1.  For the second straight year, the New England Patriots are the most disliked team in the NFL according to a new poll.  Close to the Pats in second are my Dallas Cowboys, which begs this question, “if Dallas would have made it to the Super Bowl this year, would anyone have watched?”

2.  Café X, the first fully mechanized coffee shop in the US, opened this week in San Francisco.  Instead of humans as baristas, this new café employs a Mitsubishi 6-axis industrial robot to make and deliver your favorite coffee concoction. 

3.  February starts tomorrow and with that comes baseball as pitchers and catchers begin reporting to their camps in Florida and Arizona in a couple of weeks.  Speaking of baseball, the average life-span of a major-league baseball in a game is 5-7 pitches.  In case you are interested, MLB spends $5.5 million per year just on baseballs.
 
4.  I started reading the book ‘Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney’.   One quote that hit me hard is this: “Don’t try to win every battle. While leaders need to be persistent and determined in the face of resistance, they also have to be flexible enough to fine-tune their vision at every step. The resisters might have very good reasons for opposing your plan, so listen to them carefully. You can’t fall on your sword for every issue, so it’s crucial to know when to let go and save your energy to fight another day. Ask yourself whether you’re fighting for a truly worthwhile goal or because you can’t admit you were wrong or you have to win, no matter what.”
 
5.  Mark Johnson is a fan of professional golfer Sergio Garcia.  For 206 straight days, he tweeted Sergio a message containing the same request: he wanted to be his caddie.  On day 207, Garcia tweeted him back and said Johnson will be on the bag for the British Masters pro-am. There’s something to be said for persistence. 
 
6. Golf + Super Bowl = Bets.  Here are some actual wagers you can make before the big game on Sunday: Which will be higher –

• Phil Mickelson’s fourth-round score (Phoenix Open) or Patriots rushing yards
• Justin Thomas’s fourth-round score (Phoenix Open) or Julian Edelman’s receiving yards
• Tiger Woods’s fourth-round birdies (Dubai Desert Classic) or combined FGs in Super Bowl

 
7.  Do you know the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard?  A graveyard adjoins a church, whereas a cemetery does not.  Now you know.
 
8.  Saw this quote recently: “At the office, you don’t say, ‘If I just show up, the projects will get done and my clients will be happy.’ You work for it. In a true partnership, you have to put in the effort to make your partner happy.”
 
9.  Don’t forget to watch Puppy Bowl XIII at 3:00 PM this Sunday on Animal Planet where team Fluff takes on Team Ruff.  A couple of the key players, uh puppies, for each team are Lucky, Buttons and Parfait for team Fluff and Puddles, Stormy and Bizmark for team Ruff.
 
10.  Even though the Patriots may be the most hated NFL team, a former player’s Super Bowl ring gave new life to 24 orphans in Thailand.  I urge you to read this story about former Patriots player Jerod Cherry and how is sacrificial heart and servant's attitude helped those in need.

Have a great week everyone.

1. Without looking at google, what was Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch’s original color?  Green, red, blue, orange or purple?  The answer is somewhere below this line. 

2. Two players on the PGA Tour this year each shot a round of 59 this season, which begs the question “are courses too easy for the pros”?  Not so when you consider Web.com (developmental tour) player Greg Eason who shot three rounds in the 90s recently.  Granted, the weather conditions were poor in both tour stops in the Bahamas, but a pro golfer shooting in the 90s gives even me hope.  On the par 5 18th hole, he shot a decuple bogey (10 over par for you not up on your golf terms).   The good news is that on his next round, he shot a 68.

3.  Handshakes were originally meant to make sure that the person you were meeting wasn’t carrying a concealed weapon. The hand clasp proved that your hand was empty and shaking was meant to dislodge any weapons hiding up the sleeve.

4.  When asked what would you choose to be your only meal for the rest of your life, President Obama said a Cheddar cheeseburger.  President Trump’s favorite meal you ask?  It’s meatloaf.

5. ESPN is planning on canceling The Sports Reporters, the sports debate show that first aired in 1988 in May.  The show was hosted by legendary sportswriter Dick Schaap, who hosted the show until his death in 2001. Schaap was replaced by longtime ESPN broadcaster John Saunders, who hosted until his death last year.  Although I watched this show regularly in the 1990s and 2000s, I seldom tuned in lately.  All good things – as they say – come to an end.

6. Lady Gaga will be entertaining at halftime of this year’s Super Bowl and if the insurance underwriters approve, she will perform part of the act on the roof of NRG Stadium (Houston).  She always pushes the envelope, doesn’t she?

