Since I’m the resident college football fanatic here at KOIT, I thought I’d take a shot at picking the winners of the top college games every week this season! First thing you should know is I bleed purple and will always pick Kansas State to win. If the Cats are on TV you’ll find me hanging out at Ricky’s Sports Theatre & Grill in San Leandro with other screaming college football nuts. So put on your school colors and check back here all season long!

Week 1 (September 3-7)

Oregon @ Boise State: Hope you have HD for this one. The Ducks’ ugly uniforms on that blindingly blue Smurf Turf at Boise. The Broncos came away with an upset last year in Eugene when Oregon had QB injuries. Boise thinks they deserve to be in a BCS game. Here’s their chance to prove it. Pick: Boise State

Maryland @ Cal: Sleepy Bears went into College Park last year and never woke up as the Terps got the upset. Cal returns the favor with a 7pm game in Berkeley (10pm east coast time). Pick: Cal

Stanford @ Washington State: Jim Harbaugh begins his 3rd season on the Farm. This is the year the Cardinal needs to get to a bowl. Shouldn’t have a problem in the opener against the Cougs. Pick: Stanford

Georgia @ Oklahoma State: The Cowboys have never been ranked this high going into the season. Georgia plays one of the toughest schedules in the country and it won’t be easy to win in Stillwater. Pick: Oklahoma State

Brigham Young @ Oklahoma: Another small conference team anxious to show they can play with the big boys in the BCS schools. Too much Boomer Sooner in this one. Pick: Oklahoma

San Jose State @ USC: Sorry Spartans. You’re just a tune-up for the Trojans. Maybe you can catch them looking ahead to Ohio State next week but doubtful. Pick: USC

Alabama vs Virginia Tech: Biggest game of Week 1. Both teams are ranked in the pre-season top 10 and both had top rated defenses last year. Neutral site at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Pick: Alabama

Miami @ Florida State: Not the powerhouse programs they once were. The Hurricanes open with a killer schedule (FSU, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma). Bobby Bowden will have the ‘Noles ready. Pick: Florida State

Colorado State @ Colorado: Dan Hawkins heads into his 4th season in Boulder and has failed to make much of an impact in the Big 12 so far. If this game was in Denver I’d go with the Rams. But Buffs get the home field advantage. Pick: Colorado

Mississippi @ Memphis: Ole Miss is pre-season ranked in the top 10 and opens the season on the road against the Tigers from Conference USA. Pick: Mississippi

When I first heard Whitney Houston was going to record again, I felt an inner joy. This woman’s voice has been a part of my world here at KOIT for over 17 years…Whitney is a mainstay – an anchor of pop music with her touching, soaring ballads and her breezy upbeat dance tunes. What were we going to be treated to? With Clive Davis, her mentor back at the helm and a bevy of prolific songwriters giving her their gems I felt that all would be right in the music world, but sad to say…when I heard the 1^st single and pre-viewed her new album I felt something was missing. And the only word that I could come up with was “passion.”

When I read Ann Powers review in the LA Times, she summed it up very well…

”Certain voices stand like monuments upon the landscape of 20th-century pop, defining the architecture of their times, sheltering the dreams of millions and inspiring the climbing careers of countless imitators. Whitney Houston owns one of those voices.

When she was at her best, nothing could match her huge, clean, cool mezzo-soprano — not Madonna’s canny chirp, not Bono’s stone church wail nor Bruce Springsteen’s ramshackle growl. No, it was Houston who best embodied the feminine but gym-toned, black-inspired but aspirational post-racial sound of global crossover pop. Like a Trump skyscraper, Houston the singer was as showily dominant as corporate capitalism itself.

Then, like many a glorious edifice, Houston’s voice fell into disrepair. Drug addiction and a rocky marriage to Bobby Brown made her a tabloid staple. More tragically (for listeners, at least), her excesses trashed her instrument, which age and normal wear and tear would have imperiled anyway.

The pain and, frankly, disgust that so many pop fans felt during Houston’s decline was caused not so much by her personal distress as by her seemingly careless treatment of the national treasure that resided within her.”

Preview the album, make your own opinions…It’s good to have her back, but it’s a shame that we’ve lost this treasure, but I will always love you…

This morning’s trivia on KOIT:

Q: What year did the one-billionth car cross the Golden Gate Bridge?

A: 1985. February 22nd, 1985 to be specific. The toll was 2 dollars on Friday & Saturday, and one dollar other days.

Perry’s on Union Street in San Francisco is 40 years old today. So what were the prices like at Perry’s when it opened on August 20th, 1969? According to this morning’s Chronicle, a 7-ounce hamburger was a buck sixty back then. A bowl of French onion soup would set you back 75 cents..now about seven dollars. The most expensive item on the menu back then was a $4.95 filet mignon. You wash it all down with a fifty cent beer or glass of wine. Willy Brown will be tending bar there tonight and tomorrow. I haven’t bee to Perry’s since I lived in Pacific Heights about 20 years ago. I wanna go back.

This morning’s trivia on KOIT:

Q: Melissaphobia is the fear of……

A: Bees
Listen for trivia tomorrow to win free movie rentals from Blockbuster, and dinner at Chevy’s.

This is pretty cool. As you heard this morning on KOIT, The San Jose Public Library is taking part in a pilot program that lets you text questions, and get fast answers from the SJ Public library and San Jose State University librarians. Almost any question at all. It’s available Mon through Fri 1p-6p. Overnight questions will be answered the next day. Anyone with a cell phone can use the service and, other than what your carrier charges for texts, it’s free. To send a text question from you cell phone, send a message to 66746, and start with A-s-k-S-J.

Chief Bill French and and the Orinda PD weren’t messing around during the using-cell-phone-while-driving crackdown last week. 61 citations in two days. Pretty good for a town the size of Orinda. Thumbs up.

