The ScooterBlog

It won’t be long now, not at all. In about 10 hours of the time I  have begun this blog post, my auction for the Cybervirus Cinciclassic Edition Lynx Cartridge will be complete. In a past life, this might have been a little bit sad, to get rid of something in the collection that realistically, not only will you never buy again, but that you may never even see again. But in this case, not really.

I noted this on Facebook the other day and had about three or four people look at me (from a virtual comment sense) like I had crossed eyes or something, but simply, I do not count myself as a video game collector anymore. Now by no means does this mean that I don’t still love video games, count it as at least a part of who I am (less than before, family does that to you), and still get games that I want to play. It just comes down to a few things.

1. Some of the stuff in my collection is just too expensive to keep. Take this cartridge I’m auctioning, it’s a great example. It may go for well over $100 before it’s all said and done. The last one that was auctioned, based on limited research, went for over $165. I think it’s cool to own it, but it’s just not that cool when you have other needs and you don’t think you will realistically play it soon.
2. When you’re single, you don’t ever believe that you’ll use an excuse like “Well, I have a wife and kids now”. Except one little problem. When you do have the wife and kids, you find that this excuse usually is where it’s at. Anthony’s formula is worth more than my rare game, that’s just how it is.
3. It’s getting harder to play the old stuff on new TV’s and newer hardware. Sad to say but it’s just simpler now to use emulators for a lot of the really old school systems, and in some cases, newer systems too. They give me more options, and with the adapters out now (which I am a huge fan of), you can play with the original controllers and still have that feel. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not 100% all in on everything being digital, but if I can have a way to play it where I control the rights, gray area or not, I can deal with that.
4. Time. This is probably also partially under the “wife and kids” moniker, but there’s not enough time to enjoy it all. There’s time to enjoy bits and pieces, and time in between for some aspects of it, but not to enjoy all of it. It just hits a time where it makes more sense for someone else to have it as part of their own collection.

So if you see me post on a few more cool things I am selling, don’t sweat it, it’s really not that big of a deal. Until I actually have the time to, I don’t know, complete something, I doubt I’ll feel bad about selling that game that I know I won’t get to play soon.

It has not been the best week to be a Bengals fan, the team lost a member of its family this week in Chris Henry to an accident during a domestic disturbance at the young age of 26, leaving a fiancee and three children behind. To say it’s tragic is an understatement, because it doesn’t hit at what’s really been lost here. Yes, those who are cynical can look up, and probably very rightfully say that with his past, his arrests, his maturity issues, that something like this was coming, even with him appearing to turn his life around and figure out how to deal with the fame and stress of being an NFL player. I prefer to look at it in another direction due to my own personal experience. What’s tragic is of course what was lost, a father, an immensely talented young man, but what’s most tragic to me is looking to see what COULD have been.

His death had led me to reflect quite a bit this week on my own losses in life, most notably that of my brother Jeff in 1997. Hard to believe it has been twelve and a half years since he’s been gone. If you don’t know the story, you can search the blog to read more (or keep reading for bits and pieces). There are a lot of very eerie correlations between my brother’s death and that of Chris Henry. Both were about the same age (Jeff was 27, Chris was 26), both had issues in their life and both at times appeared to finally be putting it all together to erase their past demons. Sadly, neither of them could, to some degree, those demons were their undoing.

I look at where I am now, nearly 30 years old (and yes, it’s scary to think I am now older than my brother ever was), married, with a baby boy, and then promptly look back to Jeff, and the saddest thought is to think about what could have been … the relationship we never fully had as big and little brother, any chance he had to put a life together greater than even his own, and what his mission in this world really could have been. I understand now that his missions in heaven where he is now are far greater than they ever could have been on Earth, that’s how I keep myself level thinking about the weird parallel of being an only child with a big brother (which is how it usually was), and seeing such a correlation in Chris Henry’s death brought so much of that back.

In the reactions of his teammates, Chad Ochocinco’s, Carson Palmer’s, you can see those same thoughts really abound, that of promise unfulfilled. I believe it to be true that many if not most people don’t ever fulfill the full promise of their lives, and that’s a more true metric of success than any single material thing or statistic, and as a Bengals fan, it makes me pull for the team even more now than I have before. I do believe their success this year as a 9-4 team in many ways resonates back to their heart and character, something that from a very superficial look through a sports window, I have often questioned. I won’t be doing that anymore. Chad was right on one thing, you can’t question what God’s plan for each person is, but it’s natural to, and sometimes it’s very unfair.

