Vote Cook

If you live in the 4th Congressional District in the State of Oregon, write-in Dennis M. Cook for Congress. Peter Defazio is only facing token opposition from two minor party candidates so why not vote for me?

Weekend Picks

After a long hiatus the weekend picks. I'm never right on these so please don't use these for gambling purposes. There are to picks that I sincerely hope I'm right on this week. Try to guess which two those are.

NFL
Buffalo 28 Jets 21
Chicago 35 Detroit 17
Jacksonville 21 Cincinnati 10
Baltimore 21 Cleveland 17
Tennessee 24 Green Bay 21
Tampa Bay 28 Kansas City 17
Arizona 24 ST Louis 10
Minnesota 17 Houston 14
Denver 35 Miami 28
Atalanta 24 Oakland 21
Giants 31 Dallas 27
Philadelphia 35 Seattle 31
New England 24 Indianapolis 21
Pittsburgh 28 Washington 24

Pac 10
Oregon 31 Cal 21
Stanford 45 WSU 10
USC 59 Washington 17
Oregon State 45 ASU 35

Top 25
Texas 42 Texas Tech 38
Florida 31 Georgia 28


Upset Special
McCain-Palin 273 Obama-Biden 265

Week 8 Pac 10 Rankings

Washington and Washington State are back in my rankings. I'll explain below.

1. USC- Survived a scare from Arizona. I don't expect Washington to put up much of a fight.
2. Oregon- Could this year be the opposite of years past? Slow start, Strong finish.
3. OS(U)- I would love to see ASU go into Corvallis and get a victory.
4. Arizona- The Wildcats put up a fight against the Trojans but fell short.
5. Cal- The Bears got a win but they were playing UCLA
6. Stanford- Could the Cardinal go Bowling this winter? Yes, there is strong possibility that some Stanford football players will go to a bowling Alley this winter.
7. UCLA- The Bruins just aren't very good.
8. ASU- I thought Judy Carpenter was supposed to be good?
9. Washington- They fired Ty Willingham. That alone gets them back into my rankings.
10. WSU- The Cougs didn't lose!!!!

Week 7 Pac 8 Rankings

1. USC- My gut tells me they'll be in the BCS Title Game
2. OS(U)- I wish someone in the Pac 10 would beat the rodents so irrational beaver fan will shut up.
3. Oregon- Oregon is something like 13-1 coming off bye weeks in the Bellotti era.
4. Arizona- The Mildcats are one win from Bowl eligibility
5. Cal- Memo to the Bears- They play two halves in college football.
6. UCLA- The Bruins finally showed up for a game.
7. Stanford- Stick to Academics!!!
8. ASU- Bad news for the Sun Devils, Oregon is 13-1 coming off of bye weeks under Bellotti.

Running Update

It's been over a week since I completed the marathon and my body is mostly healed. On Saturday I ran in the Duck Dash 5k. I ran it about 24 minutes, which is really slow but since I was sick and still recovering from the Marathon I'll take it. My next race is a half marathon on October 25 in Phoenix, AZ. I was planning on leaving the running shoes at home when I went Phoenix but I discovered there was a race so I figured I'll give it a shot. You can keep track of all my running adventures on my new page on athlinks.com.

Week 6 Pac 8 Rankings

Neither Washington or Washington State has earned their way back into my rankings, so for the third straight week it is the Pac 8.

1. USC- Duh
2. Cal- Should have no problem with the lowly Bruins
3. Stanford- This the highest the Nerds have been ranked in my weekly rankings
4. OS(U)- Great win against Pulman Community College
5. Oregon- They may be 5-2 but they've beat five terrible teams.
6. Arizona- The Mildcats are two wins from Bowl eligibility
7. ASU- Judy Carpenter and the Sun Devils were supposed to compete for the Pac 10 title. now they'll be lucky to play in a bowl game.
8. UCLA- If not for a gift from the officials the game in Eugene wouldn't have been close.

Week 5 Pac 8 rankings

Last week I excluded the Huskies and Cougars from my weekly rankings. I have decided to continue that this week because neither team has showed they belong in the Pac 10.

1. USC- The Trojans made quick work of Nick Aliotti's pathetic defense.
2. Cal- The Bears look to be the team to beat in the Pac 10 after the Trojans.
3. OS(U)- Nice choke job against Utah!
4. Oregon- If Mike Bellotti won't fire Nick Aliotti then Pat Kilkenny should fire Mike Bellotti.
5. Arizona- The four teams the Wildcats have beat are a combined 4-17.
6. Arizona St- The Sun Devils are the biggest disappointment in the conference.
7. Stanford- At least they beat the Beavers.
8. UCLA- I must admit that I enjoy watching a Rick Neuheisel coached team struggle.

26.2 x 5

Most people will never run a single Marathon in their lifetime. As of today I have completed five of them. This one was nothing impressive. I ran it in four hours and twelve miute.s but I finished. It was short of my goal, but 18 minutes faster than my disasterous Eugene Marathon. Eventually I'll get back to running them in 3:30 but for today I'll take 4:12.

