Superbowl XLIX

Patriots defeated Seahawks and won the team's 4th Lombardi trophy with Belichick-Brady magic. The last play by Seahawks at Patriots' 1 yard line was a bad call by Pete Carroll and his coaching team.  With 43 seconds and 2 timeouts left, they could have tried at least 2 runs, not a pass which was intercepted. Simply put, Patriots was good, no doubt about that. However this time they were just a lucky team.

Katy Perry was just so-so for her half time performance.  The show had some 2008 Beijing Olympic opening ceremony elements. You can argue it's subjective.

The Budweiser commercial however was the best again this year. That is non-disputable.

   

I: Players on the winning team will be paid $189,000.
II: The Seahawks are the home team and will wear their dark jerseys. As the visiting team, the Patriots will wear white jerseys.
III: The Lombardi Trophy stands 20.75 inches tall, weighs 107.3 ounces and is valued in excess of $25,000.
IV: Robert Kraft has owned the Patriots for 21 seasons. The Patriots have reached the Super Bowl seven times, or in one-third of the season in his tenure.
V: The Patriots have the most playoff wins (20) this century.
VI: Tom Brady will be making his sixth start in the Super Bowl, most by any quarterback in history.
VII: Tom Brady has the most Super Bowl passing yards (1,277) in NFL history.
VIII: Tom Brady is two touchdown passes behind Joe Montana (11) for most in Super Bowl history.
IX: The six conference championships by Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are the most for any coach-quarterback tandem in NFL history, two more than Roger Staubach-Tom Landry; Jim Kelly-Marv Levy; and Terry Bradshaw-Chuck Noll.
X: Bill Belichick is making a record ninth appearance in the Super Bowl. Six have come as a head coach, three as an assistant.
XI: Tom Brady and Vince Wilfork are the only active players still on the Patriots from the last Super Bowl championship in 2004.
XII: Patriots backup linebacker Jonathan Casillas won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints in 2009.
XIII: Brandon Browner owns a Super Bowl ring as a member of the Seattle Seahawks last season, but he did not appear in the game due to suspension.
XIV: In two postseasons with the team, LaGarrette Blount has set the Patriots record for rushing touchdowns in the playoffs with seven.
XV: Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is 10-0 in his career vs. Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.
XVI: Seattle entered the playoffs with a six-game winning streak. The last team to win the Super Bowl with a winning streak of five or more going into the playoffs was the 2003 Patriots.
XVII: Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has more receiving touchdowns (55) in his first five seasons than any tight end in NFL history.
XVIII: At 63 years old, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll would be the second-oldest coach to win the game behind Tom Coughlin (65).
XIX: Bill Belichick has a career record of 52-63 without Tom Brady as his quarterback.
XX: The NFL has used a Roman Numeral for the big game since Super Bowl V (10). However, Super Bowl 50 will be represented by the number instead of “L”.
XXI: Tom Brady is appearing in his 29th postseason game, tied for second all-time with Jerry Rice and one behind former teammate Adam Vinatieri.
XXII: Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka played soccer at Needham High.
XXIII: Bill Belichick is the winningest coach in NFL postseason history with 21 victories, one more than Dallas’ Tom Landry.
XXIV: The Patriots have the most overall wins (477) among the eight original American Football League franchises.
XXV: Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch is the only back to rush for at least 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns each season since 2011.
XXVI: Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman made the term “You mad, bro?” famous after defeating Tom Brady and the Patriots in 2012.
XXVII: Russell WIlson’s 15 fourth-quarter comebacks since the beginning of 2012 ranks first in the NFL.
XXVIII: Tom Brady and Russell Wilson comprise half the quarterbacks who won a Super Bowl title in his first or second season (Ben Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner are the others).
XXIX: Russell Wilson has 36 regular-season wins, most by a starting quarterback in his first three seasons.
XXX: The Seahawks are 14-12 in the postseason all-time, but are currently on a five-game winning streak.
XXXI: Since 2011, Richard Sherman has four Defensive Player of the Week awards, trying him with Houston’s J.J. Watt for the most.
XXXII: The Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII, 17-14, to the New York Giants in the stadium in which they’re playing Super Bowl XLIX.
XXXIII: The Seahawks became the first defending Super Bowl champion to win a postseason game the following season since the Patriots did so in 2005.
XXXIV: The Seahawks will try to become the first repeat champion since the 2003 and 2004 Patriots.
XXXV: Since purchasing the team in 1994, Robert Kraft’s Patriots have been to seven Super Bowls, the most in that span.
XXXVI: Julian Edelman’s 197 receptions over the last two seasons ranks third in the NFL, behind Denver’s Demaryius Thomas and Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown.
XXXVII: Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski scored 156 points in 2014 to lead the NFL, marking his third straight season as the league leader.
XXXVIII: Last year’s Super Bowl averaged a record 112.2 million viewers.
XXXIX: Tom Brady set the mark for most consecutive completions (16) in Super Bowl XLVI.
XL: The Patriots are 3-4 in Super Bowls.
XLI: A loss today would tie the Patriots with the Broncos for most losses in Super Bowl history with five.
XLII: Super Bowl XLIX will feature the top two seeds for the fifth time since the current format was introduced in 1980.
XLIII: Tonight’s matchup also marks the second consecutive season that the top two seeds will meet in the Super Bowl.
XLIV: The majority of Super Bowl ads that will air tonight sold for $4.5 million each.
XLV: Russell Wilson made $667,859 in 2014 in the third year of his four-year rookie deal. A pay raise is likely.
XLVI: With a Super Bowl win, Tom Brady, 37, would become the second-oldest quarterback to hoist the Lombardi Trophy behind Denver’s John Elway.
XLVII: The Patriots and Seahawks each needed to overcome double-digit deficits in this year’s playoffs to advance to the Super Bowl.
XLVIII: The Patriots are tied for second with the Texans for turnover differential (plus-12) in 2014. Seattle is right behind with a plus-10. (Green Bay led at plus-14.)
XLIX: For the third straight year, Seattle’s defense gave up the fewest points per game in the NFL, allowing just 15.9 this season.

