27 Days In October...

Back in 1964, the year my first child was born, I was 19 years old and I went to see a movie called Seven Days In May. The plot involves the President of the United States as he discovers a military coup, which is being plotted by one of his Joint Chiefs and he must find a way to dismantle it. The movie stars Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Frederick March and the beautiful Ava Gardner.

Where am I going with this?

Well, it's five o'clock in the morning, so prepare yourself...there's no telling. Let's just fast forward to what I'm going to call: The 27 Days in October. Things are happening in my world of sports and at the age of 65, I'm beginning to wonder if I can keep up. This high-tech stuff leaves most of us old coots behind...and I'm certainly right in the middle of that category. I'm beginning to think I should change my nickname from "Dano" to the "Blog Hog" or the "Twitter Freak".

I find myself either playing third base or I'm sitting in a chair, pecking away at my computer. Thank goodness, I'm playing baseball three to five days a week, which allows me to turn off this old Inspiron E1505 laptop, grab my car keys and head for the ballpark.

Getting back to the 27 days in October, well that has already started...two days ago. From now til the end of the month, it's going to be all baseball for me, or let's say 90 percent baseball and 10 percent laptop. So, if you, my readers, are wondering where I'm at, well I might as well tell you ahead of time. I'll be heading off to the Men's Senior Baseball League (MSBL) World Series in just ten days. From October 17 to October 31, I'll be playing ball in Phoenix with the Tucson Golden Aces as we once again battle every old-time baseball nut from Canada to St. Thomas...from Boston and LA...from North Dakota and San Antonio, Texas.

I know it's hard to believe, but there are 300 to 400 over-the-hill ball players like me just stomping at the bit to take the field in Phoenix and go for the gold -- gold medal, that is. Actually, it's a trophy -- a slim piece of hardware, and to win it, it may take upwards of 14 to 16 games (in my case as a member of the Aces). So, what I'm trying to say: the blogging and the twittering...and my Facebook updates will have to take a backseat. At least that's my plan. Of course, I'll have my trusty old laptop with me, so chances are you'll hear from me now and then.

Why? Because the 27 days of October is filled with stuff to write about: The MLB playoffs and the "real" World Series; the Arizona Wildcats; Fantasy Football; the NFL, well you get the idea.

As you may have already figured out, I'm on my third cup of coffee this morning. I'll talk to you later. It's six o'clock and I play baseball in two hours!

Let me tear myself away from Fantasy Football to give you my MLB predictions...

The numbers are in on my Fantasy Football League this week, so with another win under my belt (sorry, I don't mean to sound so uppity, I do realize I can lose the next 12 games) I can at least take a moment and focus on Major League Baseball.

Baseball is my favorite sport and everyone that has ever come in contact with me knows that. But this Fantasy Football thing has taken a lot out of me. It takes some concentration figuring out all the numbers, the players, who to bench, who to play, and on and on...and on. Also I'm in a quiet, family and friends league where there's no green stuff involved. It's just for fun, but still it doesn't take long to get wrapped up in it. This is my first try at being the owner of a Fantasy team...it's a real kick. And besides, I can't get fired whether I win or lose.

As for baseball, well I've said all along that the Yankees and the Phillies will tangle in late October to decide the champion of the 2010 World Series. The Giants will fold. Braves and Twins out early. The Rangers will falter without Josh Hamilton at 100 percent, and the Rays have fought off the Yankees all season and things won't go their way in the playoffs. Now the Reds, they're the sleeper, but Mr. Chapman, the Cincinnati reliever who throws 105 miles an hour, can only pitch so many innings. Could it be the Reds and Yankees? Nah!

By the way, I've always said that I'm not very good at this crystal ball stuff. Predictions just aren't my thing. I must admit, it would be good for baseball to see a couple of newcomers emerge and battle it out for the big prize. Baseball is a tough sport...a bad bounce, a Texas leaguer, a bad call by the ole ump -- anything can happen. That's why they play the game. Football is a brutal sport and the outcome of a contest on the gridiron can be brutal for the losing team. Baseball is not as brutal. But the outcome can be just as devastating for the loser, especially after playing 162 games, add some hair-raising playoff games, and then a seven-game series to decide their fate.

Batter up! Let's play ball.

Team Priceless, Big Dawgs 4-0 in UPC Hood Fantasy League

My Fantasy Football League Update: It's official. My Team Priceless remains unbeaten at 4-0 along with the Big Dawgs in the UPC Hood Fantasy Football League.

The big move of the week, goes to Team Smith, now 3-1, as Team Smith takes down previously unbeaten Mega Powers. Detroit quarterback Shaun Hill (39 points) and the New England defense (33) ended up the top fantasy-point leaders for Team Smith as they won easily 169-125. As for my Team Priceless, Cincy's Terrell Owens led the way with a whooping 50 fantasy points. Wow! I needed that. Thanks also go out to Mendenhall, Sanchez and Zach Miller -- a pleasant surprise on the latter as the tight end amassed 18 fantasy points. By the way, Team Priceless outscored the Meat Eaters, 149-73. The Meat Eaters downfall: Chicago's Jay Cutler with a minus-2 in fantasy points. Of course, the Big Dawgs rolled again with Peyton Manning collected 51 fantasy points, although the A-Team (0-4) put up a fight, but in the end were outscored, 164-144. Grey Ghost (1-3) and Big Red (2-2) were the other big winners this week. Aaron Rodgers and Sam Bradford gave the Grey Ghost a big boost this week in its win over Team Arps (2-2). Big Red knocked off winless Team Army, thanks mainly to top performances from Chad Henne and Antonio Gates.

Can you believe it? Week 5 is just around the corner.

A copy of Billy's Victory shows up at a thrift shop...

