After two 3 and outs, I'm very much enjoying the Brock Osweiler era.

Going to a bar to watch the Chiefs game today. First time all year watching a game uninterrupted by kids.

The 12-0 Hawkeyes are the biggest frauds in history. Prediction: They lose by 14+ in the Big Ten Championship.

Thank you Kansas City Chiefs for a happy birthday.

Family Cookbook

The 30 second shot clock in college basketball is perfect. Still have time for ball movement but it's not sluggish.

29-13

On November 8th, Peyton Manning fell 3 yards short of breaking Favre's record for all-time passing yards in a loss to the Colts. I was amused, both by the loss and that he didn't get the record. But then I saw the Broncos next game. At home vs the Chiefs. Great, so he'll get the record against us.

There's a parallel between this and Super Bowl 48. I really, really didn't want the Broncos to go to the Super Bowl and I didn't want Peyton to break the record against the Chiefs. But both happened.

As it turns out, both went better than expected.

- - -

Coming into this game, Peyton's Broncos were 7-0 against the Chiefs. In 2013, the Chiefs were 9-0 and the Broncos ended that in Denver. Two weeks later, the Chiefs had a 21-7 lead only to lose 28-35.

In 2014, the Chiefs had a 10-7 lead on the road but would lose that game too. That loss put KC at 0-2. They would lose to the Broncos in Kansas City but still managed to get to 9-7, one game out of the playoffs.

I thought week 2 this year would be the one. Both teams were 1-0 and it was a home game on Thursday night. Chiefs jump out to a 14-0 lead. Arrowhead is rocking. Peyton looks washed up. With a minute to go, the Chiefs are up 24-17. All they need is one more stop. They don't get it. Peyton throws a touchdown with 36 seconds left. Tied at 24. Next play: Jamaal Charles fumbles and Broncos return it for a regulation victory. One of the worst games ever.

- - -

So now the 7-1 Broncos get to play the 3-5 Chiefs in Denver. Peyton's going to break the record. Great. Except a funny thing happened on his first pass. Marcus Peters (who might be a top 10 corner already--he's only a rookie) intercepts it. The Chiefs go 31 yards on five plays and are up 7-0 before Peyton gets the record. Of course, he gets the record, it was only three yards. But it was nice that the defense made a statement early.

It was the first of four Manning interceptions. It was so bad they benched him in third quarter. They put in Osweiler and he throws an interception. And it's 29-0 Chiefs. In Denver.

The Broncos added two touchdowns in garbage time but this was a domination from start to finish. When ever I think about Peyton Manning holding any NFL records, I'm going to think about the Chiefs defense forcing him off the field.

- - -

The Broncos are 7-2. They should absolutely make the playoffs. The Chiefs are 4-5, on the outside looking in. But no matter what happens, you can't take this game away. Now the Chiefs own a winning streak of one over Denver.

Fun Stats:

Manning had a better passer rating throwing to KC than Denver. That's counting interceptions as completions and completions as interceptions.

Throwing to Denver: 5/20 35 yards 0TD 4INT Passer Rating:0

Throwing to Kansas City:4/20 78 yards 0TD 5INT Passer Rating:3.75

Also, CJ Anderson had as many tackles as he had carries.

Nailed It

I mean technically "nailing it" will come when the Bengals lose their first playoff game, but the implication is that I don't believe in the Bengals, so to see them lose to a 3-5 Texans team is somewhat validating.

Manning Picked Off Four Times

CFB Playoff Update

Let's start with the undefeated teams by conference

Big Ten: OSU/Iowa - in the playoff if wins out
ACC: Clemson - in the playoff if wins out
Big 12: Oklahoma State - in the playoff if wins out

Bama's not undefeated but the rules are different in the SEC

SEC: Alabama - in the playoff if wins out

- - -

I'm ignoring the current polls completely. To me it's like looking at bracketology.

So those 5 teams control their postseason.

Clemson should do it. I expect Alabama too as well. I feel less safe about Ohio State, but still confident. That's three.

