Ryder Cup pays Tribute to Minnesota native, Prince

To open today's event. the Ryder Cup committee paid homage to the late Prince Rogers with the playing of his hit song "Let's go Crazy". Prince was found dead the age of 57 at his home in nearby Chanhasssen, Minnesota, Paisley Park.

For those of you not able to make the event today, no worries.  I found that you can watch it online for free at http://www.rydercup.com/live/player.html

Happy Friday everyone!

Week 4: NFL Picks

With 3 week of the NFL season in books, only 3 teams remain undefeated.  The Vikings and Broncos will remain undefeated after week 4.  This week's upset pick features the Buffalo Bills over the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Here we go!

Miami Dolphins at Cincinnati Bengals

Bengals, 31-14
Indianapolis Colts vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Jaguars, 24-16
Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons
Falcons, 31-28
Oakland Raiders at Baltimore Ravens
Ravens, 21-13

Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans
20-10, Texans

Buffalo Bills at New England
Bills, 24-21
Seattle Seahawks at New York Jets
Jets, 19-13
Cleveland Browns at Washington Redskins
Redskins, 31-7
Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears
Lions, 27-7
Denver Broncos at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
21-17, Broncos
Los Angeles Rams at Arizona Cardinals
28-10, Cardinals
New Orleans Saints at San Diego Chargers
Chargers, 38-24
Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers
49ers, 30-24
Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers, 24-16

New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings
33-16, Vikings

2016: Week 4 NFL Power Rankings

1. Denver Broncos (3-0)
The little known quarterback from the Northwestern University, Trevor Siemian, is making a name for himself.  The Super Bowl winning defense has picked up from where they left off in 2015.

2. Minnesota Vikings (3-0)
Lost is Adrian Peterson, but the Vikings are no longer reliant on his presence as in year's past, The Vikings stifled the Carolina Panthers in week 3, who were averaging 40+ points per game.

3. New England Patriots (3-0)
It's the next man up approach at quarterback in New England and with Tom Brady returning after a week 4, the Patriots survived what some prognosticators thought would be a 1-3 start to the season before Brady's return.

4. Green Bay Packers (2-1)
Aaron Rodgers was firing on all cylinders in week 3 with a victory at home over the lowly, Detroit Lions. Rodgers threw for four touchdowns in the first half and the game was nearly in the books, until things got close late.  The Packers defense has its issues, time will tell.

5. Philadephia Eagles (2-1)
Where is North Dakota State University?  Just ask Carson Wentz. The rookie has taken over the reigns in Philly and has the city on his side with his teams convincing week 3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Wentz has yet to throw an interception and the defense has given up the fewest points in the league.

6. Baltimore Ravens (3-0)The wins for the Ravens haven't been pretty, but nonetheless they're undefeated.  They've had a soft schedule, yes, but maybe they have just been playing down to the opponents level. A tougher test in week 4 when they play the up and coming Oakland Raiders.

7. Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1)Ugly loss at Philadelphia with the offense just tallying 3 points. Ouch! Quarterback Ben Roethelisberger was under duress and completed less than 55 percent of his passes.

8. Dallas Cowboys (2-1)How about them Cowboys? Dallas is finally learning how to play a football game without Dak Prescott, or maybe it's the fact that they finally have a back-up quarterback. Prescott is in the early Rookie of Year running, ranked highly in the QBR.

9. Oakland Raiders (2-1)
I have liked this team out of the gates, Derek Carr is a franchise quarterback and they have the right man running the ship in Head Coach, Jack Del Rio. The Raiders will have a tough test week 4 as they take on the unbeaten, Baltimore Ravens. It could be a track meet, both defenses have struggled at times early in the season.

10. Carolina Panthers (1-2) Losses to a pair of Super Bowl contenders (Minnesota and Denver), legitimizes their reason to be in the top 10. Cam Newton was sacked 9 times versus the Vikings in week 3.

Others Receiving Consideration: Kansas City Chiefs (2-1), Arizona Cardinals (2-1), Seattle Seahawks (2-1)

8th Place finish at 10K in Chestertown, N.Y.

8th Place finish at 10K in Chestertown, N.Y.

September 27, 2016

Surprisingly, I ran my first 10K and completed with a time of 47:40, with an average pace of 7:41 per mile. 

It was a brisk 52 degree morning in the small town in upstate New York, just south of Lake Placid, where miracles happen. The race started and finished at Town Hall on Route 9. The run was beautiful, through the heart of the village.

With less than a 2 weeks remaining before my second running of the Twin Cities Marathon, i'm inching closer to a sub 3:30:00 final marathon time.  That's my goal!