Saints Win the Super Bowl

Looks like my Super Bowl prediction of Indianapolis winning went down in flames.  However, I think the Saints played extremely well and they deserved to win.  I was actually rooting for them to win because of all that has happened to the city.  The WHO DAT nation is alive and well.  Congratulations Saints. 

Alabama Wins National Championship Game

Finally, a prediction that has come true!  Alabama beat Texas for the 2009 NCAA National Football Championship on January 7.  It is unfortunate that Colt McCoy got hurt so early in the game.  I think the game would have been much more exciting had he been able to play.  But, I applaud the decision by the coaches, doctors, and Colt's father for not having him play.  He's got a bright career ahead of him in the NFL and it didn't make sense to possibly Jeopardize it (unlike Sam Bradford who should not have played in the Oklahoma/Texas game since he re-injured his shoulder and was done for the season).

Some folks may not particularly care for Nick Saban but you have to admit he sure knows how to win at the college level.

I already can't wait until September for the beginning of the football season!

TCU Loses to Boise State

So far for 2010 I am 0-2 for my sports predictions.  TCU did not beat Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.  Tonight is the National Championship game and perhaps I'll get it right this time since I predicted Alabama will beat Texas.  Go TIDE!  I need to stop the bleeding and get a prediction right.....

Indianapolis loses first game of the season

Well, there goes my first prediction for 2010 and it isn't even the new year yet!  The Colts lost to the Jets this past Sunday.  Indy coach Jim Caldwell pulled most of the starters early and the rest of the Colts could not hold of the Jets.  Goes to show you just how important starters are.  I'm sure he did not want Peyton Manning hurt.  But this strategy has not worked for most seems going into the post-season because the starters do not stay as sharp.  I'm still going with my prediction that they will win all, but obviously they will now not be undefeated.

2010 - What will it bring in sports?

Next week at this same time, we'll be into the 2010 year.  Here are some of my sports predictions for the new year:

• Ohio State will beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl.  The Buckeyes have lost their last 3 BCS games so enough is enough.  I think it will be a close game but the score will be 17-14 in favor of the Bucks.  
• Alabama will win the National Championship game.  Alabama will be too much for Texas.  Texas almost lost to Nebraska to squeeze into this game.  TCU should be in this game instead of Texas but until the Mountain West conference is considered as one of the top divisions, no team from there will qualify for the National Championship game.
• TCU  will beat Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl - this is the 2nd National Championship game for 2009.
• The Indianapolis Colts will win the Super Bowl and will go undefeated to finally unseat the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only undefeated team.  The Dolphins only won 12 games that year and that included the playoffs and Super Bowl.  I've never thought that comparing the current teams to the teams of old made any sense because you now must win 19 games to be undefeated. 
• Tiger Woods will win the Masters and the British Open in 2010.  He will be back full steam ahead for the Masters and he has yet to be beaten at St. Andrews, the site of the 2010 British Open.  
• The Cleveland Cavaliers will win the NBA Championship.  The Cavs have it all this year and the addition of Shaq has really taken some of the scoring pressure off of LeBron James.  They are a complete team this year with both a great offense and defense.
• Kansas will win the NCAAA National Basketball Championship for men.  Connecticut will with the NCAA Women's basketball championship.
• The Indians will be better in 2010 but will not make the playoffs again.  I think it will be between Boston and the Yankees again for the American League and the Dodgers will come through and win both the National League and the World Series.

We'll see how well I do and I'll post my progress as the year goes on.  

Happy New Year to all and may 2010 be the best year ever!

Tiger - Come on Man!

I have finally decided to give my opinion on the man I consider to be the greatest golfer of all time (even topping Jack Nicklaus despite the fact that he has not won as many majors yet).  In the immortal words of ESPN all I can say is "Tiger, Come On Man!!".  What were you thinking????  It goes to show that all men, including those we think are clean cut, never cause problems and are upstanding role models for our children, think with their johnson. 

I have admired Tiger since his first press conference with Curtis Strange when he turned pro.  He told Curtis that he expected to win the very first pro tournament that he played in.  Curtis thought he was crazy and basically told him so.  Tiger did not win that first tournament but in 2000 he undoubtedly had the greatest golf season of any pro and no one else has had a better season since.  This past year he was phenominal when he came back from ACL surgery and even though he didn't win a major, dominated the tour and won the Fed Ex Cup. 

Then, on Thanksgiving, he and his wife Elin apparantly had words after she found out that he was having an affair.  I don't care what the police reports say, I think she clubbed him and his Escalade.  All I can say is, "Way to go, Elin!".  Another stellar role model down the drain.  What a shame. 

I will still root for him to win in golf tournaments, but now he'll have an asterisk (*) next to his name when it comes to "Name a role model for you to follow".  Up until this year, I thought he was unblemished.  Now, he's just in the same league with all the other duds that cheat. 

Come On Man!!

Among the Unemployed

On September 11, 2009 I was called into my bosses office at about 1:15 p.m. and was told that my job had been eliminated.  I found the fact that he chose this day to tell me to be a rather telling story.  I'm sure we all remember where we were on September 11, 2001.  I was getting ready to fly to Detroit from Jacksonville.  I had an 11:55 a.m. flight but of course by then all of the airplanes were grounded due to the horrendous attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

This is the first time in my life that I have been laid off from a job.  I was not surprised that it might happen since the company was not having a good year and I would have eliminated my position too (although I would have reorganized the rest of the staff so I could stay but that's another story).  I've been working since I was 16 years old (I'm now 52) and it's a very strange situation to be in.  I received a severance and I'm also hoping to collect unemployment, but it's just not the same to not be going to a job every day.  It's now been two weeks and I'm still job searching but I'm hopeful I will be able to get a job before year's end.  But, since I'm now among the unemployed, I was wondering how many other people are in my same situation.  So, here's the latest:

I'm now one of 6.138M people that are unemployed (seasonally adjusted - whatever that means) as of September 12.  I wonder if I was included in that count????  The unemployment rate at the end of August 2009 was 9.7%  for the U.S. but it was 10.7% for the State of Florida and in the metropolitan area I live in the rate at the end of August was a whopping 11.3%.  Not exactly the news I was hoping for.

The states with the lowest unemployment rates at the end of August were North Dakota (4.3%), South Dakota (4.9%), and Nebraska (5%).  I'm actually applying for a job at Mutual of Omaha (Senior Vice President - Retirement Services).  These are not necessarily the states that I would want to move to because I've become very accustomed to not having to wear a jacket!  But, if push comes to shove, I may need to get all my cold weather outfits out of the mothballs and I 'll be ordering a new pair of boots from L.L. Bean!  I don't think I'll be joining my sister Rose in Michigan since their unemployment rate is 15.2%. And, even though I know how to administered Puerto Rican retirement plans, I don't think I'll be moving to the island since their unemployment rate is 15.1%.  Hawaii's unemployment rate is only 7.2% so maybe there is still hope that I can find something in a warm climate!

I'll keep you apprised of my progress as I move on to this next chapter in my life.  I was watching the show "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery channel and from what I can tell, there are plenty of "dirty" jobs available that I can try.  But, I'd rather not be the person who works on the Stiped Bass and Tilapia fish farm out in the Mohave desert.  That's just a little too warm of a climate!