If you like this logo, then you'll love Navin Designs. Please scroll down for more information about this awesome graphic design company and the less awesome, iron-on t-shirts I'll be making with their wonderful art work. For the moment, however, here's the final chapter of our second NFL season together.
With four days down and one hundred seventy-seven to go until the next kick-off, it's time for a Season 2 Wrap/Rap from The Spread Zone. To be Frank...well, then I'd have to change my name (don't think about it too much), but to be honest it has been bitter sweet having more time in my evenings these past few weeks to learn about college basketball, the NBA, and all the other subsidiary sports while the football season wound down. I know there are many of you who completely tune out sports and gambling for the next five months, but that dear friends is a moderation I will never enjoy.
In fact, my love of sports (and now gambling) runs so deep it quells - nay, extinguishes - my fear of growing old and dying, knowing that those latter years truly will be golden because there will be little to nothing getting between me and my sports fanaticism. Think about it - I'll be retired, my daughter will off in the world making a life for herself, my wife can have a younger, more interesting man if she needs one, and I will be blissfully playing the part of a forgetful, useless, old fart whose anger management issues are only medicated by the soothing sounds of sports analysis.
There was a time, however, during Weeks 1 through 8 where I was not only contemplating retirement from the embarrassingly public world of sports handi-blogging, but also from the above fantasies about my real retirement. Thanks to the readers and fellow degenerate gamblers at TSZ, however, coupled with a deep-seated desire to win the $10/week I was losing to Psychic Granny C the first half of the season, Marco and I trudged through the muck and much like the Indian lotus flower burst into the second half of the season with a bang, and closed the year with enough momentum to carry us into a very exciting off-season of free agency - AKA I have no idea what I'll be doing with TSZ during the off-season and am open to suggestions. It was nice to finish the season on an 8-3 ATS playoff bang, even though the Super Bowl pretty much ended with a whimper - unless you love blowouts.
If you didn't get to see the Super Bowl or have somehow managed to miss the highlights that have been replaying ad nauseum, please enjoy this three minute recap brought to you by some people who might just love playing with Legos even more than I do and a first-hand description TSZ's own Texas Todd who was fortunate enough to attend Super Bowl XLVIII thanks to his cousin and Special Teams Coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks.
Excerpts from Texas Todd's Super Experience
Dear Vinny,
Well the Superbowl was an amazing experience even if the Broncos didn’t show up. The intensity of the environment is like no other I have ever seen. I have been told that this was much different than other Super Bowls, and I believe I know why….
First of all, the weekend was great. New York City is such a unique place to visit and see, but there were tons of people so it was very hard to get around. My cousin threw a Superbowl party for the family Friday night so we did a lot of celebrating for the Seahawks, which was very hard for me to bite into but I did.
Second, The weather was perfect for football and the circumstances were perfect. They couldn’t have picked a better winter day in NY but they were lucky! They were lucky because it snowed 8 inches the following day—yes I was stuck in the airport for more than 24 hours. Sucked!!
Finally, the transportation was pitiful! If you can imagine this scene…50 ft wide hallway that is about 1000ft long jammed with people—shoulder to shoulder—not moving an inch for 45 minutes. That was the circumstance to ride the train and if you didn’t buy a bus ticket (sold out) you had to ride the train - no taxis, no cars, no nothing were allowed to drive to the stadium. Therefore, 35,000+ fans all showed up at the same time to ride the train. Rioting seemed close and inevitable, and eventually the state troopers made a good decision and let everyone go instead of checking security one person at a time. It was miserable!!
What it did, however, was create the high intensity which is the “why" I mentioned above. Stand in a line/group of people waiting to get to the Super Bowl when you can’t even see the stadium 5 hours before kickoff and hear people saying “we are not going to make the game” because the line is not going anywhere and you build up an anxiousness that is unmatched. After the train wait, we had to wait about another hour to get into the stadium. That is right, the trip to the stadium was 3+ hours when in real time it should have only taken 20 minutes. That was the most horrible thing ever but the rest was awesome! Especially the beginning of the game because it was sooo intense!
An indicator that they had problems was confirmed when less than 30 minutes after the game ended they mandated “Everyone stay in the stadium. The congestion in the trains is too much right now. You will not be permitted to leave until further notice”. About an hour later they started to let some people leave. It was a nightmare and I can’t believe they've able to hide it.
Back to the game. Truth is, the intensity was all Seattle needed to play their emotional style of football and was enough to make the nerves take over for the Broncos. That was obvious from the first snap. Embarrassing for sure, no matter what Peyton says.
My cousin told me at the party on Friday that my broncos were in trouble. He felt they were going to bust them up and he was right. Good for the Seahawks.Anyway, my phone died during the stand and wait stint we were in so I didn’t get any pictures that aren’t too personal or uninteresting so I can’t help finalize the TSZ wrap up for 2013-14 season.
Stay in touch, Vinny.
Go Broncos!
Texas Todd
So there you have it - the 2013-14 NFL season has come to a close. Thank you all for making The Spread Zone's second season a success. I'll save our year end stats as a pitch for next year, but for now let me pass along heartfelt thank yous to all of the readers who stopped by once or stuck with us all season; to the participants of the Friday Five Contest for their consistency and follow-through; to the generous coffee donors for their contributions to the cause; and to the many and frequent e-mailers who kept us going through the hard times and shared in our joy when we finally righted the ship. Next season we will be returning the blog format at this address and will be resuming our simple life at vinnyandmarco@gmail.com. If you'd like to get in touch with us during the off-season, please do so at this old, warm, cozy address.
The TSZ Logo Back Story
One day I received an e-mail from one of our fellow readers/participants Navin from his graphic design company Navin Designs. Knowing I owe a few t-shirts to people and intrigued by the prospect of the world being spared of my artwork, I asked Navin if he would mind helping me out. Not only did he willingly accept my request, he sent me a Q & A survey to get an idea of what I was looking for, and had six mock-ups for me to choose from by the end of the week. To be honest, I liked them all and had a hard time narrowing down the choices. In return for his generosity, we are making Navin Designs the official sponsor of The Spread Zone until someone comes along and offers us a boatload of money - so basically forever. Thank you Navin. If you have any needs for graphic design, web design or development, branding, printing, online marketing, and more shoot Navin an e-mail at navindesigns@gmail.com and tell him Vinny and Marco sent you to a very special...smile.
If you're interested in a shirt, send us an e-mail at: vinnyandmarco@gmail.com. I'll make a couple of short and long sleeve options to see what my cost is and I'll send an e-mail to interested parties. We might be looking at $15-$20 including shipping, but I'll let you know. The logos come with both the black background above and the white background below.
Thank you Everyone,
Vinny and Marco
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