SWITZERLAND FORUM

[cklaurence]

Monec!! What a sweet surprise... It's been so long since I last saw you at Switzerland!!! Welcome back, and I am sure I speak for all of us (whoever and wherever we might be) when I say it's just grand to see you here and I hope you will be seeing you a lot more often! Good luck on your game today...

[Emeritus]

Fantastic Fins!

[cklaurence]

Thanks so much, Em. They sure do step up against those teams that are injured and mangled, don't they?

[Emeritus]

Hey, early in the year when the Dolphins were the butt of jokes, they were raving about how great the Bills were. What goes around comes around.

[cklaurence]

Em, it unnerves me that anyone could believe that a team that was so feeble the first seven games of the season could turn suddenly into such a powerhouse (not that the teams they've beaten are such ai yi yi awesome winners themselves), but just to become so thoroughly dominating, um, well something just isn't sitting right with me. I don't want to hear Tony Sparano take credit for it (nor do I want to see Steven Ross--who has incidentally stopped all the "Fins up!" garbage, put back a football atmosphere and removed "Margaritaville" in the past two games, get any points either). I don't know what happened (now that we are just about definitely statistically eliminated from the playoffs), but whatever it is, it should have happened about seven games ago!
I don't know, Em. It's just this weird feeling I have that something's rotten in Denmark. I can't put my finger on it, I just don't understand it.

[Emeritus]

I don't know who it was, but somebody woke the team up. For the first time they are playing like a team with a purpose. I don't know what that purpose is, but it is something. Before, they were just showing up to punch the clock. Maybe the team discovered a leader?

[cklaurence]

I had to laugh, Em. Two good and one eh eh game and one of the big news articles that came through
headlined: "Is Matt Moore the Franchise QB Dolphins have been Searching for?" I laughed for 30 minutes! Today all this nonsense will end when they face the revived Cowboys in the Taj Majal... I don't suppose it will be pretty for the Dolphin fans, but they have already pretty much been mathematically eliminated from the play-offs anyway. The Dolphins will pretty much definitely be creamed this afternoon. We shall see.
I've got to run right now--I'll come back on later with my holiday greetings in a separate thread. I know it's just you and me here anyway, but I'll make a holiday thread anyway--keep up the pretense that anyone but the very tiny few of us even peeks in anymore. I don't know why I continue to delude myself that Switzerland will ever really be Switzerland again, but I do--I really truly do, Em. With the book being updated and re-released, I don't know--maybe I'm a fool--NO FOOL LIKE AN OLD FOOL, correct? But I would so love to see the chatter here once again. Facebook is fine, but it's so scattered and generalized. Ms B's political group is nice and I'm so happy for her that it thrives and there are some nice places to chit-chat; but well, for football, I so miss our Switzerland and all the crazy characters we had in and out and all around the clock. Thank you Emeritus, for always being here. Each and every day, rains, sleet, snow or sunshine--even if it's just to say hello, you're always here, and it means a lot to me. Even if I never really find out who you are, thank you.

[Emeritus]

I would hate to see Switzerland disappear. Facebook just can't replace it for me. We had such a wonderful group, because everybody was a member because somebody invited them. They were picked - or at least those that I invited were picked - for wit and lack of hostility. Perhaps is was just too good to last. As long as you keep the door open, I will be here.

[cklaurence]

I would hate to see Switzerland disappear. Facebook just can't replace it for me. We had such a wonderful group, because everybody was a member because somebody invited them. They were picked - or at least those that I invited were picked - for wit and lack of hostility. Perhaps is was just too good to last. As long as you keep the door open, I will be here.

Thanks Em--as you can see from my shouts out today, as long as your here and I'm here, Switzerland will be here. Try Thinking, I know is busy with work, but he comes by when he can, and Ms Bags has opened her own page on Facebook, but still comes by to say hey on occasion here, and she too is always welcome. I know she's really busy with her fantasy team too, and we don't have a fantasy team here this year. dred always comes by with something to make me smile, and I'd be a fool to close a place that in this day and age brings a smile to my face. Too many things that hurt my heart, to let the ones that bring a smile go. I'm here for the long run!

[Emeritus]

Sunday the Texans will at least get some idea if they will have a post season or not. The Jaguars have a first-rate defense, but no offense at all. If Leinart can help just a little the Texans should win. Beating them was easy earlier in the season, but we had Matt Schaub then.

[cklaurence]

Don't sweat the small stuff, Em. You guys are going to win Sunday.

[Emeritus]

I hope that you are right. It is just that everybody had so much confidence in Matt Schaub. He played such an under-control, self-contained game that you just knew that he would win. We will get a look at our chances the rest of the way tomorrow.

[cklaurence]

I want to say, you sound like the Dolphin fans were over Marino, or the Colt fans over Peyton, but I immediately choke on my words. It's amazing what the heart and arm of one player can do. Some QBs seem to carry the entire mechanism that makes a team a winner, and there's just no denying it. I will say my godless prayers for you that the Texans are not all QB, and can and will survive beyond one player--the way it should be!!!

