BBR’s world headquarters are Texas-based.  Texas passed laws this week that allow virtually anyone to get a gun ASAP and virtually no one to get an abortion unless it’s ASAP.

Because of that our staff had much to say about content this week and our monthly meeting ran long this AM.  It puts us precariously close to the daily writing deadline.  The real reason that we’re late is that one of us had too many baby back ribs and beers yesterday, but we digress.

Brief, opinionated college football nuggets follow.

1.  Should we start engraving Alabama’s name on the national championship trophy already?  Maybe.   Probably.  Bama had Miami down by 30ish at halftime before the sub door became a turnstile in the second half.  Bama’s second team basically tied Miami’s first team.
2.  Georgia might jump to spot #2 today with a stifling defensive effort over Clemson 10-3.  If we can’t start engraving, can we jump the SEC Championship game already?  It’s about the journey on the way to the destination supposedly.
3. Penn St and Wisconsin was another low-scoring affair.  Penn St won 16-10.  We wondered aloud late in the game if either realized that the forward completed pass was a legal NCAA play.  Wisconsin must have bought a few of those Texas guns.  They shot themselves in both feet several times.  A late leaping Penn St. pick sealed Whisky’s fate in a packed Camp Randall Stadium.
4. One bettor in Vegas got the vibe that week one might be lower scoring than years past.  He wagered a measly $10 on a 14 game parlay.  He took 14 games, all under.  The first 13 won.  Ole Miss and Lousiville under 75.5 last evening is all that stood in his way from collecting $80,000!  The Black Bears formerly known as Rebels won 43-24.  Voila!  80k.
5. Since the magical 15-0 2019 national championship season LSU has won 5 and lost 6 games.  The latest was a beating administered by UCLA Saturday.  Ed Orgeron fired both coordinators after last year, their first year.  In comes two new ones.  The team lacked prep, pep, effort, and communication in game one of 2021 looking just like all of 2020.  Orgeron is now officially on the dreaded hot seat and rightfully so.
6.  It was a big PAC 12 win over the SEC for UCLA.  Conversely, Montana beating Washington 17-7 was a big PAC 12 loss.  In fact, the north division had six losers against weak to middling out of conference foes.  Jeez.  Only Oregon won and was mediocre in doing so beating Fresno St. 31-24 in Eugene.  The south division fared much better.  USC, Utah, UCLA,  Arizona St, and Colorado all won.
7. Oklahoma, known as Chokelahoma by its detractors, nearly choked away a homefield 34-14 halftime lead to hurricane displaced Tulane.  An onsides kick near the game’s end was recovered by Tulane as they trailed only 40-35.  But, the Sooners held on.  Some “experts” picked them to win the national championship this year.  Good luck.  They still have no D.
8. Notre Dame survived overtime v Florida St. as the Seminoles forced it with 18 unanswered points.  Is Notre Dame not as good as advertised, or is Florida St. better than advertised? How about both?  Our guess is that Head Coach Mike Norvell will have the once-proud Seminoles legitimately back in the ACC mix by 2022.
9. Mack Brown’s ACC North Carolina team looked shell-shocked at Virginia Tech.  The Tech faithful filled the stands and roared for 60 minutes.  NC, overanked at #10 lost and their offensive line looked slow, lost, dazed, overweight, short, and tired. That’s no way to go through life. And, that’s a bad combo for Heisman hopeful QB Sam Howell who struggled mightily to avoid the beatdown that Tech’s front seven eventually administered.
10.  It’s tough to read too much into week one, but we did so anyway.  Oh, and Bob Stoops is now a part of the Fox NCAA broadcast team.  He’s, well, not good.

It’s only a four-day workweek to get us to football week two.  Get after it.

Guess what’s back in all of its pomp and circumstance?  College football.  Fans included.

Guess who’s back for year four with all of her picking prowess and expertise?  Abby.  Her fans included.

Abby and college football. Red beans and rice.  Our President and leadership.   Well, two out of three isn’t bad.

Abby starts year four having won more bones than she lost in each of her first three years, a record worth wagging your tail about. Remember one bone hypothetically represents an $11 wage to collect $10 unless it’s a money line bet which can have very different odds that we will post.   Now we go to the picks.

1.  Georgia + 3 v Clemson (Game played in Charlotte, NC) —  Abby’s going big right out of the chute.  She feels strongly that this is Georgia’s year to win the SEC and howl loudly in the playoffs.  Plus UGA is one of her favorite mascots.  She loves barking underdogs.   A straight-up win wouldn’t surprise her in the least, but there isn’t too much value in +$135.  Two bones.

2.  North Carolina -5 1/2 at Virginia Tech — Can NC unseat Clemson as the ACC Champion?  Yes.  Mack Brown returns a Heisman candidate at QB and 18 starters from last year’s team.  Two bones.

3.  Army +2 1/2 at Georgia St.— This will feel like a home game for the Army after 20 straight years of serious business.  Either you stop their unique running attack or you don’t.  Georgia St. won’t.  One bone.