(By Tom Layman / Boston Herald)

The asteroid named "2004 BL86" is coming close to the Earth orbit

The asteroid named "2004 BL86" will come about 745,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Earth, about 3 times of distance between the Earth and Moon. The asteroid is about 500 meters in diameter and there is no chance that this space object will directly impact with our Earth for let's say another 1 thousand years when next time this asteroid will be visiting again. Since there is a widely discussed theory that water and possible life on the Earth were brought in by asteroids and/or meteors from outer space, scientists are jumping in to track and observe this asteroid with modern tools available such as radar or telescope and see what's on its surface. At least we can do our own mankind a favor by documenting this rare event today. Hope our future generations will be able to land intelligent objects or human beings on its surface next time and eventually develop a way to capture/divert/destroy any asteroids or meteors which post impact thread to the Earth. 

Sycamore Grove Park at Livermore California

Sycamore Grove Park is a local community park right in the heart of Livermore valley vineyards. Just like its name suggests, the park has the most beautiful sycamore and oak trees in Tri-Valley in San Francisco bay. Tens of different spices such as frogs, turtles, deers and wild turkeys call this park home. The park has a ~2.5 mile paved trail and a few unpaved trails good for hiking and leisure biking. This place has a few play grounds and picnic areas good for family get-together. Livermore has been working hard to change its public image. Cattle ranches and agriculture used to dominate the local economy not very long ago.  Livermore is no longer a cowboy town anymore and it's now rare to run into any cowboy boots or guns in the area. There are a few good wineries around this area such Wente, Bent Creek and Steven Kent Winery all together produce good quality wines from Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio to Shiraz. Even the overall wine quality and brand name recognition are not as popular as its neighboring Napa Valley wine country in the north, Livermore wineries have been emerging as strong players and most recently won big in the 2014 SF Chronicle Wine Competition.

George W Bush: "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it."

Obama: "“I have no more campaigns to run. I know because I won them both.”

Hillary Clinton: "If I want to knock off a front page, I just need to change my hairstyle." -- If so then why run another campaign?

Little one turns 7 today. It has been extremely rewarding to raise good kids and see them growing up. Happy birthday son!