The Dillier Man Blog

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John L. Dillier | Create Your Badge

13 and Oh It Feels So Good

I guess I had bought into what all of the TV analysts were saying. Utah didn't have a chance to beat Alabama. It's funny, any of the analysts who suggested that Utah could even make a game out of it only did so in an embarrassed sort of "I hope my colleagues don't make fun of me" kind of way. Once again this season our Utes transform my despair about their chances of victory into pure, crimson-colored joy.

Barry Switzer, you are an A-1, First Class JACKASS. Sure, none of Utah's team would have been recruited by Alabama. I doubt that Alabama is doing a lot of recruiting out here in the mountain west, YOU ASS. But, if all it takes to destroy Alabama's offense is to have to turn to a couple of second stringers on the o-line (as Nick Saban suggested after the game), then maybe they should come recruit here.

It was entertaining to watch Switzer and Jimmy Johnson have to eat crow after the game. After what we did to the vaunted Crimson Tide, they had no choice but to acknowledge that Utah is one of the best teams in the country. Too bad we don't get a chance to really prove that we are the best. All we could do this year is beat every single team we played. And, oh by the way, we are the only team to have done that this season. Down Air Force, BYU (you ass monkeys should have beaten Arizona), TCU, Oregon State, Alabama, and everyone in between. I would put our schedule this year up against anyone else's.

Brian Johnson, I am going to miss you. But I hope I don't end up missing you too much. The Utes have an incredible opportunity next year. They should be ranked decently in the pre-season polls. Another undefeated season, and they should get a shot at the national championship game. It will be tough as not only will they play at BYU and at TCU, but they will also host Louisville from the Big East and have away games at San Jose State and Oregon. The core of an outstanding defense is coming back, so we'll just need to see how things work out at QB and WR.

In the meantime, it's time to take in and savor this incredible season. We earned our shot to play one of college football's big boys in a major bowl game, and we took advantage of the opportunity. 31-17. 13-0. GO UTES!!!

Goodbye 2008!!!

Wow. 2008. It was a pretty good year. I got a nice promotion at work. My wife gave birth to our second child and without getting an epidural. The election was awesome to follow and was pretty darn historic in its outcome. Nice year.

Not quite. My dog-brother Grizz had to be put down. My Grandma Dillier died. Our baby boy was nearly killed a day after his birth by a silly mistake. Then, unthinkably, my mom died. The best part of 2008 for me is that it is now over without any further shit.

Anyhow, I love all the top ten lists of stuff from the previous year, so I had to come up with my own. I give you my TOP TEN SPORTS MOMENTS OF 2008!

JOHN DILLIER’S TOP 10 SPORTS MOMENTS OF 2008

10. My Rare Athletic Feat: The Frisbee Toss
If I were as good at playing sports as I am at watching them, I would be very, very wealthy. As it is, I only have rare shining moments of sports glory. This year I attended GEEX: the Gaming and Electronics EXpo with some buddies from work. One of the booths handed out some foldable floppy frisbees. We decided to attempt to toss them up into the opening atop KSL TV’s trailer. My toss curved up and away from the trailer, then bent back down and straight into the hole. All were impressed with my skill. I would never be able to duplicate the feat if I tried, but I was a sports stud for that one moment in time.

9. Real Salt Lake Makes the Playoffs
This one would be ranked higher, except that I didn’t actually get to see it. It was on cable, and, due to cutbacks in the Dillier household, we didn’t have cable anymore (we now do have basic analog cable back). I had to read about the outcome of the RSL vs. Colorado Crapids season-ender after the fact. Yura tapped in a rebound from a Andy Williams blast that was deflected by the goalie. This happened in the 90th minute of the game and gave RSL the draw and point that it had to have to make the playoffs. After three disappointing first seasons, MLS playoff soccer had arrived in Utah.

8. Helmet Catch Guy
We had a fun get-together at our place for the annual Super Bowl party. Super Bowl XLII was supposed to be a blowout and the crowning of the first undefeated team since 1972. But, the Giants weren’t going to cooperate in the Patriots’ coronation. The Patriots held a slim 7-3 advantage going into the fourth after three quarters of defensive goodness. The Giants would score a touchdown and then the Patriots would answer, taking a 14-10 lead with 2:42 remaining. Eli Manning (who earlier in the season was making me wonder how he could possibly be Peyton’s brother with how sucky he played) drove the Giants down the field. On a 3rd and five, after somehow avoiding a sack, Manning threw up a prayer to some dude (David Tyree, but I totally had to look up that guy’s name) who caught the ball on his helmet for a 32-yard completion. The Giants would go on to score the winning touchdown. I still can’t believe that they won that game.

