NFL Week 1

Week 1 Picks (home team in caps)

DOLPHINS (+3) vs Titans
EAGLES (-9) vs Giants
JETS (-4.5) vs Bengals
STEELERS (-4) vs Raiders
Buccaneers (+2) vs REDSKINS
Ravens (+3) vs BROWNS
JAGUARS (-3) vs Bills
Lions (+3) vs BEARS
Seahawks (-3) vs SAINTS
RAMS (-11) vs Cardinals
TEXANS (-4.5) vs Chargers
VIKINGS (-4.5) vs Cowboys
Falcons (-3.5) vs 49ERS
Chiefs (+3) vs BRONCOS
PANTHERS (-3) vs Packers

Hurricanes

Wow. Three hurricanes in the span of almost a month in Florida! I can't remember anything like that. Makes me wonder if we really do need the "life saving" capabilities of Weatherbug.

Also, makes me think that calling the University of Miami teams the "Hurricanes" isn't such a good idea. Sure, it's a cool name, and implies destruction without annoying any specific ethnic groups (tomahawk chop, anyone?), but also sort of makes light of some sort of potentially horrible event. That's why I think all sports teams should be named after articles of clothing, like the New York Knickerbockers.

Maybe I'm just immature...

But reading this statement gave me a chuckle:

"Travis is the starting running back," Mularkey said. "If he needs a blow, Willis is there in the wings and, hopefully, there's not a dropoff in level of play."

The full story:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1877627

Stop raining!

I was supposed to go to the Yankees game today.

The tickets were from a rainout versus the Angels. It turns out they played the whole game, but because of extensive delays we got free tickets to a future game. I picked this one.

Then yesterday, MLB and the Yankees announced that they would play a single admission doubleheader! Two games for the price of one! Super!

Except... As any junior meteorologist might know, Hurricane Frances was in Florida on Sunday. These storms move up the coast and take, maybe 3 days to get around the NY area? Perfect timing. Maybe it would have been wise to consult the weather forecast and put the games on Tuesday (when it was completely clear). Now it's pouring rain here, and likely I will miss a Yankees game AGAIN because of rain. To boot, I get to miss TWO games, despite the fact that I was only planning on going to one.

First NFL Pick

Guaranteed:

Patriots are 3 point favorites over Indy. They're hosting Indy and it's the opener. Pats beat the spread and the Colts. Manning can't solve the Bellichek scheme.

More picks to come Saturday, including the standings.

Texans for Truth

Just starting to realize that part of the reason why so many of my posts reflect on politics is because politics is so amusing to me.

Case in point: "Texans for Truth" have started posting ads questioning the President's military service record. Sound familiar? I love it.

Fortunately, the ridiculousness that is the Texans for Truth has been overshadowed by even greater absurdity - the notion Dick Cheney presented that we would be more vulnerable to terrorists under John Kerry. That we would revert to "pre-9/11 conditions" if we eleceted Kerry. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Cheney part of the "pre-9/11 conditions" as both Secretary of Defense under Bush 41 and also as VP under Bush 43? So is his point we can either vote for someone who will bring us back to "pre-9/11 conditions" or someone who helped to establish those "pre-9/11 conditions" in the first place??

I think I have used the term "9/11" more in this post than in any other post on this blog.

Nuts 4 Nuts

Speaking of funny things, I just rememebered something I saw the other day.

I was walking down the street and this guy who works the Nuts 4 Nuts cart was holding something in his hand while his friend was doing some sort of sewing motion on it. In fact, the Nuts 4 Nuts guy was holding a pigeon. I didn't want to know what his friend was doing. Rest assured, I will not be eating from Nuts 4 Nuts any time soon.

The KFB

The Kitchen Fresh Blog isn't generating the sort of hit count that I'd expected. Now it's sliding in the google search charts too. This leads to a theory:

A) It's not that entertaining.

B-1) I don't have enough friends.
B-2) I don't have enough friends reading the blog.

Or maybe it's all three. I think B-1 is invalid, but the problem is I don't want to subject my buddies to my complaining (leading to B-2). So I have to work on "A" and increase the entertainment value to this thing.

Plan A
I will be funnier

Plan B
I will force funnier things to happen to me

Yankees Phone Line

I'm on hold with the Yankees ticket office. I really like the Yankees but I'm half awake right now and all I want to know is if my game tickets are good for today's scheduled doubleheader (and it's pouring rain right now).

While on hold, instead of playing dopey music, the Yankees play Yankees radio highlights. Do I really need to hear this? Ugh. It's like propaganda. Some of these are Bubba Crosby highlights! Bubba Crosby! Give me a break. Bring back the lame elevator music.

