The Bleachers

December 7th, 2008?

2011-01-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

Where did I go for two years? I mean why? Surely I had things that happened that I could have written about, right? Ok, so there were a few things that have happened since then and since no one really wants to hear about those things, I will just post two pictures.

I am having to include hyperlinks because I'm not at home were all my pics are stored, but basically what you have there is we had a daughter on May 20, 2009 and then on July 13th, 2010, my wife broke her lower leg and dislocated her ankle.

Are these excuses for me not blogging? Nope. What better day to start doing something that I enjoy doing so much than 1-11-11? It only happens every 100 years, I will try to blog more often than that.

This feels good.

Sour Grapes?

2008-12-07T21:55:00.001-08:00

Those usually only come after a head to head loss right?

The Longhorns got screwed. No not by the BCS, but by the Big 12, who has a stupid tie-breaker rule. When you watch the build-up to these games and then the games themselves, don't fall into the trap that ESPN or Fox will be feeding us about how Florida and Oklahoma are definatly the best two teams right now. Remember these were the two organizations that were feeding the fire about why the BCS has messed up again when Oklahoma got the nod to play in the Big 12 Annual Bloodbath, I mean Championship Game. ESPN and Fox have an agenda. ESPN just signed a long term deal with the BCS and Fox is currently airing BCS games. In a post 9/11 America, the media has a huge influence on anything that is not decided in black and white, such as the Presidential election. Pardon the pun.

With that said, I will predict a winner between Florida/Oklahoma. I think Oklahoma is the best team between the two. But in what is a totally illogical sport, we have a full month between the end of the regular season and your championship game. This has been the part of the year where "Big Game Bob" has lost his nickname. Oklahoma is 0-4 in their last four BCS games. Hmmm. Don't think this trend gets bucked this season. Sure it would be nice for OU to win, finish the year with the same amount of losses as Texas, with Texas winning the head to head meeting, but it ain't happening. Florida 38 Oklahoma 24. Mark it down, you heard it here first.

Mega-blog

2008-05-15T11:23:00.001-07:00

I had promised a blog about the Counting Crows new cd Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, so I will address that as well as the Texas Rangers slow rise to prominence, my week off work, falling in love again, visiting Mom for Mother's Day, as well as the NBA Playoffs. Hold on tight, buckle your seats belts, and beware of dizziness, topics may change without notice.

Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

The first thing about this album that struck me was the name. Adam Duritz explains it like this, "Saturday night is when you sin and Sunday is when you regret. Sinning is often done very loudly, angrily, bitterly, violently." This is a great name for a concept cd like this. I mean once you hear it, you understand what is a "Saturday song" and what is a "Sunday song". It is perfect. And for those of us who have ever had a rip-roaring good Saturday night and then slept in on Sunday morning you know exactly what Duritz is talking about. He hits the nail on the head!

I won't go through every song on the cd, but I will hit what I think are the highlights. Duritz says in some of the interviews he has done that the first cut "1492" is the whole reason behind the cd. It is his favorite song on the cd, and writing that song is what got him rejuvenated and ready to write the rest of the cd. I think the song is decent, it is a little bit of a throwback to the Recovering the Satellites album, which Duritz believes was his best work. It is really hard, and angry, and to me reeks of Cobain with that perfect Duritz twist. It is a great way to start the album off, really fast and emotional.

"Hanging Tree" is the second song on the album, and at first this was my favorite song, but after listening to more of the cd, I'm not so sure. It is classic Crows. Very jangly, fun, yet powerful and loaded with home run lyrics like this: "You open windows and wait for someone warm to come inside and then you freeze to death alone.....". That sums up Duritz so well.

"Los Angeles" is the third song, and it slowly became my favorite song on the album. Lyrics, lyrics, lyrics. I mean this has some of the best lyrics ever written in a song before, I should let you know that Duritz recorded this song for the album admittedly drunk. I love the way this songs sounds, and lays out. I will dare you to argue a more cleverly written few lines that this right here:

"No more Boston, no more Nashville, no more Oakland. Ohhh baby come on out to the sea. Come on take a walk down Sunset with me. We're gonna get drunk find us some skinny girls, and go streetwalkin', streetwalkin' baby in Los Angeles. Streetwalkin' baby......"

"Cowboys" is another fast song with a huge alternative music feel. One of my favorite songs for sure. I don't know if I understand this one yet, so that has some appeal to me. I listen to the song every time and wonder what Duritz is talking about. I wouldn't expect many to like this one.

"Washington Square" and "On Almost Any Sunday Morning" are both great tracks that at any time in your life, depending on what you are dealing with, could be the best songs ever written. I thought about just putting them together at the end and saying they didn't make the list, but next month, or tomorrow, or ten years from now, these two songs could be in the pantheon of Counting Crows classics.

Needing a song to replace "Hanginaround" as the last song played in concerts, "Come Around" is that new song. It is happy, fun, and a little bouncy. To me it is that perfect song to turn on in your car, roll the windows down and just crank it and sing at the top of your lungs. This is a friends song or a getting out of town song.

Overall I think this cd is pretty good. There are a few slow spots, and for some reason I fall into that thought that I have to like every song the put out, when that isn't true. There are some songs I quickly turn past on this cd, but I think that most of the songs are above average. If you were able to buy the bonus songs from iTunes then you will get what I honestly think is one of there better songs of all time "Sessions" as well as another song "Sunday Morning L.A." which is a throwback and reminds me of some older classic rock, maybe even has a Zeppelinish appeal to it. So for those of you that follow closely to my blog, I will rate this album a solid "4 Jaws". That is 4 out of 5 and to gauge this I would give "Recovering the Satellites" and "August and Everything After" "5 Jaws". So you can see this is up there for me.

Texas Rangers are .500?

Well not quite, but they sure are close. Not long ago there was talk about them firing Ron Washington, losing the most games ever in the first month of the season, and replacing the team with the Frisco RoughRiders. Fast forward to yesterday (I like that line, even though it makes no sense whatsoever, I like it!) they had a chance to win and be a .500 ballclub (they lost in extra innings to the Mariners). They did however bring up a bunch of the young guys from double and triple A and are starting to pitch much better. They seem to have taken notice to the fact that they nearly got their coach fired, and got things straightened out real quickly. I enjoy watching this team play, and hopefully they will play meaningful games deep into the Summer and eventually Fall.

Falling in love with you is easy........

Don't get too excited Bleacher Babe (I have decided that this is how I will refer to my wife in these blogs) I'm not talking about you, or anyone else. I'm talking about golf. That kind of sounded mean, but if I am going to have a blog, I can't get mushy on here, that is for personal emails, texts, and other various forms of communication. We get to golf for free because of where I work, and I have really started to enjoy the game again. I got a small lesson from one of my golf pro buddies and now I want to be out there everyday. Hope the Bleacher Babe goes along with this one.

Surprise, It's Mother's Day

Bleacher Babe, my brother and myself were able to drive up and see my mom on Mother's Day this year. It was cool, mainly because we surprised her. All we did was hang out at her place, take her out to eat, set up her iPod, went to see "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" which was a good movie, but too much male frontal nudity for me, Juno on the other hand was an instant classic. Anyway Mother's Day was great, and I hope that we get to do that every year. It would be weird to not spend Mother's day without Mom, unless of course there is another Mom that my Mom would love to see every Mother's Day! More to come on that subject as warranted.

The NBA, it's Fannnntastic!

I'm sure you all know that I am fascinated by the NBA and the Playoffs have been great. I made some predictions a while back, and since then one of my Finals teams has been eliminated so I think it is only fitting that I go back and pick new winners.

Eastern Conference Finals

Detroit over Boston in 7

Western Conference Finals

Utah over New Orleans in 6

Sorry to all the folks at ABC/ESPN is this happens because you are stuck with the worst possible NBA Finals of all time. Actually I do hope this happens, only because the NBA screwed us for some many years with terrible officiating and stupid rules.

Utah over Detroit in 6

Jerry Sloan finally gets a ring for what I would guess is a freakishly long finger. That is all for now. I have typed my heart out. On to the golf course where I hope this carpal tunnel doesn't affect my swing.

Rocking On and on and on and on and on........

2008-04-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get pretty good at the guitar on Rock Band. I played too long yesterday though. If they had a disabled list for Rock Banders, I would have to go on the 15 day DL. I have developed a pretty severe case of "Nintendo thumb", the rare phenomenon that occurs on the inside part of the thumb nuckle where you get a psuedo blister, but there isn't enough skin to actually blister. I think I might have hit the bone yesterday actually. That is not to mention the shoulder pain I am experiencing, hopefully I won't have to have Tommy John surgery at the end of the season.

I was able to play all night basically on Friday, Saturday night was just for a few hours and I went at it sparingly on Sunday. I think that I will have to give it a bit of a break this week, and let my hands and shoulder get back to good. I feel like Joel Zumaya late in the 2006 season when he had to spend some significant time on the DL because of inflamation of the wrist due to Guitar Hero. Good to know that I will be able to bounce back and could pitch in World Series games if I need to.

Guess who's back......back again......

2008-04-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Richter's back, tell a friend.

Ok sorry for that, but yes I am back for all of those who have missed me. So as most of you know, I got a new job and let's just say, I work a few hours a week during the season. Things are starting to slow down somewhat though, so I will be back on here to spread my wealth of knowledge the way Ron Mexico spreads the occasional venereal disease.

Rangers got rained out the other night and that really dissapointed me, mainly because I didn't get a chance to watch the first game of the doubleheader which they swept, and secondly it disrupted the rotation, and as us Ranger fans know, you don't want to do anything to disrupt a pitching staff that is actually holding its own so far this year. I think the Rangers can be comptetitive this season, that doesn't mean I think they are playoff bound or even close to it. But I do think they will play meaningful games well after the all-star break. We will soon see.

As for college basketball and the championship, it was a great game but a rather boring tournament for the second year in a row. Very little upsets with the exception of Davidson, but I think this is a product of the parity that is in college basketball now. I mean it won't surprise me at all if a 16 seed beats a 1 seed anymore. I mean yes it will be monumental, but it won't be the story of the year. Davidson was a good team, and anymore just because you are a double digit seed that doesn't mean you aren't capable of pulling off a long run to the Final Four. I somewhat miss the days when Cinderella was a little prettier and a little less known. It's cyclical and I know it will turn around.

The NBA playoffs are on the horizon and I can't think of anything better to watch than the Western Conference playoffs. I mean has the league been this good since the late 80's? No way. Right now the NBA has a great collection of superstars, athletes, and actually decent people. I mean you can look to the guys in the league and think of them as role models, that is if you can get past the tattoos, but that just goes with society today. I am not afraid to say it, I love the NBA! I can actually watch regular season games now. The players play like they care, they hustle, and the league has teams like Denver, Golden State, Phoenix (pre-Shaq) and the Lakers who can run up and down and score at will. Now remember this all goes down the drain if we have to sit through a San Antonio vs. Detroit NBA Finals. At that time, I will hate the NBA and everything it stands for, and suddenly remember that they had a huge gambling problem with their officials and that the ring leader of that problem basically screwed my favorite team out of an NBA championship.

With that I will make a few outlandish predictions (that surely will rile at least one person up, you know who you are Chuck, don't hide, it offends me) and then act as though I am one of the smartest humans alive once they all unevitably come true.

Western Conference Semi-Finals
Dallas vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Phoenix vs. Utah

Easter Conference Semi-Finals
Boston vs. Cleveland
Detroit vs. Orlando

Western Conference Finals
Dallas vs. Phoenix

We finally get to see this series play out on the biggest of stages. I can only imagine what it will be like, when Steve Nash finally gets all the calls that he hasn't ever gotten in a big series and it is happening in Dallas in front of Mark Cuban. I can't think of a worse way to lose, if you are the Mavericks or a better way to win, if you are Steve Nash. There is a chance that Cuban will sell the team to a fan that has more than $500 cash on him in the parking lot after a Game 6 clincher in which Nash continually goes to the free throw line late in the game (see Wade, Dwayne)(see Games 4,5,6 of 2005 NBA Finals)(see Donaghy, Tim) to seal the series 4-2. If TNT wants drama, they will find it here.

Eastern Conference Finals
Boston vs. Orlando

Consider this Dwight Howard's coming out party. Chances are he will average a 25-8-4(the 4 being blocked shots) against the gritty, veteran Kevin Garnett. Boston will win, but they will also start to question themselves as to why they gave up on a great young center in Al Jefferson, who could be a premier player in the league for the next 7-10 years for KG, who was injured this year, and you would think he is on the downturn of a wonderful career. Huge series for Superman, but a Boston win.

NBA Finals Boston vs. Phoenix (Phoenix in 7)

What a great series this would be. I mean, I don't think you could ask for anything better than this. Look at the star power on the court. Nash, Shaq, KG, Paul Pierce, Grant Hill, Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, and Amarie Stoudemire. I mean what a collection of stars, or those that have been stars in the league. And you can't forget Doc Rivers, ohh wait, yes you can forget Doc Rivers. I jut have a feeling that with the help of some officiating, the league's best player for the last four seasons (Steve Nash) will get his due and bring home a championship. We all know that in the last 7 years either Shaq or Tim Duncan has won the championship, and I don't see why that should end now. And it leaves us with a great storyline for next season......."Will Kobe ever be able to win the big one with out Shaq".

MVP- Chris Paul
NBA Finals MVP - Steve Nash

By the way, you will also be getting your official El Richtor review of the Counting Crows newest album "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings" either this weekend, or early next week. If you haven't heard any of the songs yet, I encourage you to go buy the cd. It is well worth the money!

Hockey Hours

2008-02-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

Ok so I haven't had the best blogs the past few weeks. Check that, I haven't had a blog in forever. I have what is called hockey hours. I used to have banker's hours, and I thought that sucked. I'm pretty much loving the new gig, but my writing has taken a step back since I started the job. We have had a stretch of 6 straight weekends at home, which will come to an end after this weekend.

Not that I don't enjoy working the hockey games, but it would be nice to get a free weekend to myself. So, I owe you all a blog, but you don't deserve a blog from me while I am sitting at my desk eating this crap my wife gave me for lunch (she is putting me on a diet).

I will blog today/tonight/this week as a recap of what is going on with "El Rictor" as you know him, and then I will be on to posting random stuff about music, sports and other miscellaneous subjects. Ahhhh the build-up........

Sweet Music

2008-01-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you listen to a song, that you have heard a thousand times and it just kind of hits you in the stomach. For some reason there are two songs that I have just fallen in love with. No doubt they are Counting Crows. One is from the This Desert Life album called Speedway and the other is from Recovering the Sattelites its called Miller's Angels. Recovering the Sattelites is the best overall album by the Counting Crows, in my opinion. Anyway, I guess I felt that it was blog-worthy. By the way, I love hockey.

