Some September Samples

Coffee Makes Me Happy!

Smith Sharks Basketball Fever. Catch It

There's Work To Do.

This I KNOW. But convince me otherwise

It's Monday morning and the Sunday night syndrome got me thinking about what is real and what is not.

Maybe because it was Sunday I was thinking that spirituality is a vital human component. I'd like to express this to the world and this is probably my way. However, I don't like people shoving it down my throat, why should I do it to someone else. My version of spirituality may, or probably does, conflict with what others believe. I do not feel qualified to tell others they are absolutely wrong, but I know that those who think they are qualified probably aren't.

How can EVERYTHING be political? I think my razor cursed at me this morning for shaving the left side of my face first.

The baseball gods have a sense of humor. OK, this isn't really a spiritual issue but the fates of baseball cannot be called anything else. How else do you explain the Rays working so hard to get into first place only to lose to Seattle, have Minnesota also lose so that Tampa Bay couldn't gain on them and then New York wins a game in extra innings where two of the best closers in the game each blew a save. The Rays could have provided themselves a cushion with a win and Twins and Yankees losses but the gods do not want it to be easy.

Ichiro is worth the price of admission. However, I went to Sunday's game on someone else's ticket.

I'm learning photography. I don't care if I'm awful at it now. It will get better. I'll post some examples later.

At this time I want to do so many things with my career that it is hurting my chances of getting a job in any one area.

More stuff kept me up last night but I can't go on as long as I was awake so I'll save them until later.

NFL Week 3

Alright, last week was just average. I finished 8-8 for the week which brings me to 17-15 overall. Still not bad for the first two weeks relative to the professionals.

This week I am going into a completely irrelevant and different sport at a different level than the pros. What I am looking at this week is the comparison of records of the most local universities major baseball programs winning percentage. The level of competition is irrelevant, however, I am trying to stick to Division 1 programs. If a team's local university plays in the ACC but has a worse record than a team in the Horizon league for example, it doesn't matter. The team represented by the better winning percentage gets the selection, regardless of conference.

With that in mind, here are this week's selections.

Visitor	School	Win %	Home	School	Win %	Selection	Point Spread
Cincinnati Bengals	U Cincinnati	.500	Carolina Panthers	UNCC	.696	Carolina Panthers	+3.5
San Francisco 49ers	U of SF	.500	Kansas City Chiefs	U Missouri	.527	Kansas City Chiefs	+2.0
Detroit Lions	Wayne State	.615	Minnesota Vikings	U Minnesota	.516	Detroit Lions	+11.5
Dallas Cowboys	TCU	.794	Houston Texans	Rice University	.635	Dallas Cowboys	+2.5
Atlanta Falcons	Georgia Tech	.758	New Orleans Saints	Tulane U	.571	Atlanta Falcons	+4.0
Pittsburgh Steelers	U Pittsburgh	.679	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	U South Florida	.448	Pittsburgh Steelers	-2.5
Cleveland Browns	Cleveland State	.218	Baltimore Ravens	Coppin State	.298	Baltimore Ravens	-11.0
Tennessee Titans	Vanderbilt	.697	New York Giants	Rutgers	.536	Tennessee Titans	+3.0
Buffalo Bills	Canisius	.650	New England Patriots	Boston College	.517	Buffalo Bills	+14.5
Philadelphia Eagles	Temple	.275	Jacksonville Jaguars	U Jacksonville	.482	Jacksonville Jaguars	+3.0
Washington Redskins	George Washington U.	.481	St. Louis Rams	St. Louis U	.532	St. Louis Rams	+4.0
San Diego Chargers	U San Diego	.627	Seattle Seahawks	U Washington	.500	San Diego Chargers	-5.5
Oakland Raiders	UC Berkeley	.537	Arizona Cardinals	U Arizona	.586	Arizona Cardinals	-4.5
Indianapolis Colts	Butler	.420	Denver Broncos	Northern Colorado	.586	Denver Broncos	+5.5
New York Jets	Rutgers	.536	Miami Dolphins	Florida Atlantic	.623	Miami Dolphins	-1.5
Green Bay Packers	UW Milwaukee	.559	Chicago Bears	U Illinois	.500	Green Bay Packers	-3.0

Check back next week to see how it went.

NFL Week 2 Picks

I picked 9 out 16 last week against the spread using a completely non-football basis.

This week I will change things up a little bit and make my selections based on a football statistic that realistically has nothing to do with this week's game. I am going into the Way Back Machine and selecting the games this week based on the team with a better running game in 1990. Why rushing yards and why 1990? Hey, let's face it; it shouldn't matter. The point is that I could just as easily throw darts at a board to pick them (week 11). But at least this approach gives me a little research to do.

