2023 Africa Trip: Day 8 - The Cape

While I'm in Africa, I am crossing the 10-year anniversary of my RTW Trip. That one started with a flight from New York JFK to Johannesburg on February 24th, 2013, with my reaching Cape Town on the afternoon of February 25th, 2013. Today is February 24th, 2023. On Tuesday, February 26th 2013, I did my first real toursity thing of the trip, which was a half-day tour southward to the Cape of Good Hope. I was a poor college student turned traveler then, not affording the full day tour. I loved that tour anyway, the mental images of cascading cliffs and incredible sights stuck in my mind for a full decade, but in my four visits to Cape Town since 2013, I hadn't done that tour again. That changed today.

Of course, the tour was a bit different. It wasn't a half-day tour in a mini-bus as one person in a group of probably 10. It was a private tour for the three of us. Granted, it wasn't super expensive, but that added bit of luxury was certainly worth it, mostly because of how good our guide, Jean, a Congolese man who moved to South Africa two decades ago and seemed to be a star in the guide game, was. He was incredible, he took his time, he showed us all the sights, gave us all the history, and it was a full day well done.

The tour started at 8:45am with a pickup and initial drive away from Green Point, around Signal Hill and then down towards Sea Point, past rows and rows of beautiful, expensive beach-side houses, as we left Cape Town proper and headed down the many, many incredible towns and views and the rest. The first spots were Camps Bay (where my hike ended yesterday) and the first of many pit stops to take photos. It is as hard to describe the beauty of the sightlines and photo spots on this tour. I'm no better at doing it now as I was in 2013 - but it just the combination of perfect cliffs on one side, sandy beaches and blue water on the other side, that is so rare and so exceptional.

What this tour did really well, and again all credit to our guide, was have us see everything. From driving through various towns and going through their Dutch and British histories, to forcing stops, let alone obliging our requests for stops. The first main stop of the drive was Hout Bay where we caught a 45-min out and back ferry tour that goes by a small set of rocks with roughly 500 seals either on them, adorably hopping off them or spalshing around having a grand old time in the water. It was an excellent little side journey (not included in the main tour) and before we knew it we were off on our way on the Chapman's Peak drive, a 9-km long stretch of highway cut out of the cliffs 100 years ago, in great condition with about roughly 50 incredible photo spots, including the first bit that had a great view of Hout Bay and the mountains behind it. Again, just stunning stuff.

The other side of Chapman's Peak had a stop to see Long Beach, an 8-km stretch of beach known for horseriding, and then our trip across the peninsula from the West Coast (Atlantic Ocean) to the East side (False Bay). We stopped in Noordhoek on the way, to a great little food & arts collective area that could have so easily been in California Wine Country or something. It is these types of places we just didn't stop in the first time I did this tour that were so illuminating this time around. They had a great coffee shop and a nice little boutique grocery - a really perfect stop given the fact the V&A Food Market has closed to be renovated into a Time Out Market that will open late 2023.

From Noordhoek, we drove to Simon's Town which had a nice lunch stop at Bertha's a bay-side restaurant with truly great, fresh seafood, and then had of course the Simon's Town African Penguin colony. On food first, we split a bunch of small plates, from greatly fresh mussels, to grilled calamari in a great thyme-based sauce, to a well grilled linefish and a mussel & fish choweder. All were good, the setting was great. I'm sure this place gets a lot of business from being the standard lunch stop on these day tours (as expected, we saw a lot of the same people at each stop, even as good as our guide was there is more or less a set itinerary beign followed). But really, the food was far better than a tourist trap lunch tour spot would indicate.

The Penguins, man, were just amazing. I forgot how big they are, clearly bigger than the ones in Patagonia, though similar looking. There were a bunch, some lazing on their tummies, some mothers guarding and protecting eggs, a few just lollygagging left and right. A few of the mothers had newborn baby penguins they were protecting, with the babies poking their adorable fluffy faces out every now and then. They also had some juvenile penguins with still some gray fur. It was all overwhelming in its adorableness.

From Simon's Town, we headed to what is in theory the namesake spot of the tour, into the Cape 

Point Nature Reserve, with Cape Point at the very tip. Having gone to Patagonia since my prior tour of the Peninsula, the scenery with the shrubbery, the wide open landscape, the great crashing waves on the sides, the sweeping cliffs, it was all so brilliant. In our time in the park we came across roughly 10 ostriches, some from afar and then a few that nicely came roadside and posed for pictures. We saw some Eland as well, which was nice given we hadn't seen either animal in Botswana. I am a bit surprsied these animals aren't in greater number in teh park since there's no natural predator there, but it did make their presence more enjoyable.

Cape Point itself is stunning. You can clearly see to the False Bay side that there are cliffs in teh distance extending more South than Cape Point, but still you get a sense of being at the tip of a Continent. The water in all directions, the same water I essentially walk or drive past each day in Hoboken. The steep cliffs that are undescribable. The vantage points of the peninsula behind you. It is all so well preserved and presented.

From Cape Point, we went to the Cape of Good Hope, which is about 2km away and at sea level which gave a whole new vantage point for everything, and was our last true tourism bit before the drive back, or so one would think. On the drive back, the driver took a more circuotous route to give us one last brilliant view, which was Cape Town from teh Constantia side, basically approaching the city and Table Mountain from the Southeast, with a panoramo view of the wine regions, Constantia, Table Mountain, Lion's Head and everything else. Just beautiful.

We finally arrived back to our AirBNB at 7:45, eleven hours so well spent. We quickly freshened up and headed to The Pot Luck Club for dinner - maybe the dinner I was looking forward to more than any other. I've been here twice, but either by myself or with one person. With a group of three, you can order 8-10 dishes and effectively create your own tasting menu with their incredibly creative, detailed and plated tapa-style dishes.

A few highlights were a Cape Malay Cauliflower with an incredibly rich sambal sauce, and pomegranates for a little crunch, a perfectly cooked lamb in a great broth, a perfectly lightly seared tuna in another gerat sauce, and even a dish like a smoked beet carpaccio (the veg version of their beef tartare). The Pot Luck Club is truly a great place. I think maybe 2-3 of their dishes are holdovers from prior visits. It was also great to enjoy the place with my parents, but far better was watching them enjoy Cause Effect in more style.

We got to Cause Effect around 11pm, being three of maybe 20 people in the place. They maybe weren't fans of the music but they, specifically my Dad, were as entranced by the mixologists, the ingredients the creativity of it all as I was on my first visit in 2020. The place has many new drinks now and the best part is just how much everyone loves waht's going on, to the other patrons all as entranced as we were, to the mixologists themselves who clearly just love their jobs. My dad ordered a whikey cocktail which was very good but he was sadenned the final presentation was a bit staid, so he requested some pizzazz which the mixologist took back and re-served on a bed of liquid nitrogenized flowers. The place is about as consistent an offering as it comes.

From there I dropped my parents off and then hit up first Long Street, which continues to be busy and "fun" in that sense, but a place I admittedly think I've outgrown, and then Modular, which is a place I have definitely not outgrown. It was full at 1am when I arrived and more full at 2:30 when I left. They've expanded a bit, taking over the bar next door and turning that into a second club called Bar Lido (the bartenders still have Modular shirts on), and I think I'll check that place out a bit more tomorrow night. I got back to the AirBNB aroudn 3am, fully content from a full day. In theory i've done nearly everything I did today before, and that didn't matter one bit.

2023 Africa Trip: Day 6 - The First Time and the Sixth Time

We woke up for our last day in Victoria Falls a bit sad to leave. Granted, I was also madly excited to go back to my favorite city, but Victoria Falls was an unexpected joy. We had high expectations for the sights themselves, from the waterfall that gives the city its name, to the safari, but the little quaint town itself, the quality of its restaurants (nothing tweezery and michelin star, but a bunch of places that put out good food and take great pride in what they do), the fact it has a craft brewery, the niceness of most of the people. I realize that in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana are both relatively well off, and even within that context, Victoria Falls being purely a tourist driven town (built to capitalize on the wealth of Western tourists) is even more well off, but we leave this part of Africa with only good things.

Of course, this would be maximized by the last stop, the last bit of tourism in our time here - which was a late splurge on a helicopter ride to get a overhead view of the falls. Today is also my parents 35th Wedding Anniversary - more of a nice coincidence than a central aspect of the trip, but it worked well for a day that had a helicopter ride in the morning, and then the most luxurious of our meals in teh evening. 

The helicopter ride was run by a company called mjair, one of many that offer the service. They aren't cheap - 150pp for a 15-min ride (280 for a 30 minute ride, though hard to imagine what more you would see...) but the service is high class all around. We were picked up from the AirBNB in a nice mini-bus for the 10 minute drive out in the park to a clearing with two helipads. Not even 10 minutes later, we were taking off - befit with headsets to hear messages from the captain along with overhearing the discussion between captain and air traffic control, which for an aviation nerd like me was a nice touch. The ride itself was so worth it, with just incredible views of Victoria Falls. The Falls were impressive from ground level, but you get a new appreciation of just how long and brilliant they are as a spectacle from the air. They go in a figure-8 shape to give each side of the helicopter a great photo view. The guide also gave us some facts of what else we can see, like the gorgeous gorge that extends eastward after teh falls, to even spotting a few zebra and kudu in the park. It is hard to describe how great this was, especially for three people who had never taken a helicopter before. Not sure I would've ever expected my first time to be in sub-saharan Africa, but there it was, and it was incredible.