Speedway

I get so nervous - I'm shaking
It's so I got no pride at all
It gets so bad but I just keep coming back for more
Guess I just get off on that stuff
I'm thinking about taking some time
I'm thinkin about leavin soon
I got some things I can't tell anyone
I got some things I just can't say
They're the kinda things that no one knows about
just need somebody to talk to me
I'm thinking about leaving tomorrow
I'm thinking about being on my own
Think I've been wasting my time
I'm thinking about getting out
I'm thinking about getting out
In all this time
The bottom line
You dont know how much I feel
You say you see but I dont agree.
Dont know - dont know how I feel.
Just trying to get myself some gravity
You're just trying to get me to say.
Sometimes I sit here Looking down upon Los Angeles
Sometimes I'm floating away
Thinkin about breaking myself
I'm thinking about getting back home
I think I've been waiting way to long
I'm thinking about getting out
I'm thinking about getting out
I'm thinking about getting out

Miller's Angels

Miller's angels in black and white
Welcome everyone in
Children dreaming of wrong and right
Wrapped in grace and in sin
They come out of the blue sky
They come out of the blue
They come out of the blue sky
But you never know where they're gonna go
Hey Romeo
Miller's fingers are traveling down the length of her thigh
But Miller's mind is still wandering
Staring up at the sky
They come out of the blue sky
They come out of the blue
They come out of the blue sky
But you never know where they're gonna go
Hey Romeo
You never know where they're gonna go
Hey Romeo
Don't, don't come around
Miller's angels are hovering in between the earth and the sun
In the shadow of god's unwavering love
I am a fortunate son
They come out of the blue sky
They come out of the blue
They come out of the blue sky
But you never know where they're gonna go
Hey romeo
But you never know where they're gonna go
Hey Romeo
Can't you hear me cause I'm screaming
Didn't I go outside yesterday
Don't wake me please don't wake me
Cause I was dreaming
And I might just stay inside again today
I don't go out much these days
Yes sometimes I stay inside all day
Won't leave me leave me leave me leave me alone
Won't you leave me leave me leave me alone
Won't you leave me leave me leave me alone
Won't you leave me leave me leave me alone
Won't you leave me alone

NFL Network = 24.7 Crap

2007-12-22T20:28:00.001-08:00

I hate the NFL network. Watching a game on there is the worst possible experience for me as a sports fan. I would rather watch a replay of a game from earlier in the week than watch a game live on that channel. Gumbel hates Collingsworth and can't stand it when he talks. I in turn hate Gumbel, because he sucks for one, and for two it is like he is reading the whole. He also never gets excited when a big play happens. I yearn for Gus Johnson when watching this crap.

Here are some thoughs I had while watching the game tonight:

If someone were videotaping me right now watching this game, it would look like the whole Art Shell as a coach video collection. Confused, angered, lost, and retarded all at the same time.

I wish Trent Dilfer was playing for Carolina.

I wish Vinny Testaverde was playing for Carolina.

I wish Art Shell was playing for Carolina.

I wish Jessica Simpson came up more on this broadcast. Sarcasm ooozing from your computer screen.

I wish I could have at least one shot of Art Shell coaching a game where Trent Dilfer was playing quarterback opposite of Vinny Testaverde, and Jessica Simpson was in the crowd.

I wish I wasn't watching this.

Can Gumbel make it more obvious that he wants Carolina to win this game?

Why couldn't T.O. have broken his ankle?

John Fox looks like the arrogant guy that gambles a lot at your local golf course.

Who is smarter, Art Shell or Trent Dilfer or Wade Phillips? Or Gumbel?

I hope tomorrow is better.

Fun With Friends

2007-12-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went to DFW to visit my friend Smitty from Phoenix. Yeah we met half way. Anyway, some of the topics that came up were just classic. We had a great time, finally was able to enjoy the "Jaws" at Razzoo's, and I proved to my closest friends that I am in fact a sports genius. I will give you a short recap of what transpired.

Razzoo's is my favorite place to eat hands down. We had five dudes who were all hungry, it made sense. Order the "Jaws". "Jaws" is a platter of fried, cajun ecstasy. It was everything I thought it would be. On the menu it says that it is for four people or two cajuns. It says nothing about a "C-Money" or an "El Rictor" so we weren't sure that it would be enough. We were wrong. We could have had two more guys eating on that and still not finished it.

I give the "Jaws" five "Jaws". This will be my new rating system for anything. You can receive anywhere from 1-5 "Jaws". This has no corelation to Ron Jaworski. Please do not make this mistake.

After Razzoo's we went to Fox and Hound. We decided that five years ago we wouldn't have been caught dead at Fox and Hound, but now there is something appealing about it. This one was the smokiest place in the Northern Hemisphere, but it was alright. Playing pool and just hanging out was the plan, which isn't all that great of a deal for me because I hate pool, but I was just chilling with my boys, so anything would be fine. Here are some of the conversations that came up.

"If you had to choose what iPod you would want as your uhh, you know, which one would it be?"

Some of the responses were:

1. The iPod Touch
2. The 80 gig classic, black without a sleeve

This might possibly go down as one of the best questions of the 21st century. I will leave you to ponder this.

"If you had to choose one man to father your son other than yourself, who would it be?"

Responses:

1. Tom Brady
2. Bill Gates
3. Ron Jeremy

This was actually a good question. I think the obvious choice is Tom Brady. Once again I ask for your comments.

"The movie "Hot Rod" reminds me of a "Cranberries" cd. Your not expecting much, but in the end, you kind of liked it, and you find yourself somewhat attracted to the red headed chick."

Totally random, yet completely accurate. Except only if the red headed chick is my wife. By the way, we need a column name for my wife. Something I can refer to her as in every column or blog I pop out. This blog is totally interactive so I need ideas for this one as well.

"The 6th seed from the NFC has just as good a chance of making the Super Bowl as does the Patriots."

I'm still not so sure that my friends understood my argument here. But what I am saying is that the NFC is so weak one through six and the AFC is so freaking good one through six that we might have one of the worst Super Bowls in the history of sports. I mean could you imagine having to sit through something like the San Antonio Spurs playing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals? I still say this tarnishes the Spurs as a dynasty.

This led me to making a bet with my buddies that I would give the NFC 13.5 points in the Super Bowl no matter who is in it. I know I will win this one, and in turn all of them will recognize me as the next great sports mind of the new upcoming decade. You will all remember this.

Richter out.......

My Apologies

2007-12-15T06:51:00.000-08:00

Ok so I haven't blogged on this site in some time. I mean yeah I have thrown out some bones, blogging football and power rankings and stuff like that, but nothing of any substance. I have just had my priorities off a little. There have been some big time stuff that has gone down in my simple little life, that I should have blogged about, afterall that is what a blog is right? This might end up being a short story, or explanation as to where I have been the last three or four months. I haven't been hiding in a cave watching football and busting out weekly rankings.

I got sidetracked with what was a pretty cool gig/opportunity. I got hooked up with this car salesman that also owns a sports talk radio station. I had called into the show a few times, and also had a few people put in good words with him, and he decided to give me a forum on his website, as well as the opportunity to do some high school football broadcasting. He has also given me the opportunity to be on their Saturday morning sports talk show. All of this is really freaking cool, and the sports talk show is really fun, and I think actually quite good, but I started to neglect this blog. It's somewhat ironic as well, because this site is what I reffered him to as a way to see what I had to say. I haven't been able to do many shows, basically because I work on Saturday mornings sometimes. That brings me to another part of this story.

I landed a great new job. My dad saw an ad in the paper calling for someone with a passion for sports, and for someone wanting to get into sports business, and he told me that I should apply for it. So I did, thinking that I didn't have what it took to land the job(a degree - five classes short), but I gave it a shot. Luckily, I landed an interview with the co-owner, and knocked it out. We talked for 2 hours. He decided that he wanted me to come back and talk with his partner, so I went and met with him two days later, and they offered me the job right there. The job is marketing/public relations/promotions with our local hockey team, the Wichita Falls Wildcats. I'm not much of a hockey guy, but I am a huge sports guy, and this gets me in the door. What a great job for me, and an opportunity to open other doors in the future. I can't wait to get started. Some of the great benefits of this job are that I will still be able to take day classes to graduate, and the majority owners daughter does the same job for the sister team in Canada, and he puts her into conferences and meet and greets with people in the NHL. That is an avenue that has no end.

I bought a book lastnight, and me buying a book is a huge deal. I pretty much only read articles in newspapers and on websites. I guess that isn't too different from many people my age. I bought the book "Now I Can Die in Peace" by Bill Simmons. Bill Simmons is the "Sports Guy" from Espn.com and is one of my favorite sports columnists. I think that the reason I really like this book, is because it is basically just a compilation of some of his columns that lead to the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004. Very interesting stuff there. But the reason why I am mentioning this, is because it reminds me of something that I really want to do at sometime in my life, which is write a book. It also reminds me of my youth, and just how big of a baseball fan I am, but specifically a Texas Rangers fan. The parallels between Simmons and myself is really quite amazing. After the first few chapters, I thought to myself, if you replaced every reference to the Boston Red Sox with the Texas Rangers this book would be about Brint Richter. The Texas Rangers aren't nearly as appealing a story as the rich history of the Boston Red Sox, but to me they are. He started the book with a prolouge that was almost that of an autobiography, but started the baseball part with the signing of Pedro Martinez. I think the Rangers have a start to their World Series run, and it was the trading away of Alex Rodriguez. I love the Rangers, and at the beginning of the season, my hopes are always of that of a playoff run that will end in a World Series title. Simmons stated early in his book, that he wished he had finished his book before the Sox won the series, so maybe I can learn from that mistake and get something out before the Rangers win it, I might have plenty of time. I guess I just skipped over the part where I am supposed to say, I think I'm going to try and write a book. I think I am going to try and write a book. There you have it.

I guess you could say I am sort of ripping off Simmons, but I'm really not. I could start with my love for the Texas Rangers and my fanhood of many other teams from the great state of Texas (not the Spurs) but really it would just be an autobiography. I'm not totally sure that it will be all that exciting, and might never get published, but why not. I am of the firm belief that if you don't try stupid things, stupid things never get done. I have read three chapters of a book about the Boston Red Sox and some crazy average joe who has the tremendous ability to write and I have decided to write a book. I'm a modern day Ray Kinsella. Except I'm not plowing under my crop to build a baseball field, although that sounds like a great idea.

So there you have it. I'm writing a book, I have a new job, I now have a weekly Saturday morning radio show, and I promise to start blogging more on this site. Things seem to be taking shape. I guess that is all for now........Richter out!!!!

Week 14 Rankings

2007-12-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

College Top10

1. USC
2. LSU
3. Oklahoma
4. Missouri
5. Ohio State
6. Kansas
7. Hawaii
8. Georgia
9. Florida
10. Virginia Tech

NFL Power Rankings

1. New England
2. Dallas
3. Indianapolis
4. Green Bay
5. Pittsburgh
6. Jacksonville
7. Cleveland
8. San Diego
9. Tennessee
10. NY Giants

Overrated: New England Patriots, NY Giants, LSU, Ohio State
Underrated: Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, Missouri, USC
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. USC (The BCS is an absolute joke, and there will be a rant on this blogsite in the near future. Until then I will continue to project a championship game between the two best teams in the nation, LSU and USC)
Projected Super Bowl: Dallas vs. New England

Week 13 Rankings or I Have Sucked at Blogging Lately

2007-11-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

College Top10

1. Missouri
2. West Virginia
3. USC
4. Kansas
5. Oklahoma
6. Ohio State
7. LSU
8. Florida
9. Tennessee (Sorry Georgia, play for your conference championship then we can talk)
10. Virginia Tech

NFL Power Rankings
1. New England
2. Dallas
3. Indianapolis
4. Green Bay
5. Pittsburgh
6. Jacksonville
7. Cleveland
8. San Diego
9. Denver
10. NY Giants

Overrated: Pittsburgh Steelers, NY Giants, LSU, Oklahoma
Underrated: Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, Missouri, USC
Projected BCS Championship Game: Missouri vs. West Virginia
Projected Super Bowl: Dallas vs. New England

I didn't have any picks for you guys last week, and I'm sure most of you are thankful since my picks have been horrendous, but I also haven't done a great job of blogging lately. I mean if your gonna have a blogspot, then you might as well make it worth it. So I will get on a more regular blogging cycle.

Week 12 Rankings

2007-11-21T13:49:00.000-08:00

College Top10

1. LSU
2. Kansas
3. West Virginia
4. Texas
5. Missouri
6. Ohio State
7. USC
8. Florida
9. Oklahoma
10. Arizona State

NFL Power Rankings

1. New England
2. Dallas
3. Indianapolis
4. Green Bay
5. Pittsburgh
6. Jacksonville
7. Cleveland
8. NY Giants
9. San Diego
10. Tennessee

Overrated: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, LSU, USC
Underrated: Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, Texas, West Virginia
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. Missouri
Projected Super Bowl: Dallas vs. New England

Week 11 Picks

2007-11-17T12:11:00.001-08:00

Ok I am gonna go Frank Caliendo on ya'll and make this short and sweet, unfortunately I won't have a skit that is extremely hilarious before the picks, so that this is enjoyable for ya'll.........I'll take Texas Tech, Cincinatti and Michigan in the college game and Kansas City, Cleveland, Cincinatti and St. Louis.

Again that's: Texas Tech +10 Cincinatti +6.5 Michigan +3.5 Kansas City +14.5 Cleveland -3 Cincinatti -3.5 St. Louis -2

Week 11 Rankings

2007-11-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

College Football Top10
1. Oregon
2. LSU
3. Kansas
4. Oklahoma
5. West Virginia
6. Texas
7. Missouri
8. Ohio State
9. USC
10. Florida

NFL Power Rankings
1. New England
2. Dallas
3. Pittsburgh
4. Indianapolis
5. Green Bay
6. San Diego
7. Jacksonville
8. Tennessee
9. Cleveland
10. NY Giants

Underrated : Pittsburgh Steeler,Indianapolis Colts ,Texas, USC
Overrated: Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, Arizona State, Ohio State
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. Oregon
Projected Super Bowl: New England vs. Dallas

Week 10

2007-11-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

Ok so this isn't going to well. I suck at picking all the games, so here is what we will do to rectify this situation, and possibly give myself a better name. I am only going to pick two college games and four NFL games. Therefore, it is more important for me to win those games, but I also get to sort the NFL games and throw out the ones that I want nothing to do with. I realize that this will give ammo to those of you that follow this, and I totally expect to hear vulgarities thrown at me as well as questions about my manhood and sexual preference. All I can say is bring it on, hopefully I will shut up the haters with a winning week.

COLLEGE

Ohio State (-15.5) vs. Illinois

We all feel like Ohio State is going to lose, and that they aren't that good. At the same time, I think that Illinois is an up and coming team, and Ron Zook has things going in the right direction. You also must not forget that Ohio State will be looking ahead to next week's battle with Michigan. Gimme Illinois in this one. Ohio State 24 Illinois 17 WINNER

Kansas (-6) at Oklahoma State

I am a little surprised that this spread is so low. That makes me like it even more. I picked against Kansas last week, in a game that they gave up nearly 4,000 yards of offense yet won the game by 40 points. I have never seen anything like that in my life, and I think there should be an asterisk next to their record as well as Barry Bonds, the Patriots, Barrack Obama, and Hillary Clinton (obviously because Barack isn't black and Hillary isn't a woman). Mike Gundy is a man on the other hand, in fact he's forty, and he will have his team ready to spoil the honeymoon for the Jayhawks. OSU wins outright. Oklahoma State 34 Kansas 33 LOSER

NFL

Tennessee (-4) vs. Jacksonville

Tennessee is going to turn into a spread covering machine during the second half. They might have the best defense in the league. They have just enough offense to win, mainly because of a steady running game. As long as VY doesn't turn the ball over the pick here is Tennessee. LOSER

Pittsburgh (-9.5) vs. Cleveland

As you all know I love this Cleveland team, and I think if they sneak into the playoffs they are a tough team to face. I think they are getting way too many points. Pittsburgh's defense is good, but can they shut down this explosive of a Browns team. I think they will slow them somewhat, and enough to win the game, but not enough to outrun that many points. Gimme the Browns and the points. Pittsburgh 28 Cleveland 21 WINNER

Arizona (-1.5) vs. Detroit

I like Detroit, and I think they are a better team than the Cardinals, but I don't think they win this one on the road. Arizona is a tough road trip for teams coming two time zones away for some reason. I hate Arizona, and they laid an egg last week, therefore they will get this one in a high scoring affair. Arizona wins late. Arizona 38 Detroit 35 WINNER

Seattle (-10) vs. San Francisco

Seattle is just a terrible team. They are feeding off one of the worst divisions in recent memory and on top of that they have played a weak schedule. Plus the fact that they have major injury concerns. San Francisco tries to win this one in the end, but comes up just short. Seattle 23 San Francisco 21 LOSER

3-3 ATS, 4-2 SU

I continue to suck. At least I didn't lost anyone anything but juice.........

