MONDAY MYSTERY

 We are in that in-between time for Judges when their summer vacation has ended and the holiday slow down has not yet begun. So the only thing left to do is try some cases and listen to the prosecution eloquently say “victim wants max.” 

Broweird 

Anybody see the story of the Broward judge who went to first appearance for a friend, identified himself as a Judge to the ASA and asked for a lower bond and then appeared on the record as counsel for the defendant? It didn’t make a bigger  splash because this being Broward, dog bites man just isn’t news. The only redeeming part of the story is he didn’t wear his robe whilst making the appearance. 

Clerk’s Office Mystery  

Everyone knows we love a good clerk’s office mystery. There have been so many good ones over the years. 

Does anybody know what this means? 

So is this window just for the Herald ? Does the Herald even have a dedicated courts reporter these days for state court ? Or is it for social media where IG influencers can drop by, shoot a video and post it? 

“Hey I’m here at the Miami criminal court house and I just had some yummy Cuban toast and a cafe con leche and now I’m at the Clerks office on 9 and it’s so cool you all should come by and check it out.” 

So what’s going on because we don’t get it. 

NFL WEEK ONE 2025

Update: Survivor pool posted. 

Good Sunday morning. Have you been waiting for the first NFL football Sunday the way a judge waits for a free buffet dinner?  Isn't this the best time of year? Football all day, plus a GREAT US Open final @ 2pm, and the baseball playoff races are heating up. #LGM (Let's Go Mets!). 

We are going to do something a little different because we started the season on a bit of a losing streak, dodging some serious losses, but nonetheless down in pro football picks (The Canes and Texas saved our bankroll Saturday. No way Miami covers 55.5.). 

Here's what we do not like about the NFL. 

1. The National Anthem. Despite you MAGA mouth-breathers who think the right to watch football is in the Constitution and the bible, it is not- as the NFL makes clear by spreading the games over a dozen apps. The worst move ever was putting the games on You Tube. Only snapchat has a worse app. 

Where does it say that you have to be jingoistic patriot to enjoy football? A transgender immigrant communist vegan has as much right to enjoy football as anyone. So spare us the national anthem before every game followed by some military jet flyovers. It is meaningless. We are not honoring anyone with this facade. You want to honor Veterans?  Pay them more and fix the VA and provide more mental health counseling instead of spending money on jet flyovers. Play the national anthem at the start of the season and at the super bowl. Enough is enough. It's a waste of time. And that applies to all sports. 

2. Spare us the television introductions of players and where they went to college. Who cares if the Titans starting left guard went to the University of Wisconsin? Who came up with this lame idea and who is in charge of continuing this nonsense? It's a complete waste of time. How about two less commercials and skip the intros? Everyone has the internet. If you cannot watch Vegas /Patriots without knowing where the slot receiver went to college then freaking google it (or chat gbt it) and let the rest of us watch the game in peace. 

3. On the radio broadcasts of the games, we are DONE with mid law firms sponsoring plays. "Jim that third down conversion was brought to you by the injury lawyers. If you are facing third and long in your injury case, just dial 1-800-ambulance chaser and get in the game."  Are teams that desperate for money? Really? Come-on man. You can do better. 

Okay, here's a few thoughts for the games until we get back on track. The Bengals -5 over the hapless Browns seems a safe bet. Denver over Titans along with the Bengals seems like the safe survivor picks. Denver -8 seems like a lot. Maybe we tease it down to 6.  Lots of touts picking Vegas over Cheaters in NE. We'd like to see it happen, but we are not confident. Maybe tease Vegas +2.5 to +3.5. Arizona -6 at New Orleans seems like a good pick. 

And our best bet of the day is the Sunday night game. The Buffalo Bills at home +1 over the Ravens. Give us a home-dog revenge game bet any day of the week. 

Quick tip- new weather report shows rain throughout the Seahawks-Patriots game in NE. Grab the under 48 like we just did. Money never sleeps, nor do the betting lines, but sometimes they are slow to adjust. 

SURVIVOR 

Jason Ireland, Lucy Lew and Fantasy Football Champ De La Over all nailed the 44 total for the Eagles win Thursday night and won a covered second pass for the season. Picks will be up around 1pm. 

