Not A Bad Week Picking

Last week in NFL Picks went 11-3 for the week to go to 52-23 on the year.  Only had three high school games and went 3-0 and college got seven out of eight.  The NFL has already whittled down to about six teams that you can just about pick will win each week unless playing each other.  There are about six teams you don't need to pick them any week unless they are play each and then there is about 20 who knows when they play each other who's going to win.  My goal every week is 10-6 and if I hit that I think I had a good week.

Thursday night football just maybe has a good one this week as Indy travels to Houston.  This is  two really good teams  going at it.  The winner has the inside track for the division but the loser will be in the playoff picture to the end.  I doubt that the loser of this game loses more than six games all year.  The Texans win 31-28

Those up and down Steelers take on the better than expected Browns in Cleveland.  That's good enough for me.  Browns 26-23 over the Steelers

There is no worry now Tom Brady is all world Tom Brady again and the Pats will walk in to Buffalo and whomp'em right?  Bills 27 Pats 23.

Panthers travel to the Bengals who had it handed to them by New England.  Panthers beat one of those teams that are probably pretty good  The Bears but are you kidding me Jay Cutler is the quarterback.  He is the greatest bad quarterback in the league. That's a lot like me in school I was the fastest in the slow group.  Bengals 35 Panthers 23

Jacksonville who is not all that bad on defense but not very good on offense.  They are one of the six never pick.  Titans they are in that middle 20 teams.  Take the Titans 31-13

Packers travel to Miami.  Believe this or not if this is a hot day might really favor Miami.  I'm not going to pick against  Mr  State Farm man unless he is hurt which is not very often.  I won't now for sure.  Packers 38- Fish 21

Lions and Vikings.  Here are  two teams in that middle 20 and you never know from week to week what you are going to get.  I like the home team the Vikes  28-26

Broncos at Jets.  Jets just got killed by San Diego and here comes Peyton.  Too bad that San Diego or Denver isn't in the AFC Eastern Division this year cause I think they are going to win all 8 games against the east.  Denver 38-  Jets 17

Ravens Travel to Tampa to take on those annoying Pirates.  Raven had better look out cause Tampa seems to stick around in every game.  Ravens defense too much 23-17

Chargers travel to their arch ememy Oakland.  This is another one of those games if the Chargers blast the Raiders out of the water you had better look out for the Chargers.  Raiders are always pesky to Chargers.  Chargers are down to the 4th string center and 4th string tailback and this is only game six, and yet walked the dog on the Jets.  27-7 Chargers

Chicago at Atlanta.  Another who knows what you are going to get game.  Cutler plays for Chicago and on the road.  That's good enough for me.   Falcons 34- 24.

Cowboys at Seahawks.  Really this game could tell us a lot about the boys.  If this is a down to the wire loss for the Cowboys then they might be good this year.  If they are blown out same old boys.  Hawks 31- Cowboys 23

Skins at Cardinals.  Need to remember since game one  Cardinals have had backup qb in action.  Cards rip the Skins  33-17

Giants at Eagles:  Well Giants loss their first two games and the world was going to end.  They have won three in a row and are now headed to the Super Bowl.  Bout time for the Giants to lose three in a row.  Eagles 42 Giants 28

San Fran at St Louis. We are not talking baseball so San Fran has a chance.  Seems to me the Rams are not quite as bad as they seem.  49's 23 St Louis 20.

Band Wagon One Week Dumpster Fire The Next

The world we live in these days when we can see our college teams play every Saturday or our pro teams on Sunday when all rejoice in victory and we automatically decide how great our team is.  Then the next when they lay and egg we talk about how sorry they are.

Expectations can be a great thing when they are realistic but  can be over amplified when we think to big and it is not true.  Carolina was ranked in the preseason top 25.  That is a great expectation but now almost half way through with the season not realistic.  State won four games in a row against little expected from schools  but when the big boys showed up got put in their place quickly.