My prayers this weekend are with Chris’s entire family, with the Bengals organization, and with everyone in his life. I pray for them to play even more inspired football this week and for the rest of the year, not for my own selfish wishes as a fan, but as a tribute to the members of the Bengals family that aren’t here now. When Jeff passed away, I went and took a final exam at college the very next day, it was my escape, something to buffer myself from the sadness and grieving for a few minutes. I pray that the three hours the Bengals spend on the field in San Diego serves a similar outlet for the team, and that they rise up and play like they never have before.

There is a major silver lining to Texas pulling out one seriously ugly game against Nebraska last night: it leaves you to feel okay that Cincinnati isn’t getting a shot at the national championship.

The reason? It’s because you don’t now have to ask the theoretical question of whether TCU or Cincinnati was the better team and was more deserving, and sadly, that means in some twisted senseless logic, people will once again feel like the BCS worked. I for one do not believe that it did, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is that in a world where there is definitely tiers even within the BCS conferences, Texas and the SEC winner were always going to be #1 and #2, and it’s hard to argue against it, I really can’t. So, it stops mattering who is #3, #4, any of those.

What it likely also means is that UC will get an opportunity to prove just how good they are, when they likely play Florida. I sense that Florida will be a double-digit favorite, and heck, they probably should beat them, but it will be a very entertaining game. Oh yes, and why should Brian Kelly stay? Because the odds he’ll coach in a game this big at Notre Dame anytime soon isn’t real good, meaning the UC job truly is more attractive than Notre Dame, unless it’s all about money (and I sense UC will call Lindner and tell him to donate another $5 million to keep Kelly around anyways).

There’s probably not a lot of you out there still using a projection TV of any sort, but hey, some of us haven’t spent the big bucks to get the big flat screen just yet! As a result, while I have a 32-inch LCD, our family room TV is a 46-inch Toshiba projection screen. In the tradition of the CRT technology it uses, its recommended resolutions are 480p and 1080i, and the advantage it does offer is that there is zero lag for older games that run on 480i.

But, newer technology plugging in to older TV’s sometimes has its own set of pitfalls, one of which I was able to fix last night. Some games, such as Forza Motorsport 3, and the intros to all EA Sports games, feature an all-white background. When this happens, the screens begins to shake. Not drastically, but enough to give you a headache, big time! It took me about 30 minutes (and a second 360 due to our neighbor) to figure out that for some reason, the TV does not like when the 360 is set to 1080i as the highest resolution, it wants it set at 720p. So, it now is.

This might be one area (albeit for a very small number of users) where the PS3 has an advantage. It allows you to select all of the valid resolutions that your TV supports. So, if you had a monitor that could handle 720p and 1080p only (computer monitor with HDMI in?), you could set it that way and take 1080i out of the equation, or you could keep a LCD screen from ever backsliding all the way to 480i. The XBox 360 only allows for you to set a maximum resolution, so it leads to possibilities where some in-between resolution doesn’t play nice, and you can’t fix it, you’d merely be able to go lower than that resolution.

Problem solved though, interesting food for fodder for future dashboard updates (say that five times fast).

I feel the need to get two things off of my chest that I heard this morning that are either signs that people take certain things too seriously (or don’t value other things), or as possible signs of the apocalypse. We’ll start with the fun one.

Apparently, it’s going to snow in Houston, Texas today. Yes, Houston! Even Galveston, an island in the Gulf Of Mexico is getting a trace. Something is wrong with the world where southern Texas at any point gets accumulating snow quicker than Columbus, Ohio! Still at that, the “realist” take is that in the last 100 years, Houston has had snow 34 times, ever. So, it’s not unheard of, but majorly weird. It is the earliest though.

As a sidebar, I’ve heard 2012 isn’t all that good. Now John Cusack trying to drive around Houston in the snow, that’s quality cinematography right there!