Survivor Week 1 by Anonymous PbHV4H

NFL 2025 KICKOFF

FRIDAY UPDATE: We are going to take some credit for warning you away from the Eagles line and over. If you took the fav or went over, you lost. Our take is the D in CeeDee. Lamb is for "drop" because he dropped two balls at the end of the game, one eminently catchable that would have given Dallas the game. Dallas played a good game. They may well be more competitive than we originally thought. Our disdain for Philly WRs for Fantasy Football was confirmed. If you had them  on your team, they greatly underperformed. 

And if we have not done so, PROPS to last year's FF Champion Judge De La O. He will have a hard time defending his win with selections like Vikings WR (vastly overrated) bust Justin Jefferson. But we shall see. Rumpole plays the champ in week one. 

The spitting incident Thursday night before the game is inexcusable. Commissioner Rumpole imposes a 50K fine and two game suspension. We might mitigate that to one game, but it would take a lot. 

KC- LA Chargers. Friday night.  We have trouble picking a line when teams fly 6,000 miles for a game. We have a parlay Mahomes over 246 yards and 1.5 TDs for +160.  If you want to bet the line, the Chargers are getting 3 and we suggest giving it. KC has a surprisingly good Defense which also has us leaning to the under 47.5, which the more we think about it, is the best bet for this game. 

And speaking of best bets for the weekend, borrow if you have to, and put all your money on the Bills at home +1 for the Sunday night game. We have that and a parlay Bills +1 and under 50.5 for +230. This bet will allows us to expand our Opus One collection this year. 

******

 The NFL season starts Thursday night. Are you ready? 

We had our fantasy football draft Wednesday night, and after some last-minute drama where your blogger, the commissioner, was locked out of the league minutes before the draft, all ended up well as we finally got in, and with the fifth pick in the first round we eschewed the Justin Jefferson WR scam (as we did two years ago when we won the league; we leave the Jefferson pick to judges who have short last names) and reached down for rookie RB Austin Jeanty. If things turnout the way we suspect, we will once again be a powerhouse team to be feared. 

Eagles v. Cowboys. The line dropped from 8.5 to 8. Still too much. Eagles -8 leaves you vulnerable to a backdoor cover (for example, the Eagles are up 14 with two minutes left and the Cowboys score a meaningless TD, and now your Eagles bet is a loser). 

Here is our sleeper pick- Cowboys WR George Pickens to score a TD. You can get some good odds (we got +200) on this one, and start the season off in the black.  A Hurts over 200 yds passing parlay with Barkley rushing over 100 yards also seems nice. 

We will save our picks for Sunday but will provide a bit of a season preview. 

No, you will not get pedestrian pablum like "The Broncos will surprise a lot of people", or "The Commanders will make a deep run again" (they won't). If you want that stuff, go to ESPN or some half-baked podcast. We give you some real information that you can use, like....

Your Arizona Cardinals may have the best record in the NFL at the halfway point before fading. 

The Atlanta Falcons will surprise some people; the Saints will not- they are in the lead for the first round pick of the 2026 draft along with perennial loser Cleveland Browns.  

Your Miami Dolphins are heading for (best case scenario) a one-and-done-playoff appearance. Sorry, but this is not a team with legitimate super bowl aspirations. 

So who will be standing at the end of January? 

In the AFC it will come down to the Bills and Ravens, and as sure as Miami Dolphin fans will abandon the Fins after a few losses, you can count on Ravens QB Lamar Jackson to throw an INT late in the 4th quarter of a close game, or lose the ball in a strip-sack. The Bills make the super bowl, and yes, Denver will make a run. 

In the NFC the Eagles will be the team to beat. But don't discount the San Fran 49ers. What about the LA Rams you say? An old, injured QB is not the way to pave the road to the super bowl, we reply. 

And what about the Packers? Over hyped. Micha Parsons was not the missing piece. But they will be tough. And the Lions? Yup- they will be there at the end, along with Philly. And the surprise team will be the Falcons, and/or maybe the Tampa Bay Bucs. 

It's going to be a great football season. Enjoy. And if you bet, remember, bet it all, you can always make more money! 

FANTASY FOOTBALL

 Join up, Log In, Play against your favourites. 

Draft Wednesday Evening. 

Click here 

or here 

  https://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/460591/invitation?key=6cb4ae5ff6685f06&soc_trk=lnk&ikey=1a085c02d38e366e

Rumpole tip- Denver and Atlanta QBs are real good late round value picks. Avoid Kyler Murray. 