Last week I picked Cincinnati to go to New England and win.  Why, we all saw the end of Tom Brady last Monday night.  My thinking was you know New England will play better but I think the undefeated Bengals will pull it out.  What actually happened.  Yes New England after being embarrassed on Monday Night Football  came out and played great.  Cincinnati on the other hand was coming off a bye and for two weeks they heard from their fans and the TV that they are one of only two unbeaten teams in the NFL.  Boy were they ripe for a plucking

Pro football if you are a betting man you had better pick the desperate team that is good over the fat and happy team.  Point in case.  Carolina Panthers 2-0 have that sorry Steeler team coming in  and it is a home game for us.  What happens but the desperate team wore the Panthers out.  Since then the Steelers have proven that they will be no better than 8-8 cause they turned around and loss to Tampa Bay in Pittsburgh.

The question now after being pummeled is where will Cincinnati and Arizona go this week.  The up and down Carolina Panthers who stole one from another up and down team the Bears head to Cincinnati.  If the Bengals are who we think they are they will have a good game and beat the Panthers easily.  The other unbeaten Arizona probably played pretty good but they played Peyton Manning becoming the second quarter back in history to throw 500 touchdown passes.  The were the lamb given to the slaughter.  Bad place at the wrong time.  They play the Redskins at home.  Is anybody picking the Redskins in that one?

So State looked like a JV team playing the varsity they play Boston College in Raleigh.  Two even teams.  If they get stomped this weekend you might need to started digging a grave this team is going no where.  A close fought game win or lose their season is still possible to be good.

Carolina on the other have not looked good at all on defense three weeks in a row.  If  VT can score in the high 30's who can't.  Where was Carolina's offense?  This week they travel to the Golden Dome to play Norte Dame who had a last second win over Stanford and the Irish just might be ripe for picking.  If the Heels get run out their season is gone.

Finally I have thought all weekend about what I could say about the incident at Nash Central on Friday when one of their football players made a formal announcement that he was accepting a scholarship to the University of Florida but none had been offer by the Gators.  Why would  such a thing happen to any program when no coach had made contact with Nash Central since spring from Florida.

A typical spring day football coaches get visits from college recruiters all the time.  They ask coach do you have any players that we might use.  I would hope the coach at Nash Central said yes let me show you a film of high lights of my player.  The coach will ask if he can have a copy and carry it back to his school.  He might also say can I talk to this player because I would like to see what he looks like .  So the recruiter says to the player your coach says you have potential at our school and we might be interested.  Once they get back and all the coaches look at the film and they say no he is not what we are looking for that is it. 

A school showed interest but is not recruiting a typical player.  There is a big difference in recruiting a player and asking about a player.  The head coach at Nash Central should have called to find out what do you think , we haven't heard from you so what gives.  Oh we are not interested.  So all of this twitter hullabaloo that the player was trapped in could have been stopped by a coach looking out for his player. That might be one reason they have lost 19 in a row.

Big Four Lack Defensive Speed

Let's think back to just about every game in which any of the Big Four football teams plays someone that is highly rated and in all most every case they all find themselves behind  early because the other team has tremendous speed and it takes a while to adjust to speed.

North Carolina's opening game loss last year at South Carolina down 21-0 early.  Saturday State is down 21 before they ever got a first down.  Duke against Florida St in the ACC championship game just not capable to keep up with the Florida State speed.  Saturday Wake who can't move the ball on anybody can't slowdown the Seminoles offensive speed.

I don't care if you give up 70 Carolina looked awful against ECU.  Just as bad the other way the State blockers couldn't block anybody that had a Garnet jersey on.  Both were embarrassing.  Right now there is no doubt the best coach in the Triangle is David Cutcliff.

Rumblings are stirring about Larry Fedora not being able to coach defense.  In Fedora's defense the Carolina Administration lied to the man  and did not tell him the truth about all the scandal that was on the horizon in Chapel Hill.  If any body needs to go it's all those that lied and hire him to begin with.  Oh, that's right they are gone already.

 I think one of the worse things about the modern world of Win every game or go is coaches are not given time to do it their way.  Especially the mess Carolina handed him.  In Raleigh the signs look good that they have a good man if given time.  They surely can beat teams worse than them and it is only the second year for Doeren.

The big difference for Duke this year is they don't have the second string quarterback they had last year because he went home to California to be nearer his sick mother.  If you recall Boone got bailed out of several games last year but there is no one on the bench to bail him out this year.

Wake in the first year under their new coach they look like a team floundering under a new coach that wants to install his own offense with the old coaches players.  He needs more time.

