Halloween Costumes

I guess more teams are wearing all black uniforms this weekend because its Halloween: Tennessee, Utah, the Houston Cougars, Nebraska, and probably a host of others. The Packers are wearing all navy throwback with helmets that look like leather.

Saturday is setting up to be a perfect all day college football feast.

700 Friday Marist @ Tucker

900 ESPN College GameDay

1200 #10 Miami @ SMU

1200 Duke @ Clemson

1200 #9 Vanderbilt @ #20 Texas

330 #12 Notre Dame @ Boston College

330 #5 Georgia @ Florida in Jville

700 South Carolina @ Ole Miss

730 #8 Georgia Tech @ NC State

100 Sunday Falcons @ Patriots

Bye week: Georgia State and Georgia Southern. Better be on the lookout for upsets.

Josh Pate, who spoke to the Macon Touchdown Club, does not rank Tech in his top 20, probably due to strength of schedule. Iowa is his 20th ranked team. Can Tech beat the Hawkeyes?   

As a longtime student of the GT kicking game, I can say with great assurance that Birr is the best kicker in GT history.  

Good in depth story about Haynes King on ESPN.com. Some say Bama QB Ty Simpson is just another Bama QB benefitting from being on a talented team, undeserving of the Heisman. Maybe Haynes is derserving of the Heisman – he isn’t getting a ton of help from the rest of the team. The Jackets aren’t really running the ball as well as they did last year, and the receivers have dropped a few passes. I just hope Tech beats NC State on Saturday night.

Current ESPN Total QB Rating:

1. 92.0 Jayden Malava USC

2. 90.7 Gunner Stockton UGA

4. 88.7 Fernando Mendoza Indiana

5. 87.9 Julian Sayin Ohio State

8. 84.7 Haynes King GT

12. 82.2 Diego Pavia Vandy

13. 81.9 Cameran Brown Georgia State

14. 81.9 Ty Simpson Alabama

17. 79.3 Carson Beck Miami

19. 77.4 CJ Carr Notre Dame

21. 76.3 Marcel Reed Texas A&M

30. 72.4 Dante Moore Oregon

43. 69.9 Amari Odom Kennesaw State

57. 65.3 Dylan Raiola Nebraska

65. 62.6 Nico Iamaleava UCLA

66. 62.5 Brendon Lewis Memphis

69. 62.0 Cade Klubnik Clemson

71. 61.2 LaNorris Sellers SC

76. 57.6 Arch Manning Texas

87. 54.4 JC French Georgia Southern

On Nov 9th there’s a 100th anniversary celebration for Georgia BSU’s at FBC Atlanta. Man 8 pm is kinda late for a bunch of old folks to be out. Confusing whether the 6 pm service is a special BSU service, or just the regular FBC evening service. Par for the course.

I’ve spoken in the past about my pharisee friend who is always blaming Christians for what’s wrong with this country. It’s pretty much all he ever writes about. Finally someone dared to disagree with one of his social media posts, encouraging the pharisee to participate in the harvest and encourage instead of continuing to tear down. As usual, the pharisee publicly attacked his brother in Christ, and eventually deleted all the comments to his post. Sad.    

Denison: Amazon is preparing to lay off 30,000 workers as the company automations. UPS disclosed it has cut 48000 positions. Axios reports employers are scaling back hiring because of AI.

NEWS: my employer (Ryerson) is the world’s largest steel distributer. Ryerson is merging with our closest competitor, Olympic Steel – who for some inexplicable reason eight different locations spread around the Atlanta region (to better serve you, perhaps?).

When a politician proposes limitations on free speech, what should be the response?

LOU BROCK [SABR Bio] is the only player to double, triple, and homer in the same World Series game, on 06-Oct-1968. His double was off John Hiller, his triple was off Joe Sparma, and his homer was off Denny McLain. No one has hit for the cycle in one World Series game. Brock was named NL Comeback Player of the Year for his last season in the majors: NL CPY in 1979. He was an All-Star and hit .304. Max Carey retired with 738 stolen bases, the NL record. Brock set the Modern Era standard with 938, which is still the NL record.

