college football picks week 10

it time to step into the breech of college football pick ‘em insanity for another week.  5 for 8 last week.  just remember this is for fun and not to be taken seriously by any of you who happen to be reading this.  don’t be stupid.  ok, try not to be really stupid.

virginia tech at georgia tech, georgia tech favored by 2 1/2. a good thursday night game.  plus one that the georgia good old boys should win.

lsu at alabama, lsu favored by 7 points.  this is one of those games where it depends on where the game is being played.  luckily for the tide this one is in bama.  if the bama faithful come out and make some noise and stay in the game regardless of what happens on the field the crimson tide will roll over the tigers.  bama wins or covers the points.  roll tide!!

ucla at arizona, ucla favored by 2 1/2 points.  why? i have no idea.  coach karl is in dire straits.  sure the record looks good on paper, sorta.  but watching the games themselves has been nothing but a mind numbing, why is he doing that?, kind of deal.  i guess he will still be around next year if he can win the last game of the season again.  however, that’s not for a few more weeks.  in a fit of just which team is worse?  i’m taking the bruins to win.

arizona st at oregon, oregon favored by 7.  i think most of the point spread is due to the rabid home crowd duck fans that are probably still reeling over their nice win over the trojans last week.  this will probably be arizona’s toughest game of the year, so far.  look for the ducks to win another one ending the sun devils win streak. go ducks!! quack!!

florida st at boston college, boston eagles favored by 6 1/2 points.  this one is going to be decided by which team has the best quarterback.  after last week it’s fairly obvious that the boston eagles have that one covered.  boston college wins.

oregon st at usc, usc favored by 15.  another one that has me wondering what is going on.  i think it’s too many points.  the trojans might win but not by that much.  there’s also a possibility the beavers will step up and actually win.  yeah, i think so.  this is their bowl game.  the beavers will cover or even win.

washington st at california, the cal bears favored by 14 1/2 points.  3 loses in a row for the golden bears has put them out of any big time bcs bowl picture.  if that’s not in the cards i think they lose interest.  see their record for the last 2 or 3 years in second tier bowl appearances.  i think they will win maybe but it’s probably too many points.  the washington cougars cover.

kansas st at iowa st, kansas st favored by 14 points.  after iowa st’s nice job covering the points last weekend the odds guys must have learned a valuable monetary lesson.  this weeks spread is a bit tighter but not tight enough.  iowa st, the stanford of the midwest, covers the points and just might take a win.

more madness with some of my picks but if you leave your money in your wallets where it belongs it really doesn’t matter.  right?  of course.  don’t be a dumb ass.

jmh
 

john zen, pi part 4

bad juju and the long drive home made for one tired pi, thought zen, as he finally made it over the hill named for the cereal magnet and down into the next valley.  it was a little cooler and somewhat less windy there as the sun was quickly fading with a long free fall into a crimson and gold flecked sky.   car headlights flicked on like maniac fire flies searching for love or lust.  thoughts of going by the office were long gone.  he wanted only booze, a shower, and sleep.   he would also call velda.  velda…yeah…one hell of a case you found for us, eh, sis?, he thought. parking on the street he quickly made it up the stairs to his apartment.  silently he opened the door and stepped into the darkness.  gun out, body tense with his senses reaching into the dark apartment.  not finding anything he sighed and turned on the lights.  zen, stripped off his bloody clothes and stepped into a very hot shower.  the hot shower felt good as the blood and grime were washed down the drain.  stepping out he felt somewhat renewed.  he dried off and stepped into a robe.

