Someone Wake Up Green Day...

 ...September is coming to an end. That means the spooky month is upon us, and already Halloween-inspired television ads are inundating our programs. The "Why can't we get in the running car?" Geicoween spot I've seen already. Did you know that's a seven-year old commercial? I thought those that silly Discover Card ads that have been running lately were old; you know, the one where the woman is screaming "it's cash back match people!!!" while all her coworkers are giving her funny looks like little Chloe in that viral video about her sister going to Disneyland several years ago. Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent.

Let's take a gander on how I did last weekend? Well after a somewhat sluggish start, I matched my 11-4 mark of the week before, and got the upset special right...AGAIN! You're welcome, NC State fans.

Let's see if I can up that mark for this week? Here are my picks for this week's college slate:

Tulsa over Houston
Wisconsin over Michigan
North Carolina over Duke
Pitt over Georgia Tech
Georgia over Arkansas
Notre Dame over Cincinnati
Ohio State over Rutgers
Syracuse over Florida State
UCF over Navy
SMU over USF
Florida over Kentucky 
Air Force over New Mexico
Army over Ball State
Baylor over Oklahoma State ("upset" special)
LSU over Auburn

As for the NFL, after what was another unreal week, I went 12-4 straight up (for the second straight week), but a measly 8-8 against the spread. There was another Gusgasm, and also a record-breaking field goal to win a game, although it shouldn't have happened. Also, the Giants shot themselves in the foot again, leading to another loss, and my Bucs may have been looking ahead to this Sunday night in Foxborough (then again, maybe not) in losing to the Rams.

Anyway, here's this weekend's NFL picks:

CIN (-7.5) over JAX

NO (-7.5) over NYG

KC (-7) over PHI

BUF over HOU (+16.5)

DAL (-4.5) over CAR

CLE (-2) over MIN

IND (+2) over MIA

TEN (-7) over NYJ

DET (+3) over CHI

WAS (-1.5) over ATL

LAR over ARI (+5)

SF (-3) over SEA

GB (-6.5) over PIT

BAL (pick 'em) over DEN

TB (-7) over NE

LV (+3) over LAC

To see which games you'll get to see, 506 Sports has your info. 

One bonus pick this week, Apopka over Evans in high school football. I don't normally pick high school games, but I had to pick my HS alma mater over that school in Pine Hills. 

Some other things before I go just to trigger certain schoolteachers in Orange County. Anyone who watches/follows professional wresting sports entertainment are probably wondering what on Earth they saw at the end of WWE's special event last Sunday. For those (like me) who have been following the WWF/E for years, this has to be the hokiest thing we've ever seen. As we were watching it live, we thought the same thing: 

Their next one is in Saudi, so I won't be watching for...reasons.

Someone on twitter about a month ago pondered the question who my five crushes were or who had a crush on me. First off, if anyone has a crush on me, it would be a first. Secondly, if you want to know who five of my crushes are, well I can give you five random names since I'm 47 and quite frankly am getting kinda old for this shit. 

Heather Locklear
Miley Cyrus
Lynda Carter c. 1979
she who shall not be named (told you I would trigger someone)
and since it's Halloween season, Erin Nicole Kline.

Who's she, you ask? Well she portrayed Chance the Clown at Universal Studio Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights (which I've never been to by the way).

She kind of reminds me of a bartender in the Tampa Bay area I used to be interested in but has since gotten married. Anyway, she hasn't been around for a few years now and that bums me out to be honest, because she was the most attractive clown like ever. Wait a minute, someone has a question for me?

"Why can't we just get in the running car?!"

Oh jeez...😖  

CT

College Week 4/NFL Week 3

 

Greetings everyone, except for you Brian Laundrie. Well, it's Friday afternoon, and you know what that means:

...too bad I couldn't find a GIF with larger captions,  but anyway let's get after it, starting with the college slate:

College week 4

Last week was my first week keeping track of college games, and I didn't do too badly, going 11-4. I hope for a similar outcome this week...

Virginia over Wake Forest

Libbity Bibbity over Syracuse

Texas over Texas Tech

Notre Dame over Wisconsin

Mississippi State over LSU

Michigan over Rutgers

Arkansas over Texas A&M 

NC State over Clemson (upset special)

Louisville over Florida State

Purdue over Illinois

Duke over Kansas

Florida over Tennessee

Oklahoma over West Virginia

North Carolina over Georgia Tech

BYU over USF (by a thousand)

Oregon over Arizona

UCF has the week off to lick their wounded pride.

