SportsRandom

A year is too long.

2008-04-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'll blog about my thoughts on my mostest favorite baseball team, the Athletics. Then again, it might just depress me. We'll see. I'll try to find time to be more fun. I promise. Even if no one reads it.

NASCAR? Yeah, NASCAR!

2007-04-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

I don't like Jeff Gordon.

That being said up front, I really don't like announcers who so obviously favor one team/side so I share this thought:

The announcers on FOX for the NASCAR race today must be in love with Jeffy Gordon.

*They were talking about how its easy to "overdrive" the new car at this track...
*They were talking about how Jeffy really knows this track well and understands how to drive here...
*They were talking about how some drivers will just hang back and conserve the car....

Then Jeffy loses it in a corner and gets passed easily, by like 9 guys, and they "assume" that something was wrong with the car...

...tire going down?...

...brakes locked up?...

Zoom in on the car - they don't see a tire going down. They look at the replay and its clear that the brakes did not lock up.

The ONLY possibility is... that Jeffy MESSED UP. But do they even suggest that? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Even after a pit stop and the crew confirms that nothing is wrong with the tires or brakes... they just stop talking about it rather than suggest that good old Jeff Gordon might have screwed up. (Even he was on the radio whining that something must be wrong with the car. What a frickin' idiot.)

Face it people, Jeffy drove into the corner too hard and lost it.

Ok, I'm calm now.

Baseball... oh its about time.

2007-03-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

Since the new baseball season is upon us, I feel the need to predict. If things are like they should be, I will be as good at this as I was at picking football games. My edge is that I have not paid attention to anything baseball related that really matters in the past 5 months. Oh I know that Frank Thomas left the A's and went to... I think... the Blue Jays. I know that Barry Zito died in a surfing accident. Or joined the Giants... either way. I know that the Diamondbacks signed Randy Johnson and redesigned their uniforms. I know other stuff, too, but none of it really tells me what is going to happen this season. But since "the experts" are always wrong about what's going to happen after doing thousands of hours of research and analyzing relative humidity as it applies to pitching rubber grip and ball/strike ratios of non-american born relief pitchers with somewhat wavy light brown hair...I have as good a chance of being right as anyone. So its on to what I see happening in baseball this year:

Ok, get these first few out of the way.

1) The A's will win the World Series.

2) The Yankees will suck

3) The Red Sox will suck

4) Barry Bonds will suck

Now, some new ones for this year:

5) Something will happen this year that has never happened before.

6) There will be a no-hitter on May 12th.

7) There will be a series freak accidents where foul balls will seem to target fans wearing pink team hats.

8) A player will come up with a novel new way of drawing attention to himself.

9) Rich Harden will win the Cy Young.

10) Nick Swisher will have fun playing the game.

11) Barry Zito will not perform as well as last year.

12) Besides the A's, playoff teams will be: Blue Jays, Indians, Yankees (even though they suck), D-Backs, Brewers, Braves, Padres.

13) No more than three of my predictions will happen... unless one is this one.

I'll check back in a few months and see how I did.

PLAY BALL!!!!

March Madness

2007-03-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

I've been watching quite a bit of the NCAA tournament. It's quite enjoyable. Basketball is not my favorite sport, and I prefer pro to college, but the emotion of these athletes, and the skills of some, are fun to watch. I have no particular allegiance to any college, so I'm not really rooting for anyone, but I find myself pulling for west coast teams first. If I have no favorite, I find myself rooting for the team that the announcers aren't favoring. No matter how hard the announcers try, you can easily tell who THEY are pulling for.

Silence

2007-03-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

Over a month of silence. I'm not a big winter sports fan, save for a little interest in the Sharks. March madness isn't, but it can get my attention, but nothing else about college basketball draws me in. Pro hoops... well, I just can't relate anymore. But I'm sniffing baseball in the air, so as soon as this madness is over, its baseball full speed ahead. I may have a thing or two to discuss. Maybe even about baseball. Stay tuned.