The only team that looks like they are hungry is the Pirates.  Quite frankly I was disappointed in the way they played home coming Saturday but a win is a win.  I hope now that they are in conference play they are ready each Saturday to blow people out.  A really good bowl game could come if they do. 

Finally the answer to my trivia question yesterday is Austin Texas.  Austin is the 11th largest city in the US and does not have a NFL, NBA, Major League or NHL team.  When I stumbled on this I thought Austin was about the size of Raleigh but they have 883,000 people in the city limits.  The most famous thing Austin is noted for is it is the home of the University of Texas and the PBS show Austin City Limits is recorded there.

Those Other High School Sports

Football gets all the attention and as far as the Big East football is concerned and the first conference games start this Friday.. All of the other fall sports are either finished with the regular season or almost done and the playoffs start soon.  Let's give the other kids some notice.

Girls Tennis:  Rocky Mount dominated the regular season going 10-0 and 16-1 over all.  Their 89 singles matches played during conference the Lady Gryphons were 80-9. Four of those losses came in a 5-4 win over Hunt.  Hunt and Fike having winning conference records with everyone else trailing the field.  The Big East Tennis Tournament starts Wednesday at Barton.  Rocky Mount's  lone loss on their schedule was to Cardinal Gibbons and you know at some point in the playoffs they will have to meet the so called no scholarship  Private school.

You don't have to look too far to see who has the best Cross country team. Northern has dominated conference runs plus place high up against all schools any time they have run in invitationals beating most 4-A schools.  This squad has a real shot when the regionals and state comes up at placing at least top five which this year might be a disappointment cause they could win it all.

Boys Soccer:  If you want to see where the best in the Big East reside you will have to go to Wilson County.  Hunt and Fike both are scrapping at the top with Northern Nash as the only other team with a winning conference record.  Rocky Mount is 500 but the Big East power is at Fike and Hunt.

Girls Volleyball:  Once again you need to visit Wilson County as Fike and Hunt have lost only game between themselves as volleyball regular season ends this week.  Northern is 5-3 and everybody else  is looking from the bottom up on the top teams.

I hate to beat  dog  down but I have to ask the question about what is going on at Nash Central.  The football team has yet to win, Volleyball has one conference win, tennis has one conference victory and at this point Soccer has yet to win a conference game. 

I ran across and interesting fact that I want you to ponder.  Can you name the largest city in America that does not have even one of the so call big four professional sports team. First of all I was shocked at the size of this city and can't believe for it's size they don't have some kind of pro team.  Answer on Monday.

Life Changing Opportunity

Friday night made the trek to Buies Creek for another conference Volleyball game and which Campbell came back from the dead in the fifth set down 8-13 to win 16-14 to win their second conference game of the year to go 2-0.

I'm working on Saturday so wife Pat drove and I came back after the game while she is staying at the Lillington Hilton.  While heading down I'm thinking only got three football games tonight what am I going to fill space with  only three games and I am not at any of them?

I started playing in organized sports when I was eight years old and after high school have spent another 43 being a part time/full time broadcaster of sports.  I guess God has blessed my family as having a cousin Lauren playing minor league golf, a son Brooks  even though he graduated from N C State in a field related to Coastal Enviroment has been a coach for more than six years in the Tri Athlon field.  The final daughter  Morgan the manager of the Campbell Volleyball team has decided that coaching is where she wants to be.  The apples have not fallen far from the old tree.

Tonight while in the middle of the second set  at 7:40pm received a text from son Brooks. "Dad, Just got game changer of my life.  Have been selected as a developing coach for the USA  Triathon Oympic Team"  WOW I sat stunned for a few seconds.  In six short years Brooks has gone from  a kid still trying to figure where he wanted to be in life  to maybe the fifth top USA Tri coach in the country. I've been broadcasting for all this time and ESPN never called me.

The USA is not a major contender in the Olympics as of yet but the National Tri Association thinks Brooks is one of those that can help get us there.  He will help with those contenders to make the Olympic team in 2016 but the realism is 2020.

This may require a move to Scottsdale Arizona where the Tri training Center is located but Tri Athletes train and race  all over the world so this will not be a stay at home every night job.   Boy I won't sleep for a week after this news.

