Category: Uncategorized

West Virginia has done a good job this season.  9 and 3 is what I predicted back in August.  Now we go to the Gator Bowl and should play the Seminoles.  That is one we can win.  Next year?  If Noel Devine and Jock come back I think Ryan Clark and Gino Smith at QB will produce another good season.

Texas sure doesn’t look like the Number 2 team in the nation.  If Cincinnati plays Florida, oh my the Bearcats are going to get totally waxed. 

Alabama should win the national championship. 

USC is imploding once again.  But then it is a Hollywood team.

Upset prediction:  Ohio State is going to lose to Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

The irony is superb.  After the Pitt game, Coach Stewart is asked why he went for it twice on fourth down.  His reply:  “You can’t beat the number 9 team in country with field goals.”  This coming after a field goal to beat the number 9 team in the country.  Priceless.  I truly love listening to Coach Stu. 

In my June 26 blog I predicted a 9 and 3 season.  Got the individual games horribly wrong but it looks like if we beat Rutgers the won loss prediction will be right on the money.  Now for the bowl game prediction:  Pitt will beat Cincinatti so Cincy goes to the Gator Bowl and we go to the Meineke Car Crash Bowl on Dec 26.  What an absolutely dismal date for a bowl game.  The local merchants lose the run up (who is going to be there the day before?) not to mention the multi-day reservations.  Charlotte Chamber of Commerce ought to protest the Meineke bowl powers that be.  Who will we play?  A rematch of the last bowl.  UNC.  The winner:  same ole same ole.  WVU finishes with a bowl win.  Goes 10 and 3.  Ranked 14 nationally.

P.S.  Alabama is going to win the national championship.  Cincy and Pitt will both lose their bowl games.  Brian Kelly is going to Notre Dame.  Rod is going to be fired.

Boy, Friday the 13th was unlucky for WVU.  The replay official who made the “no fumble – touchdown” call probably thinks he made the right call but nobody else in the country (except Cincy fans) seems to agree.  But look, being a college football official is not exactly a licensed profession so don’t expect too much from them.  WVU had its chances to overcome that call and fell short.  The game shows me that Cincinnati has about as much business being ranked Number 5 in the country as my Aunt Minnie.  Should Coach Stewart be fired?  Of course not.  How would we feel if we had lost 45 to 14?  Now that would be something to panic about.

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We watched “Pelham 1 2 3” with John Travlota and Denzil Washington.  Definitely gets five stars.  Not much like the original but the original wasn’t all that good.  I think Ed McMahon was in it.  Really.  Also “Accidental Husband” is a funny, well-done romantic comedy.  It gets four stars. 

I am delighted with the Mountaineers being 7 and 2.  Why?  Well, that’s a winning season and we get a bowl game.  Also, we can still win the Big East.  The remaining games matter.  Think how un-delightful things would be if the Mountaineers were 2 and 7?  Sure everyone would like to win every game.  But since I’m not perfect I don’t really expect the Mountaineers and Coach Stew to be perfect. 

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Watched a movie called “The Brothers Bloom.”  Gawd, it was awful.  Out of five stars I would give it one.  It had some pretty photography (Prague and mansions) but the people responsible for this bomb should be ashamed.  The main characters wore goofy hats (somebody probably thought that would be really cool).  The characters every thirty minutes seem to feel compelled to say something profound.  Ugh.  This turkey is awful.

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The Republican victories in New Jersey and Virginia have nothing to do with Obama.  Come on, people.  Has anyone EVER cast a vote for governor based on what is going on in the White House?  And remember Obama won an election against John McCain.  His votes mean basically that the voter preferred Obama over McCain.  Assuming the voter also endorses all of Obama’s goals and priorities is not a logical conclusion.  Personally, I think politics is one of the most “over-analyzed” areas around.  But it is fun to discuss.

Mathematically, the Mountaineers can still win the Big East and go to a BCS Bowl.  Cincy and Pitt play each other so that produces one loss.  We play both of them.  Win both and the loser of the Cincy Pitt game has two losses, and the winner has one (just like WVU which lost to USF) but we own the head-to-head.  Of course, we also need to beat Louisville and Rutgers.  Could happen.  So don’t count the Mountaineers out of it yet.  Good things could happen.