Secondarily, in listening to the Early Show as I woke up this morning, I heard Bob Schieffer (isn’t he floating somewhere around Ric Flair age at this point, between 110 and 120?!) make the following quote about the recent gate-crashing at an Obama State Dinner: “State dinners are part of the symbols of our democracy, like the White House itself, like the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem”. Wait, WHAT?!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty amazing that the Secret Service lets someone in this far without an invite, and if they deem that to be a crime, go right ahead (I’m perfectly fine with the public shaming and hopefully their exit from any reality TV, I could care less for that stuff anyways), but a state dinner is part of the symbols of democracy?! No, a state winner is a way to schmooze some diplomats, overpay for food, and so something completely ornate and political. I value our pledge of allegiance (which if Anthony doesn’t have to say at the start of each school day, I’ll be incensed) and our national anthem (which I will stop for and put my hand over my heart if it’s on TV and Carl Lewis isn’t singing it) are true symbols. Bob, get your head out of your political tunnel vision and look at what real values might just be.

See, that was therapeutic, now go listen to Carl Lewis sing and comment about how I’ve ruined the rest of your day. Sorry!

Hey, no one said all of the blog entries had to come after glorious wins, and today’s is the classic example of that. Raiders 20, Bengals 17, and my team of choice has no one to blame but themselves. Costly turnovers late, another bad snap on a field goal, and a very sloppy game are very simple things to blame. Yes, these all could have been overcome if Andre Caldwell holds onto the ball, but face it, he’s won us two games this year with his late game catches, and sadly, he didn’t come through today.

No panicking though, the 1988 Super Bowl team did lose to the Chiefs, a team that ended up 4-11-1. So, this does happen, the question is the resiliency, and making sure they bounce right back.

Other game thoughts:

* No one by the name of Bruce Gradkowski should ever look comfortable in the pocket, but the Bengals did not get any pressure on him today. No, he wasn’t great, but even bad QB’s not named Jamarcus Russell can play well when they get all day to throw.

* Bernard Scott had himself a very nice day, and I’m glad to see it. With all the Larry Johnson talk this week, even though we know he won’t play much, it’s good to get a 100 yard game out of this very promising rookie to make sure the conversation is put away. He’s a solid #2 back and kick returner now, and should get plenty of opportunity to showcase both, good for him!

* Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler are absolutely awesome kickers, but Lechler’s beard is horrible. Sorry, just stating it as I see it.

Other NFL thoughts:

* Not much sympathy for the Browns losing, but that is a tough way to do it. More importantly, Matt Stafford just elevated himself in my book for coming back out for that last throw. It was probably balsy and stupid, but if you make the play, you deserve the credit for toughing it out. Well done, Matt, consider the respect given.

* Thank goodness for the sake of the Bengals that the Steelers, the Browns, and the Ravens also lost, and all in close and sometimes devastating fashion. At 7-3, the Patriots and the Chargers are right there at the top of their divisions all vying for the #2 seed and the bye. The Bengals-Chargers game could well be an elimination game for that provided that they do not stumble, and the Pats need to win tough road games against the Saints and Dolphins or risk falling out of that race. Oh yeah, the Texans loom at the end, and they may well be fighting for a Wild Card.

Oh wait, it’s Week 12! Time to can this and move to next week!

The previous post I made about Micro Center is a solid reminder of something. Common sense is a lost art, people now trust the piece of paper in front of them or their own lazy attitudes more so than actually using their brain to make an educated decision on something. There’s nothing like presenting weird scenarios to people to prove this point in a crystal clear fashion, that if they take a moment to use common sense, and are willing to, you know, call someone, better things would happen. Here’s how the story goes:

I found in my garage about 90 Atari 2600 cartridges in a plastic tub. This by itself is not really newsworthy, but since there is a way to get something out of them, there is in fact a story there. Toys ‘R Us has recently begun to advertise that they accept classic games, stuff that no one else wants, including Atari 2600 cartridges! A look at their web site shows that while for almost all systems, they differentiate between new and used games. However, they do not do this for the 2600, just one SKU. This is where it begins to go downhill.

I proceed to take my plastic tub of games to the local Toys’ R Us. Yes, there’s some shock and comedy factor here. So, I get to the front counter of the store where I was directed, show them the games, and after it taking two people to realize what they actually were (these kids were born after the launch of the SUPER Nintendo after all), they dig for 10 minutes to find their trade in scanner book. Obviously, if no one knows where the trade in book is and it’s buried, they are not doing much of a job of pushing their trade-in program!

