The Beating On The Window Pane

It felt like the rain didn't stop pouring overnight.

I woke up at numerous intervals and - despite noticing the lapse in time - one thing was constant: the beating on the window pane.

I've written many times that autumnal weather is my favourite. I enjoy being cosy as the rain does its thing outside, but there is a limit. 

It maxed out last night.

And then some.

Questions And Answers

Here is the reverse page from a trivia question that appeared on my American football recently. It seems quite appropriate for me to have came across it this morning.

It was the response to the query which appeared on the calendar over the weekend. I was asked 'Who led the Saints in scoring in 2022?' The five choices were Taysom Hill, Wil Lutz, John Carney, Morten Anderson and John Kasay. I knew the answer - it was the Saints' then kicker, Lutz.

Wil Lutz, who now kicks for the Denver Broncos, played in last night's AFC Championship game: a 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots.

I have a question stemming from that game.

Which field goal kicker wasn't brought on to score a field goal - on fourth down - to send the Broncos 10-0 ahead in the first quarter of the AFC Championship game?

The answer: Wil Lutz.

It wasn't his fault, obviously. Which leads me to the next question:

Which head coach's decision lost the game for the Denver Broncos in the 2025 season'sAFC Championship game?

The answer: Sean Payton.

It seems to be a running theme on here lately, doesn't it? Coaches not going for three on fourth down.

Take. The. Points.

The Patriots now head to the Super Bowl to take on the Seattle Seahawks. If you read yesterday's post, you'll know I was hoping for the Broncos to make it to the big game and my preference for their opponents were the Seahawks. So, I got one of my wishes granted. It should come as no surprise when I state the following: I'd like Seattle to win in less than two weeks.

The Super Bowl I'd Like To See (2025 Season Edition)

By this time tomorrow, we'll know the two Super Bowl teams that will compete for the Vince Lombardi Trophy in a fortnight from tonight.

The teams I would have preferred to have made it to this year's big game didn't. Still, per the rules of running annual posts, I must do this year's edition of 'The Super Bowl I'd Like To See'.

Ranked below, starting with the game I'd least like to see on February 8th, are the possible outcomes after tonight's Conference Championships.

Oh yeah, I state this warning every year: I'm biased.

4. New England Patriots.vs. LA Rams

With me being an Indianapolis Colts fan, it should come as no surprise to see that a possible New England Patriots Super Bowl is bottom of the list. As for the Rams, well - I have no beef with them. I'll add a bit more to why I've moved this game last in the next ranking.

3. New England Patriots .vs. Seattle Seahawks

I've picked another Patriots game next for the obvious reason. The toss up between having the Rams or Seahawks bottom of the list went like this: we've recently seen a Rams Super Bowl win, so it would be nice to see the Seahawks add to theirs. Plus, I like the idea of Seattle QB - Sam Darnold, - who has become a journeyman of sorts, finally getting to experience a Super Bowl. Many had written him off, but he is in the midst of a career resurgence both with Minnesota in 2024 and Seattle this season. The only drawback is questions over how healthy he is right now after suffering an oblique injury recently. He was recently taken off Seattle's injury report, however.

2. Denver Broncos .vs. LA Rams

Talking of injury reports, the Denver Broncos' quarterback - Bo Nix - suffered a season ending ankle injury during the Broncos' overtime win over the Buffalo Bills last weekend. He was placed on injured reserve a couple of days ago thus putting a final punctuation mark on his season. In his place steps Jarrett Stidham. He's not getting much of a chance if you listen to almost every analyst out there. But, with that said, there is one person who is backing Stidham strongly and that's his coach - Sean Payton. I've been quite taken aback by how much faith Payton has put into his player. It's great man-to-man coaching. I hope it pays off. IF the Broncos make it to the Super Bowl, Stidham's involvement will be like a Cinderella Man plot that will be eaten up by the press. With all that said, IF the Broncos make it to the Super Bowl, they very well could have done so more through an assistance from their defence. 

1. Denver Broncos .vs. Seattle Seahawks

I suppose this one explains itself. Jarrett Stidham in the Super Bowl would make for that Cinderella Man storyline for the Broncos player special. We also have the Sam Darnold career resurgence storyline added to this game. In a way, this is a collision of quarterback underdog stories. It seems perfect to see their respective final chapters played out on the same pages.

The first game for tonight - the Patriots at Broncos for the AFC Championship - kicks off at 8PM GMT. That will be followed by the NFC Championship game. That's currently scheduled for an 11:30PM GMT kick off.

TraitorsMania

I sure do feel like I'm missing something with The Traitors.

I haven't watched a single episode of the series, but it seems that - everywhere I look - there are people talking, or writing. about it.