john made a drink of scotch on the rocks and drank it down.  he made another and called velda.  velda answered with, ‘oh, zen, where have you been?  i’ve been so worried.’  zen replayed the days events for her.  ‘oh no, zen, what have i done?  when my old school chum, sheila may, asked if i or uh you could help her out with this fly character i never realized it would lead to this.  i knew she had fallen on hard times but now this deal mob, oh my god,  i should never have asked you to help me or my friend, oh my god, zen, what have i done?’  the words had come out in such a rush it made zen chuckle.  his first laugh of the long day.  ‘it’s ok, velda.  it’s ok’, zen replied.   he continued, ‘look, i think i need to find a place out in ontario order to be a little closer to the action.’  ’sure, zen, whatever you say’.  ‘ok, velda, i’ll see you at the office in the morning.  have a good night, sis.’   ‘yes, alright, zen, sleep well and lock the door.’  ‘done deal, babe’  with that they said good bye.  zen, checked the magazine in his gun one more time, re-chambered a round, turned the lights off, and feel into bed.

sleep came almost instantly.  the dreams came later.  at first just movies to amuse the mind.  nothing really to be remembered.  one of life’s little perks in living color with sound and maybe some laughs if you were lucky.  just stuff the bored mind makes up while we sleep and how’s it go…to perchance dream.  the simple movies vanished with an explosion of brilliant white light.  hot lead rained down from above pelting him as he scurried head down looking for somewhere to hide.  death was all about but it never found him.  finding others in his his stead.  the dream of korea was back.  this night with a vengeance.  a phone was ringing far away.  getting closer with each ring.  zen struggled with the dream and the ringing phone.  as usual the phone won.

‘yeah, ok, i’m awake.’  ‘zen?’  it was the voice of his friend, don ray.  ‘look we found amos fly.’  ‘where?’  ‘out near rialto colton and the cement pit.’  ‘is he alive?’  as soon as zen spoke the words he knew the answer.  ‘no, zen, he was…i know this is a little early for this but he was drawn and quartered.’  ‘whoa.  ok.  let me get it together and i’ll be there as soon as i can.’  ‘you know where it is , right?’  ‘yeah, i know. the place with the flagpole right by the side of the road.’   ‘that’s it.  see you when you get here.’

zen knew the place.  it had been there forever, a huge mound of concrete to be mined and used to build the homes and businesses in the area.   of course zen knew it.  zen, knew that when the mountain of concrete powder was gone, when it gave up it’s last load, zen would be just some more dust and powder.  he would be dead like the last roses of a warm december.

jmh

college football week 9 wrap-up

ok. i didn’t do too bad but 5 for 8 isn’t anything earth shaking.  a monkey could probably luck out and go 5 for 8 as well.  if you took all of my picks and bet them you are crazy and you deserve whatever happened.

boston college finally broke the curse of the number 2 team.  good for them.  i’m looking forward to the ducks and the eagles in a BIG bowl game.

boise st plays on.  not much to be said there.

iowa st covered the points very well and if any of you out there had any sense at all that game was the one to bet.  i told you.

it’s obvious that usc’s latest dynasty seems to be over.  sanchez had only one really good series of plays.  he at least got some experience.  the ducks should run the rest of the table.  hopefully they won’t get hosed in the bcs deal like they did in 2001.  go ducks!!

so carolina and the old ball coach damn near pulled the rabbit out of the hat on this one.  tenn just covers with that overtime field goal.  lucky them.

washington st hands the bruins their shorts.  the crappy bruin team showed up in pullman.  hard to say just what’s going to happen with them the rest of the season.  nice job cougars.

arizona st stays afloat.  the cal bears lose 3 in a row for the first time since capt john smith proposed back in the old days.  good games coming up for both schools.  time tells.

joe pa and his boys just didn’t manage to bring much to the table against the dreaded ohio st buckeyes,  who just keep on going.  they should should keep it up and hopefully michigan will put an end to things.

there ya go. some very good games out there this week.  i spent most of my time watching the pac 10 stuff on fox.  thankfully, they put the usc/duck game on instead of 2 hockey games.  what in god’s name were they thinking?  i hope you kept your money in your wallets where it belongs. 

jmh

college football week 9 picks

ok.  time for this insanity to make a comeback.  yes, i know i missed last week but i was on a road trip and some other stuff in life got in the way.  as for my standings i’m not really sure just where the hell i am.  so, in the spirit of making things simple and easy, plus it’s my blog, i’m starting over.  sue me.  just remember don’t take this to your local yokel or vegas.  you will probably lose your shirt.  it will also make you look really stupid.