GREG GONZALEZ

UDPATE: Sad news as we end the summer and Labor Day weekend- Greg Gomzalez has passed away. Thank you to everyone who contributed to his go fund me campaign and wrote wonderful things about Greg, which thankfully he was able to read. He knew how important he was to our small community. 

UPDATE:  They are at $30,000.00 in just over two days of opening the go fund me account and us posting it on this blog. It is an absolutely wonderful response and speaks so well about the hearts of the people in our REGJB community. BUT, we are going to ask you to consider digging a little deeper. We can get this to $50,000.00. If you have friends who are civil lawyers (and yeah, it's hard to be friends with those people, we get it) tell them what is going on and ask them to donate. If you sent $100, then skip Starbucks this week and send another $25. We are asking a lot, and we have no business doing so, other than we have a friend who we know would have been the first to contribute if this had been anyone else. If you know Greg, then you know he would have dug deep and spread the word. Let's do the same for him. Thank you. We never ask. We are asking now. 

HR

We have rarely done this.

  
Many of you know that Greg Gonzalez has battled a deadly brain tumor for the past several years. We have now sadly learned that he has entered hospice care and a go fund me account has been set up for him to receive palliative care at home.  We urge you to donate. 

 https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-gregs-palliative-care-journey?modal=share&source=fundraiser+sticky+footer

Greg was a fixture at the REGJB for decades. He truly was a person who always had a smile on his face. He was the first person to volunteer to help someone - a lawyer or a client.  He was instrumental in supporting the creation of the Veterans Court because Greg served our country as Airborne.  Like his military service, he was often first in on a difficult case or when a lawyer asked for help. 

We cannot think of a better person who deserves an outpouring of love and respect for the life he has lived. If you can, please send something. Let him know that we all support him, as he has supported us with his military service and friendship.  
Thank you. 

UPDATE the list of names of people who have generously donated is so heartwarming.  Judges. Former judges. REGJB support staff. Prosecutors. Pds. Regional Counsel. Defense attorneys. It’s amazing. Sometimes we can all come together and help a friend in need. From the bottom of my heart I thank you one and all for stepping up and showing that in many ways our courthouse is special and we are a family of brothers and sisters that help each other.  

IT IS TIME FOR FOOTBALL

 We are back, rested and refreshed and ready to announce that the most beloved part of this blog-the award winning, record breaking, Viagra-taking, world famous BLOG Football Survivor Pool is ready to start a new year. 

(Make sure you read until the end. There is MAJOR blog news below. Something many who wear black robes to court have been dreaming about for years and years). 

Y'all  know the rules by now ("one bite, everyone knows the rules"). 
Send an email to FBPOOL12@GMAIL.COM. This is the only email we accept submissions for the Survivor game and get ready to match football savvy against the great and near greats like everyone's favorite Fake Alex Michaels, DOM, Judge De La Over, and a host of others. 

Just send an email that you are playing and we will admit you. Get ready for week one, which starts Next Thursday. You can make your pick with the first email if you wish, AND our first competition for an extra pass (everyone gets to pass one week, if you win the Thursday competition you can get a second) by picking the winner of the Cowboys -Eagles season opener on Thursday September 4. Also pick the point total (like if you think it will be Dallas 20- Philly 14 then the total is 34) and if you can pick the exact score, you will win a coveted second life.  

By picking the winner we will award a second pass to whomever gets the point total correct or is closest to the total. 

Fantasy Football. Maybe. We are working with the commish to see if we can fit it in. 

No time like now to make a major blog announcement. 

We are planning to end our direct participation with this blog on June 30, 2026. Yes, you read that right. Rumpole has other things to do.  We would like to turn the day-to-day functions over to at least two people, one of whom was/is a PD and one of whom was/is a prosecutor. We will still contribute from time to time and will run next years Survivor Pool.

 If you are really interested in a once in a lifetime opportunity, send an email to Howardroark21@Gmail.com and be prepared for a vigorous interview process. 

There are judges all over South Florida smiling at this news. 

WOOPS

 Our Judge of the day is Judge Hank Newkirk of Georgia and you can see what he did to merit blog mention.

Let's be honest. How many of you robed readers have ever wanted to do this?