Week 10 Rankings

2007-11-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

College Football Top10
1. Ohio State
2. Oregon
3. LSU
4. West Virginia
5. Oklahoma
6. Kansas
7. Michigan
8. Texas
9. Boston College
10. Arizona State

NFL Power Rankings
1. New England
2. Indianapolis
3. Dallas
4. Pittsburgh
5. NY Giants
6. Tennessee
7. Green Bay
8. Detroit
9. San Diego
10. New Orleans

Underrated : New Orleans Saints,Indianapolis Colts ,Michigan, Oregon
Overrated: Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Arizona State, Ohio State
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. Oregon
Projected Super Bowl: New England vs. Dallas

Vegas Baby, Vegas

2007-11-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

Some interesting things I found while on my trip. First off, Vegas is such a different place. I mean there are some strange things there. I would say that roughly 60% of the women there have fake breasts, and about 90% of the women have them hanging out of their clothes at all times. I might be cut from a different cloth, but leave a little to the imagination ladies. I mean seriously, I'm not so sure that wearing a top that is cut down to your belly button is the way to go. And some of you, that are showing off what you got, should be hiding what you got. Things have changed so much in this country the last ten years, that it is almost scary to think about what the future holds. Now I realize the vast majority of men my age (26) are thinking the exact opposite of what I am thinking, but I guess I just like my lady to have a little class, you can look totally hot, and show a little, while not letting us in on the whole secret, if ya know what I mean.

Elton "Freaking" John. No doubt, 100% the best concert I have ever been to in my entire life. There was so much to that show, that you really can't even begin to describe it, you just have to see something like that. If you are a music fan at all, or a child of the 60's/70's (which I am not), then this is the show for you. I was a little hesitant, thinking there would be homosexuals around every cornere, but suprisingly, there was not one gay thing that happened at the show. So that was cool. And Elton had some pretty conservative points that he brought up during the show, bashing those who picket funerals of soldiers that we have lost in the war. He talked about how disgusting that was, when he/she had lost their life fighting for our country. I was quite suprised, and very proud at the same time.

On our last night, I had not won at anything the whole weekend. I had only cashed two winning tickets at the sports book, and had lost on craps and "Let It Ride" consistently the whole time. I threw my last fifty that I was willing to lose on a craps table at around 7:15 pm on Sunday night. Some old lady was rolling, and the guys at the table told me that she had been rolling for a good 15 minutes. She rolled for another 10 more, and made me about 25 bucks. Then the dice were passed to a dude across the table from me. He was a man in his late 40's and he honestly looked like a tourist, not a professional dice thrower. Now I have heard that there is an art to throwing craps, but I had never seen it. This man had it down. He threw those dice for a solid hour and fifteen minutes and made everyone at that table money. When he cashed out, he left with around six thousand. He mad me a solid $400. Now I wasn't betting nearly what the others around me were betting, or I would have made a haul like them. But I was extremely happy with my four hundo. It was something I will never forget. So all in all, Vegas was a great time, and I will be back as soon as I get a chance to head out there.

There will be an update blog on this site this week. I have been extremely busy with a new venture that I want to tell everyone about, but just haven't had time. Now that we are back from Vegas, things will slow down a bit for me.

Week 9

2007-11-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

Ok so we have had a decent week last week. I wouldn't say I atoned for the week before, but I definitely made some of you think I have a clue. This is an important week for my picks. One reason for that is because I would love to think I have a huge following and I wouldn't want to let anyone down, but the second and most important reason is because I leave for Vegas tomorrow, where we all know gambling on sports is legal. I guess I should have mentioned before, that these picks I dole out every Thursday are under the pretense of "if gambling where legal". So I will study up and hope that the ol' "two legged's" treat me right while I visit Vegas, baby.

OVERALL RECORDS
29-34-1 ATS, 36-29 SU

College

Ohio State (-15.5) vs. Wisconsin

I have said that Wisconsin might have been one of the most overrated teams ever to start the season ranked in the Top 10. With that being said, I think Ohio State is the worst number one team that I can think of in recent years. The Big 10 is just an average conference, where one team has separated itself from the rest. That doesn't really mean that Ohio State is a national powerhouse, it just means they are siting pretty in a year where no one wants to hang on to the number one spot. It seems like a team like Wisconsin, overrated to start the year, will hit its stride late in the year, only to ruin something for someone else. I don't think they will win this one outright because it is in Columbus, but I think they make it interesting. I take Wisconsin and the points against a slightly above average team. Ohio State 17 Wisconsin 10 LOSER

Kansas (-19.5) vs. Nebraska

This is a basketball spread right? I mean the Jayhawks at Phog Allen minus nineteen, I like it. They will get out in front, press, run the basketball, and the Huskers can't stay in the gym with em. Right? Not so fast my friends. We are talking football and do you think the Huskers aren't noticing being nearly a three touchdown dog to Kansas? Kansas? I know that Nebraska is down, but the Jayhawks just don't cover 19 on Nebraska in football. I doesn't happen. I love this game. Take the Huskers and the points and smile the whole game, because you will never not be covering this spread. Nebraska 28 Kansas 17 LOSER

NFL

Washington (-3) at NY Jets

If Washington can put behind them what happened in Foxboro, they will be ok. I could actually see them making a deep playoff run. I think they will be a little angry when they take the field after giving up 52 to start the game against the Patriots. I see Portis early and often. Remember we have a new starting QB for the Jets as well. Washington is a smart choice here. Washington 31 NY Jets 13 PUSH

Kansas City (-2.5) vs. Green Bay

I hate Kansas City, but I am really not that impressed with Green Bay. Not to take anything away from the Packers, but I think Monday Night was more because of how bad the Broncos are than that the Packers are a good team. They can however shut down the running game. I guess I will have to go with Favre, in a game between two teams I would rather not have to put money on right now. Green Bay by default. Green Bay 19 Kansas City 18 WINNER

Tampa Bay (-3.5) vs. Arizona

Arizona is not out of it, and I think that Tampa might slip up a bit. They are no doubt keeping an eye on the Saints, and I think the Saints still have a chance in that division. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are not out of anything yet in a very week NFC West. I can see the Cardinals playing well off their bye week. Give me Arizona here in another close lose at home for the Bucs. Arizona 24 Tampa Bay 21 LOSER

Tennessee (-4) vs. Carolina

Can the Titans keep winning in spite of VY? They are winning solely on a solid running game, defense and Rod "Freaking" Bironas. If Vince has a good game, they will blow someone out. I see it happening this week, mainly because I dropped VY from my fantasy team, and when that happens you know that person will haunt you the rest of the year. Tennessee big. Tennessee 28 Carolina 13 WINNER

Detroit (-3) vs. Denver

When teams underachieve, you always think hey they are going to break out of it and come along. Then they get hit with that knockout blow that they can't come back from. I think that happened last Monday to Denver. I don't think they are a bad team, I just bet they fold the rest of this season, get a good draft pick, and come back strong next season, and without Shanahan. Take Detroit in a game that Denver gives away. Detroit 30 Denver 21 WINNER

Buffalo (-1) vs. Cincinnati

When I first saw this game, I though "whoa this is a nice play here if you go with Cincinnati". Then I found out that JP Losman was going to play and not Trent Edwards. I hate that this game is in Cincinnati. I could see the Bungals laying down the rest of the year, especially with the character of that team. But I think this is one they are going to get. Palmer will have a big day, as will Ocho-Cinco. Cincinnati wins it late. Cincinnati 27 Buffalo 23 LOSER

San Diego (-7) at Minnesota

It's tough to find a hotter team than the Chargers. Minnesota is so bad offensively that it is starting to show on Peterson. The Chargers have a really stout defense, and they should be able to shut down Minnesota and put up big numbers offensively. I like San Diego again. San Diego 34 Minnesota 7 LOSER

Cleveland (-1) vs. Seattle

Why is Cleveland only favored by one over Seattle. Seattle is not a good ball club. They are a decent team in the NFC, but if Cleveland were in the NFC they would be talking about the Super Bowl. Cleveland will have a field day on this team. Cleveland 37 Seattle 21 WINNER

New England (-5) at Indianapolis in The Game of the Century II

I'm not as excited about this game as I thought I would be. The only thing here is that it seems like Belichek is trying to take out his mad frustration on the whole league. The Colts are everything that is to like about an NFL franchise. I can see this game going the way of the Patriots, but I am going to throw you guys a curve ball. I have a theory about the NFL. There is no doubt that this game will be the most gambled on game of the year. More people might throw down money on this than the Super Bowl. The casual fan knows that both of these teams have high powered offenses, and offense outshines defense any day. If you are a little more knowledgeable you will know that they have stout defenses as well. In big game defense always plays a little better than offense. If you are nervous it affects the offense more. So instead of picking a team, I will pick the UNDER because most people will put their money on the over, thinking these two teams score so much. The over/under is 57. New England 28 Indianapolis 24 WINNER

Oakland (-3) vs. Houston

This is a game that I am going to play while in Vegas. Houston is really on the ropes, and Oakland's pass defense is really good, against a quarterback named Sage. I love the Raiders in this one. Oakland 23 Houston 13 LOSER

Dallas (-3) at Philadelphia

This is rivalry game, so it is so hard to pick. I hate these NFC East games. It seems like even the worst team has a chance every week. Dallas is pretty good, but McNabb seems to kind of own them. I think McNabb will make enough plays to lead Philadelphia to an upset of the Cows in their first real test on the road. Philadelphia 23 Dallas 20 LOSER

Pittsburgh (-9) vs. Baltimore

I don't think Baltimore is really great or anything, but I don't think that a team with that good of a defense loses by 9 to Pittsburgh. This is a tough one, because you could have that really close, hard fought game, where a late field goals puts it out of reach and a ten point game for the Steelers. I will stick with my gut feeling here though and take Baltimore and the points. Pittsburgh 13 Baltimore 6 WINNER

6-7-1 ATS, 7-7 SU

Alright that is what I got for ya. I really really hope that I made good picks this week, because if they were good enough, I might never make a blog again. That would be of course because I hit it big and am living in the Bahamas. Good luck!!!!!

Week 9 Rankings

2007-10-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

College Football Top10
1. Ohio State
2. Boston College
3. LSU
4. West Virginia
5. Oregon
6. Oklahoma
7. Arizona State
8. Kansas
9. Michigan
10. Texas

NFL Power Rankings
1. Indianapolis
2. New England
3. Dallas
4. San Diego
5. NY Giants
6. Pittsburgh
7. Tennessee
8. Green Bay
9. Detroit
10. Baltimore

Underrated : San Diego Chargers,Indianapolis Colts ,Michigan, Oregon
Overrated: Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Arizona State, Ohio State
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. Boston College
Projected Super Bowl: New England vs. Dallas

Broken Man Rule

2007-10-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

I was cruising around myspace today and I found this posted by a dude who is dating a much younger girl, that I know. I'm not gonna name names or anything, but seriously you should have your man card taken away permanently. Wait a minute, if you have a man card, it is obviously a stolen one. It read:

"You know you are truly in love when a simple touch or look brings a feeling of utter happiness over you!"

What a freaking joke.

I will quote Mike Gundy now.

"I'm a man. I'm forty."

Week 8

2007-10-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Wow. That was just flat out terrible last week. Ya know when a coach goes into a big game, and his team is completely destroyed, and after the game in the interview he tells the media how he it was all his fault and he didn't prepare his team well enough, and that it's "on the coaching staff". Well, I'm not going to take that approach. I'm just going to act like Mack Brown after the fifth consecutive loss to Oklahoma and stare off into space as though I am searching for the right things to say. I got wiped smooth out last week. Those picks were trash, and I am going to be the first person to admit it. So this week, I am going to throw in some bonus picks, mainly because there are so many great college football games out there. Hopefully things will get better.

2007 Record so far: 19-27-1 ATS, 25-23 SU

I'm embarrassed!!!!!

COLLEGE

Thursday Night Special
Virginia Tech (-3) vs. Boston College

I gotta be honest I don't know much about Boston College, except for what I have heard about them. What I know is that they have a beast of a defensive line, and that makes their defense really good. I know that their quarterback is solid, and doesn't turn the ball over much. I think that they have so much going right for them this year. They have an incredibly easy schedule and a chance to run the table and end up in the BCS Championship Game. I also know that VaTech struggles offensively as proven when they traveled to Baton Rouge earlier. When it is a game where you have one team that struggles offensively, and one team that dominates with their defense, you go with the defense. Boston College is the right move here. BC 23 VaTech 14 WINNER

Oregon (-3) vs. USC

This game is at Autzen and USC has proven to struggle on the road a bit since Bush, Leinart and Palmer have all moved on. I think Oregon is one of the top teams in the country. They have already beaten Michigan at home, and while that doesn't seem like much, it was against a big named team on their soil. I think Oregon comes out with a lot to prove, and steps up defensively and creates a few turnovers to swing this one their way. Oregon at home is a good play. Oregon 35 USC 31 WINNER

Ohio State (-4) at Penn State

JoPa as a home dog? I love it. I think Ohio State is overrated. I think they lose this one and at least one more. No one has been able to hang on to that number 1 spot all year, so what makes you think they will this time? Penn State is a good team, and they will get a huge boost playing at home against the number one team in the nation. I love Penn State here with the outright winner. Penn State 23 Ohio State 17 LOSER

Arizona State (-3) vs. California

California has been a huge disappointment since getting to number two. I think this is where they let out a little bit of their anger. That with the fact that Arizona State is a little overrated right now. They haven't played anyone yet this year, while Cal has had its share of tough games. Cal might get out in front and run away with this one. Cal is another outright winner.

