Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 7

1. Pats play smarter and tougher than the Chargers and, despite throwing three picks, Tommy Sawyer Brady brings it on home, the rookie kicker comes through, and the ultimate teamguy Troy Brown makes one of the pivotal plays by causing a Chargers fumble right after they made a fourth down interception and poor soul Schottenheimer gave us the Marty Ball we were hoping for, going for it in the 1st quarter on fourth and 11 from the Pats 30, getting ignored by the Refs we-he tried to call a time out right before Faulk went in for the trick 2 point conversion, and neglecting to take one more shot at the sidelines and a closer field goal attempt as time ran out. Bring on the Colts, with Brady/Bill Russell ready to take it to Peyton/Wilt the Stilt one more time.
2. Excellent piece in the ProJo about Dickie Reed and his hearing struggles. Dickie always been something of an anomaly in the local rock biz--A totally smart and nice guy seemingly devoid of ego and lacking the excess gene that normally seems to be part and parcel of a musician's make-up. Like most people who hover around the scene I've heard Dickie play countless times in countless settings and he's never failed to move me--the guy's got whiteboy soul and he taps into that Dylanesque Old Weird America every time he caresses the keys. (Hadda laugh at poor Marky Cutler, who comes across strong in the article, but lost out to Dizzy Gillespie in the photo department twice, with Marky Mark displaying some of the more photogenic hands and fingers I've seen in quite some time.) Acknowledgement should also be paid to Rick Massimo, who's is more than delivering as the Pro Jo's music writer, deftly utilizing his own eclectic (and wide-ranging) tastes, his insider's view of the local music world, and, maybe best of all, demonstrating a bright, witty, and erudite writing style that goes beyond some of the ProJo's typical standards. He's easily the best hire since the legendary Tony Lioce (sorry Mike Boehm), and one only wishes the ProJo would let him reign wide and free a little more frequently.
3. Watched some of the Pat's game with the one and only Bob Giusti, who's never found a sport he knew anything about, even now, at the tender age of 50. Bob himself was be the first to acknowledge this (right after he's done telling ya about how he was there at The Beatles' break-up, or helped The Ramones carve out their first power chord, or lectured Prince about going back to the funk), and watching any kinda sports event with him is akin to watching a cricket match with Mike Tyson or a sandlot baseball game with Helen Mirren. Yet despite this (because of it?) Bob can't help but keep a running commentary on all those on-field happenings, never once getting the sports parlance quite right, and most of the time unaware of who's on first or what's on second. Its annoying sure, but patently hilarious, and Bob, I'll tell you right now, that if we put our heads together, there's a dynamite stand-up routine there, waiting to be hatched.