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