My two week vacation starts in about an hour. Things I plan to do during this span:

1. Watch Hogan's Heroes: Season 1 on DVD
2. Modify my PS2 to play Japanese video games
3. Travel to Chicago
4. Meet Bill Simmons

Much much more later.

Are you ready for some football?

I am. NFL kicks off tonight with the Raiders coming to Gillette to take on the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.

Lots of changes this year, with Charlie Weis and Romeo Crenel exiting as offensive and defensive coordinators, Ty Law now on the Jets, Teddy Bruschi out for the season and maybe forever, and Ted Johnson's sudden retirement. Plus we have by far the most difficult schedule in the league, playing every AFC playoff team from last year.

My official prediction: 11-5, winning the AFC East as the #3 seed, where they go on to win their third straight SB. I could be wrong, and if so, so be it. Crap, I've seen three Super Bowls the last four years. Everything else is cake now.

By the way, the Jets' Jonathon Vilma was on the Budweiser Hot Seat yesterday. Asked the Patriots' odds of repeating as Super Bowl Champs, he responded "A billion to one."

Yes, a billion to one. According to Mr. Vilma, the defending Super Bowl champions have as much chance winning the Super Bowl as you do of winning the lottery while getting hit by lightning.

Two reactions:

1. Can I make a $5 wager with you, Mr. Vilma?
2. You think a soundbite of that statement won't be looped over and over in the Patriots' locker room when they play the Jets? Think again.

I went through a hurricane once. Hurricane Gloria hit Massachusetts in 1985, when I was 8 years old. I remember being pretty scared that our house would get flattened and I'd squished by a flying oil tanker running for cover. That didn't happen of course--as far as hurricanes go, Gloria was rather weak. We had a large tree knocked down in the backyard, but beyond that, no property damage and no one was hurt. But I still remember how scared I was crouching in the basement.

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans this week. I think everyone underestimated what happened--we all knew there would be flooding, property damage, and loss of life. But looking at the news no one could have predicted this.

New Orleans is gone. It may take years to rebuild. They may never recover. If you lived in New Orleans, everything you had--home, possessions, maybe even family--is gone. Now looting and violence has broken out. I saw a picture today of a dead body just floating in a flooded area. It's like Armageddon playing out in one pocket of the world.

Anything we do seems so meager. Even if I sold my possessions and gave every dime I had, it's like trying to remove sand from a beach and taking three grains.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't give--give til it hurts, food, money, blood, clothes. A little hope and a prayer would be nice too.

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