NFL Week #6

Season record thru week 5:

IG 48-26
Snake 46-28

I won two of the three games we picked differently and moved back to a two game advantage. All picks are Straight up (SU) vs ATS (against the spread) in my three season long contests. This week Snake and I picked 4 games differently and they are all early games. I can sweat the games and then go play live poker.

California Rob's league looks like this:

JD 53 21 (has had two weekly wins this year)
JUNX 50 24
SOOZ 50 24
DOUBLED 48 26
GREER 48 26
IRONGRL 48 26 (yours truly... can hang with the boys on the field as well as the felt)
SAL 48 26
SBCCVAQ 48 26

followed by the rest of the league: DOM 47 27 JACK 47 27 TY 47 27 POPS 46 28 VELIO 46 28 RUMBLER 45 29 BIGD 44 30 51 43 31 JMW 43 31 RT 43 31 (California Rob & league commish himself) STEVEM 43 31 ZILLI 43 31 RJW 42 32 SCHOTTS 42 32 WILL 42 32 PMILLER 41 33 RAK 41 33 CU 40 34 LJF 40 34 V 40 34 MAYBE 38 36


I'm in a multi way tie for 14th place in the Tao of Poker league 5 games out of first place with 48 points. there is 1 at 53, 1 at 52, 1 at 51, 4 at 50 pts, and 6 at 49, 7 at 48 (includes me) there are about 82 of us who have picked all 5 weeks left.

My picks for this week:

WAS> CHI> HOU> BAL> MIN> NO> NYJ> TB> DEN> DAL> PHI> GB> SD> >
Monday game> > NYG > > POINTS - 45>

It's really really nice to be able to watch your alma mater play on national TV 5 of the first 6 weeks of their season. It is not nice to watch them lose three weeks in a row. CU lost to Kansas in a game that got away from them totally in the second half. Cody Hawkins was pulled by his coach who happens to be his father to give the backup QB Matt Ballenger some experience for the second week in a row. What i saw left me scared for the future. Where is Kordell (Stewart) or Koy (Detmar)? I flipped the channel in despair to watch the much better game of Texas vs Oklahoma.

Congrats to Texas (who beat up on CU last week) for beating Number #1 Oklahoma. I know all to well the anguish that was on the faces of the Sooner fans as they left the stadium late in the 4th quarter. I remember all to well the sea of Sooner Red and sea of Cornhusker Red in my stadium during my college years.

Although my hammies were sore today when i woke up, I took to them with a quick roll of my massage stick and I hoofed it out the door for another 15 minutes of slogging (I cant call it jogging just yet). My baby loop is 1.3 miles just about and I beat it down the line at about 11:30 mile pace. Short of stopping to double knot my shoe I have not had to mix jogging with walking. Tomorrow I will take the day off and be back at it Wednesday AM. I came back inside to watch an ESPN story on a San Diego triathlete who was killed in the first fatality in 50 years from a great white shark attack. Of course I had tears welling from my eyes. Read the compelling story here.


Yours truly the real Ocho Cinco (eat your heart out Chad Johnson!!!) at the West Point triathlon circa August 2002 or 2003. My arms and legs are both toned and although not as thin as when i was solely a runner I was in awesome shape. My goal is to achieve that body composition once again.

Inspiration move me brightly

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu- Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)


Maybe its because this is the weekend of the Hawaii Ironman World Championship in Kona which is streaming live at Ironmanlive.com as well as the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon which yours truly directed for 5 years from 2000-2005. Or maybe its because its a beautiful fall day with a nip in the air with the leaves turning. Or just maybe its because on Monday (10/13) I turn 48 and the my usually curvy boobs and butt are noticeably fuller and untoned and Ive developed a bit of a Buddha belly.

A stint on Dancing with the Stars would certainly help me get in shape and I can dance. Although never formally trained in ballroom, I do have classical ballet and jazz and modern dance training in my background. Unfortunately, I am not even a D list celebrity (maybe a D-list poker blogger). I could join the likes of Chris Berman, Chris Carter, Mike Golic, Dan Marino and Marie Osmond (who I share a birthday with) and join the NutriSystem bandwagon.

But the surest fire way for me to get in shape is to get off my lazy cerebral, poker playing ass and begin running. The seed was planted earlier this year when i saw the launch of the Xterra trail running series held in conjunction with the Xterra triathlon series. It was further planted when I got together this summer with one of my oldest & dearest friends, Debbie up at the Saratoga racetrack and we talked about our old adventures and how we should have tried out for the Amazing Race (both of us are former running club presidents, race directors, snowshoe racers, trail runners). Debbie will always have a place in my heart for trying to teach me to Mt bike and laughing at me during my numerous falls off the bike including almost cracking my elbow. She didn't even blink an eye when I took a tumble off her $3000 Serotta.

I had even suggested a weight loss prop bet to Snake prior to his trip to Vegas. he begged off saying he couldn't start prior to Vegas. Instead i listened to his tale of overindulgence at Lawry's the Prime Rib and the Palm Steak House. I mean if Mike Matusow can lose 60 lbs, IG can certainly lose 10-20 lbs (15 is the goal). JLo completing the Nautica Malibu Triathlon further inspired me.


Today I laced up my Adidas trail runners and ran for the first time in a long time. I made it 15 minutes without stopping and wore no watch (my Timex Ironman is lost) but did carry my cell to at least have an idea of time run. I felt great then shitty, then great then shitty. Same as it always is. I wore no IPOD, I wanted to get my breathing in sync with the movement of the rest of my body. When I found myself running the tangents instinctively, I chuckled and decided to run the curves. I'm a pretty relaxed runner, i carry my arms relaxed and I'm pretty efficient but damn if my legs didn't feel like tree stumps! Not the same as when you transition from the bike to the run but towards the end they were leaden.

We'll see how I feel tomorrow. My goal is to run at least 4 days a week but I'll start at 3 days