Here We Go...Again

 Good morning, except for you Squealon Chickenshit Muskrat. That was a lousy stunt you tried to pull on the people of America on Sunday. You may have deleted the post since then, but the internet is forever, and several of us have receipts. Anyway, I fortunately woke up NOT feeling like P. Diddy. Yes Kesha, I guess that opening lyric from "Tik Tok" (which I think you should be getting royalties from the app TikTok for) was somewhat karmic when you consider Dr. Luke, the alleged Harvey Weinstein of the music industry, produced the song. But I digress...

 

Anyway, I'm somewhat licking my wounds after a terrible week in picking games in the NFL. Started 12-4, but lost the Thursday Night game, went 3-7 on the early games 2-1 on the late games, won the Sunday night catastrophe, but lost MNF thanks to an epic collapse from my Super Bowl favorite this year. I wish I had the knowhow to splice two sound bites together because I would follow Kirk Cousins "YOU LIKE THAT!" quote from several years ago with Jameis Winston's "HELL NO!" quote from around the same time frame (I believe it was when the Bucs were on "Hard Knocks" when Jameis was in Tampa), because that's how Eagles fans and a few Bucs fans are feeling after that game. So, I wound up with a 6-10 record for the week, but I'm still above water at 18-14 overall. Now you know why I don't bet on sports.

Had a lab appointment in Port Ritchey yesterday and will have a follow-up next week. Hopefully, I should get good results back. On the way there though, I noticed that traffic on Shady Hills Rd was rather heavier than usual (I know it was around the time of school starting) and on Little Road, some drivers were rather impatient. Then on the way back, I saw one car nearly run off Little Road and one vehicle on Shady Hills pull out nearly out of control in front of where me and my sisters were driving. It was like Crazy Town. Then again, there's a full moon tonight, so maybe that's it. 

Or is it? Because man was there some crazy shit that went down this weekend. Some of it stemming from Donald Trump's crazy (and untrue) rant on illegal aliens eating cats and dogs. First, the flat-out hideous. Reports surfaced over the weekend that numerous bomb threats had been claimed in Springfield, Ohio alone. Some of which targeted schools. Then the ridiculous, JD Vance, the Ohio Senator who is Trump's running mate this election went on CNN on Sunday and said that they sometime makeup stories and somehow spun it to pin the blame on The Biden Administration's immigration policies. Reminds me of a radio host a couple of decades ago named Lionel, who once upon a time had a show on Tampa Bay's misinformation station, News Radio 970 WFLA, who in one of his promos back then said that they just make it up. By the way, 970 is nothing but right-wing talk radio FWIW. At least I think they still are--I haven't listened to them since the 2016 election. Oh, speaking of Vance, he doubled down on a racist quote made by Donald Trump's new flame (allegedly), and serial Botox abuser Laura Loomer. 

THEN there's the big event that took place Sunday, another assassination attempt on Trump, this time thankfully with no shots fired on the former POTUS. The potential shooter wound up being a certifiable nutcase from Greensboro, NC who once voted for 45 but became disillusioned and was calling for Vivek Ramalamadingdong or whatever his name is (Ramaswamy) and Nikki Haley to run instead. He also laid out on his social medias (which have now been wiped) his plans for the ongoing war in Ukraine, amongst other things. Now the Secret Service dropped the ball big time when Trump was supposedly shot back earlier this summer. I say supposedly because I sure as hell saw no evidence of his ear being hit by a bullet. And the modified maxi-pad he wore over his ear during the RNC? Didn't help his cause as far as optics are concerned. This story though appears to be more straightforward, but Routh was in his hideout spot for twelve hours. Okay, Trump's golf outing was supposedly a last-second change of plans because he was supposed to make a campaign stop on Sunday (I can't find evidence of such news), so how did he know he was going to be there? Did somebody tip him off? Furthermore, you would think that the Secret Service would have scouted the perimeter of Mar-A-Lago to weed out any threats, yet Routh was there for twelve hours. How was he able to avoid being detected until he stuck his AK-47 through the bushes the afternoon of? Not as many questions as the case in Pennsylvania, but still...oh, and nice virtue signaling from our bum-ass governor deciding to waste Florida taxpayer dollars on doing his own investigation 😒.

Quite honestly, I can't wait for election season to be over with. If you follow my Twitter page you know where my thoughts lie, and I, as I imagine a lot of other voters, are exhausted with the rhetoric and the vile mudslinging that has gone on for almost a decade now. I wish I could do exclusively flashbacks and NFL picks on this blog, yet here we are...again.