California 34 Arizona State 21 LOSER

NFL

Cleveland (-3) at St. Louis

I have picked them for three weeks straight. I still think that St. Louis is going to win a game this year, and I guess what better week to pick them than when they are at home with Bulger and Steven Jackson back. Take St. Louis in this one. St. Louis 31 Cleveland 30 LOSER

Chicago (-5) vs. Detroit

Chicago surprised me last week by going on the road and beating Philly. These guys are an enigma this year. They have a lot to play for, but their defense is getting torched and I hate a team that can't stop another teams run defense. This is a total toss-up game, so I think the best bet here is to take the points. Detroit plus the points is a decent play. Chicago 24 Detroit 21 WINNER

Indianapolis (-7) at Carolina

This is a very intriguing game to me. I love games like this because, you can usually depend on the team that is going into a big game the next week will have a little case of looking ahead. Will the Colts look ahead to the following week were they, as coach Dungy says, get to play "that other team". Do the Colts get caught in that trap? If Delhomme were playing and he was healthy, or maybe even if Vinny were playing I would like Carolina. But not with David Carr. He is a bust. Gimme the Colts, but I'm a little shaky on this one. Indianapolis 21 Carolina 13 WINNER

NY Giants (-9.5) vs. Miami at Wembley Stadium, London

My first question here is, why do we send our worst team overseas to try and gain fans of the NFL? Why not send a better match up. I realize this game was set at the first of the year, but didn't you have a slight hint that Miami wouldn't be good? I like to think that the NFL would like this game to be a good one, so take Miami and all those points. NY Giants 14 Miami 7 WINNER

Tennessee (-9) vs. Oakland

I really thought that Tennessee was a good team in this league. I do have a lot of man love for Vince Young, but I still think Tennessee is good. Oakland was playing well for a bit, but they have been down the last two weeks. I am a bit surprised that Tennessee is favored by this much. When its high, go higher. Gimme VY and the Titans. Tennessee 28 Oakland 10 LOSER

Philadelphia (-1) at Minnesota

Minnesota has no QB, so I guess that is why Philly gets the edge. I can see defenses starting to get really amped up to shut down a rookie running back that is shredding defenses. Philly will play mad and shut down Peterson, and pull this one out late. Philadelphia 17 Minnesota 14 WINNER

Pittsburgh (-3) at Cincinnati

Pittsburgh is good, they just haven't really proved it yet on the road. They lost at Denver and Arizona, so it scares me a bit that they are going to Cincinnati. I still think they are the better team, and it seems like Cincinnati is just waiting to implode. Give me Pittsburgh here. Pittsburgh 27 Cincinnati 21 WINNER

NY Jets (-3) vs. Buffalo

Well Buffalo got em the first time they played, but I think it is different in this one. Mangini is sticking with Pennington, and Pennington has shown in the past that he rewards the loyalty. They might be coming around a bit, as they nearly won at Cincinnati last week. Say it with me people J-E-T-S........Jets, Jets, Jets!!!!! NY Jets 13 Buffalo 6 LOSER

San Diego (-10) vs. Houston (location TBD)

San Diego is really coming on strong. Houston started out hot and really gave Tennessee a battle last week, but that loss might have taken the wind out of their sails for good. San Diego in a blowout. San Diego 28 Houston 3 WINNER

Tampa Bay (-4) vs Jacksonville

Some would say that Jacksonville will play mad after getting embarrassed by the Colts on Monday night, and others might tell ya that Indy exposed some great weaknesses. Jacksonville has a way of bouncing back every week and staying in the hunt. I think their coach, Jack Del Rio instills that in them. Take Jacksonville here in a close one. Jacksonville 21 Tampa Bay 16 WINNER

New Orleans (-3) at San Francisco

The Saints are finding their stride finally and they aren't out of it as far as their conference goes. Look for them to finish really strong and not lose many games from here on out. New Orleans will make Alex Smith wish he didn't come back this week. New Orleans 31 San Francisco 24 WINNER

New England (-16.5) vs. Washington

I think this spread motivates the Redskins a little. It's not like the Skins are a slouch. They are 4-2 and playing good ball. I don't think that New England will get caught looking ahead, I just don't think they win this game by that much. Take Washington and a stupid amount of points. New England 30 Washington 17 LOSER

Denver (-3) vs. Green Bay

A Monday Night game in Denver, and they are still playing baseball? What a weird deal this is. Has anyone noticed how Favre has struggled in night games lately? His last decent game on national television was the one the night after his dad died. I don't know why that is, it may be because he tries to make too much happen now. I like Denver here. Denver 24 Green Bay 13 LOSER

Hopefully I can bounce back and have a decent week. Enjoy and remember that these are only suggestions, don't treat me as though I am some sort of a guru. I'm just an average everyday fan.

10-7 ATS,11-6 SU

Not bad, but we are trying to get to that eleven win mark. Maybe next week.

Week 8 Rankings

2007-10-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

College Football Top10

1. Ohio State
2. Boston College
3. LSU
4. Florida
5. West Virginia
6. Oklahoma
7. Oregon
8. Arizona State
9. Virginia Tech
10. Kansas

NFL Power Rankings

1. Indianapolis
2. New England
3. Dallas
4. San Diego
5. NY Giants
6. Pittsburgh
7. Tennessee
8. Green Bay
9. Washington
10. Jacksonville

Underrated : San Diego Chargers,Indianapolis Colts ,Florida, Oregon
Overrated: Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Oklahoma, Ohio State
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. Boston College
Projected Super Bowl: New England vs. Dallas

Week 7 picks

2007-10-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

Due to time constraints (ex: Red Sox vs. Indians Game 5, Rutgers vs. So. Florida, sister visiting from Minnesota) my picks will be short, sweet and to the point. I was please with the way things turned out last week, with a few plays we would have been sitting at 11-5. We will shoot for 12 wins this week. Enjoy the ride, because as Nick Backay would say, "we're just livin' the dream".

College

Ohio State (-19.5) vs. Michigan State

Just a total and complete hunch here. It seems like the cool thing now to pick against the number one team in the nation, but I just see this thing coming. Take Michigan State is another of the string of shockers that are littering college football. Michigan State 37 Ohio State 31 WINNER

LSU (-10.5) vs. Auburn

LSU still has a lot to play for, and they will show it this weekend at home. At home the Tigers are the best team in the nation, its away where they have shown weaknesses. Play LSU here, in a statement game. LSU 48 Auburn 14 LOSER

NFL

Washington (-9) vs. Arizona

Spread seems too high, someone knows something. Washington 27 Arizona 14 LOSER

New Orleans (-8) vs. Atlanta

New Orleans has things somewhat figured out. And they aren't out of it yet. New Orleans 35 Atlanta 24 LOSER

Baltimore (-3) at Buffalo

Baltimore seems to be hitting a stride defensively. Shutout. Baltimore 22 Buffalo 0

--------Fantasy note: 5 Stover field goals, and a punt return---------------------------
LOSER

Dallas (-9.5) vs. Minnesota

New England might have exploited the Cowboys a little. I think Minny keeps it close. Peterson will have another big day. Dallas 28 Minnesota 23 WINNER

New England (-16.5) at Miami

They might win every game, but that doesn't mean they cover every spread. New England 38 Miami 23. LOSER

NY Giants (-9.5) vs. San Francisco

The Giants can't sack the quarterback if he hands it off all day. The Niners will pound them with Frank Gore. NY Giants 21 San Francisco 17 LOSER

Detroit (-2) vs. Tampa Bay

Tampa is for real. Jeff Garcia just wins. Tampa 17 Detroit 13

Post game quote prediction: "It's crazy how close we were to scoring 56." - Roy Williams
LOSER

Tennessee (-1) at Houston

This was the spread when it opened, but with VY likely out there is no spread on it. I will go with minus 1 just to have a pick on the game. Houston 31 Tennessee 21 LOSER

Oakland (-2.5) vs. Kansas City

Kansas City is so hard to pick. I like the Raiders, simple because I like the Raiders and don't like the Chiefs. Oakland 17 Kansas City 13 LOSER

Cincinnati (-6) vs. NY Jets

This game keeps Pennington a starter, for one more week, and convinces us all that the Bungals are still the Bungals NY Jets 28 Cincinnati 21 LOSER

Philadelphia (-5.5) vs. Chicago

Tough one to pick, I am surprised the line is that high. Philadelphia 24 Chicago 23 WINNER

Seattle (-8.5) vs. St. Louis

The Seahawks will make us forget how bad the Rams were at the start of the season. St. Louis 34 Seattle 23 LOSER

Pittsburgh (-3.5) at Denver *****Backdoor cover alert*****

I think Denver will have a gutty performance, but fall short. Pittsburgh 20 Denver 16 LOSER

Indianapolis (-3.5) at Jacksonville

The Jaguars seems to play Indy well. Good Monday night match up. Jacksonville 24 Indianapolis 21 LOSER

**********What a freaking disaster this has been. Terrible weekend, in sports predicting and fantasy. Not only am I taking a beating in this blog, but I also set a new record in my fantasy league for lowest point total in one week since our league began. I need a mulligan in a big way!****************************

3-13 ATS, 6-11 SU

Good luck, and enjoy your weekend of sports!!!!!!!!

Week 7 Rankings

2007-10-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

College Football Top10
1. Ohio State
2. Boston College
3. South Florida
4. LSU
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma
7. California
8. West Virginia
9. Oregon
10. Kentucky

NFL Power Rankings
1. Indianapolis
2. New England
3. Dallas
4. Pittsburgh
5. Baltimore
6. Jacksonville
7. San Diego
8. Green Bay
9. NY Giants
10. Tampa Bay

Underrated : San Diego Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars,Florida, Oregon
Overrated: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers, Oklahoma, Ohio State
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. Boston College
Projected Super Bowl: New England vs. Dallas

Week 6

2007-10-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

Right to it..........

Last week 7-9 against the spread, 11-5 straight up

College

LSU (-9.5) at Kentucky

LSU has played no one on the road. I really think that they will lose a game this year, and that their will not be an undefeated team in the country. This is a spot where they could really struggle. I'm not looking for them to lose the game, but once again I think they might be on cruise control. Any road game int he SEC is going to be tough, and Kentucky is pretty good. I think the key to playing LSU is good QB play and not turning the ball over. I see that happening again, except LSU might actually turn it over a little in this one. Close game most of the way. I wouldn't be surprised if Kentucky pulled it out, but I'm not calling it. Take Kentucky and the points. LSU 31 Kentucky 27 WINNER

Oklahoma (-12) vs. Missouri

I think that the Big 12 is really down this year. Oklahoma had a hard fought game last week with Texas, one in which I felt they were really lucky to win. Going into that game I thought that OU was 28 points better than Texas, I knew that wouldn't happen in a rivalry game, but after that one was over it was obvious that OU is more like 7 points better than Texas, it that. Missouri is a great team, and they will be fine on the road. This is a trap game for OU because of all the emotion that goes with the game before. The Texas-OU game really lasts three weeks, the week of, the week before, and the week after. OU got caught the week before, and will struggle this week as well. I'm calling the upset in this one. Take Mizzou in this one for the outright winner. Missouri 34 Oklahoma 21 WINNER

NFL

Cincinnati (-3) at Kansas City

What is it about Kansas City that takes every bit of excitement out of a game. Larry Johnson gets going finally in this one. I predict 125 yards and a few touchdowns. Kansas City here. Kansas City 28 Cincinnati 23 WINNER

Jacksonville (-7) vs. Houston

Houston is so much better than they have been in the past, and I think they are on the right track. But I'm not so sure they can win big games on the road yet. The spread seams a little big for this one, so when the spread is high go higher. Jacksonville in a rout. Jacksonville 38 Houston 10 WINNER

Cleveland (-5) vs. Miami

Miami is really really bad. They gave up on Daunte too early, and know they are relying on a guy named Cleo Lemon. That should tell you enough. I'm still high on Cleveland as well. Miami will not be able to slow them down all day. Cleveland covers in football, but not baseball. Cleveland 27 Miami 13 ------------ Red Sox in 5, sorry Cleveland. WINNER

Chicago (-5) vs. Minnesota

I think what Minnesota did early in the year was a little overrated. Their offense and QB play is so terrible that they wish Rex Grossman played for them. If you have questionable play from your QB you are not going to play well against Chicago. The Bears just might be back. Chicago is your play here in a shutout. Chicago 28 Minnesota 0 LOSER

Philadelphia (-3) at NY Jets

The Jets are really struggling and will continue to do so until they commit to Kellen Clemens and admit that Chad Pennington doesn't have what it takes to be an NFL QB. I can see Philadelphia scoring defensively at least once as well as a few times through the air. Philadelphia wins this one. Philadelphia 24 NY Jets 9 WINNER

Baltimore (-10) vs. St. Louis

St. Louis is going to get a win this year. No way they continue to struggle. Baltimore seems to never cover big spreads. So I will go with what history tells me and that is to take St. Louis. Baltimore 17 St. Louis 10 --------- This will also be the most boring game of the weekend. WINNER

Tampa Bay (-3) vs. Tennessee

Vince Young has historically bounced back big after bad performances. What he did in Atlanta was disgusting. But the guy continues to win ballgames. I think VY gives Tampa fits this weekend, with his legs. Take Tennessee here. Tennessee 28 Tampa Bay 20 LOSER

Green Bay (-3) vs. Washington

Washington is flying under the radar right now. Green Bay might be a little overrated after watching what Chicago did to them. The Packers have no running game, while the Redskins can dominate you on the ground. I like Washington in a close one. Washington 17 Green Bay 14 PUSH

Arizona (-4.5) vs. Carolina

Vinny "Freaking" Testaverde. Ok now that I have that out of my system Arizona rolls here. Arizona 38 Carolina 14 ----------- and Carolina will score late, and Vinny "Freaking" Testaverde will throw two bombs. LOSER

New England (-6) at Dallas in The Game of The Century

This is going to be an interesting game to turn on, I'm just not so sure it will be a great game to watch. The Boston newspapers aren't even giving this thing front page coverage. That could be because the Red Sox are in the ALCS, or it could be because the Celtics have KG, Jesus Shuttlesworth, and The Truth, but I think it is because they aren't worried at all. New England wins this one handily. New England 27 Dallas 16 WINNER

San Diego (-10) vs. Oakland

Everyone seems to think that San Diego has found themselves. I'm not sure I believe that, because I just didn't think Denver was all that good. Whats weird here is that Oakland is in first place in the AFC West. I think this one might be a little closer than most think. Gimme Oakland in a hard fought game. San Diego 23 Oakland 17 LOSER

Seattle (-7) vs. New Orleans

I think Seattle is very overrated, but I think New Orleans is very terrible. Will Reggie Bush ever break out? Will Drew Brees become the player he was last year? I'm not sure. This game is the hardest for me to pick, because I think that Seattle is really a bad team. By default I take New Orleans , mainly because they are getting points, and because they have more play makers. New Orleans 26 Seattle 14 WINNER

NY Giants (-4.5) at Atlanta

It seems like when you have a good Monday Night Football game, it is followed up by a few more. This game has all the signs of being a real stinker for ratings and whatnot. So gimme Atlanta in a last second outright winner. Atlanta 27 NY Giants 25 LOSER

I guarantee you I go 11-5 ATS or you will get next week's picks for free..........Richter out!

9-5-1 ATS, 8-7 SU

Not a bad week.......

New Rankings

2007-10-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

College Football Top10

1. LSU
2. California
3. Ohio State
4. Boston College
5. South Florida
6. Oklahoma
7. Florida
8. West Virginia
9. Oregon
10. USC

NFL Power Rankings
1. Indianapolis
2. New England
3. Dallas
4. Pittsburgh
5. Tennessee
6. Baltimore
7. Washington
8. Jacksonville
9. Green Bay
10. San Diego

Underrated : Tennessee Titans, San Diego Chargers, Florida, Oregon
Overrated: Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, Oklahoma, LSU
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. California
Projected Super Bowl: New England vs. Dallas

Week 5

2007-10-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to have a weekly article to write, so I will take it upon myself to give myself the duty of making football picks for each week of the season. This of course is done, by everyone who has any form of sports media, so I figured I should not leave myself out. So from now on, I will write a little about the coming week of action in the NFL and college football. It should be fun, and I hope that you all (I act as though anyone is reading this) will respond with your picks, or disagreements. I will only pick a few big college games, and then all of the NFL games. I will also give you all a Top 10 from each. Here it goes..........