My "un-pick" for the Super bowl

2007-02-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

I would prefer to have the Colts win the Super Bowl. Mostly, I would prefer a close, at least, good, game. Score a TD for each comma in this post, if you please, you two suberb, yet classy, teams!

No football week

2007-01-26T23:01:00.000-08:00

Without football this week, I've decided to talk about...football. Briefly.

Lane Kiffin. Who? Is that his name? Where did he come from? Hey, someone actually DID NOT hire an old re-tread loser coach. My prediction: Raiders improve 5 games minimum (that's 7 wins, Raider fans).

NFL NEWS ALERTS: "KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs said Friday they had agreed to terms on a two-year contract with offensive lineman Ramiro Pruneda, who led Monterrey Tech to four Mexican national championships.
Several print and television reporters from Pruneda's home town of Monterrey were on hand to see the 6-6, 317-pounder introduced at a formal news conference. Named three times as the best offensive lineman in Mexico, he was supposed to play in NFL-Europe last year but pulled out because of a knee injury." Someone needs to just make sure that there's only one guy in his uniform when he crosses the border.

"Harris says Tomlin hiring shows NFL's racial progress
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH -- Franco Harris remembers the day it would have been a big deal that the Pittsburgh Steelers hired a black coach..."

That's the headline and first sentence. Can you fill in the rest on your own? Would it surprise you to find out that the word "black" in describing people was used 11 times in the short article? Yeah, it sure is no longer a big deal what a person's skin color is.

Yeah, if you checked, two of my three "hope-they-win" teams actually won last week. Arsenal/ManU and Indy/NewE were very fun to watch, too. Can the Super Bowl live up to what I now have as an expectation?

The NBA and image

2007-01-23T00:41:00.000-08:00

The NBA has recently done things like mandate dress codes, and impose lengthy suspensions for fighting. But even with the nicey nice changes, the NBA and its players continue to wonder why they are portrayed as thugs? Hmmm. I wonder.

I was going to put a picture to illustrate something, but for some reason, I can't. So just google search for Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony and look at the image they project. Sorry you have to work for it.

No picks

2007-01-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

The title of the post is the hope of Bears fans everywhere. I am not picking the games this weekend. I am simply going to express my feelings about who I want to win the games. Lets start with the early one.

ARSENAL v. ManU
No question my loyalties lie with Arsenal. Recent events have also shown that the "Rooneys" can be beaten (right, moon frog?). I root harder for Arsenal than any other team except maybe the A's.

New Orleans at Chicago
I mentioned my "soft spot" for the Saints and how I wasn't sure why. I still feel it. Maybe I just have those bad feelings for the Bears stemming from the Ditka/Fridge days as well. Maybe its the history of losing by the Saints that I don't mind seeing reversed? I might not feel the same way if I was viewing this as "city vs. city", but as far as the NFL football teams go, I'm rooting for the Saints.

New England at Indy
Hatred for New England and all the breaks they get, rules and calls in their favor, you name it, I hate New England for it. Besides, I find nothing wrong with "original" England anyway. Feelings for Indy... not so strong. For Peyton Manning? Really, its all because he tends to choke in the big moments more than hatred. You just don't trust him. Well, maybe his face is on too many damn commercials, too. I may find myself rooting for 25 of the 32 teams to beat Indy, but I have thought about it and can't think of ANY team I'd prefer to see lose to New England. Not even Dallas - but to be fair, if New England and Dallas were playing I'd be rooting for catastrophic destruction of the stadium and both teams while sparing the innocent non-fans of either who happened to be there.

On a side note, maybe someday getting a whole post of its own, I heard a guy on the radio yesterday (I think it was Rod Brooks on KNBR)say that if the Bears and Indy won, he would want to be in Miami for the Super Bowl to witness the historic event for himself. What historic event was he talking about? It would be the first time that two black head coaches met each other in the super bowl. Now folks, as long as the color of someone's skin is "a story", you can never escape the subtle race bias and obvious racism in society. The color of the coaches skin should not be an issue. Stop making it one.