BonyScribe

NFL Week 2 Picks

(Note: I started this post on Thursday morning, but didn't complete it until the following morning)

 Hello, once again. With Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime doing their season premiere this evening, I may as well get my picks out of the way for this week. Week One was very successful for me personally, as I went 12-4 for the week, with my only misses being the Bengals (ugh), Giants (derp), Browns (what was I thinking?), and Steelers (yes!). This week, I hope to have more of the same. And as usual, 506sports has maps of what games we'll see this week.

Miami over Buffalo. Well, it was quite the interesting Sunday Tyreek Hill had, wasn't it? I'm sure everyone knows by now what happened to him before the game on Sunday entering Hard Rock Stadium, so I won't rehash it here. However, his touchdown in the third quarter in the Dolphins comeback win against Jacksonville reminded me of a very iconic call from years gone by, which could have been put to good use in this example. I would embed it here, but the NFL doesn't want bloggers sharing their content here, so the link goes to YouTube. Buffalo last week had a more epic comeback against Arizona, before Josh Allen took over. I expect a close encounter this time, with Mr. He's Got Getting Away from the Cops Speed being the difference.

(UPDATE: Buffalo won 31-10 and Tua got a concussion...again, so what do I know?)

NY Jets over Tennessee. Hey, at least Aaron Rodgers survived this season's MNF debut, despite the loss. Tennessee meanwhile had a 17-0 lead on Chicago and wound up sh*tting the bed, losing 23-17 while not giving up an offensive touchdown. Will Levis with an early candidate for meme of the season with his surrender cobra after his dimwitted interception that was returned for a pick-6:

San Francisco over Minnesota. The Niners' revenge tour got off to a rousing start on Monday, even without Christian McCaffery. Minnesota got a surprise win over Les Habitantes de East Rutherford. Maybe Sam Darnold can recover his career with the Vikings, but they're the Vikings, a franchise that can't catch a decent break.

Baltimore over Las Vegas. Ravens should have little difficulty against a squad that looked flat against the Chargers, though their fans were in midseason form. Seriously. 

LA Chargers over Carolina. Speaking of the fights that happened in Sofi, the Chargers look to keep pace with Kansas City against a team, and a franchise, with absolutely no fight. Hey here's a hack if you're participating in a knockout pool this season. Select whoever is playing the Panthers for every game this season except for week 9, 11, 17, and 18. Then all you need is to correctly pick whichever teams on weeks 9, 11, 17, and 18 who don't play the Panthers this season, and you should win your knockout pool.

Jacksonville over Cleveland. Jaguars let one slip away in South Florida last week, while the Browns got throttled by Dallas. It may be high time to put Jamies in at quarterback, which is something I thought would be done last week, but then again, what do I know? Jags should be able to righten the ship for their home opener.

Dallas over New Orleans

Indianapolis over Green Bay. Yes, I'm picking the Colts in an upset since Jordan Love sprained his MCL against Philly and will be out up to a couple of months.

New England over Seattle. I don't think anyone would have imagined the Patriots off to a 2-0 start, but it could very well happen after this week.

Detroit over Tampa Bay. Pains me to pick this, but after last week, questions have arisen about the Bucs secondary, which took a hit injury wise against Washington. I do love what I see from the Bucs offense, and if this turns into a shootout, Tampa may spring the upset.

Washington over NY Giants

Pittsburgh over Denver

LA Rams over Arizona

Kansas City over Cincinnati. Did you know that in Springfield, Ohio, illegal aliens there are eating pets? They're eating the dogs; they're eating the cats. Seriously though, the Queen City kitties did not get off to a promising start at home to the Patriots this week, and they play the official team of America's favorite childless cat lady.

Houston over Chicago. Until the Bears score on offensive touchdown, I refuse to believe in them.

Philadelphia over Atlanta. The Birds get their proper home opener, against the pigeons. I can't wait to see the Pigeons go into an 0-2 hole in the NFC South.

And that is your slate of games in the NFL this week. Enjoy.

NFL and College Picks for This Weekend (Part II)

 Hello again everyone. Last I was with you yesterday afternoon I was giving you my picks for college games this weekend. Now, I'm giving my picks for Sunday's and Monday's NFL slate, where I'm off to a 2-0 start with KC and Philly winning their games so far. As usual, to find the games you'll be getting from anywhere in the USA, 506Sports has your hookup. Here in Florida, you'll see the battle of Florida between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Miami Dolphins on the CBS early window, while on Fox the state (except Miami/Palm Beach) will get Pittsburgh at Atlanta followed by Washington at Tampa Bay. Since SE Florida is a petty fricking market, they'll get Minnesota at the Giants followed by Dallas at Cleveland. 

from twitter

Miami over Jacksonville. Probably the most notable matchup of the early slate. Jags went unbeaten in the preseason, which doesn't really mean anything. However, this could shape up to be a possible playoff matchup.