Back on the ground, we were given a show of a 6-minute video somehow quickly pieced together of photos taken of us entering the helicopter, it taking off, and then returning, with footage of the view from the helicopter during the flight. I'm 90% sure the footage in-flight is stock, but what we saw was basically as clear of a day as we had in reality, so it was hard to tell. It was really nicely put together, and we without too much cajoling took their offer to purchase a copy which they load directly into a phone so it can be reshared. From there we went back to the AirBNB, finished packing up and headed off to the airport.

Victoria Falls Airport was a bit barren on the arrivals side, but on the departures side it is a very nice small, regional airport. They had some nice shops selling handicrafts and souvenirs (admittedly, higher priced than it is outside the captive walls of the airport), a well decorated restaurant, and a cleanliness that was impressive from someone used to regional airports in America, let alone a place like India. Both my actual country and ethnic country can learn a thing or two from Victoria Falls - including serving a really nice little meal box (think a normal airplane meal, just 50% the size) on the 2h30m flight to Cape Town. Soon enough we were on our approach, and I got to see my parents on the other side of the aisle get their first look at the gorgeous City, as the flight path into landing gave a glorious view of the brilliant mastiff that is Table Mountain. It was their first time, it was my sixth - we were all equally taken aback.

We fairly quickly got through immigration and into our uber into the city and into the AirBNB. A quick stop at Woolworth's, conveniently half a block away, and we were ready to explore the Waterfront. It might be too commercial for some, but to me there is no better encapsulation of what makes Cape Town special, and I was really interested to see my parent's reaction. The uber dropped us off at the uber pickup point outside the Victoria Mall. As we walked through, my Mom fairly remarked on how so many of teh stores were common to what we have in the US. Needless to say as we left the other side of the mall, which opens out to the Waterfront proper, she changed her mind as they both immediately were engrossed by the beauty. A very much expected and elongated series of photo taking commenced as I spirited them around to see various views of the Waterfront, and Table Mountain behind it. Needless to say, they got how incredible it is.

Dinner itself at Pier was lovely. It was elongated, taking us a good 3h15m to go through the 11 courses, but that was not a surprise with us eating at a slow pace. My parents night would end with dinner, so they took it all in. The menu was about 50% different from when I came last year, including what sneakily might be my favorite course. I'll do a full course by course later, but the notable one to me was seemingly their "bread course", which centered around a really well baked sourdough. But the accompiaments were outrageous. One was a butter topped with crumbed yeast - unsure what that means but it tasted lovely. The next was a paprika emulsion sauce and mussel pate which was insane. The last bit was ghee with added in curry powder and other spices that wass used to poach a broken up piece of hake, being made into something of a dip. Again, this was the bread course. It was incredible.

My parents night ended there, and after I dropped them back at the AirBNB (we were able to get a 2nd key, but that would only arrive tomorrow), I headed out. It was already about 11pm at this point, and Cape Town aside from Long Street which has turned a bit too clubby (in a bad way) for me is not a 4am type city during weekdays. However, I holed up at The House of Machines - I came just in time to see their live jazz music wrap up at 11:30, but they had a good mix of rock and pop playing after that and a great crowd of 20-30 people that cycled in and out. The House of Machines is a really stable place, a coffeeshop by day and full bar known for its barrel cocktails at night; the place just oozes a great vibe. It can get crowded on weekends, but for now this was about perfect a way to end the first day of another inevitably great trip to Cape Town.

2023 Africa Trip: Day 5 - The Animals

I've always been reticent to do a safari. Actually, that's probably a bit too blunt a statement. I've been reticent to rush into doing a safari instead of waiting to do one all out, in Tanzania or something like that. When the opportunity was given to us to do a one-day safari of Chobe National Park in Botswana (conveniently located about an hour away from Victoria Falls), we jumped on it, but I definitely did have my reservations. Would it be worth it. Would we actually see animals or mindlessly chase tracks, dung, smells and ghosts in the chance of a sighting. Would this reaffirm my want to do a proper multi day glaming tpye safari, or push me further in teh direction that such a luxury is not needed. Well, after a day in Chobe, I can firmly say I don't know what the future holds, but man was the one-day safari in Chobe just excellent.

This was the all-encompassing centerpiece of the day, with us being picked up at 7:10 am, joining a group of seven others in a mini-bus for the one hour drive down to the border between Zimbabwe and Botswana. On the ride itself, we saw a couple impala (which would become a very much welcome, amazingly frequent site), and a few giraffe poking their head above fairly tall trees. It was a nice little amouse bouche. The logistics from reaching the border to actually getting the safari proper started were jumbled at best. The border crossing was in two stages, which was fine enough. We were then loaded into an caravan-jeep which took us through a 20-minute stretch of Zimbabwe up to the "Chobe Safari Lodge". Chobe National Park is a huge expanse of land - we saw areas that were generally in the "Chobe River Flood Plain" part of the park, which was good enough to say the least.

The first part of the tour was a river boat cruise through the low-lying Zambezi River, which despite us being in the rainy season (had a pristine, blue-sky day, thankfully!), was at most 9 feet deep. The boat captain / safari guide kept saying early on that during the dry season, when water is far less plentiful and the River bed only a few feet, this is a much more common gathering place. That blunt honesty was, honestly, not needed as we would soon find out. The tour was genearlly us going in the boat betwee4n river bank on one side, and rows or reeds and grass on the other end, slowing down to either a crawl or ashore when nature gave reason. The first few stops were generally to see birds - all resplendent, beautiful and sharp on their own, from kingfishers to African Jacana, to Egrets and the like. But about 20 minutes in, we saw a couple kudu on the river bank, befitted with giant, twisting horns. We parked on the shore literally five feet from them, and they just stood there gracefully. Now we were off.

The rest of the roughly two hours asea were spent just traipsing back and forth seeing various incredible game. First came roughly 50 impala of all ages together in a pack grazing by the bank, again not the least surprised nor annoyed by our camera-wielding presence. From there we turned more to the reed side of the river, which gave us ample opportunity to see hippos barely peeking their bodies and faces out of the river, and a couple creepy crocodiles, and a whole slew of birds of various sizes and species. Finally about an hour in, we saw the first of many elephant encounters. Of course, we didn't know at the time elephants would become a common occurrence, but this was maybe the best set of them all. It was a herd of about 20 elephants, including one just absolutely adorable little guy that the guide said was probably roughly 2-3 months old. The shore had a bunch of grass, but no real trees, so we got a fully unblocked view of these majestic, lovely creatures, out for a mid-day mud bath and graze. We probably stayed there roughly 20 minutes, but left not a second too soon.

That was probably the highlight of the first half of the safari day, and it was followed by a reasonably good buffet lunch at the Chobe Safari Lodge, which had a great wood and ratan covered giant open area which people sat and ate. They had quite good chicken legs, beef salad and an interesting African take on a samosa. It was quite good food to just keep the day going for the main event, the game drive.

A couple things to get out of the way before going into all the brilliance of the game drive. First, there is a difference between this and a proper multi-day safari. Most actual safaris would plan their game drive for either dawn, dusk or night. As this was a rush job to get us into Chobe, see a bunch of stuff, and out all in one day, this was not the best time. Spoiler alert, but it didn't matter in teh slightest. Second, about 20 minutes in, our jeep got a fully punctured tire. Luckily the jeep had a spare and a jack and we were setup for a quick fix, before the driver found out that the jeep was missing its tire wrench. We were stuck. No service, no signal, just waiting for the next jeep to come along. It took 20 minutes, but in that time, we did have a solitary elephant amble across the way, about maybe 200 feet away in an open clearing. A little bit of fun in an otherwise scary time. As the next jeep did come, we got it fixed - all in all it was a 30 minute pause that felt like longer, and I commend the jeep driver / safari guide for not letting it upset the way the tour was held.

Anyway, back to the real stuff. About 20 feet into the safari, we saw a bunch of impala. They truly are everywhere, in herds, alone, with big horns, with little knubs for horns. I would estimate we saw roughly 400 impala over the course of the 2.5 hour game drive, and this was all mostly within 15 feet of the jeep. God knows how many are truly in the park. About five minutes later, we came upon a little watering hole, with a family of warthogs, including 3-4 babies that were just adorable. Admittedly baby animals of any species generally are cute, but you wouldn't have thought that way about warthogs I guess.