Can Money Buy Everything?

Braves fans always complaining because the team doesn’t have a zillion dollar payroll like the Dodgers. Last night LA got beat by a pitcher who had been in the minors for most of the season, who’d earned a measly $56,000 this year.

We watched a good chunk of Tuesday night’s World Series game. Ohtani was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers, though he gave up a home run to Vlad Jr.

Mary Hart “caught” a foul ball last night. It had hit her husband. The old Entertainment Tonight crew has been experiencing a reemergence of sorts. John Tesh has been making the rounds ever since NBC dusted off his NBA theme song.

Prince Harry’s father is king over Canada, but Harry and Meghan were wearing LA caps while sitting in front of Dodger royalty - Sandy Koufax. Dodgers minority owner Magic Johnson (right) covered his face in shame.

It was 30 years ago this past Tuesday when Marquis Grissom squeezed the final out to clinch the 1995 World Series championship for the Braves.  

Trae Young was on The Tonight Show this week. Since NBC is showing NBA games, look for more players to appear. Chuck & Chernoff were trying to remember when an Atlanta athlete appeared on a national talk show.

Fat tub of goo Terry Forster was on with Letterman, but Hank Aaron was on with Letterman twice, more recently than Forster. Aaron also appeared on Happy Days.

Did you see the clip where Giannis took several steps after picking up his dribble, but was not called for walking? Someone showed a clip of Dominique Wilkins getting called for traveling, and it looked like he only took two steps.

Supper Tuesday was spaghetti & meatballs, and a spinach dish.

Wednesday: up early to run / walk at the gym. Stayed on the treadmill for an hour. Then I drove over and voted. Only two positions to vote for, including my old BSU friend Tim Echols to retain his Public Service Commission seat. Isn’t every government position public service?  

After the dentist I went next door to Dollar Tree for more Halloween candy, then next door to McDonalds for a $1 chicken sandwich. Then back home to catch up on work. After work I did housework for two hours straight – dishes, decluttering. Since it was raining, I couldn’t sweep or blow off the driveway, so I had to rake the whole thing. At 7:15 Dan and John arrived for small group. David and John joined us via Zoom. Finished up at 9 pm, and then I had to take out Winnie and Oakie again. Ceil arrived home from babysitting the girlies. All the while I was getting all these texts that I was too busy to answer. A seven mile / 13000 step day.

Found out this morning that I screwed up a customer order yesterday, and it didn’t deliver this morning. Made for a bunch of extra work today. Leo was out sick. I’ll be out tomorrow, so today was even busier. I got 50 million people asking “Are you gonna answer me?” Found a cool trinket for my office, to go with my matching Phinias & Ferb Pezz dispensers.

Friends Till Friday

In 1990 we brought in a special music leader for Camp SPdL: Mark Cable. He loved to joke around, just like me. Looked just like me, so we became fast friends, hanging out together all week telling each other how good looking they were. Loved basketball, so during free time we’d grab Lang and John Flack and head to the shady Camp Lee basketball hoop.

I recently dug out the old order of worship for the July 29, 1990 evening service, where the youth shared memories from camp. Led by Bruce, Lang, Glenn, Dorothy Traver, Jennifer Girardeau, Marc Jackson, Kelly Korey, etc. On the back were the words to a song that Mark Cable had rewrote. Originally “Friends Are Friends Forever”, a beloved song we’d sing at camp, Cable had rewritten them as “Friends are Friends Till Friday” – quite appropriate for camp friendships – quite evidently including my friendship with Mark Cable.

Packing up for home at youth week

Leaving towels and combs behind

Thoughts of shaving cream and rook leaks

Go racing quickly though my mind.

They flushed commodes while I showered

Now outside a layer of skin is burnt and gone

And my sleeping bag is damp and mildewed

From the water fights we had each night till dawn.

And friends are friends till Friday

When you’re here at summer camp

And the tons of letters promised

Will never see a stamp.

