BillandJeney.com - posts about life, music, food, travel and art: 09/01/2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

LETTERMAN SEZ “DON’T VOTE FOR ROMNEY!”

COMEDIAN ISSUES CHALLENGE, CALLS CANDIDATE “YELLOW”

Temecula, CA – Three days to go to the ‘make it or break it’ Presidential debate Willard Romney and David Letterman is feeling the coldness from the man that makes us miss George Bush. However, you don’t snub someone on TV like David Letterman without some blowback. So presented for your funny bone’s pleasure and in case you missed it, here’s David Letterman’s broadcasted reply to Mitt (He ain’t the Gipper) Willard Romney, appearing right after the jump.

FUNNEL OF LOVE IN THE HEART OF HIPSTERVILLE

MY LAtest ADVENTURE

Temecula, CA – Having just recently returned from Los Angeles’ Silverlake, (#1 hipster district in US - Forbes), I had gone up to LA both on business and pleasure this time. As a tea drinker, I had my eye on a hot pot water boiler a friend had gotten in Chinatown. Plus that same friend was recouping from some shoulder surgery and lived one district over from where Silverlake’s The Satellite Club was having the band I wanted to see. How hard could it be?

The Mowglis, a band that I made friends with and saw very recently at The Vault had left such an impression that a second look in LA was a doable.

The trip up went smooth and uneventful. My friend was glad to see me and we caught up that Friday, then chilled. Saturday we took the scenic route into Chinatown and shopped like tourists. I got my air pot. Though the weather was grand, the mileage took a toll on my friend and so when the evening came, I took off for the show in Silverlake by myself. I had mapped out the route on the web so I wasn’t worried.

Standing at the bus stop having deduced a single route closest to my destination, an attractive young woman wearing biking gear pulled up and greeted me, “Hello my fellow bus traveler.” She said. I knew the night was going to be a night of surprises [LA style].

‘Mama Kat’, I found out, was a cellist and played in a band that had done a very remarkable gig at the very private Soho Club (28 in the world). As it turned out, MK used her smart phone to further zone in on my proposed route to the Satellite. It started the next stop from where she was getting off. Cool.

Departing the bus in a very urbanized part of town almost underneath a freeway complete with short on-off ramps, I looked at an intersection almost with 3 streets converging. Soon an uphill two block walk led to a corner where I turned and saw the steepest hill I had ever seen in my life, the second surprise of the night. It was even steeper on the way back down, but after the dog park, the hipster-with-dog-way-to-hook-up, I arrived at the club, The Satellite, once known as Spaceland. The mirrored Saturn disco ball still spins slowly casting tiny revolving squares of light around the room.

The club is two thirds dance floor with a wall divider and tables separating the one third barroom area and front door. Tables are in the barroom area and along the back walls in both rooms. A long bar with bartenders runs the length of the barroom and attentive barmaids circulate through the crowd.

On this night, the first of the 3 sets, a group called The Silver Lake Chorus, has packed the place. TSLC, a twenty something group of twenty-somethings is billed as ‘rocking choral arrangements of indie music since early 2010 and exudes both the edgy, independent spirit of Silver Lake and the heart of community choral singing.’ The hipster chorus was a pleasant LA surprise.

Up next was the group that I took two buses and one train transfer to see, The Mowglis, who were performing with the full 8 members of the total band; the Temecula show had featured 6 members of the LA based band. The stage show did bump up a notch especially since the regular frontman was back in the lineup. The sparkplug leader added that extra element of performance and also rounded out the sound as did the second regular member joining them.

You see folks, the musicians in this band multi-task onstage. They don’t just play music or sing. Most of the members play, sing, and dance, all while recalling a Starship/Mama’s & Papa’s blend of harmonies due to the strong vocals of the only female in the band. The upbeat music tempo and positive lyrics also lend that 70’s retro bounce. Maybe the surprise here was how much better the band was with the full lineup. Hopefully the next time the whole band can roll down to Temec. WOTS was that Sal ala Master Splinter, is trying to hook something up for that to happen.

But as I trudged back up and down ‘the hill from hell’ my ears and memories of the night were still on the biggest surprise of the night, and the title of this piece, ‘Funnel of Love’. Though that wordplay may seem double entendre, it actually refers to a song the band named Terraplane Sun does and is their best song (IKHO*), track 8, on the release Coyote. The song is the most radio friendly tune on the CD that also uses an extended instrumental bridge which is based in a jazz/blues riff for contrast.