It's a small world after all. I have a buddy named Ed, he's the nicest guy. In fact Ed volunteers as a behind-the-plate umpire at most of our Tucson Old Timers (TOTS) baseball games. Rain or shine, he's there just about everyday.

Ed takes a lot of flack from us old timers, because our strike zone is sometimes different than his. Of course, he can see...and most of us have less than 20/20 vision. He does a darn good job. We're lucky to have him. It's not an easy job due to the fact that many of the TOTS will argue about anything...and talk about anything. But, that just adds to the fun of it all at our weekly baseball games. It makes for a lively dugout.

Getting back to Ed, he loves baseball and he's a pitcher and an infielder in a wood-bat league on Friday nights (his baseball league, mind you, consists of players who are 50 to 60 years younger than most of the TOTS). At any rate, Ed and his fiance went shopping the other day. They stopped in at a thrift store to buy a few things -- including a book or two.

Ed, who is also a blogger, mentioned on his blog recently that his fiance grabbed a book from the shelf at the thrift store and brought it to him. Well, the book turns out to be Billy's Victory, the children's fiction novel I wrote back in 2007. My only book, I might add (it obviously wasn't a best seller, but I did get a kick out of writing it).

Ed and his fiance bought the book. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack. It is a small world after all.

Terrell Owens makes my Sunday special!

My Fantasy Football League Update: The complete Week 4 results will be out early Tuesday morning, but I can tell you right now that thanks to Cincy's Terrell Owens my Team Priceless will remain atop the leader board in my UPC Hood Fantasy Football League as we head into Week 5 of the NFL schedule.

The man went crazy yesterday, catching 10 passes for 222 yards and one touchdown against the Cleveland Browns. Somehow, the Bengels lost the game 23-20, but you couldn't blame "Mr. T" for the outcome. The Browns obviously double teamed Chad Ochocinco and for the first time this season Owens went wild -- including being on the receiving end of what turned out to be a 78-yard TD pass from Carson Palmer.

Owens said on his Twitter account, following the game, that someone was passing around a rumor that he had blamed the Cincy defense for the loss, but he put that rumor to rest by saying: "We lost as a team! We didn't play well.!" Whatever...it turned out good for me as I salvaged a 149-73 win over my fantasy competitor (the Meat Eaters) this week. Owens produced over a third of my points.

I'll give you all a complete rundown on Tuesday, but it's safe to say Team Priceless is 4-0, due to the fact that both Team Priceless and the Meat Eaters used all its players on Sunday and we both will not need to sweat out the results of Monday Night Football.

Thank you, Mr. Owens!

Ready for a day of Fantasy Football...

My Fantasy Football League Update: Today's the day to see if I have what it takes to stay in first place in my Fantasy Football UPC Hood League.

Two teams will be battling to go 4-0 along with my team, Team Priceless. I need a lot of help today from my key players, mainly: Fitzgerald, Mendenhall, Best, Sanchez and Eli Manning...with a little added support from guys like Walter, Clayton and the ole guy Mr. "T" Owens.

It's almost time for the first kickoff...let's get it on!

Mid-season Soccer Match at Udall Park a doozie!

As I had mentioned in my previous blog post, I faced quite a dilemma when the defending state champion 1A-3A Lakeside Blue Ridge Yellow Jackets rolled into town to take on the Desert Christian Screaming Eagles this afternoon in a mid-season soccer match at Udall Park. The contest was the second match of the day for the two schools -- Blue Ridge had already shutdown Benson, 2-0, and Desert Christian had walloped St. Johns, 10-0, earlier in the day, as the annual Old Pueblo Soccer Tournament got underway -- under clear skies and a blazing temperature, reaching 100 degrees, I might add.

My dilemma, of course, was the fact that I'm a friend of both coaches -- Bryon Crain, the head coach of the Yellow Jackets and Mike Steele, an assistant coach with the Screaming Eagles. Blue Ridge went into the game, unbeaten at 10-0 and Desert Christian with their easy win over St. Johns had improved to 9-2 on the season. Wow! What a battle it turned out to be. It seemed more like a state final matchup, rather than a mid-season, no trophies awarded, come-on-down and have some fun tournament. Blue Ridge took the early advantage with two first half goals -- one by Salvador Ramirez and the other by the Yellow Jackets' top scorer Trey Cavanaugh.

It seemed like Blue Ridge was well on its way to victory number 11 on the season, but early in the second half Desert Christian's Mackie Thompson scored on a chip shot from 10 yards out and two minutes later Scott Waller launched a screamer from 40 yards out to even the score at 2-2. But it was all Ramirez down the stretch as he booted two goals in the waning minutes of the game (one was disallowed due to a foul called by the referee at the other end of the field) and the Yellow Jackets escaped with a hard-fought 3-2 victory.

If there's two 1A-3A teams out there better than the two I witnessed today, I'd sure like to see them play. I'm betting Blue Ridge and Desert Christian will meet again, say in Phoenix around Nov. 7 in a state final matchup. Both teams are filled with outstanding athletes that go all out -- leaving it all on the field.

Waller is a feisty little devil and plays aggressively, while his Desert Christian teammate, Caleb Steele, my friend's son, is a handful as well. As for Blue Ridge, they seem unstoppable at times led by Cavanaugh, Ramirez, Korey Wilcox, Luke Traeger and Jake Washburn -- just to name a few.

They move up and down the field with ease and you get the feeling they could score at any moment. Coach Mike Steele, my buddy, stated after the game, "They're not only big...they're fast." As for my friend, Bryon, he's certainly a happy camper after watching his Yellow Jackets move to 11-0 on the year. The bus ride back to the White Mountains should be fun.

Good luck to both teams. One thing is for sure, whoever has to play these two teams down the road, better lace up their shoes, take a collective deep breath, and prepare for battle.