[Emeritus]

LOL, I wouldn't mention Schaub in the same sentence with those two, but he is just the right quarterback for what we do. For example, if you look at the New Orleans Saints team rankings, they are mediocre or worse in every category but one - they are first in passing yards. They are dangerous in the playoffs every year simply because Drew Brees throws for zillions of yards. If you look at the Texans team rankings, they are only fourteenth in passing. It is the only category, on offense and defense, in which they are not in the top ten. The Texans depend on balance to win and that is what Schaub provides. In our last game, he threw an 80-yard TD pass on the first play of the game and then passed only fourteen more times the entire game. The Texans won in a walk. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but Matt Leinart is going to have to show me that he can be that controlled, by choice.

[cklaurence]

Can't help but smart and sting every time Drew Brees comes up. Totally depresses me. It was such a no-brainer. Drew Brees or Daunte Culpepper? NO BRAINER!!! Sure enough, they took Daunte Culpepper. And how many more QBs have we gone through since then?
Anyway, back to your situation. I think Leinert can handle it for you. "Balance" is the key--you said it yourself. When you've got a balanced team, it's a whole lot easier to fix when something goes wrong. When your QB (i.e., the Colts) is the one that does it all, and your QB goes down, unless you can find Super Q, you're dead and gone. Texans just need someone steady--someone who can keep the offense focused and moving along. Leinert can do that. He's a journeyman and that's just what you need right now.

[Emeritus]

So now we don't have Leinart. We are snake-bit! The only upside is that now Baglady's Colts have a real shot at winning a game. We will be playing them late in the season with a ten-man offense.

[cklaurence]

What happened to Leinert, Em? I haven't been paying close attention to the news--after the Dolphins blew the game against Dallas on Thursday. Now that Matt Moore has evened out his play, I'm sure it wouldn't be a big deal for you to get Ross to turn him over to you guys. He has no problem trading decent players for fifth and sixth round draft choices .

[Emeritus]

Matt Leinart suffered a broken collarbone during the second quarter. We just can't catch a break.

[cklaurence]

I feel your pain, Em--but you guys have a pretty good lead on your division (it appears to me...), and from what I'm reading about Yates, he's got a lot going for him, even though he's untried and unpracticed. If I were the coach, I'd be working his butt overtime, big time! You may find you have something really special there, and all these injuries were just a way to find him more quickly than you would have otherwise. Wouldn't that be cool?

[cklaurence]

Well, Em, I put up a "special" over at facebook in an attempt to recruit back some of our Swiss Family that has disappeared for one reason or another over the past year. All I got was six "like," four of who have never been to Switzerland and to the best of my knowledge, don't even know what it is! I never understand why people hit "like" when they have no clue as to what a post is about, lol--just figure that they are being supportive or figure you are going nuts and are trying to be courteous. I always save my "likes" for situations I understand or agree with--or at the very least, know what someone is talking about...

[Emeritus]

The Texans have signed Jake Delhomme. Through eleven games this season, the Texans have thrown only six interceptions, the second-lowest in the NFL. They are tied with the Packers and the Forty-niners with a NFL-leading total of ten give-aways. Jake could match that in one game. I understand that he is to be the rookie's backup.

[cklaurence]

I didn't even know Jack Delhomme wasn't playing anywhere. He should hold you over and pull you through. It seems with every stroke of bad luck you have, something happens to make things work for you. It seems to me it's Houston's time, and I for one are happy for you and Reeceykins. I wish Reeceykins would come around more often so I could tease him a bit--hardly seems fair that your team is finally finding its way, like champions will do, and my dear Reecey isn't around to share it with...

[Emeritus]

It is hard to imagine Reecey not being excited about the Texans season and talking about it somewhere. I have no evidence to support the idea at all, but I believe that he is blogging about it somewhere under another name. The Reecey that I know couldn't help himself.

[cklaurence]

Oh my, I just figured that you were blogging with Reecey somewhere else about your Texans, Em. It didn't occur to me for a moment that the two of you weren't in regular touch this year--this most amazing year for your Texans! I notice that he changed his name to Maurice Hampton, but I was so sure the two of you must be in touch with each other. I know you're at facebook as Jerry King and just supposed you blogged there and at faux with him about your team. He's mentioned to me several times that he would come over here when he had time, but I guess he's really busy. Maybe he's found a girlfriend. I had hoped he'd get down here this year for a game as well, but that's starting to look like it's not going to happen either. Sadness.

[Emeritus]

ck, I just tried to send you a private message and got an error message that you had private messages blocked.

[cklaurence]

That's strange. Peace? You around? Could you check it out, please? In the mean time--try sending me an email at my private email cklaurence@gmail.com -- hope I don't live to regret putting that out here...

[Emeritus]

Sent.

[cklaurence]

Received and answered my good sir.

[Emeritus]

I've been at Fox Sports explaining tie breakers to the Saints and Falcons fans. They have a real division race going on. If the Falcons win the next time that they play, it would get down to the margin of victory in the two games. New Orleans won the first game by three, so if Atlanta won the second game by four points they would win the division. They are both awfully good!

[cklaurence]

Wow. Can't remember when a race was that close. Looks like our division is a runaway again, with the damned Patriots in the lead. Heartbreaking (again). Can't stand the fact that the season is in the last month already. The rest of the year drags by, but football season? Just speeds by so fast you don't have time to catch your breath--at least that's the way it goes for me!