College

Oklahoma (-10) vs. Texas at The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas

Ok so this game stinks of a blowout. I think that whoever gets in front early will dominate this one. There is so much emotion that, this game lends itself to big blow outs, much like we have seen in the past. I think Texas has a lot to play for, while Oklahoma must feel like they just blew their whole season. Texas was embarrassed by K-State last week, while Oklahoma got caught looking ahead. Oklahoma is a much better football team, I think we all know that. But there is that emotion thing, that I think is just building up inside of the them, and it could be let loose all over the field this Saturday. I'm taking TEXAS in an upset, and by a lot. Final score Texas 38 Oklahoma 20. WINNER

LSU (-8) vs. Florida

LSU is at home and that seems to be a huge deal for them. I think that this game might just be a little of a letdown for LSU. It seems like they may have had this one circled on their schedule since Florida won it all last year, only to have a major letdown when Florida lost last week at home. I can see Florida moving the ball well against a great LSU defense. I think they will move it just enough to stay close in this one. Tebow will not turn the ball over, and LSU feasts off of turnovers. I'm sure that Les Miles hated that they chose to make LSU number one the week right before this huge game. I bet they are beating their chests a bit and might get a scare. Take the points with FLORIDA but don't expect LSU to lose at home. LSU 24 Florida 23. WINNER

NFL Week 5

New Orleans (-3) vs. Carolina

The Saints will get off the snide this week, with Carolina dealing with quarterback issues. Take New Orleans here. New Orleans 27 Carolina 13 LOSER

Jacksonville (-2.5) at Kansas City

To me there is something fishy with a home dog with a two game winning streak. Can you say sucker game. Jacksonville is the play here, Vegas knows something. Jacksonville 17 Kansas City 14 WINNER

Washington (-4.5) vs. Detroit

Detroit can put up a lot of points. They always give up a lot of points, but Washington has struggled scoring. Washington is playing short at the wide receiver position, and Clinton Portis got banged up two weeks ago. I see an outright Detroit winner here. Detroit 28 Washington 21
LOSER
Tennessee (-9) at Atlanta

Don't be fooled by Atlanta, they aren't that bad of a team. Tennessee is coming off a bye week, and the Madden Curse is going to get VY at any time right? Wrong. Tennessee huge. Tennessee 31 Atlanta 10 LOSER

Houston (-5) vs. Miami

Houston could get Andre Johnson back this week, against a porous Miami secondary. Things are gonna get worse for Miami before they get better. Houston is the play here. Houston 23 Miami 13 LOSER

Pittsburgh (6.5) vs. Seattle

Seattle has had big time trouble moving the football on the ground this year. Pittsburgh is great against the run. Seattle opens up the passing game by running the football, but not against Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh bounces back big time after a let down in the desert. Pittsburgh 38 Seattle 27 WINNER

New England (-14) vs. Cleveland

This game is too easy. The machine we knows of as the Patriots will roll over these guys right. Not so fast my friends. I remember a few years ago when a team surprised a few people this time of the year by scoring a lot of points and winning close games. They were the Patriots then, and the Browns are starting to resemble the 2001 version of the Patriots. No I'm not saying the Browns will win the Super Bowl, but I think they are on the right path. New England wins this one, but the smart play is taking the points and the Browns. New England 28 Cleveland 24 LOSER

Arizona (-1) at St. Louis

Arizona is much better than only one point better than the Rams. This is another sucker game. People look at that line and say the Rams are awful and Bulger is out. This is easy money. They would be wrong. St. Louis gets their first win of the year. St. Louis 26 Arizona 24 LOSER

NY Giants (-3.5) vs. NY Jets

The G-Men are starting to turn things around. The Jets lost to Buffalo. Enough said. Take the Giants. Giants 23 Jets 10 WINNER

Indianapolis (-11) vs. Tampa Bay

Coach Dungy goes up against his former team after winning the Super Bowl. I think that Tampa is heading places fast. Look out for this team to make it to the playoffs in a weak NFC. Not so sure they will be able to slow down the Colts though. Indianapolis will pull away in this one. Indianapolis 41 Tampa Bay 27 WINNER

Denver (-1) vs. Sand Diego

Things are really bad in San Diego. I think they are looking at a long year. Norv will only last one with the Chargers. I can't see them beating Denver in Denver. Take the Broncos. Denver 26 San Diego 20 LOSER

Baltimore (-3) at San Francisco

San Fran is minus a quarterback against the league's most feared defense. And Baltimore's defense has underachieved all this year. They will turn it on in this one and feast on Trent Dilfer. Baltimore wins big. Baltimore 31 San Francisco 13 LOSER

Green Bay (-3.5) vs. Chicago

The Super Bowl hangover has set in on the Bears. And Favre is starting to look like he is making his one last run to the title. Green Bay is going to lose at sometime this year, but it is on Sunday night in Green Bay. Green Bay 16 Chicago 9 LOSER

Dallas (-10) vs Buffalo

Everything has gone right for Dallas this year. They are one of the best teams in the NFL right now, but they might get caught looking ahead to the Patriots. I think Dallas wins, but the play here is Buffalo. Dallas 31 Buffalo 23 WINNER

UPDATE - 7-9 ATS, 11-5 SU

New Poll's Out On Tuesday!!!!!!!!

College Football Top10
1. LSU
2. USC
3. California
4. Ohio State
5. South Florida
6. Boston College
7. Wisconsin
8. Florida
9. Oklahoma
10. Oregon

NFL Power Rankings
1. Indianapolis
2. New England
3. Dallas
4. Green Bay
5. Pittsburgh
6. Tennessee
7. Seattle
8. Jacksonville
9. Denver
10. Cleveland

Underrated : Tennessee Titans, South Florida, California, Cleveland Browns
Overrated: Ohio State, Wisconsin, Seattle, Denver
Projected BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. California
Projected Super Bowl: New England vs. Dallas

Casual Everyday

2007-09-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/09/18/fall-music-preview-2007-video-counting-crows/#

That link is to Rolling Stone's article on the new Counting Crows cd that drops in November. It's called "Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings". It will be a double cd, with the "Saturday Nights" part more of a rock album and the "Sunday Mornings" side, being a little more slow and acoustic sounding. Great stuff. The song in the background is "Cowboys", it is starting to make its way out on to the Internet, so I'm sure you can get your hands on it somehow. Thought you Counting Crows fans might like that.

Why is it that only people who work in a hospital get to wear scrubs? I think that is the one of the best fashion invention's of the modern world. Better than shoes and underwear. Better than socks. Maybe even better than the suspender. Why is it regulated to only the medical profession? Why can't I as a bank teller wear scrubs? Can teachers wear scrubs? What about lawyers? Can professional baseball players wear scrubs? This is one of the question I think about during the day. Someone please tell me why this hasn't been pushed? Go to work tomorrow and ask your boss if scrubs are acceptable at your workplace. If he or she tells you they are not, then protest. Threaten to walk out. I think those of us not in management may have some pull here, because after all, who wouldn't want to wear scrubs to work everyday. Think about it people.

Richter out.

FireBillDalke.com

2007-09-22T06:38:00.000-07:00

I will first start off by saying that the dude called an excellent game against WFHS last night. Offensively he had their defense guessing all night. I think it was the best game that he has called since he came to Burkburnett. But........what in the world is he thinking? He gave up on the game. Punting the ball late with less than two minutes to play and only 1 timeout, that's waving the white flag in a situation you don't need to. I have a few different options that should have been thought out.

a. You could have completed a long pass, kept the drive going, and possibly won the game, which after all is the point.

b. You could have attempted a long pass, gotten a pass interference call on it, kept the drive going, and possibly won the game, which after all is the point.

c. You could have attempted a long pass, had it fall incomplete, lost the game, but lose the game, without having quit the game.

d. What about take a safety, go down by 6 points, regain a huge amount of field position, and then try the onside kick. This one I'm not sure of, but I think you can still kick an onside kick off of a free kick. I will have to Google that later.

What he did here is the equivalent to resetting the Nintendo when you are down and you just don't want to have the clock run out and lose. It's easier to give up than to actually see a loss unfold right there in front of you.

The bad thing was, we played really really good, and he coached a very smart game. Our kids outplayed a bigger school, and honestly, had our offensive line not had to go both ways, we wouldn't have worn down and lost that game. I feel like we are the better team, they just have more kids and wore us down.

I could have left that stadium feeling really good about our team, playing a great game against a really good 4a school, instead I was left with a very sour taste in my mouth. This seems to be a trend with Bulldog football lately. Much like last season, we started out strong and outplayed a bunch of people, only to watch ourselves self destruct at the end. If you are worse at the end of the year than you are at the beginning of the year, then you have to look at who is leading your team.

I would like to end this in saying, that I think Dalke is a good coach, and that if given the right opportunity, he could lead a team deep into the playoffs. I just have to wonder when a person has been given enough chances. Mack Brown survived that fire and brimstone handed out by legions of "Orangebloods", but can Dalke? It paid out in the end for Brown, I hope that the same goes for Dalke and the Bulldogs.

Crazy

2007-09-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when things happen in your life, you realize how everyone is connected. I got some bad news from a friend today, and I started thinking about that friend, and how I am connected to so many other people because of that one person and their friendship. Another thing that came to mind while thinking about her, was how you can treat someone badly and they never even know it.

I totally screwed up a long time ago, with a bunch of different things. If you have read this blog lately you will see that I have made a transformation. Change is happening fast for me. Now that I feel I am looking at life a little more level-headed, I keep remembering, or seeing things that I have done wrong in the past and I am now being given the opportunity to make those situations right. Why do these things always have to come to me at like midnight, when I should have already been in bed an hour ago. Why can't I get something like this at 5:00 in the afternoon. Anyway, I'm trying to make right with some things, and I've started trying to get right with the people who are closest to me. That slowly branches out to others, because as I have said, its all connected. So basically I started with my wife, and I will be working on making things up to her for the rest of my life. I treated her so bad for so long, and she never even knew it. Man I have a life-story, I just need a year or so to get it all on paper. But because I was being sorry to her, I was also being wrong to another person, who is important to me. A good friend of mine from junior high and high school. Anyway, tonight I wrote that person and tried to spill it to her and let her know that I want to be honest and up front with her and be the friend to her that she has been to me.

You people have to think I'm crazy. I think I'm crazy. Look at me. I'm a total mess. The thing is, for the first time in my life, I'm a mess that is in really good shape. My life used to be a really dark place. I had some thoughts in my head then that would make me look like a perfectly sane person today. Working these things out in my life has given me the faith, the power to pursue things that I would have never been able to do before. I wouldn't have even had the mind-power to come up with some of the ideas I have brewing in my head.

But to be where I am today, I have to be able to understand what I have gone through, and know that it happened for a reason. This is a little tough for me, because I have remorse now for some of the things I did, and at the same time, I know that those things happened for the good of me, and all the people I might touch one day. All the terrible things I've done, and the person I was, was just a process that has taken me to where I am today. Had all of those things not happened in my life, I would not be heading in the right direction.

I came up with the phrase "Watering the Seed" a few weekends ago to describe what I did with my simple task that I needed to follow (see "Rich Man,Poor Man" blog). And that phrase just keeps coming up in my life. If you think about it, everything in our life has the chance to be a seed, that can grow into something we can't even imagine. People you meet, ideas you have, songs you hear, pictures, nature, work, everything. Everything we do is for a reason, and there is a seed to be watered in everything. You have to take each day as an opportunity. It sounds really cliche to say something like this, but you never know when you might change the world.

So where do all these things tie in? My friend, my wife, "Watering the Seed", and my list of things to correct. Well I'm not sure where they all tie together.

"Watering the Seed" and my friend. I know that I need to water the seed of my friend. She has a lot to offer and I think that something extra might be touching her life right now. I might be crazy, but I have a feeling that she is being called in a direction, she just needs to water that seed. So I will be talking to her more, and trying to get more out of her. I think that no matter what you are giving, there is a little more that you could give. Even myself, well definitely myself, we just usually need someone to push it out of us. But I will be praying for her, and hoping that something great comes from this.

My wife, well, I'm still working on her. She knows where my heart is now and we have a level of trust that has been restored. I'm not worried about her. We know each other better now than at any time in our lives, and we have been together for a long time. I know that I have to work constantly though and never falter, because that bad person I was, is always wanting to have a reunion.

My list. It's not a real list that I have on a piece of paper or anything. Sometimes things just come to me. I will be doing the most basic things in life and something will hit me and I will be like, "hey, I need to call that dude up and tell him sorry for this, or that". It's weird, and complicated, and totally refreshing all at once. So if you think that you're on my list, you might be. That doesn't mean I am going to call you up tomorrow and say "I'm sorry" or anything. But I do hope that I get to you.

I will leave you guys with this quote. I read it today and it basically sums up exactly how I feel about life and my philosophy on living it. Let me know what you think.

"You can look back at the pictures of your life and nothing ever changes or you can get up and cross the street and nothing will ever be the same again" - Adam Duritz

Champions Removed

2007-09-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

On a weekend where USC, LSU, Oklahoma, and Florida all routed their competition, the Texas Longhorns nearly got "App Stated". Ok so Central Florida is a Division 1a school and not 1aa like App State, but it was almost as embarrassing. Yeah it was in Orlando and maybe the concentration level for these young Longhorns wasn't where it needed to be, but only winning by three, is ridiculous.

When Vince Young was the coach of this team, yes I said coach, they would have come out and scored first, and taken the crowd out of the game from the onset. Scoring first would have meant a big time touchdown, not settling for 3. Since the Horns won the championship in 2005 they have lost focus. They only play big when they have to, and they have more trouble off the field than any team outside of Oklahoma and the Miami teams from the 80's and 90's. They have lost a high level of disciple that can possibly be blamed on VY himself. See when Mack let Vince go, let him dance, let him sing, let him act like himself, they succeeded. But the thing was, Vince was no thug. He was a leader, and that was just his way of staying loose and getting jacked for a big game. These guys are not leaders, and they are getting the rep of being thugs. It's getting so bad that Peter the Great, Peter Gardere even spent 5 hours in an Austin jail over the past week for DUI.

After the near debacle at Orlando, Mack talked to ESPN's field reporter and told her that this game was good for his team, and that he learned that they could take a shot from a good team. Mack, are you aware that you where at Central Florida, not the University of Florida. You played an upstart program, not a national contender. I want to hear you say how disappointed you were with the team after that mess.

How would I expect that though, even Mack thought just being the University of Texas was enough. Going for two late in the game to try to make it a 13 point margin when a 12 point lead would have forced two touchdowns to beat you was a mistake and he needs to admit it. Central Florida punting with less than three minutes to play and only having 1 timeout was George O'Leary waving the white flag, all you needed to do Mack was kneel on the ball. But what did you do, you put your fumble prone home run hitter Jamaal Charles in, hoping that he would bust off another long one and make the score look a little more lopsided. But of course when you try to run up the score it comes back to get you. Fumble.

