Thank You ESPN & the New England Patriots

There is a saying that goes something like 'you don't know how much you care for something until its taken away'. That has been my feelings for many things over the past few months. Not only do I miss family and friends I also realized how much I miss the Fall in New England and the fire that is sparked when the Red Sox begin a march to the World Series and the Patriots start their run dominating the NFL. I have been subject to keeping up with all of the sports in Boston via Boston.com. This hasn't been too bad since both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald have great on-line sports articles. But, no matter how much you read and imagine how the games go and see the pictures there is nothing like experiencing the feeling of being in Boston at this time of year. In the movie 'Good Will Hunting' Robin Williams character criticized Matt Damon's character for being able to tell him everything about the Sistine Chapel from what he read in books but you really don't know what its like until you see it with your own eyes and smell what it is like, and experience it in person. It was one of the most powerful scenes of the movie and that is how I feel when I explain the Sox, the Patriots, and Fall in New England to my Aussie friends.

Last Sunday I was flipping through a cable magazine that was sent to me out of boredom due to going to bed too early on Saturday night and waking up too early on Sunday. I came across the ESPN page with Payton Manning on it. Below the picture was a schedule of the upcoming month. I was elated to see the New England Patriots vs Cincinnati Bengals Monday Night Football game was going to be shown live on Tuesday at 10:00 am. Unfortunately due to a four letter word named 'work' I couldn't watch it live, but I did run out to buy a DVD recorder and was determined to see the game.

After setting up the DVD recorder and obsessing over how to time record to a point where I was going through blank DVD's like the Dead Cats go through Planters Punch drinks at the Boat Slip on a hot Summer Afternoon! With confidence that I was all set to go with the recording I checked it one more time then headed out to work.

I normally check Boston.com during the day at work to keep up on events and scores but today I wanted the Pats game to be a total surprise. When I got home I threw down my bag, grabbed my DVD remote and hit the play button.......... and 'YES' success!! I had the whole game recorded and waiting for me to enjoy!

For the next few hours I was transported back to Boston. I wish it was a home game in Foxboro but just seeing familiar sports faces live (well almost) was good enough for me. I had two Cascade Premium Lagers, cooked up some chicken on my Weber Q grill, and had a smile on my face the entire time. Of course the smile was due to the 3-0 Patriots man handling the Bengals with ease. Randy Moss and Brady are lethal! The running game even with reserves was great and the defense is playing solid. This is going to be a fun season and my DVD player will record every second that it can when ESPN shows the Patriots.

Another good note is that ESPN in Australia is showing almost all of the MLB playoffs. If the Sox get past the 1st round against the Los Angeles Angels I will be able to enjoy the Red Sox as well via DVD recordings. If the Sox make it to the World Series and have a chance to clinch then a DVD recording will not do and I will travel far and wide to watch the game live. Fingers crossed!