The rules for this week's selections are simple, if your predecessors had more rushing yards than your opponent's predecessors in 1990 you get the selection. Regardless of whether or not I like you. Got that Jets? If you had no predecessors in 1990 too bad, you had zero yards for the year.

So here they are.

Visitors

1990 Rushing Yds.

Home

1990 Rushing Yds.

Selection

Point Spread

Philadelphia Eagles	2,556	Detroit Lions	1,927	Philadelphia Eagles	-6.0
Chicago Bears	2,436	Dallas Cowboys	1,500	Chicago Bears	+7.5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	1,626	Carolina Panthers	0	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	+3.0
Kansas City Chiefs	1,948	Cleveland Browns	1,220	Kansas City Chiefs	+2.0
Arizona Cardinals	1,912	Atlanta Falcons	1,594	Arizona Cardinals	+6.5
Miami Dolphins	1,535	Minnesota Vikings	1,867	Minnesota Vikings	-5.5
Pittsburgh Steelers	1,880	Tennessee Titans	1,417	Pittsburgh Steelers	+5.0
Baltimore Ravens	0	Cincinnati Bengals	2,120	Cincinnati Bengals	+1.5
Buffalo Bills	2,080	Green Bay Packers	1,369	Buffalo Bills	+13
Seattle Seahawks	1,749	Denver Broncos	1,872	Denver Broncos	+3.0
St. Louis Rams	1,612	Oakland Raiders	2,028	Oakland Raiders	-3.5
Jacksonville Jaguars	0	San Diego Chargers	2,257	San Diego Chargers	+7.0
New England Patriots	1,398	New York Jets	2,127	New York Jets	+2.5
Houston Texans	0	Washington Redskins	2,083	Washington Redskins	+3.0
New York Giants	2,049	Indianapolis Colts	1,282	New York Giants	+5.5
New Orleans Saints	1,850	San Francisco 49ers	1,718	New Orleans Saints	-5.5

First NFL Sunday

I'm going to try something a little different this season. I have always followed the betting lines, looked at what the experts thought and tried to expect results from NFL games based on this crap. Well this year I am going to try something different; every week. Each week of the NFL season I am going to pick the winners by point spread based on a different criteria week to week. I would like to see how my results correlate to how the experts pick them. 

This will be kind of like picking the horses based on the colors of the jockeys silks or if the horse's name sounds like a long lost friend or relative. Actually those may be criteria I use during the year. 

However, not this week. This week I will pick the games based on my favorite cities to visit. I can't guarantee anyone will agree but here goes. If I've never been to a city I will make a selection based on my perception of what it would be like to visit there. I have to eliminate the game already played but I would already be 1-0 based on a preference to visit New Orleans over Minneapolis.

Tampa Bay (-3) over Cleveland. I live in Tampa; 'nuff said.

Miami (-3) over Buffalo. I've never been to Buffalo. My thoughts are that with my luck I would end up going there sometime in January or February. So based on that I will take Miami.

Tennessee (-6) over Oakland. Nashville is a fun city and Oakland is underrated. However, Nashville is still a better place to visit.

Denver (+3) over Jacksonville. Denver has some great views, fantastic people and an interesting downtown and local area. Jacksonville has the Landing.

Carolina (+6.5) over NY Giants. I just returned from a road trip where I drove past the Meadowlands. The real home of the NY football teams. Charlotte has that area beat by a long shot. That's not really fair but New York City is not where the teams play.

Houston (+2) over Indianapolis. Houston is a cool city with a lot to do, good industries and warmer winter weather. I've never been to Indianapolis. Edge: Houston.

Pittsburgh (+1.5) over Atlanta. Pittsburgh just seems to have more energy than Atlanta. Is there any passion in Atlanta?

New England (-4.5) over Cincinnati. Being from New England I am biased. I have been to Foxborough but not to Cincinnati.

Chicago (-6.5) over Detroit. Sorry Detroit, but it's not even close. Chicago is a great city.

Philadelphia (+3) over Green Bay. I've never been to Green Bay. Philadelphia always seems to be a mess but is getting better. Edge: Philadelphia.

San Francisco (-3) over Seattle. Hmmm, two of my favorites. I've got to go with San Francisco on this one. One bad earthquake though could change everything.

St. Louis (+3.5) over Arizona. I've never been to Phoenix or St. Louis but I have always felt that I would be more comfortable with St. Louis.

Washington (+3.5) over Dallas. This is a tough call because Dallas is big but wide open and full of a positive attitude. Washington is where the politicians are; besides that I still like DC.

Baltimore (+2.5) at NY Jets. See Giants vs. Panthers above. Ditto.

San Diego (-4.5) at Kansas City. San Diego is a beautiful city with great weather, people, surroundings and things to do. The times I've been to KC it has been very cold. I'm sure Kansas City is a great place but I give the edge to San Diego.

Well, that's week 1. Let's see what happens.