Kitties all gone
Posted: Saturday, September 15, 2007 by Travis Cody in
We're a little bummed this morning because Mr Bailey and Mr Newby have gone home. The folks rolled in yesterday evening unexpectedly. We had a nice dinner and then they came and picked up the boys.
We already miss them. It seems much quieter around here now. Not that the cats made all that much noise...but there's fewer kitties to talk to now.
Oh...I noticed that I've gone over 7000 visits. I thank you all. And I apologize to my readers who are not sports or football fans. It's that time of year for me, and my weekend posts will be devoted to it. But take heart - there's only a week and a half to go until Dancing With the Stars! 
It's gray and dreary this morning...a perfect pre-Fall morning. I guess this is a good day to begin the purging project. So many boxes to open and so many papers to shred. I see that Notre Dame and Michigan have their battle of redemption at 12:30 today. With both teams struggling at 0-2, it could be a competitive game. Or it could be just lousy enough to provide the perfect back drop for massive shredding. Go IRISH!
Now Tennessee vs Florida - that has the promise of a much better game. It's certainly an important one. For my pals Dixie and Vinny, I say go VOLS!
But as productive as the ND game could be for the shredding project, and as cool as it would be to watch Tennessee possibly upset last year's national champs, we will be focused on neither of those games. See, Ohio State visits Washington today. That's on at 12:30 and that's what we'll be watching. In a season of big games, this is really the first one for UW. OSU is ranked #10. An upset win for UW could vault the program back to national prominance and contribute to the national media looking west for more than just USC. With apologies to all my friends in Ohio - sorry Julie and Matt - go HUSKIES!
Pam and I find it ironic that Coach Willingham was fired from Notre Dame when he failed to follow up an impressive start with continued success. Now he has built a much stronger program at UW after a slow start. And Coach Weiss now has to battle with a sub-par team while he works to surround freshman Jimmy Clausen with enough talent to satisfy the Irish faithful. All this after an impressive start with players Coach Willingham recruited to South Bend.
Good luck also to the University of Oregon. They have started the season 2-0, including a thrashing of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Today the #19 Ducks host Fresno St. Go DUCKS!
And for my pal Turn, Kentucky hosts Louisville today. I did a little research on this game and I discovered that some pundits consider this game to feature two of the best quarterback prospects in college football. Senior Andre Woodson for UK is an impressive 6'5" 230lb QB who led the SEC in passing last season. Senior Brian Brohm is a 6'4" 224 lb QB for UofL who stands fourth all time in passing yards for Louisville and is a Heisman Trophy candidate. I read that some consider this game to be the chance Woodson needs to step out of Brohm's shadow when it comes to quarterbacks in the bluegrass state. Go WILDCATS!
As for the NFL, I was an impressive 12-4 in my picks for opening weekend. Although my Raiders stumbled, they were competitive. QB Alex Smith rescued SF with a gut check drive at the end of the game to beat Arizona. And the Seahawks defense was the best part of a sloppy win against Tampa.
The week, my Raiders visit Denver. As a football guy, I just don't think I can pick my team to win this week. However, Denver's Jay Cutler has proven to be an erratic young quarterback, even though he has a strong arm. That could work to Oakland's advantage if they can get turnovers and turn them into touchdowns. But Denver's running game is still very good, as is their defense. It pains me, but I have to pick the Broncos if I'm to maintain my winning percentage with my picks. My heart is with the Silver and Black though. Go RAIDERS!
The 49ers were shaky to start the season against Arizona, but they pulled out the win. Tomorrow they go on the road to St Louis. They'll be in trouble if they don't correct the motion penalites and other small mistakes on offense. But the defense against the pass is solid after improving the secondary in the off season. St Louis couldn't stop the run last week, and SF has one of the better young running backs in the league. Go NINERS!
Pam and I were disappointed that Seattle didn't play better against Tampa. But we both think that may have been a function of rust. The starters didn't play a lot during pre-season in an attempt to keep the team healthy. RB Shaun Alexander and QB Matt Hasselback are the keys...if either of them goes down with an injury, this team will struggle. Seattle travels to Arizona this week to take on the young Cardinals. QB Matt Leinert struggled against SF last week, but the Arizona defense was strong against the run and the pass. I think the Seahawk defense is the key again this week. Pam says go SEAHAWKS!
Here are my picks for week 2:
Jaguars over Falcons
Colts over Titans
Bengals over Browns
Panthers over Texans
Packers over Giants
Saints over Bucs
Steelers over Bills
49ers over Rams
Seahawks over Cardinals
Cowboys over Dolphins
Lions over Vikings
Bears over Chiefs
Ravens over Jets
Broncos over Raiders
Patriots over Chargers
Eagles over Redskins
Later babies!
It's going to be interesting to see how the Saints do this year. After coming off such a high from last year, I'm hoping they don't stumble and fall. It'd be nice if they did well.
Isn't it amazing how coaches can be fired if they don't deliver a Superbowl or championship season right away? It's the same in so many areas now, a tv show has three bad first episodes and they cancel it. Whatever happened to giving people a chance to grow and build a team up. Sometimes it takes a year or more. But I think a team built like that would be a much stronger team than one that is build through quick money and moving people around at the last minute. Yeah, that team might have a great season, but they're not building a franchsise, they're not building for the future.