NFL Championship Games; Popes etc.

I have no internet connection for the time being, so I’m writing this on my Scrivener program.  If I ever again find an internet connection, I’ll do a copy & paste thing and move this to my COAVC blog.  Tomorrow is championship day in the NFL.  Prior to the playoffs I had bet 3 teams to win the Superbowl…the Giants @ 12-1, San Francisco @ 11/2, and New England @ 4-1.  I wagered $40 on each team.  If New England beats the Ravens tomorrow I will have the winner of the Superbowl.  But just for insurance, I placed a wager of $40 on the Ravens tomorrow.  The Ravens are 7 1/2 points underdogs, so if New England wins by less than 8 points I collect tomorrow’s $40 bet on the Ravens plus which I have bets on both teams in the Superbowl.  If the Ravens lose by 8 points or more, I lose tomorrow’s $40 bet but still have bets on both teams in the Superbowl.  If the Ravens win outright, I win tomorrow’s $40 bet but only have a bet on one team in the Superbowl.  The bet I made tomorrow on the Ravens is called “insurance.”  Probably none of you are particularly interested.

I continue to read The Cambridge Modern History (vols 1-5) and I have now completed 7%.  Zowie!

It is actually a great deal of fun.  I hadn’t known that Lucrezia Borgia was the daughter of the Pope.  (I think it was Pope Alexander VI).  That made it rather easy for her to obtain annulments and divorces…just call dad.  But it turns out that Lucrezia probably was not the terrible person I thought she was.  She may not actually have poisoned anyone.  Some folks thought rather well of the lady.

Then there’s Cesare Borgia.  (Son of a pope)  It turns out he wasn’t such a bad guy either.  He had this rather nasty habit of killing people up close and personal, but outside of that his intentions were generally good; and as we all know, it’s one’s intentions that really count.  Machiavelli, who I thought was a really nasty fellow, was really rather mild and philosophic.  Machiavelli thought Cesare Borgia might have been able to unite Italy…the major problem of the period…had it not been for the role of chance in these matters.

I enjoy the writing very much.  It begins by swamping the reader with a ton of names and events that no one can possibly keep track of, and then little by little it concentrates on an individual , such as Savonarola, or a city, such as Florence or Venice, and things become more and more clear as one reads.  I was saddened to learn that Michael Angelo (that’s how it’s spelled in the books) had made a bronze statue of Pope Julius II which was placed in a city which was later captured by the French (Charles VIII?) who melted down the marvelous statue and turned it into a cannon.  Pope Julius II used to lead his troops into battle and hang out with the soldiers and swap jokes etc.  Sort of a General Patton.  If I remember correctly, Michael Angelo’s bronze of the Pope showed him riding into battle, and was judged by the people at the time as one of Michael Angelo’s bets creations.

Well, that's all for now.  Oh yeah....GO GIANTS!!