After my historic debacle last week, I've had to mortgage the house, break my 401(K), sell my stocks and break my piggy bank. But hope springs eternal and really, do my daughters REALLY need to go to college? The picks, with a little bit of analysis of the 4 biggest games:

Michigan (-7) over Michigan State. There was never a doubt, not even a little bit, that Harbaugh would have Michigan back on top. The surprise is that he's doing it this fast. Michigan' talent level is not as good as the other major powers, though it probably is equal to Michigan State's (certainly not Ohio State.) But Michigan a 7 point favorite over MSU? Feels like too much in a rivalry game. But Sagarin rates Michigna 18 points better than MSU. And the game is in Ann Arbor. Can't ignore the numbers.

Alabama (-4) 4 units over Texas A&M. Every year people stat the season remembering how good Saban is. Then he has an early struggle or loss an they seem to forget. Bama always improves a lot during the season. They are doing so now. Yes the game is in College Station but by November this game would have a double digit line. Good opportunity here imo.

LSU -7 over Florida. Obviously I'm rooting for a different result. But this is a tough matchup for Florida who can;t match LSU's depth. A Saturday night in Baton Rouge is almost impossible when you have the better team. Here Florid probably does not. Even with Will Grier at QB (he's suspended for the season), probably would not. I expect good things from Treon Harris, Florida's replacement for Grier - he has the experiene and the talent to do well. But Heisman winner to be Leonard Fournette wil b too much for my Gators.

But Go Gators!

More on the flip,

Photo by Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

Housing Secretary Julian Castro endorsed Hillary Clinton today. They spoke at joint rally in San Antonio to enthusiastic crowds.

Hillary and Castro have been building ties for a while now. He's often been mentioned as a potential VP choice for her. At the 2012 Democratic Convention, he spoke the same night as Michelle Obama -- I thought: "Michelle Obama was good but hands down, the star of the night was Julian Castro.

Definitely a winning combination in my book.

Open Thread.

(Update (Jeralyn): I am still dealing with Comcast problems. Seven days and they still can't figure out how to connect my phones and keep my internet going. A tech is here now. I will post later, assuming I still have internet.)

My thoughts: Hillary came across the best in the debate -- by miles. Poised, prepared, and accomplished. With an open mind and willing to listen to other ideas.

Bernie Sanders has better positions on some issues, but he can't win. I hope he stays in the race as long as possible, because it's important for people to hear his ideas.

O'Malley was third, in my view. His best line: calling Donald Trump a carnival barker.

This was a substantive debate that addressed the issues, unlike Republicans who have been an embarrassment to watch and listen to.

The best moment: the standing ovation by the crowd when Sanders said the American people are tired of hearing about Hillary's "damn emails."

Webb and Chafee will be gone soon.

Your thoughts?

I just got home and have seen none of the preliminaries. Thus, I am untainted.

I'll post my thoughts periodically throughout the debate. No stenography so if you want to know what is being said word for word, you'll have to watch.

Update (Jeralyn): I just got home as well and will chime in in comments. Thanks, BTD!

0-0 in the 2nd.

You think Anderson Cooper rolled some dice last night?

Ugh "we teamed up with FaceBook." I'm tired already.

Jim Webb lives!

0-0 in the 3rd.

Omigawd CNN is determined to bore us to death.

2 minute opening statements. zzzz.

I''m also tweeting really HIlarious stuff here

Bernie gives his stump speech. It's a good one though.

Hillary very polished delivery not surprisingly.

First question TPP, Cooper load it with the "say anything" crap. But Cooper is not tough enough it doesn't work from him.

Clinton answer is fine.

SOSHULIST!!!!

I'll have to think about Sanders' answer a little bit.

Interesting interplay between Sanders and Clinton on SOSHULISM! she defended him but differentiated as well. Pretty deft.

Bernie getting hit on guns.

Hillary hitting him on guns!

Everybody hammering Bernie on guns!

Hillary pretty happy with this debate so far.

Hillary plays Obama card! Really smart!

