Emmie and Canasta with Bob… offering up the Golden Choices Healthy quarterbacks. Injured quarterbacks. Teams striking out hot at the start and perhaps now returning to the pack. Teams arriving to the opening weeks cold and wondering if it’s too late. Divisions that may be over. Divisions where incompetence creates opportunity. Examples? We’ve got examples. No one in the NFC West can defeat the 49ers. No one in the NFC East wants to win a game at all. San Francisco is 6-

Emmie and Canasta with Bob… offering up the Golden Choices There used to be a fairly basic, as in really basic and minimal, way of viewing the NFL season to gauge what was going on. Simply put, measure things every four games. Divide the run roughly every month into quarters. Or, as the tides shift and weeks overlap months, look at every four games. It wasn’t in any way scientific or perfect. But it did accomplish – in some ways if only by offering a no frills overvi

Emmie and Canasta with Bob… offering up the Golden Choices Quick show of hands. Put them up in the air. Now, keep them up if you thought the Giants would be leading the NFC East after four games. Keep them up if you thought the Browns and Ravens would share the lead in the AFC North after four games. Keep them up if you thought the Chargers wouldn’t have a win after four games. There had better be no hands in the air. In fact, if you kept your hands up after

From The Backpack I remember a place that, in the middle of a city, was all alone. Once, Slater Park was in Pawtucket, but Pawtucket was not in Slater Park. As I drove in for a visit one day, the setting of trees became more dominant as the traffic along the main road moved further behind. To the right, a pond was shimmering in the glow of the sun. The zoo had an entrance up and off to the left, just beyond the World War II gun that pointed back toward the ducks and geese w

From The Backpack Sign on the side of the highway.  Billboard.  Interesting message… “After you die, You will meet God.” The biggest interpretation for me is what I see as an obvious tough-love threat.  Sort of (my words): “You!  Yes, you.  Right there.  Doing that.  Stop doing that.  Stop it now.  Because when you die, you are going to meet God.  Is that what you want to be remembered for?” Let’s toss that thought off to the side for now.  The quote has my mind r

In November, A Parkside View will be back. Yup, the monthly newsletter that features exclusive content will be back and ready for monthly installments again. Still working out a few details. Got some additional thoughts to share about it in October. But there is one big thing to mention now. You can sign up to get the newsletter right on our site! For free! On each of the websites – In My Backpack and Dumb Old Bob – there is a place for you to enter your email

Emmie and Canasta with Bob… offering up the Golden Choices Week three is done. Week four selections have been made. Due to some unforeseen events, we’re not going to have the usual full column this week. We'll recheck the results and update the full season next week. For now it appears Emmie went 8-7-1 with Bob and Canasta 7-8-1 for week 3. Everything will be back on track with next week's picks. For now… the games go on… As usual spreads taken from USA Today. Pitt

From The Backpack The fireworks of nature fade as darkness approaches. I step out onto the front stairs of the house, the metal upon metal slam of the screen door echoes through the neighborhood. With no particular destination in mind, I begin to wander through my little portion of the city. The four walls in every room of the apartment are far too confining. I am looking for a release, and I find it, in the everyday tasks, the carefree world of children, the crystal cl

From The Backpack I’m driving along a local route… one of those roads that, while I suppose it qualifies as a main road, you wouldn’t think of using unless you had a need to be there. Basically, when driving it unintentionally, it is exactly the type of road that confirms all fears that you’re lost. A gas station is located at an intersection, with little else nearby. It’s a minimum of a half-mile in any direction from that intersection to find a store, restaurant, or a

Emmie and Canasta with Bob… offering up the Golden Choices Want to know why it’s too early to really tell what’s going on? Ok… The Raiders are 2-0. The Packers, Commanders, Saints, Dolphins, and Browns haven’t played a home game. And, for a bit more, the Chargers lost to the Cardinals and Raiders. Anyone telling you they are confident about anything right now. That doesn’t mean we aren’t about to get to some markers. After four games, we’ll have reached a go

From The Backpack Her mother walked over to the microwave and set the timer. Two minutes. She had two minutes. When the alarm sounded, that would be it… bed time. Before her mother’s finger even hit the button to start the count… she was gone. Her first stop was in the family room, where she immediately hopped on the “spinny” chair that had become a favorite during her visit. Unfortunately, with her twin sister and younger brother already in their bedrooms,

Honestly, if I’m being fair to myself and many visitors who have been kind enough to join me time and again for well over two decades, the From The Backpack idea has already been introduced. But this is kind of a new In My Backpack. An In My Backpack teamed up with Dumb Old Bob. An In My Backpack that was renovated and overhauled, and is up and running and still promising so many more surprises. From The Backpack is the first of those surprises to arrive on our new si

Emmie and Canasta with Bob… offering up the Golden Choices I told you. Early season is a nightmare. Let’s take a look at Canasta… The Rams never arrived in Australia to even be competitive. The Lions look horrendous. The Packers are in disarray. The less said about the Chargers, the better. She picked the Cowboys. That’s five games where the teams she selected were embarrassing, not her choices. When we did this in 2024, Canasta showed an amazing ability to run

The website is back (and it has a sister site). First and foremost, welcome. For many of you, this is a welcome back. You’ve been around In My Backpack – or as we often refer to it, Backpackville – before. Many of you have been visiting the site, buying my books, reading my newsletter, attending appearances, and just supporting my efforts for quite some time. A few of you all the way back to the start of The ‘ville in 2003. Thank you very much, it’s great to have

The NFL season is always a nightmare early on for making wagers. Not that it’s an easy win at any time of the year. But early on, before teams have had a chance in a live game that counts to demonstrate what they’re going to bring to the field, it’s just this side of impossible to be certain of what you’re looking at. Do you know how disruptive Aaron Donald will be? Is he going to be playing at an extreme high level for extended stretches of the first game? How about