October. Good and bad

Ah yes, the glorious month of October is upon us again. Theories vary as to how October originally got its name. Some say it was from Roman Emperor Octavian Caesar. Could be. Others surmise it has something to do with Reggie Jackson. Ridiculous, you say? Maybe. But how many Caesars are in the Hall of Fame? OK, that was bad.

The leaves on the trees are starting to turn into beautiful colors. That's good. In a few weeks, we'll be tasked with raking them all up. That's bad.

The NHL has started its preseason and the NBA is beginning to stir. That's good. Few will pay much attention to either until after the Super Bowl is over in February. That's probably bad.

The mighty NFL itself features Sunday TV triple-headers, sometimes Monday double-headers, and even a game on Thursday night. That's good. To my knowledge, in the last week or so, they haven't had a single player incident or other scandal which requires damage control. That's definitely good. After 4 weeks, the Arizona Cardinals and Cinci Bengals are the only undefeated teams? That's neither good nor bad -- just weird.

Major college football is heating up as the good teams start to plow through their tough conference schedules. That's good. The usual suspects remain atop the rankings. That's bad. It's refreshing when "new blood" comes along once in a while to make a splash on the national scene.

And speaking of major splashes, the Michigan football program has done a cannonball from the high dive platform. Not only is their team terrible on the field, but their head coach and athletic director are taking some justified heat over how they allowed a hobbled, concussed quarterback to re-enter a game when when they were already getting blown out. That's bad. The students and alumni in Ann Arbor had gathered thousands of signatures demanding these people be fired, and even staged a rally on campus. For a once proud program like UM -- that's REALLY bad.

All the stores are running specials on candy. That's good, if one has a sweet tooth. But at the end of October comes Halloween, when the Chinese army of costumed rug rats will swarm your doorstep demanding hand-outs. So much for the Reese's cups and Kit Kats you were saving for a special occasion. That's both good and bad. Good for the adorable little tykes to pig out on for a couple weeks, but bad for parents that don't have dental coverage when those pesky cavities come-a-calling in a couple years.

NASCAR has entered it's "Chase", their version of the playoffs. That's good. Albert Einstein on steroids couldn't figure out their complicated point system, let alone the average fan. Definitely bad.

The Europeans once again opened up a can of whup-ass on the Americans in the Ryder Cup. Good for the old world. Bad for the new one.

What's that? Justin Bieber just had his way with another paparazzo in Paris? Not good. Tell ya what. If you're a cameraman, or even a camerawoman, and you get throttled by the likes of the Bieb, then you weren't only bad to start with, as Sir Charles Barkley would say, yurr turrible. You need to get a safer job. Like maybe baking cookies for Hindu monks, origami to amuse the Pope, or perhaps a life-long "civil servant" totally buried in the mountain of bureaucracy. Nothing is safer than that. But being physically abused by Bieber is downright pitiful.