I hit on my upset special last week (West Virginia over Va Tech), and I'm going ACC again this week. Clemson BARELY beat Georgia Tech at home (in a game that had a lengthy weather delay), and their offense without Trevor Lawrence looks lost. 

NFL Week 3

Last night I correctly picked Carolina minus the 8 points, giving me a 1-0 start to the week. Let's see f I can keep it going:

BAL (-8) over DET

NYG (-3) over ATL

NO (+3) over NE

PIT (-3) over CIN

TEN (-5.5) over IND

BUF over WAS (+7.5)

KC (-7) over LAC

ARI over JAX (+7.5)

CLE (-7) over CHI

DEN (-10.5) over NYJ

LV (-4) over MIA

SEA (-1.5) over MIN

LAR (+1.5) over TB 😑

GB (+3) over SF

DAL (-3.5) over PHI

Wait, I hear the Weeknd is trying to find that GIF that has larger fonts:

Oh, A Bonus Pick For You

Melbourne over Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League Grand Final. Melbourne hasn't won a premiership since JFK was President, and America had zero clue what "footy" was. Damn you ESPN for getting me hooked when I was little!

oh, and Go USA in the Ryder Cup!  \

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

CT

It's Fall Y'all

 Hello, and welcome to autumn. Except if you live in Florida where if Tim Tebow sees his shadow, there's at least six more weeks of summer. Or was it Chief Osceola? Anyway, if you live in Florida, expect more swamp-ass conditions for about another month. I hate to start this post on a somber note, but in case you somehow haven't heard, the Gabby Petito, the young travel vlogger, was found dead near Grand Teton National Park. The boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, has been missing since last week in a vast nature reserve near Sarasota, Florida. The latest on his search effort is that the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office has deployed a dive team in the hopes of finding his body, because let's be honest, unless he's Bear Gryllis, there isn't any way he survived that long in this:

The announcement of the discovery of a body that matched her description was made late Sunday evening. Soon after that announcement, some weird things started happening. There were two quick power surges that knocked out cable for about fifteen minutes, and coincidentally the Tampa Bay Bucs started to struggle in their game against the Atlanta Falcons. Cable came back, and the Bucs managed to pull away for a convincing win. I was intrigued though; was there a sudden energy jolt delivered to the Tampa area as a result of this? I asked around on my former roomie who has a much better handle on these types of energies than I do as well as others on Facebook. They all said they didn't feel a thing. So I guess it was just me, so much for thinking,

Football Debriefing

I was indeed better than last week in picking games, sort of. In college picks, I was 11-4. In the pros (including last Thursday's game) I was 12-4 straight up but 9-7 against the spread, so for the season, I'm 21-11 and 19-13 respectively) with lots of room for improvement. Probably the most fun game of the bunch was one not a whole lot of people nationally saw. Vikings and Cardinals at first looked to tilt the scoreboard but then settled down. At the end, it was high drama. And now, ladies and gentlemen, Gus Johnson. Isn't he a national treasure, and guess what? He's calling the Arizona-Jacksonville game this Sunday. Yeah, it is the Jaguars, but at least you'll get Gus. Kind of a yin and yang situation.

As for this Thursday's game, The surprising Carolina Panthers take on the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. The Panthers incredibly have the league's number one scoring defense, having allowed a measly 21 points. The Texans? Well...there's this. JaguarGator9 is a pretty good follow on YouTube if 

you're interested in NFL history and are into that sort of thing. I never thought I'd hear the name Rich Kotite in the year 2021, but here we are (sorry if you're a fan of the NY Jets). Give me the Panthers minus the 8 points. As for the team they beat last week...

The Roof! The Roof! The Roof Is On Fire!

As if the New Orleans Saints didn't have enough problems, yesterday the roof of Caesar's Superdome caught on fire. Fortunately, the fire was put out rather quickly and there was only one hospitalized with minor burns. It did create all sorts of memes though amongst fans and rivals of the Saints alike. One such meme comparing the fire to the announcement of a new Pope. I guess instead of saying "Habemus Papem", after last week's loss some football fans said, "Oh Jameis, nopem."

I'll have more coming up hopefully Friday. In the meantime, please ask God or the Universe to give Florida some cooler weather!

CT

Week Two NFL And More

 Hello. I hope everyone is having a good morning, at least a better one than our POTUS. Yeah, as the kids say nowadays, that is a big oof. Still not as big as oof than this potential partnership would be though. Anyway, it's the weekend, so the focus of this entry of course football, and being that it's already past 11am EDT, I may as well get into who I think will win this week.