Don't ever listen to me again

2007-01-16T11:54:00.000-08:00

I have noticed this a few times, and once this weekend though I don't remember what game. It was fourth and less than a yard and the coach called for a measurement even though it was obviously short. I know why. The coach wanted to have some time to make a decision. TV guy suggested that the coach wanted to know "exactly" how far there was to go. Why? Do have they have different plays for 4th and inches or 4th and a foot?

Why do football announcers wear a suit and tie?

As for the games, I missed 3 out of four. I'm done picking winners. I'll just tell you other stuff I think about games. I suck too much and it's getting embarrassing.

Indianapolis at Baltimore - WRONG
I turned on the game and saw Ray Lewis prancing out of the fog and it reminded me how much I detest him and his act and how is so revered as a great player and team leader... and the guy is a thug and a murderer who ratted out his friends to save himself and then bought out the daughter of one of the victims to avoid a civil suit. I rooted for Indy (despite "picking" Baltimore) because after all, Peyton is a nice enough guy and why shouldn't he finally win one?

Philadelphia at New Orleans - CORRECT
Pretty much the shootout I predicted (shootout compared to the rest of the weekend scoring, anyway). Always a good sign to be able to win the close game even when you make some mess-ups along the way. Regardless of whether Philly "blew it", or New Orleans "won it". Looking good, Saints (that sounds odd).

Seattle at Chicago - WRONG
This one hurt a little. I really did have good feelings for Seattle. I felt that angst at the end that is usually reserved for the home team. A few notes on the game:

- With about 2:00 to go in the first quarter, Hasselbeck was severely roughed. He threw a pass, took two steps, was hit from the side by a defender, then Tank Johnson slams him in the back knocking him to the ground. Tank did the usual hands-in-the-air-so-I-couldn't-have-done-anything pose, all the Seattle linemen started looking around for the flag (and pleading for it to be throw in some cases), but no flag was thrown. Pretty clear roughing the passer based on what I've seen recently. No flag? Not only that, they showed the replay and the commentators pointed out that he was hit after he threw, but neither even suggested that it might have been a late hit. I hate commentator favoritism....

- Later in the game, Chicago scored on a long touchdown play. The commentator said the following (and I played it back a few times to get the quote EXACT): "If you're Seattle you have to be thinking, 'Well finally, finally someone found the holes in our secondary'. I think when you talk to the Seahawks, they're stunned that Dallas didn't take more shots down the field last week and they feel like they got away with a game because Dallas just kept it tight and around the line of scrimmage."

He's not only telling me what Seattle must be thinking of themselves...twice... with nothing like an actual quote to back it up, but he basically slams them for being bad and just lucky to be here. And I don't think his "analysis" of the Seattle/Dallas game is accurate anyway. There's really three ways to look at that game: Seattle's undermanned secondary played really well in a critical game; Dallas failed to take advantage of Seattle's weakness; Dallas played poorly overall. Two of the three make Dallas look bad but somehow our beloved commentator tried to use one of those two to make Seattle look bad.

My feeling on the commentator: If I was him right now I must be thinking, "Finally someone has figured out that I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm lucky to be getting a paycheck for this".

New England at San Diego - WRONG
This is why I'm not picking any more games. When this weekend rolls around, I'll just explain who I want to win and why. I've heard a lot of talk about how New England, Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick just seem to put it all together for the playoffs. I watched this game, and maybe there's a shred of truth to that theory, but it also seems like for whatever reason, most of the uncontrollable little things just seem to go their way, too. I think there's a bigger element of luck than a lot of New England lovers will admit.

You too could be an NFL Head Coach

2007-01-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

Just review the scenario and answer a question and see how you stack up against the NFL elite:

Its the playoffs. Its the 4th quarter. You are behind by three points. There's about 1:55 left in the game (your season, too). You have the ball. You are at your own 45 yard line. You have two timeouts left. It is 4th down, 10 yards to go. WHAT DO YOU DO?

