2008 college football predictions week 1

it’s that time of year once again.  time for college football.  time for all of you crazed college football freaks to get your first fix of the year.  labor day weekend plus the days leading up to it are nothing more than a blast of televised morphine straight into the jugular.  things couldn’t get much better.

thankfully, the brown eyed girl has direct or dish tv and they even have the big ten network plus pretty much all the other ones as well.  i’m ready for some football.  i hope you are too. 

just like last year i’m running down ten games.  the ten games that interest me the most for the week.  as usual pac 10 top heavy.  once a homer always a homer.  yeah, i’ve got the west coast bias.  big time.

also there’s the usual caveat.  this is for entertainment purposes only.  if you are stupid enough to take what i dish out and lay your hard earned money down on any of the predictions you are a dumb ass and deserve whatever happens to you.

point spreads are taken from a couple of sources.  they might change by the time game day(s) roll around.  what is here is what i go by. regardless. 

rock ‘n’ roll.

oregon st at stanford.  the beavers are favored by 3 points.  a rather slim margin to be sure.  is stanford that good this year?  am i missing something here?  at any rate, oregon st wins and covers.

smu at rice.  rice favored by 3.5 points.  june jones first game as the mustangs head coach.  it might take him a year or two to get things really rolling but he’s a great coach so maybe it won’t.  i’m taking the points and smu to win.

idaho st at boise st.  boise st favored by 43 points.  a raging forest fire in the boise area might put this game on hold for another time.  we shall see.  43 points is a lot of points.  this is idaho st’s bowl game and it’s their first game of the year.  nothing else matters much for them after this one.  they are playing on the smurf blue turf of boise st and they will cover the spread.  take idaho st.

utah at michigan.  michigan favored by 3.5 points.  this could be the state of utah’s football year.  notice the small spread.  if utah can win this one they’ll give byu a run for their money.  i’m banking on utah.  take those points.

washington at oregon.  oregon favored by 13.5 points.  this one has already taken a bit of a points loss.  i’m surprised the spread is as much as it is with the loss of the ducks starting qb out with a knee injury.  although they still have two other qb’s that coach bellotti was planning on using where and whenever possible during any game this year.  not my idea of a good idea but i’m not the coach.  this is also ty willingham’s put up or shut up year for the washington huskies.  the huskie faithful aren’t happy with him.  they expect pac 10 titles.  sure the game is at the ducks stadium a place they rarely lose at but i think the huskies will cover the spread.  the ducks might win but not by the 13.5 points.  then there’s a few vegas wags who think oregon is going to benefit from the new clock changes made in the off season.  they think this will help them to roll up some impressive scores this season.  all that being said, the bottom line is i think the huskies are going to surprise a few folks this year.  take washington because i think they will cover the points. 

michigan st at cal.  california favored by 4.5 points.  the cal bears make another run at the top ten.  the question being, once again and as always, can coach tedford keep them interested all season?  take cal to win or cover.

usc at virginia.  the trojans favored by 19.5 points.  mark sanchez or not at qb the trojans shouldn’t have to much trouble with a team that’s only returning 8 starters from last year.  the trojans roll.

tennessee at ucla.  tenn favored by 7 points.  the bruins are hurting at qb.  plus they are stuck with other issues.  some pundits were saying a 6 and 6 year for the bruins.  now they are saying a 4 win season would be a good year.  they start the year with a lose at home to the tenn volunteers.  tenn wins and covers.

alabama at clemson.  clemson favored by 5 points.  clemson is poised to be the sec powerhouse this year.  i’m thinking the tide will roll out and take the tigers with it.  alabama wins or covers.

illinois at missouri.  missouri favored by 8.5 points.  probably a pretty good game and missouri needs a win here to keep things going from last year.  the same vegas wags have missouri running up a bunch of points as well due to the clock changes.  it might be to many points but i think missouri covers and wins.

there ya go for week one.  keep your money in your wallets where it belongs and enjoy the games.  don’t get stupid.  

jmh

a dark horse in the running(?)

tis the season and i’m all in.  it’s all or nothing.

http://www.thelopezfamilyonline.com/play.php?first=John&last=Hauge

jmh

biscuits and gravy

i watched a crazy lady eat biscuits and gravy.  it was on wednesday.  an older heavy set woman.  alone.  in the booth by herself.  i’d watched her come in.  she seemed normal.  more or less pleasant.  she had a newspaper.  don’t they all?  it was probably the press-enterprise. 

her breakfast came.  along with it the insanity?  biscuits and gravy.  did they strike some dead synapse?  or dead husband?

i wasn’t sure at first.  a quick look to her right.  lips moving.  back to the biscuits and gravy.  anger now.  now i knew.  almost excited.  animated conversation.  tears choked back.  a pointed fork.  to her right.  loaded with biscuits and gravy.  lips moving.  anger.  almost tears. 

a lady.  a newspaper.  insanity.  biscuits and gravy.