The question mark is Oklahoma State who has to play Baylor and Oklahoma. That's a tough ask. So if they don't win, the door is wide open for Oklahoma or Notre Dame or who knows?

Watch This

Manning's thrown 3 picks. The Chiefs defense has completely shut them down. The Chiefs have scored 4 times.

And yet it's only a two possession game. 16 points is very easy to overcome. Don't feel great about this lead.

Edit: The above was written before the last Broncos possession in the first half. I was afraid it would be 16-7 at the half. 19-0 is better than that, but still, another field goal. Three touchdowns wins it for Denver. Field goals are not enough.

10 Years of Hoagie Central

I left the friendly confines of Champaign, Illinois, and moved to Chicago in June 2005. I had a 2-month internship at an ad agency. I was no longer a college student. I had entered the real world.

Unable to see my friends on a daily basis, I started sending emails. A lot of them were unorganized thoughts about sports and video games. This continued throughout the fall. I started pretending that I had a sports column like Bill Simmons but only sending them to a few friends via email. I even had gimmicks like Scary NFL Notes emailed on Halloween.

Here's an example. Note Niraj saying I should be a sports writer, and me completely validating his thoughts with my response. 

Eventually, I decided it would be better to just put everything up online instead of clogging my friends' inboxes. 

On November 14, 2005, I created a blog called SportsCorner. 

Although you wouldn't know that's when this blog was founded, because of the impressive ability to backdate blog posts. When I created the blog I went back through my emails and populated the previous months. I was happy to make a worthwhile first post (with bonus comment!) I also invented the Reverse Wildcat formation which you can only run when you have two good quarterbacks, something a team never has. 

Incidentally, my first live post actually got a bit of attention. It was suggestions for improving soccer and apparently before Twitter, people would search through blogger (in this case, presumably for "soccer") and actually leave comments on stranger's blogs. It was entirely surprising, the idea that strangers out there not only could read this, but would. And leave comments. 

This incident prepared me to expect that I would have tons of visitors and comments, increasing steadily over the years. This did not happen. 

I remember the Monday after Super Bowl XL, just two weeks after I started my first full-time job, writing this post. It was the moment that I felt like, this blog is something important, something that I will be using for a long time. 

On February 15, 2006, I changed the name of this blog from SportsCorner to Free Meat. Using the Wayback Machine, here's the earliest visual evidence of this blog: 

On May 10, 2006, I made a timeline post, showing how football video game graphics changed over the years. I emailed it to Will Leitch, the guy running Deadspin at the time. He made a post there linking to mine. I got a ton of traffic and a ton of comments. And then I realized, that I don't really care about such things. But it was sort of fun to do one time.

In July 2006, I got married. 

By October 2006, I changed the name from Free Meat to Hoagie Central. People might have thought that I would continually change the name, but this was it. I didn't really like either of the first two names. Hoagie Central is my brand. 

Also in the fall of 2006, I outlined how an 8-team College Football Playoff would work, 8 years before the NCAA implemented a 4-team playoff. I even had separate email debates with Dan Shanoff and Bomani Jones.

I also gave Will Leitch the idea for the Deadspin Hall of Fame, although I didn't reveal the conversation until a year later. 

In 2007, I chronicled my first of many weight loss journeys. The summer brought an instant best of live chat and one other instant classic. I made a lot of valid points and fostered some intellectual high-brow discussion.

I lost my wedding ring and Mrs. Hoagie Central found it.

This is how the site looked at the time. Here's when I added some visual navigation and of course the hoagie header. 

In 2008, I started writing a novel and tracked my progress on the blog. I even asked for contributions and Mark suggested something that made it's way into Autopilot. 

In February, I changed the URL from davefymbo.blogspot to hoagiecentral.blogspot. Aside from a few minor aesthetic changes, the site has pretty much been the same since that day.

In May, a couple of crazy kids drove to Memphis and ate some barbecue. And then I got all political about Obama. And he won. I was even there on Election Night.

