All Out Blitz!

Well, what a Summer this has turned out to be for us sports fans. For the first time, ever, all three major leagues in the United States have fallen under scandal at the same time. And if you think that either Matt or I had been sitting back and waiting for the fire and brimstone to be coming down around our ears…you’d be wrong.

We figured that this would be an appropriate time to try and bring back the Blitz. That’s right folks, the Homer and the Geek are back and we’ve got PLENTY to talk about. Matt and I have been working for the last week or so on the new show and determining what worked and what didn’t in the first run. Basically it came down to trying to cram too much into an hour, and it left us with either too much or too little to say about a given topic. That will change on the new version of the show. Instead of trying to overflow the listeners, we’ll be focusing on the top six topics of the week, broken into two halves of three.

Which brings us to the other topic of this post. My intention is to play promos between the segments, and therefore I need material to play! So bring me your promo clips and I’ll be happy to give you some free ad space and air time on my show.

So pardon our dust during our remodeling, but we’ll be back soon. Talk at you then!!

It’s with a heavy, yet proud heart that I formally announce the end of the dog ‘n pony show that Matt and I lovingly call The All Out Blitz. With our last show recorded on the 11th, we have decided to put it to rest once and for all.

The Blitz started out as nothing more than an experiment and a dream two years ago. I always wanted to try and create a venue through which I could pass on my love of sports to those who shared in it with me, and Matt, being my best friend, happened to get wrapped up in it with me, although truth be told, he was never nearly as passionate about the subject as I was. But at the time, we had lofty expectations. Podcasting was still in its adolescence and we were figuring that within a year or so, we’d be able to start figuring out how to schedule interviews, upgrade the website, get sponsors and generate business as we expanded into the mainstream of the booming online media frenzy.

But with time, we discovered that the ability to get much of that done required resources that we simply did not possess, and while we had loads of fun making it work as best we could, the writing was clearly on the wall, even if I didn’t want to read it.

So, I am sad to say, it is time to put the ol’ Blitz to bed, once and for all. I am grateful to all of those who gave us a listen and those who came back from time to time to hear what we had to say. We didn’t always get everything right, but we had a hell of a lot of fun putting it together and trying to make it seem like we knew what we were talking about.

As for the future? Well, you can’t keep a good podcaster down. I have two ideas for two new shows that I am in the process of putting together and even though they aren’t sports-related, I think we’ll do our best to try and keep the spirit of the Blitz intact.

The All Out Blitz opened the doors to a lot of possibilities for both myself and Matt, and hopefully soon, we’ll be able to bring you some more fun stuff. Talk at you then and thanks for lending us an ear every now and again.

Most Sincerely and Respectfully,

Devin Higgins

Consider this angle. You’ve been very good at what you do for a long time, considered one of the best, for that matter. Unfortunately, though, despite all the accomplishments and accolades that you’ve earned in your tenure, you’re still considered a sucker because you haven’t quite come through in the big moments.

Until Sunday, Peyton Manning had heard that from every angle and with every passing year. He was the “Golden Boy” of the 1998 draft class, especially when you consider the meteoric debacle that was Ryan Leaf who was almost taken over Manning. In the time he had been at the helm of the Colts, Manning became one of the elite QB’s in the league in little time at all. But in true Rodney Dangerfield style, he was the one guy who simply never got any respect. He won games, set records, and became the face of the league, but there was little doubt that even those who followed him from his rookie year until now was beginning to wonder if he might never get the Colts their first Lombardi Trophy since 1970, when they were still in Baltimore.

No, he didn’t have a great game and Super Bowl XLI, though soggy, was closer to last year’s model than the great games of the past. That being said, Peyton Manning now is in company of Brett Favre, and even more so, Steve Young, as touted QB’s who won one Super Bowl, and approaching his ninth season, Manning still has time to notch a couple more in his belt before he’s through. But if you asked Favre, I’m sure he’d tell you that he would’ve had more chances than the two he had in the mid-90’s.

The NFL, even more so than other leagues, give us the false illusion that a dominant team is able to repeat Super Bowl runs because of the amount of parity. The season is ONLY eighteen weeks long, which is nothing compared to the bloated NBA and NHL season, forget the six-month odyssey that is the MLB season. We seem to think that because the season is shorter, that it somehow gives the successful teams more of an opportunity to be right back where we left them nine months earlier.

But come next season, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a very different Peyton Manning. After all, it’s not a big surprise when you see a guy strut around with the whole world off of his back.