Bills 41, Chiefs 7

The first Sunday of NFL football is always the last day of the dragonboat racing season for me. I spent the day at Marilyn Bell Park on the Toronto waterfront racing in the semi-finals and then the finals. Our Ronin Warriors team was dissapointed to qualify only for D Division for the second consecutive year. We finished third in the division, or 39th overall. I have been paddling since 2005. This year, I missed only one practice and I have decided that if I am going to invest the same time and effort again next year, either our team needs to be stronger or I need to find a stronger team.

During the Bills game at Arrowhead, I received two scores: the first was early - after the Bills had recovered a fumble on the opening kick-off and scored right away to lead 7-0. The second was at halftime as the Bills lead 20-7. I remember thinking that two converted Kansas City touchdowns would give them a one point win. I heard nothing more until well after the game ended. I had to check it twice to make sure that I was reading it correctly: the Bills had won 41-7, handing the Chiefs a devastating home loss and giving Bills fans hope that, even if they end up near .500, the season will not feel like a lost cause from the beginning. As I said to a friend, if you want to go 19-0, you absolutely have to win the first game. So, that is done and now they prepare for Oakland and the home opener on Sunday. If they can win that game, then the week three game against the Patriots will be the biggest game at the Ralph in a few years. It's nice to at least have that to look forward to. I did watch the Patriots on Monday night in Miami and I honestly don't know how they can be stopped. If the Bills can score 50 points against them and control the ball for large chunks of time, that might do it but it will take a mammoth effort, some turnovers and a lot of luck to break the string of 15 consecutive losses to the Patriots.

After I had seen enough of the Patriots having their way in Miami, I watched about 30 minutes of the "Tea Party" Republican Presidential Debate on CNN. The only candidate who could generate any broad appeal with moderates and independents is Mitt Romney. The others are flakes, extreme right wing lunatics or (in the case of Ron Paul) both of those things but with a couple of curious ideas which kept the debate watchable. If I were an advisor to President Obama, I would be promoting and maybe even funding the campaign of Michelle Bachman. My greatest hope is that (1) the Tea Party has their way and she wins the nomination, and (2) she finds a running mate with the last name of Turner (or, even better, someone with the hyphenated name "Turner-Overdrive"). Yes, the Bachman-Turner-Overdrive ticket should be able to take care of business and keep the Democrats in the White House.