2009 came and I went to Italy and had the best sandwich of my life. My novel came out. I won a softball tournament and a volleyball tournament. We moved from Chicago to Oak Park, rolling through the Portillo's drive-thru with two box springs tied to the roof of our car.

We made stupid bets and I played stupid (though not really) video games. I even answered the age old question, what does a $19 hamburger taste like?

In 2010, I finally got to see The Late Show with David Letterman. And Walden Pond, which I was too stupid to say yes to when my Dad offered to take me 11 years prior.

I ate foods from the earth. I ate pizza. I finally beat Kirat in tennis. Mark smashed Burnsy in the face with a burrito 13 times. Burnsy and I made VQ2 and The Interview.

For the first time in my life, I made a par on a par 4 hole. Matt got married. We went to South America and Kansas City.

I even did an in-depth personal evaluation in the form of an individual 2010 census. And Hoagie Central went widescreen.

Let's see...did anything happen in 2011?

Burnsy made some beer. I mailed in a post about Doritos. I got back in to hockey.

Oh yeah, I got a new job, we moved to Denver at 8.5 months pregnant and had a freaking kid.

Once I got to Denver, I discovered green chile. And we started having holidays at our place, which meant I had to cook my first turkey. This happened.

And Hoagie Central went through it's last (to date) redesign.

In 2012, I tried curling for the first time and even made it to the championship game. I saw the Avs win in person for the first time. Mark Fever came to Denver for the first time.

I looked up. I busted out some advanced maths.

Just like with the BCS, I fixed the Electoral College. It will probably be a while before it goes into effect.

I suppose it doesn't seem like much else happened, because I spent a fair amount of time writing my second book.

In 2013, the book came out. Mark came back and I started rating beers. I saw the Avalanche win from the 2nd row. You can even see me holding my monster nachos in the replays.

I ranked pies. I sold -1 books. I spent a good chunk of time creating a full restaurant concept menu. I figured out much home field is actually worth.

The ultimate power of the internet revealed itself. A bunch of Bozos went to San Francisco. I turned 30.

Oh yeah, and we had another freaking kid. Holy crap.

Last year, the Broncos made the Super Bowl which I thought was going to be the worst thing ever but it was kind of the best thing ever. I finally saw a team of mine win a playoff game.

I built a soccer goal for my kids and played a game of indoor soccer.

I spent the summer searching for the best burrito in Denver. And went back to Kansas City for barbecue and a Chiefs' game. I ranked my favorite bands.

I cooked a 5-course dinner. I finally mastered Carbonara and made a cookbook.

And unfortunately, Mrs. Hoagie Central and I decided to get divorced.

This year, I predicted the Super Bowl. I got my first smartphone and Instagram. I ranked even more beers. I went snowboarding once and skateboarding several times.

I went back to Champaign. I got really into board games. I won an award. And had some good laughs. And a team I like actually won a championship.

Here's how the site looks at the moment, in case in changes in the future.

This blog got started because I was pretending to be a sports columnist. I wanted to share my sports opinions with my friends, so I put them on the internet.

And I'm glad I did. Because it transformed into a place where I could share anything. Where I could put up serious political thoughts and dumb videos and a lot of Chiefs and fantasy football garbage that isn't relevant to anyone.

I must give a special thank you to my loyal readers. I know who you are and you know who you are. It means a lot to know that someone is out there, reading my ramblings. It gives my words credence. Even for just a few people, I know that my thoughts have some purpose.

The most interesting thing is something that I didn't expect. I started this to share things with other people, but I'm the one who's benefited the most. As you can see, it's been and continues to be a time capsule of my life. As stupid as it sounds (and I think the word "blog" is incredibly stupid) my life is actually richer for having this blog. It is an incredible record of both big, important moments and silly, little jokes. Something that I can (and do) access from anywhere at any time to remember things that would otherwise be forgotten.

If you're reading this now, thank you. It probably means you've been here from the beginning. 

Battle for Illibuck

Ha ha, the spread is only 16 and a half! You think you're going to come and lay 17 in our house?! IN OUR HOUSE?!