When they finally do this, which is already 15 minutes into the trip, they look and find that there are 2 SKU’s for everything, including Atari 2600 games, and when they scanned the SKU for a non-complete (yes, they want box and instructions) Atari 2600 game, it did not allow them to take it in. I showed them the web site, explained that their own corporate office does not require the box and instructions to receive their tiny sum of a quarter per game, but they didn’t care, the book said how to do it and they would not accept them. Oh yes, it took three people to say this, and the manager did not seem interested at all into taking any effort into helping. Completely did not care. So, I took the games and left, disappointed in my experience there.

If you’re paying attention, this is the Sawmill Road location in Columbus. Just in case someone is reading this.

So, it’s about 8:20 at night then, and not a lot of places are left open. Just for fun, I decided to take the tub of games to a local mom-and-pop store up in Powell to see if they would take the games and how much they’d offer. Figured that since they’re common Atari 2600 games, they’d have a ballpark pretty quick. I walk in with the plastic tub, let them know I’m looking to get some trade-in credit, and after one of the associates in a smart-allic response said they’d give “a nickel” for the games, they say it’s simply too late to figure it up and I’d need to bring the games back later. Not even basically, they admitted they are too lazy to look it up, didn’t want to deal with it and told me to go away.

Now, realize this. Your sign says you are open! Such laziness and the admission that they do not feel like doing work is exactly why many stores like that never succeed, they don’t care. I whispered under my breath how much I appreciated their laziness, and while I hope they heard it, I doubt they did. Disappointing was the word for Toys ‘R Us. Just embarrassed is the word for this video game store, their owner should be ashamed of their employees, not even willing to take 2 minutes and throw out a ballpark figure for the games. Who knows, they might have gotten a deal, I would have sure been willing to sell low, diaper money always wins.

By the way, this was the Play ‘N Trade on Polaris Parkway just west of Polaris Fashion Place. You too have also been called out.

So, the games will end up on eBay, someone who actually genuinely appreciates them will get them for their fair market value. In the end, it’s probably the best solution for everyone.

Maybe my days in retail of wanting to, you know, actually HELP a customer, have jaded me, but it means when I see a salesman who comes off as arrogant and tries to make the up-sell by insulting the customer’s knowledge, it really rubs me the wrong way. Today, that was my experience at Micro Center.

I want to preface this by saying I still love the store, but my experience there, like most places, is that you should do your research before getting there, get what you need, and get out before the vultures hit. Well, except for the floor manager, who seems very nice, and is also rather attractive!

I got to the store, helping someone I am working for on the side trying to find a good fit for a PC for them. Their goals were simple: good at web browsing, decent at still photos, does not have to be a powerhouse. As a result, I came across the Acer Aspire 3610. Cool “net top” form factor, enough power to be solid, 2 gigs of memory, and Windows 7. Thought it was out of stock, but their computer said they had three. When I got back to look at it with the two people I was with, their salesman shows up. He first ridicules my interest in the $329 nettop by calling it the same as a five-year old notebook.

Did I mention your $299 budget laptop that you pimp all the time actually had half the CPU that this Atom PC has?! Yeah, I did my research, and the numbers on a site like Passmark do not lie. Horribly inaccurate statement! He also said it was like a Pentium M, but this Atom has 20% more CPU power than the fastest most expensive Pentium M ever made, and it isn’t five years old. Also, off base.

I responded by kindly reminding him that I had done my research and the CPU was an upgrade from what they had (an Athlon 2800). He noted that the machine was horrible for video editing, I told him that this person did not NEED video editing, and that it had a NVidia Ion chip set inside to allow for video watching in HD. He obviously did not realize this, as he did not have a response for this. By this point, the conversation was very contentious.

He did point to the PC next to the Acer (the only good thing he did), which was a Quad Core Q8200 PC well outfitted for $449. This was indeed one hell of a good price, as every other PC that was even close to it in performance was over $500 by far. So, I had a legitimate option now. Pay a bit more, still get a more compact form factor and get massive performance (that may or may not be needed), or spend a little less, get the super-small form factor, but less processor. I ended up going with the $449 Acer instead.