I’m happy to extend an invitation for you to join me at this exclusive event…nestled in the vintage vineyards of

Robert Mondavi Winery…

Papillion VIII

Appreciate the Music

Respect for food – a respect for Life

Taste the Wine

A grand tasting event is coming up on September 8 features the Asian fusion molecular cuisine of

“Bo Innovation” of Hong Kong…

one of the hottest restaurants in the world…

2 Star Michelin chef, Alvin Leung brings his X‐treme Chinese cuisine to Napa’s distinguished Robert Mondavi Winery for this once in a lifetime gastronomic experience.

Pairing his amazing menu with delectable Mondavi and Opus One wines, it will be an evening you’ll be talking about for many years to come…and if good food and great wine isn’t enough…click thru on the below picture to the event page to see what else we have in store for you…

It will be a memorable night under the stars…I hope you’ll join me -September 8^th, Robert Mondavi Winery…

And just in case, consider reviewing these options if a service interruption occurs:

· Adjust work hours
Ask your employer about adjusting your work hours to avoid commuting during peak traffic periods.

· Telecommute
Ask your employer about working from home during some of the time you’d normally be in the office.

· Carpool
Join a carpool and take advantage of “high-occupancy vehicle” (HOV) lanes. Get more information and a list of carpool lanes and other Park and Ride lots on your commute route. Carpool contacts are available through a511 regional rideshare program and also in the Craigslist Rideshare section. For information on casual carpool stops in San Francisco and the East Bay, visit the Casual Car Pool News.

· Alternate routes
You know which roads and freeways will be congested: check drive times before you leave home or work and go another way. Get FasTrak to minimize your wait at the tollbooth.

· Ride a BART charter bus
In the event of a strike, BART will provide limited charter bus service between East Bay BART stations and downtown San Francisco. More information will be available soon: Sign up for official BART news updates or check back here.

· Bicycle
Ride your bike to work, the bus stop or the ferry. The East Bay Bicycle Coalition and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition have helpful information available on biking to work, maps of bike routes and safety tips.

· Take public transit
Transit operators will have very limited capability to expand service, but many are keeping their websites up-to-date with changes and updates as they become available:

AC Transit
Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry
Alameda-Oakland Ferry
Caltrain
County Conection
Golden Gate Ferry
Muni
SamTrans
TriDelta Transit

This morning’s trivia on KOIT:

Q: In 1936 Jell-O came out with a flavor that absolutely flopped. What was the flavor?

A: Cola
Other Jell-O flavors that didn’t go over so well: Apple, Black Raspberry, Blackberry, Bubble Gum, Celery, Chocolate, Coffee, Cola, Concord Grape, Cranberry-Strawberry, Fruit Mold Supreme, Italian Salad (what??), Lemon-Lime, Mango, Melon-Berry, Mixed Vegetable, Orange-Banana, Orange-Pineapple, Passion Fruit, Pickle, Pineapple-Grapefruit, Plain, Raspberry Mango, Seasoned Tomato, Sparkling Berry, Sparkling Mandarin Orange, Sparkling White Grape, Strawberry Punch, Triple Chocolate, Tropical Fruit, Wild Cherry, Wild Raspberry

This morning’s trivia on KOIT:

Q: From the “Jetsons”, how old was daughter Judy?

A: 15, and Jane was only 33. While you’re doing the math on that one, the original Jetsons series lasted less that a year, Sept ‘62-March ‘63, and 24 episodes. In the mid 80’s they came up with a few more new episodes.

It’s one of those rare moments during a live performance that you realize that something special is about to happen…or at the very least…extremely funny…

Taylor Swift pulls out all the stops to pull a prank on Keith Urban…Taylor Swift and her band play a hilarious prank on Keith Urban during their concert last night at the Sprint Center on Saturday (August in Kansas City, Missouri. He’s about to sing his latest hit, “Kiss A Girl”…

as Taylor writes to Gene Simmons of KISS…

“Saturday night on our last night opening for Keith Urban, we played a prank on him. During his hit song, “Kiss a Girl”, Taylor (Ace), myself (Gene), Amos (Paul), and Grant (Peter) came out in full KISS regalia.

Our backup singers Caitlin and Liz along with our FOH engineer Russell were dressed up as Hershey kisses and tossed them out into the crowd. It was a lot of fun and it was captured on this video from YouTube.

Thought you might enjoy it.”

This morning’s trivia on KOIT:

Q: How many men tried to escape from Alcatraz when it was a Federal prison?

A: 36 men in 14 separate escape attempts. 23 were caught, six killed and and two drowned. Five men are officially listed as missing and presumed drowned.

This year is Alcatraz’ 75th anniversary, and there will be a party on The Rock on Sunday. At least two ex-prisoners are expected to be there, along with a few ex-guards and family members. The public is invited, but tickets sold out long ago.

The Oakland Police used a taser on a guy at the Coliseum the other night, and there wasn’t even a Raiders game going on. Truth be told, the guy was intoxicated & belligerent. ‘Don’t think the officers had much choice. You’re never far from a video camera/cell phone. So here it is:

Remember when I told you about the traffic ticket my wife received back in May (see my May 5th blog). Well, Kim fought it yesterday in court, and had it thrown out. Even the issuing officer, who was there in the courtroom, said that “in the interest of justice” the ticket should be torn up. The judge felt the same way.

Our oldest son, Andrew, who was three when I started on the Morning Show at KOIT, got his learners permit at the DMV yesterday. Sure, I’m a little nervous. But not as nervous as I thought I’d be. He and I did some parking lot driving, and the kid’s as responsible as they come. Certainly more responsible than his Dad was at 15 and a half. But wish us luck, anyway. And have a great weekend!