The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.
Please forgive me if this blog sounds like I am just rambling, because I am just not as lucid (cough!) as I usually am. It’s just as I come to work on a Monday morning, I suffer from sleep deprivation. It’s not easy being a sports fan and sometimes it’s down-right exhausting. This weekend was tortuous.
I understand the Ryder Cup needs to be in Europe every other time the Americans compete against the Europeans. What I do not understand is why Paris? Why not England? I have no problem watching Wimbledon. I kind of enjoy “Breakfast at Wimbledon”. But The Ryder Cup golf came on at 2:00 AM on Friday morning! 2:00 AM! There was a time in my younger days when I just might be coming home at that time, but I cannot remember ever getting up at that time.
I know – I know – I have TIVO. I can get up at a reasonable hour and watch 6-7 hours of golf at my leisure. But, there is no leisure on the weekend. On Saturday, there is football and there is work. Once the golf ended on Saturday midday, I was reviewing the game notes for the Lafayette–Central Connecticut State game (yes, I do research), taking a shower, and preparing to leave the house.
But wait, I had to go back to the TIVO. Penn State–Ohio State was going to start while I was still at Lafayette. Notre Dame was playing Stanford at the same time. Thank goodness, TIVO is quick and easy to operate. Set it up and exit.
My night was planned – do a game – watch a game and parts of another game and try to get some sleep. But when I came home, my wife, rightfully, wanted to chat. I gave her my undivided attention (most of it, anyway). I did not start the Penn State game until 11:00 PM, with the hope that it would not be close and I could check in on Notre Dame and call it a day (and night and early morning). The Penn State game came down to the very end; Notre Dame won without as much drama and it was 2:00AM when I rolled over, but a bit wired after the Penn State loss!! Suffice it to say, sleep did not come right away.
Guess when the Ryder Cup started on Sunday morning? 6:00 AM!! TIVO again, but the NFL starts at 1:00 – more TIVO. Eagles at 1:00; Saquon Barkley at 4:30! OMG! OMG! I am starting to lose it. My wife would like to go to the Celtic Classic – What???
I am beginning to feel like a Stephen King character in one of his horror stories. I’m running on empty, ready to crack. Someone needed to slap me in the face and say, “Snap out of it!” Then I realized, there is Sunday Night Football. That can’t be. I have had about 14 hours of sleep since Friday night. Those games go to 11:30 PM. I decided not to watch and check on the score from time to time. But I did watch the end until (you guessed it) 11:30 PM.
So here I am on Monday morning – up at 6:25 AM and at my desk by 8:15, writing this. My lids are a bit heavy; I can shut the door; and, if I don’t snore, then maybe….
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- One thing did surprise me, besides the Ravens win against the Steelers, on Sunday night. Do you realize (I did not) that the Ravens have not given up a second-half touchdown this year? No other team can say that. Pittsburgh had only 47 total yards in the second half on Sunday night. Very impressive.
- Through four weeks, the NFL is impossible to predict. Philadelphia loses along with Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. All were favored to win. Cleveland looks like they may be better and then lose to Oakland. Dallas wins in the final seconds; three games go overtime, etc. “Gary’s Guesses” are not what they used to be, mostly right – SO FAR!
- Carson Wentz was sacked four times yesterday and hit 11 times. The defensive secondary was not good. And the Vikings are next – is 2-3 a possibility?
- Monday, Major League Baseball offered up two divisional tiebreaker games for the first time in history. There had been ten other one-game divisional tie-breakers, but never two in one year. The last one was in 2013. Another difference is that in previous tiebreaker games, the loser was done. Here, the losers plays in the wild-card game.
- Lafayette won their first game of the season beating Central Connecticut State this past Saturday. They now have a bye week before getting into the heart of their Patriot League schedule. There is no bye week for the RCN-TV sports team – Friday night has Easton at Freedom LIVE and Whitehall at Parkland at 9:30 PM. On Saturday Emmaus will play Central Catholic at 7:00 PM. Join us.
Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks (Last week: 8-7) (Overall: 34-27-2 56% )
Week FIVE
BALTIMORE
PHILADELPHIA
RAMS
DALLAS
