NFL Week 5: Cebu

Hello everyone - back from the October national holiday, a 6 day break where all the Chinese are expected to travel inside the country to see the many sights. This means, of course, that all the foreigners should get out of China for the week to avoid the massive crowds.

We spent 6 days at a resort in Cebu, Phillipines. We went with another family who had kids the same age as ours. The resort was billed as one of the top 10 family friendly resorts in Asia, important for our combined 6 kids. Well, there was certainly a lot of stuff to do! Along with the water sports at the resort - snorkeling, paddleboarding, jetskiing, banana boating, etc. - there was plenty of land activities:
- sand court tennis
- 4 different pools
- 2 different types of water slides
- rock climing wall
- segway riding
- tandembikes
- arcade, ping pong, pool
- shooting range
- fishing
and so on.
In short, a dream place if you are a boy from age 8-13. Which we had 4 of in our group.

The whole resort was hard to describe. I'm still struggling with the right words. The best comparison would be that it was a Holidome on steroids.....you remember  those, right? A dark hotel that tried hard, but you couldn't escape the "Holiday Inn" aura of it all? That was this place. It tried to be a 5 star resort, but no.....

Each building was named for a tropical location, starting with a different letter of the alphabet ("A" to "Z"), organized alphabetically in a circle around the main pools. In front of each building, there was a sign describing the location in three paragraphs - with the last paragraph linking the resort (Plantation Bay) to the description. For instance, our "lodge" was the Seychelles House; the first two paragrpahs talked about the Seychelles, and the last paragraph said something like:
"For most, a trip to the Seychelles is a trek. Not so for Plantation Bay! Cebu is a 3 hour flight from Hong Kong, and Singapore, and only 5 from Tokyo - so you can enjoy the best of the Seychelles right here at Plantation Bay with a shorter trip!"
It seemed like each text was written as a 10th grade school project.

Oh - and each night had a themed buffet! Saturday night was Brazilian night - with Brazilian music and skimpy dancers! On Tuesday, it was Arabian night, with a polynesian fire show (??) and skimpy dancers. Thursday night was American night, with rock and roll and ....of course, skimpy dancers.

Here's a short video of part of the American show - I guess they think everyone in the US has a starring role in "Cocktail".

(And yes, that is Freddie in the Ubaldo t-shirt on the left....)

And they ran out of the main food (steak skewers on Brazilian night, spare ribs on American night) at each buffet. Classy.

Oh well - it was nice, the price was right (which says something), and it kept the kids busy with lots of adventures. We took a day trip on a boat one day (Tuesday - where I took the above picture. Also, it's amazing that I got service in the ocean - I found out on this boat that the Saints covered against the Dolphins), and another day I tipped over a jet ski in the middle of the ocean. And the internet was working perfectly, so I could follow the Cleveland sports week very closely, including watching the Browns beat the Bengals at the 24 hour restaurant at the resort.

No, we did not leave the resort the whole week. Poor planning and a remote location meant there was no real impetus to leave. But we did do plenty of activities - Freddie's a pretty good shooter with an air pistol; Warren could spend hours looking for hermit crabs, and Martin likes to be in a  kayak with me (with me doing all the paddling).

That brings us to this week - one of my favorite weeks of the year, when the Browns have already played and I am free to channel surf and watch any game I want. This is where I will watch Red Zone for an hour or so until channel surfing to the 2 or 3 early games of the greatest interest. Kind of like this past week, where we can sample a few activities each day and then focus on the best ones later in the week. And - with tomorrow officially still being a holiday  (the office is closed), I can sit on my couch and watch a NFL quadruple header with the late Chargers-Raiders game!

As for the Browns - 3-2 is the best news, I guess! Seeing Hoyer and then Weeden in consecutive series is sobering. It's amazing how long Weeden takes to get rid of the ball. I just hope Norv can pull his eyelids open (a la Clockwork Orange) to get this point across to him.

On to the games:

Chi 24, NO 20. I'm not convinced that New Orleans can play outdoors just yet, and the Bears have the firepower to keep up with the Saints.

Cin 30, NE 28. I do expect many turnovers here, with the Bengals defense and a shaky Dalton.

GB 31, Det 20. A desperate pack and the Lions outside....

Sea 20, Ind 17. There should be a lot of running (and eating of the clock) in this game.

Mia 23, Bal 16. Bal is showing that it can't score against good defenses (Buf, Cle, even Hou), and Miami is a good defense.

NYG 37, Phi 20. The weakness of the Giants is the Offensive line - but the Eagles are so bad at D that I don't expect them to take advantage.

StL 23, Jax 17. A low scoring game here.

KC 20, Ten 19. This will really show how "for real" Tennessee is. Can they stay competitive with KC wven with Fitzpatrick at QB?

Az 24, Car 20. Rivera giving points on the road? Fitzgerald against that secondary? Yes, please.

Den 31, Dal 28. Denver has played one road game - against the 0-4 Giants. This is by far their best competition. And Dallas can keep up with the scoring, if needed.

SF 24, Hou 23. Houston has the defense to hold SF in check here.

SD 23, Oak 16. Where are the points coming from? I know SD has a good offense, but on the road, after a big win? Expect a letdown.

Atl 20, NYJ 16. The Jets' defense is for real. I think they can extend the Falcons' red zone woes.

Best bets: 14 of them. Last week: 12-2 (!). Overall: 29-30-2
Chi +1
NO/Chi under 50
NE/Cin over 45 1/2
GB -7 1/2
Sea/Ind under 43 1/2
Mia -2 1/2
NYG -2
Jax +11
Az +2
Dal +7 1/2
Hou +5 1/2
SD/Oak under 45 1/2
NYJ +9 1/2
NYJ/Atl under 43 1/2

6 underdogs...is this the week the favorites cover all the games?

Supercontest picks: Last week: 4-1; overall: 8-10-2
Chi pk
GB -7
NYG -2 1/2
Jax +11 1/2
Hou +6 1/2