Junk Food Nation, Happy Football Day!  Even though I know the full slate of games doesn’t happen until Sunday (DUH), today is a good day because the Ravens take on the Broncos in Denver this evening.  And I have been CHOMPING AT THE BIT for real football to start. Fantasy football-wise, I have Matt Prater, Demaryius Thomas, and Ray Rice in tonight’s contest, so let’s all hope for high scoring, shall we?

It’s going to be a good football weekend for me, regardless, because of the way the TV schedules are stacking up.  Now, I have NFL Red Zone, anyways, but even if I didn’t it’d be a good weekend.  Here’s why:

1)      Tonight is a great matchup between Denver and Baltimore.  Last year’s Super Bowl champ and this year’s AFC favorite.  Peyton Manning vs. Papa Johns. Audibles. Thin air. 100-foot Joe Flacco posters. Love it.

2)      Like everyone else, local coverage is usually front and center.  But, good for me – the Redskins/Eagles game is the MNF game.  So the Sunday 100/430 slots won’t be dominated by local coverage.  There won’t be any Ravens coverage either…because they will have already played tonight!

3)      The next game that my local stations would usually show would be the NY Giants…but they have the Sunday night game in Dallas!  So again, the 100/430 slots won’t have any local coverage.

4)      Looking at the 430 slot, there’s no way that the Green Bay/San Fran game will NOT be the national game, since the only other game at 430 EST is Arizona/STL, which is poo poo.

5)      So that just leaves me to predict which AFC and NFC games will be locally covered in my area, and I’m going to bet that I’ll get to see my Buffalo Bills take on the New England Patriots on CBS, and the Atlanta Falcons take on the New Orleans Saints on FOX.

6)      So, even WITHOUT Red Zone, I’m going to get to watch BAL/DEN. BUF/NE. ATL/NO. GB/SF. DAL/NYG. And WAS/PHI.  Now THAT is an amazing slate of games.

7)      My prediction for tonight: Broncos over the Ravens.  I actually think the Ravens have done a little bit of addition by subtraction, but I just think Denver will outscore the Ravens. I’m going to say….27-24, Denver.

It’s back to school time, boys and girls, and in celebration of that, CVS recently mailed me another care package full of goodies from their Gold Emblem and school supply line of products.  Plus, instead of a football helmet or a summer lunch bag, this time CVS gave me big ol backpack!

Let’s see what’s inside this nice ribboned-up backpack…

I see a combo of edible snacks and school supplies!  Cooooooooooooooooooooool….it’s been a while since I’ve been excited about school supplies, but I can’t deny that used to remember loving them.

CVS gave me some good stuff here, including their classic trail mix, which I briefly reviewed here.

CVS also gave me a travel mug, some construction paper, scissors, crayons, and a notebook.  Since I’m not in grade school, I’m thinking of donating these nice items to a school supply drive.  🙂

Let’s get to the edible stuff:

So these are Blueberry Flavored Dark Chocolate Bites, and then in small print, “flavor infused dried cranberries.”  So…these are dark chocolate covered cranberries that have been infused with blueberry flavor?  Yeah, THAT’S not scary at all.

When I opened the bag, I could smell the artificial smell of blueberries pretty distinctly.  Popping a few in my mouth, the chocolate was sort of dry and waxy, not unlike Raisinets.  The cranberries inside were small, so I only got a tiny bit of berry taste.  As I chewed more, I did get an artificial taste of blueberry – not sure if it was from the chocolate or the insides.  I have to admit – these were not my favorite.

On the contrary, these Gold Emblem Dried Cranberries were awesome – sweet, tart, chewy, just like how I want my Craisins to be!  This bag held a TON of them, and they didn’t disappoint.  For lovers of dried cranberries, you’ll enjoy these – they were plenty tangy, so I didn’t get an overly sugared feel either (though they are PACKED with sugar).  Loved these.

And of course, who DOESN’T love a nice honey and oat granola bar?  The packaging LOOKED very much like a Nature Valley Granola Bar, and tasted just as good – each bar was thin, for maximum bite radius, and very crunchy.  The bar was sweet, and chewed nicely – it was nice and crumbly, which I enjoy with granola bars.  Definitely not the ooey gooey chewy variety – these were crisp.  Loaded with satisfying oat-y and honey flavor.  REALLY good.  I’d definitely buy these again.

Thanks again, CVS!  And enjoy the game tonight, Football Nat* I mean Junk Food Nation!

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com. Let’s do this.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy