Scribbler's 11th Hour Post of the Week: The WMATA Chronicles, My Love/Hate Affair with D.C. Metro

Hello everyone...my name is Dirk Scribbler...and I'm a D.C. Metro geek.  (Cue the other weirdos in the room screaming, "HI, DIRK!!!")  Ever since seeing this commercial on TV that featured a toy bus and train that was never for sale--believe me, I researched it and asked my mom and dad about it to no avail--I have been fascinated by every and all things Metro since 1985.  I know what the Flxible New Looks, the GMC "Fishbowls", the MAN SG310s or the God-forsaken Neoplan AN440s are.  (If you rode a bus out of Southeast between the mid-1980s and the early-1990s that was supposed to be an upgrade from the older New Look models but got stuck on one that broke down, then you already know what a Neoplan AN440 is, too, and can understand my bittersweet disdain.)  You didn't need to go all the way to Metro Center or call 637-7000 because I was the original Metro NextBus for the hood, literally possessing every bus schedule in circulation.  Entire Saturdays and Sundays were blocked out to either build scale-model Metrobuses out of cardboard paper or ride bus routes and subway lines from one end to the other.  Oh yeah, and it also doesn't help that at least four relatives on my dad's side of the family currently work for Metro; heck, I wanted to be a bus driver when I was eight years old and my first job at 22 was nearly with Metro if it weren't for a six-month waiting period to enter their training program.  I guarantee that you probably won't find anybody in your six degrees of separation who is as obsessed with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) as I was and, to a certain degree, still am.  However, amidst rising fares, safety hazards, an aging rolling stock of rail cars and a revolving door of general managers--they went ten months without one last year--the Metro that I grew up loving so much is just not the award-winning transit system that it used to be.  As a youth, all I had to do was make sure that I had enough tokens or enough on my student farecard to get to and from school and just enjoy the ride.  Now I have the thought of possibly not making it home in one piece sitting deep in my subconscious.  So being inspired by frequent conversations that I have with Facebook friends as well as an actual page of the same name started by one of my high school friends, entertain me as I go through my own personal "WMATA Chronicles".

Scribbler's Predictions: 2015 AFC and NFC Championships

So we all know the reason why I went 4-for-4 with my picks this weekend: that God-forsaken team who plays in Landover didn't have a game to blow.  Let's quickly recap what will probably be the best weekend of the playoffs--although I said the same thing last year about the Packers-Seahawks game and the Super Bowl may have been on par, so don't put all your stock in a potential "prisoner of the moment" declaration.  The Chiefs might have been a secure Knile Davis carry and a missed Marcus Peters INT away from upsetting the Patriots, but that's a strong might.  Two things about the Packers: 1) I am 85.1 percent certain that Aaron Rodgers has a particular Tupac Shakur song on repeat before every big game, and 2) the Packers would probably go to the Super Bowl every year if they didn't either have to play the Cardinals in Glendale in overtime games or play the NFC West period--a division that has knocked them out of the playoffs four straight years.  Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson and the Seahawks do not concede quietly or easily and it always makes for an entertaining game and a boost in respect for their competitive spirit, but you can't turn the ball over, not take field goals when you already don't have the momentum, mismanage the clock, miss field goals when you do take them and go into halftime down 31-0 to a team like the Panthers.  Finally, the Steelers wish they had as sure handed of a Fitzgerald as the Cardinals as they were moving the ball en route to a potential TD that could've give them an eight-point lead.  Gotta love a weekend when even the game that looked like you could run a few errands during the second half ended up being a nail biter.  Nevertheless, more losers are weeded out as the conference championships are upon us and we move another step closer to the golden anniversary of the Super Bowl.  More important, you get to read the slightly-above-average-informed opinion that means the most to you.  Contain yourself, you faithful subscriber you...