Though its hard to let you go

Still it hits when heading home

That a week is long enough

To live as friends. 

World Series: the Ohtani magic didn't carry over to last night's game.

W&MC made it back from San Francisco. A work trip for MC, but they also spent time with her brother and sister in law.

Not at all a fan of scary movies but the new Emma Stone movie Bugonia seems interesting. Alien conspiracy theories and the like. Some scenes filmed in Atlanta.

There was recently a “movie” made about Doraville, that had its debut shown at the theater at the corner of Cheshire Bridge and Lindbergh / Briarcliff, catty cornered from where the old Varsity Junior was. Not sure if Dock and his sisters had anything to do with the movie, but they all went to see the Doraville movie debut.

I remember there was an old movie called The Fly. All those old movie posters were great. One time I used a poster from the movie TARANTULA for one of my kid’s science projects. Years later there was a “remake” of The Fly, starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. I did not see it.

Pitchers who were honored by Sports Illustrated magazine as “Sportsmen of the Year”.

Year    Honoree         Notes 

1955 Johnny Podres WS MVP

1965 Sandy Koufax HOF

1969 Tom Seaver HOF

1988 Orel Hershiser CYA, WS MVP

2001 Randy Johnson HOF; CYA X6

2001 Curt Schilling WS MVP

2014 Madison Bumgarner WS MVP

Article: a sedentary lifestyle can increase your chances of developing dementia.

The Power of Handwriting: helps with  Improved Reading, Thinking, Memory, and Learning. Could prevent dementia as well, I think. Guess I need to do more handwriting.

A tracker is detecting an increasing number of underwater UFOs.

Falcons Continue the Falconing

Didn’t realize the Falcons were playing the 1972 Dolphins. At least the Falcons looked like half the teams, dressed head to toe in black. The look alone was worth the ten points that they actually scored. What a dumpster fire. Not worth my time to track down pictures to post.

It is hard to remember the name of the Falcons coach. Raheem Morris, I believe. On Sunday Ceil said that neither head coach looked like a football coach. The Dolphins head coach grew up in Denver as a Broncos fan. His mom married a Broncos player (I think). The kids went to Harvard (or Yale?), then started working as an intern for the Broncos, worked his way up to a coach, and was promoted by the Dolphins from assistant to head coach. Wears funny pants.

Raheem Morris went to Hofstra – not exactly a football factory. Morris and the play calling leave much to be desired. That’s what all the guys on the radio say as well. Can’t believe people will pay hundreds to go watch this crap.

Arthur Blank seems like a nice, generous man, but let’s face it - he’s one of the worst owners in the NFL. His right hand man Rich McKay is supposedly not involved in the football operations, though it is obvious that’s who Blank turns to for advice. The team hasn’t been to the playoffs in 8 seasons.

Morris totally botched the kicking position. Cost them games. Management botched the QB position, tying up way too much money in two players. Had the best RB in the league last year and didn’t use him properly. First round draft pick Kyle Pitts has been a bust, as are a few others. RB Robinson and WR Drake London have been good picks. The defense has improved, but when the offense produces nothing, the defense can’t carry the game themselves.

Lots of throwback uniforms in the NFL this weekend: Steelers, Eagles, Broncos. Guess this blog is now all football, all the time.

Did not watch, but the World Series game sounded like a classic. 18 innings. Ohtani reached base 9 times, including 2 doubles and 2 homers. A walkoff home run by Freddie Freeman. Horrendous strike three call turned into an unfortunate double play against the Blue Jays.

Saturday: played golf. Teed off at 7:20. Not pretty, though I was able to hit a few good shots with my driver. Ceil baked scrambled egg muffin cups and grits for breakfast (below).

Got a haircut before the Tech game, and raked leaves afterwards. An 11000 step 5 mile day. Will probably have to rake leaves again on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Sunday: supper at the Cho’s, with the Halls, Brasfields, Chiles, and Lee. A traditional Korean dinner. The Cho’s daughter is deciding what college she will be a pole vaulter for. Might be Georgia Tech.