7. I know you are dying to know what is the latest food craze in Russia.  Well, I’ll tell you…it’s the ‘River-Rat’ burger, which is made out the animal called a nutria, a two-foot long non-invasive rat.  It sells for $8.50 in case you are traveling to Moscow soon.

8. We are just 380 days away from the start of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.   To order tickets, go here: https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/horizon/eng/index.asp

9. The words month, walrus, blub, wasp, husband and orange are words that don’t rhyme with anything at all.

10. Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews revealed recently that she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in early September 2016. After two surgeries, she heard the words in November that she wanted to hear, “cancer free.”  Only her TV crew knew she was battling cancer during the football season until now.  This story has extra meaning for me because for the first time, I am revealing that I was diagnosed with Kidney cancer in late August, underwent two surgeries and was told in early October that I am clear of cancer. And while I was fighting cancer, I too was patrolling the football sidelines as a TV reporter for BRCTV-11, just like Erin was for Fox Sports.  Someday, I would like to meet her just to say, “I know exactly what you were going through.”
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Have a great week everyone!  And remember, every day is indeed a gift…make the most of it.  

1.  If people don’t read the Bible, at least they can read you.  Think about that for a moment.

2.  Speaking of reading, a new study has revealed that millennials lead all other generations in reading.  And, they prefer print books to e-books.

3.  The cost to raise a child from birth to age 18 in the US is $233,000.

4.  Speaking again of reading, the books I am reading right now are as follows:  To Pixar and Beyond by Lawrence Levy – It’s a book about the author’s journey with Steve Jobs to make entertainment history. Tommy’s Honor by Kevin Cook – It’s a book about the Old Tom Morris and the Young Tom Morris, golf’s founding father and son. It is my goal to read and finish a new book every 10 days.

5.  The 24th season of “Dancing with the Stars” premieres on March 20.  I have grown over time to like this show.

6.  The original iPhone sold for $499.00 and had 4GB of storage. Since going on sale in 2007, Apple has sold more than one billion iPhones.  Apple wanted Verizon to be the exclusive wireless carrier for the iPhone upon its launch, but Verizon turned it down because Apple wouldn’t agree to put the Verizon logo on the iPhone.  So therefore, Steve Jobs called AT&T, which agreed to the no logo demand.

7.  I may be in the minority, but I love watching the PGA Tour on television and dare I say it, even listening to events on the radio. 

8.  The American Housing Survey reported recently that 18 percent of households in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro area reported having seen mice or rats within the past year, which is the highest area in the nation.  We’re #1!  We’re #1!

9.  Donald Trump tweeted this:  @Ivanka Trump is great, a woman with real character and class."  The only problem is that @Ivanka is the twitter handle for Ivanka Majic of Brighton, England. Opps!

10. “Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever.”  Walt Disney.

1.  Thought to ponder -- It’s not what happens to you…it’s how you react to it.
 
2.  Why are there “self-help” sections of books in bookstores, but rarely are their sections or even books on “Helping Others”. We need to start sharing ideas and empathizing with others.

3.  Pat Benatar is 64 today.  Yup, I’m (getting) old.

4.  Currently docked in Maryland, the boat Seafood captained by Rodney Dangerfield in the movie “Caddyshack” is now on sale for $129,000. “Hey. You scratched my anchor”.

5.  The national debt is almost $20 trillion.  So, what is the government spending its $20T on?  Well…$300K studying whether boys spent more time playing with Transformers than girls did with Barbies…$3.4M for hamster cage matches…$3.5M study on why people are afraid of the dentist…$500K to see how long a fish can exercise on a treadmill…$150K for a gingerbread making workshop….and…$35,000 for a glow in the dark marijuana joint to encourage people to not drive when high.  It’s your money.

6.  Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stirs up anger.”

7.  Yes, I want to go to U2’s Joshua Tree tour this summer with my wife.  I saw them last in 2011 with Tina at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.  If anyone wants to buy me tickets, please email me at timothyreedy@gmail.com.
 
8. Kuerig is working on an instant beer and cocktail machine.  It will work like this:  Pop in a pod. Press a button. Then, enjoy a frosty, freshly-dispensed beer. 

9.  A Michigan man was fined $128 for warming up his car in his girlfriend's driveway. He said he was away from the vehicle for five minutes and “… had no clue that this was a law, an ordinance.".  "You're putting the public at risk," Roseville police Chief James Berlin" said. "This is purely a public safety issue."  Wow.

10. Let’s go Cowboys!!!