Sports Hangover Road Trip

After the heartbreaking Texas Rangers World Series lost last weekend I was suffering from the worst Sports Hangover of my life. Last weekend was very tough for me as a big bad sports fan. I knew I had to pick myself off the floor and get out of that damn fetal position. My body was cramping up in all kinds of strange ways. I had only been laying motionless for the past 10 hours. I had to do something, but what?

For the first time in a long time I had absolutely zero interest in what was going on in the football world. My sports nerves were broken and I wanted no part of this college game day. I wasn't feeling like myself and I definitely wanted to get away!

I decided I would take a drive down to the Texas Hill Country just to clear my head. You know a little of that back road driving with a little of that old top down.

On this scenic trip there was no sports talk blaring from my car radio speakers as normal. No this trip it was all about my favorite Texas Country Music of yesterday. It was nothing but the road, Pat Green and myself heading down that black top highway. When Pat Green's I like Texas (the song they play at the end of Texas Rangers wins) came up in the rotation, I almost started to sports cry again. I did manage to keep it together.

At this point I wanted a little break from driving and some food in my belly. That's when I saw the Cindy Lou's Cafe sign. It looked like the perfect dive to hide out in for a while. Boy I have to tell you they didn't disappoint.

If you are ever in the area I highly recommend stopping by Cindy Lou's Home Cooking Cafe in Itasca, Texas. That place made my road trip. I made a pit stop there to grab lunch on Saturday. When I walked in the door of the small cafe I found friendly service, a great atmosphere that screams small Texas Town, and great grub. Thanks Cindy Lou's. Dinners & Dives take note of this.

After Cindy Lou's the rest of my day was spent reflecting at Lake Whitney. Staring at the water and cliffs. I was fighting my urge to jump off the highest rocky hilltop I could find and yell "Remember the Texas Rangers!" For me some how that seemed appropriate. I mean I could never love another baseball team like I loved this one. I was 33 and starting my baseball life over again.

I was sitting there wondering what went wrong for the Texas Rangers. I was asking myself "How could God let this happen?" The image of Nelly Cruz miss judging that ball in game 6 played over and over in my head. I was searching for my sports inner peace and it wasn't working. It was getting late and I knew I had to get back inner peace or not.

When I returned home Saturday night my phone rang. It was my hedro sports soul mate Duck. I knew I was about to get bitch slapped back into reality. As I listen to him go on and on about all of the games that I missed my escape had ended. Then to my shock we had a 15 minute long conversation and didn't talk Texas Rangers baseball. After we disconnected that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks! Our Rangers did what they always do. The Texas Rangers they got us to football season.


This week my focus is 100% back on the great sport of football. The Eyes of Texas and the rest of the nation will be on Tuscaloosa as the real National Championship Game is played on Saturday night. Make no mistake about it Bama & LSU are the two best teams in the United States of America. Game on Holmes!


My Featured School this week is Alabama!




Stats
NFL 13-6-2
NCAA 12-11
Overall 25-17-2

PICKS
NCAA
KState +20.5 over OSU
Houston-27.5 over UAB
and in the national championship game give me
Bama -4.5 over LSU
NFL
Green Bay-5.5 over San Diego
Denver+9 over Oakland

Happy Betting

Steelers > Cowboys

This blog may be the most painful thing I have ever had to write in my life. With the 2011 Super Bowl less then two weeks away, and the 2010 NFL season damn near in the books, I have had to accept a cold hard fact as a Cowboys' fan. That fact is that The Pittsburgh Steelers are a better franchise then the Dallas Cowboys, right here and now. There is only one man to blame for this. Jerry this is all your fault! I’ll have more on the Jerry later.
Before the Texas Lynch Mob shows up at my doorstep with pitchforks and torches, please allow me to explain. As a die hard Cowboys fan, I had been taught at an early age, that the Cowboys are the best franchise in all of sports. Sorry Yankees' fans but it’s true, or at least it used to be true. The Cowboys are football. The Cowboys are America’s team. The Cowboys are a shell of their former selves and pathetic.
Growing up in Dallas, it was easy to see why the Cowboys were Football Gods. I got to watch Tom Landry have his last few good years, but then unfortunately, I had to watch a couple of bad ones. I was at just the right impressionable young age when the 90’s Cowboys made their Super Bowl runs. I got to watch Jimmy assemble the greatest football team ever, only to then suffer and watch that team crumble at the hands of a power hungry egotistical dick-tator (Yes I misspelled that on purpose)!
As The Steelers enter their third Super Bowl in six years, it is obvious they are the kings of the football world these days. Sorry Colts and Pats but your day is done. The Steelers are now what the Patriots were in early 2000s,what the Cowboys were in the 90’s,what the 49ers were in the 80s, and what the Steelers were in the 70’s. Wait...was one team on that list twice?
In the 70’s the Steelers were the franchise. They captured four of their six rings in that decade. Yeah that’s right, six rings! The Cowboys have five so that's a point for the Steelers. Even in their two head-to-head Super Bowl match ups in the 70’s, the Steelers were 2-0 vs The Cowboys. Look at the Scoreboard and you'll see it says 2-0 Steelers. Even though the Cowboys got a little redemption in the 90’s with their SB XXX win over Pitt, the overall Super Bowl record is at 2-1 Steelers.
Then there was the ring argument. For ten years the Cowboys could say they had more rings than any other franchise in the National Football League. The Boys had five while the Steelers and 49ers had four. Of course the Cowboys had the most! They were...well the Dallas Cowboys! From 1996-2006 the Cowboys had the rings, but in 2006 the Steelers tied them at five. Then in 2009 the Steelers got their unprecedented sixth! Scoreboard Steelers.

The one last argument a Cowboys fan had was that at least the Cowboys have been to more Super Bowls than any other franchise. Well as of 2011, not anymore. The Steelers come to Dallas' home turf to play in their eighth Super Bowl, and tie the Cowboys. It is a very sad day in Cowboy land.

With all the facts on the table it is easy to see the Steelers are the better franchise. Well at least the Cowboys Quarterback isn’t a serial rapist. Point Cowboys. Seriously Metroplex ladies load up on the mace. Big Ben is coming to town!

Breaking News Flash: Dallas also has hotter Women then Pittsburgh! Point Dallas;)Now back to the football blog.

Jerry Jones has single-handedly taken the Greatest NFL Franchise and ruined them. The Steelers have had three coaches in forty years; meanwhile the Cowboys have had three coaches in the last five years. The Steelers are setting an example for the rest of the NFL to follow. If something goes wrong the Steelers don’t fire everybody and start over, they talk to the folks they have in place and fix it. In 1998 Bill Cowher’s Pittsburgh team was 7-9 and in 1999 they were 6-10. Do you think a Dallas Cowboys coach would have gotten another season? Hell No!

Don't get me wrong, I still hate the Steelers, but this Cowboys fan has accepted reality. The reality being that the Pittsburgh Steelers are the greatest franchise in the NFL.