boston college at virginia tech, viginia tech favored by 3. it’s time for the number 2 team to stop bloody losing their game and taking a free fall down the polls.  boston college wins.

boise st at fresno st, boise st favored by 3. game is at fresno st and fresno st wins.  boise hasn’t shown me much this year and fresno really needs this one.

iowa st at missouri, missouri favored by 28 1/2.  missouri has some game but it’s way too many points.  iowa st is the stanford of the midwest.  iowa st will cover or maybe even win.

usc at oregon, oregon favored by 2 1/2 points.  one of the pac 10 games of the week.  the duck home crowd is the 12th or 13th man on the field.  booty/sanchez for the trojans.  who knows?  sanchez might be in over his head in this venue.  booty?  who knows what he will play like on any given saturday.  the trojan team seems to play better under sanchez but see above.  it will probably come down to who scores last.  i’m taking the ducks.

so carolina at tennessee, tenn favored by 3 points.  the old ball coach has some things to prove after last week.  his boys will be up for this one.  tenn home crowd or not.  so carolina wins or covers.

ucla at washington st, ucla favored by 6.  who shows up in pullman, jekyll or hyde?  that’s the ucla question.  good game last week against the hapless irish but the irish are hapless this year.  maybe next year as well.  but that’s a drift.  i’m taking the cougars to cover or win.

california at arizona st, ariz st favored by 3.  this is the other pac 10 game of the week.  yes, cal has never lost 3 straight.  yes, they are not happy with their last loses.  it’s been bloody hot here this week.  probably even more bloody hot in arizona this saturday.  i’m taking the sun devils.

ohio st at penn st, ohio st favored by 3 1/2.  is ohio st the best team in the country?  probably not but they top the leader board.  i doubt they will be there at the end of the year.  their first fall is going to be this saturday.  penn st at home is almost like the ducks at home.  it’s collge football frothing and foaming at the mouth.  it’s what college football is all about.  i’m taking joe pa and his lions to win.

buyer beware and leave your money in your wallets.   these picks are for fun only.  don’t be a dumb ass.

jmh

john zen, pi part 3

the blowing sand piled up along the road side like drifting snow.  great brown patches of the stuff serpenting along the road’s edge obscuring it completely in places.  tumbleweeds stacked up against everything that got in their way.  fences, houses, or anything else that stood still long enough.  tumbleweeds, brought to this desert years ago by some mad man in hopes that the cattle would feed on it, the cattle wanted nothing to do with the prickly weed. thousands of tumbleweeds piling up like a log jam in a river of sand.  sitting and waiting for some one with a pitch fork and a strong back to come and clear them away.  the pitchfork.  the winds.  it was as if god was speaking and no one was listening.

when zen got to euclid ave he needed to make a choice.  stay up near the foothills or go south on that street named for the mathematician.  lined on both sides with miles and miles of gravilla and pepper trees.  a street with a wide median that stretched from the lemon groves of the foothills south to the dairies.   all those trees standing like sentinals at the gates of heaven and hell.  the trees were planted by brothers who came from canada years ago to build cities.  did the job then moved on to australia to start all over again.  zen opted for the trees and river of green over the brown shifting sand.  a full stomach and lungs full of nicotine made it hard for him to stay awake as he passed the rhythmic shadows of  the tall trees.  he needed to get to a phone and make some calls.  calls that if made soon enough might do some good in finding amos fly.

lack of sleep and a desire to see his old friend, sam hoobs, owner of the once swanky, ford’s lunch, in ontario, pushed zen further south.  at one time, ford’s lunch, was the place to stop on the way to charlie farrel’s palm springs paradise. which in the late 30’s was a youthful watering hole for the makers and shakers of lotus land.  along the way, ford’s lunch, became a pit stop for the jaded.  that is if you weren’t a mexican or worse yet, black.   that’s the way things were before the last two wars and even today after the korean police action.  sam owned a string of race horses and several hundred head of prime beef which of course didn’t eat the tumbleweeds either.   sam and john went way back as john’s mother was at one time the hobb’s family cook and cleaning lady.

