So, where were we? Packing suitcases, checking papers and immunizations and getting ready for the move to this thing called Tuesday, if I recall.

Anyway, looks like everything arrived safely and we're ready to resume these weekly exercises in spelling and punctuation. But, I'm too tired to cook, and with about 10 days worth of material ready to burst out of the box, our first lunch/dinner buffet beckons. Please use a clean plate for each trip:

* But first, this public service announcement: The San Francisco Giants and Fresno State bandwagons will be unloading at all suburban locations before heading downtown.

* Has there been a worse Friday in recent memory for our local high school football teams, with all seven losing? That won't happen this week, with Lemoore at Hanford West and Avenal trekking to Laton, but still ...

* We may have learned more about the San Francisco 49ers in their loss to the Vikings on Sunday than we did about the Vikings.

We already knew that Brett Favre is much like John Elway was in his heyday, namely, darn dangerous when he gets the ball late in the game. Both find ways to get the job done, more often than not.

But what we may not have known is there's more to the 49ers than originally advertised. They'll have to be with Frank Gore sidelined for the next few weeks.

If the 49ers can hold together their core elements on both sides of the ball, this team is going to be more to watch over the next few seasons.

* Speaking of comebacks, you almost expect to see the DeLorean of "Back to the Future" fame parked in front of the Tachi Palace Hotel &  Casino, with all the boxers and mixed martial arts fighters returning to the fold in October.

The first MMA card under the Tachi Palace Fights banner is Oct. 8  in the great outdoors and features Hanford's Chad Mendes (4-0) in a featheweight bout against Mike Joy (7-4) of Bend, Ore.

Several other local fighters will appear, including Lemore's Poppies Martinez and Mike Martinez. Jessica Rakoczy, a popular boxer at the Palace out of Las Vegas, will also make her MMA debut.

Boxing fans get their night on Oct. 22, in a card featuring a 12-round bout between Edison "Pantera" Miranda and Fransciso "Panchito" Sierra for the vacant NABO super middleweight (168 lbs.) title.

Wasco heavyweight Manuel Quezada, ranked No. 4 in the world by the WBC, will have his first fight since the one-round knockout of Travis Walker in July in a WBC Caribbean title bout, as well as recent Palace staples Mike Dallas Jr. and Javier Molina.

* Fresno State ejects students from Boise State game with signs about the Central Valley water crisis.

Thanks, Fresno State!

Obviously, I'm sympathetic to the plight of our farmers, and I'm also a backer of the First Amendment, but at the same time,  I resent having a few hours of football - or any activity of late, it seems - hijacked by someone's political agenda, left, right or center.

It's getting so I expect someone to say "The light just turned red, it's Obama's fault!" or "We're out of milk, the Republicans have struck again!"

There's a time and place for good, healthy political debate in this great land of ours (on a few issues, I wish there were that debate, instead of the constant trading of sound bites), but a football game isn't one of them.

Richard de Give is The Sentinel's sports editor. He can be reached at 583-2430 or rdegive@HanfordSentinel.com.

(Sept. 29, 2009)