To Add An FM Tuner, Or Not To Add An FM Tuner…

That is the question.

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to wait, suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and add one now?

The device I speaketh of is my iPod Touch, and the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that I suffer is that when I’m out and about, like today, and the Pats (insert your favorite team here) are on, I need to carry my little micro AM/FM radio with me. Apple didn’t see fit to bestow upon my Touch an FM tuner, so I have little choice in the matter. They added one to the latest generation Nano and iPhone, but sadly, not to the Touch.

Luckily, there’s an FM tuner that works with the Touch, iPhone and 3rd gen and up Nanos, The Griffin Navigate. It’s a slick little inline remote with an OLED screen, and it doubles as an FM tuner. It can also be used with Griffin’s free iFM Radio Browser app that will look up all the available stations in your area and auto program them into your Touch or iPhone. Pretty cool!

Ay, but here’s the rub; 9to5Mac and other sources are reporting that there’s a dormant chip in the 3rd gen Touch, that when activated will allow both Wireless N and FM receive and transmit. Hmmm, sounds a little like their Bluetooth chip that an upgrade, for a price, to OS 3 gave greater functionality to. It’s been hypothesized that Apple may unveil this little on board extra as soon as this January.

So, is it worth shelling out 50 bucks for FM tuner functionality today, when the device may be unnecessary in a couple of months?

For me, yes. I have a 2nd gen Touch and a 3rd gen Nano. The Navigate works with both devices and neither has the dormant onboard capability, but if you own a new 3rd gen Touch, nuh-uh. Wait awhile, and you may save yourself some money. 50 bucks will buy you a pretty decent dinner, or a couple of my T-shirts!

By the way, the Patriots bested those knaves from Miami today, and I would have missed our plucky knight's great moment of victory, were it not for the lowly FM broadcast.

What say you now, Master Porter?

Patriots Go 11 And 5 But Miss Playoffs

The Patriots finished off their regular season with a 13-0 win over the Bills and an 11-5 record, but it just wasn’t enough for a playoff berth in the hotly contended AFC.

The Dolphins clinched the AFC East Division Championship when they beat the Jets today, even though they finished the season tied with the Pats at 11-5 overall and 4-2 in their division, by virtue of a conference record tie breaker (Dolphins 8-4, Pats 7-5).

Chances of a Patriots wildcard spot went down in flames today also, when the Ravens beat the Jags, finishing 11-5 and clinching one of the two wildcard spots by virtue of the same conference record tie breaker (Ravens 8-5). The Colts had already locked up the other spot.

Although I’m bitterly disappointed that the Patriots season is over, especially since the craptastic Cardinals made the cut with a 9-7 record, I have to give the homeboys credit. They did way better than we could have expected this season, and had really jelled into a first level team, finishing off their impressive 11-5 season with a 4 game winning streak. I’ve said before that I’ve seen some pretty bad Patriots teams in my day, and this isn’t one of them.

Kudos to Matt Cassel for a season well played. He grew into his roll a little more each week, and was playing like a veteran down the stretch. He’s certainly a better quarterback than most that will start next week. The Patriots stable of standout receivers helped out a great deal, but it still comes down to on field decisions, and the kid is getting very good at them. He becomes a free agent now, and I hope he does well for himself and gets the payday he deserves.

That being said, if Brady is the least bit questionable for the start of next season, the Pats have got to franchise him. 14 mil for one season isn’t too shabby...

So, thanks to all the players and coaching staff. They gave us their all, even though the season looked dismal from day one. Hey, it sucks having the season end so early, but if we know anything about this team, it’s that they’ll be back next year with a vengeance.

For now, I’m holding out hope for a Falcons-Dolphins Super Bowl showdown. How can you not love Ryan and Pennington? It would sure beat an all Manning Bowl. I'd have to smash all my TVs if that happened.

Casell Throws For 415 Yards, Pats Defeat Dolphins 48-28

Wow. How about those Patriots?

You've gotta love this team, and you’ve gotta love Matt Casell. He’s really developing nicely, spreading the ball around, throwing strikes, and moving when he needs to. This was his second straight game throwing for over 400 yards, putting him in some pretty elite company, and he also got his second rushing touchdown of the season. This guy will not be denied.

Moss also had three touchdown catches today, passing old teammate Chris Carter and moving into 3rd place in NFL career touchdowns. Check out the Game Notes and Quick Hits on Patriots.com for more details.

On Second Thought…

Ouch.

We got clubbed. No offense, no defense, no nothin’. The Pats always seem to have trouble with the Dolphins, but this was ridiculous. They ran all over the defense, and Porter and company came after Cassel with a vengeance. Ugly.., just ugly.

Well, we’re headed into the bye week and the Pats won’t play again until October 5th against San Fran. Which team will we see come out of the bye? For that matter, which quarterback? Cassel took a pounding today, and Belichick had O’Connell in at the end. Snaps for O'Connell, or was Cassel a hurtin' buckaroo? You never know…

Full game recap (if you can stand it…) here on Patriots.com.

15 and 0 With One More To Go!

The Pats beat Miami 28 to 7 today improving to 15 and 0 on the season and in the process broke all kinds of personal, team and NFL records. There’s just too many of them to mention. Click here at Patriots.com for the complete list.

Of note, Tom Brady had 3 TD passes in the first half, tying Dan Marino’s old record of 48 and inching closer to Manning’s current record of 49 in a season. Laurence Maroney also had an incredible day with 132 yards on 7 carries and 1 rushing TD. Two of the carries were for more than 50 yards (one was for 51 yards and the other was for 59 yards and a TD). It’s good to see him coming on down the stretch.

The Pats led 28-0 at the end of the first half, but seemed to come out a little flat offensively for the second half. Brady threw his 7th and 8th interceptions on the year and it seemed at times that he was trying to force the ball into coverage. He may have been a little too eager to get the TD record out of the way. Who could blame him if he was? You don’t get many chances like this during an NFL career and personally I’d love to see it. Perhaps next week, against Baby Manning and the G men? That would be pretty sweet.

Another bright spot was the Pats Defense, who not only did a pretty good job of stopping the run but also doled out some serious punishment in the defensive backfield. The Pats Safeties were like heat seeking missiles out there. The D line and Linebackers also did a great job of keeping the Dolphins out of the end zone. When Lemon rolled out and scrambled for the goal line on 4th down he missed the pylon and I think it was because he didn’t want to lay out for the big lick that he knew was coming. Turnover on downs. That’s what smash mouth play does for you.

So, the ride continues through Giants Stadium next week and who knows what records will fall. All and all I’d have to say I’m a pretty happy fan.

P.S. How cool was it to see Troy Brown out there today? Even with the muffed punt it did my heart good to see him back in action. You've gotta love the Patriots organization, they always do the right thing.