thinking of the phone calls he needed to make, john zen, made the left turn from euclid onto holt blvd.  three rapid fire shots rang out.  the rear window of his coupe suddenly shattered into thousands of glass missiles.  the shards biting at the back of john zen’s neck.  almost losing control of the coupe and narrowly missing a delivery truck at the curb, zen, jerked the wheel hard right and left while power shifting into second gear.  tires smoking, he sped away from the intersection.  he could feel the blood begin to trickle down to his collar.   zen careened along to the next corner and made a right turn and went south into the ontario police department’s parking lot.  some of the bulls were already outside lured by the gunfire and screeching tires.  one of the men was john’s old high school buddy, chief of defectives, don ray. 

zen parked and then went to the trunk for a towel to put on his bleeding neck.  his old friend ran up to him and said, ‘christ, it had to be you didn’t it, zen?’.  the big blond man grabbed john’s free hand and pumped a greeting.  ‘what other circumstances would you prefer?’, smiled zen.  john then told his friend what had just happened.  the chief of detectives sent the squad cars out to look for anything and every thing.  don ray spoke again, ‘come inside and we’ll get the medic to look at your neck.’   ’sure. ok.’   the two old friends walked inside talking of old times and leaving the current situation for later.

after zen’s neck had been cleaned up john told his friend what his latest case was about and the flown, amos fly. ‘fly? yeah, i heard of him’, said the chief of detectives.  ‘he’s been around the area for several months and works for one of the vineyard boys out in cucamonga.’ the chief continued,  ‘he got into that trouble over the working girl you mentioned a few weeks back but nothing more than that. though there’s been some talk about a racing wire but nothing we can put a finger on.’   ‘yeah, ok, who does he work for?’, asked zen.   ‘jimmy fratino.’  ‘you mean, the otter?’ zen said.  ‘yep, that’s him’, replied his old friend.   ‘christ, the mob. i might have known’, responded john zen. 

the italian mob had long ago made it’s presence felt in the bucolic cucamonga/upland/ontario area.  lured there by cheap land and a land that grew some of the best mission and zinfandel grapes in the world.  the mob usually kept a low profile in the hinterlands, while saving it’s more lurid life for the city of lost angels.  out in the vineyards they held their secret meetings and initiation rites for the new ‘made men.’   some of those men, at times, made their way back out to the vineyards only to find a hole waiting for them in some quiet spot among the vines.  or made a last car ride out to the area only to be dumped along some lonely stretch of farmland road.  dead, of course, before they hit the pavement. 

with mob involvement things had made a drastic turn in the case for zen. involvement that meant he would have to have his friend’s help and he would need to help his friend.  both men agreed to help one another in any way they could.  after bidding bid farewell to his friend, don ray,  zen, made a stop at a local car dealer to have the coupe’s rear window replaced.  while waiting for the repair he made several calls.  one of the calls was to his friend, ben morris.  

‘hannigan’s’, growled the voice that answered the phone.  ‘ben, you old irish pretender you’.  ‘that you , john? listen i have some fight tickets the guy i was going with can’t make it.  you wanna go?  we are so close we are gonna get sprinkled with sweat and blood, my friend, a regular pugs baptism.’  laughed ben.  ‘great, sounds good.’ replied zen.  ‘look, ben, i need a favor.  we need to talk, privately.’  ‘yeah, ok. come to the bar tomorrow morning, before we open.  i’ll be here.’   ’thanks ben.  i’ll see you in the morning.’  ‘fine. tell velda i still love her.’   ‘you and me both, pal.  see ya.’  with that zen rang off, collected his coupe and made the long drive home for some much needed sleep.

jmh

goodfellas(?)

 this is some old stuff i’ve exported over from a place i’m abandoning.   it might help get to know me or maybe not.  at any rate this is going to be my primary blogging spot very soon.