After the punctured tire dalliance, we continued on our way, driving close to the riverbank to observe 4-5 mainly solo elephants, many splashing themselves with water to cool down. After driving back up the hill, we drove for about 10 minutes with an elevated view of the riverbank and saw quite a lot of elephants, and more improtantly hippos now fully out of the water just grazing. We weren't really close enough to get a good view, but seeing their lumbering bodies was cool enough. 

To be honest, I don't know how to properly describe the rest of it, so I'll just go with a few hits. First was all the elephant encounters, particularly one where we saw a herd of 15 or so, full with maybe 7 adults, 4-5 youths and 2-3 babies, grazing and then decide to cross over the dirt road right in front of us. Unsure why, but they were quite nice to give us that good of a show. Second, was probably the only real multi-species viewing of the day, where we saw the umpteenth set of 20+ impala grazing, but this time with 2-3 giraffes right behind them. Giraffes are just an astonishing creature up close. Obviously we all kind of know what a giraffe is, and similarly its defining feature, but truly that neck is something else. 

Third, of course, were the Lions. They happened in the last quarter of the drive, about the time we had seen ample of every other creature (save for giraffe, more on them later), but we all were itching to see some lion. Suddenly, the jeep veered off the dirt path into the grass. There was an unfamiliar smell in the air. The driver told us to keep quiet and just don't do anything sudden, if you act normal, they won't care. We all knew at that point. The three lions, two male and one female, with lazing (if not outright napping in teh case of the supine female) under low trees, but we got close and they did not startle. They just were awesome. The series of branches and leaves obscured their faces at times, but at one point one of the males got up and wandered out of the tree directly at us. It was not eight feet away from my face. I was scared - teh driver told us it won't do anything. The driver was right, and I got out of my catatonic state just quick enough to get one good photo of a lion in profile. The day was made.

The final bit of good luck was actually on the drive back from teh border to Victoria Falls, when we came across a series of 5-6 giraffe, this time with only a couple thinned out trees among them. We finally got our group giraffe photo spot. The mini-bus driver obligingly pulled over and we got some great photos of these incredible animals, a perfect little unexpected cherry to a wonderful day at safari.

Dinner back in Victoria Falls was at Marula Cafe, which is a really nicely decorated indoor/outdoor spot on the main drag.  We split two starters, one a lightly fried local anchovy-like fish with a nice aoili, and an ostrich satay, both presented great and quite tasty. We then split two mains (still a bit full from the buffet lunch) of a peri-peri half chicken (good, but far spicier than Nando's), and a springbok shank with polenta and veggies, which was great. The food here is western inspired, but really, really tasty and a great last meal in Victoria Falls. The night ended with us still so giddy from the safari that we replayed all the photos we took (some would say too many, I would say not enough) and star-gazed the cloudless, bright sky. A day that from start to finish wowed.

2023 Africa Trip: Day 4 - The Waterfall

The trip in a sense starts today, with our first real tourist activity with going to see Victoria Falls, the reason that this town exists to some degree. Actually to any degree, see the name of the town being Victoria Falls. Like any significantly tourist driven town, making our way through it took a combination of paying various fees and being driven right and left. In the end, the site itself was great, massive and wet (more on that later). For this being the reason to come here, it was well worth it (along with being the launching point to Chobe Park in Botswana). 

The day started in the AirBNB with an inpromptu breakfast made by my Mom, and then a pickup to head to the Victoria Falls "Rainforest". The rainforest itself was a series of walkways and lookouts across from the main falls that stretch about a mile wide, 105m down, with thunderous, cascading power. It truly is a massive, imposing waterfall, with such everlasting power. They call it a rainforest because the spray caused by the falling water is so sizable and voluminous, it creates an everpresent mist, that expands to a steady rain in some places. We've been gloriously lucky with weather, with the actual forecast today being intermittent clouds, zero rain, and about 80 degrees, but if you saw our clothes during these stretches, it would not look that way.

The first strectch is one side of the entry, which goes towards the closest area resembling a river - the Zambezi River, which in this area cascades down in a sizable flurry, if far thinner a breadth than much of the falls to the other side of the entry. At this point, the spray was fairly standard and light, and we were not yet cursing ourselves for foregoing buying a poncho at the entrance. The view from this side was nice, with such a massive amount of water forcefully crashing down, and just glimpses of the wide expanse of waterfall to the other side. The falls themselves all lie on the Zambia side of the border, with the better viewing points being from where we were in Zimbabwe.

Slowly we started walking to the other side of the falls, which you see this massive expanse of waterfall on the other side, spreading a mile wide, with spray and mist encompassing you. It was a challenge even taking photos - me having to recede to slightly less misty places to unlock my phone. But aside the mist was enough sunlight to make it all worthwhile. It truly is an imposing place, but by the end the wetness of the spray took hold and we eschewed seeing the last five lookout points (we got to #11), and took another route back to the start of the rainforest, fully wet but hearts and eyes filled with some great, imposing sights.

The rest of the Victoria Falls tour was a walk across a bridge that crosses the Zambezi, with Zimbabwe on one side, and Zambia on the other. That was a bit thrilling, adding another country to the list, and had a great view of the Zambezi below it. Off the bridge is one of the multiple bungee jumping points - a lot of these more thrill-seeking activities are on the Zambia side. We briefly went into Zambia long enough to get the passport stamp, but by then were quite tired and turned back.

Met on the Zimbabwe side, we went to see the Big Tree, whcih is a giant baobab tree, aged at over 1,200 years, with giant trunks which begat giant branches and a canopy of green. From there we went to River Brewing Company, after our false start the prior night. The place had a great vibe about it, and decent beer - though there seems to be some sort of unofficial 5% ABV cap. The beers were good, and the food was better. A fairly staid bar menu, livened up by an incredible red cabbage and spice sauce to cover the burgers my dad and I had, and a good IPA-fried fish and chips that my mom enjoyed. The place had the distinct vibe of American's moving to Zimbabwe and opening the place, which after asking one of the hostesses, was mostly accurate, with it being owned by three locals and two Americans. One can always tell, with the IPA-heavy draft list a dead giveaway. The place was really quite good, with the food probably outstripping the beer.

After a brief respite at the AirBNB, the final event of the night was maybe the most beautiful, if not the outright best, which was a dinner cruise on the serene, placid, picturesque, stunningly calm Zambezi River. Far away from the thrashing glory of the falls, the cruise took a loop around the large "Long Island" that technically sits on the Zambia side of the river. The cruise was generally staying 1-2 km upstream of the falls, the closest we got was to see the omnipresent cloud of spray. Fear not, though, despite being far away from the town's main attraction, it was incredible.

The food was excellent, with three canapes to start, from a home made bread with mackerel hummus, a lightly roasted brocolli, and a trio of watermelon, brie and sun roasted tomato. A light start, which was then followed by one of the best butternut squash soups I've ever had - so brilliantly glowing was the thick puree. After a lengthy break - probably to give people time to utilize the open bar, of which I tried three different locally flavored gins (1 - protea & hibiscus, 2 - lemongrass & ginger, 3 - blood orange), we anchored up to watch the last vestiges of sunlight, and eat our mains. Mine was a really well cooked beef fillet (filet mignon), with a great reduced wine sauce, puree and vegetables. Given the chef was cooking in a little tiny kitchen in a really beautiful little barge, the food was really impressive. 

The setting however blew the food away almost. First was the just everpresent placid tranquility and blue-ness of the Zambezi, with beautiful little shrubs and trees lining each side. It was endlessly stunning, and just a great setting for this cruise - which was about six groups, maybe 15-20 people. There were a few notable sights. First was us getting maybe within 10 yards of a group of hippos. We first heard the noise, then saw them bobbing up and down out of the water. A few times a big one popped its whole head out and opened up wide, yawning or stretching or just being imposing. Whatever it was, it was magical. Next to them were a series of buzzing little cute yellow birds. The whole scene was really something. The next bit was us coming maybe 10 feet away ashore of a silent, still but crazy scary looking giant crocodile. The whole thing, seeing hippos then crocodiles (which despite the size are apparently often killed by hippos) was just a "welcome to Africa" moment, ahead of our day trip safari tomorrow.

The final bit of magic was also a gift from the weather gods. The mostly sunny day exploded at sunset into a series of yellows, oranges and purples - us able to watch the sun's slow descent with locked gazes. It was incredible, and when it was finally gone, we were left to enjoy a clear night and an absurd amount of stars. It was mesmerizing, entrapping us for the last 10 minutes of the cruise, to the walk from the shore back to our mini-bus, to finally the backyard of the AirBNB. It doesn't come out in photos, at least those that can be taken by a phone camera - and maybe it's better that way. Somethings are just better left seen and not perfectly remembered.

This whole day was a perfect encapsulation of what we wanted when coming to Zimbabwe to see the falls. There was the spectacular, from the falls itself to the cruise and the wildlife only visible in Africa. There was the inane, like the few hawkers (to be honest, they're worse in India) and the series of odd charges when navigating the falls and the borders and such. And there was the plain weird, like finding a craft beer oasis in Victoria Falls. But in the end, what we'll remember is the spectacular, and more to come tomorrow in the safari.

