Merry Christmas

Yeah, I guess when an 18-month old is willingly given by her parents to a fat guy, with a loud red-suit, and a beard from the backwoods, it'd be tempting to lose it and cry like there's no tomorrow.

I think our youngest daughter, Sarah will recover. As you can see, our oldest, Megan is used to the drill.

Along with my two daughters, and my wife Laurie, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

It's The Holiday Season

Just some random videos in the spirit of the season...

Bad Santas - is this how Santa treats the naughty kids now? Fine by me.




Full Metal Christmas - Today, you are no longer maggots. You are elves.




Lord Of The Reigns - Take the audio of the Lord Of The Rings movie preview, and mix it with video from Rudolph, and you get this entertaining mashup.

Eagles 10, Cowboys 6

Well, that was kinda nice.

Certainly not the prettiest win of the season, but anytime the Eagles can get a win against Dallas -- on the road no less -- it's a good day.

I'm not quite ready to give up on the Donovan McNabb era just yet. They need to find a way to get him another stud wide receiver. The guy can still get the job done, and clearly, when given a weapon -- like he had with Owens in 2004 -- the team rocks and rolls.

Yes, they played better offensively with A.J. Feely in at quarterback for a couple of weeks, but unless they can get a splendid deal for D-Mac in a trade, I say hang onto him for at least one more year, and get the man some outside threats.

The win yesterday makes things a little tougher for the 'Boys to get home field advantage throughout the playofss -- also good.

I'm rooting for Favre from here on out in the NFC, and things could still break right so that Dallas would have to go to Lambeau in January for the title game.

Although, as good as that may be in helping the Packers knock off Dallas, it would mean we'd have to look at Jessica Simpson in layers and layers of clothing -- not so good.

The Mitchell Report: So, Now What?

Anyone surprised by anything they heard yesterday when the Mitchell report came out? Didn't think so.

I think the bigger surprise was the lack of names. Although, considering about 99.9% of current players refused to talk to Mitchell -- and why would they -- it was hard to imagine that the list of names would be anywhere near complete.

Sammy Sosa didn't even make the list.

How many major leaguers were sweating bullets yesterday, waiting to see if they had been named in the report? Even without any cooperation from the players, Mitchell was still able to name almost 90 players. Safe to say another 100-200 players were crappin' their pants counting the minutes until 2pm Eastern, when the report was released.

And that's steroid-fueled feces, too. Nasty, I'm sure.

I was pleased to see that none of the current Phillies made the list, and the most recent Phillie to be linked in the report was David Bell, who had already been rumored to be a user.

Considering how poorly he played for the Phils, maybe Bell should have taken more 'roids.

The Eagles Have Landed (With A Thud)

I don't know what's bothering me more: The fact that the Eagles will miss the playoffs, and most likely finish under .500 for the 2nd time in three years, or that my attitude toward those developments has been so non-chalant.

The Eagles dropped another winnable game yesterday 16-13, putting them at 5-8 on the year, and I just don't seem to care that much.

This whole season has just kind of existed for me in the background. I haven't put a lot of thought, energy, or emotion into it.

I think I know why.

A) The Phillies. As the Phils rode a thrilling September into the playoffs for the first time since 1993, I found myself devoting just about all of my sports attention to them, and not much to the guys in green. By the time the Phils were done in mid-October, the Eagles were already on the ropes.

B) The Patriots. Once it was established that New England was the class of the league, and by a wide margin, what was there to get excited about with the Eagles and a possible playoff berth? It was clear by about halftime in week 1 that no matter how good the Eagles played this year, it wouldn't be good enough to get the ultimate prize, which at this point, is the only ending I'm interested in. When the city you root for hasn't produced a title winner since 1983, titles are all you want.

C) The "been there, done that" factor. This season has looked like too many other Eagles seasons from recent years. McNabb hurt, bad receivers, not enough commitment to the running game, the knack for losing the close games, bad clock management, and the always demoralizing slow start to the season. I've seen it before, and could tell by the way they blew the opener at Lambeau that it just wasn't going to be their year. It was really a blessing that I could recognize it so early. Saved me a lot of restless Sundays.

The good news about the NFL is that teams can turn things around in a flash. Problem is, I'm not sure if McNabb and Reid are up to it. It's maddening watching these two year in and year out. Maybe it is time for some changes.

On the plus side, the Eagles have plenty of cap space, they'll get a good spot in the draft, and with the right moves -- some receivers, a little help on defense -- they could be right back in the mix next year.

I certainly hope they are. It's been a pretty emotionless football season for this Eagles fan.

Charlie Brown Christmas - Scrubs Version

I know this is a video from last year, but after sitting through the real Charlie Brown Christmas last night, it reminded me of this pretty well done version voiced by the Scrubs characters.

The altered dialogue is probably in the PG-13 range.

Just What Are Those Elves Doing Up There?

With Christmas approaching fast, instead of telling you which toys to buy for the kids on your shopping list, it might be better to tell you what not to buy.

Check out this list of The 25 Most Baffling Toys From Around The World.

I'm certainly not buying any of these for my kids, but I might take a penis putter (No. 13) for myself.