Ok, lets talk ball:  As expected RMA crushed Northeast Academy 58-0.  SouthWest Edgecombe punished East Carteret 49-16 and the Big game in the area Southern Nash out scores Tarboro 46-27.  I don't think any team at any level has played the quality schedule that the Vikings have and record wise you would say "not very good this year" Look they have not played a 1A school yet this year and this is what happens when you don't have D1 players on your squad.  They will be alright starting next week as long as they are healthy.

Heading to bed to thank the Good Lord for a wonderful day..  All days are great but some are just more special. 

Big Four Schools Need A Win

Had another 6-4 week in college picks having gotten three of the four Big Four right.  Jump to 42-14 on the year.

Virginia Tech @ North Carolina.  VT upset Ohio State and their offense has stunk ever since.  What does that tell you about Ohio State.  Heels will get plenty of points and they just might hold the Gobblers under 30.  NC 44 VA Tech 28

Pack @ Clemson.  This game will go along way in letting us know if the Pack is better this year.  Don't think they will win but I bet it is a barn burner.  If they get blown out not many wins left for Raleigh.  38-35 Tigers

Wake Forest @ FSU.  Deacs offense probably will not score 10.  You know Tallahassee will get 50.  FSU 56 WF 10

SMU @ECU Here is a tester for the Pirates.  Pirates should will by 50.  Two weeks off after one of the greatest slaughters in Pirate history. The Pirates need to crush the horses from opening whistle.  ECU. 48-3

Averitt @ North Carolina Wesleyan.  The Battling Bishops win their second in a row 31-20.

Pitt @ Virginia  The Whoos are a good team this year.  Pitt is not, Virginia 38 Pitt 28

Louisville @ Syracuse. The Cards take down the Cuse 35-20

Miami @ Georgia Tech. Rambling Wreck is undefeated, Miami should have beat Duke badly but didn't.   The wreck remains undefeated 27-23

You may not heard about this but last Saturday night  Todd Gurley was accused of assault in a bar in Athens Georgia.  Here we go again another athlete  trying to get away with any thing they want.

Turns out the accuser had been taking selfies all night with Todd in the background pictures. Some time during the night  the accuser dropped his hat but he thought Gurley had grab it and started cursing Gurley.  Some white dude cold cocked the accuser and the next day the accuser  went to the police thinking Gurley had hit him  and filed charges on Gurley.

The police looked at security film in the bar and Gurley was cleared of any miss doings.   You know when you are famous there are plenty of people looking to benefit  from your fame and young kids get caught up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This was a case of mistaken idenity since the accuser never saw the punch.

Gurley gets 200 yards again as we have reach the point where Georgia will force feed Todd Gurley the ball in the Heisman Trophy Race.  Georgia 45 Vanderbilt 28.

Slack High School Week For Games

There is always a debate about off weeks.  If you are rocking and rolling you hate to break the momentum that your team has  going.  Fike sits in that position as they are the only unbeaten team in the league.

If you sit at the opposite end of the the spectrum like Nash Central and have no wins there are just not enough days of practice left before conference.  You look for the magic potion that will turn you around over night.

The next level is Northern Nash, Hunt, Rocky Mount.  All three have shown signs of greatness and all three have looked bad at times.  Those in the middle win games they shouldn't and lose one that give away.  If you sit in this category you have shown potential and just maybe a week off you discover what you have been striving for.

Southern Nash the lone team in the league playing Friday fits in the Northern, Hunt and Rocky Mount.  They could if all the parts finally fit  make a run for the title.  Funny thing about all the parts sometimes teams never find the right parts.

Will Fike keep rolling or will somebody in the middle and jump up and grab everybody else by the throat and win the league? Those that have injuries are hoping a week off cures all to full health. Next week the playoffs begin and the bottom line is who wants it the most will win it.  It will help along the way if a fumble bounces your way or you get a ref's call and of course you have to stay healthy.

Only seven games to pick last week and went 7-0 which runs my high school record for the season to 42-10.

Tarboro @ Southern Nash:  Neither team has followed the GPS route to solid football.  Both need this one to get from making a U turn to get back on course.  This is going to be low scoring for somebody.  The Firebirds win a close on 16-14.

East Carteret @Southwest Edgecombe:  I doubt this one is close.  The Cougars warm up for the Eastern Plains with a romp.   Cougars 42 East Carteret 13

Northeast Academy @ Rocky Mount Academy:  Another pick the score game for the Eagles.  68-8 sounds about right to me.