Ummm…yes. Is Sam actually here? No? Well, do you have a pizza or eggs benedict food sample stand today?

Thoughts for the day…

1. We might know by the end of this if Baylor basketball has the short reign at #1 that most of us expect.  They are at West Virginia, playing a decent squad at a BRUTAL venue.
2. Last night was an absolute classic.  I still didn’t have that same feeling I had during the Texas-USC one a little over a decade ago, but it still was special regardless. Get outside of the size of the ref’s arms, the number of Lane Kiffin references, the painfulness of the long and frequent instant replays, and you are left with a fabulous football game.  Went about how I expected…just a little higher scoring.
3. Vegas got killed…a good amount of more money was all over Clemson.
4. It is obviously a lot of conjecture at this point until everyone declares or doesn’t declare, but you have some of the following.  Bama will be good enough to win it again.  Penn State and Wisconsin will not go far.  USC will be scary.  Usual suspects will hang out, with old school regulars Oklahoma State and UGA finally coming back into play big time.  What is more fun is this.  The four favorites out of the gate from Westgate in Vegas play each other the first two weeks of the season. FSU-Bama, and OU-Ohio State square off in weeks 1 and 2.
5. If I had a dime for every time I read or saw on social media a reference about Hunter Renfrow being a Patriot next year, I would be rich.
6. Watson will go pro.  Rated the third best QB by skill, I get a feeling he is a VERY strong #3 or higher with that gutsy performance last night.
7. Hey, Skip Bayless/idiot, way to prematurely call out Watson’s tentative start on Twitter.  Hate that guy.
8. I love my Steelers, and I love Le’Veon Bell, but he killed me today.  Come on, man.  Let your play do the talking.  Or wait until after the season.  We see your brilliance, but about to go into Arrowhead is NOT the time to tell us how you are revolutionizing everything.  I get your point.  I do.  But, let media members notice that.  Don’t announce.
9. Before I move on, I just want to say that it is very, very hard not to be happy with classy, emotional, and REAL Dabo Swinney.
10. First swipe at this, and this is not splitting the atom of course, but I like Atlanta, New England, Dallas, and Pittsburgh.  I think the Dallas game is the most intriguing game.  I think I hope to expect Atlanta finally look like they should with home field in the playoffs.  And of course I will be rooting for the dream that is the Texans, but know that won’t happen.  As fairy tale as the Brady-Big Ben matchup is, I would rather have them be at home in Pittsburgh, and I bet you Joey Porter is too.
11. Four days plus.  No yellow legal pad paper.
12. As soon as an NFL team decides whether he will be a safety or not, Jabrill Peppers will be a hell of an asset.  Declared today.
13. I don’t know enough about NASCAR to try and understand why 37 year old Carl Edwards is retiring, so I won’t even attempt to try.
14. I hope everything is ok, Derrick Rose.  I really do.  But, odd escape and return, you lost, and way to stay cryptic and mysterious…and weird.
15. Ummm, THIS is worth a minute of your time.  I got a little depressed, because there were nights closing the bar where I might have had the time, materials, and space to give this a run.  https://www.facebook.com/pointswest/videos/1280562238667546/
16. Love how my sports picks are pretty locked on during my betting break.  How perfect.
17. Ok, so FIFA voted yes for 48 teams??  Ugghhh.  I don’t agree personally, but I will roll with it.  But, 16 groups of THREE teams?  Come on.  The four team style worked great.  Might hate this.
18. In Anthony Bennett news, because none of us can go to sleep without knowing about arguably the biggest NBA washout #1 ever (probably easily).  Anyway, he was released by one of the worst teams in the league (the Nets) after not playing against one of the worst teams in the league.  Can’t WAIT to see where he lands next.  Maybe the Sixers will pick him as part of The Process.
19. I mean, I listen to Bill Walton announce games and think it can’t get any better.  Then, he goes on a panel and says that stuff?  Wow, man.  I bet the drugs from years ago in the back of his head just take turns of messing upfront with a dude who is on TV for sports.
20. Houston, we have a problem.  I watch all Steelers games on main TV on my couch.  I gave away my house to a girl party this Sunday months ago (before they were in the playoffs or known to play on Sunday).  Party starts at 11.  Game starts at 11.  I have to go somewhere.  Oh, where… I might be heading to somewhere NOT in my immediate neighborhood.  More to come…
21. Hoban.  We went to 1 Up in Uptown to have an 80’s game standoff Sunday.  I won two out of six.  He is a maniac with hand eye coordination and…remembering 8 year old skills on horrible aged video games.
22. I found my old game, Gyruss, which I WILL be going to many, many more times to see.  My brother and I used to OWN that game.
23. Of course, Hoban played it one time in his entire life and beat me 95,550 to 94,570.
24. The new renovated look at 1 Up is fantastic looking by the way.  Used to be a hole, and now is kind of classy.
25. After losing to Hoban at games, I took my vengeance out on Golden Tee…and for 90 minutes to 2 hours of my life on Sunday, I was the best in the entire nation on that particular course at that time…you have to have goals.
26. One other note.  Hoban got challenged at foosball.  Hoban is the best player I have ever played by far.  The #3 regional player or something like that happened to be this guy.  Hoban  lost.  Up is down for me now.  Hello is goodbye.  I felt like I was in the Bizarro world watching him lose.
27. I have pics, but you can ping me separately for them, or maybe I will post them over the weekend.  At least Hoban stops by everyday at work to write on our kitchen board, right?
28. Isn’t it so weird that the U.S. will never have a Golden Boot guy, but that we have a chick who has won the world’s best soccer player two years in a row?
29. I wonder if the Hawks pulled Millsap off the trade market as soon as Mike Dunleavy finally showed up…yeah…probably.
30. Love Eli Manning calling out OBJ and saying “back it up.”  Listen, you can say what you want when you are a QB with two rings, with one being over what would have been the greatest football team of all time.
31. Shouldn’t have gone on that boat, receiving crew.
32. Finally,  I was informed possibly of a great idea for my down weekends.  Because I eat so much, people around me at work tell me I should buy in bulk at like a Costco or Sam’s Club.  I haven’t looked into this honestly.  Grocery stores seem to be just closer, and those places need my name and info, I pay to go, and it sounds like a chore.  Anyway, before I make any decision to JOIN them, I found out the best part is “the free food samples they give out.”  Whoa.  Hold the PHONE.  I can just wander around a store and eat free hefty food samples.  Why do I need to go to breakfast or lunch?  From what I know, Costco might check your membership at the door and Sam’s Club doesn’t do it until you check out.  So, what is stopping me from going to Sam’s every Saturday or Sunday and walking around with a cart and fake list, eating a bunch of samples until I am full, and then leaving?  I can just say I have a decision problem and REALLY meant to join this time.  I can fake a call from my wife.  I even heard they have PIZZA sometimes.  What is my favorite thing in the world?  Free Pizza.  I can’t wait to investigate this possible revelation.  This is coming from the guy at work who has his ears trained to hear the squeaky cart people push around with possible leftover food.  This is the person who tried unsuccessfully to start a Salesforce Chatter group named “Food Scavengers” before someone erased it.  This is the person who has engineered an extra stomach just in CASE I just ate but there is free food available.
33. Oh.  Baylor got SMOKED by WVA.  Wow.  Hope you had a good one day run at being #1.
34. That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoyed or are at least more informed.  Will I blog tomorrow?  That is a CLOWN question, bro.  Peace.