Life In The DPC!

Despite graduating from a college that is the only state in the union that has legalized gambling on football I have a suspect track record on handicapping. One could assume that after many years of sub par picks I would stop embarrassing myself but I am married to the sea and like usual I will go down like the Edmund Fitzgerald.

With that said, here are my Week 4 Picks.

• Cleveland and Cincinnati: The Battle For Ohio ends with a Bengals victory. The Bengals showed some improvement in an overtime loss against the Giants and should be able to get their first win against the equally hapless Browns.
• Minnesota at Tennessee: The Titans are on a roll and have found that QB’s with a history of hurling racial epitaphs and drinking issues are better than their counterparts that could be suicidal. I am going with the Titans in this one.
• Denver at Kansas City: The Chiefs may be the worse team in the NFL and the Broncos are the flavor of the month after a pair of close (possibly lucky) wins so I got to pick the Broncos.
• San Francisco at New Orleans: I am a northern California guy but I hate the 49ers and in an effort of absolute disclosure I feel the need to convey that. Anywho, I am picking the Saints.
• Arizona at NYJets : I like the Cardinals but I have almost no faith in them when they’re on the road or squaring off against a legit team. Those two factors combine for a Jets win.
• Green Bay at Tampa Bay: I guess the Packers were right about Aaron Rodgers. I was never a big Brett Favre guy. Mainly because he played for the Chicago Bears arch rival and also because he was a media darling for his child like enthusiasm on the field. I’d be hella stoked too if I could constantly make mistakes at work and never lose my job. Green Bat wins on the road.
• Atlanta at Carolina: Despite some early success this is a rebuilding year for Atlanta and I think the Panthers are legit. Carolina will run over the divisional foe.
• Houston at Jacksonville: A smarter man than myself maintained that when most things are equal in a game take the home team. I will heed that advice.
• San Diego at Oakland: I like the direction the Raiders are headed, except for the treatment of Coach Kiffin, but the Chargers will march into Oakland and become Raider Haters.
• Buffalo at St. Louis: The Rams are winless and the franchise is spiraling towards mutiny. That’s a bad combo to take on the streaking Bills.
• Washington at Dallas:The Cowboys are the trendy pick to win the Super Bowl. I don’t agree but their definitely better than Washington.
• Philadelphia at Chicago: To show that I am serious about this recent batch of picks I am not picking the Bears to win regardless of who they’re playing. I am ashamed of myself but I am picking the Eagles.
• Baltimore at Pittsburgh: Simply put I am going with Pittsburgh. Simply put because I asked a friend of mine who he thought would win.

Robert Graysmith’s obsession with the Zodiac killer may have been naught as recent development may show that a different man could be the serial killer that terrorized northern California in the 1970’s. Graysmith theorized that the Zodiac was former Santa Rosa, CA resident Arthur Leigh Allen and depite his nearly obsessive research into finding the killer Allen was never formerly charged.

A Pollock Pines man recently announced that his step father, Jack Tarrance, was the Zodiac and he has turned evidence to the FBI for further analysis.  Torrance passed away in 2006 and his son, Dennis Kaufman, has spent the last eight years trying to prove that he is the Zodiac.

If this is true, if Tarrance is the Zodiac then a lifetime of Graysmith’s work and the subsequent movie by David FIncher are all irrelevant. More importantly Arthur Leigh Allen life was sullied and his legacy destroyed because of Graysmith’s obsession. A part of me wonders why Kaufman would try to convict his step father even though the man had been dead for years. I realize justice needs to be served but one can assume that a man would protect his own and accordingly Kaufman would suppress any evidence he found lying around the house. Maybe though, Kaufman was trying to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the last fifty-years and to offer closure to the victims.

Over The Top

Despite working at Blockbuster for five years I don’t consider myself a movie expert and I don’t have great taste in cinema. This is proven by the simple fact that I enjoy James Bond flicks and anything starring Scarlett Johansson. Of course anything involving the aforementioned Scarlett is for the eye candy factor, the exception being Lost In Translation.

But enough about my love of Scarlett Johansson and back to Over The Top:

Lincoln Hawk is a struggling trucker who arm wrestles on the side to make extra cash while trying to rebuild his life. Hawk’s wife Christina is very ill at the beginning of the film, and asks that Hawk pick their son Michael up from military school so that he may get to know his son since they have been apart since Hawk left them ten years earlier. His father-in-law Jason Cutler is enraged since he feels his daughter was deserted by Hawk, that his daughter and Hawk should never have been married in the first place, and Hawk has no right to be in his grandson’s life. - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Over The Top makes it way onto DPC’s Top 100 Movie List because it combines many genres and it also paints an optimistic portrait of the human condition. On one hand you have a child torn apart by divorce, the failing health of his mother and never really knowing his dad. All of these real world issues are then combined with the cutthroat world of interstate truck driving and competitive arm wrestling.

Sylvester Stallone’s Lincoln Hawk epitomizes the proletarian everyman as he struggles to make ends meet and all the while his life has the void that only his bratty son can fill. Of course Stallone ultimately triumphs and to a lesser degree Over The Top is another chapter of his greater work in the Rocky series.

But what really ties Over The Top together is the work of the Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar. Hagar’s “Winner Takes It All” is up there “You’re The Best”, from the Karate Kid, as one of the greatest theme songs of any movie released in the 80’s.

Leroi Moore, saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band, passed away at the age of 47. Moore sustained injuries in an ATV accident at the end of June and succumbed to his injuries on August 19th.

I am not a DMB fan. I should rephrase that last statement because I have seen nine DMB shows, either as headliners or in festivals, but I haven’t bought an album since the disappointing Before These Crowded Streets. In the last ten years I have been aware of the Dave Matthews Band but I am unaware of their current work or status.

They Reminisce Over You, Leroi Moore

Former University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan continues to show that he belongs in the NFL and after three preseasas on games the Heisman finalist has gone 17/23 with 239 passing yards, 3 touchdown passes and no interceptions. At this point Brennan is likely the third string quarterback for Washington but has shown some flashes of belonging in the NFL.

T.R.O.Y. Isaac Hayes:

Isaac Hayes, idol of Life In The DPC, has passed away at the age of 65. Hayes was largely known for his role as “Chef” in the Comedy Central cartoon  South Park.
DPC.com will always remember Hayes as an Oscar award winning musician, for the Shaft soundtrack, and for his movie roles in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and his starring role as Truck Turner.

We’re gonna miss you, Isaac.

The 2007 version of the Wolf Pack finished the year 6-7 (4-4) and were lambasted by their Lobo hosts 23-0 in the New Mexico Bowl. That season was filled with close calls; four losses by seven points or less. Including losses to Boise State and Hawaii by a total of four points. Of course they squeaked out close wins against a pair of Aggie (31-28 at Utah State and 40-38 at New Mexico State). Throughout the season you never knew what version of the Pack was going to show up: the one that went toe to toe with national powerhouses or team that played down to its lesser opponents.

This season will likely be a similar to 2007 with some missed opportunities at victory and a general sense that the Pack is not ready to make the jump from mid level WAC team to the Boise States or Fresno States of the world. The Pack will beat the opponents that they’re supposed to and like 2007 they will fall short against the better teams in the WAC and the rest of the NCAA.