Weekend Picks

Before I get to my picks I have another rant on OS(U). Enough of the Thursday night games, Beavers!! College football is played on Saturdays. I can think of four duck games in the last ten years played on Thursday. The Beavers are playing their third Thursday game this season.

NFL
New York Giants 30 Seattle 14
Philadelphia 24 Washington 21
Miami 24 San Diego 20
Carolina 31 Kansas City 17
Tennessee 35 Baltimore 20
Indianapolis 17 Houston 14
Chicago 13 Detroit 10
Green Bay 24 Atlanta 14
Denver 35 Tampa Bay 31
Dallas 45 Cincinnati 14
Buffalo 24 Arizona 21
New England 17 San Fransisco 14
Jacksonville 17 Pittsburgh 10
New Orleans 21 Minnesota 20

Pac 10
Utah 31 OS(u) 14
Stanford 24 Notre Dame 21
Cal 24 ASU 21
Arizona 31 Washington 24
Oregon 35 SUC 31 (Homer pick of the week)
UCLA 17 WSU 3

Top 25
Auburn 17 Vanderbilt 13
Wisconsin 21 tOSU 17

Week 5 Pac 10 Rankings

Before I get started I'm got a few words for Beaver fan. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You played and beat the number one team in the country on national TV and you still could not sell out your stadium. There's a reason why you're still considered "little brother" by Duck fans. Sell out your freaking Stadium for once!

1. SUC- Sure they lost to OS but I still can't justify putting any one else in this spot
2. Oregon- The Ducks just edge the Beavers this week.
3. OS(U)- Stop complaining about being number three, you still to Stanford.
4. Cal- Not much to say about the Bears
5. ASU- Same as a above
6. Stanford- I guarantee that the Cardinal will remain atop the Pac 10 for another week.
7. Arizona- Can't begin to tell you how excited I am about that epic battle in Tucson with the Huskies this week.
8. UCLA- I will almost guarantee a Bruin victory this week over WSU.

please note: Due to the inept play of both Washington Schools I've decided to leave them out of the Pac 10 rankings.

Weekend Picks

Before I give you my picks for the weekend I have to call out Beaver fan. You guys have the number one team in the nation coming to your house tonight and as of this morning there were still 2800 tickets left! I don't want to hear any excuses about it being too expensive or it being a Thursday night. Get off your lazy butts and get to the game Beaver fan!. Oregon had a sellout against one the worst teams in college football, I see no reason why you can't get sell out against USC!.

Now onto my picks. Last week was another crappy week so I'm not even going to bother adding my record up. Here are the picks:

NFL
Tennessee 35 Minnesota 21
Denver 42 Kansas City 14
New Orleans 24 San Fransisco 17
Arizona 24 New York Jets 10
Green Bay 31 Tampa Bay 21
Carolina 21 Atlanta 10
Jacksonville 24 Houston 7
Cincinnati 17 Cleveland 10
San Diego 35 Oakland 14
Buffalo 24 ST Louis 10
Dallas 28 Washington 21
Philadelphia 28 Chicago 14
Pittsburgh 14 Baltimore 10

Pac 10
USC 42 OS(U) 17
Fresno State 24 UClA 10
Cal 31 Colorado State 24
Oregon 45 WSU 10
Stanford 17 Washington 13

Top 25
Oklahoma 42 TCU 10
Alabama 24 Georgia 21
Penn State 35 Illinois 24

Week 4 Pac 10 Rankings

1. USC- The only Pac 10 team worthy of anything.
2. BYU- Two wins over Pac 10 competition gives them the number two spot.
3. Penn State- The Nittany Lions made Oregon State look like, well a Pac 10 team.
4. Boise State- The Broncos may be cheap shot artists but they still beat the Ducks.
5. Georgia- The Bulldogs are overrated but they still beat ASU.
6. Maryland-Beat up on Pac 10 pretender, Cal.
7. TCU- A win over Stanford isn't too impressive but it's still a win.
8. Oklahoma State- "Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40!"
9. UNLV- I didn't know they even had a football program.
10. New Mexico- I'm not sure Mike Stoops will have a job past this year.

Weekend Picks

Last week I was 16-11 with my picks. This week I promise better results so here it goes:

NFL
Atlanta 10 Kansas City 3
Buffalo 31 Oakland 17
Tampa Bay 21 Chicago 10
Carolina 17 Minnesota 10
New England 21 Miami 13
NY Giants 24 Cincinnati 3
Tennessee 21 Houston 10
Arizona 31 Washington 28
San Fransisco 17 Detroit 13
Seattle 20 St Louis 13
Denver 24 New Orleans 14
Philadelphia 38 Pittsburgh 35
Indianapolis 24 Jacksonville 20
Baltimore 14 Cleveland 10
Green Bay 31 Dallas 28

Pac 10
UCLA 13 Arizona 10
Oregon 31 Boise State 20
Portland State 24 WSU 21
ASU 27 Georgia 24
Stanford 31 San Jose State 21

Top 25
LSU 24 Auburn 17
Florida State 21 Wake Forest 20

I never realized our next President is such a talented singer

Week 3 Pac 10 Rankings

1. USC- DUH
2. Oregon- A win is a win
3. ASU- How do you lose to UNLV at home?
4. Cal- I guess they belong here but how the heck did they lose to Maryland ?
5. Stanford- They lost to TCU but there's really no one else I can put.
6. OS(U)- One of three Pac 10 teams to win but lets be honest here, Hawaii sucks.
7. Arizona- New Mexico?
8. Washington- I hope Ty Willingham has his resume updated.
9. UCLA- Did the Ruins forget they had a game on Saturday?
10. Washington State- Portland State is all that stands between WSU and perfection.