George O'Leary? Yeah, wasn't that the guy that lied on his resume and got canned after one day on the job at Notre Dame? How could this guy get his players to out heart, out hustle, and outwork the Longhorns? Because Mack didn't bring his A game this week. This Texas team still has all the talent and coaching that could make a run to the national championship game in New Orleans, but after three games this year and a brutal off season, Mack needs to step up and take the blame for this mess. He needs to start over and make things right with this team. He needs to own it. Wear it Mack, don't spin it. Take the heat for not being prepared, and vow to make it up to us the rest of the year.

If this keeps up, the Longhorns won't be making it out of October undefeated. And I'm not talking about Oklahoma. They won't beat a K-State team that handled them last year. Things need to change in Austin fast. Mack has told us how tough his job is. He is constantly on the hot seat. And as a young Texas fan who has seen his fair share of great seasons under Mack I will say this, I can stand a losing team that stays out of trouble, but I cannot stand for a team that is in trouble off the field and it bleeds over to the field.

After three weeks, I see Mack at a crossroads with this team. They will walk over Rice, no matter how they play next week, and then they have K-State at home. If they play like they have, they will lose. But can things change for the University of Texas? Because we all know how important that next game is. Another bad loss to Oklahoma and Mack will once again be put on the hot seat, especially with all the baggage he is lugging around. What will you do Mack? This is your toughest coaching job so far. Can you turn them around?

Waiting....impatiently

2007-09-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

Ok so I said that I might have an announcement on this blog early this week, and it is now Tuesday night and I have nothing. I am really sorry that I have nothing for those of you that are keeping up with me on here, but it is a little out of my hands. I have something brewing, and I really want to bust out and tell everyone what I have, but we have run into a little bit of a roadblock. Nothing that I can't overcome, and to be honest, I knew I would run into something somewhere that might slow this run-away freight train. So I might have been jumping the gun by saying that I would have something for you guys by early this week. Hopefully I can get it together soon and make a huge announcement for all to see and hear. In the mean time, be thinking of me and say a little prayer for me, because I could use that power right now. I'm at an all time high as far as motivation and energy goes, and any fuel that can be added to this fire is certainly appreciated. Get behind me and see where I can go, you won't be dissapointed.

Here's a riddle, go back through and see how many times I used a variation of the word "I" in that last blog. When proofreading I noticed how much "I" came out. When writing I'm usually just tryping down what I would be saying to you in person, so sometimes is comes out a little wierd. Maybe that is enjoyable for you and maybe it isn't. More blogs to come.

Rich Man, Poor Man

2007-09-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

It's 12:26 pm on Saturday morning. I have to wake up at 6:45 and I know this is going to take awhile. I'm writing this blog, because I just got through watching a great movie. The movie was "Beautiful Girls". I've seen it like 20 times, but tonight I understood it for the first time. This isn't a deep meaningful movie or anything, but for some reason it makes me feel good every time I watch it. I saw it for the first time in high school and it kind of made me think about myself and my friends like 15 years down the road. It was kind of cool to think of it that way then. Well it's 11 years down the road and I now know what this movie is all about. In fact, I was right back in high school. This movie is about me and my buddies from high school in a weird way.

The main character of the movie is going through a stage in his life when he doesn't really know what he wants to do with his future. That is right where I am. I've had the idea in my head since I graduated high school that I wanted to coach. Lately that took a little turn since I started blogging so much, because I decided I wanted to try my hand at journalism. One thing I know is that I am going to do something that involves sports. But I think I am being led into a different direction, one that involves coaching, but coaching people in a different way.

I had the great opportunity to follow a simple task asked of me, with the promise of a reward at the end. My task was simply to get up and go to Sunday school. The reward was a new life-path. I'm writing this not knowing exactly what I'm supposed to do. I honestly have no clue, but if I keep listening, talking, praying, working, following, and many other -ing's I know I will get where I need to be. I think I can reach people, athletes, and possibly make a difference in their lives and the lives that they reach. For good reason, I think that is my calling, my purpose.

Basically what I have here is Jack Sparrow's compass. It's pointing in a direction, one that I am trying dearly to follow, but I have no clue what is down that road. I honestly don't know what it is out there that I am being led to, but I know it is my duty. It is a little scary, but so exciting at the same time.

Through what has gone on in my life this past weekend, I had the great opportunity to meet a guy named Alan Williams over the phone. Click the link and you will find out who he is. By following a small task, I was able to get a hold of Alan. It was a complete shot in the dark. Only by chance, or really because of divine intervention did Alan even call me back. I had no clue what I was going to say to him when I got on the phone, and basically butchered the first five minutes of the conversation. I finally stopped, slowed down and told him my story, and now hopefully I am going to get a chance to talk to him in person later this year. I think this is part of the long strange road I am traveling on right now. Alan is a road sign that is getting me to my destination. I can't wait to see where I will end up.

Back to "Beautiful Girls"........

In the movie, Willie, our main character is faced with taking a job as a salesman, or doing what he loves, which is playing the piano. He feels like he needs to take the salesman job so he can start making money and settling in to his life. This is me. I know I could coach, and be content with it. I don't want to just be content. I want to have my world set on fire, and have the ability to do that for other people daily. Willie's piano is my destination. I can't tell you what it is exactly, so right now it is just my destination.

The best thing right now is that I am surrounded by people who are giving me the chance to chase this thing. My wife is totally supportive, and that has been huge for me. After all she is the one paying the bills right now and I'm sure this could be a little scary for her. My family and hers are all on my side here and I need that from everyone. I need for people to have faith in me right now, the same faith that I have found here lately.

That sounded like I just found faith this past weekend, and that isn't the way it should have come out. I have just actually learned how to use my faith. It's about throwing yourself out there, making yourself completely vulnerable, and knowing that you are going to be ok. Not just knowing you'll be ok, its actually knowing that you are going to do great things. Having a strength to do what is asked of you, no matter how hard or easy it is and not asking why.

In the movie another character, Birdie, decides he isn't gonna go to his high school reunion, because he is just gonna sit at home and watch all "Rich Man, Poor Man on channel 38....all twelve episodes". The name of a television show made me think. It made me think about how you can be a rich man, but at the same time a very poor man as well as being a poor man that is very rich. My dad used to tell me that all the time. I can remember him saying that we didn't have much money, but we sure were rich. I know how important that is now. I don't care to do the thing that might make me think I am rich, when in fact I am really poor inside. I want to be rich, rich with life, and doing the thing that makes me happy. But more importantly, I want to do the thing that makes a difference in other people's lives.

There is some exciting news coming up in the future, involving something I am getting together. I can't say exactly what it is yet, because things aren't pinned down yet. But it is truly exciting and I can't wait to make an official announcement on this blog about it. Hopefully it will come early next week.

If you don't get why I never made reference to who sent me my message, or who is exactly sending me on this unknown road, just ask me. I did that on purpose, hoping someone will ask. Hopefully I will get the chance to tell you about it, or maybe I can call up Alan and get him to.

Richter out..............

Life, Everchanging.

2007-09-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

This has been a really good week for me. Many things are on the horizon, and I have plans for an ultra-blog this weekend, so I won't spoil it by giving too much away here. Isn't it amazing how one simple thing can change a week, a life, a moment? This week I had one of those things happen to me and it has me re-energized again.

Professional football started tonight and I am gonna have to say that Indy is the team to beat. Either that or New Orleans is going to fall on their faces all year long. Not sure which will come true, maybe both. What the Colts did tonight to the Saints was scary. Barring injury we know the Colts will average 24+ this year, then to think their defense can hold people like that? Wow.

Is there anything more fun than wathing a football game with your boys? I mean being able to yell things at the television, act like cavemen, and eat all at the same time is a sure recipe for excitement. I love screaming things like "First Dowwwwwn!" and "Fuuuummmmmmble!" and then high five the person closest to you. With tonights game I didn't even have a team to root for, I just wanted to watch football. I would find myself yelling "First dowwwwn!" when the Colts picked up a 3rd and 8 and then scream "Fuuuummmmmmble!" when the Colts lost the ball. There is no rhyme or reason to a man when he is with his crew watching a football game. We revert back at least 500 years during football season. The only thing keeping us up with the rest of the world is fantasy football, and that is only because you have to be online for that. I will end this paragraph by saying "Brint loves football".

Be on the lookout for some major blogging this weekend. I have a great story to tell and some very exciting things to talk about coming up in the future.

Richter out.

Spree

2007-08-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

Is is funny to you that Latrell Sprewell had his yacht repoed? It is extremely funny to me. No not that the dude has fallen on hard times or anything, its just all that goes with Spree and his yacht. Ok first off the dude turns down a 21 million dollar contract claiming that it is an insult and that he has a "family to feed". That is one of the classic lines from an athlete. So now two years later, they are coming for his yacht.

That is pretty funny, but what really throws this over the edge is that the yacht is located in Milwaukee. I mean how many times have you thought, like when you buy a lottery ticket and your really dreaming about high rolling, "man I sure would like to live the high life, maybe build myself a mansion, buy a professional sports team, and ohh yeah buy a yacht and keep it in Milwaukee". What says yacht-living like Milwaukee? I mean I can think of a few places to take a yacht out and Milwaukee is not in the top 800. Milwaukee? Come on your kidding right?

"Dude I just won the lotto, I'm gonna buy a yacht and move to Albuquerque."

"No man, lets do it up big, how about Milwaukee!"

"Yeah man your right, what was I thinking. Milwaukee for sure."

Did I mention the name of the yacht was "Milwaukee's Best"? Man that is some great stuff. Seriously Milwaukee's Best? What about "The Natural....Light" or how about "Keystone Boat". Had Reggie already taken "Miller Time"?

Doesn't Spree seem like a midwest kind of guy? I mean like a nice clean wholesome midwest guy who owns a yacht. I can see that. When I think of Spree I think of yachts, Milwaukee, an PJ Carlesimo.

I don't think one blog is enough for him, I think I should write a book. Actually I have a great idea. I think I should follow Spree around for a year just writing down quotes and then turn it into one of those books you read while in the bathroom. Here is an excerpt from this book:

"I mean, P.J., he could breathe. It's not like he was losing air or anything like that. I mean, it wasn't a choke."

"I wasn't trying to kill P.J."

"If you're choking someone, you don't get scratches, You get welts totally around your neck."

"If you're fearing for your life, you don't just stand there, P.J. did nothing when I grabbed him."

"If you think you're about to die, you would think he would do something about it."

"He didn't stop breathing or anything. He did nothing. I would have let go. I wasn't going to kill him."

I can see that book sitting on my cofee table or in the bathroom, maybe with a picture of PJ and his scratched up neck on the cover. Whats great is that these quotes are from only one small even in the life of this extraordinary individual. What great comments did he have about the five children he has with three different mothers? Or when he was served the papers about the boat? This would be a great quote book, or a good law suit, or even a classic reality show. Eventually all three could be produced out of spending a year with Spree writing down quotes.

Lastly how does the repo company decide who gets to go repo the yacht? I mean how did that whole thing go down? Drawing straws?

"Sorry man you got the shorter straw, you gotta go get Spree's yacht."

"Did you see what he did to PJ?"

"Yeah I saw it, now get your ass down to the Milwaukee Marina and get the yacht."

"Ok I quit."

I'm not sure, but I bet this is how that went down. Thanks Spree, for giving me something to blog about. Can't wait till you give us something more to talk about.

Let it GRO!!!!!!

2007-08-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

I went to see this band play, that I had only heard of for about a week, and let me tell you they were awesome. Green River Ordinance. They are a cross between the Goo Goo Dolls and maybe a little Gin Blossoms. I would definitely throw in some Third Eye Blind as well. But man they were good. I had heard a few of their songs, and I thought they were good, but the thing that puts them over the top is they are one of those bands that are better live than on a cd. I was impressed for sure. I guess when you see a band live and they put on a good show it is easy to start liking them because you know they are into it and not just out there to sell cd’s. So in that case they are nothing like the Goo Goo Dolls.

It goes without saying that Counting Crows are some of the best live performers of all time. Ohh yeah all time. Who were you thinking? The Beatles? Elvis? Maybe KISS? Nope your wrong. A little band from Berkeley that no one seems to know about. Counting Crows.

But this is about a little band from Fort Worth affectionately referred to as GRO. These guys are really good and I suggest you try to get your hands on some of their stuff. Of course they have a myspace page. The lead singer seemed to play/sing from the heart. It looked like he was into what he was trying to get across to the audience. I think the best thing about them was that I really wanted my wife to hear them. If I suggest them to my wife that is a big deal. There are few bands that I think are worthy of telling my wife about, because she is the type to not really listen to the words, just like a catchy tune. She is an easy listener. No not like Kenny G easy listening. I mean as long as the song is catchy or it’s a love song, then she likes it. So for the most part I don’t waste my time, unless they are really good and I don’t want to see her miss out on them, which is the case with Green River Ordinance.

I got a chance to talk with their lead guitarist, and he told me that the lead singer was going to get to go on the road with Collective Soul. CS is touring right now with the Crows. So anyway I told the lead guitarist that if he ever got a chance to talk to Adam Duritz to tell him I said “hello”. I also told him that if I ever got a chance to meet Duritz I would tell him that he said “hello”. I’ll keep my word.

5 Simple Rules

2007-08-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

My fantasy football draft was last night and once again I came away with a great team. It's amazing how this happens year in and year out. In fact since we have been playing in this league I have been in the money every year. If you see the picture to left of this blog you will see my trophy from the 2005 season when I won our championship. I play in a great league with a bunch of really smart, savvy fantasy GM's. I just wish they weren't all queers. But yeah I got a pretty good team. I am banking on a huge comeback year from Shaun Alexander. Vince Young is my QB and I hope that the "Madden Curse" doesn't get to him. I get all geeked up for our draft every year. I put our draft up with some of the great sports moments of the year, such as March Madness, the Super Bowl and every episode of American Gladiators. This year our draft took place at a good friends house. He is actually our commissioner and he does a good job of running our league. The draft this year started at roughly 7:54 pm and wasn't over until 11:36ish. It was a grueling test of endurance. So I thought this would be a good time to blog about things that aggravate me, and things you shouldn't do at a fantasy football draft.

5. Never under any circumstances show up at the draft wearing the jersey of one of the players you had on your team the year before. This is a foolish move. Not only will you be ridiculed from your other league members, but you should be required to remove your jersey and sit through the entire draft topless. Ladies this goes for you as well. Dress appropriately. Dress for success. Now I am not saying you should dress like you are going for your dream job interview, but you should be dressed like a man who is about to engage in a serious debate about who has the better team, the sexual orientation of your competition and/or whether your commissioner has a hot mom.

4. Please do not draft a player that is either injured, dead, suspended, named Mike Vick, or has already been drafted. This is easy fellas. Pay attention. If you want to just walk into the room and hand over your money so be it. But just walk in a do it. Don't do it over a period of time where you tease yourself into thinking that you will beat me when you can't even field a team every week because you drafted Rae Carruth and Ricky Williams. Don't be stupid, it offends me.

3. If you checked your sense of humor at the door then just leave. If you can't have a lot of fun at one of these events then you have no reason playing. In fact we all know who you are. Your the one that won't end up making changes to your roster after week 6. You won't show up at any of the meetings. You will however make snarky little comments to others in the league like "Sorry I don't spend all my time looking at fantasy football on the Internet, I do have a job.". You might also try to say something like "Well sorry man, I'm married, I have obligations.". Neither of these comments are acceptable nor are they valid reasons for missing a meeting or not making the appropriate changes to your lineup. You shouldn't have married her if she keeps you from league meetings and you should consider putting in your two weeks notice. Lighten up man.