My mole on the scene had hipped me to two things, the aforementioned song and the lead singer’s distinctive voice that lends a nasal whine to songs that seem urban blues/new Americana, think John Mellencamp. The past month (August) Terraplane Sun had been in residence at The Satellite every Monday night, often packing the place. Now they would be going out on tour with The Mowglis up the Cali coast. This was their last show before hitting the road (the tour has been completed as this story was scheduled to run ten days ago, but a funny thing happened on the way to posting, Mitt Willard Romney).

Onstage the five piece band reveals itself to be as accomplished in talented accompaniment to the frontman’s unique voice. The night’s surprise for me, Terraplane Sun, was validated when my LA friend upon listening to the CD the next day, rushed in to his room to copy to his iTunes.

The TS songs have a gritty industrial feel mixed in with a carefree blues swing accentuated by a harmonica on occasion. By contrast, Funnel of Love is a throwback to the R&B/rock ‘n’ roll late 50’s/early 60’s tempo, structure, and style, sans the jazz infused segue bridge. The song brings a bright ray of sunlight to the other infectious but moody blues/Americana songs. Repeated playing of the CD just ups the appreciation of song crafting skills that yield an end result so pleasing to the ears.

(*- In Katter’s humble opinion – Ed)

Friday, September 21, 2012

WHY MONSANTO DOES NOT ALLOW OUTSIDE TESTING OF GMOs

FRENCH STUDY REVEALS TRUTH ABOUT GMOs

Temecula, CA – In a video about a French study released to YouTube just yesterday, the Temecula Calendar releases the following scoop:

THE BOTTOM OF THE RABBIT HOLE

WHERE THE FU*K STOPS

Temecula, CA – Apologizing up front for dropping the ‘F’ bomb in the subtitle, I can assure you that by the time you finish this report, my use of the word ‘fuck’ will be the last thing on your mind. Plus it is apropos.

Over the years here at the Calendar now and the Full Value Review before that, a picture of the world today as it really is, has been painted by the selection of subject matter and editorials presented. When you put all the clues together, after pulling them from all the fallout being generated by the clues, there is only one possible reason for the world being in the shape that it is in, especially when you consider all the ecological abandon waged on the world in the name of money. But is it really? What good does it do to gain the whole world and lose your soul? Make the jump and the answer to that question lies at the very bottom of the rabbit hole. Get ready to stare into the abyss, if you dare!

Let me say that if you don’t know Occupy, have not seen The Thrive Movement (presented on this website in its entirety), or watched the ‘Why’ video in the story US Draught Caused By Men …, the following may seem completely absurd. To those who haven’t the aforementioned credentials for believability, I say in my best Sheldon Leonard voice, "You will not apply my precept. How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?” – Sherlock Holmes

For those who have read my Occupy coverage or editorials, one central tenet is that corporate greed is making the planet inhabitable and unsustainable for humankind. Humankind includes 100% of people unless the 0ne Percent either build a space ark or a massive city underground. Both these illustrations have been used in sci-fi and ‘conspiracy theorists’ scenarios. However, both these scenarios involve planning by men and if you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m a believer in a supranatural world.

The supranatural world is the world of Shakespeare, where things of metaphysics exist in the physical world and complex rationales are illustrated. This is the reality of the ‘All the world’s a stage’ analogy. The supranatural world puts ‘flesh’ on Satan and a plot point to ‘religion’. That first plot point would be where we as humans came into the picture.

In Genesis Adam and Eve are told to ‘replenish’ the earth. Replenish means to restock, as in the original or previous stock was depleted. The Bible doesn’t go into much back story detail and all science can tell us is that once there were tons of dinosaurs* who all died out rather suddenly. The conjecture is an asteroid hit the earth and the ensuing ‘nuclear winter’ froze them all out. Realistically, they don’t know why the dinosaurs died out except suddenly the earth changed and no longer was habitable for them. Clue #1

Mankind has been seduced into burning fossil fuels through ease of removal, and convenience of use. The world moves on the combustion engine and human powers have channeled such engines to burn toxins, with strides to reduce such use coming too little too late. Prohibition wasn’t just about people getting drunk; that was public propaganda. Prohibition was about killing the alcohol-fired engine which only exhausted clean water vapor. Clean water vapor after combustion. The control of currency directed us to this pollution. Control the currency, and you control the nation’s industrial direction. Clue #2.

The third clue comes to us straight from the Bible, out of Genesis chapter three. This is where the curse is put forth. Enmity is put between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman by God. We know what enmity means but the word of the day here is ‘between’, which is a lot more than a preposition in this case. When you hear references about ‘sons of light vs sons of darkness’, it is here at the curse where it all begins.

