Predictions sure to go wrong...

Why do I even bother? It is amazing how bad I have been at making picks this year. I was 0-3 on Thursday. Not even close on any of them. My NFL selection skills are shat-tastic this year. So no useless explanations are needed.

Jaguars @ Bills +3
Texans @ Jets – 5 ½
Steelers @ Ravens – 2 ½
Bengals @ Browns +3
Cardinals @ Vikings – 6 ½
49ers @ Rams – 4 ½
Saints @ Falcons -3
Panthers @ Redskins +4
Bears @ Patriots – 3 ½
Eagles @ Colts -9
Giants @ Titans +3 ½
Raiders @ Chargers – 13 ½
Packers @ Seahawks -9

Last week 9-7

YTD 61-68-3

Tomorrow is another home Browns game. Maybe we can have some more of this tomorrow from my man K2. We may receive an added bonus from the football Gods, the weather forecast looks fantastic. So even if we get railed by the Bengals we can at least enjoy a nice day at the stadium.

I apologize for the lack of posting but I just haven't felt like sitting down and banging on the key board. I am taking a couple of days vacation on Monday and Tuesday, so I will be sure to catch everybody up on all of the details of the holiday weekend happenings.

Until then,

Rick

Lee Harvey...

43 Years ago today, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. It was the kind of event that people say they will always remember where they were when they heard the news, much like 9/11 will be to people of my generation. I remember asking my mom about it and she told me that my grandma picked her up from school crying when she heard the news. It makes you wonder what would have been different if JFK had served out his term as President. How would the world have changed? I guess we will never know. But the date November 22, 1963, always sticks in my head so I just wanted to mention it.

On to a more pleasant topic, tomorrow is Thanksgiving! It’s time for Thanksgiving Eve drinking, The Turkey Open, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, NFL football and playing cards with Ron, Howie, Scott and Liz.

Tonight’s Turkey Eve agenda looks like some post work drinks at Flannery’s downtown and then heading somewhere else for the remainder of the evening.

Tomorrow’s weather forecast looks great so we may get to hold the Turey golf Open and play 9 holes of golf for the first time in a couple of years. We have been snowed/rained out for the last couple of years. It should be fun although I have not picked up my clubs in a couple of months. With all of my travels to Cincinnati, I haven’t been working at LNSP and keeping up on my golf game. So I may be a bit rusty on the first tee tomorrow.

And then the icing on the cake is heading out to Howie’s house for the traditional card game. I was trying to remember how far back it goes back but we have played on Thanksgiving and Christmas for at least the last ten years. That is always a fun time. I remember driving home last year in a blizzard so bad that I saw a snow plow truck that pulled over on the highway. I drove home going somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 mph because you couldn’t see 100 yards ahead. It was messed up. Hopefully we don’t have any repeat performances of that this year.

A couple of quick NFL picks for tomorrow's games:

Dolphins @ Lions +2 ½
I think the Lions will surprise us tomorrow. Can’t wait to see them open up their arms for the return of Joey Harrington. Detroit always plays well at home on Turkey day. Thus, I am taking the Lions and the points.

Buccaneers @ Cowboys –11
Tony Romo is 3-1 as a starter in Dallas and he is the second highest rated QB behind P Manning. After knocking off the Colts last week, the Cowboys are flying high, BUT, I think that 11 points is just a tad too high in this one. I think they get the job done but not by this many points.

Broncos @ Chiefs –1
Sunday night in Arrowhead. A game that only NFL network subscribers can see. A bitter AFC West rival showdown. Are the Chiefs for real? Can the Broncos come back after blowing a 17-point lead to the Chargers? I am putting my faith in Jake Plummer to turn the ship around and the Browncos defensive line to shut down Larry Johnson.

Happy Turkey Day!
Rick

One good...One bad

Just a few thoughts about what went down last weekend.

Saturday was a good day, if you are an Ohio State fan. It is always nice to see the Buckeyes win. It is even better when that win happens to be against Michigan. It is that much better when that victory sends Ohio State to the National Championship game on January 8th. So now the Bucks get to sit back and wait to see who they will be playing. My first thought is that USC will win out and leapfrog Michigan in the BCS standings. And I do not have a problem with that. I think that match up is one that would interest a lot of people. The problem that I do have is the month lay off that we have between now and the championship game. It’s just too long to wait. I know that is the way it always has been but I don’t like it.

Did Troy Smith win the Heisman on Saturday? I don’t think he did anything to lose it. Throwing for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns can’t hurt his chances. Can Brady Quinn do something this week to leapfrog Smith? I doubt it. But with writers and who ever else gets votes, you just never know.

And then Sunday came along. I woke up ready to tailgate. As I pulled back the blinds I saw my fate. Rain. Heavy rain. And it was cold out. It was a shitty day to go and watch NFL football. We all said the same thing. We can deal with the cold. Heck we can deal with the snow for that matter. But cold and rain is just a bad thing when you have to go and watch football. But this was Cleveland versus Pittsburgh. And damn it, both teams are 3-6. They have a chance to pay them back after crushing them 41-0 last year. So we tailgated in the rain and huddled under our tent. We made our way to the game with the hopes that we could see the Browns beat the defending champs.

I could go into detail about what happened between 1-4 on Sunday afternoon, but if you have watched the Browns at all over the past several years you know how it turned out. The Browns give up leads and everybody goes home unhappy. We have been in this situation many many times before. Why do we keep putting up with this? Should we give up on the Browns? Why do we let ourselves get emotionally involved over these games? I am not an official season ticket holder. But my friends are, and I share their tickets with them. I think I have only missed two games over the past three years. For what? Why do I put myself through this? I guess I just love the atmosphere of going to the live games. I love seeing the crowd at an NFL game. I really enjoy it. But then I think, what would it be like if we were good? Do you know how much more fun these games could be?

Matt asked me on Sunday what the best game we had been to in the past few years. I had a hard time coming up with one. I picked out the Falcons game in 2002. The Browns needed to win their last game of the year at home to make the playoffs. The crowd was crazy that day. That is what and NFL experience should be like.

But we have the kind of luck that nobody else ever sees. We get penalties called on us that have not been called in years. We have replay overturn plays that happened 2 plays ago (Bottle gate). Kenny Roda likes to use the phrase “OIC – Only In Cleveland” and it really seems like the truth at times. These things can only happen here. To our team.

OK that is enough of me whining and crying about how bad we have it. It’s only sports and it’s really not going to change my life one way or the other. But I am a fan and I have come to realize that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes it rains. A lot. Especially on a cold Sunday in Cleveland.

-Rick