2023 Africa Trip: Day 1-3

Day 1-2 - To Africa

I've been to Cape Town five times. It's about to be six. Four trips have been on my own, in 2013, 2016, 2020 and last year in 2022. The one time was with one friend in 2018. I've never come with my family. That is changing now - taking my parents there for their first visit to anywhere in Africa that is not Morocco.

I'm largely playing tour guide for the Cape Town part of the trip, but before we head to the beautiful Western Cape, the trip is taking me to a new place of Africa, with us visiting Victoria Falls and the surrounding areas for three days. A tag on to make it a full 10 day trip (including a lot of travel to start). The reason why this is Day 1-3 is because we're leaving Friday, leaving our house about 3:30pm, and will basically be doing our first really touristy thing Monday morning, with a walking tour of Victoria Falls. Not to say there was nothing notable of the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of our trip - highlighted by just the cool feeling of being in Zimbabwe for Christ sakes, but it was a slow to start to what will be an action packed last three quarters of the vacation.

The trip started in earnest at 3:30pm, taking an uber from my parents place to Newark, to start the vacation early with a long stint at the lounge. The whole time stressing about potential upgrades which largely came to nothing - my Dad did get an upgrade to premium economy, with me stuck in steerage. I guess nothing is a better sign of the recovery of travel than me having higher status than I did a year ago, but further away from getting upgraded to South Africa.

The new United Club in Newark is quite nice. It was chocked full when we got there around 5pm, but quickly thinned out by 6:30 or so. We were able to have surprisingly ok food (pasta, a interesting chicken thigh dish), enjoy a drink or two and take a shower. You know - airport stuff. From there we boarded our 14hr flight to Johannesburg, which was about as stress free as 14 hours in economy could be. Watched The Woman King (timely, with a trip deep into Africa ahead), Pacific Rim and Top Gun, and mixed in a 7-hour good sleep. Before you knew it, we were landing in Johannesburg. I hadn't been to South Africa's main hub since 2018, but it was like it was just yesterday, leaving the customs hall into the grand atrium at the heart of Johannesburg OR Tambo airport. I took a photo of my Dad in the same spot that I took a photo of myself 10 years back. It was quite a rush.

My Mom flew into Johannesburg from India earlier that morning, and we met her at our hotel for one night. To be honest, I've continued to give Johannesburg short shrift on all these trips. I spent a nice 1.75 days here in 2016 and a half-day in 2018, but nothing further. We didn't do too much in Jo'burg this time either, but because of the restaurant I picked for us (I'm basically the restaurant picker on this trip) was a nice 30 minute uber from the airport hotel to the other side of the city, we got to see a bit of Johannesburg.

A few clear takeaways - (1) the road conditions on Johannesburg are very impressive. The main highway from the airport hotel to part of the city was pristine, with conditions, signage and greenery that easily could've passed for Europe. The other takeaway was the same as it was in 2016 - every single property has a wall, with most having barbed wire. There are beautiful houses in siome of the posh neighborhoods we drove through, and all were covered with high walls. You get it, sure, but it also seems a bit unneccessary. 

Dinner at Marble Restaurant, in Sandton, was excellent. The place is on the third floor of a nice little commercial building. The restaurant is huge, with high cielings, modern decor, and a buzz and bustle befitting a nice restaurant in Africa's most premier city. For the meal, we split a squash and cauliflower soup, and an octopus starter, and then had mains of beef sirloin with a great burnt tomato sauce, a decadent pork belly dish, and a crisped, custed sea bass with greens. The presentation was great, the food was great. Given how much of importance I give to food, I might be underrating Johannesburg quite a bit.

Day 3 - Zimbabwe Awaits

We woke up early, needing to head back to Johannesburg OR Tambo around 9:30am for our 11:30am flight to Victoria Falls. OR Tambo airport is quite impressive, even if it's largely unchanged from my 2013 memories. Their priority pass lounge was effective, and before we knew it we were boarding our flight on Airlink (new airline, on a technicality as it spun-off from South African Airways years ago) to Victoria Falls (new airport). The flgiht was short, but good, with Airlink finding time on the 1:25 flight to give us a quite well pre-made roast beef sandwhich, and a drink service with wine available to all passengers. After a bumpy descent, we landed in rainy Victoria Falls.

The rain wasn;t a surprise. What was a very nice surprise is that tomorrow and Tuesday seem to be quite dry, and the rain returning one after our flight to Cape Town leaves on Wedensday. Today was mainly going to be a slow day, so no real issue on that. There was a weird feeling when being in Zimbabwe. A lot of factors contributed to this, from Zimbabwe somehow not having WiFi, to the just weird feeling we were in a completely new place, to so much else. Victoria Falls the town is built around Victoria Falls the site. The city Livingstone on the Zambia side of Victoria Falls is a little bit more built up, but also a bit more expensive and with fewer flight options. The one place that was built up really well was our AirBNB, which was a great little 2-bedroom apartment with all the modern trappings, aside from a maddening inconsistency on what type of outlets they have.

Our only real tourism of the day was to drive into "town", which is a few blocks in all directions off of a main road. The real reason to go was to go get some groceries for our breakfasts and what-not. The grocery store itself was quite clean, upmarket and well presented. Zimbabwe has mostly decided to just have people pay dollars, but for some reason the prices were all shown in the local currency with a roughly 1,000 : 1 exchange rate. Anyway, we got our wares, took a little walk aroudn the town and headed back to teh AirBNB to unpack and rest up.

Dinner the first night in Victoria Falls was at The Cassia Restaurant, a lovely open-air, covered under thatched roof spot in the ilala Lounge, a fancy hotel/lounge. The restaurant was really well decorated and presented, even if the prices didn't match the prices of the rooms in the hotel. The restuarant also had a truly talented piano player playing soft piano versions of various old country, blues and rock hits which set a great mood. For food, my Dad and I shared two well made crocodile cutlets, with my mom having another squash soup. Squash seems to be a real thing here. The cutlets had this great, tangy sauce - and like always the presentation was excellent. For mains, my mom had a really well made pork belly, I had a lamb curry served with roti, rice and tomato chutney, which was a bit too Indian than it needed but was absolutely tasty. My dad got an Ostrich fillet with beet sauce which was amazing. So far, we're 2 for 2 in terms of dinners.

This is the low season for Victoria Falls tourism, which impacted my post dinner ideas. Victoria Falls somehow has its beautiful little craft brewery, that most websites (including their own) say is open until 11pm daily. We showed up at 9:01, only to be told in low season, it closes at 9pm. I do want to come back for their brews at some point in our remaining two days in Victoria Falls, but tonight was not one of them. Luckily, down the street was the 3 Monkeys bar, which was a nice open-air, roof covered, bar that was filled with seemingly way more locals (at least when compared to the posh Cassia restaurant). Sadly they only had their local beer - Zambezi - on draft, but it was cold enough to make the night pretty damn cool. We retired then to the AirBNB, ready for our real first day of the trip on its third day. Such is life when you travel all the way to Africa.

2022 NFL Playoffs: Super Bowl Review

Player of the Game: Patrick Mahomes

The numbers won't tell the story, but that was a peerless game by Mahomes. Maybe one bad throw all game, missing MVS on a deep shot. But man, to go 13/14 in the second half, to laser balls into JuJu repeatedly when the Eagles did a better job of covering Kelce. And of course, the running, the scrambling, and doing it all with a bum ankle. That last drive run for 20 yards was amazing. He had a sense of hte moment, he didn't get flustered in that weird first half. That was an incredible performance, the best ever that didn't get 200 yards passing. Patrick Mahomes is doing incredible things, basically having the combination of early career Peyton (stats, MVPs) and Brady (winning) in one go. Historical stuff. GOAT conversations are too early, but if you could draw up a career to threaten, Mahomes is doing it right now.

Runner-Up: Jalen Hurts

I hate just going with the two QBs, but when the score ends 38-35 it isn't too surprising to do so. Hurts was incredible. He got help with his two top WRs playing well (more on them in a bit) but his throws were on point. His throws to Goedert on the drive to make it 27-21 was incredible. He was a beast in the run game, making the Eagles overall rush numbers look good when the RB-led running game disappeared. It was a record setting performance with the three rushing TDs, and his best rush might have been the 2-point converstion fighting through traffic. Hurts was exceptional, both as a runner and an amazing game throwing hte ball with pace, anticipation and placement. Incredible stuff from a truly great QB.

Goat of the Game: The Eagles Pass Rush

I will credit the Chiefs OL later, but many was the much ballyhooed pass rush, the one with teh 70 sacks, the first team ever with four players with 10+ sacks, all of it just went completely sileent. Yes, Mahomes did great scrambling, and yes the Chiefs OL is very good, but this was supposed to be the biggest strength. Everyone on the Eagles side had visions of the Bucs overrunning the Chiefs in theri head. Not only did that not happen, but not even the level of play the 2019 49ers got in their Super Bowl showed up. Reddick had a few plays chasing Mahomes, but man were Sweat, Graham, Hargreave all silent.