 

thanks to my friend, ruby, for the inspiration this morning.

jmh

football, orgasm, and break my eardrum

this was written yesterday afternoon.  the event(s) depicted occurred the evening before.  i’d thought about sticking this one under the sports heading.  yes, perhaps a bit untoward.  now that you are totally confused, i hope you enjoy the read.

 

yes, i know.  but what can i say?  it’s what i’d written down last night.  i actually got out of bed and stumbled in here and wrote it on a piece of paper.  the paper is still here.  it’s written in a semi scrawl like deal.  football, orgasm, and break my eardrum.  when i first looked at it in the light of day i wasn’t really sure what it said.  i finally figured it out but i really have no idea how football got involved with the other two.  we shall see.  perhaps.

i do sorta remember the brown eyed girl saying something about maybe me not writing about some of the stuff from last night.  then i told her no one knows who she is except for, jwfh, and he doesn’t care.  so why should she?  i think she may have sorta agreed to that odd demented notion.  only time will tell.

we’d moved from the couch and listening to a live ella cd, recorded someplace here in so calif, and into the bedroom.  where we switched to another oldie, the george shearing quintet with nancy wilson, ‘the swingin’s mutual’.  a damn fine boudoir recording if there ever was one.

ok.  having just got off the phone with the brown eyed girl, she called me, things are somewhat clearer.  i read what i had already written to her and got a couple of chuckles so i figure stuff is good to go.  i plod on.

george and nancy were doing their thing and we were too.  it seems i may have taken a short break in the festivities and blurted out something about i needed to start writing stuff about college football.  yeah, well.  any the ways, apparently i thought about it for a moment or two then said, ‘ah, fuck it.’  then we both got back down to the business at hand.

i’m one of those, if you are a lady and you blow in my ear i’ll follow you pretty much anywhere, type guys.  well, the brown eyed girl was doing just that.  along with trying to stick her tongue down my ear canal.  nancy and george were full tilt boogie as well.  somewhere around that point in time, i hit the sweet spot.  hey, nonnie nonnie.  here’s where orgasm comes into play.  hmmm, yeah.  pun works well.  brown eyed girl screamed for a bit into the ear she had been messing with. 

thankfully, my eardrum wasn’t damaged or broken.  though there still seems to be a sorta ringing in it.  not unlike listening to live music and being to close to the speakers ringing thingy.

well, ok.  at some point or another, plus being in an addled state, i put the three of them together…football, orgasm, broken eardrum.  i thought it would be a boffo idea to set them all down into a nice blog.  i mentioned it to the brown eyed girl and you’ve already read what happened at that point.  so, there ya go.  now you have the blog as well. 

i still need to write about college football.  the season starts next week.  i did a couple of things on the trojans and oregon ducks back in may of this year and my other site went through the roof.  primarily due to the rabid duck fans out in the ether of the internet.  i need to rock ‘n’ roll that action again.  although i’d rather rock ‘n’ roll with the brown eyed girl.  yeah, well.  what can i say? 

jmh

whoooaaa nellie!!

this one is for my friend ruby or anyone else who’s uttered the words, ‘whoooooaaa nellie!!’.

richard ‘dick’ lane was a character actor with numerous film credits beginning with the 1935 bob hope film, ’shop talk’.  he was also in most of the boston blackie films with chester morris.  plus ‘union pacific’, ‘the jackie robinson story’, ‘the babe ruth story’, and the original ‘mighty joe young’.  also a slew of other films.  check the internet movie data base for more.

i remember him fondly from my youth when he was a staple on local los angeles tv.  ktla tv, channel 5, to be exact.  he pretty much did anything and everything back in those days.  he spent over 40 years at channel 5.  a feat rarely seen these days.  though his most famous tv gigs were the original ‘roller derby’ and the early days of professional wrestling.  i’m talking the gorgeous george era here kids and he did wrestling up into the the 60’s.  dick was also the announcer for ‘demolition derby’.  plus the ’spade cooley show’ where i was bit by the real country western music bug at a very young age.

