Tomorrow's College Games

Barring a late miracle, which is me deciding to ante up to buy a DAZN NCAA Football subscription,  I won't be able to catch the Oklahoma Sooners' visit to the Texas Longhorns tomorrow.

I've checked the menu of games available to Disney Plus customers and it's not on there.

That's a shame, I would have enjoyed being able to watch that game at 8:30pm BST. It would have been perfect because I will, for the first time this season, get to watch Notre Dame. Their game begins at 5pm for me.

The Fighting Irish, who are ranked third, head to North Carolina to take on Bill Belichick's Tar Heels. 

I've checked out the spread and total for the match I plan to watch. The visitors are -21.5 favourites. Those looking to bet on the Over-Under will find the totals line set at 46.5.

After last week's mess up, I don't intend to use the spreadsheet to place any bets. In fact, I don't intend to place any wagers at all. 

"Isn't It Too Early For Greggs Festive Bakes?"

I was browsing the news this morning, and came across an article about Greggs' Christmas menu.

'BAKE OFF,' exclaimed the article's headline. 'Greggs reveals Christmas menu launching TODAY - as it brings back pigs in blankets'.

Isn't it too early for Greggs Festive Bakes?

That was my thought upon seeing the teasing headline and its deck. After all, it is October 1st. Greggs usually brings out the main part of its Christmas special shortly after Halloween. Or am I mistaken?

Turns out my guess was correct. There seems to only be a limited amount of Christmas items launched today. Most are of the sweet variety. As the news website pointed out - there are pots of pigs in blankets available for those looking for a Greggs snack.

Something stood out in my browse through today's updated menu.

New to this year's range is a Sweet Mince Pie Roll.

Inside Greggs' Sweet Mince Pie Roll

The product contains 'sweet mincemeat, made from vine fruits, Bramley apples and candied orange and lemon peel' inside puffed pastry dusted with icing sugar.

I bought one shortly after reading the article. Mine was really nice. It slightly reminds me of McDonald's Festive Pie, but felt more decadent even if it doesn't have custard inside.

It's something I will try again whenever I next buy lunch (or dinner!) from Greggs. I suppose that'll be whenever the company brings out the Festive Bake for Christmas 2026.

Other items on Greggs' early Christmas menu

As well as the Sweet Mince Pie Roll and pot of pigs in blankets, Greggs customers can also find mince pies, Christmas fruit cake slices and caramel shortbreads on the Christmas range.

They've joined some of the products available for the Halloween and November 5th seasons. For example, there's a pumpkin-shaped chocolate biscuit and 'Bonfire Toffee' muffins. 

Another Wrestling Question On Pointless

'They had a question about your wrestlers on Pointless this evening'

That was what one of my friends told me last night. I had to investigate immediately.

As I suspect some are aware, but some might not be, Pointless is a weekday evening game show on BBC One. The best way I can describe it is it's like a reverse Family Feud/Fortunes in that one hundred people have been asked the same questions. The aim in Pointless is for the quizzers to give answers that score the lowest amount of points. That's either by giving an answer not many of the 100 polled have given or - even better - a response no one has offered. The latter would be  'pointless'.

The couple who make it to the final round then get to answer a final question and hope that one of their three responses is pointless.

Pointless' WrestleMania-themed Question

Last night's finalists were given a choice of answering a question about 'Wrestling'. One of the categories was 'WrestleMania Main Eventers'. They had to give three names of people who starred in the closing match of any of the past forty-one WrestleManias. For what it's worth, and it is worth a lot to me (but that's another story!), they could have given any of the names who have headlined the Saturday night cards of two-night Manias. 

After conferring for their allotted one minute, the ladies opted to go with Jake Paul, The Undertaker and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin as their three answers.

Jake Paul was an incorrect answer because he has never main evented a WrestleMania. Neither has his brother, Logan, who is the WWE star in the family.

The Undertaker, regarded as one of the main characters in WrestleMania history due to his lengthy undefeated streak, was not a pointless answer. Eleven members of the panel knew him.

Of the three names given, and considering he's arguably one of the biggest names in modern wrestling history, I expected Steve Austin to get the majority of points. Surprisingly, only one of the one hundred pollsters gave Austin as an answer.

ONE!!

As the contestants were making their selections, I wrote three answers of my own down. I went with Mr T (headlined the first WrestleMania alongside Hulk Hogan against 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper and 'Mr Wonderful' Paul Orndorff), Sid Justice (main evented WrestleMania VIII and XIII) and 'The Million Dollar Man' Ted Dibiase (WrestleMania IV).

Some WrestleMania-themed Pointless Answers

Once we knew the contestants had failed to find a pointless answer, Michael Ball - who was sat in the researchers' seat (or whatever it's called!) - showed a few of the pointless answers on the screen. Andre the Giant (WrestleMania III), Becky Lynch (WrestleMania XXXV), Kurt Angle (WrestleMania XIX) and Shawn Michaels (WrestleManias XII, XIV, XX and XXIII) were highlighted. However, Ball ran off a list of other names like Bianca Belair (Saturday of Mania XXXVII) and Ronda Rousey (WrestleMania XXXV). He also named all three of my selections and botched the pronunciation of 'Dibiase' as he did so. Fair. I'm sure I would have done the same had that name been new to me.

Wrestling questions have featured on Pointless a few times over the years. Most have been resulted in a lot of British wrestlers from history being acknowledged. 