Hillary owning this debate.

Now Libya, Hillary dead wrong on that one. Imo. No one agrees with me. Webb does apparently.

I'm taking break too.

Thnk you Bernie

I'm calling the fight. Hillary by TKO. Now wants 60 debates, not 6.

Tonight the first Democratic debate is being held in Las Vegas. The big unknown is whether CNN will create an animatronic Joe Biden to appear at the debate.

Other possible questions - Mrs Clinton, how do you react to President Obama calling your use of a private email server a "mistake?" My suggested answer - the President also called the Benghazi committee a political hit job.>/p>

To Sanders - why did you just become a Democrat? Not sure how to answer that one.

I'll live blog the debate tonight. It starts at 830 pm I think.

Open Thread.

Comcast is simply impossible to deal with. I've had no internet from Thursday when I moved to late yesterday. Every excuse in the book for not being able to transfer service, hours wasted on the phone, techs who never call back despite promises to do so. A special raspberry to Shawn and Elisha (Alicia or Alisha?) in Seattle and Vince in the Philippines. Worthless, all. I ended up going to the Comcast store late yesterday afternoon and Brandi C. spent an hour doing various things and setting up a fourth account for me and said all I had to do was go home and activate it. She was very close to fixing it, only it wouldn't activate, and I spent another hour or two on the phone with two to three more people, and the last one did something that finally allowed me to activate it. Unfortunately, I didn't write her name down.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

The picks:

Florida @ Missouri +5, Wisconsin -1 @ Nebraska, Georgia -3 @ Tennessee, Virginia @ Pittsburgh -10, Central Michigan -7 @ Western Michigan, Illinois @ Iowa -11, Maryland @ Ohio State -33, Oklahoma @ Texas+18, Oklahoma State @ West Virginia -6, Ball State +10 @ Northern Illinois, Connecticut @ Central Florida -3, Syracuse PICK @ South Florida, Georgia Tech =7 1/2 @ Clemson, Iowa State @ Texas Tech -10, South Carolina +21 @ LSU, Wake Forest @ Boston College -6, Navy +14 1/2 @ Notre Dame, Middle Tennessee +8 @ Western Kentucky, Tulane +14 1/2 @ Temple, Indiana +7 @ Penn State.

Go Gators!

Open Thread.

I decided to move back to my new place, even though the fire restoration isn't finished (if it's even begun.) I'm only taking what I need for now, since the floors will be replaced within the next few weeks. The rest is going to storage until the restoration is completed. I did finally find a temporary place to stay, and my insurance company was great and offered to pay for it, but I would have had to move from one unit to another in the same building after 5 days, and I think I've had enough moving for a while.

I hope this move goes better than the last one. But already, Comcast's computers are so confused by my moving back and forth, they've locked my three accounts, even to their employees, so no one could get in last night to do a transfer of service, let alone an activation. They'll work on it today, but if it's days until anyone hears from me, that's why -- no phone, no cable, no internet. Since I'm paying on three accounts, I hope they figure it out soon.

In between all this, I'm tying to get my tax info ready for my accountant, and working, so it's very busy here.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The movers will be here at 8:30 to start packing me up and I'm still not sure where I'm going. I think I found a place to rent for the rest of the month, but it's not yet signed and done. Cutting it close is an understatement, since I have to move out on Thursday.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome. And please stop the insults to other commenters. I don't have time to babysit the threads. Even long time readers may find themselves in timeout if they keep doing it.

I will be moving again this week. It's been very complicated since I have no place to move to yet -- the repairs on my new place won't be done before the end of October, and I have to be out of where I am by Friday. And of course I still have to work.

I doubt I'll be blogging (it's also tax time), but I'll try to put up some open threads throughout the week and hopefully BTD will have a few posts.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

In case you were wondering:

For those wondering (@armandodkos), Biden aide tells me: "The Vice President supports the TPP agreement and will help pass it on the hill."

— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) October 5, 2015

So Labor, how do you like Biden now?