Too bad about the South Florida game.  If we can win either Pit or Cincy then my original prediction of a 9 and 3 season might come true.  Lose them both and we are 8 and 4.  However I can remember 3 and 4 win seasons so with perspective we are going OK.  In college football one or two incredible players can make all the difference.  At some point we will have that combination.  It is there now?  We will see.  Probably not.  But next year, the year after?  Who knows.

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California wine country is beautiful.  No wonder the climate change movement is so alive out there.  We saw two different climate change street rallies going on in one day.  If there is a shift of the temperature gradient that could (a) radically change the wine country economy and (b) take away the absolutely wonderful California daily weather.  Obvious to me why that is a big issue out there and merely a coal mining issue in West Virginia.

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Suddenlink is trying.  The fellows that actually come to your house are doing a great job and really want to solve the problems.  The irritation comes in because Suddenlink management has constructed a call in appointment system that is broken, inefficient and stands in the way of efficiency.  The poor call in folks have no idea what is going on in the field, there is no communication back to the customer to give updates (prohibited by the MBA management types I bet) and a general “handcuffing” of the phone people.  At some point the cable industry will no longer be protected so I guess Suddenlink will get away for the time being with a system that creates irritation for its customers.  But as soon as there is a clean alternative to the cable, watch out. 

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Got a Kindle for my anniversary.  It is a wonderful product.  Trust me.  It costs about two fifty and books are ten bucks a download.  It will make a terrific Christmas gift.

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After health care reform passes, insurance premiums will rise dramatically in 2010.  The backlash that occured when Medicare was “tweaked” to charge seniors a couple of bucks is going to look tame compared to the reaction to the proposed package.  All of the expense and “pain” is frontloaded in the bill with the “goodies” deferred until year three of further.  It is a shame that health care is being reformed in this way because I fear the good will be thrown out with the bad when the public reaction sets in.  Health care should have been phased in incrementally rather than “jamming” issue after issue into one bill.  So sad.  But that’s what we get for putting up with “partisan politics” instead of ignoring the party labels and demanding “performance politics.” 

We were at the game, and it was quite a mix of good news and bad.  The bad news is the injury to Jarrett Brown and the dismal performance of the team in the first half.  The good news is that Gino Smith got some good experience and the team played very well in the second half.  The absence of Ryan Clark and the re-injury to Scooter Berry is a negative.  So all and all, what can we say about The Game.  We won.  That’s about all it means.  Now the Eers are 22 which I like.  It is always more fun to rise in the polls as the season comes to an end than it is to fall.

 

If WVU can win out, we should certainly be in the Top 10 – probably 6,7 or 8.  If we lose one more, we will probably be around 14 or 15.  Lose two more (my original prediction for this season) and we probably sit around 20 to 24. 

The key at this point is whether players get healthy and stay healthy.  No one can really control that so once again the Football Fates are in control of the season.  Should be fun.

We all know the horrific stories of citizens disappearing in police states.  Picked up by the police.  Nobody knows why.  Nobody knows the charges.  They just disappear.  Of course, that is symptomatic of despotic, totalitarian repression.  It is far too common all over the world.

So I had to smile when I went to the West Virginia Regional Jail website and saw that each night anyone booked into the jail is posted on the site, their picture, the charge, all of it.  We think nothing of this transparency.  But this is how democracy should work and thank the Lord we have a democracy where the rights of the people are never trumped by the power of those temporarily in office.

America does a lot of things right.  No wonder we are the envy of most of the rest of the world.

Auburn game was entertaining until the fourth quarter.  The turnovers are a problem because they deflate confidence within the players.  Hopefully the team leaders will elevate the players’ confidence level.  This is something the coaches can’t usually do alone.

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Finally, drove passed the huge, new sculpture being erected in front of the Clay Center.  It is certainly compelling in its size and design.  Its lack of an articulated theme lowers my evaluation of it.  After a few minutes of viewing it, I concluded that it should be entitled “Jumble.”

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It was wrong for Bush supporters to accuse those who criticized the war of being unpatriotic.  It is also wrong for Obama supporters to accuse those who oppose Obama of being racists.  Same song, second verse.

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