If you answered GO FOR IT, congratulations, you could be an NFL head coach. Andy Reid of the Philly Eagles is an NFL head coach and he did just that. And they got enough yardage for a first down to keep their season alive! Problem for his team (but we are coaching so its not our fault) is that there was a "false start" penalty. So, 5 yards and repeat 4th down. Andy Reid decides to punt this time. Huh? What the flingin' crud are you saying? PUNT? PUNT? Umm, coach (and I am talking to you this time) why would you not go for it? Your team just showed that they can make it to keep the season alive. If we give up the ball (last time I checked, its a good thing to have the ball if you want to score) we must then stop the opponent, and we will likely not get any better field position but there will be less than a minute to go and we will no longer have any timeouts. If we fail to keep the opponent from just ONE first down, we will not get the ball back and our season will be over. So he can't really be punting. A fake? Nope. Punt.

As if I need to go on, but Philly did not get the ball back. the punt and then New Orleans' (the opponent) first two downs ran the clock to 1:37 and Philly used both timeouts. Best case would have been a stop, 40 seconds to punt. A New Orleans first down ended the game, though.

Maybe you can't be an NFL Head Coach. Too smart.

Break it up

2007-01-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

To break up the near constant stream of football related posts, I bring you... a football related post! Just not American football this time.

I watched the Blackburn v. Arsenal match today. Some thoughts:

-Blackburn takes a corner kick and Arsenal goalie Jens Lehmann (I don't like him) runs to the near post as the ball clearly sails over him to the far post. Some Blackburn dude named Derbyshire has an easy header into the vacated goal but he nods it poorly and wide. What Derbyshire does do with considerable skill is grasp the sides of his head in disbelief that he missed such an easy chance. It seems that is all Derbyshire has skill at as he had to be shocked at his lack of skill later in the match and again was spot on with his reaction to utter lack of football skills.

-Blackburn's Savage (that's his name and skill level in one) plows over Gilberto from the back and finishes off the move with a forearm shiver to Gilberto's spine. Gilberto does what any effete Brazilian would do; he weakly kicks at Savage's ankle. Whether he contacted the ankle or not matters not as Savage leapt in the air grabbing his ankle then fell to the ground in pain. A dive good enough to earn him a spot on the Italian national team. Gilberto was issued a red card for his...violence. Savage was also issued a yellow card, presumably for the initial foul, but funny this was he seemed to be quite healthy before Gilberto had even reached the sideline. Nice recovery. Savage also had a chance at a header on goal later and just nodded it wide. I think it came off his nose wrong.

-When Arsenal scored goal number one it was on a free kick. Now Arsenal is down a man, has a free kick about 50 yards from goal with striker Thierry Henry poised to take the kick. Henry stands alone near the ball with the rest of the Arsenal offense positioning themselves to receive the kick near Blackburn's goal. Just a thought, but, where oh where might Henry kick the ball? Towards the goal, perhaps? And would you expect Arsenal players might attempt to direct said ball further toward the goal? Yes, I thought so. Blackburn seemed to have been looking for something else as Toure was allowed to simply run toward the flight path of the ball leaving nothing but air between he and the goal while a defender jogged along behind him. Toure skillfully headed the ball to the near post, striking the post but deflecting across the goal behind the line. Strangely, Blackburn keeper Brad Friedel just stood there watching the ball sail to Toure's head and then pinball from his right to left without any attempt to make a save.

-Arsenal's second goal came when they were in full defensive mode, having subbed in a defender for their second striker, still a man down. Henry was allowed to dribble alone up the left side from the Arsenal side of midfield while four Blackburn players surrounded him but made no attempt to take the ball. Fabregas then joined Henry up front and managed to get open for a pass with two additional Blackburn players marking him. They to watched as Henry trotted to the middle, Fabregas waited patiently for Henry to get in a good position, then passed to Henry as he and the pass from Fabregas somehow managed to avoid all six Blackburn defenders, and Henry deftly pushed the ball into the top corner just off the fingertips of a diving Friedel. Masterful skill. Classic Arsenal.