7. The Jazz Send Tracy McGrady Home Again
In their opening round playoff series, the Jazz took the first two games in Houston. Everyone started talking sweep, but then Houston took game three in Salt Lake, just the Jazz’s fifth home loss all year. The Jazz won game four but were then embarrassed with a 26 point loss in Houston in Game 5. The Jazz came home and won the series in Game 6, though, sending McGrady home with yet another first round elimination. He still has never won a playoff series in his career.

6. The Sierra Mist Goal of the Year
My brother J.P. and I attended the second ever game at Rio Tinto Stadium as F.C. Dallas came into town to face Real Salt Lake. The game was huge for RSL as they had to get a win in order to have a shot at getting into the playoffs. Dallas scored first and quickly. Yura Movsisyan equalized for RSL in the 35th minute. Then, at halftime, I bought my first ever beer at an RSL match (actually, J.P. bought it). I was still getting the beer started when, in the 54th minute, Will Johnson scored an unbelievable goal. He got a pass from outside the area, flicked it one time in the air, and then volleyed a rocket into the goal. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. On the MLS website it was voted as the goal of the year. The goal gave RSL the lead which they wouldn’t lose, winning a match they had to and making the last game of the season the next week in Colorado a very, very important one.

5. The BYU Game
I was extremely nervous about this game. We had lost to stupid BYU the previous two seasons. They are a good team. They kept things close, making it a just a three point Utah lead in the third. But then the wheels fell off the Cougar-mobile. The Utes would go on for an easy 48-24 victory after scoring three unanswered touchdowns in the forth. Some BYU fans had scored the seats next to ours (nice people by the way, and not afraid to swear at their team which I like to see), and they disappeared without a trace about halfway into the last quarter. Utah earned their undefeated regular season, and it was great to see everyone storm the field yet again this year (like after the Oregon State and TCU games). The best part was that I didn’t have to sweat over another Utah game in the final minutes.

4. Trevor Time One Last Time
The San Diego Padres had a horrible season. Heading into their final series of the year, they had to at least beat the Pittsburgh Pirates once in order to avoid 100 losses for the season. We made our annual trip to San Diego the week of that last series. They lost the first game of the series. We had tickets for the second game. In that game, the Padres scored three runs in the 1st inning. Woo hoo! They wouldn’t score again. The Pirates scored once in the 3rd and again in the 8th to make the score 3-2 going into the ninth inning. For a long time in San Diego baseball, a slim lead in the ninth meant one thing: TREVOR TIME. Trevor Hoffman came out to AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells as he had for years. He was able to get the save, giving the Padres the win they needed to avoid the dreaded 100-loss mark. Since then the Padres have retracted their contract offer to Hoffman, which means we likely saw his last ever save in a San Diego uniform.

3. The Oregon State Game
Oregon State came into Rice-Eccles Stadium the week after they knocked off number one USC. The game was pretty back-and-forth. Brian Johnson was horrible in the third quarter. The fourth quarter wasn’t much better, and Oregon State scored a touchdown with 2:18 left to go up 28-20. Fans around us got up and walked out at that point. You know, the state of Utah has a lot of jackass sports fans. Anyways, I myself also figured the game was over, but I didn’t consider leaving when we were only a touchdown and 2-point conversion away from tying the game. The problem was that I didn’t trust Johnson to get a first down, much less a touchdown. Well, Brian played out of his mind, drove the Utes down the field, and scored a touchdown. His pass for the 2-point conversion was incomplete, but Oregon State was called for Pass Interference, and we scored on the second try, tying the game. The Utes held the Beavers to three-and-out on their next possession, and then were able to drive down into range for the Louie (LOO-EEE!!!) Sakoda game winner. Wow, what a game!

