This is brilliant.  After playing KFC Kitchen at Shockwave Games for 5 minutes, I had 2-piece original recipe with a side of mashed potatoes on the brain.

The game is moderately engrossing, but that’s not the diabolical part. It is a party for the senses. You take frozen chicken pieces and put them on the grill. After 5 seconds of a tantalizing sizzle, golden brown fried chicken emerges. Mmmmm … fried chicken.

Curse you KFC!

Wow, what a game last night.  Incredible comeback by the Colts and a decision that will be talked about for a long time to come.

With just over 2 minutes left and a 6-pt lead, Bill Belichick decided to go for it on 4th and 2, deep in the Pats end of the field.  The gambit failed giving Peyton Manning and the Colts a short field for the game-winning TD.

So, I want to jump all over Belichick for this one because, mainly, I can’t stand the Pats.  I respect them, but can’t stand them.

But, I have to admit that my immediate thought, before a day of contemplating and listening to Sports Talk, was, “They’ll pick this (the first down) up no problem and that’ll be the game.”  So, all other things being equal, I’ve got to concede that it wasn’t a horrible decision.  But, I still disagree with it.

At it’s core, the decision was this:  What do you have more confidence in, Tom Brady and the Offense’s ability to pick up 2 yards, or the Defense stopping Peyton Manning from driving the length of the field in two minutes?  Hard to fault a guy for gambling on Brady.

Statistically it was the right decision:  Yeah, I’ve seen the equations that mathematically “prove” Belichick made the correct decision.  Put your slide rules away geeks.  It’s a good point if you get to make the decision 10,000 times.  The only problem is, you only get one crack at it.  And the downside was incredible.  This game may well turn out to have a huge impact on the AFC Playoff Picture.

Yeah, but Belichick has more rings than you:  Agreed, BB has forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know.  But I do know one thing:  He didn’t win those rings with defenses that he couldn’t trust, and while he may be unconventional, Belichick didn’t win titles by taking excessive gambles like this.

About that Defense:  Here’s the sure loss in Belichick’s decision.  Whether or not the play succeeded, the coach announced loud and clear that he has no confidence in his defense.  Here again, this may not be the last we’ve heard of this.  The Pats may face Manning again … what then?  What do you say to the D when you’re prepping for that one?

Arrogance:  Was it really about the defense?  Part of me wonders if this wasn’t pure arrogance.  Belichick is a mad genius, but at times he does make decisions that are fraught with unnecessary risk.  Take two seasons ago when he was leaving his healthy QB in games that were essentially over just to run up the score.  I think that in part there is simply an arrogance there.  A sense that he can make whatever ridiculous decision and move it to success by the sheer force of his will.  He’s the NFL’s version of Obama, except that Belichick has a clue and most of what he does works.

The Time Out:  A testimony to how unexpected this move was was the Pats own unpreparedness.  Belichick was forced to take his final time out, which I think doomed the play.  Had they just run the play without giving the Colts an opportunity to gear up, they would have had a better chance of success.

The Insurance Concept:  This really isn’t about the offense any more than insurance is about the odds of you getting into a wreck.  Brady’s proficiency is irrelevant.  Even the head coaches of the league’s worst teams would probably feel confident that most times their teams could man up and grab two yards.  And, you may well drive the rest of your life without filing a claim on your auto policy.  This is about the downside.  If you do wreck, or if the team fails, the consequences are huge.  You were nervous about Peyton Manning having two minutes to drive 70 or 80 yards.  Sure, maybe he can do that.  But two minutes to drive 30 yards … yeah, that’s darn near a sure thing.

So, I can’t crucify Belichick for this one, but I do respectfully disagree with the call.

Picked up a Motorola Droid last week and … I LOVE this phone!  It has been a while since I’ve had one that I could really get along with.  The original Blackjack was probably the last, and before that, in my pre-SmartPhone days, the Chocolate.

Some background:  A while back, I upgraded from the Blackjack to the Motorola Q9h Global.  The Global was a good phone and the reasonably-sized keys addressed my main complaint with the Blackjack.  But then I started to notice that great things were being done with touch-screens.  And, I was having trouble with the Q9h dropping calls.