jmh

as dyslexic as i am it’s way too time consuming looking up words that any sane person can spell. most of the time i can’t even spell dsylexic.  my mind locks and the crossed dyslexic wires fry some more synapses into tiny cinders into the early form of earwax.  that’s it.  it’s gotta be.  where else does that crap come from?  fried synapses equal earwax.   so the more you drink or get loaded or the more dyslexic you are you have more earwax.   where the hell else are the damn dead things gonna go?   out your ass?  nah, the ear canal is much closer. 

just hanging out waiting for the great 07 road trip to begin.  a drunken debacle in all likely hood.  about time.  

when i was younger i used to look like tom selleck or so some people said.  frankly i never saw it.  now a days though i’ve been mistaken for leslie nielsen, a middled aged frank sinatra or just some mob hood.  all of which have their moments of fun.

i was in tj with girlfriend the first time someone thought i was leslie.  we were downtown in one of those mall stall things off the main drag.  she was looking for a leather purse and dickering big time price wise.  the guy says to me that i can afford it and just pay the money.   i’m like, say what?   he says sure you’re the actor leslie nielsen and you have lots of money.  i just laughed and then he got pissed.  oh well.

the most interesting time for the mistaken  leslie id was in mainland china.  yeah, go figure.  on the great wall, outside beijing, just being dumb ass tourists.  lots of folks out on the wall that day but most of them chinese tourists.   i was getting lots of smiles and people wanted to shake my hand.  yeah, sure the happy wandering american, glad handing everyone.  lovely wall you folks have here.  then this one guy wanted a picture to go along with the handshake.  ok, why not?  no ugly american bullshit here my friend.   then it’s more shaking of the hands and comments like oh, you are a great artist.  bingo.  the light goes on.  leslie strikes again.  so of course not wanting to create some sort of bizarre international incident, in of all places on the great wall of china,  i just keep smiling and posing for the odd photo here and there.  so to this day i’m sure my mug is up on some guy’s wall someplace in china and he tells his friends about the day, on the great wall, where he met the great american artist, leslie nielsen.

as for the middle age sinatra thing,  unless the person is just a total whack job they know frank is dead.  so it doesn’t get any really fun type stuff going behind it.

the mistaken mob hood is fun.  i get off on that one.  plus people tend to leave you alone.  which is fine by me.  girlfriend and i went on a cruise this past december.  after the first day i was known as the mob guy on board.  people have a tendency to speak way to loud in public so if you keep even a half assed ear tuned to the passers by you hear lots of interesting shit.  there were a large number of russians on board and i was ‘mr. macaroni’ to most of them.  fun stuff and i was not about to rain on their parade.  not me.  then last week i was at a local market in the produce section getting a couple of things.   all by myself. dressed in a flannel shirt a size or two too big.  t shirt. sweatpants.  white socks and very cheap plastic walmart flip flop type things.  when i hear from behind me this mexican guy going on and on to his family in spanish.   he’s going so damn fast i can’t pick up much of  anything except for,  italian and ‘la familia’.  of course at that i turned around and the whole family is just standing there gawking at me.  i gave them my best tony soprano squint and continued to check out the potatoes.  the guy shut up. 

see? i told you i was bored.  so now you are as well.  now everybody is happy.

music this morning provided by jimi hendrix, ‘the best of hendrix’, i like it because it’s got all my faves on it, in particular ‘little wing’, ’bold as love’ and ‘the star spangled banner’.

jmh

we went out for a nice italian dinner this weekend.  one of the chain places.  we hadn’t been there before.  the one where you can draw stuff on the paper table cloth.  it was very nice and the food was pretty good.  i had a nice veal marsala and portabella mushrooms with angel hair pasta.  like i said good.

i guess it started when we sat down as girlfriend goes, oh, you want to sit on this side so you can watch.  yeah, i like to sit where i can watch.  i don’t like surprises and i don’t like to rely on other people to pick up on shit going down that may or may not suck us into something awful.  capice?  so everything is fine.  though we are getting looks and the staff is being overly nice.  3 or 4 people wanted to know if we wanted anything.  no, we are fine, the waiter is looking after us.

