I was ready for some football

By Michael J.W. Stickings

After a very busy couple of weeks for all of us at The Reaction, with the veep picks and conventions behind us, I decided to take today off from blogging. I hope you understand.

Actually, the decision was made for me. After all, it's the first Sunday of the NFL regular season, one of the days I most look forward to all year. And I've been watching football pretty much all day. (Does this mean I neglect my family? No. I'm fortunate to have a family that likes football, too, and it isn't uncommon for us all to be decked out in Steelers garb on Sundays throughout the fall.)

The big news today was that Tom Brady may have been knocked out for the rest of the season. (And that the Chargers lost. And that the Colts are losing. And that Brett Favre won his first game with the Jets, albeit against the lowly Dolphins. And, in this part of the world -- i.e., southern Ontario -- that the Bills clobbered the Seahawks.)

The good news, however, is that my beloved Steelers destroyed the Texans 38-17, with Willie Parker back in form and rushing for three TDs, and Hines Ward, one of my favourite players ever, catching two TD passes from Ben Roethlisberger. And Troy Polamalu, also one of my favourite players (and probably my favourite on the team now) showed that, like Parker, he's back from injury, more or less, pulling down an interception and dominating from the secondary.

The schedule gets tough now, though, with games in Cleveland and in Philadelphia coming up over the next two weeks. It was a solid start to the season, and the AFC North is a fairly weak division, but the rest of the season won't be like today.

As for me, I'll be back to my usual blogging soon. As always, stay tuned for more from the Reaction team.