Runner-Up: The Turf

Almost thought of making this the main goat. The turf was a disgrace. So many players, on either team, slipping. Luckily we seem to have avoided any huge injury due to it, and more luckily it didn't show up at a key moment, but the amount of players that nearly fell, or did fall, to short-circuit plays was staggering. I don't know how the NFL can let that happen in a Super Bowl.

Surprise of the Game: Chiefs Run Game

A few times this season, the Chiefs decided "let's run the ball today" and it generally worked. Really well. The best example was back ealry in the season when the Chiefs went to Tampa and steamrolled the Bucs, mainly by running at what was supposed to be a great run defense. They did it again here. The Chiefs consistently got positive yards on run plays, from both great blocking, and great speed from Pacheco and McKinnon getting out to the edge. They consistently stayed ahead of the downs - which also helped to reduce the impact of the pass rush. Just a monster game from a really underrated unit.

Runner-Up: Eagles Short Yardage Dominance

I'm not surprised the Eagles did well on 3rd & 1 and 4th & 1 - hell they did that all year. But the Chiefs are a good short yardage defense, and the Eagles did it like 10 times and were successful basically every time. There's a chance the league outlaws plays where you can so blatantly push the palyer forward from behind, but I will never forget how foolproof that play was. It extended drives, it made the Eagles score a bunch of points against a defense that generally played really well in my mind.

Disappointment of the Game: The Officials (for more than just The Call)

Obviously, the final holding call was a bit ticky-tacky (though I'm happy Bradberry himself copped to tugging him) but as much as I disliked that call, I also disliked many other aspects of the refereeing yesterday. They didn't call a more blatant defensive holding / DPI on the Chiefs second drive that forced a punt. They also had maddeningly long reviews on the catch-fumble reviews, even for fairly routine ones. Everyone knew almost immediately the Sanders fumble was not a catch but even that took five minutes to figure out. I get that refereeing is hard, but they're making it seem harder by taking longer and longer to adjudicate what should be routine plays.

Runner-Up: Rihanna's halftime (saved by the baby)

Granted, it made a whole lot more sense when she confirmed to the world what we all kind of saw, that Rihanna is pregnant, but personally I was expecting a bit more from the halftime show. The music is great, because her catalog is great. But it seemed more like just a spotify playlist of Rihanna's greatest (again, I would love that on a car ride) but with little performance, singing or spectacle that the halftime show usually has. For her first public show in half a decade, I was left a bit wanting. But then again, maybe the plan was for a lot more motion, but with her pregnant it changed things.

Team Performance of the Game: Chiefs OL

The whole two weeks the common refrain of the game was that the Chiefs had Mahomes and Kelce and Chirs Jones but hte Eagles are better overall everywhere. Well, the Chiefs showed their overall roster is stronger than people think, specifically their OL was able to outplay and straight-up win the matchup against the Eagles DL. Both in the passing game, but some of that was Mahomes brilliance and good play-calling and stuff like that, but more than that in the run game. They road-graded them, just great blocking especially on the edge, which the Chiefs turned to time and time again. That OL was brilliant consistently, such a marked change since their last Super Bowl.

Runner-Up: Chiefs Coaching

Obviously the plaudits for Reid and Bienamy are clear - the play calling was great, from the two wide open TDs, to them running the same play after a penalty but hitting a hole shot instead of the WR swing screen. But how about the defense. Spags's unit may have given up 35 points, but they also forced 18 third downs. Of course, the Eagles converted a bunch of them, but the Eagles are just a good offense. Spags defense was great against the run all game. AJ Brown beat them repeatedly and they lost Smith on one deep route, but the defense tackled really well and Spags got free rushers time and time again. The Chiefs coaches outcoached the Eagles. Not by a huge amount, but by enough.

Team Letdown of the Game: Eagles running game

Jalen Hurts was good enough as a runner that the overall final stats look ok. But the Eagles run game just disappeared. Sanders, Gainwell and Boston could do next to nothing. Even their good runs came when they had to fight through contact. The Eagles had one of the best running games (including Hurts in this) of the past 20 years by some of the advanced metrics, and were so dominant in both NFC playoff games. There were a few plays where their incredible OL drove the Chiefs back, but those were few and far between. The Eagles lost what on paper was their biggest matchup edge.

Runner-Up: Chiefs Secondary vs. Brown / Smith

This is more of a personal letdown, but after seeing the Chiefs secondary do great work against Chase & Higgins, I was hoping to see a better battle here. Instead, Brown & Smith can of ran roughshod. Browns adjustment on the long TD was brilliant, but McDuffie looked lost at the point of attack. Sneed of all people completely lost Smith on the long pass. Brown routinely just beat cornerns off the line for quick slants. The two WRs did a great job, but to be honest I expected more from this Chiefs secondary.

Storyline that Will Be Beat into the Ground, 1: The refs ruined the ending

I think this is already starting to become a bit quieter of a talking point, what with Bradberry himself admitting the held. Also, let's remember last year in the Super Bowl, there was arguably an even more impactful, even far more ticky-tacky holding penalty that gave the Rams a 1st & Goal instead of a 4th & Goal down 4. I don't think many outside of LA and Cincinnati fans remember that. This will recede to. And at the end of the day, it was a good call. There were other officiating issues, but that one (correct) call should not overshadow that brilliant spectacle of a game.

Storyline that Will Be Beat into the Ground, 2: Mahomes on the GOAT track

It's already started - is he better than Montana, better than Peyton, on track for Brady (not coincidentally, the three other QBs with multiple rings and multiple MVPs). Not that any of these are rushed, but jesus can we jsut not worry about GOAT debates. Mahomes is doing unreal things, combining early career Peyton stats with early career Brady winning. He's a truly transcendant player. But let's give him a bit more time to surprise, to dazzle. Given his longevity, the actual GOAT debate is probably a ways away - let's not overburden and just enjoy Pat's unreal talent, will and successes.

Storyline that Should Be Beat into the Ground 1: Reid on the All Time List

Andy Reid has coached for a very long time. He's also been a good coach for a very long time. 14 years in Philadelphia, with just three losign seasons. Now 10 years in KC, with zero losing seasons (the worst year was 9-7 in 2014). He's now 5th on the all time wins list (including postseason), one behind Tom Landry, with then just George Halas, Don Shula and Bill Belichick ahead of him. Granted, those three are a decent bit ahead of Andy Reid, but Andy Reid has just an insane resume now. Easily the best coach to have great success at muiltiple stops. He has an impressive coaching tree, especially even if we include assistants who were on defense but still praise him to the end of the earth (Ron Rivera, Sean McDermott, John Harbaugh). He's maybe the greatest playcaller in NFL history. He's just special. Good he'll be coming back, maybe for a last hurrah, but you know he'll leave KC in great shape when he eventually moves on.

Storyline that Should be Beat into the Ground 2: The Chiefs are the dynasty

The Patriots were unanimously called a dynasty in 2004 when they won their 3rd Super Bowl. Granted, the Chiefs only have two, but their run these past five years is worthy. Five AFC Championship Games, with teh two they lost being in OT. Two Super Bowl wins. 12+ wins each season in the five. The year the 2001-2004 Patriots didn't win teh Super Bowl, they missed the playoffs at 9-7. And the Chiefs aren't done. They have the greatest similarity with the 2011-2018 Patriots, or 2003-2009 Colts. in that they are just never bad in any given year. They'll be right there with between 12-14 wins next year, with a great offense, with a defense that plays better than the sum of its parts. Will it be good enough to be the first back-to-back team since those same 2004 Patriots? Maybe, maybe not. But they'll be good enough for either it to be them, or someone who beats them in dramatic fashion. They are the standard, and they will be for a long, long time.

2022 NFL Playoffs: Super Bowl Pick

(A1) Kansas City Chiefs (16-3)  vs  (N1) Philadelphia Ealges (16-3)

FOX - 6:35  |  PHI -1.5

State of the Teams: The injury question is a lot more significant on the Chiefs side of the ledger. Mecole Hardman is out, but it seems like Kadarious Toney and Juju are both going to play, along with L'Jarious Sneed getting cleared out of concussion protocol. Then there's of course Mahomes and his ankle. While he still looked a bit gimpy against the Bengals, we're now on the outer range of when you would think someone with this injury, a mild case as the Chiefs have made clear, should be back close to 100%. It may not happen, but the Chiefs seem realistically as healthy as they were going to be. The Eagles are a picture of health in terms of we know their main guys are all going to play. The biggest question mark seems to be the lingering effects of Jalen Hurts's shoulder injury. He definitely sailed a few passes against the 49ers (who should be noted had great coverage anyway, so Hurts may have missed due to trying to be "safe"). Hurts wasn't afraid to run, and the Eagles OL was as good as ever despite Lane Johnson dealing with his own injury. In a league where even Super Bowl teams are generally facing injuries, with the exception of Coleman being out, these two are about as rested as you would think. In terms of their actual play coming into this game, the Eagles roll in with the best point differential in the playoffs in a long, long time. This after their 14-1 regular season record when Jalen Hurts played, and they have been the clear best team. Of course, they had an easy schedule. People throw out the 9-1 record against winning teams, but some of these were teams that were, while above .500, never all that great like the 3-0 mark against the Giants. For the Chiefs, they too don't have the strongest resume of wins, but like always in the Mahomes era, their defense is playing better the later we get in the season, and the offense has settled mixing in more heavy 2TE formations and the like. In the end, we have the two 1-seeds, rested, relatively healthy, and the biggest injury question marks seem to even each other out with the questions around their QBs.

