The first Sunday of the NFL season has come and gone, and as usual, it was full of shocks, twists, and surprises. I love pro football.

Brett looked pretty impressive in his first game as a Jet, though I think Mangini got too conservative in the second half. The Dolphins were down, but the Jets missed several chances to put them out, so the game went down to the final seconds. Chad Pennington played very well, and almost pulled the game out for the Fins. It was quite a relief when Darrell Revis gathered in that final interception to end the threat. The Dolphins look as though they are going to be a much better team this year. Some nice play by the Jets rookie D-back Dwight Lowery. Seems Tannenbaum made a good pick there. On the other hand, our first round picks, Vernon Gholston and Dustin Keller, were both invisible. I am hoping they will contribute more in future weeks. The revamped o-line looked good, opening big holes for Thomas Jones, and our revamped d-line shut down Ricky Williams and the Dolphin running game. Last year the Jets couldn’t stop anybody’s running game, so that was definitely a promising sign.

Next week is a much bigger test, of course.

Meanwhile, the Titans upset the Jaguars, the Bears shocked Peyton and the Colts, the Panthers silenced all of San Diego with a stunning last second victory over the Chargers… and Tom Brady went down, probably for the season, in New England’s victory over the woeful Chefs. The Patriots are not my favorite team, of course, and my loathing for Evil Little Bill is well known, but I still feel for the New England fans. I know what it feels like. As a Jets fan, I’ve been there. Back in 1999, when Vinnie Testaverde went down in the opening game, clutching his Achilles and pounding on the ground… just thinking of it gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The whole season vanished in that instant, all the Jet superbowl dreams evaporating (though I still think we might have made the playoffs that year, if only Parcells had gone to Ray Lucas earlier, instead of sticking with Rick Mirer).

Whether the same fate awaits the Patriots remains to be seen, and will hinge largely on whether this kid Matt Cassell is the next Rick Mirer, or the next Jeff Hostetler. We shall see. In any case, you have my sympathies, Patriot fans. Guess we’ll need to wait till next year to see Brady against Favre.

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Music: Happy Days Are Here Again
Amazing speech last night.

I’ve been following politics since 1960, and watching the conventions every time they come around. I’ve seen a lot of dull speeches, some good ones, a handful of great ones. Obama’s acceptance speech ranks right up there with the best.

Maybe our eight-year-long national nightmare is finally near its end.

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… but Osi is gone for the season.

The bird is cruel, and so is the NFL.

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It rained in Santa Fe yesterday afternoon. At least on the north side of town.

“Rain” is a bit of an understatement, though. The water fell in blinding sheets, alternating with hail. Hailstones piled up on the ground like styrofoam peanuts, forming ankle-deep white drifts. The streets turned into rivers, and lakes formed in some of the intersections. We had cars stalling out on Alameda when they tried to drive through waters that came halfway up their tires.

And of course our roofs sprung leaks. Minor leaks in the main house with its new pitched roofs, where the violence of the storm forced water in through vents and such. Major leaks in the office house, which is partially torn down as my new book tower is constructed, and has an old flat roof over the parts not torn down. The hole that will eventually be my basement is now a swimming pool. And the worse leak of all, of course, was in back closet where some valuable books and comics were being stormed. Half of my remainining stock of the now out-of-print Guardians of Order GAME OF THRONE rpg suffered water damage, to a greater or lesser degree. We caught it early enough to rescue the rest of the stock, thankfully, but some of the books are still ruined, and the carpet in that room is soggy and already beginning to molder and will need to be ripped up.

A real mess.

I blame Parris. For years now she’s been teaching her Irish godchildren to chant, “Rain, rain go away, go and rain on Santa Fe.” The gods must have been listening.

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Just posted an announcement on the news page about the 2009 SONG OF ICE AND FIRE calendar that the Dabel Brothers will be publishing. No need to repeat all that here; for them what’s interested, check out my website for all the details.

The calendar art is by the amazing Michael Komarck, who should need no introduction to fans of ICE & FIRE or WILD CARDS. Here’s one of the paintings.

Additionally, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist is offering three signed copies of limited edition calendar in one of their famous contests. To enter, go and visit Pat at

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2008/08/win-limited-edition-2009-song-of-ice.html

and follow the instructions.

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Music: When You’re a Jet, You’re a Jet All the Way
That shout you all heard last week was me, reacting to the news that Brett Favre had been traded to the Jets.

Yes, he’s old. Yes, he can drive you crazy with that now-I’m-retired, now-I’m-not stuff. But he’s still Brett Favre. This year should be a lot more exciting in the AFC East.

Could this be the year I get my Subway Superbowl?

Well, probably not. But a boy can dream.

(I am sorry to lose Chad Pennington. Chad’s taken a lot of crap from fair-weather fans, but he was a smart, tough, gutsy guy who played his heart out, and when healthy, one of the best quarterbacks in the league. All those injuries took their toll, sad to say, but I will always cherish the memory of his first year, and that 41-0 playoff win over the Colts. I hated to see him go to the Dolphins, he’s too dangerous a competitor to have in the division, but I will always wish him well… at least when he’s not playing the Jets).

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Back from Denvention, and this time I get to stay home for a while.

Worldcon is always one of the highlights of my year. (I am still sorry I missed Japan last summer). This one had some problems, admittedly. We were scattered over seven different hotels spread out across most of downtown Denver, we had to share the cavernous convention center with several other conventions, the con was way too early (worldcons should be held on Labor Day weekend, the traditional date, not the first weekend of bloody August), and the party hotel (the Sheraton) really sucked. Even so, I had a great time. Hey, it was worldcon. There are good worldcons and not-so-good worldcons, but the worst worldcon is still great.

For me, the highlight of the weekend was getting to go up and accept Michael Chabon’s Hugo for THE YIDDISH POLICEMAN’S UNION. A great book, and a great honor, and the comments Michael made in the acceptance speech he sent me were very gracious. Calling him afterward to tell him that he’d won was also great. He really did not expect it; his surprise and delight were palpable, even across a couple of thousand miles.

Melbourne won the right to host the 2010 worldcon (not unexpectedly, since they had no competition), so for all my Australian readers who have been emailing me to come visit Down Under, please circle the dates on your calendars. The Aussies always give great con. Visit the Aussiecon IV website and sign up now; memberships will never be cheaper than they are today.

We had a great time — and a good crowd — at the Wild Cards panel as well. At my reading, I read the first third of “The Mystery Knight,” my new Dunk & Egg novella, and that seemed to go over well. Did the usual round of power breakfasts, editorial lunches, and publisher dinners, had lots of good meetings on lots of projects… and, of course, there were the parties. As usual, the Brotherhood Without Banners threw the best parties at the cons. My thanks to Stego, Mr & Mrs X, Kate, Queen Julie the First, Yags, Skylark, Daj, Vanessa, and the rest of the crew, and my congratulations to the new Knights of the Tomato Pie. And a shout out to Pod and Lodey, who were missed.

Only one more trip this year (Calgary, for the World Fantasy Convention), so for all you folks who are worried that I’m having too much fun, relax. My assistant Ty is getting the grindstone back up to speed, and I am about to press my nose to it once more.

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