The Times Dispatch Blogs

So who do y’all think will be the Hogs’ coach next season?

On to this week’s games:

1. Walnut Ridge at Rector (Game of the Week). This might be the Bobcats best chance for a win this season. Walnut Ridge by 8.
2. North Texas at Arkansas. Just what the doctor ordered for the Hogs. Back-to-back SEC losses for the Hogs have some fans screaming for Houston Nutt’s scalp. A win over a patsy like North Texas won’t silence the critics, but at least it will get the Hogs back in the win column.
3. Barton at Hoxie. Game canceled.
4. Alabama at Florida State. Florida State isn’t the elite program it was a few years ago. Alabama in a mild upset.
5. Westside at Trumann. Trumann will roll over the Warriors.
6. Auburn at Florida. Florida is a serious threat to defend their national championship, just as the Gators did in basketball. Auburn appears to be down this year. Florida wins convincingly.
7. Rivercrest at Pocahontas. Redskins scalp Rivercrest.
8. LSU at Tulane. LSU will blow through Tulane like a hurri — okay, that’s a bad analogy. Let me try again. LSU will win by many points.
9. Marked Tree at Cross County. Should be a close game. I normally pick the home team in these situations, but this time I’m going with Marked Tree.
10. Notre Dame at Purdue. Many teams would love to give Notre Dame a swift kick while the Irish are down. This week, it’s in-state rival Purdue’s turn.
11. Corning at Piggott. Uncharacteristically, I’m picking another high school road team. Corning manhandles the Mohawks.
12. Ole Miss at Georgia. Ole Miss played Florida tough last week, while Georgia is coming off a big overtime win at Alabama. I’m tempted to pick the Rebels in an upset, but I’ll play it safe and take Georgia.
13. East Poinsett County at Brinkley. EPC keeps Brinkley winless. (Wow, I’m picking a fourth HS road team).
14. Michigan at Northwestern. Michigan seems to have gotten on track after an 0-2 start. Northwestern is just plain awful. Last week, Ohio State drilled the Wildcats 58-7. Expect a similar result this week.
15. Gosnell at Valley View. Another good high school match-up. Valley View wins at home.

Last week’ score was 10 correct and three wrong. My season tally stands at 43-13.
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Briar and Brad are supposed to read every night for at least 30 minutes. Briar usually reads something by R.L. Stein and Brad likes biographies, but right now is reading a fiction book entitled, “The Desperaux.” They hate reading, and I don’t understand why. I love it … I always have.

While growing up, I read the Sweet Valley High series. The books are about twin high school girls and their life experiences.

Two of my all-time favorite books are “Where the Red Fern Grows,” I still cry every time I read it, and “The Outsiders.”

I also read a lot of Judy Blume books. “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” “Fudge,” “Double Fudge,” “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” and “Blubber” — just to name a few.

These days my favorite authors include Laurel K. Hamilton, Dean Koontz, John Grisham and Sandra Brown. I have to admit that I love reading Harry Potter, too. I would actually read just about anything you put in front of me.

So… with my passion for reading, why can’t I get my boys to read?

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Last week was a good week, correctly picking 13 games and missing on only two. My season tally now stands at 33-10.
On to this week’s guesses:
1. Kentucky at Arkansas (Game of the Week). If their secondary doesn’t perform better this week, the Hogs will start 0-2 in SEC play. My guess is that Arkansas will find a way to pull out a close win at home. Hogs by three.
2. Chaffee, Mo., at Walnut Ridge. I know absolutely nothing about Chaffee. Walnut Ridge is off to an 0-3 start, but they’ve been competitive in each game. I’m picking the Bobcats to break into the win column in front of a homecoming crowd.
3. Georgia at Alabama. Alabama won’t get lucky this week. Georgia by a touchdown.
4. Hoxie at Harrisburg. Maybe the best high school contest in the area this week. I pick Harrisburg, but only because they’re at home.
5. New Mexico State at Auburn. Who knows what’s going on with Auburn. They eke out a narrow, come-from-behind win against Kansas State to open the season, and then lose back-to-back home games to South Florida and Mississippi State. Whatever the problem is, I look for them to get it corrected and roll over the Aggies.
6. Gosnell at Westside. Gosnell easily.
7. Arkansas State at Tennessee. The Indians may be catching the Vols at a bad time, after Tennessee was blown out by archrival Florida last week. I look for the Vols to lay a hurtin’ on the Tribe.
8. Manila at Rector. It’s hard to pick Rector to beat anybody, so I’ll take Manila.
9. Michigan State at Notre Dame. It looks like it’s going to be a long year for Notre Dame. MSU keeps the Irish winless.
10. Piggott at East Poinsett County. Another good high school match-up. Again, I’ll go with the home team.
11. Florida at Ole Miss. Gators chomp the Rebels.
12. Hughes at Corning. Corning.
13. South Carolina at LSU. LSU will win, but Spurrier and the Gamecocks could keep it interesting.
14. Rivercrest at Highland. Highland.
15. Mississippi State at Jacksonville State. MSU should roll.