This, unfortunately, means I had to talk to their crackpot salesman again to get one. Should have just walked over once I saw where they were! Anyways, he then asked what kind of anti-virus we used, obviously trying to up-sell me their NOD32 anti-virus, which I know is good, but I don’t feel like adding $50 to a sale that needs to be a budget one. I responded by saying that I’d typically use a free solution like AVG or avast. He begins to rant on about how they are no good, and I just smile, the kind of smile that said “I’m going to say no regardless of what you say, I do not want it, you are not listening.” He then proceeds to insult my intelligence by saying, and I quote, “I see you’re smiling, but AVG does only detect 30% of the viruses out there, avast is better, but you’re foolish to trust one of those”. I responded by saying we’d be fine, and walked away.

It all just leads me to two things. First, I’m going to file a complaint with Micro Center about him, his attitude to me was unacceptable, he asked no questions about what we actually needed, just trying to sluff off some machine on us to get his commission. Plus, he managed to insult an IT Pro by showing no common sense whatsoever! Micro Center ought to know that I find this unacceptible. The second is that I’m maintaining my normal attitude on any store like this. Know what you want ahead of time, find it yourself, and run like hell from anyone who wants to sell you something. I get needing to have commissions to help with sales, but help people get stuff they need, not just to line your pockets.

Micro Center, you got the sale, but you failed me on Saturday. Epic fail.

Sorry for the week off last week, but who wants to talk about a loss anyways? No real drama against the Texans, the Bengals just flat out got outplayed, and it showed. But, that’s last week, and this week we can revel in a 45-10 victory! So, why not talk about positives first!

Watching the game against the Bears provided something that my team of choice has not been able to enjoy since 2007 at a minimum: a relaxing, dominant performance in a game that actually meant something. Everything went beyond just clicking, it rolled without any resistance at all. Palmer’s passes were on the mark, Ochocinco was finding holes in the Cover 2 all afternoon, and Benson did run like the man possessed one would have hoped for considering his detest for his former franchise. Sure, Jay Cutler’s “riverboat gambling” style of passing helped with three picks (one of which was tipped), but the defense played a strong enough game that I don’t know if they even would have needed this.

Nonetheless, a 35-point win is a huge confidence builder going into the bye week, and then into what I believe to be the two most critical games on the schedule against Baltimore and against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Sweep these games, and you have your virtual two-game advantage back, a 7-2 record and beyond a safe look at 11 wins. Lose them, and you’re 5-4 and facing an uphill road to get to 10 wins. Split, and you’re somewhere inbetween strongly favoring a Wild Card trip. One win is necessary (especially if it’s against Pittsburgh), two wins is optimal. The schedule after that has four “for sure” wins, a great test against Minnesota, and a “who knows” kind of game against the Jets.

Other Bengals thoughts:

* A sign of great consistency? If you go to the Bengals web site and look at the team leaders each week in passing, rushing, and receiving, it’s the same six out of seven weeks. Palmer, Benson, and Ochocinco. The anomaly was the win against the Browns where it shows J.P. Foschi as the leading receiver. Keeping this up all year can only help ensure a playoff berth for this team.

* Coincidence, or something more, that the last good Bengals season in 2005, was also played against NFC Central teams? That’s also thier last 5-2 start (which was actually 5-1 and got all the way to 11-3)

* Andre Caldwell emerging as the second WR on this team has been a pleasant surprise. You’d think that you would be disappointed when you then look and realize that Laverneus Coles has 16 catches and is making a boatload of cash, but I’m not concerned about that. He had a shaky first week, but has made good critical catches since then and is providing a veteran leadership to go along with the mad talent of Chad and Chris Henry. It’s a nice mix, makes the Bengals seem very strong four deep at WR now.

* Start calling your congressman, your senator, your neighborhood Gus Johnson impersonator, Dick Eversole, whoever. Wouldn’t the Bengals-Vikings game make for a great NBC Sunday Night Flex game? Look, if the Browns can get multiple night games, surely the Bengals can get ONE.

* The retro jersey thing is in with the 50th Anniversary of the AFL this year. Yes, the Bengals original NFL jerseys were not the best but I’d still love to see them brought out once this year just for the heck of it.

Other NFL notes:

* If Jamarcus Russell ended the season now, his completion percentage would be 46.5%, and Derek Anderson is sitting at 43.7%. When was the last time that two starters in the NFL had a completion percentage less than 50%? The pass has become so big that you rarely ever see such a low percentage anymore, and even when you see this with a rookie or someone a team is breaking in, how often do you see it with two non-rookies, one of which has a Pro Bowl berth to his name?