Weekend Picks

This season I am going to pick every NFL, PAC 10 and college games matching two top 25 teams. Keep in my mind that I am not an expert and you shouldn't be laying down bets based on my picks. I'm just a hack that loves football.

NFL
Cincinnati 24 Tennessee 13
Green Bay 35 Detroit 10
Kansas City 13 Oakland 6
New York Giants 17 St Louis 10
Indianapolis 24 MinnesotA 21
New Orleans 31 Washington 24
Carolina 17 Chicago 10
Buffalo 24 Jacksonville 17
Seattle 10 San Francisco 7
Tampa Bay 21 Atlanta 13
Houston 17 Baltimore 13
New England 21 New York Jets 20
Arizona 17 Miami 10
Denver 35 San Diego 31
Pittsburgh 24 Cleveland 21
Dallas 42 Philadelphia 38

Pac 10
Cal 31 Maryland 7
Baylor 17 WSU 10
Oregon 31 Purdue 20
UCLA 21 BYU 20
Oregon State 28 Hawaii 14
Stanford 21 TCU 13
Oklahoma 42 Washington 14
Arizona 28 New Mexico 7
ASU 42 UNLV 10
USC 42 Ohio State 17

Other NCAA
Kansas 31 South Florida 20
Fresno State 28 Wisconsin 24

7 years ago today

Seven years ago today the world was forever changed. It was a day in which we saw the absolute worst in humanity but through that terrible series of events we saw the best as well. It's important that we all take a moment to remember all of those who lost their lives on that day and all of those who lost their lives since that day fighting for the cause of freedom. Thanks to all of the men and women serving in our armed forces, the fire fighters, police officers and all those who go to work everyday to make the world we live in a safer place.

God Bless America!!!

Week 2 Pac 10 Rankings

1. SUC- I am almost ready to declare the Trojans the National champs.
2. Oregon- Set a school record for total offense but they were playing a high school team.
3. ASU- They accomplished what OS(U) couldn't, they beat the nerds.
4. Cal- I would be impressed but WSU is terrible.
5. UCLA- There first game was against No. 18 Tennessee. Their second is against No. 18 BYU.
6. Arizona- The Mildcats have outscored their opponents 111-16.
7. Stanford- I hear they have a good volleyball program.
8. OS(U)- Two of my co-workers told me on Friday that the Rodents were going to beat Penn State. Both of them were Mysteriously absent today.
9. Washington- As much as I hate the dawgs, I must admit that was lame call by the officials.
10. WSU- If this was European Soccer, the Cougs would be facing demotion at the end of the season.

Pac 10 Rankings- Week 1

1. Sarah Palin- The Next Vice President of The United States of America!!!!
2. SUC- Next week they will return to their rightful spot at the top
3. Oregon- Anything less than a 40 point victory over Utah State will be a dissapointment.
4. ASU- Sun Devils will roll Stanford
5. Cal- Impressive victory of Michigan State
6. UCLA- They got lucky
7. Stanford- I called it
8. Arizona- 70-0 over Idaho. Big deal!
9. Oregon State- Soon to be 0-2
10. WSU- They're terrible
11. Washington- They may be worse than the Cougs.

Preseason Pac 10 Rankings

Thank God football season is almost here. Now I can go back to blogging about I blog about best and that's the Great American Sport of Football. Being an election year, I may have a few random musings about the presidential election (which I'm saying is a tossup as of now) but the majority of my blog entries from now until January will be about football. Since weekly Pac 10 rankings were wildly successful last year, I've decided to bring them back for another year. So here are my first weekly Pac 10 rankings for the 2008 college football season:

1. SUC- The Trojans are just too good

2. Oregon- No Costa, No problem! Roper (Maybe Masoli) and the Ducks will shine in 2008.

3. ASU- Look for a big year out of Judy Carpenter and the Sun Devils but it won't get them any farther than El Paso.

4. OS(U)- Tough choice on Thursday night. OS(U)-Stanford or Barack Obama's convention speech.

5. Cal- Another mediocre year for the Bears.

6. Arizona- Mike Stoopid and the Mildcats finally go Bowling.

7. UCLA- The Bruins will struggle in 2008 but watch out for them in 2009.

8. Washington- The Dawgs will improve but not enough to save Ty Willingham's job.

9. Stanford- Watch out for my week one upset. Stanford will beat OS(U)

10. WSU- The Cougs will go for perfection in the Pac 10 but might just blow in the Apple Cup.