Trav's Thoughts

We got a bit of a late start this morning, rolling out of bed just before 9am. We spent an enjoyable hour listening to Kyra from The 108 and her new Blog Talk Radio show, Bloviation Nation. You can check out the archive of her first broadcast here.



We need to get out for a bit today. We've got some errands that need doing. But we find ourselves puttering about and fighting the slow start Saturday.



I don't stop hoping for the best. The Irish are 0-3 and have never started a season 0-4. Too bad they host 3-0 Michigan State today in South Bend. The Irish haven't scored an offensive touchdown yet this season. They have not been able to run the ball effectively and they have not been able to protect the quarterback. The receivers have not been able to get open. Defensively, they have not been tough. They have not been competititve. They have not been able to stop the run, or rush the passer, or keep anyone out of the end zone. Do I think any of this will change with another week of practice? Nope. But I don't stop being a Notre Dame fan. My team sucks. I deal with it. Go IRISH!

Oregon takes their 3-0 schedule into Stanford today to begin the Pac-10 season. The #13 Ducks are one of three Pac-10 teams in the Top 25. Stanford comes off a 37-0 thrashing of San Jose State last week. I suspect that Oregon will provide a little more challenge than the Spartans. Go DUCKS!


The Huskies travel to Los Angeles today to take on UCLA. UW made too many mistakes against Ohio State last week and needs to correct that to pick up a win today. We don't know who was actually on the field for UCLA last weekend at Utah. The Bruins were trashed 44-6. We suspect that this was an aberration and that UCLA will show up at home against the Huskies. And this means that UW needs to take care of the ball and play a complete game. Go HUSKIES!

Some other notables:

#1 USC hosts Washington State
#2 LSU hosts #12 South Carolina
#3 Florida is at Ole Miss
#4 Oklahoma beat Tulsa on Thursday
#5 West Virginia beat East Carolina
#6 Cal hosts Arizona
#7 Texas hosts Rice
#8 Ohio State hosts Northwestern
#9 Wisconsin hosts Iowa
#10 Penn State visits Michigan

And Turn's Kentucky Wildcats head on down to Fayetteville to meet Arkansas after the big win over Louisville last week. Go 'CATS!



Well, I held out hope that a late surge would be enough, but sadly my Dodgers will not make the post season. After a great start to the season, they swooned in July and August and fell too far behind. The good news is that the farm system has produced a number of excellent prospects. Unfortunately, that means Dodger fans are in wait til next year mode. I take comfort that we won't be finishing dead last in the NL West. That dishonor falls to the hated Giants.

Bond's Yankees have a solid hold on the AL Wild Card spot and are breathing down the necks of the Sawx for the AL East flag. I was a Yankee hater in my youth. Growing up in the SF Bay Area I followed the Oakland A's. And when great A's like Reggie and Catfish ended up in pin stripes, I joined Hater Nation. Plus the Yankees abused my Dodgers in the World Series, so that contributed to my extreme dislike. But things change with age and I don't hate the Yankees anymore. I root for a player like Derek Jeter, because I like the way he plays the game and he seems like a good guy. Since my team has been eliminated, I'll be sitting on The Couch rooting for the Yanks.



My Raiders look to bounce back this week against resurgent Cleveland. The Browns hung 51 points on Cincinnati last week behind 5 TD passes from QB Derek Anderson. Oakland fell victim to the nefarious gamesmanship of Denver coach Mike Shanahan, as he called a time out a split second before Sebastian Janikowski kicked the game winning field goal. So the Raiders are 0-2 and looking for their first official win against the Browns today. I want to see some toughness from my boys, and I think they get the W at home. Go RAIDERS!

San Francisco is a shaky 2-0. But they have found a way to win two close games against division opponents, and at the end of the season it won't matter how they got those 2 victories. This week, it's a tough game in Pittsburgh against a Steelers team that has only given up 10 points in two games. The 49ers don't score a lot of points, so this is a serious challenge. The defense will have to be solid and they will have to stay away from turnovers. I'll have to go with Pittsburgh this weekend for my official pick. But this would definitely be a feather in the SF cap if they could grind out another win. Go 'NINERS!

Pam was so disgusted watching Matt Hasselback and Shaun Alexander treat the football like it had cooties at the end of last week's game against Arizona. The Cardinals recovered the fumble and won the game 23-20. This week the Seahawks host Cincinnati, another team that seems to think it is a Super Bowl contender but doesn't really play like one. I have no idea how to pick this game, because I have no idea which teams are likely to show up. So I'm going with the home team. Both teams have a lot to prove. Go 'HAWKS!

The Super Bowl champs will be in Houston tomorrow to take on the surprising 2-0 Texans. I guess the days of chalking up an automatic against Houston are over. QB Matt Schaub has taken control of the offense and the defense is excellent against the run. They will have to be strong against the 3rd ranked Indianapolis offense. I gotta go with the champs here, but it will be very interesting to see how upstart Houston handles this game. Go COLTS!

Here are my NFL picks for the week:

Vikings over Chiefs
Patriots over Bills
Dolphins over Jets
Ravens over Cardinals
Packers over Chargers
Colts over Texans
Lions over Eagles
Steelers over 49ers
Bucs over Rams
Broncos over Jaguars
Seahawks over Bengals
Raiders over Browns
Panthers over Falcons
Redskins over Giants
Cowboys over Bears
Saints over Titans

I was 12-4 the first Sunday and 11-5 last week. So at 23-9 I'd say I'm doing pretty well. I'm a little shaky on a couple picks this week, just because we're beginning to see some problems with teams like Seattle and San Diego and Cincinnati, as well as some recently bad teams getting better like Houston and Cleveland and SF.