The Kazmer Report

I have never been much of a “gamer.”
I have owned several video game consoles throughout my life, but my interest in them fades quickly. The newest model I have owned was a Playstation two. I traded it for a guitar my senior year of high school. But an NHL game on my roommate’s Playstation three has recently sparked my gaming interest. Unlike past experiences with Madden football, this game seems to be fairly realistic. The commentary keeps pace with game play and is more relevant than any football game’s attempt at simulating live play. I doubt this new venture into video gaming will last long —but you never know.

-Rick Kazmer
rickk@dailyamerican.com

They are who we thought they were, or at least a little closer.
No, I am not talking about the Chicago Bears. While the Cardinals romped Jay Cutler’s new group Sunday — righting the ship from Denny Green’s failed attempt as Cardinal coach a few years ago —it is Cutler’s old team that has come down to earth. The Denver Broncos have dropped two straight games. Pittsburgh handled Denver easily in a 28-10 win. The Steeler slam follows a loss to Baltimore last week.
So now the NFL pundits will slowly start jumping off of the Bronco bandwagon, which was heavily loaded after a 6-0 start. Kyle Orton just isn’t an elite quarterback, sorry Trent Dilfer. And the Denver defense has some blaring holes to patch. Rashard Mendenhall ran for 155 yards. The Broncos are closer to what everyone thought the were before the season started than the Super Bowl hopeful they were hyped as six weeks in to the season.
Go Pittsburgh.

-Rick Kazmer
rickk@dailyamerican.com

For the first time in years I decorated my living room for Halloween. It wasn’t anything spectacular — just one Jack O’ Lantern.
And I am not even the one who made it. My girlfriend did. But it has been sitting on a table in my living room for about a month now. It has sat with me through a few close Steeler games, many frozen mini pizzas, late night movies, and hours of ESPN. And I have to say, I have grown attached to it’s marker-sketched face. A marker was used to draw two triangle eyes and a spiky mouth because the shell was too hard for a knife to penetrate. This fact is proven by several scars on the pumpkin’s surface.
Avoiding being sliced open and gutted, I believe, is the main reason my old friend is not deteriorating. The pumpkin is not soft and it doesn’t stink. Halloween is over, but it seems wrong to just throw it out. Soon a fake Christmas tree will likely sit on the table. The apartment’s lone decoration for the holiday season. I think this year I will leave the Jack O’ Lantern there too. Unseasonable? Sure. But it’s good to see an old friend beat the odds.

-Rick Kazmer
rickk@dailyamerican.com