2. Rio Tinto Stadium Opens
Having a permanent home for our top tier soccer team was a dream come true for me. Real Salt Lake is here to stay. Walking inside the stadium and into the seats was one of my favorite sports moments ever. The field was beautiful (and only soccer lines!). The sight lines were amazing. This is what watching a soccer match is supposed to be like. The rest of the night was a bit rough as our children were difficult, and RSL could muster only a draw against the Red Bulls. I will never forget walking into that stadium for the first time, though. OUR major league soccer stadium. Thanks, Salt Lake County tax payers!

1. The TCU Game
The much-hyped “blackout” game. TCU went up 10-0 in the first quarter. Things looked pretty grim at that point. Utah managed a couple of field goals before halftime to make it a 10-6 game, but I was very worried about our chances. The end zone seemed like a dreamland we would never see this game. Nobody scored in the third and for much of the fourth. TCU missed two seemingly easy field goals after the Ute defense stepped up to stop TCU drives. The second miss gave Brian Johnson the ball at the Utah 20 with 2:48. He drove the team down, including a season-saving 4th down conversion, to score the winning touchdown. Once again, Utah had won a game that I had given up on. I got a little emotional about it, which is lame, but understandable considering what was happening in my personal life at the time. It was a bright moment of happiness to replace much sadness. I was mourning a huge personal loss, and I had already begun to mourn the loss of Utah’s perfect season before they pulled this one out for me.

I Rule

Yeah, that's right. I was 100% right on all of my BCS bowl predictions. Now I just get to be nervous for a few weeks about how Utah will do against Alabama. Wow, we're really playing Alabama. In a bowl game. Wow.

In other news, The Dark Night comes out on blu-ray today. Totally picking that one up tonight with what's left from my sold-stuff-on-eBay play funds.

My BCS Bowl Predictions

I had to put up a post about how I predict the BCS bowl pairings, to be announced 6 pm Utah time on Sunday, will shape up and where Utah will go.

Fiesta Bowl: Texas vs. Ohio State
I see Oklahoma beating Missouri easily Saturday in the Big 12 (stupid) Championship (lame that Missouri can still play their way into the BCS). That leaves Texas as a very sexy pick for the Fiesta (who get first pick) who have a Big 12 tie-in. They need an at-large to pit against the Longhorns, and I think they'll go with 2-loss Ohio State over Utah (or even Boise State who is still in the conversation after finishing undefeated too). The Buckeyes are too big a name in college football for them to pass on.

Orange Bowl: Crap Big East Champion vs. Crap ACC Champion
Who gives a crap which teams play in this one? (Cincinnati has clinched the Big East title if you do care.) I'm just so very, very happy that it sounds like Utah won't have to play a stupid 3-loss-barely-in-the-top-25 team like Pitt this time.

Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn State
USC should take care of business against UCLA this year and will thus face Penn State, the Big Ten champs, in the "granddaddy of them all."

Sugar Bowl: Utah vs. Alabama
Florida is going to just demolish 'Bama on Saturday. That will send the Crimson Tide to the Sugar Bowl which has an SEC tie-in. Here is where I think Utah will end up. At first I didn't think that the Sugar would want to go with another non-BCS team this year after Hawaii's blow-out loss to Georgia last year, but Utah will be the best available after the Fiesta takes Ohio State. Finally, the Utes will get the matchup against a Top 10, sexy conference school that they deserve. I sure hope they make the most of it.

National Championship Game: Florida vs. Oklahoma
I sort of hope that Florida will lose to Alabama Saturday to set up the "Urban Meyer Bowl" vs. Utah in the Sugar Bowl, but they aren't going to. Oklahoma, after somehow finishing ahead of Texas, a team that beat them earlier this season, gets their shot to get to the title game, and they will take care of Missouri Saturday.

Palin vs. Gorilla

In a stunt to attract more votes from the NRA, Palin poses in a voter's house in Ohio with a baby gorilla she had just shot at the zoo.

 

I am so excited that Palin could be our president in about 3 months when McCain's contract with Satan expires and he finally dies (after roaming the earth for 2 millennia).

Thoughts on Life

Here are the contents of an email that I sent to my dad soon after his mom died. We had a good conversation the night before, and he asked that I email him what I had said. I wanted to copy it here to remind myself and share it with people who might read this blog:

Life is about taking advantage of being alive.
 
Nobody knows for sure why we are here or how we got here. All we know for certain is that we are here, and part of being human is having the ability to be happy. We need to take advantage of being alive and do those things that we enjoy and that make us happy.
 