* In my opinion, I’m ready to crown the Dolphins as the most underrated by record (3-4). Even a little bit more of a passing game and they have the potential to be a very very good team. In the same sense, the Raiders at 2-5 may actually be overrated by record. If you put them against the Bucs or the Rams, would be “first to 7″ to win?! (Poor Jon Gruden. The “Gruden Bowl”, if they played it this year, would have two teams combined with what, 4 wins by the end of the season? Don’t you guys wish he wasn’t a commentator now?)

Fantasy Football notes from Scott’s leagues:

* Never let your fantasy football fate come down to how well the Washington Redskins perform! Yes, Jim Zorn isn’t calling plays, and he got a vote of confidence, but that doesn’t shut down the death watch, it only makes it bigger! Anyways, my fate was sealed when their defense gave up 27 points in the first half. I almost pulled out another game when McNabb had a very pedestrian night, but he scored 12 points, and I needed 10 or less. So, as a result, it’s 1-2 for me this week. Still having good seasons (4-3, 4-2-1, and 4-2-1), so it’s not all that bad.

I hate the Ravens, I hate Jeff Triplette. You put them together and it doesn’t exactly bode for a good day for me as a Bengals fan, especially when this day is in Baltimore, MD, not at the home field. But as it turned out, both of these parties had a bad day, and it led to a great Bengals win!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sure the Bengals deserved this win based on their offensive and special teams mistakes, but as they have done in their three wins (and even in their loss), it was Carson Palmer leading them down the field on their final drive to winning scores (or what should have been). I have not fully watched the final drive yet, but with the key penalty being Ray Lewis trying to take Chad Ochocinci’s head off, he should be commended for one thing … after his totally correct rant last week against rinky-dink personal fouls for kinda sorta roughing the passer, he showed the kind of aggression that really is of the 15 yard variety. I’m sure Chad didn’t appreciate the demonstration, Bengals fans now certainly do.

Other thoughts about the successes and failures:

* Brad St. Louis should be given a plane ticket back to Cincinnati with the team, and the dignity to leave through the back door of the facility with no press around for 10 good years of team service, but at this point, we need a new long snapper in the worst way. We’re 4-1 with half of our special teams not working at all, and if it was working, 5-0 would be more than realistic right now.

* Cedric Benson having a 100-yard day is nothing short of sensational. There are so many good running backs out there, and Benson is not the league leader in yards, although he is darn close, but is there any thought to giving him or Palmer some MVP love this early on?

* Take a trip back to 2008. If your starter these five weeks is Ryan Fitzpatrick, don’t you think we’d be 0-5? Nothing against him, he was decent but he doesn’t have the big play and comeback flair that Palmer does.

* My condolences go out to Mike Zimmer and his family on their loss, and I could not be happier to see the team’s success even in a time of great need for him for things much more important. Sometimes work helps you get through the worst things in life, and I’m sure this weekend was a fine tribute.

* The way they are playing right now, 11-5 is beyond reasonable. I could see one division loss at home, and tough games against the Vikings, Chargers, and Jets at the end of the year. 11-5 would definitely get this team into the playoffs, and would have them contending for a division crown, and really, because a lot of the big games are at the end of the season, they would set up to be 10-2! That kind of record would put them in the driver’s seat in a big way.

Other thoughts from the NFL world:

* In what kind of alternate universe do I live that the Broncos are 5-0?! Of course, I don’t mind this right now, their defeating the Patriots helps the cause of the Bengals by allowing them to leapfrog another team in the standings. I would chalk them up to win the division, but let’s not forget last year’s four game collapse at the end.

* If the season ended today (if my calculations are right), three teams from the AFC Central would be in the playoffs.

* I don’t care who does it, be it Roger Goddell with a suspension, or Al Davis with the jumpsuit, or anyone with a brain. Someone, please tell Tom Cable to go away! No, it won’t fix the Raiders, but it can’t hurt any more than they do right now.

* The same thing needs to be said to Jim Zorn. The entire world knows he is going to get fired, someone, for his sake, end the misery!

And selfishly:

* It could be another 3-0 week for me in Fantasy Football! That would make my teams 3-1-1, 3-2, and 4-1 respectively. 10-4-1 is the kind of start I can get used to! It isn’t a given yet, all of the games have something riding on the outcome tonight, but it does admittedly look pretty good.