The Matchup: The Eagles are good at everything. We have to really dig deep to find areas where they are not a Top-10 team in. The common one has been deep passes, which is one area the Chiefs have reduced as a focus. Not that the Chiefs can't go deep, and both JuJu and, especially, MVS have had their moments, but that is one area you like the Eagles. The Chiefs are the league's best offense, and their weakness there is a 9th ranked rushing offense by DVOA - here is a place the Chiefs may get some success, lining up against a 21st ranked Eagles rush defense by DVOA. The marquee matchup of course is the Eagles pass rush against Mahomes - with so many people having memories of the Super Bowl two years ago, when Mahomes had to run for his life. However, that was way more around the health of their OL. Few point out the Super Bowl the year prior, when against another great pass rush in San Francisco, the Chiefs OL was fine. And this Chiefs OL is better. A lot of focus will be on Orlando Brown against Reddick or Sweat. In the end, the Chiefs offense is good enough, and the Eagles aren't great against TEs which will hurt in this specific matchup as well. The other side of the ball is more interesting to me, as it is the side that can swing the game from a good game to an Eagles blowout. The Eagles obviously are amazing at running the ball, something that got better as the season went on. KC's rush defense is the relative strength of the defense, and if any team has a player that can neutralize the Eagles incredible interior OL, it is Chris Jones. The Chiefs also have a deep secondary that plays interesting coverages. Historically this year they havne't been a great tackling team, but were excellent in the AFC Title Game - something they need to carry over against the Eagles. That side of the ball really comes down for me to a couple facets - can Spags get enough pressure on Hurts through their secondary blitzing, and can his secondary control Brown and Smith. That, even more than the run game to me, is what turns a potential blowout into a close game.

The Pick: In the end, I'm going somewhat with my heart over head here in thinking the Chiefs win this game. At the end of the day, they have the single best unit, have some good matchup edges on that side of the ball. The Chiefs are one of the better pass blocking teams in the league, and their newfound brilliant short passing game this season can also help neutralize the Eagles biggest defensive strength. Their underrated ability to run the ball should be able to do the same. On the other side, there is a bit of "trust in Spags" and a bit of seeing Hurts air-mail a few passes in the Title Game. I think the Chiefs keep it close, and with that I think they have just enough to get over the line.

Chiefs 27  Eagles 24  (KC +1.5)

The Storyline Super Bowl

10.) Can the Chiefs Secondary do it Again

The Chiefs defense has always been a tight-rope act in terms of their ability to add to the Chiefs success. They were bad in 2018, and it cost them mightily. They were good by the time the playoffs rolled around in 2019 and 2020, and it did wonders. This year, the secondary could be a real pain point. Two rookies (three, if Sneed is not ready to go) take a ton of smaps. Young secondaries have been burned in the Super Bowl before (see the 2009 Colts starting two rookie corners). But they played pretty well in the Title Game against Chase & Higgins. They have a shot to show up big in this one - be it repeating the tip drill interception, or tackling in the flat on a ton of the running plays. They'll need to come up big, and they very much.

9.) The Rise of the Eagles Coaching Staff

I honestly had forgot about Nick Sirriani's truly awful, weird introductory press conference, where he waxed poetically, awfully, about playing smart and what not. He was seen as a weird hire even before that, one that people were saying was trying to recapture the Pederson era. As Pederson was to Reid, Frank Reich was for Pederson, and Sirriani was for Reich. Two years later, it looks inspired. As do Shane Streichen (who is the next in that weird lineage) and Jonathan Gannon. They're all young, they're all fairly untested, but they've been coaching great all year. They may not be long for the world in Philadelphia (the fact the Cardinals and more specifically the Colts have still not filled their head coach opening is a sign that maybe one of these guys is being targeted), but man have they made their impression so quickly and so distinctly. Both offense and defense have such specific styles, and run by a guy who has been as good as we'll see at game management decisions. Just a great brain trust.

8.) Spags

To focus on the other side of the coaching matchup, the grizzly grey-haired Steve Spagnuolo who is 26 years older than the OC he's going up against. What Spags may lack in youth, he makes up for in tactical brilliance. As we saw in his teams short-handed performance against Cincinnati, Spags is still great at game-calling. Even in games like this. While he never got the credit he should have, his team's game-plan against the 2007 Patriots was legendary - as were their great performances against the great offenses of the 2007 Cowboys and Packers. With the Chiefs, despite high turnover, high amounts of rookies, he has kept the defense generally average, and often better than that in the playoffs. Their Super Bowl win doesn't happen without his blitzing slamming the door on the 49ers offense in the 2nd half. They're not here without the great work against the Jags and Bengals. Steve Spagnuolo is probably never getting a head coaching shot again, but a win here makes him one of the better defensive coordinators ever.

7.) Eagles Interior vs. Chris Jones

Chris Jones was the best player on the field in the AFC Championship Game, coming off the best season of his career that will likely see him voted 2nd in Defensive Player of hte Year voting. The best player most days for the Eagles ultimately is Jason Kelce. Isaac Seumalo and Landon Dickerson are both good not great players. If the Chiefs have a clear edge on defense it is the potential of Jones creating a ton of havoc. Spags moved Jones around excellently to get him single-teamed, and I imagine he tries doing it here to get him one-on-one against one of the guards and try to overplay Kelce on the other side. If the Eagles can quiet Jones, they have a good chance of running roughshod (literally, running the ball all over).

6.) The Eagles Team Building Dominance

It is staggering how many of the players have changed between the 2017 and 2022 Super Bowl teams. Granted, the same was more or less true of te 2018 and 2021 Rams, but that was a team built for the short term coming in and filling holes from another team largely built for the short term. What Kevin Demoff and the Rams did was remarkable. This Eagles group is better because they built a team to win a title in 2017 that seemed built for the long term, replaced some guys on the fly, changed the coach and QB, and are right back to having one of the most complete rosters in the NFL. It is incredible to rebuild an offensive line around two centerpieces and remain the best. They had a great DL in 2017, and while Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox are still here, neither are top contributors to what is the leageu's best DL in 2022. The secondary is rebuilt. They've made smart bets, smart trades and overhauled parts of the roster with youth and not trading away 1st-round picks for years to come.

5.) Kelce vs. Kelce

Probably would be higher if they would be on the field at the same time, but it is crazy that this is the first time we have two brothers squaring off. More than that, they are both stars. Kelce is the best TE in the NFL, and is well on his way to a HOF career. His longevity and peak is really only in the Tony Gonzalez range (Gronk had a better peak, but not this type of longevity). Jason Kelce had a slow start, but has been 1st Team All-Pro five of the last six seasons and is building up to potentially a HOF career as well. Yes, we're going to get a bunch of stroies about the kids, and the Mom with the split Chiefs/Eagles jersey and what-not, but it is a really cool story. Just as it was when Harbaugh faced Harbaugh. Add to it both of them being top personalities in the league (who happen to co-own a podcast) and this is a dream storyline.

4.) Best Pass Blocking O-Line vs. Best Pass Rush

This might be high, but I think the real football freaks will be salivating over this one. Why? Because this decides the game. Given Mahomes potentially still a bit injured and same for some of the receivers, he'll need all the time he can get. There is a chance this because a repeat of the 2020 Super Bowl in that sense. Of course, maybe it becomes a repeat of the 2019 Super Bowl instead. The Eagles pass ruhs is incredible. Their sacking QBs in 10%+ dropbacks, wihich is insane. They're deep, they're healthy. They're dominant. But the Chiefs OL is quietly among the best, if not straight up the best, pass blocking OLs in the league. The unit that the Bucs mauled was immediately rebuilt. The guys that were rookies last year just got better. The Tackles are the relative weak spot, so watch for them vs. Reddick, Sweat and Graham. Just a great matchup that so easily can decide this game.

3.) Andy Reid vs. the Eagles

This might be higher, but to me this is more a celebration than a revenge. Reid was a great coach with a great career when he left the Eagles after 14 years. It's his later now 10 years with the Chiefs that have allowed him to be unlocked as an all time great. The split was a win-win. The Eagles needed some change, and while there was the little Chip Kelly dailiance in the middle, the Eagles struck title gold with Pederson and maybe could with Sirianni, both of whom have ties to Reid (either directly or through Frank Reich). Reid is still loved in Philadelphia, with the memories of the playoff wins and consistent winning drowning out the tough moments. The Eagles and Chiefs are better off for that decision, and this game should be just a celebration of Big Red.