Simply put, there are two distinct groups of people on the planet, diametrically opposed to each other by way of God’s input of enmity on the equation. Without the enmity, the two groups may have one day become one giant evil group through propagation and challenged God. However because of the enmity, it is the desire to be the dominant force of power on the planet that drives the cancerous sons of darkness who are part of the serpent’s bloodline.

Since this sounds almost like something from the ‘Left Behind’ series or ‘tin foil hat’ talk, a certain percentage of readers may choose not to believe the following scenario. That is the first level of entrance, belief! Belief is the key to opening any metaphysical book for gaining knowledge [and power]. It is that way with the Bible and it is that way for the remnant that I write to and for. If you have a better ‘exit plan’ or exit explanation of the last days, now reduced to minutes, feel free to just follow my music/political adventures. Smell you later.

However if you are like those very smart folks in the ‘Why’ video who are asking ‘why make the earth uninhabitable’ the answer is deceptively simple. The earth is about to enter another cycle of replenishment, and guess what Sports Fans, we didn’t make the cut. So, like a fish tank owner who decides to start a salt water tank from a previously fresh water system, the environment must be changed to support the incoming species. This was the unspoken message shared by the alchemists, the shaman, the love tribes, and out-of-the-box political intellectual thinkers at Occupy, hence the oft-repeated call to the 99% outside the camp to ‘Wake Up!’

Questions about ‘who, what, why’ are irrelevant. When you hear sound bites like Romney’s 47% remark/intonation or read Akin’s ‘legal rape and a woman’s body automatically shuts down’ logic, it’s easy to see how the 1% could be seduced into believing that with all their money and power, they could and would survive poisoning the earth. Yeah, they are that dumb.

This is the part in the westerns where you turn over the barroom café table and wait for the beer bottles to start flying. Now comes the time to decide where you are in the room. The Lord tells us that there are 3 kinds of people in the final scene: the doomed, the saved [the meek will inherit the (new) earth], and the chosen aka the elect. Decide which group you are in and which group you want to be in, and then believe you can be in one of the two groups to see daylight at the end of the tunnel if you feel doomed. Also ask yourself, do you really want to live forever? Some people don’t.

And now for something completely different – next, Funnel of Love

Sunday, September 9, 2012

US DRAUGHT CAUSED BY MEN FOR STOCK MARKET GAIN

WEATHER NOW TRADED ON CHICAGO MERCANTILE

Temecula, CA – For centuries people have said, “Everyone talks about the weather but no one does a thing about it”; “It is evil for Man to play God”; and even longer Gen 11:6.

This reporter posed pictures of chem trails over Murrieta as early as 2003 in an effort to alert (and possibly unite) people to what was happening right in front of their face, or over their heads in this case. Only the music scene and Occupy are aware that such topics are not the idle talk of conspiracy theorists, it seems.

Well all that is about to change. Reserve this Sunday night for two free movie presentations from the Temecula Calendar.

In true cut-to-the-chase Hollywood style fashion, you can watch the ‘cliff notes’ 47 minute first video and skip the following two. Remember however that as you watch tonight’s episode of whatever, tomorrow morning, weather along with your family’s future will be traded on the Chicago Mercantile.

WHY IN THE WORLD ARE THEY SPRAYING THE SKIES?

WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THEY SPRAYING IN THE SKIES?

PROP 215 BY THE NUMBERS

INVIEW OF LOCAL MMJ GROW PIONEERS

Temecula, CA – As stated in the forthcoming Memoirs of Mr. Pete & Mary Jane Green, Chapter 20, once an audience was established through the underground music readership via the Calendar aka Full Value Review, I revisited the political battlefield of medical marijuana. In those days there was one couple who stood up to the power of city hall, Marty and Lavonne Victor.

Over the years the Victors and their marijuana grow operation have been the subject of search and seizure by the feds and the local DEA stooges. Each time after a lengthy court battle, the Victors and their motley crew of patients have emerged ‘victor’-ious. (The word play is indicative of the ‘magical’ tongue-in-cheek tone of the valley)

The Victors, their mother Iris [pictured here],

and the other patients were the first medical patients that I came to know but of course not the first people that I met who used marijuana. Those folks were my peeps and we smoked to enjoy life, not to feel normal. Meeting and observing the whole ‘Victor’ clan, seeing their level of existence and mobility, you couldn’t help but marvel at the insensibility shown toward sick people trying to operate inside the legal structured framework of Prop 215 as voted in by the voters. The Victors weren’t saying make it legal, or set up storefronts, or create another bureau, the Victors were saying leave us, our collective, alone. We are abiding by the law.

