The 2016 NFL season officially starts tonight with a rematch between the Broncos and Panthers, who played in last season’s Super Bowl. Not only does America love the NFL, but they also love high school football and college football. Every year, professional football opens on Thursday, high school kids play on Fridays and then college football arrives on Saturday. After Saturday, fans can watch professional football on Sunday and Monday evening.

Unfortunately, football has a dark side. With ever new football season, the “football widow” returns. A “football widow” is a woman who has a relationship with a football fanatic. Often, these men will pay more attention to their fantasy team than their wives. Football widows often have no interest in sports.

From September until February, their men migrate to places that serve chicken wings and beer. Like zombies, they will stare at large televisions, while watching two or three games simultaneously. If you don’t believe me, do a Google search for “football widows.” Forsaken women share their stories with anyone who will listen. Before September, these women were mothers, wives and daughters. Now they are America’s football widows. 

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Colin Kaepernick: The NFL’s Rosa Parks?

During a preseason game, Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback refused to stand for the national anthem. He offered his reason to the media. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color." He added, “There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

Is he referring to police officers? It sounds that way. He says America is oppressing people who aren’t white. Coincidentally, his parents are both white, his coach is white and the man who has paid him millions is white. So who is oppressing him? Kaepernick lives in a country where men earn millions playing a kid's game. 

Had he been born in Mexico, Thailand, India, or the Philippines, he would probably be working long hours in a filthy factory for just enough money to live in a hovel. 

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Is your furnace prepared for the winter?

Last week, my wife and I gave our Gibson furnace its last rites. Rest in peace old friend. Thanks for keeping our house cool during the summer and warm during the winter. To stress the importance of a furnace, try imagining your house without air conditioning or heat. It’s a horrible thought. But it’s how I lived in the ‘70s and ‘80s. If you grew up in those days, you can relate. Air-conditioning meant a box fan. It was like living in the prehistoric ages. 

Thankfully, modern technology has gotten comfort down to pushing on a button or twisting a knob. Our Gibson unit lasted for nearly eleven years because we cared for it. We cleaned the filters and signed up for a maintenance plan through Willis One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning—a local HVAC company that serves Clermont County and other locations. 

They can be seen driving around in their bright yellow vans. Also, Willis didn’t pay me to endorse them. I am not used to receiving such excellent customer service. I usually receive bad service, okay service or just enough service for me not to complain. So whenever someone shows complete professionalism, I thank them. 

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The return of the latest cicada brood

What has five eyes and resembles something straight from an old Ed Wood monster movie? If you live in certain parts of Ohio, you already know it’s a cicada. Your ears and eyes have probably warned you that the latest brood has arrived. I can remember my first experience with cicadas back in 2004. 

I worked for Hamilton County JFS in downtown Cincinnati. After the brood emerged, millions of cicadas emerged from a long hibernation. You could see them on the ground, in the air, on buildings, and on my co-workers. Cincinnati looked like it was hosting a bug convention.

Before moving to Ohio, I had never seen a cicada. Though some people find them cute, I think they look creepy. They are large, have red eyes and wings. So what purpose do they serve? I really don’t know. They probably just fit somewhere in the food chain as an appetizer or dessert since they only show up every 13 or 17 years. 

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Signs of fall: Halloween, Thanksgiving and professional football

As summer fades into the past, Ohioans will have a new reason to complain—cold weather. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, Ohioans can expect a cold winter. Thankfully, before it gets too cold, we can enjoy Thanksgiving and Halloween.

When it comes to keeping up with the seasons, I just look at professional sports. For instance, a new Cincinnati Reds season indicates spring. And when fall arrives, it indicates the latest season of professional football. It also means another Bengals team will call Paul Brown Stadium home. Strangely, the Bengals play like tigers during the regular season, but then become paper tigers in the playoffs. 

The Bengals haven’t won a playoff game in years. From 2005 to 2015, the Bengals earned playoff berths on seven occasions. Unfortunately, like an old television rerun, each appearance finished with the same ending—a first round loss. 

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Terrified family and police officers witness supernatural attack in a haunted house

Image courtesy of Coolchaser.com

Rutherglen, Glasgow police officers have probably seen it all. Whether it be domestic violence or hauling away a drunk from a local pub, however, they probably don’t get too many calls about supernatural events—if any. But arriving Scottish officers learned that paranormal activity does exist. The common term used is a poltergeist—a German word meaning “noisy ghost.”

A terrified family had contacted authorities because they feared for their lives. A woman claimed that something unnatural had invaded her home. Instead of finding a disturbed woman, police found something unexpected.

Authorities entered the haunted house only to see things flying through the air

Officers saw clothes flying throughout the house, flickering lights, the oven door opening and shutting on its own, and a Chihuahua sitting on a 7-foot hedge. And what’s stranger than an entity placing a Chihuahua on a hedge? The two-day nightmare occurred on August 8 and 9. Officers notified their superiors that they had witnessed supernatural disturbances in the house. 

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