So, I finally convinced AT&T to let me do an early upgrade and picked up an LG Incite.  Ugh!  Huge mistake.  In theory, the Incite can do a lot of cool stuff.  Unfortunately it doesn’t do it in a very user-friendly way.  The touch-screen was nice when it was in a cooperative mood, but it was often ornery.  Many a time I missed having a physical keypad.  I also discovered that dropped call was a network and not a phone issue so I moved my sim card back to the Q9h.

After all that I figured the perfect phone would have robust touch-screen functionality with a slider keypad.  Enter the Droid! 

Here’s what’s good about it:

-  Super-smooth touch-screen mechanics.  Ironically, it is so strong in this area that I rarely slide out the keypad.

-  Not missing Windows Mobile.  I don’t mean it sarcastically, this was one of my concerns.  Would Exchange email setup and work as well as on Windows?  And I do use the mobile Office apps a bit.  Direct Push is working just as smooth as on a Windows phone.  And, I picked up DataViz’s suite which allows working with standard MS Office files.

-  Other apps.  OK, first of all, you could get “apps” for phones long before Steve Jobs started making a big deal out of offering features that by that point in time one should almost have taken for granted in a SmartPhone.  Anyway.  I was able to quickly find low or no-cost apps to do what I wanted, and then some.  For example, I picked up an integrated PDA suite.  The standard apps that came with were ok, but again, not integrated and there was nothing to sync Tasks with Exchange.

-  I’m on Verizon now.  “There’s a map for that” is no joke.  I never realized how crappy AT&T’s network was.  Well, at least the 3G part of it.  With Verizon I’ve now got solid coverage at home and work.

-  Tethering is a snap, and with the improved network quality, it actually is a viable backup.

-  Web-browsing is awesome.  You don’t need to confine yourself to half-baked mobile versions of the sites you visit.

If I could improve things …

-  The keypad.  Rather than individual keys, the Droid features a single membrane over the entire pad.  I would have preferred it the other way, but it helps keep the device thin, which I do appreciate.  Also, even with this format, the home keys are tactiley marked, so typing blind is not a total impossibility.

-  A separate app (it’s free) is required to set reminder and ring tones outside of the collection that the phone comes with.

But, those issues are minor and easily overcome.  The Droid was easy to set up and learn and is a flexible and functional powerhouse.  Basically, it rocks!

P.S.  I’ve also vowed to stick with what works in the future.  I’ve always had good experiences with Motorola and Samsung devices.  And I’ve pretty much been consistently disappointed when straying from those two.  LG is definitely on the Don’t list from now on.

Now you know why the rush on a Health Care bill:  This is a lesson for us all.  The power structure in Washington has no interest in the voice of the voter.  They tried to jam health care through this summer before constituents could get a hold of their reps over the break.  Hoping that had died down they made another run at it before voters once again had a chance to speak with a loud voice, yesterday.  These are the times we are fortunate to have ineffective elected reps.

And “birth certificate” never came up?  Weird:  This is not a time to celebrate, GOP.  It’s a time to take notes and get to work.  Bashing is not a viable, long-term strategy.  McDonnell won big in Virginia by having a positive message and a plan.  Again, bashing Obama will not carry the day.  We need a message.  We need a plan.

This wasn’t a referendum on Obama, but …:  Voters had plenty to say about the tax and spend, insatiable government lust for control agenda being pushed by Obama, Reid and Pelosi.  And, in a sense, this was voters’ first chance to weigh in the Obama platform.  The real Obama platform.  You know, the one he kept hidden behind a smokescreen of nebulous single words and platitudes for a year and a half.

It’s the Candidate, Stupid:  A good candidate can go far, and it’s hard to overcome a bad one.  Lacking the free “advertising” that comes with being a Democrat, this is especially important for Republicans.  Corzine had no compunction about using Chris Christie’s weight to score points.  Actually I think that appearance is one thing that helped Christie come off as a “regular guy” type, more in touch with voters.  It didn’t hurt that, like McDonnell, he had a message that resonated with the angry, Garden State voters.