Cincinnati over New England. The Jarrod Mayo era begins in Foxborough.

Houston over Indianapolis. Might be closer than expected. We'll get to see how good these Texans really are and if Indianapolis will be competitive this season with a healthy Anthony Richardson.

Buffalo over Arizona. Buffalo's new stadium is starting to take shape, otherwise I have nothing on this game.

Atlanta over Pittsburgh. More like PittsbUGH, since I'll be rooting for them.

NY Giants over Minnesota. Week One is too early to have a tank bowl but there might be one on Urinating Tree's YouTube page.

Chicago over Tennessee. If I may go off topic for a second, but have you noticed that those annoying ads on your phone have been getting longer and longer? Like you're playing a game, but you need to watch a stupid ad to gain a powerup? Well, it sure seems that ads that used to be thirty seconds long are now a minute long. That's an outrage. Maybe there should be a law put into effect where online ads that interrupt streaming or gaming should be limited to thirty seconds max.

New Orleans over Carolina. And another thing, those ads that are ten times louder than the usual noise level coming off your phone should be banned. Especially the ones for the app called Playwell, who has a failed hip-hop star who probably knows a Nigerian prince, some struggling actress from a cancelled Telemundo series, and an alleged Russian spy as their spokespersons. Yeah, TOTALLY not suspicious at all. Okay, rant over.

Tampa Bay over Washington. The Bucs begin defense of their NFC South crown at home versus the Commanders. I've read online that some fans prefer the old Redskins nickname to that of the Commanders and even want their old logo back. I wish Daniel Snyder hadn't run that franchise (and their stadium) to the ground. Anyway, even Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is excited for the season to start. So are we, Coach. So are we. GO BUCS!

LA Chargers over Las Vegas. An added bonus about living in Tampa Bay (and Florida), we don't have to listen to Tony Romo since he'll be calling this game alongside Jim Nantz (hello friends), but the other three NFC South markets do! LOL.

Denver over Seattle. At least Broncos Country won't have to ride with Russell Wilson this season.

Cleveland over Dallas. My upset pick for this week. Jameis Winston comes off the bench and OUTPLAYS Dak Prescott, surely triggering Skip Bayless, who come to think of it, won't be seen or heard on FS1 anymore, hooray! Oh, and Tom Brady makes his broadcasting debut. 

Detroit over LA Rams. Nice to see Detroit get the opening Sunday night game. Hopefully we'll see more of the Lions in the spot over the next few years.

San Francisco over NY Jets. The 49ers revenge tour starts in Santa Clara against Mr. Discount Double Check, who'll hopefully play longer than four snaps this season. That is as long as his other Achilles holds up.

And there you are, enjoy the games everyone!

BonyScribe

NFL and College Picks for This Weekend

 Hello everyone, except for the fine folks at Publix. Usually, I have a great relationship with Publix, as that is where me and the sisters get most of our groceries. But lately, they haven't really come through for us, well me in particular. Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a noticeable lack of Zero Sugar Cheerwine on their shelves, but (in most stores) they do have regular Cheerwine. Yesterday, they didn't have large bags of Spicy Hot Cheetos I was going to get for Sam. I guess I should be thankful that Publix carries Cheerwine period, since they have stores in North Carolina, and Wal-Mart or Winn-Dixie (to my knowledge) doesn't carry it, and I did get Sam a dozen wonderful sunflowers. So, thanks Publix! Oh, and Happy Birthday!

Anyway, this is the first weekend of me making picks for this football season. I'll start with this weekend's college slate, and then go towards the NFL, including tonight's tilt in Brazil between the Eagles and Packers. This weekend's college slate begins with three games tonight, including the SAT Bowl between Duke and Northwestern, and wraps up tomorrow highlighted by USF at Alabama and Tennessee vs. NC State in Charlotte. So, here it goes:

SMU over BYU
Duke over Northwestern
-------------------------------
Georgia Tech over Syracuse
Army over FAU
Texas over Michigan
Oklahoma State over Arkansas
Cincinnati over Pittsburgh
Iowa over Iowa State
Kentucky over South Carolina
Michigan State over Maryland
Utah over Baylor
Navy over Temple
Auburn over California
Virginia Tech over Marshall
East Carolina over Old Dominion
Miami over FAMU
Air Force over San Jose State
Wake Forst over Virginia
Alabama over USF
Kansas over Illinois
Coastal Carolina over William & Mary
Tennessee over NC State
Colorado over Nebraska
Oklahoma over Houston
Clemson over Appalachian State
Washington State over Texas Tech
Oregon over Boise State
Arizona State over Mississippi State
USC over Utah State
Oregon State over San Diego State

