Must be October

Today is October 1. The month of Halloween and all that other Fall season stuff. I knew it had to be that time of year when I arrived home from work on Tuesday, the last day of September.

When I arrived home I immediately noticed pumpkins on the front porch. Open the front door and paper pumpkins are hanging from the entry way into our dining room. Entering the kitchen you walk through black and orange strings hanging from that entry way.

On Rhonda’s desk is a Halloween ghost and when you push a little button it starts dancing and singing “I love candy.” Next to it is another little Halloween thingy and push its button and it plays the Adams Family tune. My wife, not fully recovered from her second hernia surgery, still manages enough energy to decorate the house Halloween.

And then there is candy and already my wife is putting the things that rot your teeth in the dish near the front door. I’m sure once one of our close neighbors finds out; she’ll be hanging out more at the Goffinet’s.

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October also means football is in full swing. Every weekend, high schools, colleges and pros battle for what they hope will be that prestigious prize – a championship.

One of my favorite teams, the Arkansas Razorbacks, will not win anything this year. After their gutless, no fight non-competitive game at Texas last Saturday they will be lucky to win another game this season. Florida visits on Saturday and the Gators ain't happy losing to lowly Ole .Miss the other day

Arkansas did lose two of the best running backs in Darren McFadden and Felix Jones this year to the NFL. Jones is just up Loop 12 from here at Texas Stadium playing for the Cowboys and has already made a huge impact.

McFadden is off to a decent start with the Oakland Raiders. Never have cared much for the Raiders but I’m pulling for ‘em this season only because of DMac.

Give the Razorbacks another year and once we put a real quarterback in there, mainly Ryan Mallett, the QB who transferred from Michigan but has to sit out a year, then we'll be okay. Once DMac and Jones declared for the NFL draft and Petrino came in as coach, everyone knew 2008 would be a long season.

The Cowboys, meanwhile, are Super Bowl contenders although after their performance against the Redskins last Sunday, maybe Super Bowl pretenders. But then it’s still way too early to be thinking about the playoffs anyway. Let’s just concentrate on beating the winless Bengals this Sunday.

And Tee O, shut up! You seriously whined – and maybe cried – about not getting the ball thrown to you enough against the ‘Skins? Are you serious? I understand you had like 19 out of the 40 something designed for you. Hey TO do the math, that’s almost HALF of the plays to you. Learn how to catch the dang ball first!

I can’t stand Tee O and I kick myself every time he DOES catch a pass and it goes for six because I’m celebrating a Cowboys touchdown but disliking the person who scored it. Now when Felix scores a touch, I’m bringing the house down!

My high school alma mater, the same as my oldest daughter Amanda’s, is struggling on the gridiron again. The Gophers are winless and things don’t look any brighter this week. They play Duncanville for homecoming.

Now on the other side of town, South Grand Prairie is doing okay after a very embarrassing season opening loss to Berkner, 38-0. The Warriors have won four straight and are 1-0 in district but face a new perennial power Friday at Cedar Hill. They should be playing in Texas Stadium in six weeks in the playoffs.

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What else happens in October? Oh yeah, the Texas State Fair. We plan on going to the Fair on Saturday. Every year the Goffinet’s hop in the car and venture to Fair Park to eat everything we can possibly get our hands on. First it will be the famous corn dogs, then my wife and daughters will have to get fudge – I can’t stand fudge – then it will be fried pickles and then who knows what else.

On our way out we stop a buddy of mine who helps operate a concession stand and I will get my patented turkey leg. And we’ll stop at the Texas Lotto booth, buy a few scratch offs and quick picks and say “nothing on this one!” It’s a great family outing although our son-in-law will not be able to attend this year.

But Hailey’s boyfriend is coming for his first visit to the Fair and he will really be overwhelmed.

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October ends with Halloween. It is on a Friday this year which leaves me kind of in a dilemma. Do I stay home and help pass out candy to all the little runts, err, kiddos or do I spend Halloween in the Gopher-Warrior Bowl press box? Stay tuned later for that.

And will I dress up at work like I used to when I worked at Cardinal? Again stay tuned.

That’s it for October. The Saturday after Halloween you can bet my wife will have all the Halloween decorations down and packed away and the Thanksgiving junk out. I’m sorry, I don’t mean junk, decorations.

Good night I’m tired! Was a looooooong day at work today.