Though not mentioned in Memoirs, the Victors are the reason that I got to meet Jack Herer the first time at the festival in Topanga Canyon. It was also at this festival that I met the Osburns, authors of Green Gold, The Tree of Life a marijuana source noted in Memoirs. Marty actually knew Jack before he blew up in the cannabis culture.

While I didn’t exactly issue a press statement when I got my marijuana recommendation, I did give a ‘short list’ the heads up. Marty and Lavonne were at the top of that list. I still remember the feeling of inclusion that I could feel through the phone from Lavonne. Marty’s laugh said it all in his response to my news.

Now officially a part of a kingdom that I fought for through pen and ink, figuratively, I got a call to come and be part of a grow/harvest day at the collective. What I saw amazed me. The following is my report based on my ground center view of the legal medical marijuana battlefield. As this area of cannabis culture is no less complex than any other part of Mary Jane, all political embellishment will be left off the scenario description.

Prop 215 was created to allow people who could be helped by ingesting (Gen 1:29-30) marijuana could have legal access to grow it. This could be accomplished through a collective, a single person grow, or a care-giver who grew/obtained MMJ for a patient. Records and other safeguards were to be put in place as to offer due diligence to the authorities.

Two events happened almost simultaneously to the Prop 215 medical marijuana playing field. The government, as usual, underestimated the demand for marijuana given all the jacked-up blow-back from the Adderall/Ritalin kid programs, plus the general population medicinal demand, all the while shooting themselves in the foot in a ‘backroom deal’ attempt to derail legally passed state legislation. Now the genie is out of the bottle, but not for everyone. The Victors are doing Prop 215 ‘old school’, as they say, by the numbers.

I will give you an overview so as not to divulge too many unnecessary details.

The approximately 20 members share in the harvest, receiving a gift basket at harvest-time, and they also share the duties toward the general upkeep, those that can. Obviously the aged or infirmed are carried by those less impaired, plus the other patients have ailments/operations/procedures that render them on the DL from time to time.

Regardless of individual involvement, each member receives an ample portion of the cured weed that goes through various steps and stages of curing. Because of a group effort, the cost or donation needed is next to nothing when compared to shopping a clinic, farmers market, or dispensary. Unless you consider your time to be money.

The people of this collective are a family of sorts, united by a common desire and need for a healthy(-ish) normal life. Pictured below is Marty (left) and Lavonne (2^nd from left) at Purple Haze Fest 2009.

There is some drama but it’s dealt with like a small church rather than like a blood family. What you see among the ‘grow’ people who would be total strangers to each other were it not for Mary Jane Green is the reverse of collectivism. Here in the ‘grow’ there is compassion for the individual, perhaps because not one of these people is a ‘stoner’, just a fellow sufferer. Compassion is a form of love [and real Christian love, but don’t tell anyone], so I can paraphrase an old R&B slow roller, “if lovin’ a bunch of MMJers is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.” (Extra credit to those who picked up the political reference – Ed)

Prop 215 was never meant to turn marijuana into a cash cow, to be dealt out of storefronts, taxed and permitted. I don’t deny the right of that existence, but the law as written was meant to work the way it works for the Victor collective, hard work + compassion=s abundant medicine for all the medical patients involved with no outside (government or dealer) intervention.

So what happened? The city councils, the feds, and all the squares decided that they were above the voters’ wishes [for various reasons, see Memoirs –out soon] rather than comply and use Christian compassion. The result is akin to trying to control an Irish woman.

FFHL FOOTBALL NEWS AFTER WEEK ZERO

COLLEGE, NFL KICKOFF UPDATES, and MINUTIA

Hello Football Fans,

Hope you all enjoyed the opening of the football season. I watched the Iowa game, which for the most part wasn't very pleasant, but the final outcome makes up for it. Clemson-Auburn was a good game, but the hype on Alabama-Michigan evaporated soon after kickoff.

Anyway, I had to cut the letter short this week, but I've included a few interesting tidbits that you may have missed.

The Fugitive Commissioner of the FFHL

Many NCAA Division 1-A schools schedule patsies to get the year started right, but some times the best-laid plans go awry.

There are 105 FBS vs. FCS matchups scheduled this year, with 35 of those games having been played last weekend.