by the time the meal arrived the whispers were in the air.  mob.  mafia.  it’s been awhile.  but it’s part of my life, occasionaly.  it can be annoying but at times fun.  at any rate when i went into the pasta, sans the spoon, and rolled up a nice tight clump in a nano second things got really interesting.   the godfather.  i’m like, jesus, folks i’m just an old douche bag italian guy.  give it a rest.  but, nah, i got into it.  the busboys couldn’t help but sneak a look.  i’d catch them and give them a thumbs up or wiggle my eyebrows, ala groucho.  the workers had the place a buzz.  by the time we had dessert and i got an after dinner drink, frangelica straight up,  you would have thought al capone was in the joint.  the frangelica was more like a glass of wine.  the most i’ve ever seen.  all in all a nice time.  i had fun.  the food was good enough so we will go back.  i wonder what that will be like?

jmh

john zen, pi part 2

jolted again to the point of almost losing control of the coupe, zen, slammed on the breaks and put the car sideways on the white center line. then he pulled over to the right side of the road and got out.  to be sure amos fly had flown, he thought, but where?  there were no other roads for miles.  getting back in the car he turned it around and drove slowly back the way he had come.  with the morning light getting brighter by the moment the bottom of the ravine was no longer in shadows but clearly visible.  zen, was able to see if fly had gone over the edge into the long fall to his death and the other side into darkness.  almost back to the point where the road began it became clear that fly was alive and that he must be some sort of magician.  turning around once again he stopped the car and lit another smoke.  where could he have flown?  john, wondered. 

then like the blast of a short round it hit him.  electrifying his body with a charge that lifted him off the front seat of the coupe.  amos fly, wasn’t a magician after all.  he must have one of those funny little keys for the locks southern california edison used on the fire roads.  not really roads but fire breaks in the mountains made to slow the wild fires on their drive to the valley floor and humanity.

crap, zen, thought, as he put the car in gear and drove slowly back again.  this time looking at the hillside instead of down into the ravine.  looking at the hillside for the fire roads.   a bit later he saw it.  almost covered by the limbs of a large old oak tree it sat hidden and veered to the right.  zen pulled in and stopped.  yes, he thought, even with the winds howling he could tell someone had stopped there, he saw the tire tracks left in the sand.  tire tracks not yet blown away by the wind.  sure enough, one of the locks on the iron pole gate was an edison lock.  he slid his own edison key into the lock and it opened.  shit, that’s how he did it.  while re-locking the gate he spotted where the car had made it’s u turn and waited for his car to pass.  i’ll never find him now, he thought.  gone like the leaves of the liquid amber in the fall.  blown to god knows where. 

by the time john zen got over feeling sorry for himself and the lose of amos fly, he realized he was hungry.  slipping the coupe back into gear he drove  east and the way he had come.  the wind still rocking the car but not as badly as before.  the bright sun had that effect on the winds, sometimes lulling you into a false sense of, ah, it’s over.  only to come back with a vengeance as the sun faded into the west.  a vengeance only the dogs of hell could muster or the devil santa anas.  almost back to civilization, john zen, left the lonely twisting road.  it would stay lonely until the weekend when college and high school kids drunk on booze and life would, if they were lucky, manage to kill only a few of themselves on it’s winding path.

turning right he made that long straight downhill ride to route 66.  he lit another smoke and pondered his next move.  after another right onto route 66 he pulled into the parking lot of, dee’s dinner.  while shutting off the engine he looked over the other cars in the lot and didn’t spot fly’s sedan.  getting out and walking to the front door he thought this is a strange joint.  just an old railroad dinning car turned into a restaurant, painted red, white, and blue, sitting out here in the vineyards.  opening the door the smell of good food over took his thoughts.  a voice came out of the steam of the grill.  it was a portly italian man in a white tee shirt and white apron.  ‘hey, pal, whadda ya have?’   ‘what’s good?’  ‘we got the best chili and french dip this side of phillipe’s.’  ‘gimme both. i missed breakfast.’  ‘coming right up.’  as the food appeared he asked the man about amos fly.  ‘yeah, i know the guy.  he doesn’t say much and he’s always using the phone.  tips good though.’  the food was delicious, and john zen said so, leaving a hefty tip.   back out in the parking lot the air was almost still with only short heaving gusts of wind leaving the air hot in that strange winter time hot of the valleys.  he got into his car and lit a smoke.