at any rate, dick lane coined the expression, ‘whooooaaa, nellie!!’.  he would drop them when the action was appropriate during a roller derby match or wrestling match or demolition derby.  actually not drop them but shout them.  yeah, dick was one of a kind to be sure. 

keith jackson, the retired abc college football announcer also used the same phrase.  though keith was a bit more high brow than dick simply because keith did college football on a national level.  keith got the expression from dick lane and he was probably one of the reasons why everyone else in the country has heard and used the phrase, ‘whoooaaa nellie!!’.

so there ya go a bit more information on where ‘whooooaaa nellie’ originated.   it got it’s start right here in so calif long ago back in the days of live black and white tv.  some of my all time favorite stuff.
thanks, dick.

dick lane passed away at his home in newport beach, ca, on 9-5-1982.

dick lane and stan chambers at the rose parade in pasadena, ca.  early 1950’s

jmh

two things

i’ve gone over this several times and i suppose i could just pare it down and get a couple of blogs out of the mess.  although doing that might mean things just might make sense.  ain’t no way i’m lettin’ that happen.

i had been out picking some stuff up for the brown eyed girl yesterday.  stuff she needs and didn’t have much of around here.  plus it was on sale and the sale ended yesterday.  i really don’t mind doing stuff for her.  not at all.  even shopping, as bizarre as that might seem.  but then she’s easy to get along with.  at least so far.  though there is nothing in her mien that would predict any sort of odd strange behavior.  myself on the other hand…

of course, what could go bad or wrong or sideways with a relationship where you can sit on the couch sipping some dago red as the sun gets past setting, and you’re listening to ella, while the brown eyed girl sings along?  yeah, no shit.  i mean, i love ella but there’s just a few tunes of hers that i might know enough of the lyrics for me to even attempt a stab at singing along with it.  not the brown eyed girl.  she can do the whole bleeding catalog.  an amazing and very sexy thing.  i assure you.

i’ve gone adrift right from the start but i suppose i ought to finish the drift.  we are both still amazed at our relationship.  if you recall, neither of us was really interested in each other as serious company.  we both figured friends would probably be just fine.  both of us have issues.  the really strange cool thing is neither of us care about the issues anymore.  oh, there might be a couple of things but nothing that’s a deal breaker.  or so one would hope.  why?  because both of us are the happiest we’ve been in a number of years.  i for one ain’t breaking the deal.  the brown eyed girl ain’t either.  this i know.     

so, as the late dick lane used to say, ‘whoa, nellie!’  keith jackson as well, but he got it from dick.  keith, being a good west coast boy.  time to rein shit back to the beginning of this epistle before more tangents are found, explored, and dealt with.

i spotted a coyote yesterday afternoon as i was coming in the back entrance to the place where i live.  it was down the street maybe 50 yards.  i knew what it was right away.  coyotes are of the canine family but they are in a world of their own.  this one looked young.  nice coat, a bit skinny and small.  alone.  so i figured it for a male.  though i didn’t get close enough to really see that action. 

lopping down the middle of the street in that coyote gait.  hurried but not rushing.  the rushing would come if one of the old ladies in here got a good look at it and called animal control.  if they weren’t off doing something more important they would have shown up and run the poor coyote into the ground.  i’ve seen that action enough over the years and i’ve come to really despise it. 

yes, of course, they eat stupid peoples pets and the odd kid or two of the same stupid people.  stupid people, probably not unlike the kid in florida who tried to para sail in the latest bad weather deal down there.  he got what he deserved.  not that kids of stupid people who get eaten by a coyote deserve it.     

they are wild animals.  they’ve lived here in the sandy desert of so calif since long before the chinese came over the olden land bridge from china.  came here to become the apaches, navajos, souix, and et al, a bazillion years ago. 

we’ve encroached.  we’ve pushed what’s left of the old wild animal population into whatever demented action they might take.  though not really demented on their part.  they are what they are.  they can’t help it.

i suppose the point being.  the days of packs of coyotes running through the long ago vineyards and orchards of so calif are long gone.  as are the nights of my youth once filled with the coyote’s sad lonely calls.  sad yelps while they waited impatiently for the sun to return. 

stupid people, listen up.  i have no clue to just how many times you’ve been told this…watch out for your pets.  more importantly, watch out for your kids.  amazingly enough, coyote still waits.  thankfully.

jmh

singin’ and playin’ electrically w/ photos

the brown eyed girl and i ventured out last night to see john harrelson play live at the buffalo inn, here in upland .  this time john was joined by two other gents, brian chapman, on upright bass, and mike krevis, on guitar.  plus some electricity was thrown in for good measure. 