Phil Steele had projected that there would be 3, and maybe up to 7 FCS teams beating FBS schools for the whole season. Already this weekend there were FOUR FCS winners.

[Handicappers, please note that there are generally no lines posted by sportsbooks for these games].

“UPSETS” -- FCS (Division 1-AA) beats FBS (Division 1-A)

FCS #7 Eastern Washington soundly won at Idaho, 20-3. EWU won the FCS Championship in 2010.

FCS #27 McNeese State won at Middle Tennessee State, 27-21. MSU has 16 returning starters, and made news last month when former LSU CB Tyrann Mathieu reportedly considered enrolling with the Louisiana school. [Update: Mathieu is enrolling at LSU for this year, has gone to drug rehab, and will be out of football for this season].

SHOCKER:

FCS #4 Youngstown State soundly beat the Big East’s University of Pittsburgh, 31-17. The YSU Penguins never trailed. The PIT Panthers had six players suspended for the game, but previously injured star RB Ray Graham did play.

FCS #38 Tennessee-Martin beat Memphis, 20-17.

FCS UPSETS – “NOT QUITE”:

FBS Florida Atlantic scored a TD in the 4th quarter to beat FCS unranked Wagner, 7-3.

FBS Wake Forest kicked a FG in the 4th quarter to beat FCS #39 Liberty, 20-17.

FBS Maryland scored a TD in the 4th quarter to beat FCS #34 William & Mary, 7-6.

FBS #12 Wisconsin was ahead 19-0 in the 1st half and still led 26-7 after a TD early in the 4th quarter before FCS #15 Northern Iowa scored 2 unanswered TD’s and threatened again toward the end of the game. FINAL: WISC 26, UNI 21.

There were zero turnovers in the game.

FBS Indiana held off a late threat to beat FCS #33 Indiana State, 24-17.

OK, let’s move on to the start of meaningful football games for the FFHL.

Betting lines are almost always posted for FBS vs. FBS games.

FBS ACTION – UNDERDOG WINNERS

In the 13 Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday games, there were no underdog winners.

On Saturday, there were 6 upsets in 28 games.

Overall, only 14.6% of the underdogs won their games outright (6 of 41).

Texas-San Antonio +6h won at South Alabama, 33-31, in a battle of two new FBS schools.

SHOCKER OF THE WEEK:

Texas State +36h (another new FBS school, in the WAC this year), an underdog by 36-1/2 points, won at Houston, 30-13. TSU never trailed and led 27-10 at halftime.

This kind of huge upset occurs historically about 1% of the time (that is, only 6 other times in 596 games over the prior 15 years with a point spread of more than 31).

Colorado State +6h beat rival Colorado in Denver, 22-17. The Buffalos led 14-3, but muffed a punt just before halftime that led to a Rams’ TD, and CSU was back into contention. Halftime: 14-9 Colorado.

Colorado kicked a FG early in the 4th quarter to lead 17-16, but the underdog Rams retaliated with a 48-yard FG at 6:39 and then kicked a 32-yard insurance FG at 2:56.

FINAL: CSU 22, COL 17 (Eric celebrates in Fort Collins)

Nevada +11 won at California, 31-24. The Wolfpack never trailed, but after leading 21-7 midway through the 3rd quarter, the CAL Bears tied the game on a TD with 8 minutes to go in the final stanza. Nevada scored the game-winning TD inside of 1 minute to play.

This was the first game on Cal-Berkeley’s home field in 21 months, as Memorial Stadium went through a $321 million seismic retrofit and renovation last year. An earthquake fault runs almost directly between the two goal posts (underground, wise guy).

Iowa State +2 beat visiting Tulsa, 38-23.

Ohio U. +5 won at Penn State, 24-14. It was an emotional day for PSU, and the Nittany Lions led 14-3 at halftime. But the Bobcats did all of the scoring in the 2nd half and won the turnover battle (3-0), scoring a TD with 3 minutes remaining in the contest to ice the game.

FBS upsets? – “NOT QUITE”

Minnesota -8h needed three overtime periods to win at UNLV, 30-27.

Stanford -25 held off San Jose State at home to prevail, 20-17.

Arizona -11 needed overtime to beat visiting Toledo, 24-17.

Iowa -10 needed all nine unanswered points in the 4th quarter including the game-winning TD with 3:35 remaining to beat Northern Illinois in Chicago’s Soldier Field.

FINAL: IOWA 18, NIU 17.

