RIP Steve Sabol

The world has lost a great artist.  His medium was video, and his subject was the National Football League. Steve Sabol of NFL Films succumbed to cancer on Tuesday.

Sabol was the creative force behind the company his dad Ed founded, which brought the game of professional football into millions of homes beginning in the 1960s. They paired potent scriptwriting and narration with amazingly vivid video and audio to tell the story of the National Football League.  In fact, Steve Sabol is credited with coining the phrase "frozen tundra" to describe the Packers' home, Lambeau Field.

These films made me fall in love with watching football as a kid.  Thank you Steve, for sharing your love of football with generations of boys and girls. God needed a cinematic virtuoso.

Only in Hawai'i

Saturday marked the official beginning for University of Hawai'i Football v2012 at home in the confines of Aloha Stadium. And that meant the return of tailgate season!!!  Our tailgate featured Hawai'i's favorite "meat," SPAM...and some popcorn that I had never seen before...and let me tell you, it's ono!  Ever heard of Prime Rib End Cut and Heinekorn (no beer) popcorn flavors?  Wait, how about Raging Crab?  These come from a company on Sand Island called Primo Popcorn:  And from our trip to New York City, cheesecake from the landmark Carnegie Deli on 7th Avenue. Of course, our tailgate always features wine....and beer.

Another thing, a new tradition began for the University of Hawai'i football team and its arrival to Aloha Stadium prior to the game.  It's a whole new arrival experience, entering in the middle of the parking lot and getting greeted by fans and excited tailgaters.  Nothing like getting the boys jazzed up for their first game at home under first-year Head Coach Norm Chow.  Here's a video of it in case you missed it:  The First Warrior Walk.  Those are some chicken-skin moments, as we say in Hawai'i.

Giant Survival

So who plays Survival Fantasy Football? Who are you picking this week?  They may not be the heaviest favorite of the weekend, but my pick goes to the New York Giants. The defending Super Bowl champions are not going to lose twice at MetLife Stadium in consecutive weeks. They host Tampa Bay.

Looks like close to 45% of the picks is leaning toward New England besting the Arizona Cardinals at Gillette Stadium.  It's during the early set of games, so everyone's probably counting on that West Coast-to-East Coast futility in the early set.