The only Brit who would have been a correct answer, for last night's question, would have been Drew McIntyre. 

The Scot was in the main event of WrestleMania XXXVI, which was held inside WWE's Performance Center during the Pandemic. McIntyre won the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar in the main event but also defended the strap, with a win over The Big Show, in a dark match immediately afterwards.

Curiosity has me wondering if McIntyre was a pointless answer or not. That's something I'm going to try and find out.

Stay tuned.

More About Pac

I'm watching last night's episode of WWE Raw as I write this post. It opened with a graphic of Pac (Benjamin Satterley), who wrestled for the company - under the alias of Adrian Neville - during the mid-to-late 2010s.

More news of the death came out last night. Pac was found parked up in his rental car outside a restaurant in Illinois close to O'Hare Airport. 

Law enforcement suggests there was no indication of foul play or trauma and the death didn't appear suspicious. 

William Regal's tribute to Pac

One of the things which struck me over the past day and a bit was a post William Regal wrote on TAFKA Twitter a fortnight ago. I had read it initially, but the words were far from my mind yesterday morning when I wrote the post.

Regal took to the social media platform to say he was on a plane returning home from Mexico and happened to have bumped into Pac on the journey.

The former pro wrestler, who now works in a senior role at WWE, had glowing words for Satterley. It stood out to me back when I first read it because Regal was writing about a person who worked for the opposition.

That, itself, should explain just how much of an impact Pac had with people both inside and looking in on the pro wrestling business.

Other words about Pac

There were so many posts and tributes written about Pac yesterday. I thought Newcastle United showed class by offering condolences. However, the words which really made me smile came from AEW referee - Bryce Remsburg - who wrote the following:

It was cool to read of Pac giving Newcastle United shirts to Remsburg's children (the photo evidence appeared in the post). I also found it brilliant that Pac gave those kids Kinder Eggs.

For those who don't know, Kinder Surprise is banned in the USA due to a 1938 law which prohibits non-edible products being concealed inside confectionary products.

I've been aware of that silly law for quite a while. Realising Pac was a Kinder smuggler brought a chuckle at this unhappy time.

'Pac Died...'

I woke up in the early hours of this morning with one plan: check out any direct messages on TAFKA Twitter, but ensure not to look at the main timeline to avoid the LA Rams versus Denver Broncos score.

Upon opening the app, one picture stood out. I had to stop.

Pac died...

That was the message my friend had left for me to read this morning. 

Stunned. That's the only appropriate word I could use to describe how I felt upon seeing that image. 

For those who don't follow wrestling - Pac was a British wrestler. He started his career in the early-to-mid 2000s and spent a few years working for NXT/WWE under the name Adrian Neville (or just 'Neville' by the end of his stint there). 

Upon leaving WWE, Benjamin Satterley returned to the Independent scene using his earlier name of 'Pac'. Then, in 2019 or so, he made his way to the number two US wrestling promotion - All Elite Wrestling. 

He last appeared on this past Saturday's AEW All Out show.

No cause of death has been revealed at this time.

This is the second tragedy to strike AEW in recent weeks. Former AEW talent - Andy Williams, who wrestled as 'The Butcher' - passed away following a medical emergency during an indie show on September 5th. 

A Funny(ish) Dream

I had a funny(ish) dream last night.

For some reason, I had taken a trip to London and was on my way home. Before I entered the station, I stopped off at a shop and came across a packet of crackers I was intrigued by.

They were Cheez-Its. In an untraditional blue and white bag. I looked at them and noticed they were a salted caramel flavour. I surmise they were a festive limited edition or something. 

Anyway, as I was inside the shop, a gang of males started hassling the shop assistant. I ended up performing a DDT on the ringleader and was then chased out by his toadies.

I didn't get to buy, let alone try, the Cheez-Its.

That was the bad news. The good: at least the DDT has become a significant finishing move again. It hadn't been since the days of Jake 'The Snake' Roberts.

57+ Years In The Making: Texas At Tennessee

Mankind was a little over six months from making a giant leap the last time the University of Tennessee played the Texas Longhorns.

They finally meet again today. This time with Texas sitting number one in the rankings. The Vols, on the other hand, are fourteenth.

Both are currently 3-0 this early in the season, so - to steal a line from boxing - someone's 0 is going to go.

It's a game I'm locked in for. Disney Plus has it listed, so I'll be watching it sans my Texas t-shirt because I forgot to put it in the wash in time. 

The US President is also scheduled to be in attendance. That's sure to highlight how big this game is historically.

The last time Texas and Tennessee met was in '69

As noted, this will be the first time in over fifty-seven years since the two sides opposed each other in college football. The Cotton Bowl game, from January 1st 1969, ended 36-13 in favour of Texas.

The Arch Manning-led Longhorns are currently five-and-a-half point road favourites. 

The spreadsheet's side and total for Texas' visit to Tennessee

For this special occasion, I have dusted off my spreadsheet to see its projections.

The results have Tennessee winning outright by five points. That's a 10.5 point swing. As for the total - it suggests taking Over 55 points. 

I'm not willing to bet against Texas, even though the spreadsheet firmly has them losing. My only bet will be on the game's total exceeding 55.

Texas @ Tennessee kicks off at 5pm BST today. Those in the UK can watch the game on Disney Plus.