as zen sat in his car smoking dreams of reality came flooding back to him like pictures from a long dead childhood.  black and white photos to soothe and cut into the hearts memory of time and space.  a stop sign up ahead almost covered by the gritty sand of the grape fields.  huge gusts of wind blowing into and through life’s safe little havens.  those almost forgotten piles of sand in the kitchen sink under that east facing window.  the first thing you saw as a kid when you went to the kitchen for breakfast.  the mountains blown clean and stark in the days bright light.  only to fade into that long dismally dark of nights long journey to daylight and maybe peace.  peace of mind came and went with the hurricane of wind and dust, sandblasting everything in it’s way.

the smoke felt good in his lungs.  he sucked it deeper.  he had always hated these all night sit and watch jobs velda was forever finding him so he could pay the rent on time and eat.  especially in december, the month of the mother and child and hope.  now that he’d lost amos fly his hopes seemed to dim.  with hope dashed, the life we live ends all hope and time punches out your lights with one last hurrah.  let’s hit him again.  he ain’t bleeding.  yet. 

velda, yeah, sweet, velda. some babe, velda. zen, thought.  she stuck with him through thick and thin like she was his sister.  this job was for her.  a cheap payback for all the past deeds come and gone.  future ones as well.

the trees and grape vines bent with a new blast of wind.  dust scraped at the car windows finishing the pitting the sand and wind had started in past decembers.  with one last long deep drag from the pall mall it gave up it’s life and flooded his lungs with another.  he crushed the butt out in the ashtray.   this bird on the run, amos fly, a small time ginch with a taste for bad juju and larceny was gone and into that wind.

jmh
 

college football week 7 picks

after last weekends debacle it’s time to see if i can get my stats up into something other than the doldrums of college football analysis.  21 for 42 isn’t anything to get excited about.  plus if you are using these picks to buy that castle on the rhine you are probably pretty upset and have feelers out trying to find me.  good luck in that regard.  though i suppose if you go the opposite you might be a bit happier but not that much.  either way you are a dumb ass for even thinking about betting on football games.  that being said, let’s get ready to lose our shirts, again.

hawaii at san jose st, hawaii favored by 19.  that number has gone up a point and a half.  san jose st had an ok game last week but i don’t think they are any where near ready to handle hawaii and their offense.  hawaii wins by the points or more.

washington st at oregon, oregon favored by 18.  the ducks should win this one easily.  though it’s one of those games where anything can happen.  they’ve had a week off and should be chomping at the bit to get out there and stick some points up on the board.  lots of them.  oregon wins by at least the 18.

boston college at notre dame, bc favored by 13 1/2 points.  this is the annual pope bowl.  generally a pretty good game.  it might even be better this year as bc has a pretty good team and the golden domers finally got a win last week against ucla, who everyone thought might have a good team. drifting.  the 13 plus points might be a bit much but if bc’s offense can mangle the domers defense like most everyone else has they will manage.  bc wins by the 13 1/2 or more.

oregon st at california, cal favored by 14 points.  this could be another good game.  the beavers had a good game last week and the bears were off.  if this game were in oregon i’d take the points and the beavers.  it isn’t so i have the bears to win by the 14.

lsu at kentucky, lsu favored by 9 1/2 points.  i’ve heard the sports talk guys yammering away about how tough the sec is and that probably the only team that can beat lsu is florida.  after last weeks lose to so carolina i think kentucky is ready for the tigers.  they will win or at least cover the 9 1/2 points giving lsu it’s first lose of the year.   

