As I arrived at Buckeye Central for the Division III District Volleyball Tournament, my phone rang from an unknown number.
Seeing that I just switched to a new phone and haven't added all my phone numbers yet, I answered it because I wasn't sure who it was.
As it turned out, I should have hit ignore.
It was Susan from the grass roots campaign to re-elect Barack Obama. ?Like the people from the Republican and Democratic parties who stopped by our house, she wanted to know if I had decided who I was voting for.
"Yes."
"May I ask who sir?"
"Sure you may," I replied.
"Who is that sir?" she asked.
"Nunya."
"I'm sorry. Nunya?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am. Nunya business."
I'm not sure she got it but she moved onto the senate race and asked if I had made a decision about that one and I told her I was undecided about that one. That was probably a mistake because I'll be getting more campaign calls.
She asked if I was voting absentee and if not, what time of day I was going to vote. I told her I planned on eating pizza that day for lunch if that helped her at all. Again, I don't think she appreciated the humor I was providing her.
She then asked if I wanted to volunteer and I told her I had enough on my schedule and didn't have time to volunteer in politics. Since I couldn't help, she wasn't interested any longer and she ended the call.
When I was growing up, I was taught that you don't share who you're going to vote for. We never had political signs in our yard and when I asked my parents who they were voting in a particular election, I was told "Nunya."
Ironically, it was my parents a week ago who also shared with me who I'm supposed to vote for.
There's a reason they put a curtain up around the voting booth.
Given my profession, I've always been very careful about political signs being my yard. Even today, my wife understands that the only signs that will go up in my yard are ones that are races that aren't covered by the A-T. So while I don't live in Hancock County, l've had my friend Phil's sign up in my yard, as he ran for commissioner in that county. The two in my yard now are both family friends as well.
On Facebook, you won't find anything about me "liking" this candidate or that candidate or that party. While I grew up with a certain set of values and political beliefs, as I've gotten older, I've found my views on certain issues have changed and I am no longer interested in voting a party line.
So what candidate should you vote for? Whatever one you've educated yourself about. It's more than just going out and voting. It's educating yourself on the candidates from the township trustee race to the presidential election. And guess what? If you come to something on the ballot you didn't research, don't vote for it.
It's a great gift we have as Americans to vote in this democracy. We owe it to our forefathers to use that gift and make an educated vote.
That being said, let's talk about the candidate you should elect to pick up this week and who is worthy of voting into a starting spot this weekend.
The most popular pickup has to be Rashad Jennings, who will be Jaguars' starting back for a few weeks since Maurice Jones-Drew injured his foot and is expected to be out at least two weeks if not longer. While Jennings is the starter, he wasn't very good against the Raiders, carrying the ball 21 times for 44 yards and a score. He had 58 yards receiving though on seven grabs, which redeemed his day. If MJD is out for four weeks, Jennings would have matchups against Packers (13th), Lions (26th), Colts (5th) and Texans (27th). Those numbers are the ranks for the most points given up to running backs this year by those respective teams. The Lions and Texans are the tough matchups but the Packers and Colts could be good matchups, even if the Jags are throwing a lot. He's a must pickup if you own MJD and better than some of the other backups you may have on your bench, like Daniel Thomas, Felix Jones or Wiliams Powell, to name a few.
There are two Browns worth talking about this week and the two go hand and hand: Brandon Weeden and Josh Gordon.
Weeden has quietly put together three straight solid weeks, averaging 262 yards passing, two touchdowns and a pick. And the primary beneficiary of that effort has been Gordon. He's picked up 240 yards receiving and four touchdowns over the last three weeks. Their next two matchups before the bye week are the Chargers and the Ravens. The Chargers are giving up the fourth-most fantasy points to the quarterback position and seventh-most to wide receivers. While the Ravens have already played the Browns once, Weeden still threw for 320 yards and a pick, but no scores. Gordon was held to one catch for 16 yards. I like the matchup the second time around because the Ravens are without Ray Lewis, but more importantly for this argument, Ladarius Webb. ?Remember that Weeden and Gordon are rookies and are rarely, if ever, successful right out of the gate. There will be hiccups still but the last three weeks to me show progress in a pair of rookies. Neither is going to evolve into Cam Newton or A.J. Green this year. However, these two are worth a pickup and spot starts. Gordon even has the potential to be a keeper candidate in dynasty leagues.
If only making political picks were as easy.