AGAINST THE SPREAD – “STRANGE TWISTS”

Northwestern -1h was ahead 35-13 in mid-3rd quarter, but host Syracuse scored 4 unanswered TD’s to lead 41-35 before the Wildcats scored the game-winning TD (and extra point kick) with a minute remaining in regulation.

FINAL: NW 42, SYR 41, but Northwestern failed to cover against the spread (ATS) by the hook (1/2 point). The Orangemen had made a 2-point conversion on its final go-ahead TD with 3:40 left, which ultimately was the difference ATS.

FFHL RESULTS – WEEK ZERO

Overall, we FFHL’ers started out the year with incredibly bad “luck” at 25-59-0 (29.8%) ATS this week.

We selected 25 underdogs out of 84 picks, and those ‘dogs were much better (relative to our overall crummy results) at 12-13 ATS, or 48.0% ATS. That means we performed pathetically with our “favorites” picks, a 22.0% win percentage.

Our #1 picks for this week were the worst at 1-11, or 8.3% ATS.

In this college-only first week:

ATS STRAIGHT-UP

Record Record

FAVORITES 18-23-0 (43.9%) 35-6 (85.4%)

HOME TEAMS 16-20-0 (44.4%) 32-4 (88.9%)

FFHL LOP-SIDED and CONTESTED PICKS AGAINST THE SPREAD (ATS)

ATS Picks

Team For-Against Result / Unsolicited comments

S.CAR-6h at Vandy 8-1 LOSS, Gamecocks win only 17-13

Oregon -37h vs. Ark.St 7-0 LOSS, Ducks up 50-3 in 1st half, backed off

Stanford -25 vs. San Jose 5-0 LOSS, Cardinal barely won game, 20-17

Oklahoma -31 at UTEP 4-0 LOSS, Sooners lackluster win only 24-7

Alabama -13h v. Mich 4-3 WIN, ‘Bama blew out game early, 41-14

Mich St -7 vs. Boise 4-2 LOSS, Sparty won only 17-13

USC -42h vs. Hawaii 4-1 LOSS, Trojans back off & win only 49-10

SDSU +14h at UWash. 2-2 SDSU Aztecs lose to UW only 21-12 to cover

LOOKING AHEAD – selected games, not the full slate

COLLEGE FOOTBALL - FFHL WEEK #1

Thursday Sept 6th Pittsburgh +4 at Cincinnati

Friday Sept 7th Utah -7h at Utah State

Saturday Sept 8th

Iowa State +4 at Iowa

Texas Tech -17h at Texas State

USC -27h vs. Syracuse in neutral East Rutherford, NJ

Florida +1h at Texas A&M (first SEC game for Aggies)

Nebraska -5h at UCLA

Georgia -3h at Missouri (first SEC game for Tigers)

Purdue +14 at Notre Dame

NFL WEEK #1 – SELECTED GAMES

Wednesday Kickoff 2012

Sept 5th Dallas +3h (underdog) at NY Giants -3h (favorite)

Sunday Early Divisional Matchups:

Sept 9th Buffalo +2h at NY Jets

Seattle -2h at Arizona

Carolina -2h at Tampa Bay

Other interesting matchups:

Pittsburgh +2h at Denver (last year’s playoff rematch)

San Francisco +4h at Green Bay (#2 & #1 seeds from last year’s playoffs)

Monday Double Header Cincinnati +6 at Baltimore (7PM Eastern)

Sept 10th San Diego +1 at Oakland (10:15PM Eastern)

NFL NEWS

NFL teams had to cut their rosters from 90 players to 75 players by August 27th, and then this last week the rosters had to be pared down to only 53 players (by Friday, August 31st). The media tries to make a big deal out of some of the cuts, but I don’t think there were any big surprises in key positions. However, teams will be working on their depth charts and upgrading their rosters for role players and backups.

I haven’t really been keeping up with significant player transactions, but Jacksonville RB Maurice Jones-Drew reported to camp over the weekend and will be playing Week #1 as the 3rd down back behind starter Rashad Jennings.

Holdout WR Mike Wallace finally reported to the PIT Steelers last week.

Seattle’s starting QB last year was Tarvaris Jackson; he was traded to Buffalo to be the Bills’ backup QB to Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Detroit’s RB Jahvid Best was put on the PUP list (physically unable to perform – that’s from a football perspective), meaning that he will be out for the first six games of the season. His concussion issues linger from a nasty injury he suffered in college.

QUIZ QUESTIONS

Even with 3-day weekend, I ran out of time and do not have a stumper for you this week.

Sorry, Krueg.