washington at arizona st, arizona st favored by 12.  another good one in the making here.  if it were up in washington i’d take ty and the huskies to cover or maybe even win.  they still might but i’m taking the sun devils to win by the 12.

arizona at usc, usc favored by 21.  it’s come down 1 point.  the boys of troy should win this one.  even if coach pete still has that deer in the headlights look and the kid sanchez starts at qb.  booty with the broken finger.  start the kid anyways even if booty can go.  usc has something to prove.  they win by the 21 regardless.

tcu at stanford, tcu favored by 6.  i had to have this one after the trees did usc in last week.  can they beat the tcu horny toads or what ever the hell they are?  can they keep their spoiler mystic alive?  yeah, what the hell.  the trees cover the points or win.  again.

there ya go this weeks picks.  keep your money in your wallets and things will be ok.  remember if the line changes that’s too bad.  what’s here is what i go by.  don’t be stupid and see you sunday for the wrap-up.

jmh

a short goodbye

no matter how old you get losing a pet is probably one of life’s more crappy handouts or slaps up side the head.  especially if the pet was a long time family member and your buddy.  i got to watch our pet of 18 years die yesterday morning and then have the sad duty of telling g/f that her beloved little bird, mimi, had died while she had gone out to get something for her. 

the illness or what ever it was set in very quickly.  though i guess if you are an 18 year old cockatiel you are probably on borrowed time as it is.  she hadn’t been doing well since friday night but in hindsight she probably had been going down slope for the past few months.  her mother, my g/f, had brought her back from the brink of death a few times in the past 5 or 6 years.  she thought she could do it again.  not this time.  that clause in life that says nothing is permanent finally clicked in.

so the little bird was put in a decorative christmas box, a few almonds were added along with a small dried flower bouquet, then i dug one more hole.  it’s not the first hole i’ve dug for a departed pet friend and i guess it probably won’t be the last.  however, this one really hurt.  still does.  she was my pal and my buddy.  usually, at this time of day she would be sitting on my lap or leg under the keyboard napping or fixing her feathers or just looking to me for some petting. 

we spent the rest of the day yesterday looking for a replacement.  g/f said she couldn’t come home and not have a bird here.  i understand that.  fine by me.  we found another lutino cockatiel that resembles our old one and g/f had to have it.  we brought it home and it’s beginning to adapt.  g/f is very good with birds and if this one has a good constitution she should be around for many years as well.  we named the new bird, mimi.  what else were we going to do?

goodbye, my little friend.

jmh

college football week 6 wrap up

what a dismal dull affair this weeks picks were.  3 for 8 and now just 21 for 42.  i took a thrashing.  aren’t you glad you don’t listen to my advice?  if i would only avoid it as well.  the best thing about saturday night was i was eating the best rib eye steak i’ve had in years at the ‘arroyo chop house’ in pasadena instead of watching football.  what could be better than drinking a very nice cabernet and eating a great steak perfectly prepared?  perhaps winning some more games.  maybe.

there is really nothing much to say about the trojans lose.  other than the look i noticed on pete’s face last weekend.  plus the fact that stanford is liable to beat anyone on any given weekend.  they were the last team to beat the trojans at home 6 years ago.  interesting.

notre dame finally wins one.  of course it had to be against the bruins while i was dinning just down the road from the rose bowl.  charlie weis said it best when he said there was nothing to say about their wretched season other than winning on the field being the best response.  win they did.  ucla’s quarterback problems not with standing.

thankfully missouri handled nebraska rather well.  good for them.

oregon st a nice win against arizona.

an even nicer win was the so carolina game.  the old coach can still coach.

arizona st goes 6 and 0.  they had some trouble against the cougars and didn’t cover the points.  we will see just how for real they are in the next few weeks.

hawaii wins but utah st gave them a run for their money.  the real meat of hawaii’s schedule is their last 3 games.

that’s a wrap for this week.  maybe next week will be a better one.  maybe not.  leave your money in your wallets and things will be ok.  also not listening to my advice would be an extremely good idea. 

jmh