Obviously, I spent much of Sunday watching NFL football. Between the Eagles, the Steelers, and the Red Zone, the day was filled up from 1:00 – 7:30. And, once you get into that frame of mind, it is hard to adjust to other programming. It is an afternoon of adrenaline.
Other programming on Sunday consisted of “60 Minutes” and the second Presidential Debate. “60 Minutes” did not calm me down because it was all about artificial intelligence, which seems to be closing in on replacing all of us no matter what we do.
Since I was still wired from football, and certainly not calmed by a report that robots could replace us all, I found myself watching the debate in a football frame of mind. I looked at both candidates as if I were an NFL official. And it didn’t take long to throw the penalty flag. For example:
FALSE START: Neither candidate shook the opponent’s hand to begin the debate. That should be a 5-yard penalty.
DELAY OF GAME: Both had trouble sticking to the two-minute time limit for their answers. They obviously need to work on their “two-minute drill”.
ENCROACHMENT: This 5-yard penalty could have been tossed on numerous occasions as Donald Trump stalked Hillary Clinton as she was answering questions. Instead of taking a seat, he paced and hovered throughout the debate.
NEUTRAL ZONE INFRACTION: Hillary often stepped over onto Trump’s side of the field to get closer to the crowd. There’s another 5-yard penalty.
ILLEGAL SUBSTITUTION: When asked about e-mails and Benghazi, Clinton substituted Russia and Syria; when Trump was asked about his biases, he substituted ISIS. These penalties were offsetting.
PASS INTERFERENCE: Since “making passes” seemed to be a favorite pastime for Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, the media exposure is an excellent example of “pass” interference. Due to contact by both sides, those penalties were “offsetting”.
TAUNTING: No explanation necessary and that is a 15-yarder against both candidates.
UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT: Both Clinton and Trump were quite eager to bring up the indiscretions alluded to by the Trump tapes that were released a few days earlier, and Trump not only brought up Bill Clinton’s past problems with women, but he had four of the women in the audience. Both should have been given 15-yard penalties.
TOO MANY MEN ON THE FIELD – For the life of me, after all the rhetoric of the last year, how can anyone say they are still an “undecided”? The audience on Sunday was made up of just those people and there were too many of them. Throw the flag on all of them and tell them to pay better attention.
And like any player that spent the day engaged in battle, I went and took a shower!
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- Locally, there has been so much talk about Carson Wentz, the rookie quarterback of the Eagles, that many around here have not noticed what Dallas rookie QB Dak Prescott has done. The Cowboys are 4-1. On Sunday, he took apart the Bengals and passed Tom Brady’s record for most pass attempts to start a career without an interception. The Eagles play at Dallas on Sunday night, October 30. Tony Romo should be healthy by then. Should Romo or Prescott start?
- Speaking of Carson Wentz, he lost his first game this past week against the Lions and most post-game headlines talked about his interception at the end. He certainly could have run his first real two-minute drill better, but the game should not have come down to Wentz at all. Without the Ryan Matthews fumble, the Eagles probably win the game.
- I’m watching the MLB playoffs and wondering how anybody hits these top pitchers. They are scary good! If you can, catch the Real Sports show on HBO where they discuss the use of the ball-strike box to actually call the pitches. It’s a fascinating report. More robots!
- Which team or teams will win the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South division title? Bethlehem Catholic and Emmaus have one loss and Parkland, Nazareth, and Liberty have two. Beca finishes with Whitehall, Freedom, and Central Catholic (this game doesn’t count for the division). Emmaus has Liberty, Easton, and Parkland. There could be multiple champions.
- On Friday, October 14, the RCN-TV crew will have the Emmaus – Liberty game LIVE at 7:00 PM followed by Palmerton facing Catasauqua. That game is on at 10:00 PM. The crew will have Nazareth at Freedom on Saturday LIVE at 7:00 PM. Lafayette travels to West Point to play Army. You can watch that game on CBSSN at noon.
Gary’s Guesses: NFL Picks – (Last week – 9-5; Overall – 45-32 – 58%)
Week Six
DENVER
PITTSBURGH
NEW ENGLAND
BUFFALO
GIANTS
PHILADELPHIA
NEW ORLEANS
DETROIT
JACKSONVILLE
TENNESSEE
GREEN BAY
ATLANTA
KANSAS CITY
HOUSTON
ARIZONA