Starting with some college games:

Michigan State over Miami
Oklahoma over Nebraska (seriously, why can't those two play each other every year, like they USED to)
Cincinnati over Indiana
Coastal Carolina over Buffalo
West Virginia over Virginia Tech (upset special)
Colorado over Minnesota
Notre Dame over Purdue (Drew Brees, Purdue grad, is helping call the game today. This may get           awkward)
Clemson over Georgia Tech

Head: Alabama over Florida
Heart: Florida over Alabama

Wake Forest over Florida State
Northwestern over Duke
FAMU over USF
Penn State over Auburn
North Carolina over Virginia
Boise State over Oklahoma State

Now, the NFL:

DEN (-6) over JAX
BUF (-3.5) over MIA
CLE over HOU (+12.5)
CHI (-2.5) over CIN
SF (-3) over PHI
NO (-3.5) over CAR
LAR (-3.5) over IND
PIT over LV (+6.5)
NE over NYJ (+6)
ARI (-3.5) over MIN
TB (-12.5) over ATL
DAL (+3) over LAC
SEA over TEN (+6.5)
KC (-3.5) over BAL
GB over DET (+11)

How will I do? Hopefully better than last week. Enjoy the games!

CT

I Don't Have A Catchy Title For This Entry...

 ...so I'll just title it my thoughts for September 16, hello everyone. This has been a rather interesting so far, has it not? Among the things that have happened: a cat almost spent all its nine lives at a football game, Nicki Minaj put her foot in mouth, were we close to having a unnecessary war earlier this year and an NFL stadium has a sewage problem.

Cliffhanger at Hard Rock 

Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the darkest day in our nation's history, but for one feline that somehow got into Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, it was a day it will never forget. By now you've likely seen the viral video of a poor black and white kitty clinging to its nine lives from some guide wire on the facade of the upper deck of the eastern end of the stadium. The cat falling on an American flag before softly hitting the ground, then being heroically picked up by several fans after surviving the ordeal. For the cat's trouble, it immediately urinated all over its rescuers but after surviving a twenty-something foot fall, can you blame the cat? Poor thing was scared to death (and from looking at the video, it wasn't too thrilled about being picked up and hoisted). 

How the heck did the cat get into the stadium to begin with? I mean I've seen the random stray cat inside stadiums before, including one at another Miami area stadium. I've seen foxes and other widlife invade racetracks before, but seriously, how? I guess it was a lost stray that somehow wandered onto the property of the stadium (if my memory serves me correct, there are no residences within at least a half-mile of the stadium). Let's just hope when the F1 race takes place in Miami next year that Toonces doesn't catnap one of the drivers and takes his place on the grid.

Nicki, What's Good?

Nikki Minaj made news by not attending the Met Gala this week, which looks like a waste of time to me. But it wasn't her absence itself that was making headlines, but the reason behind her absence. She went on to talk about her cousin's friend who got the COVID vaccine and how he had to cancel his upcoming wedding because he became impotent and "his testicles were swollen." First off, I am vaccinated and can say that that particular aspect of my internal plumbing works just fine. Secondly, Dr. Fauci and the interior health minister in her home nation of Trinidad & Tobago have debunked her claims. However, to Minaj's delight, America's favorite purveyor of misinformation, Tucker Carlson, came to her defense on his "show" after the Trinidadian Health Minister's statement. To quote George Carlin here, "f*** Tucker." Nicki says that she will stay away from Twitter now since she claims she's been suspended from the website (she hasn't), but I have a feeling she'll be back for more, let's hope she doesn't manufacture beef with Miley Cyrus again. 

Speaking of Mil(l)ey...

Excuse the somewhat forced and awkward segue, but another headline from yesterday were some explosive revelations in a new book from current Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, who also served in that position during the final months of the prior administration. Of course GOP leaders are up in arms about this and are calling Milley to resign or, as the former guy wants, to be arrested and tried for treason. 

First off, has this "stable genius" forgotten the stunt he tried to pull on January 6th? Secondly, anything the former guy has to say should be irrelevant. On a personal note, I've lost many a friend and/or family member because I was one of those who refused to buy what bill of goods (snake oil) he was trying to sell. One of the reasons this country (and the world) is in the mess we're in to me is Trump. His number one agenda wasn't to make America great again, but to purposefully dismantle everything Presidents Obama (and to a smaller extent President Bush) did, especially when it comes to defending against a potential pandemic. I for one am thankful that dolt didn't try to start an unnecessary war with someone (like China), because the world would be knee deep in fecal matter.

Did I Say Fecal Matter?