2. Do not take more than 90 seconds making a pick. It isn't rocket science. If your the guy sitting there saying man I don't even know who these guys are, then that's the equivalent of sitting at a casino playing blackjack and asking the dealer to explain to you what a king is. If your problem is that you are a really deliberate person, and you can't make decision's based on gut feeling, then your new job is league accountant or treasurer, you don't deserve a team.

1. The worst person in a fantasy football league is the guy that doesn't attend the draft. If you can't make the draft you have no reason being in the league. Who can honestly have someone draft a team for you and be excited about the rest of the season. If someone said hey man I drafted you a team, they are the best team in the league, you are 100% guaranteed to win money, but you can't show up at the draft, I would punch that guy in the face. The only variation that is worse than this is the guy that wants to participate in the draft via cell-phone. Really? Someone would want to do that? This amazes me. "Cell-phone Drafter" should be exported from the nation immediately.

Not sure really if any of you care about my simple rules for a fantasy football draft, but there they are. Deal with them. I would vote for a President that would set out a universal policy on fantasy football. Now all of you go out, join a league, go to your draft and act accordingly.

Dog Days and Life Lessons

2007-08-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

The world of sports is in a wierd spot right now. There is a huge amount of excitement for me with the beginning of football season, but at the same time its really dead. I mean for the last month and a half we really haven't had anything to be too excited about, sportswise. Its pretty sad that Barry Bonds breaking the homerun record is the cleanist major event in professional sports right now. You have Mike Vick, the crooked NBA officials, and Pacman Jones basically dominating the headlines.

The sad thing about the NBA was that when I heard the news of a crooked ref, I didn't say to myself "no way, how could that happen" I immediately thought, "did it affect the Mavs in the '06 Finals?". Somewhere in the back of all of our heads we knew that you couldn't get such poor officiating on such a consistent basis. The thing that really sticks out to me is how wierd some of the calls where and how they were almost ignored by the commentators. I remember a foul called in D-Wade's favor late in Game 6 I think that totally handed the game to the Heat. I am not sure if it swung the point spread or the total at all, but there was no way that a Maverick fouled him. I wish I had more specific details on it, and if any of you can remember it please youtube it and post it. Donaghy says that there are as many as 20 officials that he is going to name to federal prosecuters. I'm not sure how many officials the NBA has, but I would say 20 is close to half. It makes you think about a lot of stuff in the NBA. Was the Spurs championship legit? Where MJ's all legit? We all know the Mike's affection to the large bet. Did the Bulls turn around and get screwed the year Mike sat out in New York on a phantom foul late in game 7. Had that not of happened would Scottie Pippen be though of as something more than a horse-faced second fiddle. Is Charles Barkley really faster than Dick Bevetta. Did Bevetta take a fall in order to win a huge bet that night. After all do you remember where that even took place? Vegas, baby, Vegas.

I won't even touch Vick, as he is getting what he deserves, and I am somewhat glad that he had to plea. Even if he is a sick dude, at least he is stepping up to the plate and taking his fall. Did anyone hear his lawyers statement from Vick himself. They said that Vick apologizes to his mom for everything and that he apologizes to "the rest of the Atlanta Falcons for not being with them at Spring Training". Ok we all know that Vick is not the smartest guy in the world (i.e. trying to smuggle weed onto an airplane in a water bottle after a bunch of terrorist tried to blow up a plane with water bottles only a few days earlier) but you would have thought that with his money he would be able to hire competent enough lawyers that know you don't have Spring Training in football. I'm guessing they thought he might be missing out on shagging some fly balls in the outfield, maybe running some foul poles, or of course covering first on balls hit to the right side of the infield. After that was there any doubt that he would plea-out. This is a tired story and I'm tired of hearing about it.

Since the last time I blogged some pretty serious things have happened in my life. I have been busier in the last month than at any other time in my life. I've learned a lot in the last month or so, and I can see some new things coming up on the horizon. One of wich I stumbled upon when my best friend Smitty came home and spent a few weeks in good ol B-Town. I will get to him later, but he suggested that I go back to school after I graduate in May and pursue a masters in journalism. When you commit as much time as I have to school there really is no reason to stop going after I get one degree. I mean whats better saying it took you 9 years to get one degree or 12 years to get two. I'm going to do that, with the ultimate goal of becoming a sports writer. I will admit it is somewhat of a pipe dream, but I think everyone should try and do what they really want to do. This writing thing has really grabbed me and I feel totally comfortable pouring out my thoughts for others to read. I think it is the best of me.

This blog is really twofold. The first part was "Dog Days" wich was the sports part and the next is "Life Lessons" which is basically an insight to my life this past summer. The last paragraph was an introduction to "Life Lessons".

My mom moved away this summer, which didn't really hit me until she was gone. She got a great job making a ton more money than she probably ever has in her life. I think I'm pretty tight with both of my parents, and they are totally different people. In every way. I would hope to think I got the best of both of them, but we all know that ain't true. Mom has never had much other than family and friends. She has had to fight and claw for everything that she has ever had, and has bent over backwards to give and do things for us. She hasn't always had much, but she has always made things like Christmas and birthdays big for us. She is the type that would rather give than recieve. When I say that I truly mean it. Me and my sister have talked lately about how we would rather mom spend the money that she spends on Christmas on something like a cruise or trip for herself, but I don't think that would be cool with her. I think it would actually kill her to not see us all together at Christmas opening up her presents. Kim kept asking me if I was sad that my mom was moving and I kept saying "no, because now she will be able to live the life she has deserved to life". I'm glad that my mom now is able to not have to live paycheck to paycheck, but I am sad. I'm starting to realize just how special she is to me. I was blessed with the two best parents in the world. They are equally important to me, and they mean so much to me. I am so proud of my mother for graduating college and for fighting the way she does. I hope that can pass that on to my kids one day. The ability to fight and climb out of whatever mess you are in. I think I have that to a certain degree and I know I got it from my mother. The totally wierd thing is, that the person who first said something about my mom and her fighter's mentality, was my dad. Completely wierd and perfect at the same time.

Another big thing was spending basically the last two weeks with my buddy Smitty. Smitty came in to town a few weeks ago under terrible circumstances. His dad passed away unexpectedly about three weeks ago. I only had the opportunity to meet his Dad three times, but the dude made a complete impression on me. In fact I would go as far as saying that there is no one I have ever met that has left a lasting impression like that on me other than Tom Smith.
You all know that I have a love for the Counting Crows and specifially Adam Duritz and his writing/entertaining. Well I wouldn't have that if not for Smitty's dad. I caught on to the Crows from Smitty, who got it from his dad. I guess the basis to this is that no matter how people act toward you in the short time they are in your life, they have the opportunity to affect you. Is it all that big of a deal that I love to listen to the Crows, probably not. But it is to me. And it is to my wife and probably to our kids one of these days. And it is to Smitty and now it is to Andrajack and to Sam who went all the way to New Orleans to see the Crows play at Jazzfest. See everything means something, no matter how pointless is seems. I have three big time influences in my life as far as writing and or reading goes, they are Jime Rome, Bill Simmons, and Adam Duritz. No doubt Duritz is at the top of that list. Would I know who Adam Duritz is if not for Smitty's dad? Probably. But would it be nearly as important to me if not for Tom? That's an easy answer.

Tom was a great dude, and I think that dude is the perfect word for what he was. Some guys are great guys, some are gentlemen, some are heroes, some are jerks, some are invisible. Tom was a great dude. It makes me reflect on myself. What are people going to say about me? Right now, I'm affraid they would say, "man he sure had a lot of talent". I want to change that. I have a lot to offer this world and at the age of 26 I'm afraid I haven't given this place enough of me. Will I always feel like that? Not sure? But I hope I have a lot of time to start impacting people, things, places.

I know that somewhere Tom is reading this, and I hope that he is moved by what I have to say. Smitty I hope this isn't too tough for you to read, I've been holding this back for a few weeks. To end this I want to say thanks to Tom for the three times I got to meet him, for the Counting Crows, and for being one helluva dude.

September 11th, 20NOW.

2007-08-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

Its not real often when I am going to bust out two blogs on consecutive days, or for that matter two within 24 hours. I read something today that really got me going. As some of you know I have some personal favorites in the world of sports media. One of those is Jim Rome. On his show yesterday he had a guest host while Van Smack is on vacation it was John Feinstein. This is like a Seinfeld episode so you will see it all tie together eventually. My other favorite sports media personality is Bill Simmons. He blogs on ESPN.com and is known as the Sports Guy. Basically Simmons is my hero. He has a great job, and is really good at what he does. Anyway he has been on vacation as well, so ESPN put his archive up, and had it sorted and catagorized so you can easily find certain blogs/articles. So I was looking through some of his old stuff to read and I happened on his blog from the week of September 11th. Simmons is a really passionate guy, much like most sports fans are. We have no choice, because we are endlessly controlled by something we have no control over, therefore we are constantly effected by things that are suprises to us. You never know what is going to happen in sports. Ok back to the topic. I read his blog and remember what is was to feel that wierd spot in your stomach like we all did that day. How it was tough to hold back tears, tough to not punch a hole in the wall, tough to not want to go buy a gun and seek revenge. What is totally sad is that the terrorists won. No matter how the war in Iraq or Afghanistan plays out, they won. They didn't win because of how many people died that day, they sure as hell didn't win on United 93, they didn't win because all of our hearts were broken. They won because we are a nation divided today. We thought that we came together that evil day and for a few months we did. In Simmons article he said something about how cool it was that we all rallied around our President. He said the government and the nation came together with President Bush. Wow. Remember what it was like that day? Think about how you are today. did it change you for the better or worse. Has our country become closer since 9/11? No. We are on two sides right now. We are either Democrat or Republican. Before 9/11 it was ok to be on one side or the other and still have friends from the opposite party. Now it is like we are either Confederates or Nationals. This simple blog does nothing to change the country and I know that. but it just makes me sick to think that we are letting the terrorists continually win. Everyday that we act like we do, we slam another plane into that building.

I tuned into Rome yesterday and found Feinstein. I hate Feinstein. He is a great writer and can carry the show. What I didn't like was his rant about how Bush is the worst president ever and that he can't wait untill he is out. He cussed the war, and tried to make people feel terrible about all the people who have been killed in the war. He was convinced that if a Democrat were in office the world would be peaceful. I vomitted in my mouth. The politicians in Washington, wether Dem or Rep are all jokes. They all have an agenda that revolves only around themeselves. It all tied together though. Even in my sports world I can't listen/read my favorites without seeing a nation torn.

September 11th could have turned this nation into the beast that we should be. Instead it has weakened us significantly. It isn't because of them, it is because of ourselves. We have created a mess and it seems to me that we haven't even begin to see the tip of the iceberg. I love President Bush the man. I don't think he is a great president, I just think he is a good man. He has had the biggest act of war against this nation as well as the biggest national disaster happen to us while he has been in office, so you see his luck hasn't been the best. All that being said, I think we have a chance to change the course of this nation when we vote for the next president. I am looking forward to having the chance to vote in a new man for the job. That person that might change the world may even be a Democrat, I just hope that when we go to the polls we remember what it was like to have our hearts ripped out. I hope we remember what it is like to be a patriot. I hope that we stop and think about United 93. I know I will.

Throw Down, Boy!

2007-08-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Saw a little bit of Tombstone on TNT a few days ago. Great line from that movie "I said throw down, boy". Kurt Russell to Billy Bob Thorton in the bar/gambling hall. Just thought I would start out with that.

I was captivated by the LiveEarth concert this weekend.I was together geeked about the great music, and the simple humor that overtook me as I am sure that folks like Madonna, Ludacris, The Black Eyed Peas and Fall Out Boy have no clue what Global Warminsg is, much less who Al Gore is. Nothing political here, I just hate it when celebs/musicians jump on board with a left-wing idea just because it will probably boost record or movie sales. For the record I think the environment is an important issue, one that shouldn't be divided into left and right.

The All-Star game was a little boring. Mike Young didn't get to play and that pissed me off. Carlos Guillen got to bat twice and play the field. When Guillen came up to bat in the ninth they should have pinch hit Young, or at least sent young out to play in the field during the ninth. Young saved the American League last year and in fact gave Leyland home field advantage in the World Series last year. He should have put him in. I remember in 1993 when the All-Star game was in Baltimore and Cito Gaston didn't let Mussina pitch in his home stadium. The next time the Blue Jays were in town the fans wore shirts that said "Cito Sucks". I think the same will be appropriate when the Tigers come to Arlington again.

Who's now? Wow can you think of a more stupid gimmick for ESPN to come up with than this? I can't think of anything less entertaining that this feature on SportsCenter. Actually yes I can. I think his name is Chris Berman.

Fantasy football is right around the corner. What is sad here is that I don't even think of it as football is right around the corner. I live in a fantasy world, and I am a fantasy girl.

Rashard Lewis signs a max contract? Ok lets see here. It's like John Hart is running the Orlando Magic. He got max money, isn't the best player on his team now (Dwight Howard), wasn't the best player on the team he left (Ray Allen and Kevin Durant) isn't in the top 5 of his position in the league, and has no entertainment value. What a joke. This could go down as one of the worst contracts in sports history.

Has anyone thought of how cool it is that the Boston Celtics have a guy named Ray Allen and a guy named Allan Ray on their team? That is crazy sexy cool. I can't wait to play Live '08 with that team. The commentators on the game will undoubtedly cause my Wii to explode within three minutes of tip-off.

Not a done deal yet, but there is a chance that I could add "Worked security at the 2008 Super Bowl" to my "About Me" section. Details to come.

Can't take credit for this, but Reggie Willits (whiteboy) and Howie Kendrick (black man) play for the same team. As well as Jacque Vaughan (American) and Tony Parker (French). They should be ordered to trade first names by Homeland Security.

While Pacman Jones is shooting up nightclubs, Mike Vick is having illegal dog fights in his living room. All the while Bron Bron is building a house with a casino in it. Is there any doubt that this will lead to one of the biggest sports disasters since Pete Rose. I'm guessing either Maurice Clarrett or Mike Tyson is King Jame's PR guy. He's from Ohio, hasn't he ever heard of Mike Conley Sr.?

That was just a few random thoughts from the mind of El Rictor, respond at will.

