Picking a winner. Not me, ever! Until yesyerday

When you look at the huge casino building and fancy trappings, you must keep in mind they were not built on the winnings of the players, it is the losses. I enjoy a casino from time to time but I am determined not to contribute much at all to them. You see, I am totally aware that I am unlucky at picking winners or gambling. It's just not in my make up to win. 50/50 charity benefit drawings? Never won. Church raffles? Never won. Limited ticket sale Cancer society drawings for a new car with a one out o a hundred odds of winning? Never won. State and territory lotteries. Never won. Football pools? Never won. Basketball brackets? Up until yesterday, never won. I really still have not competitively. I drew up a bracket and submitted it in friendly circles. That one went down the drain after the first week. I researched that one for months. So much for research when it comes to college players in this incredible annual tournament.  Then I filled out a bracket for my own use picking as many Catholic schools as possible. It went great except in the championship game I had Notre Dame playing Villanova with Villanova taking the win. So, there it is, as close to winning something as I ever have and it was totally playing against myself and in truth I almost lost that too. Right now, it is sweet, sweet victory for a born loser. Congratulations Villanova!

Competative sports?

How do athletes exercise to maintain their competitive edge?

Competitive sports are as much a staple of our modern day society as they have been throughout history. Of course, what with the advantages of new fangled electronic media millions of viewers are able to watch a competitive sport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Professional and amateur athletes alike are subjected to criticism from around the world. They have to stay in shape to be at the top of their game or face constant ridicule from armchair experts. Sports are big business! In my opinion, somewhere along the way, the term "sport" has been altered far from it's original intent. A couple of examples if I may:

#1- Competitive eating
#2- Competitive poker

Just how does one prepare themselves physically to endure the trials and tribulations in either one of those sports?
 Umm, let's see now. Eat so much as to stretch the stomach to capacities never before seen in the civilized world. Practice exercising the throat muscles holding down food so you don't puke.
When it comes to cards it's important to work your butt enough to build up protective callouses for hours of sitting. Facial muscles must be trained to maintain a constant "poker face".

Two "sports" I simply don't understand as being spectator friendly. Seeing someone puke or another person push a pile of tokens is not high on my agenda.

An entire channel of broadcasting can be dedicated to just about anything these days as long as it is deemed a sport. Where is the Chess channel? Where is the kite flying channel? Where is the crepitation channel? And, as long as we are at it: Where is the competitive sleeping channel? Oh wait, maybe it's already here.

Enjoy the day. If you need a good night's sleep there are a couple sports to watch that will help.

Tennis, Now That's funny!

Tennis is a physically demanding, strategic and skillful sport. Running back and forth, swatting a ball, aiming correctly and putting the shot where the other player isn't and avoiding the embarrassing love thing. The sport where an athlete making love is not the desired outcome. I never could figure that thing out. What's the reasoning behind calling it love in the first place? Is tennis a French game maybe? Anyway, I am finding tennis a very humorous game of late. In the past I watched tennis matches because of the skills involved and the intensity with which it was played. It's not football or baseball or college basketball but excellent on the field of competitiveness. Clothing was always on the edge of modesty for the ladies but acceptable. The modesty thing went out the window a few years back. Being a guy I guess I can put up with it for the sake of the sport. Kind of like ice skating. Now, in recent times the players, almost collectively have decide to grunt the most annoying sounds as they whack that poor tennis ball across the net. The story goes that their trainers say that the grunting noise gives them more power.....................but some winning players don't grunt. Either way I have now come to the conclusion that if I haven't found any reason to smile on a given day, and a tennis match is being televised, That's where I turn the channel. Grunt: Whoo! Grunt: Whee! Grunt: EEEooo! Grunt: OOOeeow! Grunt UUUUhhh! You simply can't listen to that for a match without splitting a gut laughing.  That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Have a wonderful day and if you need a laugh you need look no further than the tennis court...

Kristin Chenoweth and the National Anthem

Born and raised in the United States has been a great experience for me. Politics notwithstanding. Freedom and liberty seem to abound for the most part although those two issues appear to be up for grabs lately in the hands of bigger and bigger government. But, that's the way it is and I'll live by it. Each generation has it's own experiences and perspectives doesn't it? Just like automobiles, before it was carburetors, now it is fuel injection. To some it's progress, to others it's a shame. All of that being said, I am grateful to live in a country where I can still have an opinion and express it openly. Today it's football and the National Anthem.

