It's all about who you know

I went to a networking meeting last night. My networking skills are like Ryan Leaf's football-throwing skills. At least I have some upside in that regard.

What's a networking meeting like? A large group of people get together in a room, exchange business cards, and give their 30-second elevator speech. It's a quick summation of what you do and what you'd like to do. Mine goes something like this: "My name is Zach Law. I'm a technical writer by trade but my dream job is to be the guy who holds the wires up on Jeff Fisher's headset during Titan games."

My dream job would be to write on football full-time. I don't want to be a team's beat reporter because that would involve too many interviews with naked 300-pound guys who can bench press three of me. Right now I have to get by on writing football-like articles from time to time.

The worst thing about networking is that people assume that you're unemployed. There's nothing wrong with having a job, but when I say that I have a job the other person generally gives me the stink-eye. It's not quite the same as going to a speed-dating event when you have a girlfriend, but it can feel that way.

Mark Buerhle started the All-Star game. That's all well and good. He got rocked by the Royals. Can you see Roger Clemens getting rocked by the Royals? John Smoltz? Ok, so the Sox were due to lose to the Royals after sweeping them to date. It just sucks losing to them, and their waddling 'ace' Jose Lima.

Titans camp opens on Friday. This is the time when I wish our downstairs condo wasn't obscured by so many trees, making the purchase of DirectTV impossible. We have to make due with basic cable, and no NFL Network. Considering how many hours of TiVo'd programs that we've watched this summer I don't know if I could keep up anyway. I'd like to see how Pacman Jones does on the field because he's been struggling off the field. I'd also like to find out if Jeff Fisher was blowing smoke with his RBBC comment regarding Travis Henry and Chris Brown. Fisher's always run one RB into the ground but he never had a twosome like this. It will be interesting to find out of Tyrone Calico, Jacob Bell, and Tank Williams are healthy.

My New England Patriots Team Overview is up today. Here are a few tidbits that didn't make the article:

Now that the Patriots 'own' the NFL, they're trying to take over the world. They were the first team Web page to have a Chinese site. Owner Robert Kraft 'accidentally' slipped a Super Bowl ring in Russian President Vladimir Putin's pocket. If this were a game of Risk, the Patriots would be on their way to an easy victory.

Some Patriot fans can't get their heads around the team's success. One fan sent an e-mail saying that the NFL conspired to keep the Pats' Super Bowl DVD off the market. The three DVD sets commemorating the Patriots' Super Bowl wins have sold like crazy. I don't know how this guy didn't get the memo.

My theory is that before the Patriots went on this crazy winning streak, their fans were like Chicago White Sox fans, only they generally showed up to games. There was a lot of unrequited love until recently, and the idea of being on top of the league does not compute. I doubt it ever will.