2.) Two Black QBs

Honestly, I'm surprised how little play this is getting. Granted, there are more black QBs than black Head Coaches, but I remember the fact Lovie Smith & Tony Dungy coaching against each other was a huge story. Maybe it is because we've had a decent amount of black QBs in Super Bowls this past decade, from Kaepernick in '12, to Russell Wilson in '13-'14, Cam in '15 and Mahomes in '19-20. But seeing two against each other is heartening. Black QBs are still under the gun today, assumed to always be athletic and not great pocket passers (spoiler alert: best pocket passer in the NFL is Patrick Mahomes). They have higher bars for praise and lower for criticism. These are all true facts. The fact that we have two black QBs, both still young and potentially great for years to come, is one that is worth more spotlight and focus.

1.) Patrick Mahomes goes for #2

To some degree, I'm more willing this into existence. With Tom Brady retiring, and Roethlisberger retiring last year, we have now zero active QBs with multiple Super Bowl rings. While I think everyone largely agrees Mahomes is the best active QB, getting him a 2nd ring basically cements that status - one that he deserves given he's going to win his 2nd MVP in a couple days. If he loses, we are left without that. The last time we had a league without a 2-time Super Bowl winning QB was 2003 before Brady won his second, and then 1973, which is after Bart Starr retired and before Griese won his 2nd. From there we had at least Griese -> Bradshaw -> Punkett -> Montana -> Aikman -> Brady. Obviously there are guys in between that had multiple rings in between. Mahomes needs this. We need this. Mahomes is on a path few have ever seen. No one is ever getting 7 rings or 8 rings. But Mahomes can get his 5 MVPs and we need him with multiple rings to go along with it.

Brady Memories, Pt. 2: My 12 Favorite Brady Games (where Brady, of course, lost)

Oddly, I have no game from this past season on my list. Seeing Brady have a losing record for the first time was nowhere near as fun as I expected it to be. Mainly because I still had this fear of him in the back of my mind. There is a game from this season though, his last one.

12.) 2022 NFC Wild Card - Cowboys 31  @  Buccaneers 14

So complete, so thorough, so dominant an ass whooping. And so fun for a few reasons. One, it was over so quickly, and featured a lot of great things. A dominant Dak performance. Brady looking about as bad as I deep down knew he was by this time. And the Manningcast. Nothing says more about how much longevity Brady had that his last game was commented on by Peyton Manning of all people. Seeing Manning I'm sure secretly take in his long rival being blown out at home was all the joy I needed. In reality, I do think there is something beautiful that Peyton commentated on Brady's last game, for good or bad. A weird NFL version of Nadal playing doubles iwth Federer in his last game. 

**This is the only Bucs era game on this list, a sign of (1) my stronger connection to football in the Pats years and (2) them being either annoyingly good in 2020 and (3) the Rams playoff loss being more harrowing given how close the Rams came to tripping over themselves and blowing it; a nice escape that it didn't happen, but they had the chance to embarrass them - which would've been way up the list if it happened**

11.) 2012 Week 15 - 49ers 41 @ Patriots 34

This game resonates with me for a few reasons that range from sensible to ridiculous. The sensible was it was a great game with Kaepernick playing out of his mind, featuring the great 49ers defense stunning the Pats into picks and sacks, and of course it giving the Broncos the #1 seed. The ridiculous was everything else - from a team going into Foxboro and beating Brady in inclement weather, to Randy Moss catching two TDs against his old team, to the capper: this game happened a couple days after my last Final as a college student. My life was about to move into a chapter and this game, which I taped and watched the next day after an all nighter to study for said last final, was the first sports memory in it. The #1 seed didn't matter in the end, and the last Pats loss this season is higher up the list, but this one was a sneaky weirdly fun Patriots loss.

10.) 2015 Week 17 - Patriots 10 @ Dolphins 20

The reasons are obvious - the Pats losing this game to a then 5-10 Dolphins team, opened the door for the Broncos to steal the #1 seed (despite starting Osweiler for seven games) later that afternoon. It was also a testament to how far people bent over backwards to not criticize the Patriots. Brady played in the game, but they basically ran the ball to no effect and scored 10 points. People literally said the Pats more or less threw the game by using this heavy-run strategy to rest up as rest was more important than the #1 seed. This was so damn absurd. No, they lost by being stupid and giving away the #1 seed which dearly cost them.

9.) 2019 Week 17/Wild Card - Loss to Miami and Tennessee

This was a two-parter because by 2019 I was so over the Patriots. They had made 8 straight AFC Championships. But first with the shock loss to Miami (this time in Foxboro), we saw the Patriots not get a bye for the first time since 2009. They quckly lost to the Titans in Brady's last game as a Patriot. His final pass as a Patriot was a pick-six. They lost to a team led by Ryan Tannehill. Belichick got upset when Vrabel pulled his intentional penalty to burn clock strategy. The final beauty was for the first time since 2009, I could watch the Divisional Round onwards free and clear of having to worry about either (1) Peyton winning or (2) Brady losing. It was so refreshing, Of course, the playoffs themselves weren't all that good.... but at least I watched them carefree as hell.

8.) 2009 AFC Wild Card - Ravens 33 @ Patriots 14

This is the only time I ever got to see what I always wanted, which is just to see the Patriots flat out dominated in a playoff game. It was 24-0 by the end of the first quarter. The game opened with Ray Rice going for an 83-yd TD on the first play, followed by a sack-fumble of Brady that led to another TD. Brady then threw two INTs, the first of which is maybe the single worst throw a good QB has ever made. It was all smiles. The only downside is that it was so over, and the Ravens so disinterested in passing, that the final three quarters were rather staid. Still, I got what I asked for - the one time.

7.) 2009 Week 13 - Patriots 17 @ Saints 38

The Patriots entered the game 7-3, the Saints 10-0. The Saints were at home where they had dominated everyone to that point. Somehow many pundits were picking the Pats to win. Instead we saw one of the more entertaining blowouts I can remember. Before it got passe to say, the Superdome really was rocking that day. Brees had 5 TDs, from swing passes to blown coverage bombs, to perfectly thrown 45-yard ropes. They were dominant. A Saints defense missing some key pieces and starting ancient Mike McKenzie somehow held the Patriots offense pretty much at bay overall. It was my favorite non-Colts/Broncos related Brady regular season loss, because it felt so good to see them blown out so badly against a team that was just that much better that day.

6.) 2010 AFC Divisional - Jets 28 @ Patriots 21

It would be higher up if not for the fact that I was in India when the game was played, and while I tried to avoid finding out what happened until I could get home and watch on DVR, I failed at the very end. So I knew going in the Jets pulled off the upset. I didn't know how though, and seeing Rex Ryan's defense just utterly fool what had been such a robotically dominant offense was thrilling. I'll never forget the Patriots famous drive to nowhere, an 8-minute drive down 21-10 in the 4th quarter that ended with a turnover on downs. There was one play where Brady held the ball for literally eight seconds. No one was open. The Jets got em; it was so satisfying after watching the Jets beat my Colts the weekend before. They got through the Colts by one point because of a terrile special teams mistake. They beat the unbeatable Patriots without a sweat.

5.) 2005 AFC Divisional - Patriots 13 @ Broncos 27

This is a long time ago, but the passion and intensity of that crowd at Mile High watching their team blitz the shit out of the Patriots won't ever leave me. I remember betting a friend, probably $20, that the Broncos would win. I didn't really know to much about the Broncos other than hearing they usually play the Patriots close. Here it wasn't close. There were also great moments, none more than Champ Bailey's 99-yd interception return. Brady just six yards away from a 13-10 lead, gives up the TD that makes it 17-6. Brady was decent in the game, but they fumbled three times, missed a field goal, and Brady had another interception at the gun to go along with the pick-6. It was just a beautiful scene for Brady's first playoff loss.

4.) 2012 AFC Championship - Ravens 28 @ Patriots 12

The top three, surprise, are the Super Bowl losses. This is my most memorable other game - when the Ravens, fresh off of stealing the soul of both the Broncos and me too in a double-OT classic, went in to Foxboro and after playing close for a half, just bossed the Patriots. It was glorious. I've never denied I was a quasi Ravens fan (and liking Harbaugh and Lamar, still am in many ways) and seeing them do that was jsut great karmic justice, both for what they did to Peyton, and what they came so close to doing the year before. Nothing was better than the three straight TD drives to go from 7-13 down to 28-13 up (including two perfect back shoulder throws to Boldin) to three straight turnovers to end it - Brady choosing not to easily get 4 yards to throw a lob to no-one on 4th down, followed by two straight interceptions. The 2012 Patriots were a great team. They were humiliated.

