Who Do I Root For? AZ, NC, MA, CO?

In National Football League(NFL) all 32 teams start the season in September with a clean slate and four weeks into the season it becomes obvious half the teams would have no chance of making the playoffs. 

The Thanksgiving Day marks the beginning of a final quarter of the regular season. The contenders are separated from pretenders by now. At this point the competition would be just heating up and top teams would be trying to make a statement of dominance by trying to finish with the best winning record possible and land the home field advantage in the process. Sometimes the teams even dream of going 16-0 which happened only a couple of times in NFL history. 
As the holidays in December get underway the last few playoff spots may still be up for grabs and teams would make a desperate run to make the cut. By the time Christmas rolls around the playoff field is pretty much set. Six teams from AFC and six teams from NFC boast the bragging rights of making it to the promised land. Out of the six teams two teams from each conference get a first round bye in other words they don't play the wild-card round of the playoffs. 
The winners of the wild-card week play the top dogs who sat out the first round in a week called divisional round. The 3rd week of January brings up the conference championship round that pits 2 teams in AFC and 2 teams in NFC. The two teams in each conference battle it out for a berth in the greatest spectacle in sports i.e., Superbowl. This year the SB will be played on February 7th at brand new state-of-the-art arena Levi Stadium in San Francisco Bay Area. 
Today is the Final Four of NFL - the Conference Championship Round. The four teams vying for the big game are : NFC - Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers & AFC - New England Patriots at Denver Broncos.

I have lived in all four states North Carolina, Arizona, Massachusetts and Colorado and it is hard to pick sides while deciding which team to root for. Now that I live in Boston, I would love to see the defending world champions Patriots back in Superbowl and winning it all so I can go see them in a parade for the second time in a row. But in reality I am rooting for all four teams and I hope to see some good football action today. All I wish for is some closely contested games that go to the wire.

Wichita Falls, Texas : Don't speed

Dallas TX
January 2007

Was there a good reason for my trip to Wichita Falls? None. Absolutely none. I woke up on the first Saturday of January in "Big D" Dallas and decided I was going to drive to Wichita Falls. Who would do something like that? Nobody. It defies any logic and any rationale. What did we do in Wichita Falls? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Like driving to Wichita Falls was not crazy enough I did not turn around when it got late in the day, instead we kept driving further north and crossed the Texas border and drove in to Oklahoma state and got on the interstate I-44 north bound and set my sights on Oklahoma City until the signs indicating the highway was turning into a tollway stopped me in my tracks.

"I am not paying toll for a trip I had no business doing in the first place", is what I remember admonishing myself. My good senses finally prevailed on me and it was time to go back home. But there was no way I was going to drive back on the highway that I came up on : the highway 114/287 that meanders through the towns in the region that is to the north west of Dallas namely Grapevine, Decatur, Bowie, Wichita Falls. The round trip had to be done in a loop. You are now in Oklahoma, you didn't want to go back the way you came, you didn't want to pay toll go up to Oklahoma City and going west could mean you could end up in Amarillo Texas for Pete's sake and you would never be able to make it home that night. Now what?

My only other option was to go east and that is what we ended up doing. I did not drive for 5 miles on Route 70 going east before I noticed a car that drove past me going in the opposite direction, and saw the driver in my rear view mirror making a U turn and was barreling fast towards me, he pulled close right behind me and before I knew I was being entertained to disco lights. He was a State Trouper in an unmarked car. So I pulled over. He stopped, got out of his car walked up to me and asks me "Do you know how fast you were going?" The angst in his tone was unmistakable. I said "No Sir!" He took my license, walks to his car, runs my license and walks back to my car and tells me "Slow down, drive safe" in an agitated voice and left in a hurry faster than a prairie dog retreats into a burrow at the sight of a hyena. I got out of the jam without a ticket.

The traffic stop kinda soured my mood. I kept driving east through barren fields and we stopped at "Ardmore, OK" the junction of Route 70 interstate I-35 and ate our dinner at a restaurant and we got on I-35 south bound to go back to Dallas. I was cruising along as I kept thinking about my day. "I just bought my brand new shiny Jeep and I wanted to take it for a spin and I got pulled over for speeding on the very first day. " So much for a joy ride on your freshly minted wheels...

El Segundo California : Anything But Second

Los Angeles, CA
Jan 2012

This little suburb in Los Angeles has the famous airport LAX as its neighbor to the north and to the east just across Route 1 some of biggest defense aerospace companies in US call this town their home. The popular Manhattan Beach sits pretty on the south side. The city boasts of a power plant that brings light to the metropolis. This place even has an oil refinery.

The town goes by the name "The Second" in Spanish is anything but second when it comes to shopping. The hordes of people from across the LA region come here to do their shopping and after a long day of shopping the tired patrons head towards the ocean only to turn on to Sepulveda Blvd to go north or south and they never get a chance to see the real El Segundo.

The quaint main street, the quiet beachfront and the upscale communities stay out of the limelight for the most part. It is just the way the locals like it, I guess. It was astonishing to me as how the town has managed to pack so many things in just a few square miles. The town El Segundo may be second for namesake but among the towns that overachieve it is no doubt numero uno.