For tonight's NFL contest, the green-less Philadelphia Eagles take on the almost-greenless Green Bay Packers. The Eagles will be wearing all-black tonight to as to not stir up controversy at the home stadium of Brazil soccer club Corinthians (whose main rival, Palmeirians, wears green). Quite honestly, colors have absolutely no effect on a team's performance, unless you were a fan of the Tampa Bay Bucs in the 1980's, like me. By the way, if you want to see the game, hope you have your Peacock subscription handy, because it's only on that streaming platform. 

For tonight though, I have Philadelphia topping Green Bay 23-21.

(I'll be back with the rest of the NFL slate later)

BonyScribe

The NFL Is Here!

 Hello, gotta make this quick because I have a big day with a pretty important person later on. The 2024 NFL Season starts tonight in Kansas City, which means Taylorgeddon has returned. 😶 But before I do that, let me tell you who my season picks will be. 

I'll start with the NFC South. The Buccaneers look for an unprecedented (for them) fourth straight division title and fifth straight playoff appearance, and with a relatively easy schedule things tend to be looking good. But Atlanta made various upgrades to their defense (Matthew Judon) and signed Kirk "You like that!" Cousins at QB. Scary I know, but i think Tampa takes it barring any unforeseen circumstances. So, I'll pick Tampa Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Carolina (who I think will go 0-17). In the NFC East, there hasn't been a repeat champion in two decades, and I think that trend will continue this season. I think the Eagles get their act together and win it, followed by Dallas, Washington, and the New York Giants. The North should be intriguing as Detroit seems to be the chic Super Bowl pick from the NFC this year, but Green Bay under Jordan Love looks to be hot on their tail. Chicago hopefully has their QB of the future, and Minnesota just cannot catch a break; their rookie QB (J. J. McCarthy) is out for the season and their rookie DB Khyree Jackson tragically died in a car crash before training camp began. This season, I have Detroit in a tiebreaker over Green Bay followed by Minnesota and Chicago. In the west, the 49ers look to be strong again while the Rams look to give chase, and a new era begins in Seattle. I have San Francisco followed by the LA Rams, Arizona, and Seattle. 

Over in the AFC East, Buffalo snatched the division title from Miami in Week 18 last season. Can they dominate like they did two seasons ago? I doubt it. Miami is still Miami and maybe we'll get to see what the Jets are like with a healthy Aaron Rodgers, as for the Pats, their long-awaited up commence finally hits them, as they move on from Bill Belichick. My picks are Miami, NY Jets, Buffalo, then an oort cloud, an asteroid belt, and then New England. The North looks like a two-team battle between Baltimore and Cincinnati, with my nod going to the Ravens. Many questions lurk on the Browns and the Steelers now have Russell Wilson, and a coherent offense. I'm picking Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. In the South, many people are picking the Houston, but I have a feeling Jacksonville will rebound from their disappointing campaign last year. I'll go with Jacksonville, Houston, Indianapolis, and Tennessee. Finally, the West and the Kansas City Swifties look to get their unprecedented third straight Super Bowl crown, and I don't think they'll have much of a challenge in their division, which they've won for eight straight years. Unless Justin Herbert has an incredible season under first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh. So, I have Kansas City, the LA Chargers, Denver, and Las Vegas.

My wild cards for the NFC are Green Bay, Dallas, and Atlanta and for the AFC are Houston, NY Jets, and Cincinnati. In the NFC, I have Philadelphia over Detroit and in the AFC, I have Baltimore over Miami. In New Orleans for Super Bowl LVIX (sooner or later the NFL will do what the WWE did for Wrestlemania and drop the Roman numerals altogether) I have...

Baltimore Ravens over Philadelphia Eagles

Oh, and for tonight's game, Kansas City lost to Detroit in last year's kickoff game and won the Super Bowl. So, it's only fitting that they win this year's kickoff game against my pick to win this year's Super Bowl.

Kansas City 27
Baltimore 24

Let the games begin.

BonyScribe

Labor Day Weekend Sh*tposting...

 Hello again everyone. Can you believe it's September already? Guess we should be making preparations to wake up Green Day when this month ends. Anyway, as Cody Rhodes would say, "what do we want to talk about?" Well, I have several things I want to touch on this long weekend. Some news, some college football, some racing, and some wrestling.