Yesterday there were two well known singers expressing their individual renditions of our National Anthem before the playoff games. Over the years there have been some truly memorable, respectful, beautiful renditions and also some downright awful ones too. I believe yesterday, both singers, Kristin Chenoweth and Steven Tylor performed in what they believed to be a respectful way. However, the one that pulled it off in a most spectacular, unforgettable way was hands down, Kristin Chenoweth. She belted that anthem out wholeheartedly and with so much power the crowd was standing and applauding after the first two lines were sung. She, in turn turned up the voice and gave them even more. I was impressed! Being a sports fan I've witnessed what I believe to be the best and the worst in the past few decades. Kristin Chenoweth was superb! I thank her for showing so much respect towards the country of my birth. Some people still do have high standards and integrity. You go girl! You just got another fan.

No winner yet in the treasure hunt. The medallion is still out there.

Super bowl is over

Super Bowl winners: Green Bay and their fans. Football is over until the end of summer. It was a fitting finish to an interesting year filled with goofs from the officials. They are not alone. The most notable issues were:

400 fans paid big money for legitimate seats but got to watch on TV screen outside the stadium.(it started with 1200 but it got whittled down to 400 eventually)

The jet fly over was virtually meaningless. That stadium has an enclosed roof you know. Nobody could see it.

Its happened before but the words of the national anthem got messed up again. A couple times. At least she didn't grab her crotch and spit like Rosanne Barr did a while back.

A good game but the contributing factor of the win was the amount of mistakes by the losing team. They were both great teams. The one making the least mistakes won.

All those high paid athletes and entertainers, after all is said and done are simply human just like me. However, their talents are incredible and priceless and I enjoyed the game, and the taco salad, and the cheese and crackers, and the peanut butter cookies, and the wrapped green onions, and the marshmallow cups and the deviled eggs.

College Football bowl games and me

This weekend is ready made for guys. College football bowl games abound from morning to night. For many of us guys the ball dropping at midnight is only a signal of more football games to come. I watched a game between South Carolina and Tennessee last night that had so many twists and turns it was difficult to keep up. The turning point was when a booth review determined that there was still one second left and South Carolina went on to win in overtime a game that Tennessee believed they had won. What a cliffhanger!

However, where the real entertainment is, and a lot of guys will secretly admit to this, is the sometimes verging on the ridiculous conglomeration of names for these games. I won't pick on the real names, they speak for them selves. But I think I might add a suggestion or two to list. Maybe you can come up with one or two yourself, we can make a game of it to bring in the new year. Perhaps as midnight draws nigh the more alcohol involved the more interesting the names will become.

"The Brett Favre 5th annual retirement announcement Memorial East Coast Blizzard maybe Sunday maybe Tuesday Bowl."

"The Far Right, Far Left, Tea Party, ACLU, Narcissistic, What's in it for me Political Bowl."

"The Ultimate Battle of Pitiful Losers Toilet Bowl."

I think you get the idea. Lets have some fun with it. The games are usually pretty good and well worth watching but the names sometimes take up two or three lines on the TV screen. Meanwhile, I wish you a happy, prosperous and safe New Year. I hope your team wins..................Joe

Detroit Lions win 3 in a row

Why is everyone acting so surprised that the Detroit Lions won yesterday? I am so pleased I am almost giddy but I am definitely not surprised. I have expected this all along, winning was only a matter of time. Sure, the Lions haven't been a winning team for a long time but there have also been legitimate reasons for that. Not excuses mind you but reasons.

It's been a long time since the Lions had a couch with the wherewithal to learn how to win with the team he has. For years the Lions have been riddled with injuries. Game after game our star players have gone down and the substitute second and third string have had to fill in. From quarterbacks to linemen they've been mowed down on a regular basis leaving us a rag tag, motley crew. Our head coach found out how to put them all together and win. I expected him to do that.

Everyone in the league has seen the terrible penalty calls against the Lions. even the officials have stated the calls were bad after the games. Those bad calls go back at least 15 years in my memory. Many of them were game deciding such as the one recently called against Calvin Johnson for "Not finishing the process" It was pretty lame. And another one against Ndomikan Suh for pulling a guy down by his hair. The league rules state that if a player decides to grow his hair long he must realize that his hair becomes part of the uniform and can be used to take him down. All teams experience bad calls against them but I feel the figures show that they have been unfairly called against the Lions far more than any other major league team. I expected it would stop eventually.

For a long, long time it seemed that there was at least one player on the Lions team that created strife amongst the members of his team by whining and complaining like a spoiled child. This team and the head coach haven't participated in or allowed that type of whining behavior to be acceptable. They have rid themselves of the whiners, stuck together and learned how to win instead of blaming others for losing. I expected that this year.

So, as you can see I am not surprised. But I also have a prediction to make concerning something else I expect. The Detroit Lions aren't done yet. I watched their third string quarterback put together a group of injured and back up players to win two games in a row. I watched a second string quarterback, with a broken finger win a game with an injured running back and one of our star receivers on the sidelines with an injury and other players that haven't been with the team for half the season. I saw our excited head coach participating with and encouraging his players like no other coach in recent memory and I saw how they responded to him. They have learned to step up when necessary and win together as a team. I expect that the Detroit Lions will be formidable in the not too distant future. I can think of three NFL teams in the past three weeks that think so already.