It's already Saturday and there's football today!

2007-01-13T00:26:00.001-08:00

I am going to tell you who is going to win the games today. How's that for fun reading? But first, let me tell you a bit about myself...nah, just kidding. Or not.

I have learned a bit about myself in picking games this year. I don't really care if I'm right or wrong most of the time. I have nothing riding on it. I will watch a game and something will happen to make me care who wins, and it doesn't matter if that is contrary to who I picked. For instance, if I pick a team to win and their opponent has some tragedy occur and the odds are stacked against them, and they make a big comeback and their coach is crying on the sideline as they are about to attempt a game winning field goal... well, I might just hope they win. My pick be damned. So what I'm saying is that my results mean less to me than a good storyline. Really, even if I had picked Dallas to win last week I would have been so happy to have the game end the way it did. That is a great story! Just the thing I can get behind. There may be stories this week. Difficult games to forecast, even matchups, colliding destinies. You name it, this week has it in four games. I'm not trying to excuse the inevitable wrong picks, I'm just saying it how it is. And I'm not going to take the easy route and pick all the home teams, either. I am picking three of them, but I'll have good reasons (for me. Which means nothing) for all three. Shut up already, I know.

Indianapolis at Baltimore
Baltimore has been a solid team all year. Winning games they are supposed to (which was a rarity this year). Baltimore is at home. Their field is outside. those last two items were direct digs at Indy. Facts are, Peyton Manning has a losing record in the playoffs. Indy Coach Dungy has a losing record in the playoffs. both are reversals of regular season performance. So to base a prediction of playoff performance on regular season performance for Indy is not a good thing. Mr. Manning just seems to gag in the playoffs. Not to mention that the Indy defense has totally sucked against the run (Baltimore runs a bit). Okay, Indy held down the K.C. running game last week, but did they? Or was it a case of K.C. not realizing what Indy was trying to do (stop the run at the expense of everything else) and just never adjusting from their "run, run, run" game plan? Come on, Indy stacked the line and K.C. obliged by running into a mass of bodies for little gain for three quarters. Not even half time gave them enough time to figure it out. What I'm saying is don't think that one game has turned Indy's D around. If that's the though, then there is no way that historical performance and a bad defense can win in the playoffs on the road against a solid opponent. Baltimore to win!

Philadelphia at New Orleans
I typed way too much about that last game. I'm getting tired and since no one pays me per word and all I really care about is getting my prediction on "paper", I'm going to be briefer all of a sudden. New Orleans has been a team on a roll all year. They are this year’s team of destiny. They are also pretty damn good. Philly lost a defensive starter (a cornerback at that) last week as they prepare to slow down the NFC's best offense. This game will be a shootout, or a New Orleans blow out if Jeff Garcia can't keep up. So sorry Philly fans, New Orleans wins this game.

Seattle at Chicago
I admit I have a little soft spot for New Orleans. I don't know exactly why. Maybe Katrina, maybe because Drew Brees was my fantasy QB...whatever. I also have a soft spot for Seattle because of the "Root for teams in sibling's home towns if your team is out" theory. Dig that. My take on this game... well, its in Chicago and the weather is supposed to suck. Chicago has a good defense. That's it for Chicago. Seattle plays well in crappy weather. Seattle has a playoff tested team, and coach. Seattle had a big, confidence building win last week. Chicago has NO offense. If Chicago can't score defensive and special teams points they will not win. Mike Holmgren will know this of course, and will coach his team accordingly. His players do not make stupid mistakes. I don't really foresee many points being scored, but I see Seattle scoring more than Chicago, and I don't see Seattle giving point to Chicago's D and special teams. Seattle to win.