john puts on a marvelous show all by himself without the help of electricity.  however, when you add a couple of his favorite musicians as side men and some electricity to the guitars it makes for an amazing set of blues.

though he wasn’t feeling well john came alive last night.  a toss up as to whether it was the almost packed house or the addition of the 110 circuit connection to the guitars. 

john basically played the same set he played a couple of weeks ago sans the country stuff.  he stuck to just the blues as that was the theme for the evening.  the opening act was a trio fronted by billy proulx.  another fine set of blues tunes with billy’s take on them.

however, john stole the show.  the joint was a rockin’.  two thirds of the house had come to see john work out and he didn’t let any one of us down.   from the opening tune, ‘t is for texas’ to the usual sexy stunning closer, ‘i want your ass’, john kicked out the jams and got back what he lives for.  our undivided attention, applause, and love of his musical showmanship. 

thanks, jwfh, for a great evening.  please, do some more gigs soon.

from left to right: brian chapman, mark krevis, and john harrelson.

all photos courtesy of the brown eyed girl. 

jmh

of baubles and bangles

i’m up early as usual.  though not as early as usual.  the brown eyed girl moved to my side of the bed when i got up.  mumbling something about me still being there if she did that.  a nice thought and it might have sparked something again if i wasn’t already worn out in that nice way.

there is something incredibly sexy about a woman who wears a ton of jewelery.  lots of bracelets and rings to be more specific.  gold or silver.  it matters not.  the brown eyed girl favors silver.  i favor the brown eyed girl.

it’s quiet and there isn’t any sound after the fridge stops running.  just the slight tapping of the keyboard keys.  it’s very still outside.  the air isn’t stirring.  it’s cooler than yesterday at this time.  the windows are open.  the scent of the brown eyed girl lingers and hangs between the keyboard and my face.  breathe deep.  atom heart mother. 

we did some celebrating last night.  i bought a new ride yesterday and the brown eyed girl took me out.  pretty sweet.  a bit of wine tasting at the oldest winery in california to start things off.  the old place restored with a small wine making set up as well.  you can make your own wine from their crushed grape products from all over the world.  add some yeast and let nature take it’s course.  then you bottle it yourself a couple of months later.  we are thinking of doing it.

after that we walked to an italian place the brown eyed girl said was her favorite.  have i told you she is more italian than i am?  but then i’m more mexican than she is.  a symbiotic deal for sure.  probably the best ever.

any the ways, the italian restaurant is or was one of those things that make the free world a better place.  killer italian joint run by an east indian.  you bring a bottle of wine in from the tasting place and they don’t charge you a corking fee. 

the food?  we ordered enough to taste a bunch of stuff with the plan of bringing the leftovers home and eating them tonight.  i love it when a plan comes together.  gnocchi, the likes i haven’t eaten since i watched my sainted italian grandmother make them when i was a kid.

we had been thinking about going to san diego next month to see etta james and her band in concert.  two of her son’s are in the band, the roots band.  however, the thought of a 3 hour plus ride into the heart of traffic darkness, that long slow trip to san diego, more or less killed that idea.   

though we struck gold at another venue.  etta james and the roots band with special guests, tower of power.  tower of power, on their 40th anniversary tour.  my favorite r and b, funk, and horn band…ever.  they are playing out in the desert of palms springs at an american indian casino the end of september.  we already have tickets.  great seats.  so fucking sweet.

jmh

dyolf knip and a kid

that pretty much says it.  though i guess when the jones arises it really doesn’t matter a whole bleeding lot.  pink floyd forwards or backwards.  only thing i’d ask is why are you still listening to ‘dark side of the moon’ or ‘the wall’?  then again, why am i still listening to ‘ummagumma-live’?  hmm, maybe because it’s way better.  ya think?  yeah, it is.

point being.  ‘ummagumma-live’ is like probably one of the most amazing live lp’s ever laid out.  i’ve got the jbl’s cranked into the mystic and the electricity is cracking.  the boys of the old floyd are off into something rarely ever seen before and certainly not since.  the grateful dead wish they could have come up with ‘ummagumma-live’.  kids, that says a whole hell of a lot about stuff on numerous levels.  

plus the high is still there.  contact or otherwise.  the pink pulled off an amazing thing almost 40 years ago.  they hit live notes that other bands of the era could only dream about.  wet dream about.  pure and simple.

