Champagne Velvet

• Most exciting football game I can remember. 
• Eli came up HUGE in the 4th.
• Defenses were great for 3 quarters.
• Giants front four on the D-line were unbelievably dominant.  The Pats O-line this year looked they were going to go down as the best ever.  Justin Tuck was incredible.  Tom Brady looked rattled.
• How do the Giants single cover Randy Moss from the 1-yard line?  Double coverage on Welker isn’t crazy (he did tie the Super Bowl record for receptions) but Moss set the NFL record for receiving touchdowns this year.  I really thought Steve Spagnuolo dropped significantly as a head coach candidate because of that.  He’s really lucky they won the game.  Seemed like a terrible call.
• As terrible as that was, it was probably not as bad as throwing the ball on first and second downs in that series.  First and goal from the six with 2:55 left.  They did score but they left a ton of time on the clock.  I don’t get it.  Maybe they had no respect for Eli.
• The play with 1:15 left, Eli escaping a sure sack and heaving a 32-yard miracle reception to David Tyree goes immediately in the pantheon of NFL all-time great plays. 
• Almost as bad as single covering Moss was the single coverage of Plaxico Burress with 39 seconds left from the 13 yard line on the game winning score.  If you insist on single coverage for some reason, why not put your #1 corner on him?  Again, I don’t get it.  The second ENORMOUS coaching mistake from the Patriots in under two and a half minutes.  Completely unexpected.
• I’m glad the Dolphins remain the only team to go undefeated but I’m definitely ready for Mercury Morris to shut up.

Nick and I are taking this three-hour-per-day, five-day workshop at Streb USA and I just wanted to write down some thoughts about it before it’s over.

• My arms still look like arms but they aren’t functioning the way they used to.  I took a shower when I got home today and I had to bend my neck to wash my face because I couldn’t lift my arms.  I only realized this when I went to wash my neck.
• My entire body hurts.  Shoulders, neck, triceps, and the entire back are the worst off.  The swelling in my left knee has gone down and should be fine by tomorrow (today, I didn’t slam my knees into anything as hard as yesterday). 
• Nick and I are the only two people in the class of 14 without a serious commitment and years and years of prior experience in some kind of “movement” (competitive diving, yoga instructing, african dancing, ballet, etc.).
• Nick was standing next to me towards the end of the first day when the fireball / sexpot (and multiple Streb class alum) of the class said she couldn’t believe that I really don’t have any “movement” experience.  He’s still extremely jealous but was partially redeemed today after doing a pull-up on the way back from a water break with a “soo strong” (different girl, no obvious sarcasm - we were all exhausted).
• We started the class with 9 girls and 5 guys and one of the guys quit today after about an hour, saying his body couldn’t take it (he beat the hell out of his knees yesterday).  Amy, the instructor at the time, yelled, “epsom salt and margaritas” as he left didn’t seem at all surprised that someone was leaving.
• The instructors are great, very encouraging and helpful and use a “personal best” slogan for everything.  It keeps the class moving well as not everyone has to perfect everything and sitting out a particular activity is ok.  Everyone in the class encourages everyone else though.  It’s a great atmosphere.
• We’ve had a very interesting variety of groups and solo instruction going on in the other parts of the room.  It has mostly looked like Cirque du Soleil practice so far (crazy hanging silk curtain feats of strength and balance yesterday and an intense hula hoop like ring routine today) but there was also a group of little kids (pre-school) today jumping off a little trampoline and stuff like that.
• Ok, so, what the hell is this class?  Nick said after the first day that he’s not sure people would believe him if he described it.  I’m not even sure how to adequately describe it.  It’s essentially an introduction to what the Streb company performs (see video).  The video is the best way to understand it but if I had to put it into words, I’d say it’s a smaller-scale, higher-intensity, high impact version of Cirque. The Streb website says it “intertwines the disciplines of dance, athletics, boxing, rodeo, the circus, and Hollywood stunt-work.”
• No pain, no gain.  I’m having a great time with it.  Anyone want to take a flying trapeze class?  (I reserve the right to change my mind, especially if I can’t get out of bed some day soon.)