The Oracle Rises and Falls Again

Well, the $20,000 didn't last long. Yasmina (the young Israeli accountant on the right) was a lot hungrier than I thought, but being eaten alive by her wasn't so bad. At least I have some memories--lots of memories.

So now the Oracle from the Basement awakes and, WTF, it's week eight? The Chiefs, winner, er loser, er you get it, of Doormat Bowl 2013 is undefeated, 7-0, and in first place in AFC West? Huh? Well, at least the Pheebles, or I guess it's now the Beagles, are losing with panache. Nice job, there, Chippy!

Anyway, the Oracle, that's me, sobered up and realized I had to get out of Israel and get back to the States for some football. I still had a standby ticket out of Haifa, so I hitched a ride with an Israeli tank squadron. They were a fun-loving group of soldiers and it was a good ride, except for the firefight around the Lebanese border.

It must drive those fundamentalists crazy when they get their butts handed to them by a bunch of girls. Anyway, they dropped me off at the airport and I took a flight back to Greece so I could visit a real oracle, the Oracle of Delphi. It was kinda quiet there, and it was mostly an empty well, but after about three bottles of Retsina--it tastes pretty good after the second bottle--I think I did hear something. "You can't sleep here," it said. Oh, it was a cop. Time to move on.


As I slept it all off on the plane back to the States, I pondered the words of the Oracle of Delphi. "You can't sleep here." What did that mean? What did that indicate about the future? Then it hit me like a wet baseball in spring training. You can't just enjoy your achievements, you have to keep working, you have to keep striving. Just because you were 2-14 this year, it doesn't mean you won't be 14-2 next year. To be a great loser, you have to work at it, every day, every hour, every minute, every time. Never lose your edge. Go further. As Emerson said, "Courageous people have no more courage than the rest of us, they just have it for five minutes longer."

So, I am back, baby, back on the Barcalounger, sipping a flat quart of Bo, eating black corn chips, and spinning a bottle of Retsina--no turkey this time--and here are the predictions for week 8. A lot of Doormats going up against some league leaders.

Carolina- 17
Tampa Bay- 7
(God, this will be a bad game)

San Francisco- 58
Jacksonville- 3
(Blowout of the week)

NY Jets- 21
Cincinnati-17

Cleveland- 3
Kansas City- 10

Buffalo- 14
New Orelans- 42

Washington- 21
Denver- 33

Atlanta- 21
Arizona- 10

Green Bay- 36
Minnesota- 14 (Both TDs in 4th Qtr.)

New York Giants- 14
Philadephia- 17
(Game of the week!)

Seattle- 28
St. Louis- 15

Gentlemen, make your predictions!