New England at San Diego
(Super Bowl?)
This game may be the real super bowl. Try to stop the winner of this one from going all the way. Drunk or not, I will watch this game. I have absolutely no way I can predict a winner. San Diego has been THE team for most of this year. New England has the past performance and the recent results to lay claim to being THE team right now. Past performance? QB and Coach rule in the playoffs. San Diego can't say that. Their QB is making his first playoff start. Their coach has a history of not winning in the playoffs. if this game was in New England, the pick would be easy. If LaDanian Tomlinson didn't play for the Chargers (and when I say that I mean all the Chargers who play with him of course), then the pick would be easy. Something tells me that San Diego just has too much for New England to overcome, past history or not. Just too much. Barring injuries or other unknown future factors, I see the winner of this game winning the Super Bowl. Seriously. Watch this game.

Okay, If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. Maybe even before it happens and I change my mind about it.

Who won the playoff games?

2007-01-08T22:39:00.000-08:00

"This will be Romo's meltdown week and everyone will see it."

Oh my will they ever. I might feel sorry for Romo if he wore anything other than a Cowboy uniform. Thank you Tony Romo, now go have fun with a blonde celebrity.

I successfully picked 3 out of 4 games.

K.C. did not run, so did not win.

Eli didn't do as bad as I would have thought, but his teammates made up for every good moment he had. Jeff Garcia didn't really do anything wonderful, but he didn't do anything horrible, either.

New England was as you would expect. Big game and an opponent they know well = win.

I already covered the Seattle victory in depth.

I still have a few days to figure out who to pick this weekend, and at first glance, there ought to be some good games, and some tough picks. Four solid teams left in the AFC, four seriously flawed or just plain shaky teams left in the NFC. Any of the remaining AFC teams should win the Super Bowl the way things look right now.

I really have to do a hockey post someday.

Mark McGwire

2007-01-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

And others. Its time for Hall of Fame voting and the "steroid era" has begun. My thought is simple. What did the guy do as a baseball player and is it good enough to be a Hall of Famer? A players "character" is one of the voting criteria, but shouldn't be. Voters can too easily inject their own values into that area. Now a baseball writer who didn't like a player for some reason can just say he didn't vote for him because he thinks he cheated. Well Ty Cobb was a racist. Gaylord Perry cheated and admitted that he did. Players used to use "greenies". Will they go back and remove guys? Did McGwire do something that the rules said he couldn't? Was he caught? Was he the only one? Can you tell me that no pitcher he faced did the same thing?

Wasn't there a time where the pool of men that baseball drew from a bit smaller? Whites only? Smaller country? Less foreign players? Now there is an abundance of "specialized" pitchers. On the flip side, before pro football and basketball were so popular, all the best athletes played baseball. Could some guys have compiled the career achievements had they not gone to war? Wasn't it known that the mound at Dodger stadium was always a little higher? All the mounds were lowered by rule change at some point. Grass has been kept long for groundball pitchers. Foul lines slanted to benefit bunters. Players now know a lot more about nutrition and working out. Has anyone noticed that records in all sports fall as time passes?

How long can we keep going with all the differences between the times before we realize that times change, the game changes, so the only thing that matters is what the heck a guy did in the game when he played.

For me it comes down to this. It’s the Baseball Hall of Fame, dudes. Relax, it’s a game. Put the best players in the thing and if you are so morally concerned, put your concern on the plaque, "Dude accomplished 'this', people thought he did 'this' to help himself". Like all the sportswriters who vote are so perfect, huh? You know that they take voting for the hall of fame too serious when you still hear about not voting for a guy in his first year of eligibility because "that's the way it is".

Mark McGwire belongs in the Hall of Fame for what he did as a player. Yeah, so does Pete Rose. And Shoeless Joe Jackson. And so will Barry Bonds.

So worth it

2007-01-07T00:26:00.000-08:00

I watched the Seattle/Dallas game. Loved it. So far, I'm loving the aftergame stuff.