On the contrary, Scozzafava, like John McCain before her, proved that it doesn’t matter what mantle you put on some crackpots.  Scozzafava isn’t NY-23 voters’ fault.  But this is still a lesson the GOP seems slow to learn.

Sarah Palin is dangerous:  Hear me out.  Personally I’m a big fan of the former Alaskan Governor.  But I’m not convinced she can got the distance.  In fact, I’m pretty convinced she can’t.  But!  There is no doubt she’s a power player.  She may have just enough clout to f things up come 2012 – enough juice to knock out a candidate with General Election potential but not enough to win.  On the other hand, it’s still my dream to see a Palin – Hillary showdown.  I do believe hockey mom could kill the beast once and for all.

Unbelievable.  The big news out of Dallas today … Roy Williams complaining about “not connecting” with QB Tony Romo.

Are you kidding me?  Hey, Roy, are you sure Romo and Jason Whitten aren’t having secret meetings behind your back?

Talk about timing.  This comes as the Cowboys, after a dismal start, are riding a three-game win streak (to be fair, the 3 are 7-14 combined, but you play the team in front of you) into a showdown with Philadelphia for the division lead.

Is this guy a poor man’s TO or what?

NY-23:

Dede Scozzafava’s withdrawal was good news, though it was tempered some by her endorsement, today, of Democratic candidate Bill Owens (can’t imagine why Conservatives didn’t like her).  Still, reducing the race to a clear head-to-head contest is a good development.

The White House, and their willing media stooges were poised to jump on an Owens victory as validation of President Obama.  Never mind that the victory would have been fueled by Owens’ opposition being divided.

New Jersey:

In the 11th hour it appears Christie is surging, despite an Obama-assisted weekend blitz by Corzine.   However, to be fair, also despite Obama’s involvement, this one isn’t a referendum on the President.  New Jersey residents don’t have the luxury of making this a philosophical exercise.  They are drowning in taxes.

On the other hand, this IS a referendum on Obama-esque, big government, tax and spend policies.  Also, this is New freakin’ Jersey we are talking about here.  The fact that it’s even close is already an embarrassment to the liberal elites.

Virginia:

That Obama has abandoned Deeds’ sinking ship should tell you all you need to know about this race, and Obama.  Of the key races, this one has the largest element of being a referendum on Washington leadership.  To be fair, whenever I read “person on the street” quotes from the rags in VA, it seems general disillusionment with Washington is fueling things.  Republicans don’t rate much higher at the end of the day.  They just have the good fortune of not being in the seats of power these days.

– B –

Here’s the thing.  We’ve all got a dog in these fights.  Nothing will put the brakes on drastic health care reform efforts more than sweeping Democratic defeats on Tuesday.  Granted, we should already be there with a state that Obama carried (VA) already in the bag, and perennial blue New Jersey still being too close to call on the eve of the election.  Outright defeats will be a shot across the bow to Congressional Democrats facing re-election in 2010.

Great interview with Dana White.  OK, is there ever any other kind of interview with the outspoken head of the UFC.  Great stuff on Hendo, the Ice Man, and Rampage.  Machida – Lesnar?

But the money line comes at the end, re: TUF.

If you go on the show and act like a dick, you come off like a dick.

This was in response to Rampage’s comments about how he is portrayed on this season of TUF.  I’m with Dana White on this one.  Every week we get a good, healthy chunk of Rampage being an a-hole.  There would have to be literally hours of him helping old ladies across the street that wound up on the cutting room floor to even begin to offset Rampage’s bad behavior.

The problem is, even if we didn’t get a peek behind the scenes, it is obvious in the results that Rampages is slacking in his coaching duties.  This coming Wednesday Rashad’s team will be going for their eighth win and a clean sweep of the preliminary bouts.  It’s not just that he didn’t pick well.  Rampage’s fighters are consistently under-achieving.

Unfortunately, we do get to see behind the scenes and are left asking, “Why is Rampage even there?”  He has made Ken Shamrock’s stint on the show look like a Dr. Phil episode.