fantastic stuff.  live and chillingly real.  close your eyes.  drift away into the music and something rarely seen in a live music cd.  give it a listen and see what i’m talkin’ about.  turn it up.

ok. now for the kid part.  i came across this link yesterday on yahoo.  it was clogged up most of the day.  i finally got around to it in the afternoon.  http://tallanlatz.com

check it out it’s an 8 year old kid who is the best 8 year old kid i’ve ever heard play guitar.  he does some hendrix and stevie ray.  i know he’ll get better.  i just hope he doesn’t end up all fucked up.

have a nice weekend.  mine starts today.  the brown eyed girl is coming over this afternoon.  cheers.

setting the controls for the heart of the sun.

jmh

random weirdness in the face of blatant reality

i had intended on writing a blog this morning.  well, way earlier.  i got side tracked as usual and things then did what they normally do.  the wheels tend to fall off once the deal gets rolling.  any the ways, this is about several things.

the brown eyed girl told me yesterday to print out the college tv schedule.  after i told her i’d looked at the up coming college football tv schedule on sports illustrated’s web page.  since she has cable or dish or whatever i’ll be spending more time there very soon.  she’s fine with it but just wanted a sort of heads up in advance.  sure no problem. 

my printer beginning yesterday has had some sort of issue going for it.  no matter what i did it just wouldn’t stop printing.  other than turning it off, of course.  i was getting copy after copy of an email i need for an upcoming car buying trip.  but that’s a blog for another time if it’s worth it.  all the settings were for 1 copy.  but it just kept churning them out.  demanding more paper.

so this morning i decided to get the tv schedule done and over with.  i turned the copier on and it demanded paper.  i was running low.  i feed it some paper and it started cranking out shit from yesterday.  again.  what the fuck?  exactly. 

a few folks told me to turn it off and un plug it.  brown eyed girl and dfr as well.  well, it’s always off unless i’m using it.  at any rate, it had eaten my sparse supply of paper.  i needed more.  there’s one of those big office supply joints up the road a piece but they don’t open until 8am.  yeah, i shop early.  the earlier the better suits me just fine.   i’d found another big office supply company in another direction that said they were open at 7am.  now you’re talkin’.  it was a bit before 7.  i got there at 7.  of course they weren’t open.   new hours are 8am to whatever.

i found some cheap paper at a 24 hour drug store on the way home.  the printer is ok now for some bizarre and unknown reason.  the schedule is printed up and i’ve looked it over hi-liting games i want to see.  of course, things might change over the course of the season but it’s what she wants to know.  problem is now i need ink for the damn printer.

my friend, jwfh, lopped off the end of a couple of toes last night.  he’s diabetic among other things and was using in his own words, industrial strength clippers and didn’t even feel the deal going down.  i just talked to him.  he’s ok.  he’s playing a gig this monday night and i wanted to make sure it was still on.  although i told him i know he’ll be there.   they would have to nail him to a bed someplace in order for him not to play a gig.

i got this letter in the mail yesterday from the california earthquake authority.  they are the only folks anymore that sell earthquake insurance here in california.  this came about after the northridge shaker back in the early 90’s.  the insurance folks took a bath.  the one up in san fran in the late 80’s didn’t help much either.  back to the letter.  i have 30 days to notify my insurance carrier if i want the earthquake insurance.  

several problems with that.  one, it’s another almost $500 a year in premiums.  two, the damn deductible is a bit over 20% of what the place is worth.  and unless the damage reaches that magic 20 plus percent they probably aren’t going to pay out a dime.  so like i don’t think so.  i think ex and i may have had it on a place we owned for a number of years but i really can’t remember.  thing is the stuff is more expensive now and the deductble is a crime at best.

as a drift.  if there’s an earthquake and a fire starts due to the earthquake.  your fire insurance won’t cover it.  the old act of god clause.  the insurance industry cries the woe is us blues every time some sort of natural disaster wreaks havoc on the general public.  between them and the government i guess we are lucky if anyone gets anythng out of them. 

no, it is not george bush’s fault.  it’s all of the politicians fault as they are for the most part lawyers and insurance companies are run by lawyers.  a feeding frenzy of lawyers intent on gleening every damn cent we have from our pockets.  for those of you who’ve read shakespeare just remember his solution.   perhaps it’s time has come.  no, i am not advocating violence against lawyers.  just sayin’ they have always been a skeevy crowd at best for a number of centuries.

now the damn spell check refuses to check the last couple of paragraphs.  sweet.  i give up.  i’m gonna go play golf and see what that machine has in store for me today.

jmh