All my loyal readers know I am a Pittsburgh fan and have been since I went to my first Pirates game at Forbes Field when I was around 10 years old. I remember it like it was last week.
My brother Tom, myself and my mom Mary got on the train in Steubenville, and traveled the short 39 miles to Pittsburgh. Wow, what a thrill it was walking into a major league ballpark for the first time and hearing the sound of the bats cracking the ball.
It was even a bigger thrill seeing the likes of Roberto Clemente in person and him actually signing my 1960 Pirates yearbook.
This week could be very tough for the upstart Pirates, but seeing those fans yesterday screaming for their “Buccos” after they pulled out a much needed win in extra innings, I will be rooting for my Pirates to pull some games out on this very critical road trip.
They start out with a four-game trip to Atlanta and really need two wins there. Then they go into Philadelphia for a three-game set and they will be very lucky to leave that nasty place with a win.
We will just wait and see.
One good thing that happened in Pittsburgh last week is Ben Roethlisberger married his blonde bombshell girlfriend the 26-year-old Ashley Harlan. We hope it puts Ben on the straight and narrow as he is 29 now and really needs to settle down. He doesn’t have many prime years left in the NFL.
As much as I want to see it last forever, if I were making odds on it (and I’m not) I would probably send out 3-5 years. No more than 4 would be the favorite, but I really hope not.
Not much has changed in baseball as the Red Sox continue to roll with the Yanks not giving up. The Tigers look to be taking control of the AL Central and the AL West looks to be still in doubt. The Angels are hanging around in this two team race with the Rangers.
In the NL East forget about it as they say. The Phils will win the division and the Braves will capture the Wild Card. The Central is the race of the year in the NL with the Pirates, Cardinals and Brewers all right there, and the Reds are not out of it.
This will all change after this week is over. The Cardinals get the Astros at home in a four-game series and then the Cubs for three. St. Louis will be in first at the end of the week with the Brewers right behind in second.
Milwaukee stays at home and plays the same two teams only they get the Cubs first and then the Astros. The Giants remain in control in the NL West and I doubt that will change.
In horse racing this past week both Del Mar and Saratoga got off to big starts and big prices with carryovers at both spots. There was however another bad payoff in Southern California and the track said it was human error. You gotta be kidding me!
This was the second time within a week in So Cal we had bad payoffs. Bettors were able to collect for almost four minutes before they knew what happened.
After the mistake was caught this past Thursday, cashing was suspended for around seven minutes. The track said a pari-mutuel employee entered the wrong data into the system that generates the payoffs. Again, you’ve gotta be kidding me!
It was like a horse contest buffet in Vegas this weekend with Station’s $25 Saturday package, and I lost once again suffering from a case of, “seconditis.” (My own word).
If you like putting up a saw buck then travel down to Jerry’s Nugget in North Las Vegas. It is a very easy trip with all the roads they put in. At Jerry’s you pick your best five horses in the first eight races at Del Mar.
It just cost $10 and again they have their super great carving station with the best turkey “sangwich,” as we say in Steubenville, you ever had.
It was so bad last week for me betting the ponies that I am truly thinking of hiking my debt ceiling.
Can I do that?