series, and with the way the Eagles have been playing lately, this town really needs a team to root for.

Its very exciting to have a team in the post-season, let's hope the party keeps going.

Best of luck.

--gfo