February Zizzle-Zot Reader of the Month (Let’s Pretend December and January Never Happened)

About 2 months ago I announced the development of a new less-is-more (still highly theoretical) blog platform. The idea was that as I started a new job (presumably equating to less post-writing time), I’d be able to produce higher quality entertainment and analysis by writing longer articles less frequently. This has resulted in numerous reverberations on the make-up of Zizzle-Zot, etc.

Many of the changes were foreseen, some were hoped for but have yet to come to fruition (guest bloggers), some were completely unanticipated. Amongst the unfortunate victims of the blog cuts were a number of ongoing series (People of Note, Things I Care About (And Why)). These were series that I had every intention to continue, but the realities of once a week posting made them difficult to maintain (it’s tough to justify writing a week’s sole post on Ned Kelly).

But recently the gravest of all neglects was brought to my attention: Alas, I have failed to select a new Zizzle-Zot Reader of the Month.

This omission has been met with unexpected outrage from our little community. Well, faithful readers, you have spoken; rest assured your calls do not go unheeded. This is still a blog for the people.

Congratulations Kevan “K-Han” Hanson on being named February’s Zizzle-Zot Reader of the month!

Though a devoted reader for some time, K-Han spent months under the radar because he didn’t comment as frequently as others. However, it was recently pointed out to me (by the also dedicated and comment averse Suzy Corcs) that the award is called “Reader of the Month,” not “Responder of the Month,” or “Commenter of the Month.” Point taken. Unfortunately I have no method to track exactly who is visiting Zizzle-Zot, etc. All I have are the numbers.

But K-Han more than proved his commitment after the last post, where you’ll notice that he authored 3 out of the first 4 comments. I then noticed that with K-Han on the job, the Zot-Counter soared past 5,600 visits. If we all had the devotion of K-Han, Zizzle-Zot, etc. would quickly become the most visited site on the www, surpassing even Google and TMZ.com, making us more influential than FOXNews in a room full of Baptists.

Thanks, K-Han, for your tireless efforts to assimilate the world to the Zizzle-Zot family.

Resistance is futile (Star Trek: The Next Generation reference. Anyone? The Borg? Come on, people).

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I’m sure I don’t even need to say this, but the Giants Super Bowl win makes me nauseous. And that Eli was named the MVP is just kicking a man while he’s down. I’ll give Manning credit for not losing the super bowl, but what were his stats? 150 yards, 2 TDs and one interception. What a monumental, memorable performance.

I’ll give credit to three factors:

1) The Giants defensive line. Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and most impressive (at least in this game) Justin Tuck dominated the line of scrimmage for four quarters, stonewalling the running game and serving Brady with a pounding. These guys should have been co-MVPs.

2) The choke artistry of the Patriots offensive line. For 18 games these guys were flawless. During the regular season Brady never got touched. He had enough time in the pocket to knit a scarf before throwing the football. Then they get to the big game and look like a loosely affiliated consortium of flat-footed ninnies. The Giants D beat them repeatedly, and to make matters worse, Pro Bowler Matt Light was whistled for 2 false starts.

3) The great Bill Belichick was out-coached. All season long we’ve been hearing about the Patriots’ ability to make adjustments, to quickly respond to the defensive schemes of their opponents and pick apart their weaknesses. Could it be that this was all hype? Urban legend? The Patriots offense looked completely bewildered in the first half, trying to either force the run (which I’ll never understand because given their passing game) and finding themselves repeatedly stuffed, or having Brady drop back and get sacked. If Belichick is such a genius, why did it take him until the Patriots final drive to realize that quick passes over the middle were the key to moving the chains? Linebackers can’t cover Welker and Faulk, and why not have Moss and Stallworth run some routes over the middle to keep them guessing? I’m not even a football guy, but if I were playing this game in Madden ’08 I know what my plan would be.

I think the worst part about the Giants victory will be listening to a bunch of smug football analysts talk about how they were pointing out the Patriots’ apparent weaknesses all season. The same guys who a week ago anointed them the best team of all time will now be writing about aging linebackers or their inability to run the ball. Ugh.