Monday: it was a mess out there. Did make it to the gym. Cehe airport.il drove the Earharts to the airport (above). Grabbed an extra jacket and umbershoot out of my trunk. Also a cap. Busy day. Spend all afternoon working with Leo. Finally got back to my desk and had 45 new emails.

Grilled chicken and roasted vegetables for supper. Been watching more Wheel of Fortune now that Ryan Seacrest is host, though I always liked Pat Sajak as well. Jeopardy seems to mix in more and more woke questions, though last night they were trending conservation for a change. Then the Manningcast.

A good article on why God allows suffering. Denison wrote about the same subject: how can an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God allow such evil to exist? Even though I have done so often in books and articles, the question persists because the issue persists.

JOHNNY PODRES [SABR Bio] taught Frank Viola a changeup that transformed Viola from an 11-25 record over his first two seasons into a Cy Young Award winner. Podres was the pitching coach for MIN 1981-85. Viola became the World Series MVP in 1987 and won the Cy Young in 1988. Podres was the first pitcher to throw a shutout at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, on 04-Jun-1958, Podres blanked the Reds on 3 hits. He pitched for SDP in 1969, his last stop in the majors as a player.

UPS drivers are trained to drive safely. Well this dude sure cut me off this afternoon today.

Georgia Tech: 8-0

Good win for Tech. They played well, keeping Syracuse out of the game. Hated to see Haynes King take such a beating so late in the game. Glad to see backup QB Philo take some snaps at the end.

Good RB production from the little transfer from the Ivy League, number 0. Last year’s rushing leader Hayes doesn’t seem to be having that good of a year. The big receiver #4 dropped a pass and fumbled, but had a couple of good catches. The tight end #17 caught two TD passes but dropped two others. Not sure if I will ever learn their names.

Cool to see Haynes King interviewed on ESPN College GameDay (above). Then a great guest picker: Nate Bargatze. Probably the funniest guest they’ve ever had. And he was the only one to correctly pick Memphis to win, in an effort to ease tensions between Nashville and Memphis.

Man it seemed like the refs reviewed every other play in the first half. Took forever. Guess the refs were scared they’d be fired like that SEC ref.

QB King rushed for two TDs and threw for three (should've been four) - keeping his Heisman hopes alive. If they keep winning. But the Heisman is about much more than stats.

Some Tech fans are all worried about where the Jackets are ranked, saying they should be ranked higher than a one loss SEC team. Not a very high football IQ. Tech’s strength of schedule is like 83rd in the country.

Bama lost their first game of the year, then came back and beat UGA and other tough teams. Dawgs beat Ole Miss and Tennessee. Ole Miss beat Oklahoma. Who has Tech beat?  They better worry about beating NC State this Saturday night in Raleigh. Brent Key sure ain’t worried about Tech’s rank. Neither is Kirby. He’s worried about Florida.

UNC played for the win instead of the tie, and low rated UNC transfer QB Lopez failed to get the ball to his receiver in a good spot, and he was tackled a foot short of the goal line.

Homecoming in StarkVegas but a lot of empty seats. Down 24-14, the Longhorns reliable kicker Shipley missed a 29 yard field goal. 5-2 Texas didn’t play well at 4-3 Mississippi State. Arch had a pass tipped into the hands of a defender for an interception. Manning did throw for one TD and ran for another in the first half. Got knocked out of the game on the first play of overtime.

With the clock ticking down, this Gamecock defender made the right play, allowing Bama to score a late TD so Carolina could get the ball back quickly. Didn't help.

Memphis wasn’t able to contain the talented South Florida QB, but the Tigers came back to win 34-31. The Bulls kicker missed a 51 yard field goal on the last play of the game that would’ve sent the game into overtime.

Auburn switched QBs after a long pick six, and came back to beat Arkansas.

Any hopes UCLA had of pulling off an upset went out the window early, when QB Nico Iamgonnaleaveya threw an early pick six. Number two ranked Indiana won big.

Lots of throwback and "fauxback" college helmets again this week: Tech, Illinois, Minnesota, etc.

