Jan shaping up decently+Vikings miss out on SB shot

I took a break from poker on Sunday to watch the NFC/AFC championship games. 2 pretty good games, although seeing the Vikings come one game short of the Superbowl for the 3rd time in my life was a bit devastating. First there was the 1998 season, when they went 15-1 in the regular season and broke the NFL points scored record. It was really quite a magical year. We destroyed the Cardinals in the Divisional playoffs and were huge favorites against the Falcons and suffered a crushing OT loss. It was also the game where Gary Anderson missed a 30 some yard field goal with the 4th quarter winding down that would have given the Vikings a 10 pt lead and iced the game. This is the Gary Anderson that did not miss ONE SINGLE kick the whole season. It's a play that lives in MN infamy for sure. The most crushing loss I've ever endured as a sports fan.

Then there was the 2000 season, where we started 11-2 and backed into the playoffs with an 11-5 record. Still good enough for a 1st round bye. We pounded the saints in the divisional round to set up another shot at the Superbowl just 2 seasons after the crushing defeat at the hands of Atlanta. This game was brutal in it's own way. Not the crushing, tear your heart out and crap it out on your face kinda brutal the Atlanta game was though. It was more of a WTF just happened kinda brutal. Vikes down 31-0 at halftime and lose by a final of 41-0. I don't remember much from that game anymore. Selective memory I suppose.

Then there was Sunday. The big difference in this game is the Vikes were the underdog, not the favorite like the previous 2 NFC championship games. I went into it knowing there was a very good chance we could lose this game. However to see us lose the game in OT left an empty feeling similar to 1998. Also the fact that we fumbled the ball 6 fucking times left a feeling of wondering what could have been. We lost 2 fumbles in the red zone. One at the 20 yard line, and one at the 10. But if you watched the game you know what I'm talking about. It was still a great game. I'm sure especially great for Saints fans. Should be a good Superbowl matchup. I'm gonna have to say that Peyton Manning wins his 2nd ring though.

I watched the Federer-Davydenko match last night, not sure if anyone else did but it was kinda crazy. How does Davydenko go from looking sooooooooo good, and like he's gonna roll Federer in 3 straight sets, to just getting murdered? Federer beat him like 13 straight games at one point. Good match though.

Now to poker. I played on Monday and just couldn't get anything going. I went 7-10 and lost around $1,100. Then yesterday it looked like the month could possibly unravel when I started 1-5 and was snap down $1,400. However, after taking a break and enjoying a bowl of Coco-Roos I couldn't be stopped the rest of the day. I went 19-6 the rest of the way and finished +$2,600 or so. Boom. Somebody even threatened to slit my throat during a game. You know you're owning people when they threaten your life. Jackass.

I will probably be playing each of the last 5 days of the month and hopefully ending in a fun way. I wanna catch a case of the run goods.

Jan - $7,069

Good luck everybody

bartchalker