4.  Rice at Arkansas -20 —  This one is simple.  Rice is a very bad football team.  Arkansas is getting better monthly under Sam Pittman.  His offensive line will control the ball for 40 of the 60 minutes in this game and wear the Owls out.  Two bones.

5.  Texas Tech at Houston pick — It’s put up or shut up time for Dana Holgerson in year three with his fat $4 million per year deal with Tillman Fertitta.  He’s redshirted many and has gotten many more from the transfer portal.   He starts off 2021 on a high note.  Take the Cougars in a close one.  One bone.

On a hunch take LSU at UCLA under 66 points.  LSU’s 2020 much-maligned D will be much improved in 2021.  And, expect LSU to run 55/45.  UCLA will not have much success throwing the ball either.

Woof!

To vax or not to vax, or booster or not to booster, or mask or not to mask, those are but three of the questions Americans ask.

And, now the workplace is emboldened.  Mandates commeth.

Afghanistan?  Don’t even get us started.

We need a good dose of the best medicine known to man(and woman)kind in times like these.  Laughter.  To lighten the mood, other than hydroxychloroquine, what would that health nut Dr. Rodney Dangerfield have prescribed?  If he were still with us, he’d likely recommend as follows.

1.  Don’t get married.  “My wife and I were happy for twenty years, then we met!”
2.  Don’t drink too much.  “My doctor told me to watch my drinking.  Now I drink in front of the mirror.”
3.  Exercise, but only when appropriate.  “I asked my old man if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me, ‘Wait until it gets warmer.’”
4.  Be compassionate.  “My uncle’s dying wish was to have me sitting on his lap. He was in the electric chair.”
5.  Be realistic.  “This morning when I put on my underwear I could hear the Fruit of the Loom guys laughing at me.”
6.  Try to maintain a social life.  “A girl phoned me and said, ‘Come on over. There’s nobody home.’  I went over. Nobody was home!”
7.  Compassionately consider the ramifications of childbearing in these tough times. “When my old man wanted sex, my mother would show him a picture of me.”
8. Enjoy your work.  “I worked in a pet store and people kept asking how big I’d get.”
9. Get regular checkups.  “I went to see my doctor, ‘Doctor, every morning when I get up and look in the mirror I feel like throwing up. What’s wrong with me?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, but your eyesight is perfect.'”
10.  And follow the docs advice.  “I tell you, with my doctor, I get no respect. I told him, ‘I’ve swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills.’ ‘He told me to have a few drinks and get some rest.'”
11.  Ensure you’re in good mental health.  “Last week I saw my psychiatrist. I told him, ‘Doc, I keep thinking I’m a dog.’  ‘He told me to get off his couch.'”
12.  Keep your chin up no matter what.  “I remember I was so depressed I was going to jump out a window on the tenth floor. They sent a priest up to talk to me. He said, ‘On your mark…'”

The information age: the time in which information has become a commodity and is quickly and widely disseminated and easily available through the use of television and computer technology.

Ah, those were the good old days.  The Information Age seems to have quickly and widely devolved into The Misinformation Age.  What’s that?  It’s when anybody says anything to anyone and the text, vine, vibe, blurb, tweet, or take takes off as if it has wings and merit.

In fact absorb Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s thoughts on CNBC this early morning as he was interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin (anyone who uses their middle name in full has an outsized ego and issues, but we digress).  Dr. Gottlieb served as the 23rd Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 2017 until April 2019 during the Trump Administration.

Gottlieb said:

1. He believes that the Delta variant has spread by a factor of 10x greater than what the CDC is reporting in positive case results weekly across the US.  In specific terms, that’s a million positive results, not 100k.
2. He believes that booster shots should have started 3 weeks ago, and acutely so for the elderly.
3. He expects the variant to spread rapidly to the north as it “likely” has peaked in the south.
4. He also reasons that the UK is about three weeks ahead of us and has seen their caseloads drop from their top.  He expects a similar curve here in the US in about three weeks as well.

Here is what he didn’t say.

1.  He is a paid contributor to CNBC.
2.  He sits on the Pfizer Board of Directors.

While you are digesting that, note that on Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said that localities like Los Angeles County that are bringing back mask mandates are doing so “to protect the vaccinated as well as the unvaccinated,” and to prevent the “unvaccinated or vaccinated people with breakthrough infections from transmitting to others.”

Got that?  That’s covering all of the bases.

And, lastly, the job of the CDC just got more daunting.  In a leaked internal email it acknowledges the increased transmission percentages by the vaccinated.  Somehow it must continue to emphasize the efficacy of the vaccine, encourage booster shots, and acknowledge that vaccinated breakthrough individuals are carrying viral loads equal to and in some cases greater than the positive tested unvaccinated.

Three weeks ago Pres. Biden emphasized that the vaccinated need no longer wear masks.  This week Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi began fining those in the House that don’t.  Clear enough?

Covid-19 has mutated into the Delta variant.  That is info we can trust.

The Information Age has mutated into the full-blown Misinformation Age.  That is info that we can also trust.

What to believe?  What to believe?