Take for example today - hours following the most recent final - the news websites I visited had multiple stories dedicated to the series. I've just watched BBC News and there was a feature about the final on there. According to the report, over twelve million watched The Traitors during its peak this year.

As I stated in my open: it feels like I'm missing out. 

Or there's a brilliant team marketing this out there to make us want to watch it.

I'm too far gone, though. I won't be going out of my way to catch up. In my opinion, HMS The Traitors is long off shore. Even for me.

A Masters Of The Universe Redo

I've written it many times in the past, but I'll do so again because it's quite appropriate for today's post: I may have been born in the 70s, but I grew up in the 1980s.

You couldn't escape that decade without knowing about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. 

The cartoon, which was ultimately a huge vehicle for Mattel to sell toys, was very popular during my era. I had a lot of the action figures. I even had the Castle Grayskull so I could imagine my own storylines with my toys.

Anyway, I'm going to make a giant leap - for this moment - and take you to yesterday. 

I watched the teaser trailer for the Masters of the Universe movie that's coming out this summer.

I came away from it with mixed thoughts. I'm so far away from my days as a fan of the franchise to care too much about it, though.

On one hand, it looks true to the series. In other parts, it looks far off. 

But, let's head back to the 1980s for a moment. I think this is an important point.

I remember where I was when I found out about the Masters of the Universe movie from 1987. 

It was during a visit to the American Air Force base my uncle was stationed at. I was making my daily browse through the bookshop, which sold comics, magazines and newspapers (my order of preference at the time!), and I came across a mag with photographs from the movie. To say I was excited was an understatement.

Ivan Drago was He-Man (I didn't know Dolph Lundgren's real name but knew he was 'the man from Rocky IV'). 

I couldn't keep that magazine in the shop. I asked if someone could buy it for me. They did. 

This was during the times when movies would come out in the US months before the UK. I believe the USA had Masters of the Universe for their summer and we, here in the UK, had it released in time for Christmas of 1987. 

I recall going to the cinema with my parents and sister. The females went to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in one screen while my Dad and I went to see the He-Man film. For a useless trivia note: I had peanut M&Ms for the first time while watching that movie.

My young self loved it. The movie. The M&Ms were lovely as well. Critics and hardcore Masters of the Universe fans didn't share my enthusiasm, however.

Looking back, I can understand why. There were many major characters from the cartoon missing from the film. For example, there was no Battlcat. That omission would be like the Lone Ranger not having Silver. Orko (the wisp type being which performed magic) was also a conspicuous absence from the silver screen version of Masters of the Universe although we were given a knockoff, of sorts, in Gwildor.

As I watched the 2026 edition's trailer yesterday, I thought 'oh, well they've finally done Battlecat' because he was featured in a few of the clips. No sign of Orko, however.

I'll definitely check the film out. Eventually. But, I'll try my best to do so with a 'would I have liked this if I had watched it back in the day?' mindset. With that said, I loved the 1987 movie, so - going by the trailer - I'm sure I would have loved this edition as well.

Starting Cell

My journey through the works of Stephen King resumed yesterday when I picked up his 2006 novel - Cell - to read.

I'm only six percent in (at last count), and I have to admit - it kicked off quite well.

I don't want to do any more research into the novel until I've finished, but - going by a vague memory I believe I have, so excuse me if I'm incorrect here - this is one of the controversial titles that is like Marmite. Some like it, others don't. 

I could end up disliking it myself. However, I have to give credit to its pace. It had quite an abrupt start with little build, which is an appealing technique to throw the reader in at the deep end.

For those who haven't read it, or haven't a clue what the book and its movie, for that matter, are about - it looks like it's a zombie-ish story where people act like the undead after using their mobile phones. 

There's a hidden message there, if ever there was one.

Anyway, that's me picking up where I left off last autumn in my quest to read every book by King. I've now reached 2006. 

Onwards I must go!

A Dream Delivery

I had an interesting dream this morning. It was something that will likely happen in the imminent future.

No, it wasn't a war dream. It was technological.

I was standing in my living room and looked out the window. I could see my neighbours looking up as a noise came from above them. They were pointing. They also weren't my real neighbours. They were people I had never seen before, but they lived next door in my Dream Land home because I saw them head back that way as they escaped the noise coming from the sky.

Next thing I witnessed was a drone with arms at my window. It tapped the glass and hovered there for a moment or two before flying off.

I thought it was a spy drone or something, but then ran to my door, opened it and came across an Amazon parcel.

Inside the packet was a footstool which needed a good bit of DIY to set up. We decided to send it back, but then...

...well, I woke up at that point. However, for the past few hours since I've been awake, I've wondered to myself how I would have been able to return it. Would the drone have popped by to pick it back up?

It was a dream triggered by a subconscious memory. I had read an article about Amazon's plans to deliver by drone quite some time ago, so it must have been hovering around.