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1. Hoxie at Westside (Game of the Week). Westside ended a 15-game losing streak with last week’s win over Salem. Hoxie gets them started on another one this week. Mustangs by 20.
2. Arkansas at Alabama. Without receiver Marcus Monk, the Hog’s offense will be even more one-dimensional than usual. As good as Arkansas’ ground game is, I don’t think it will be enough to stem the Tide. Bama by 3.
3. Walnut Ridge at East Poinsett County. The Warriors got a big win on the road at Cross County last week. They should keep the Bobcats winless.
4. Mississippi State at Auburn. The Tigers will be looking to make someone pay after last week’s upset loss to South Florida. MSU gets to be the unfortunate victim.
5. Rector at Piggott. Not sure why anyone would care, but go with Piggott.
6. SMU at ASU. SMU embarrassed the Indians last year 55-9. Steve Roberts will have the Tribe motivated for a little payback this year. Indians ambush the Ponies.
7. Mountain View at Cave City. Cavemen club the Yellowjackets.
8. Ole Miss at Vanderbilt. I’ll take Vandy in this SEC pillow fight.
9. Cross County at Corning. Could be a good one. I’ll go with Corning.
10. Tennessee at Florida. Gators hang a second early-season loss on the Vols.
11. Harrisburg at Marked Tree. Another good high school match-up. I take the Hornets on the road.
12. Notre Dame at Michigan. One of these teams will have to win its first game this weekend. I’ll go with Michigan.
13. Pocahontas at Greene County Tech. Pokey wins its second straight against the city of Paragould after hammering the Rams last week.
14. Middle Tennessee at LSU. MTSU’s offense looked pretty impressive in a 58-42 loss to ninth-ranked Louisville a couple of weeks ago. LSU, however, is a lot better than Louisville. Tigers roll in Death Valley.
15. Highland at Bald Knob. Highland easily.

Last week: 10-4 again.
Season: 20-8
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Earlier this year while shopping at a Walnut Ridge grocery store, I was treated horribly when they thought the $20 bill I was paying with was fake.

I had to go to the Police Department and they sent the money to the crime lab to be tested. David Burnside from the Walnut Ridge Police Department called me today to let me know that the money had been real after all. I can go claim it tomorrow.

Officer Burnside said the bill had been printed in 1950, which was before the recent safety measures to prevent counterfeiting. In my opinion, the store should better train their cashiers on how to spot counterfeit money.

If their safety precautions don’t apply to bills printed prior to a certain time, they should know that and use another method of testing. At the very least, they should make sure that all of their customers are treated respectfully.

I know a little extra effort on the store’s part would have saved me a lot of embarrassment.

I’m very happy to be getting my $20 back. This, however, has been an experience I won’t soon forget.

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Last week’s record was 10 correct out of 14 picks (the Trumann game was cancelled). Normally I’d say that’s pretty decent, but it wouldn’t have even come close to winning The TD’s Football Forecast. Several entrants picked all 14 games correctly and several more only missed one. I guess I need to get my crystal ball fine-tuned if I’m going to compete with you guys.
Nonetheless, here we go again with this week’s picks.

1. Memphis at Arkansas State (Game of the Week). ASU won’t need a miracle to beat the Tigers this year. Indians by 7.
2. Walnut Ridge at Piggott. Piggott won a thriller at Sexton Field last year. I’m going with the Mohawks at home.
3. Alabama at Vanderbilt. Alabama.
4. Mountain View at Hoxie. Hoxie goes to 2-0.
5. South Florida at Auburn. South Florida won nine games last year, including a late-season upset at West Virginia. Last week, Auburn had to score late to pull out the game against Kansas State. I’m picking Auburn to win another close one.
6. West Side at Salem. Salem.
7. Virginia Tech at LSU. LSU should win this battle of Top 10 teams.
8. Earle at Marvell. Earle is ranked in the Top 5 in Class 2A. That’s good enough for me to pick them over Marvell.
9. Notre Dame at Penn St. Notre Dame lost at home to Georgia Tech by 30 last week. I’m not sure if Penn State is as good as Tech, but they should beat the Irish at home.
10. Rector at Valley View. The Blazers will make a wreck of Rector.
11. Missouri at Ole Miss. Missouri has too much firepower on offense. They should beat the Rebels.
12. EPC at Cross County. Cross County.
13. Southern Miss at Tennessee. Tennessee.
14. Harrisburg at Highland. This could be the best high school game in the area. I’m picking Highland at home.
15. Kent State at Kentucky. Kentucky will roll over another cupcake.

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I recently wrote about the doctor finding a lump in my breast. After a mammogram and ultrasound, it was determined that I needed to have a biopsy. I went to UAMS in Little Rock on Friday. I wasn’t really sure what to expect once I got there, but the doctors were amazing.

They looked at the films I had brought them and decided to go ahead and remove the entire lump and then test it… I could either schedule a day to come in and be asleep during the procedure, or they could do it that day and use a local anesthetic.

I chose to go ahead and get it over with. The doctor used a “mammotome” to remove the lump. The procedure didn’t take long and went really well. I had some pain in the area on Friday night and over the weekend. If I do a lot with my left arm, it starts to hurt. All-in-all, though, it wasn’t bad.

I heard from the doctor today, and my results showed no sign of malignancy. While I never doubted that would be the outcome, it was nice to actually hear it and it will be a relief for the rest of my family and friends!

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