Bill Parcells has pretty much thrown Romo under the bus. He said in his interview that it was basically an extra point, the snap looked good, and "I don't know what happened after that...", and, "You know you've got to finish the game. We just didn't do that."

Parcells is an ass.

I've heard the game commentator (I think it was Al Michaels), and TV analysts (so far Ron Jaworski and Mike Ditka) say something about how the ball Romo dropped "looked slick" or "shiny". Oh my. How many excuses will we make for a stinking Cowboy. HE SCREWED UP. HE CHOKED. Stop it.

Best Play Made: On the botched FG, Jordan Babineaux of the Hawks lined up on the far left of the defense, preparing to come around the corner to try to block the kick. The snap was quick (maybe he wasn't) and he ran maybe three steps, realized he was not going to have a chance, so he held his ground on the outside for a second, then realized that the snap was dropped. He then sped towards the ball, almost tripped over a teammate who had dived towards the spot of the kick, then avoided a pathetic attempt at a block by the kicker, continued on and chased Romo all the way around the other side of the field, getting just close enough to dive at his feet, and just grabbed enough ankle to upend Romo just short of not only a first down, but likely a touchdown.

Not to Mention: Babineaux has been a safety but was moved to cornerback because of injuries, and the other cornerback, Pete Hunter, according to the TV guys, was sitting on his couch last week and was signed by the Seahawks this week. I think. I can't find the transaction on ESPN.com at all. Anyway, these guys held the Cowboy W.R.'s to 9 catches for 109 yds. Considering that the Cowboys were predicted to pass all over the place.... well, good job.

SHUT UP: As soon as the game ended, the cameras followed Romo off the field. There was a quick interview with the WINNING QB, Hasslebeck, then it was all about the Cowboys, and "Will Parcells retire?" talk. SHUT UP. We know the "media" loves the frickin' cowboys already. Aside from the recap of the actual game all the post game talk seems to be all Cowboys, with heavy doses of Parcells, Romo, and even for some goldarn reason... Terrell Owens (2 catches, 26 yards - why is he newsworthy?).

HOW ABOUT: Matt Hasselbeck - did it again. That pass to Stevens to take the lead... awesome. 40 yards in the air-on a line-on a dime. Sweet. Stevens - Big time game, 5 catches for 77 and two TD's, no drops (that I saw) from a guy who is best known for dropping passes. I already mentioned the cornerbacks, how about Tatupu (almost) saving that ball for the TD. Tatupu and a few others for the stop of Witten at the 1 1/2 yard line to force the FG try. Shaun Alexander - limped off the field on the final drive but came back on a play later, but I heard no info from the TV about what happened (had he been a Cowboy, there would have been a sideline reporter telling us if it was just a wedgie or something).

REFEREE: Lets hear it for the Ref actually looking at the spot of the ball on the 1 1/2 yard line stop. Very nice, and clearly they got the call right in the end. No part of the receiver's body ever crossed the one yard line, and the ball was mid-body at best. There was no "forward progress" to dissect, the guy caught it and was stuffed on the spot. The idiot official coming in from the sideline to mark the spot was about two feet closer to the goal line than the player, and a yard or more from where the ball itself was. How he thought he was going to get away with that I'll never know. It sure seemed like he was just going to mark it far enough for the first down but it was just too blatant to stand. The TV guys seem to be complicit in the Cowboy favoritism, so it must be a league issue. On one reviewed call, the TV kept showing different angles to show that the call should go in the Cowboy's favor. All the angles showed Seattle favor. Then to commercial while it was reviewed, then back from commercial they showed a different angle, overhead shot, and stopped the film at a point and said that the guy was in bounds (see the green between his foot and the sideline?). I say, keep the film rolling so we can see where his foot actuall comes down. And then when the call initially was in Seattle's favor, they showed a replay that was not going to be of use in overturning the call, then quickly went to commercial, and when they came back, they had some magnificent super slo-mo, close-up high def view of the Seattle guy's toe barely touching the sideline. Where was that camera shot on the Cowboy-on-the-sideline call?

