Mexican Weather Girl Yanet Garcia Is Ready For Halloween, Vols Fans Unleashed & Deion Mows On Thursdays
I spent over three hours at the Verizon store Sunday afternoon...how was your weekend?
It wasn't my intention to start off the work week with a sob story about going to the phone store and sitting there almost all the way through the early NFL games. But here I am on Monday morning reporting that what was supposed to be a phone run for my wife turned into two new phones and an Apple Watch.
By the way, please schedule multiple hours of free time if you ever need to drop service like a Verizon mobile hotspot Jetpack. Holy shit! I had to sit on the phone -- at the store -- with a Verizon rep to confirm -- twice because Verizon had issues completing our order which required the original order to be killed which means we had to go back through the Jetpack cancelation process -- I was ending service on that hotspot.
I'm talking straight nightmare fuel.
The only good news out of the whole experience is that our monthly payment went up $14. In 2022, it's an absolute miracle.
Now for the weekend positives and observations:
• Watching the Bama-Vols game with neighbors, suckin' down beers and chicken fingers with flaming hot mustard was just perfect. The game was perfect and the result was exactly what I wrote about Saturday morning. College football needed that juice big time. CFB needs Hendon Hooker going into Athens, GA with a chance to win the Heisman Trophy.
• Not to get too far ahead of things, but could you imagine Tennessee playing in the Peach Bowl on New Year's Eve Saturday in Atlanta with a shot to play for the national title? Against Ohio State? I'll guarantee it's running through Vols fan's head.
• Screencaps reader Grain Infuser had a great view of that winning kick:
• Bill in Chicago loved that game:
Two things about the Tennessee-Alabama game: First, this game is a perfect example of why college football is so awesome. Tied 49-49 all with less than a minute on the clock, Tennessee needs about 40 yards to get into FG position. They do that, and then, Second, the 40 yard FG attempt is partially blocked but somehow manages to go through the uprights for the 52--49 win. Absolutely amazing.
Yet here we are a half an hour or so after the game ended and not one of the CFB TV analysts has yet figured out that the kick got partially blocked. It was obvious in real-time and even more obvious on replay. Some of these geezer CFB TV analysts clearly need glasses.
Anyway, let me save everyone some effort since this FG kick replay will likely be analyzed as closely as the Zapruder film (Google it, kids). Watch the replay again and the kick starts off with normal end over end rotation, only to be brushed by #47' from Alabama's hands and turned into end-around-end rotation. This is very clear from the replays. It boggles my mind that this partially blocked last-second FG attempt went through the uprights from that distance. I've been watching football for over 50 years and I've never seen a partially blocked kick end up good like that. Absolutely mind-blowing and really hard to believe even as I type this.
Congratulations to Tennessee, and I can only imagine how much fun they are having in Knoxville tonight.
• Jason S. writes:
Thanks for all the Vols Love during game week. Im a 98 grad. Today I watched the game from the banks of the Chesapeake Bay on a screen porch.
• CFB also needs some sort of juice out of the Big Ten, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen until after Thanksgiving. Could Penn State be a bigger fraud? What happened to this defense that was supposed to stop the run?
• I had my first smokeless fire pit experience Saturday night while watching the USC game on a patio. I'm sold. It was refreshing to come home and not smell like a chimney.
• It brought a tear to my eye this morning to see Browns fans writing off this season after Sunday's loss to the Patriots. Cleveland is down to a 15% probability of making the playoffs. All is right in the world. The defensive coordinator will be fired and the franchise is wasting Nick Chubb's prime years. He turns 27 in December.
• Waste Management Open and an Eagles-Bills Super Bowl in Glendale? I'll accept such a scenario if my Bengals can't make it. Remember, the Wasted Management ends just before the Super Bowl kicks off.
• The race for the No. 1 pick is officially on and the Commanders have the hardest remaining schedule which means the Panthers need to start dumping bodies FAST. Carolina currently has the fifth-easiest remaining schedule. You have to figure the Raiders, Lions, and Texans have another one or two wins in them before the season ends. If you're Washington or Carolina, it's time to lose out.
• How long until Kliff Kingsbury gets an SEC head coaching job once he's fired in Arizona? It's going to be wild to have an SEC with Kliff, Deion, Saban, and Lane Kiffin.
• It felt like Tony Romo had a much better game in Kansas City after being called out by Dick Ebersol. However, this narrative that this is the official AFC title game for the next decade is absurd. Does Nantz remember what happened earlier this year in Arrowhead? The Chiefs have lost their last two big matchups at home. Not so fast with this AFC title game narrative.
• Heywood J. writes:
Call me drunk but there has been a lot of controversy about bad calls by NFL referees, and Sunday the trend continued. The referees refused to throw a flag multiple times for Too Many Birds On The Field.
• Heywood also writes:
Call me drunk, but I'll go out on a limb and guess someone gave #70 Robert Hainsey a Power Wedgie at the bottom of a pile in the 1st Quarter. Like a true professional he took it in stride and continued playing.
MLB playoffs
• Beau in Toledo writes:
So I decided to watch a little baseball for the first time in a long time… Yanks v Indians(eff the pc police); it's just after 10 pm and the word SKULDUGGERY was just used in this broadcast…
My Gawd I miss Old School Baseball Announcers…
Wasn't that Costas, who won't shut up with his encyclopedia of knowledge on everything you don't care about? That said, the MLB games presented very well this weekend. Fans were fighting in the stands. They were shirtless in Cleveland. Emotions were high in San Diego. The Phillies are in the NLCS. The Padres are loaded. And we could get Astros-Yankees.
MLB management nerds have to like what they're seeing out of the playoffs.
Tipping the trash guy
• Rob N. in Panama City Beach writes:
Our trash service is provided by Waste Management, two men on the truck. Not automated.
I routinely give each guy $100 cash in a card at Xmas, and a twenty here or there when I have something large. This ensures that despite whatever "restrictions" are placed on what can or can't be put at the curb for pick up, they are ignored and my two guys throw it in the truck.
I made the suggestion on a Nextdoor thread where someone was complaining about all the items the trash company refuses to pick up, "If you tip them well, the guys will take anything. For the right price, they will take a dead hooker rolled up in a carpet."
My comment was reported and I caught a suspension. Apparently, the truth isn't an affirmative defense to the Nextdoor Karens.
Mike T. & Cindy T. experience Italy
• It was a wine-tasting and grazing board Saturday for the Ts who are still living the Italian life. Sunday, they went to a street market:
Grapes growing like Bonzi trees.
Mushrooms, not truffles.
That should be enough this morning. This post might be the biggest I've done in years. It feels like there are 100 photos and videos to enjoy.
Let's go out and have a great week and enjoy those Halloween parties. We're closing in. Get those costumes.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com