No Bearcat football game this weekend and a terrible Bengals game didn’t make for a good weekend.   Rather than dwell on that disappointment of a game, here’s an update on my fantasy football games.   I went 2-1 in standard fantasy football play.   As far as the losing team goes, it was in one of my money leagues.   In this league, I am now in 6th of 12 teams.   The playoff cutoff is 6, so I need some big games over the next couple of weeks.   In the other money league, I am now in 4th of 10 after this weeks win.   Again the playoff cutoff is 6, so I’m in a little better shape.   However I have to take on the league leader this week.   And in the other standard league, I’m in 3rd of 8.   This is the league that Kim continues to dominate and I don’t think I have a chance of catching her since there are no playoffs.   Looks like I could potentially finish this year better than the last few years.

Friday night, Kim and I headed to the Paramount Theatre for the latest Warren Miller movie, Dynasty.   Kim organized a group of 25 for the movie and got great seats for us.   Not only do people generally enjoying watching the movie, it’s also a fun way to get pumped up for the season with the loud sold-out crowd.   Not to mention the free lift tickets that are included with each ticket.   However, I didn’t think this movie was as good as in years past.   I didn’t feel that the skiing was nearly as good as it’s been in the past, and there were very little snowboarding segments.   Though one of the better segments of the night featured ten-year-old Alexis Roland, who appeared to be a better snowboard than me.   Another good segment showed the disabled mono skiers at the X Games.   Most of the other segments showcased beautiful backdrops, so if nothing else it was cool to see some other resorts across the globe.

Wow, another great weekend to be a Cincinnati football fan with wins for both the Bearcats and the Bengals.   The University of Cincinnati Bearcats defeated 25th ranked West Virginia on Friday night 24-21.   I was hoping for a more decisive win, but the game was fun to watch anyway.   The Cats are now 10-0 for the first time in school history and were the first BCS team to reach 10 wins.   Speaking of the BCS, they remain the 5th ranked team in pretty much every poll including the BCS standings.

Yesterday the Bengals beat the Steelers for the second time this season, the first time doing so since 1998.   As long as they beat Cleveland in two weeks, they will sweep the division!   With a 7-2 record they are now sitting on top of the division and second in the conference.   Beating Pittsburgh is always great, but doing it twice in one year feels wonderful for the fans.   I’m hoping this winning streak can continue even more.

Fantasy football also treated me well this weekend.   I won two games and will lose the third.   The wins come in both of my money leagues.   I was 8th of 12 teams and 6th of 10 in these leagues and I can’t wait to see where I stand after the game tonight.   After four straight wins in the non-money league, this loss shouldn’t hurt too bad.   I was in 4th of 8 teams.   Also I’m happy to report that I am the winner of the survivor league.   I stuck with Miami over Tampa Bay, while the other contender chose Denver over Washington.   Miami won, while Denver lost, so I am the sole survivor of the game!

Yet another loss for my adult league hockey team last night.   We are now in dead last place with just one point in four games.   After a slow start, we were able to tie the game at five goals in the third period.   We tied it up despite having numerous penalties called against our team, most of which seemed pretty debatable.   We even had three guys in the penalty box at the same time.   However, further penalties allowed our opponents to take the lead late in the third period.   The final score was seven to five.   Only one of our loses has been by more than two goals, so hopefully we can turn things around and start winning a game or two.

This past weekend was another good one for southern Ohio football, though I didn’t get to watch any of it.   I guess the Bearcats were involved in an exciting shootout with UConn.   UC was able to pull out the narrow victory, 47-45.   Let’s hope the defense steps it up for the last three games.   It all starts tomorrow night at 8pm eastern on ESPN2 as the Cats take on West Virginia.   The Bengals capped it off on Sunday with a big win over Baltimore, for the second time this season.   Who Dey!

I wish the same could be said of my fantasy football teams.   Only one win, and a couple of losses this week.   The win comes in the non-money league.   I’ll blame the poor performance on not being able to update my lineup while in Mexico.   One point of good news is that I am still alive in the survivor league, along with only one other person.   Big decision to make: who should I pick this week.   I’ve already picked San Francisco, New Orléans, Minnesota, Atlanta, Green Bay, San Diego, Philadelphia, New England, and Baltimore so all of those teams cannot be picked again.   I’m leaning towards Miami over Tampa Bay.

Another good week in football.   The University of Cincinnati notched yet another win against Syracuse on Saturday and have moved back up to #5 in the BCS standings.   I still think they can climb even higher if they win out, which will give them big wins against #13 Pittsburgh and formerly ranked West Virginia, who just lost to South Florida.   It is surely going to be an exciting time and I hope they make it to another BCS bowl.   They played in the Orange Bowl last year, and I’m hoping for something different (and easier to get to) for this year.

Fantasy football also treated me fairly well this week.   I won in two of three of my leagues.   That puts me in 7th of 12, 4th of 8, and 7th of 10.   Still somewhat middle of the road.   I’m hoping to get some good streaks going as we start heading into the second half of the season.   I continue to do well in my pick’em leagues, as well as the salary cap game.   And one of the five teams that was left in the survivor league chose wrong this week, leaving just four teams left.

One last thing, I had another hockey game last night and our team finally scored a point.   We finally started playing as a team, though we still have lots more to do.   Our passes definitely looked better than in past games.   We ended the game tied 3-3 and went into the best of three overtime shootout.   Unfortunately, none of our shooters could get a goal a our opponents got one to end the game.   It looks like we play the last place team next week, so hopefully we can get a win.