The Detroit Lions won't be in the Super Bowl this year. However, I expect there will be many people like myself that will remember this as a great year for the Lions and their fans. Yeah, today is a good day for all of us..............Joe

Competing in little known sports

"Competitive Cheer Leading" has been making the headlines lately right along with "Competitive Eating." I rank those two sports right up there with competitive Poker and Chess for pure excitement. Realizing that this is simply my opinion and there may or may not be anyone else agreeing with me. As much as I enjoy car shows, chock full of customized and restored vehicles of all shapes and models representing hours and hours of labor and thousands upon thousands of dollars, I'm not sure I'd call the competition an exciting sport. Only speaking as an observer of course. I figure, if you want to do something and do it well you must do it to please yourself, not the observer. But then again, if you want to get awards and collect money for it you have to then please the observer too.

Competition can be intense in any of those activities but many times it's not as obvious to every observer. Although this cheerleading can get pretty rough and tumble and I admire the participants. It is not my intention to demean any particular competition here, you can't argue with a massive audience. However, certain elements of the competitive spirit escape me sometimes. It's sort of obvious why mini bikini beach volleyball is popular, even with the sound turned down, but poker? A bunch of players sit around a table pushing out chips and making faces at each other. Competitive eating on the other hand always holds out hope for someone overindulging and throwing up. I have a tremendous amount of admiration for anyone that can compete in the game of chess, but once again as an observer it's not my cup of tea. Golf is on the fringe here, kind of close with Cricket when it comes to my attention. At least competitive barbecuing has the added benefit of food for the judges. I have noticed that the popularity of legitimate competitive combined beer drinking and jart throwing is slowing though.

At a few campgrounds and church picnics I've found competitive horseshoes as usual but coming up in the ranks is competitive ladderball and washer throwing. I went to a couple association picnics and watched women throw rolling pins at cardboard images of their husbands. Perhaps there is no end to what we can define as competitive. Some activities that pop into my head are: sewing, carpet cleaning, varnishing, window washing, shoelace tying, remote channel changing, computer booting etc. etc. I wonder if these types of competition are becoming popular because so little competition is allowed on the school playgrounds these days and people thirst for competition in order to find out where they excel? That's just a random thought, of course. You know me and my random thoughts don't you? I can certainly compete on a professional level with random thoughts. Wonder which channel it's on?...........Joe

World Cup and the Vuvuzela

The vuvuzela is an instrument of God. That agonizingly noisy horn that is constantly being blown at the World Cup soccer matches is a reminder of the sacrifices, trials and tribulations of the African people over the centuries. According to Tinyko Maluleke speaking at an international ecumenical meeting. I'm glad I found out about that. The constant bleating has certainly lowered my enjoyment of the games as well as my ability to understand what is being said by the moderators. To the point of interfering with the game itself. Actually the disturbing noise has caused me to totally withdraw from watching the soccer matches whatsoever. I mean no disrespect to the horn blowers and the statement they need to make to the rest of the world. If that's what they need to do then I respect their right to do that in their country. However, I as a visitor in hopes of true enjoyment of competition between the best of the best choose to not submit myself to the never ending barrage of annoyance and take advantage of my channel changing expertise and move on to some other type of entertainment. Baseball, Nascar, Dragracing, and the food channel come to mind.

Bearing in mind that I completely respect a person's right to demonstrate against oppression, I fail to see the oppressive nature of being allowed to host an international event of such far reaching proportions. That's not my idea of a welcoming attitude. If I invite someone to my house I bend over backwards to show them that I appreciate their company. If they would be spending money for which I would receive a benefit I would darn well put my best foot forward in order to reap the harvest and expect them to return again wouldn't you? I particularly would avoid annoying my visitors every moment of the day and night.

I am not a world traveler. I will not, in this life be visiting South Africa in person. It matters not to me when, how, or where they blow their own horns. It's no skin off my nose. But, thanks to the miracle of television I am put in the position of learning more about that country. Thanks to the vuvuzela I will not be learning as much as I'd hoped to and I'll be turning my TV back to the good old reliable golf channel. Thank you very much. I guess this will be one more world cup I'll be reading about instead of watching............................Joe

Ernie Harwell

Hey Ernie Harwell,
whether the Tigers won or lost, we still had you to look forward to.

If there's a ballpark in Heaven, may you find it.
If there's a round table for great guys, may it find you.
If there's an announcers position open may it become yours.
If you can smile down on us from time to time, please do it.
If the sun shines on the Tigers we'll know you can.

You said you were blessed to be with us.
It was us who were blessed.

As Bob Hope used to sing: Thanks for the memories. R.I.P. Ernie Harwell. You helped change lives for the better......................Joe