Let's start with college football, which started in earnest this weekend. First off, the College Football Playoff is bigger; twelve teams get in, which I assume will grant automatic bids for the winners of each of the four big conferences. Speaking of conferences, that's the second thing I wanted to mention. We no longer have a power five anymore, the Pac-12 all but dissolved when all their members sans two (Washington State and Oregon State) bolted to other conferences. Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC went to the Big 10, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah went to the Big 12, and Cal and Stanford went to the...ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE?! Weird flex, but okay. Also, Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12 for the SEC.

So that now gives us a whopping 16 teams in the SEC, I guess "it just means more" means more teams. I don't know how perennial bottom feeder Vanderbilt will be competitive...hold up (checks notes). Oh, they beat Virginia Tech on Saturday. Never mind. I think the usual suspects will dominate the conference this year in Alabama and Georgia, but also Texas will be in the mix as a first-year conference member. Don't sleep on Oklahoma either. As for the school in the SEC I once rooted for, Florida's going to have a long season. They got throttled by Miami in their home opener and have arguably the toughest schedule in America. Sorry Gator fans, but Captain Overrated (Tim Tebow) isn't walking down the tunnel anytime soon. Thier fans are probably dropping to their knees hoping that the Almighty Tebow can coach the team next season, I just wish that Gator fans would stop obsessing over Captain Overrated. "BuT hE wOn Us TwO NaTtYs aNd Is A hEiSmAn WiNnEr!" Hey Gator fans...

On to the Apathetically Crappy Conference, which I mentioned before added Cal and Stanford, as well as SMU?! I don't know who's going to come out of that conference, maybe Clemson (who got poleaxed by Georgia). But both them and the other top contender (Florida State) crapped their pants in Dublin against Georgia Tech, what a time to be alive! At least North Carolina and NC State won this weekend, so there's they have that going for them.

On to the Big Ten Times Two Minus Two (seriously, there are 18 teams in that league now). That league will be unwatchable because for starters I cannot stand Ohio State. Secondly, Michigan is now the Houston Astros of college football. Sadly, both teams are the odds-on favorites to win that league this year; I don't think Washington or Oregon will capture that conference, though either one could make the CFP. Oh, and Northwestern is playing in a temporary facility while Ryan Field gets redone.

Finally, we come to the Big XVI, formerly the Big XII. I really don't know what to expect from them now that Texas and Oklahoma are in the SEC. Maybe Baylor, maybe TCU. I do know we're getting the renewal of the Holy War (Utah-BYU). As for UCF, I hope they 1) beat Florida and 2) reach a bowl game. 

As for Washington State and Oregon State, they're playing members of the Mountain West, and I think will have their games on the CW Network with one of their announcers being Thom Brennaman, Brennaman hadn't been seen on TV since 2020 when he made an off-color comment on a hot mic as there's a drive by Castellanos into left field and that'll be a home run. And that'll make it a 4-0 game. All kidding aside, it's nice to see one of the more talented sportscasters around back on TV. My guesses for who the G-5 (non-power conference) teams to make the playoff, well I'm guessing either James Madison or Tulane. Possibly Libbity Bibbity (Liberty U) will be selected.

Speaking of Liberty University, William Byron and fifteen others begin the NASCAR Cup Playoffs next weekend. Unfortunately for that sport, the NFL kicks off next weekend, and they will all but forgotten in the realm of sports. One issue I have with NASCAR is it seems like the endings to all of their races have become too WWE-like. Someone wrecks someone else with two laps to go and we wind up with A green-white-checkered finish, where more often than not the process repeats itself. As long as a race doesn't end under caution though...ridiculous. Another issue is some of the sponsors the racers have. We used to see sponsors like Budweiser, Coors, Square D, Havoline, Gatorade, etc. on these cars. Nowadays you have sponsors that are subliminally political, like Liberty University, the "He Gets Us" (who exactly, Captain Overrated?) evangelical campaign, or glorified ambulance chaser extraordinaire Morgan & Morgan. No wonder Kyle Busch didn't win a race this season and failed to reach the playoffs. What's next, Justin Algeir will have a car sponsored by 1-800-Ask-Gary?? We had a failed Trump for President 2020 sponsorship by Corey Lajoie that year, and he finished next to last at the Brickyard 400. At least IndyCar has decent sponsors on their rides. 

Well, I think I've said enough for this weekend, I'll be back later next week with my NFL preview and Week 1 picks. Later.

BonyScribe