Jim Vallet and Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter
Oh, what am I doing, what am I thinking? Look what I get for my taxes. My body aches because I’m healthy enough to exercise. Traffic only bugs me if I let it. Although I don’t have all the money I want, I have all that I need. My new bike tires haven’t gone flat in 3 months. I have fun when I play golf. My kids want to visit and spend time with my wife and me. I should use the weather to my advantage and ski when it’s cold, and play golf when it’s hot. When my wife called DirecTV to complain about prices and outages, they took $50 a month off our bill for a year. The Lions are finally good…Enjoy it! How do selfish athletes negatively affect my life?
So why do I complain? I really don’t know. Of course I could be richer but I’m the one who chose to be a teacher knowing that teachers don’t get rich from teaching. If I wanted money, I should have chosen a different career path. That I didn’t is not Kamala Harris’, Joe Biden’s or Donald Trump’s fault. I knew what the weather was like in Northern Nevada before I moved here, but we thought being close to family was more important than mild weather. If I really think about it, many of the things I complain about I am responsible for.
The Fernley Reporter
I am grateful and I think I have a duty to spread some of the reasons why. If just one person reads this and decides to view things in a more positive manner, that would go a long way towards making America great.
Here are my picks for this week against the spread. Lines are from espn.com on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Miami Dolphins
Cincinnati Bengals (-3) vs Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers play tough, but I don’t think they can score as many as the Bengals will.
Los Angeles Chargers
Minnesota Vikings (-3 ½) vs Arizona Cardinals: I don’t like giving that extra ½ point.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Los Angeles Rams (-3) at New Orleans Saints: The Rams will rebound this week because they’re not playing the Eagles.
Buffalo Bills
Last week 4-2
Robert’s picks
Arizona (+9) over Arizona St.: Interesting dichotomy here, because Arizona St. can earn a berth in the Big 12 championship game with a win, despite being picked last in the conference. Arizona was much more highly regarded before the season, but hasn’t put it together under new coach Brent Brennan. But we’re getting 9 point at home in a rivalry game against a team that doesn’t have a talent advantage.
Air Force (-3 1/2) at San Diego St.: After looking totally anemic for most of the season, Air Force has found some offense the past few weeks, enough to win three straight games. Now they take on the Aztecs, who have lost five straight. Even on the road, I’ll take the team ending the season on a high note.
LSU (-6) over Oklahoma: LSU snaped a three-game losing streak last week, while Oklahoma beat Alabama. Now the Sooners hit Baton Rouge for a night game, with an offense that only had 68 yards passing last week. Oklahoma has a legit defense, and that’s enough as long as they don’t fall behind. But if they do, they’re in trouble. Coming off that big win, in the most hostile environment in college football, trouble looms.
Indiana (-29) over Purdue: Slight pause here for something I’ve mentioned before, teams that suffer their first loss late in the season often have trouble bouncing back. But Indiana’s first loss against Ohio St. shouldn’t be a dream killer, because they’re still in good position to make the playoff. Purdue is the worst team in the Big 12 and has now lost five times by more than this spread.
Jaguars (+4) over Texans: Something I said about the 49ers in 2019 applies to the Texans in 2024. At that time, I said that making the Super Bowl was the worst thing that could happen for the 49ers future Super Bowl chances, because it made the organization think the rebuild was farther along that it was. Ditto the Texans after last season’s breakthrough. The Texans have a lot of talent and what looks like a franchise QB, but there are still holes to fill. That’s reflective in the pointspread results, where the Texans are 3-6 ATS as favorites.
Steelers (+3) over Bengals: The Bengals keep suffering one wrenching loss after another and are basically out of the playoff race at 4-7, but they’re laying points. I’ll take the team that keeps finding ways to win over the one that keeps losing.
Eagles (+3) over Ravens: Tough situation for the Ravens to face the Eagles coming off Brotherly Love with John vs. Jim Harbaugh, to now facing the Brotherly Shove. I don’t think we’ll see them quite at their peak, and it takes a peak effort right now to beat the Eagles,
Last week
College 4-1
NFL 1-2
Season
College 26-26
NFL 21-13-1
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