There was this kid I knew named Joey. He was a scary kid who I assume is now in prison. He was the youngest of four boys. His older brothers were always suspended from high school and I believe were the last boys on earth to be sent to state funded reform school. I'm not sure but it seems like now if you have an out of control kid and you are from a family of some means you send them to a boarding school that in the past would have beaten the shit out of your kid as a last ditch effort to get them under control but now probably come to the same failed result via group therapy sessions. There was a school that used to have a billboard on I-90 out by Ashtabula OH that advertised some terrifying sounding institution with a vaguely military vibe that noted they "helped boys who didn't want to be helped through structure and discipline". I assume that means torture in some kind of pretend military school. Yikes. Anyway, Joey was the last and ignored kid of this family. I don't even know if he had parents. I never saw them.
We all avoided Joey because he was dangerous and scary. The great thing about being 12 years old is you can identify when a kid is going to be a felon, but when you tell an adult about it they laugh you off as you just being a stupid overly dramatic kid. That's the way it was in the 1970s. "Mom! Joey threatened us with a knife!" Oh you boys! Go back out and play! A 12 year old is surprisingly resilient. You just get used to the fact that a dangerous kid could be lurking in the woods and you just keep your head on a swivel.
So one time a group of us wandered down to the railroad trestle at Walnut Creek. There was a deep hole in the creek where the tunnel dumped the water. Daredevils were known to jump into the 10-12 foot water (depending on the rainfall) from the 20 foot high trestle. As soon as we got close we heard boys yelling to each other. Older boys. High alert. We peeped through the bushes like an infantry patrol closing in on a highly guarded German position. It was Joey and his brothers with their terrifying friends in and around the creek yelling for Joey to jump off the trestle.
I don't want to shortchange this. I wouldn't have done it then and I sure as hell wouldn't do it now. The deep part of the creek was surrounded by shale that had been eaten back by the current. If you jumped off and fucked it up, it would be bad. Very bad. Now I had heard about kids jumping off into the water but had never seen it. I was terrified about being discovered and likely tortured in some way by the older delinquent kids but still transfixed about seeing what would happen. "Pussy! Jump you pussy!". Joey was almost crying. This was maximum peer pressure. He was afraid to jump because, let's face it, he should have been. However, if he didn't jump he might get a beating from the older boys. He was in a fix. Now the fear was if he saw us see him in this position of weakness, he would likely deliver a beating to us when he would capture any of us alone. This was high drama.
In the end, he jumped. I could tell from the second he jumped the angle was wrong. He had overcorrected to miss the concrete lip of the tunnel and jumped too far left. He hit the water with a smack. He went under very briefly and then his head was above water with a high pitched scream that didn't sound like a noise that should be coming from him. A small pool of blood rose to the surface. His brother pulled him over to one of the huge rocks on the side of the creek. Joey kept screaming. I could see a bone sticking out of his leg. Holy shit. The older boys stood there and stared for a second and then launched into damage control, immediately blaming Joey's brother for browbeating the kid into doing it. I saw it though. They were all to blame, but the brother was the only one that seemed to care about Joey even a little bit. We knew this was bad so we did what 12 year olds do, we ran away. I didn't see Joey for weeks. He had a filthy cast on his leg when he got on the bus for school that Fall. He moved away shortly afterwards.
It is a reminder of how cruel life can be, just like the NFL. A few weeks ago Joe Burrow was the leading man in Cincinnati. Joe had a bum leg, but he was getting healthy. Then he pops a tendon in his wrist and suddenly the city is fawning over Jake Browning. Who? That's right. Jake Browning, a guy that I couldn't recognize in a police lineup, is being priced like he is as good as Joe Burrow, a guy that got a 1/4 Billion dollars to play QB. You are telling me the Bengals are going to give Minnesota, a team that is better than Cincinnati anyway, three points? Minnesota keeps winning games without Cousins or Jefferson. They won games with Dobbs for fuck's sake. Gimme Minnesota +3.
I like Detroit. The bloom is off the Lions in regards to competing to win the NFC. I have no faith in the Lions at this point. However, after two bad losses they get to come back to the Dome and play Denver. Denver has been on an insane run of getting fortunate turnovers. That has to even out sometime, like how it has with Pittsburgh. The only way they can win is to grind and hang around in low scoring games. The Lions defense blows, but if they can just give them something or if Detroit gets out front early, I think the Lions win and cover. The Lions need this game and I think Dan Campbell gets them focused. Side note, Russ Wilson has been bad in domes over his career (whatever that means). I am going to buy a couple points and go Detroit-3 at -155.
Washington is a mess. Ron Rivera is a dead man walking. The defense has either quit or has been exposed. I don't know if Washington's offense can do anything versus the Rams. I do know the Rams are still alive in the playoff hunt and McVeigh is coaching his ass off. With that Ram rookie RB playing, these guys can move the ball. I'm taking a team total over to eliminate the questions about the Commander offensive effort. Rams OVER 27.5
Current Record 21-21-1
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