CFB
ISU+14.5: Why spoil a good thing. Iowa State has a good team, and if Oklahoma State can't put Kansas away, I'm not sure how they are giving 14.5 to ISU, even if they are at home. Take the roadie.Colorado+40.5: CU stinks. USC is good. Over 40 is a lot of points. This game will probably go like most of CU's games this year where they will score 1 or 2 cheap td's somewhere.
KSU+3: I think in order for this to happen, KSU is going to have to show up again. They will have to do this all year. Most pundits are on WVa which is where I like them to be. Go Cats.
Others: Rutgers, Stanford, Boise, FSU, San Diego State
NFL
New Orleans-2.5: This is the most dangerous 1-5 team there is and like Green Bay, I don't see them letting up, and I see them feasting on inferior teams, which despite what Tampa Bay did to KC, is.Green Bay-5: Yeah they are on the road, and yes, St. Louis plays good D at home, but Green Bay has to find its rhythm and if last week is any indication, GB is mad and St. Louis is in for it.
NYJ+10.5: The teams are similar, the Jets showed they can keep up, NE can't keep leads, and in the NFL this is a lot of points. 3rd road team to take this week.
So, after football, what else do we have on this weekend's agenda? Oh yeah, a lot. Tonight is my 4 year old daughter's Halloween party at school. My oldest has gymnastics, but then I have to get her over to the Halloween party because God forbid she not get to do something that her sister does. Tomorrow I have the day off, but we have a "family reunion" planned for the day. That should last most of the day, and hopefully I get a work out in at some point, and then a good buddy is in town so I am going to try and meet up with him later Saturday night. Sunday, with the Chiefs off, is shooting day out at the gun range, then maybe another workout, or maybe spend some time with my relatives who are in town for the reunion. The reunion.
My parents two sides of the their families couldn't be more different, but oddly still the same when you get down to the heart of it. Both are extremely different from my wife's families, so anything we do that's "family" related always makes the wife smile because while it's new to us, it's usually old hat to her. My dad comes from a large family, who have been in the area for quite some time. Our background is Lebanese, but when people ask where our families from, I always tell them Oklahoma, because that's pretty much where they migrated from after coming over from the old country in the early 1900's. As we get older, we seem to see less of each other, and have grown further apart. I guess it's only natural that as grandparents or great grandparents move on, the family settles in more with the new grandparents. Whereas my father's mother was the matriarch of the family, that role is now headed by my father but we don't see the uncles, aunts, and cousins as much anymore. We have a large reunion on my father's side every summer, and it gets bigger and bigger each year, but I see a lot of those relatives in passing as most of us all live in Wichita. The wife's families have 3-4 reunions every year, and it's always the same people, regardless of which last name is getting together, because as German Catholics from Smalltown, Kansas, everyone is related. To me, its just an excuse to get together, eat, drink, and share stories, and I guess that's what it's really about anyway.
My mother's side of the family is a little different, and it's why this reunion tomorrow might be a little strange. My mother can trace her families roots back to the beginning of our nations history. After the Civil War ended, the Ralston's migrated from Pennsylvania, and my grandfather's family settled in Kansas and specifically the Augusta/Andover/Rose Hill area. Time passes, their farmers, ranchers, cowboys, yada, yada, yada. As things go, it gets down to my grandfather and his brother. The only two living children of my great grandfather and great grandmother (I still had one of my great grandmother's until I was 20) ended up with small families, but a whole lotta land. My mother is only 1 of three and her older brother passed away over 20 years ago, leaving just my mother and her sister who has lived in Tennessee for the last 20 years. On the other side, my Grandfather's brother also only had two children, and they subsequently only had 1 or 2 children each as well. Let's just say that there aren't a whole lot of the Ralston's left in the area and after changes in name through marriage, there really aren't many left.
Since the passing of my grandparents, and his brother, I think nostalgia has started to set in. My grandfather and his brother spoke very few words to each other the last 20 years of their lives due to a family feud after my great grandmother died divided the family. It divided land, blood, and it made people choose sides. Unfortunately, you always choose your families side, and because of that, my mother and aunt have had very little contact with their first cousins because of it. Well, they say that time heals all wounds, and maybe our family is no exception. As they have gotten older, my mother, her sister, and their cousins have become increasingly curious about their families history. How they came to where they are; where people have been and where people went. Between the two sets of Ralston's, there are farm houses, home stead's, burial sites, river's, ponds, and beautiful Kansas land. In the last several months, I think they have all gotten together and decided that maybe it's time to mend the family fences that have been weathered over time. This Saturday will mark the first time that this set of Ralston's will have gathered together in over 20 years. I'm not really sure what to expect or what's going to happen, but I'm excited to go, and excited to see and meet family that I don't really know.
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