MADISON BUMGARNER [B-R Bio] his perfect World Series ERA was marred by future World Series MVP Sal Perez, when he homered off Bumgarner in the 7th inning of game 1 of the 2014 Series. Few suspected that it would be the only WS run ever scored on Bumgarner. It was also the only run KC scored that day. Perez was WS MVP the next year in the 2025 WS when the Royals beat the Mets. Bumgarner is the only pitcher to homer twice on Opening Day:  2 HR 02-Apr-2017. His wife called him Mason Saunders, until his cover was blown when he was participating in a rodeo.

Denison on the NBA scandal: the Bible nowhere claims that we become sinless the moment we trust in Christ ( 1 John 1:8-10). Christians aren’t perfect—just forgiven. Satan’s strategy works when Christians sin publicly, because skeptics want us to fail so they can dismiss the relevance of our moral claims. They would rather “shoot the messenger” than consider the “message.”

First Bite: 98K Fried Chicken

For lunch Friday I went with the gang to 98K, a Korean fried chicken place in Duluth. I ordered the pineapple chicken sandwich, thinking it was breaded fried chicken. Instead it was grilled chicken, which was tasty but not as good. Dany Dong ordered a huge 8 piece plate of fried chicken, plus popcorn chicken that he shared with the table. Also Dray, Daniel, Angie, and Rachel. Loved the Korean pop music playing over the speakers.

Wednesday: small group. Gym on Thursday morning. I was eating a jelly donut at work and the jelly plopped out right down on my computer keyboard, and the keys got super sticky. Ugh.

On Thursday Winnie and Okie were home alone all day, so I left work early to go let them out. Of course traffic was super bad – even a wreck on Marietta Highway near our house. I'd noticed long lines of cars long before I got near, and knew something was up somewhere. I had to detour way around and enter our neighborhood the  back way.

Got home only to discover that Winnie was out of her special organic wild salmon dog food. Drove to The Avenue East Cobb to the little boutique pet store, but it had gone out of business. Googled who stocks this brand. The closest store was already closed, but found another Pet Supermarket near Wheeler High. Was astounded at the high price. Man Winnie eats better than we do.

This morning after walking both Winnie and Okie, I fed them while I took a shower. Fed Winnie in her crate so she wouldn't eat Okie's food. Okie had been excited to get his food, but when I came back downstairs Okie hadn't eaten all his food. Maybe I fed him too much. I had to let Winnie out of her crate, and of course she went over and started munching on Okie's food. Okie didn't seem to care - he snuggled next to me on the couch.

Last night I had started to watch "What Happens Later", a "romantic comedy" starring Meg Ryan and David Duchovny stuck in an airport terminal. I rarely turn off movies 25% of the way in, but I did on this one. A middle-aged Duchovny doesn't make for the romcom type, and Ryan has lost her luster. Not worth tracking down a photo to post.

Shows that I need to catch up on, or check out - a long list:

Only Murders in the Building

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage

Elsbeth with Carrie Preston

High Potential with Kaitlin Olsen

Chicago Med with Oliver Pratt, Steven Weber, and Jessy Schram.

Land Man with Billy Bob Thorton on Paramount.

Nobody Wants This with Kristin Bell on Netflix

Molly's Game with Kevin Cosner, about a high stakes poker game.

A good Denison column today on the decline in reading, leading to the return of a more antagonistic culture: "discourse is collapsing into panic, hatred, and tribal warfare". "Politics in the age of short form video favors heightened emotions, ignorance, and unevidenced assertions. Rational, dispassionate print-based liberal democratic order may not survive this revolution."

TOM SEAVER [SABR Bio] holds most consecutive seasons with 200 strikeouts, from 1968-1976. Seaver struck out 205, 208, 283, 289, 249, 251, 201, 243, & 235, all with the Mets. Seaver's 1.76 ERA in 1971 was the best in the NL in the 1970's. He also won NL ERA titles in 1970 (2.82) & 1973 (2.08). His father Charles Seaver was on the Walker Cup Team for the U.S. in 1932.