Last Sunday during the LA Chargers-Washington Redskins Football Team game at FedEx Field in Landover, MD, a pipe broke that lead to water dousing spectators down below. At first, the leaking liquid was called sewage, but was later attributed to a rainwater storage tank. Crisis averted, I guess. Still, a billion dollar organization and you can't get the pipes fixed in your home stadium before the first week of the season? I'd at least break off a phone call to Roto-Rooter to make sure those type of issues don't arise.

FedEx Field just happens to be the site of tonight's NFL Network exclusive to kick off week 2. Last week of course was insane (more on that tomorrow), and I didn't have the best of weeks, going 9-7 straight up and 10-6 against the spread. Tonight, the Football Team is a 3.5 point favorite against the Giants, who looked pathetic at home against Denver last week. Give me Washington minus the 3.5. Despite Ryan Fitzpatrick being out with a hip injury, I have more than enough faith in their defense and backup QB Taylor Heinicke. 

Until tomorrow

CT

Week One Picks and Re-alignment Issues.

 Remember a couple of years ago, when I talked about college football realignment and how I thought that whole process should go? Probably not. Well I bring it up because this week, the Big XII finally has XII teams again coming soon with the addition of Houston, Cincinnati, Brigham Young, and Central Florida, to counter the defection of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. 

This of course will create repercussions throughout college football; South Florida no longer has a main conference rival. In fact, the AAC will have to scramble to find new members like Charlotte? Army? Mars Hill? (OK, that was a joke) But how desperate will that conference be in replenishing the three missing members? They've lost three rather significant media markets. Of course there will be other effects too, including whether or not the Big XII will remain a Power Five conference. The SEC, and their soon to be 16 teams are certain. The recent alignment of the ACC, Big 10, and Pac 12 means they will ensure staying power conferences. A lot remains to be seen with this realignment, so all we can do is stay tuned.

I kinda wanted my idea to work though...

NFL Week One

Well, 2021 is off to a good start for me. I picked the Bucs to win Thursday night, but the Cowboys to cover the 8 point spread; both happened. So I'm off to a 1-0 start both straight up and ATS. No I don't plan on taking a trip to Vegas anytime soon. But I will give my picks for the rest of the games.

ATL(-3.5) over PHI

CAR(-4) over NYJ

LAC (+1) over WFT

SF over DET (+8.5)

BUF over PIT (+6.5)

SEA (-3) over IND

MIN (-3) over CIN

JAX (-3) over HOU

TEN (-3) over ARI

MIA (+3) over NE

NYG (+3) over DEN

NO (+3.5) over GB

KC over CLE (+5.5)

LAR (-7.5) over CHI

BAL (-4.0) over LV

To find out which game you're watching, 506sports has you covered. Oh, and we get a double double-header this week.

Enjoy the games everyone!

CT

9/11--20 Years On

 9/11.

To everyone, it used to be just a date on the calendar. For the past twenty years however, it means the day our world changed forever.

There have been many times in the last ten-plus where I would see videos on YouTube where I would replay the network news coverage on that day, just to remind myself what actually happened and to see for myself that there were no conspiracies that ran rampant in the months that followed what happened (there's a YouTube channel that goes into detail about those theories and why they're debunked. I highly recommend it). And over and over I find that ABC's coverage with the late Peter Jennings was probably the most informative, with Tom Brokaw and NBC (who I saw) a close second. 

As the years have gone by, I still cannot begin to imagine the sheer heartbreak of not only New Yorkers, but the entire nation. Just yesterday on Twitter, I saw a picture of a little boy with the burning WTC towers in the background, and you could see in his eyes something was wrong. Or the videos of the terrified onlookers first staring at what was happening, then running for their lives as the towers crumbled to the ground. Or especially this image, when then President Bush, at an elementary school in Sarasota at the time, found out about the second plane crash (shown above).

What happened in the immediate aftermath was remarkable. We came as one as a country. Republicans and Democrats actually got along. Patriotism was at an all-time high. The Yankees became somewhat likeable in the eyes of some baseball fans. America rallied. We weren't going to allow a podunk terrorist, Osama bin Laden, bring the greatest nation on Earth to her knees. 

And then months later, we went after him. Little did we know, or believe at the time in would almost take an entire decade before we finally caught and killed the bastard, and spend almost two decades (until just this past month) before we would finally end our involvement in Afghanistan.

It's easy and I guess convenient to armchair quarterback what has taken place over the last twenty years, or play revisionist history of said events, such as, what if 9/11 didn't happen? Or if President Clinton had taken out bin Laden? How different would our nation look? We will likely never know the answers to those questions, but there is something that is known:

We must never forget. 

CT