Once again we were back in Cincinnati this past weekend.   This time we were not there for a wedding, and were able to do things on our own time.   This helped to make one of the best weekends we’ve had with our families in a while.   We started off with the Run Like Hell, which is a costumed 5K run including part of a cemetery along its course.   Kim’s family help to put together a team for her cousin who has Cystic Fibrosis, “Running for Patrick.”   They ended up with 40 or 50 people participating in the race all with shirts on for our team.   Patrick was able to come down to watch the race and hang out with his family and friends during the before and after events.

As far as the race goes, it is a very hard course filled with hills, most of which are up-hills.   Kim and I started near the front of the pack with my dad, her brother Chris, and cousin Betsy.   We started off on a really fast pace, and by the time we had reached the graveyard we were already split into smaller groups.   Kim really was moving on the course, as she wanted to beat her younger brothers, and somehow my dad was able to keep up.   I couldn’t keep that pace and decided to run with Chris.   Betsy was just behind us and that was pretty much how we finished.   According to our timing chips, Kim and my dad finished at 26:15, while Chris and I finished at 26:54.   Kim managed to just squeak into the top 50 women runners and was rewarded with a very nice commemorative shirt.   It was a good run and a great thing to be a part of.

Below is a side-show of my mom’s pictures from the event.

Another great weekend in football!   The University of Cincinnati keeps on rolling, and they easily beat the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday, 41-10.   Despite this win, the team was somehow dropped in the BCS standings to #8, down from #5.   They remained at #5 in the AP poll, which obviously makes more sense to me.   I guess as long as they continue their undefeated season, I don’t really have a reason to complain.   The Bengals also manhandled the Chicago Bears on Sunday, 45-10.   It was definitely a happy weekend for Cincinnati.

My fantasy football teams continue the winning tradition, at least in two of my leagues.   I did lose in one league, after having a week with a number of my good players on bye weeks.   I should be able to bounce back this coming week.   I’m in 5th place in a couple of my pick’em leagues, and winning another.   I also am still alive in the survivor league, along with all 5 teams from the previous week.   And finally I moved up to second place in the salary cap game.   This is amazing as I was definitely one of the worst players in that game at the start of the season.

Based on last night’s game, my new hockey team has a long way to go.   I’m told we played the defending champions from our new league, and they were good, but our team never quite clicked.   By the start of the third period we were down by five or six goals, and though we managed to cut their lead back to a couple of goals, I still feel like we need a couple more games to really get to know our new teammates.     Hopefully we can keep some lines together so guys start learning what their line-mates are going to do in different situations. I’ve been playing defense so far, but hopefully I’ll be able to move back up to forward on weeks where we have a smaller turnout. Last night we had three forward lines and two pairs of defense. I don’t believe I added any points to my assist from last week.

This was the first game I’ve played on the new second sheet of ice at the Ice Ranch. They’ve also had a second sheet, but it was much smaller than normal, and they only used it for three-on-three games and curling. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t have just put a regular sized rink in when they first built it, but I’m glad that they have two now. This allows us to play almost all of our games at this rink, which is one of the closest rinks to our house. Plus they have a bar for post game team building.

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats continue their undefeated season and have moved all the way to #5 in AP Poll and the first BSC Standings. Their game last week was on Thursday night, and I had to watch in from Kansas City while Kim watched with a large group in Denver. Fortunately my good friend Phil offered to watch the game with me. It was also nice to stumble upon a couple of other UC fans at the bar, who helped cheer the Cats to a commanding 34-17 win over then ranked South Florida. We are hoping to get another gathering together to watch the homecoming game versus Louisville this Saturday, so let me know if you are in.

The winning also continued in my fantasy football leagues, as all three of my standard league teams won! That’s a first for this season. I should now be in playoff contention in each, though I definitely still have room to move up. I’ve moved up to third place in one pro pick’em league and remain in first in another. I am also tied for fifth in college pick’em. In the survivor league, I am one of only five people that are still alive. And in the salary cap game I’m in third place, after making some great roster changes. Somehow Kim remains undefeated in one of our leagues, but unfortunately this isn’t a money league. Bummer.

Saturday morning, Kim and I drove down to Colorado Springs to meet up with our friends Amy and Corey and attend an Air Force football game.   We arrived plenty early to take in the pre-game festivities, which included many cadets marching onto the field in formation, a group of skydiving paratroopers, and a flyby of multiple F-16’s.

Cadets on the field before the game.

Paratroopers entering the stadium.

Though the game wasn’t the most exciting ever, Air Force walked away with a win over Wyoming, and the pre-game and halftime ceremonies more than made up for it.   At halftime they had a falcon fly down from on top of the press box and perform a number of passes over the crowd at very high speeds.   The bird makes repeated stoops at the baited lure swung by the cadet falconer.     I wish I would have gotten video of this, but the bird was too small and fast to capture.

Nearing a big win over Wyoming.

After the game we headed up toward the famed Cadet Chapel.   A wedding had just ended in the Catholic Chapel, so we were able to sneak in for a quick look before some of the retaining ropes were back in place.   This chapel is down on the basement floor of the building, so it doesn’t feature as much stained glass as the Protestant Chapel upstairs does.   The Protestant Chapel is much larger, the biggest of all the chapels, and is very colorful with the stained glass lining all the spires.

Outside the Cadet Chapel building.

View of the Cadet Chapel from the side.

Catholic Chapel

Protestant Chapel – both the south and north ends.

I apologize for the lack of better quality pictures, but these were all taken on my iPhone. I brought my good camera with me, but in my rush to get ready I accidentally left the memory card in my computer.