3.) Super Bowl XLVI - Patriots 17 vs Giants 21

From the second the Giants escaped San Francisco in the NFC Title Game, I was confident the Giants would win. That confidence really didn't waver. They blew out Green Bay and beat San Francisco, and I truly thought both of those two were better than New England. When the Giants quickly raced up 9-0 in the Super Bowl, things felt safe. And then it happened. The Pats started doing their bullshit. Aaron Hernandez (remember him?) and Danny Woodhead and Welker and those mf-ers kept moving the chains. They got TDs either side of halftime and led 17-9 six minutes into the 4th quarter. The fact that they didn't score again is just beautiful. The Giants deserved that game. It wasn't a miracle. There wasn't a helmet catch (miss me with the Manningham throw and catch being "lucky"). There was just brilliance from the Giants - sacking Brady twice, covering receivers well, forcing a pick, and of course scoring enough. The Giants played with them every step of the way, and came out just being better. This was the darkest season of my football life - the year Peyton was injured in. There was something poetic about the Super Bowl being in the House Peyton Built, with his little brother defending Peyton's House from his main rival being crowned there. 

2.) Super Bowl LII - Patriots 33 vs Eagles 41

The only reason I really have this above the other Super Bowl loss was this was more surprising. I was actually pretty confident heading into SB46 the Giants would win. Given the Nick Foles of it all, I was not here. But somehow I watched with the lowest of expectations, but little by little the magic of that Eagles team, from Doug Pederson's white hot playcalling, to Nick Foles throwing ridiculous dimes left and right, took over. The Philly Special is the memorable moment, but more so to me was the Eagles answering the Pats every time in that 2nd half, from the ridiculous pass to the 3rd string RB 30 yards downfield for a TD, to the final drive filled with 4th down conversions and the like. The Patriots actually took the lead 33-32 in the secnd half. It didn't matter. This was so unexpected, so special. There's a famous meme of the NFL posting a photo of the Final-4 team QBs that year with their usual "Who Wants It?" type tagline. And you see caricatures of Brady with Foles, Bortles and Keenum. Somehow, in that year, where Brady was the MVP of the league, he was not the one who left that battle royale with the ring. It was Big Dick Nick and Big Balls Dougie P. Just incredible stuff.

1.) Super Bowl XLII - Patriots 14 vs Giants 17 

How could it be anything else. It is dangerously close to the 2006 AFC Title Game as overall sports moments. In fact, I'm going to write a Nostalgia Diary around it because it was more than just Tom Brady losing - it was that team losing, to the Giants of all teams. The Helmet Catch. the Sacks. The mysterious going for it on 4th & 13 instead of a 48-yd field goal. It was the Burress TD to end it. The damn close to completed Hail Mary that almost kept it alive. It was watching it with a bunch of school friends, keeping on waiting for the clock to hit 12 on the Giants, just assuming that was the case. The clock seemingly did when Brady connected to Moss to take the lead, but the Giants still somehow pulled it off - and to end it all, stop a perfect season by 35 seconds. Nothing will top this if you strip away personal connection. The NFL peaked in this game period.

Brady Memories, Pt. 1: My Most Horrifying Brady Wins and Favorite Manning over Brady Games

Tom Brady retired today. Granted, he did on February 1st, 2022, as well, before unretiring. There is a very much non-zero chance he does that again. But I think this is for good. He said as much in his video but more than that he silently just wasn't all that good this year. Yes, the Bucs had many other problems, but Brady wasn't a total solution, and I think the idea of coming back to that, or packing up and trying to start over somewhere else, is just too much. The age 45 was always the target he talked about. He reached it. Anyway, I had this in the hopper last year, but we have a few new entrants. In honor of the man that ruined more Sundays due to his brilliance overstaying at least my welcome, I give you my favorite Tom Brady games. 

Obviously, these are all losses for the Patriots, though I want to squarely focus on Brady losing. So you won't see any games where Peyton beat Brady. To be fair - a quick Top-5 list + sentence on each, of my favorite times Manning beat Brady, and my least favorite (most horrifying) Brady wins

Most Horrifying Brady Wins

5.) 2010 Week 10 - Colts 31  @  Patriots 35

Oddly, in my Top-5 this is the only time Brady beating Manning shows up, probably because the tough ones in that rivalry came literally decades ago (2003, 2004 playoff losses). This was tough because Peyton came so close to repeating the 4th and 2 win, this time without the aid of the 4th down division and in Foxboro. The 2010 Colts were a mess. They came back with Manning throwing two TDs to Blair White - but alas, a sudden pick ended it.

4.) 2014 Divisional - Ravens 31  @  Patriots 35

Going with this over the Super Bowl that year because I was never much a Seahawks fan. That Super Bowl was a lose-lose to me, and I figured by then the Pats were going to win another eventually, so why not against a team I didn't like. No, it was their ineligible/eligible receiver + Danny Amendola TD pass bullshit win against Baltimore that will haunt me. The Ravens could have easily won that game, continued their weird dominance over the Patriots, but no - Tommy had to sneak one out.

3.) 2020 NFC Championship - Buccaneers 31  @  Packers  26

Way worse for me then when he won the Super Bowl two weeks later, as that was a fait accompli from the 2nd quarter when it was super clear the Chiefs couldn't block the Bucs. No, this one I fully believe the Packers win 8 out of 10 times, but as always some lucky Brady bullshit gets in the way, like the heave TD to Scotty Miller, or him throwing three straight interceptions but the Packers turning it into just 7 points.

2.) 2011 AFC Championship  -  Ravens 20  @  Patriots 23

The one above this is obvious and is in a whole class by itself. This was just pure madness, in the darkest season for me following the sport (the season Manning missed). It could have had a great outcome. I loved all other three Final-4 teams that year, but the Pats barely sneaking by the best Flacco-era Ravens team due to Lee Evans dropping a pass, and more absurdly, Billy Cundiff Vanderjagt-ing a 34-yard field goal is something I'll never get over. Even despite the fact the Giants beat them in the Super Bowl (unsurprisingly, way high up my main list)

1.) Super Bow LI - Patriots 34  vs  Falcons 28

Don't think I need to explain this one really. It was the most harrowing way to see him succeed. For two hours we all got to collectively dunk on not only him losing, but the Patriots getting embarrassed. And then they came back in death by a thousand paper-cuts. Add to it a likable team in Atlanta blowing it when if they did one of like 20 different things they would've won.

Top-5 Manning over Brady wins

5.) 2006 Week 9  -  Colts 27  @  Patriots 24

This wasn't the first time Manning beat the Patriots. That happened in a 40-21 blowout in 2005. But this time they were even teams on paper. If anything, the 6-0 Colts beating the 5-1 Patriots was a huge, marquis game. The Colts picked off Brady four times. Manning played brilliantly against a Top-5 defense, and we have the lasting memory of Marvin Harrison's beautiful TD catch where he spikes it right in a Patriots defender's face. 10/10 all around.

4.) 2013 AFC Championship  -  Patriots 18  @  Broncos 20

Might seem low (as in I clearly have a regular season game above this) but it is this way for two reasons. (1) I didn't watch the game live, too worried about my heart rate if in case the Broncos lost, and (2) the Broncos were far superior so while it was fun watching them beat Brady, it seemed a bit too easy. Anyway, the game I'll remember more for being Peyton mastering the QB position. The conclusion to this game was probably the last true moment where public consensus might have been Manning > Brady.

3.) 2009 Week 10  -  Patriots 34  @  Colts 35

This is the last time Manning would beat Brady in the regular season (though he would twice more in the playoffs), and man was it incredible. Still my favorite regular season game of my life, but I'll stand behind it as one of the great regular season games ever, at least in terms of the storylines. The Colts going for 16-0 against the team that did it. Brady v. Manning. And of course every ounce of the discourse following the 4th and 2 decision. If true truth serum is invented, I do want to ask Bill Belichick if back in 2009 at least there was any other QB who would have risked going for it in that situation,

2.) 2015 AFC Championship

Fulfilling. That's what this game was to me. The reverse of so many other Manning losses and Brady wins, where Manning for once had the superior defense (and special teams, underrated in the game with McManus hitting a 50+ yd field goal, great punting by Denver, and Gostkowski missing an extra point) and Brady despite better weapons, losing because the pass rush got to him one too many times. My only disappointment from the game is Brady got far less criticism than I'm sure Manning would've gotten if the two had the reverse games 10 years prior. Anyway, it was just a joy to watch that Broncos defense at full power. And while hte ending was certainly nerve-wracking, seeing him lose on an interception on a 2pt conversion was just beautiful.

1.) 2006 AFC Championship  -  Patriots 34  @  Colts 38

I mean, this is as obvious as Super Bowl LI being the most harrowing. This is still my favorite football memory, if not greatest sports fan memory period. You couldn't right it better. From me questioning if all the Brady voodoo bullshit was real when they went up 21-3 (despite the result, the voodoo is real) To thinking that so many more times even after they tied it at 21-21, to running up the stairs full speed when the TD happened to give them the lead, to ultimately the Brady pick to end it. I can't imagine any game being so meaningful, so beautiful, so emotional and so lasting over this one. I'll remember each damn play for 40 years - granted it helps when I've rewatched it dozens of times.