Where My Blogs At or Work Sucks, Sick Sucks More

2007-08-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

So I have been sick since Thursday morning around 6 am, therefore have not had much myspace interaction. I went to the Rangers game with the people that I work with on Wednesday night and saw Sammy go 600 from a luxury box that the bank got for us. Really cool night. Another great thing about it was that some old friends were at the game and they got to come up and enjoy the box as well. My friends just so happened to have an exra ticket to Thursday afternoon's game. They tried to convince me to stay and go to the day game but I knew that I would not be able to get off work and really did not want to call in. So I get home that night and its off to bed only to wake up around 6 puking my guts out. It wasn't just puke though it was other stuff that I would rather not go into detail about, but we will just call it the "Great Equalizer". As I have often said, no one, not even MJ can overcome the "Great Equalizer". If you really want to know what the "Great Equalizer" is and cannot figure it out here, I will tell you in private through email or some other form of mail. So it turns out that I had to call in sick, for Thursday. Not a good thing when you call in sick after you have been to the game on the banks behalf, but I had no choice. I was not about to be there with all that going on. The puking stopped around noon on Thursday, but the "Great Equalizer" may or may not still be going on. Sorry I am not familiar with enough of you to share the status of that. I stayed in bed all day and became pretty dehydrated. On one of my many trips to deal with the "Great Equalizer" I decided to weigh myslef. I had lost 8 pounds in the course of around 24 hours. Now I know that I could stand to lose a few twenty more pounds, but that is just not natural. So I tried to get as much fluid into me as possible. I started to come around a bit and went to sleep around 9:30 for what I hoped would be for the night. The night was not long as I woke up around midnight with the same problems as the night before. Only puked a few times, but the "Great Equalizer" persisted. It was an epic battle between the two of us. One that I lost no doubt. So I had that going all night,upon awakening, not that I slept much, I called in sick again on Friday. I got hell from it at work no doubt. My "boss" took my call as though she had been punched in the kidneys. After I said I would not be in she sat on the phone for a brief moment and then said exasperatedly "Ok well talk to you later". No sympathy at all. I'm sure I was bashed all day. These are not the type of people that have a care in the world for anyone but themeselves. It is sick at times. If I were fired for calling in, or for writing this blog I would welcome it with open arms. I guess I am just not cut our for life in a business world. I have too much of a heart for it. I care about people wether they care about me or not. I used to work at a place that you could call in sick, not be sick at all, have everyone know that you are taking advantage of the company giving you too many sick days and having a little bit of fun, and your co-workers would all be happy for you. Not at this place. Anyway, I don't want to bash on them too much I just felt the need to get that out in the open. Also I have a specific message to Kelli Koulovatos. Sorry that I missed your wedding. I would not have, and feel terrible for it, but the "Great Equalizer" may or may not be hindering my ability to make public appearances at the moment. Ok onto the blog, I will go over some stuff that I saw on tv over my hiatus with normal living.

One of the funniest things that has happened in sports in sometime does not get much play at all. You guys remember when cocky Matt Hasselback went to the overtime coin flip and smirked "We want the ball and we're gonna win the game."? Then goes out and throws a walk-off pick six to the Packers. Has Hasselbeck been the same since? I got to watch this game again because of the the beauty of the NFL Network. I mean he went to the Super Bowl, but he seems to be an extremely overrated QB in the NFL. In fact I think he is the most overrated QB in the NFL. He is a terrible game manager and he seems to just throw the ball up and expect his recievers to catch anything. A lot has been made about his receivers dropping a lot of balls, could it be that their QB just isn't as good as we wanted to make him out to be. Just because he backed up Favre and eventually got a starting job with Favre's former coach, doesn't make him Favre. The closest thing he will be to Favre is Favre's backup. I will take your calls on this.

After Sammy went 600 it seemed that the only thing people on ESPN wanted to talk about was is Sammy going into the Hall of Fame. Ok let me ask you this. Why would you punish someone for doing something that MLB had not made illegal? It makes no sense. Now had MLB made it illegal and he was getting around it somehow and there was proof now that it happened then maybe you have a case. People seem to forget that the players that were staying within the lines of MLB's finely written rules were not in the wrong. MLB was in the wrong for not taking steps to curtail this when it was rampant and they knew it. I am not condoning steroids or making Barry Bonds a martyr or anything like that. I just think that we lay blame to the wrong people here. Selig has been the worst thing for the MLB since the designated hitter. He needs to be taken out and we need to get someone like Roger Goodell or wow I can't believe I am saying this DSBS2.4 in there to lay the law down. It would be good for baseball which in turn would be good for Americans everywhere.

Dynasty?

2007-08-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs. Probably one of the greatest teams of all time. Puke. Vomit. I will say this, Tim Duncan is the best power forward of all time. Pop is one of the greatest coaches of all time. But let me blow some holes into the theory that this team is a dynasty.

1. The first championship they won was against the New York Knicks (8th seed in the East) in a strike shortened year. Some will say it doesn't matter they still played 50 some odd games that year. Ok it is a well known fact, or it is to me since I read an article on it, that during that year most of the players in the league spent their lockout as a vacation. Only two teams in the league worked out during the lockout, one of those teams were the Spurs. While most of the league came back fat, the Spurs sprinted out of the gate and won a bunch of games, got a high seed and went to the finals. That could possibly be the worst basketball the NBA had seen. Up untill these last four games. Point being, the Spurs won a title against mediocre competition in a shortened year. I remember watching them win that championship and I thought to myself well that is good, but it wasn't a real championship.

2. Thier second championship came against the New Jersey Nets. That should tell you all you need to know. This sums up the Nets and the Eastern Conference for that matter. The Nets have gone from finals contenders for 2 years to barely making the playoffs and back to having a shot at winning the conference. The Nets are brutal. I would say that they are in the top (or bottom) 3 as the worst finals teams ever. I guess they are tied with the Nets of 2002 and this years Cavaliers. And get this, the Nets won two games. Yeah the same team that started a guy named Todd McCullough at the center won two freaking games. The Lakers of the 2000's, which I consider a dynasty, swept the same Nets team the year before. That shows you something right there.

3. They have not one back to back championships. This is the greatest achievement in all of sports. To win a championship in this era is tough, but with free agency, it makes it somewhat easier. To win two in a row is a real feat. So you could go as far as to say that all San Antonio has done is win a few championships, in the free agency era, which is comparible to what the Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Buccanears and the Detroit Pistons. The only thing different is that they have done it multiple times. Remember we are throwing out the 99' shampionship. I actually misstyped that and didn't catch it untill I was proofing this, but that is what we will refer to Spurs championships as, shampionships.

4. This year we all know that the Spurs were not the best team. The Phoenix Suns were the best team and they got screwed. I realize that the letter of the law was followed and Dictator Stern showed that he is in fact a robot, but come on you have to show some form of human desicion making when you are dealing with your major moneymaker, the playoffs. If the NBA is a grown up version of the NCAA then it makes since that David Stern is the ultimate NCAA robot. From now on we will refer to him as DSBS 2.4. Of course the DS stand for his initials and the BS stands for his policies while the 2.4 stands for nothing really. Anyway, this downplays this shampionship.

5. Ok so I have given reasons to not acknowledge three of the four shampionships that the Spurs have won. There is really only one shampionship that I will acknowledge and that is the 2005 win over the Detroit Pistons. They won out over a strong Western Conference and then knocked off the defending champs to win a shampionship. That was legit. Legit like MC Hammer. Legit like the New York Knicks winning the 1983 lottery. Legit like Barry Bonds. Legit like Phil Lucket as a white hat during an overtime coin flip. Legit like Amare Stoudemire going to check-in. Legit like a Carmelo Anthony right hook. Ok that's enough. Legit like an offensive foul drawn by Manu Ginobili.

Another thing about the Spurs that my sister pointed out is that no one outside of the state of Texas has a strong opinion of the Spurs. In Texas people either love or hate the Spurs, but if you ask people outside of Texas I would guess that most people would say "Ahhh they are ok." If they were a great team then people all over would either say they love them or they hate them. Right now, no one cares about them. People just look at them and say well I guess the Spurs are going to win another shampionship again, big deal. No one is impressed with what they do. The fans are the people who judge what is or isn't a dynasty, and I would say they are screaming "Arrrggg, No!". Yes that is how most of the fans of the NBA talk. They are mostly pirates. The next NBA franchise should be the Pirates. Maybe they should have a team in Pittsburgh. No here we go, name the team in New Orleans the Jazz, because what is more ironic that the most whitebread major city in America (Salt Lake City) being called the Jazz, a form of music originated by African Americans. Anyway so you have the New Orleans Jazz and the Utah Pirates. How cool would that be.
Ok so I'm not sure where you guys will stand on this issue, but I am sure you will have an opinion.

Asterisk*

2007-08-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

The NBA is back in a big way. I have watched more NBA playoff basketball this year than I did the NCAA tournament. One reason for that is because the NBA playoffs last 56 weeks, but still I have been very interested. I watched this week like the Mavericks were still alive. In fact, the NBA is so good right now that there is only one thing that can stop the NBA from bringing us exciting basketball for the next decade, and that my friends is the NBA itself. What happened to the Suns is a joke. That series was going 7 games and everyone knows it. I mean you have the two best teams in the league right now battling each other for a shot at the conference finals and then David Stern steps in. Stoudemire and Diaw came off the bench. They looked like they were going to throw down. They should have been suspended. Yeah they should have been suspended if it were January. If that happens in the regular season, you make an example out of them and go on about it. You have to look at things with a little shade of grey. It doesn't have to be black and white at all times. The NBA is the closest thing to professional wrestling during the WWE's hayday of the late 90's. Incredible talent, great characters, amazing drama, and of course the scripted endings. David Stern = Vince McMahon. Ok wait a minute McMahon is ten times the marketer and promoter that Stern is. In fact, if McMahon took over and you told him that he couldn't script the ending, but he has full control, the NBA would be the best league in America. Only of course if Hacksaw Jim Duggan, King Kong Bundy and Tito Santana were officials for all the TNT broadcasts.
Speaking of TNT, Kenny, Charles and Ernie are the best in studio host of all time. Charles is must see tv. And I love the commercials with him and D-Wade. TNT does need to get rid of the show with Zo Mourning talking about heart transplants. I mean didn't he have like kidney transplants. Is there any reason that he is the spokesperson for this show. And honestly how are you going to have a whole show about heart transplants. That show is going to suck. Except of course if you have Hacksaw Jim Duggan, King Kong Bundy and Tito Santana all performing a heart transplant on a random patient and Charles calls one of em on the cell phone right when they are about to make a crucial incision and says "I'm sorry, were you busy?". Now that my friends is drama.
The Spurs are the dirtiest team in the league. Lets think about things a little. Ok I seem to remember last year about this time someone getting suspended from a playoff game against the Spurs. Yeah it was Jet Terry from the Mavs. Now granted he did punch Mike Finley in the man region, but I'm sure he was tired of being elbowed, kicked, and body checked by Bowen, Duncan, Ginobili, and Horry. When I think about the Spurs, my blood boils. I hate everything about them, except for their coach. Pop is a great coach. Bowen is dirty. Ginobili is dirt, and he flops and whines. Duncan is boring and wierd. Parker gets away with alot. Barry is a typical Barry. And then we get to Mike Finley. What a joke. Now he is a three-point specialist. Where was that when you were in Dallas? You couldn't shoot a lick from outside the arc, probably because you couldn't stop morphing yourself into Rolando Blackman. You became a jump shooting wimp that stopped taking it to the rack and Boom-Dizzling people at will. (From now on that is what dunks will be referred to by me, because what Baron Davis did to Kirilenko was disgusting) I hate Finley and I always will. I almost want to stop liking MJ because Finley likes him so much.
Ok we already have the list of sports figures that we love to hate, so you can continue to add to that, but I think a new topic for you guys to respond with is name me some of your favorite wrestlers from back in the day. Hopefully we can have something to throw around for a bit on here. Richter out

Randomness

2007-08-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

Mike asks and I produce! It's been awhile since I have blogged and I guess the only real reason for this is because of how dissapointing the NCAA tournament has been. There hasn't been a classic, defining moment this year. Last year I would say it was Gonzaga-UCLA. If it were a song on a cd it would have been Gus Johnson featuring Gonzaga-UCLA. I link once again because it makes me think, what would have happened had Gus Johnson been calling the Barton-Winona St. Division II championship game? I mean first off we get screwed by CBS when they promised James Brown a spot in one of the four regional sites. Then to top it off we have Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel to call the Division II game. Most people don't care and probably never even bothered to watch this game. In fact I only turned it on after halftime, but if someone told me that Gus Johnson was going to lose his mind calling this game, I would have tuned in for sure. In fact I would go as far as to say that if Gus Johnson got hired on by NASCAR to do play by play I would listen. Then I would go out and buy myself one of those big NASCAR racing jackets with Gus' face on it screaming somthing. If Gus Johnson played James Brown in a game the final score would be Gus 174 JB 14. Did I mention Gus would probably rip JB's face off and feed it to Bill Raftery? And Gus would probably do the play by play while taking it to JB. I will now proclaim that Gus Johnson is the official play by play man of this blog! Please all of you go ask Gus to be your friend and put him as number 5 in your top whatever.

As for the teams in the Final Four, I got two out of four before the tourney brackets were out and 3 of 4 after. Georgetown is still my team to beat, but UCLA is really good still. Florida is still the national champion and that will make them extremely hard to beat this weekend. Ohio St. plays in the Big Ten and they suck. Greg Oden is at least 40 years old. Thad Matta looks like Jim Furyk, and it isn't fair that he guards the in bounder when they are inbounding the ball close to the Ohio St. bench. It just isn't. I mean think if they let Rick Majerus do that. The guy inbounding the ball couldn't see the court. Anyway, here are my picks. UCLA 60 Florida 58. Georgetown 82 Ohio St. 70. And Gus Johnson over JB 174-14.

There are two commercials out there worth talking about right now. One is the Sonic commercial where the two dudes are talking about "Charlie" the rumbling tummy. How he is a "good dude" and he doesn't want to have to make him go away. I love that commercial and I laugh everytime I see it. Now on to some crap. The Hanes commercial with Mike Jordan and Kevin Bacon. What says go buy some men's underwear like MJ rejecting Kevin Bacon's trash ball into the trashcan. This commercial sucks and it makes me think that MJ and Kevin Bacon are dating. Totally wierd. So we all know that I am a huge MJ fan and really don't care much for Kobe, but I gotta be honest, as for who is better in the month of March 2007, I gotta go with Kobe. He is averaging over 40 a game and he didn't get fined for talking about K-Smoove. Ohhh yeah and the fact that MJ is dating Kevin Bacon. Haven't you seen Sleepers man? Bacon is a wierd dude.

I rented Borat and The Prestige, but haven't had a chance to watch either of them yet. I actually was going to watch The Prestige tonight, but Mike asked for a blog. If you haven't seen The Departed, you are missing out. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. It makes me want to go to Boston and commit some kind of crime. Maybe not a big one like murder or anything, but something small, like plant a bunch of devices all through the city as a part of some crazy scheme to market a cartoon-movie for dorks, and then sit back and watch as the cops run all over town trying to blow up the "devices". Ya know something like that!

Just found something random on the net that I want for my birthday. If you guys would like you can chip in an get it for me. It is an actually barstool from the set of "Cheers" for only $150. What a deal. I mean Norm could have actually had his sweaty ass in that barstool. I want one badly. Not sure where it will go, but I'm sure I can find a place.

Well guys that is all for now. The Rangers are on FSN and I have to be up early for school. Also, it helps if you go to the links. Try it, you'll like it!

Hello, my name is......

2007-08-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

So this is going to be my first post on blogger.com and I gotta tell ya it feels good. Real good. My name is Brint Richter and I've been posting blogs on my myspace page for about a year or so, but I decided to take it up a notch and start posting on this site. Try to get my stuff out there a little more. You never know what might come out of this. Basically I'm your average every day guy. I love sports, music, my family, my wife, god and my country, and not necessarily in that order. In fact definitely not in that order. I also love the Counting Crows. Huge fan of Adam Duritz and his ability behind the mic. I could go really in depth into all of these issues, but then I wouldn't have things to say on here. What I am going to do is post a few of my favorite posts from myspace on here and then update here regularly. I busted a blog out last night that was pretty in depth. It's one of my favorites. That one is entitled "Dog Days and Lessons Learned". Hope you enjoy rummaging through my brain on here. Happy blogging!