And whether by animalistic instinct or some sort of divine design, people get a lot of happiness from each other. Part of taking advantage of being alive is helping other people be happy too.
 
Part of the nature of human existence is to get baseballs in the gut every once in a while, and often several one right after the other. It is how we choose to react and respond to those baseballs that will determine how much we can continue to enjoy being alive. Taking advantage of being alive means taking advantage of the ability to choose.
 
You mentioned that the bible says that "God helps those who help themselves." I did a little research on that, and the truth is it doesn't say that anywhere in the bible. It was Benjamin Franklin who said it. (Do a Google search for "god helps those who help themselves" to get the low down. It sounds like the bible actually says the opposite.) The fact is that life goes well for those who make the right choices in their lives. People drive their own happiness. If you believe that there's a higher being in charge of making that happen, that's fine. I just have always appreciated that you understand and have always taught me that you have to do the work.

McCain / Palin Sticker

Had to add this to the blog. Sticker available on eBay.

Now There's a Batman

So I'm just now getting around to putting up my thoughts about the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight. I saw the midnight showing Thursday night / Friday morning last week.

The movie was really, truly awesome! Believe all the hype you hear, because this movie really is that good. It broke records this past weekend, and I'm optimistic that this movie could possibly challenge Titanic for the all-time box office record. To accomplish that, though, the ladies will need to go see it as much as the guys. Hopefully Heath Ledger can be that kind of draw.

People will say that everyone is loving up on Heath Ledger's performance just because he died, but it's not the case. He really was very, very good in this part. He brought all the craziness that we would expect from a Joker character and made it his in a unique way. His performance was very entertaining and also very scary. I really wish he was still alive so I could see more of his Joker in future Batman movies. Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart were also great in their roles, and I love the supporting performances of Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. And then there's Gary Oldman's Lt. Gordon. I love this character, and Oldman does such an awesome job with it. Gordon has such a big role in the movie, and I was really excited about it. And in Maggie Gyllenhaal they found someone even uglier than Katie Holmes to play Rachel Dawes. Gyllenhaal is what I would imagine Kirsten Dunst would look like if someone beat the hell out of her.

The plot was great. But, besides being a good drama, this movie has some amazing action sequences too. The big chase scene was incredible, stimulating much manly excitement in me. Had the movie ended after the chase, it would have already been a great movie. But, there was still more, and I am so glad there was.

This movie was very dark, violent, and intense. I feel it would almost be irresponsible for anyone to let any child under age 12 see this movie.

But for you adults: Go see this movie, damnit! What are you waiting for???

E3 Highlights

Here are what, for me, were the highlights of the Nintendo and Sony press conferences at E3. I don't care about the Microsoft announcements because I don't own an XBox 360, and I don't intend to.

Nintendo
• Wii Sports Resort
This is the sequel to the Wii Sports game that came packed in with the Wii system. There will be a new gadget to attach to the Wii controller called "Wii Motion Plus" that will provide enhanced motion sensitivity. The game will have beach-based games such as frisbee and jet skiiing, as well as a sword fighting game. Sounds fun.
• Wii Music
This game is pretty different from Rock Band and Guitar Hero in that there are 50 different "virtual instruments" that you play by mimicking movements with the controller and nunchuck. Not sure how this will work. I will probably want to try it before I consider buying it.
• Wii Speak
The Wii's first attempt at chatting, this will be a microphone that will work like a speaker phone, allowing everyone in the room to talk with the single mic. I might buy this if it allows trash talking while playing online.

Sony
• PS3 Video Downloads
This was the most interesting announcement to me. Starting tonight, we will be able to download TV episodes and movies. The TV episodes will be available in HD and cost $1.99 each. Movies will be $2.99 to $5.99 to rent (I'm assuming the higher price will be for HD versions). You can also buy movies, but I don't anticipate doing that.
• 80 GB to Become the Standard
The only new PS3s available starting in September will be an 80 GB model. It sounds like it will be a stripped down version, matching the current 40 GB's features (no card slots, no backwards compatibility). The price will also stay at $399, the current 40 GB's price. It will come with a Dualshock 3 controller instead of the old Six Axis.
• Buzz Quiz Game
The Buzz quiz games have piqued my interest, but they were only available for the PS2. They include buzzer devices for up to 4 players to play. The game will now be coming to the PS3, and I think I'll need to pick it up as I love multi-player, and I love quiz games.