Fantasy Football

I'm awful at Fantasy Football, however it's a great procrastination device.

Here is my team. In parentheses is the number of players at each position that we are starting.

QB (1) Marc Bulger, Byron Leftwich
RB (2) Rudi Johnson, Stephen Davis, Curtis Martin, Eddie George
WR (3) Darrell Jackson, Plaxico Burress, Donald Driver, Drew Bennett
TE (1) Anthony Becht
K (1) Olindo Mare
DEF (1) Buffalo, Denver

I think this team is okay but I'm not in love with it.

US Open

View from Ashe Stadium at the US Open

Read the sign

Seriously...

Stupid things

One stupid thing I did and one stupid thing someone else did.

Mine: I tipped a cab driver $1.20 on a $14 ride. Just because I was a little tipsy doesn't excuse it.

Someone else's: Kevin Brown broke his hand punching a wall. Hey KB! The Yankees need you. I NEED YOU. You're on my fantasy team that's barely holding on to first place (just like the Yankees). I WANT TO WIN. Guess what? When you punch a wall, the wall usually wins.

Selling out

I just sold out and signed up for Google AdSense.

I hope I can make a few pennies (literally, it will be a few pennies) from this program.

It should be interesting, seeing as my site will probably get a ton of ads for the Republicans, the RNC and the Red Sox.

Yep. It's slow tonight.

Kobe

Well, the prosecution dropped the case against Kobe Bryant so looks like he gets to walk away with just a little blemish. The funny thing is that because he was accused of an assault, he had to admit to adultery. If he had kept a lid on it, he wouldn't have even had to admit adultery since the prosecution would have never been able to meet the burden of proof.

This sort of reminds me of Ray Lewis's murder trial where he took a plea to testify against his friends, who, despite his testimony, walked away free, while he had to pay some fine.

RNC 4

Okay... the Republicans are showing a cheesy video about W during this convention coverage. Did the Democrats do something like this and I just missed it? Ugh. This stuff is awful.

Addendum to Zell Miller comments in Post #3. This link is fairly intersting, trying to compare Miller "then" and "now". What's weird about it is how Zell Miller is shown condemning President Bush, but it's President Bush I, not Bush II.

Back on Tuesday, Arnold said, "...one of my movies was called "True Lies." It's what the Democrats should have called their convention." What does that mean? Didn't he mean that they should have called their convention "Lies"? Were the Democrats telling lies that were true? That doesn't even make sense. I hope Arnold keeps dropping his catch phrases and movie puns into his speeches. It makes him amusing, even if the puns don't make sense.

On a lighter note, wouldn't it be great if a candidate at one of these conventions said,

"Mr. Chairman, delegates, guests, I have no intention of running for President of the United States. You all have said a lot of nice things about me all week, but I've decided that the job just isn't worth it. The pay isn't hot, and even though there are great security benefits, I think I'd rather be at home watching a ballgame."

Fall TV

I am so desperate to find things to blog that I will post the tv shows I plan on following this season. In addition, I will tease my first annual football picks by saying that my intention is to be more accurate than those "experts" despite using the same methods (guessing).

So here goes:

M-Thurs 11pm - The Daily Show
Tues 8:30pm - Scrubs
Wed 8pm - Smallville
Thurs 9pm - The Apprentice
Sun 10:30am - Meet the Press
Sun 8pm - The Simpsons

I've already missed the first episode of Scrubs. Damn! I wonder if it'll be re-run sometime soon. I think I'm all Law & Order'd out...

sold

Some guy sold 4000 shares of my blog two weeks ago. But who's buying? At $19 a share? I wouldn't pay three cents to read this thing and I hate pennies.

You know it's slow when you start linking to your own old posts...

RNC 3

That Senator Zell Miller is sure an angry fellow. If I were John Kerry, after the election, I think the first place I would go in Washington DC is to Zell Miller's office where I would immediately beat the piss out of him. It's probably appropriate win or lose. Just a good, solid, old-fashioned brow-beating.

The DNC speeches are available as "Audiobooks" on iTunes. As far as I can tell, the RNC speeches are not currently available, but since the speeches were produced by CSPAN, I can only imagine they will be there too.

Here's a question for you: Who screwed up more in August? John Kerry, The Yankees or the USA Men's Basketball team? Feel free to discuss.

What time is it?

I have to be somewhere at 9am. When I woke up this morning, I looked over at the clock and said, "Crap! 8:30!" So I hopped out of bed with that little "oh no, I'll be completely late" rush of energy and looked over at the clock.

8:03.