So what was the worst play of the game? Nope, not Romo. High pressure situation, rookie, "slick ball" and all, plus I told you that Romo would collapse in this game, so his was expected. Just higher profile. I saw a worse display of football. Really, I did. It was on the kickoff return for a touchdown by Dallas. As the runner followed his blockers, I saw Seattle guys running towards the play from the opposite side of the field. Uh, the kick went right, the runner ran that way, why are you on the other side of the field? But that was not it. At some point the runner had pulled even with the last blocker ahead of him. They were running side by side and there was a Seahawk player in the way. The blocker was not in a position to keep the Seattle guy from at least pushing the runner out of bounds. It looked like the Seattle guy was the kicker. But that's no excuse for what I saw (and I watched the run over and over to make sure I'd seen this right). The kicker ignored the runner and went after the blocker. Really, it happened. If you get a chance to see the highlights again (NFL.com will have them, probably ESPN and SI.coms) watch it. Watch as the runner comes upon the last guy with a chance to stop him. Watch that guy move into the blocker running next to (not in front of) the runner. Pathetic.

I hope Sunday's games are fun. This sure was.

NFL wild guesses, Wild Card Weekend

2007-01-05T00:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, let me check and see who is playing this weekend...now I'm ready to go.

Kansas City at Indy
Somewhere along the way I suggested that Indy would not win again. I think it was last week. Anyway, the reason behind that was that Indy was having a hard time stopping the run. Well, nothing that has happened since should change that thought process. It’s always been a good idea to run the ball, control the clock, and keep the Indy offense on the sideline. They can't score from there. Indy draws perhaps the weakest AFC playoff team, the Chiefs, but what the Chiefs can do is run the ball. Larry Johnson might get 50 carries this game. Since Trent Green has come back from his injury, the Chiefs' passing game has taken a step back, with only one game of the last seven with better than 200 passing yards. In contrast, Larry Johnson has 6 100 yard games in those last 7. Although the Chiefs are 4-3 in those seven, two of the losses are to San Diego and Baltimore, the two best teams in the league. The only hiccup was an O.T. loss to Cleveland. Yeah, Cleveland. Well, two of the wins were against Oakland, but at least the other two were against quality opponents, Denver and Jax.

I just spent a lot of time talking about the Chiefs. Look, I suck at this and I really know nothing about the Colts except they usually score many points. And Payton Manning gags in the playoffs. And it’s the playoffs.

Bottom line, Chiefs run, Colts lose.

Dallas at Seattle
Dallas has lost two in a row. Dallas lost to Detroit last week. Dallas has had ZERO backs run for 100 yards since week 6. Tony Romo has turned the ball over 15 times in the past 5 games. Terrell Owens.

Seattle has won 1 in a row (forget the 3 losses before that). Matt Hasslebeck has been to the Super Bowl. Last year. Shaun Alexander.

Dallas has really not been that good the past few weeks. Sure, it was all rosy after Romo got going, but everyone seems to have figured out how to slow down Romo (or his night life has done that) and there is always so much attention on the Dallas distractions that no one noticed. This will be Romo's meltdown week and everyone will see it. Bill Parcells spends more time apologizing and explaining than he does coaching. These two teams are pretty equal overall, but Seattle has so much more potential, and Mike Holmgren has always been able to keep his teams focused and prepared.

Figure on Seattle winning this one pretty easily, and if they can play like they are capable for a few weeks they have just as good a shot of going back to lose the Super Bowl again. Yeah, the NFC is that weak. Plus I hate Dallas.

New York Jets at New England
Sorry Jets, but I think your season ends this week. Really, I've been picking the Jets to win and watching it happen. Then I look back at the Jets' last six opponents: Houston, Green Bay, Buffalo, Minnesota, Miami, Oakland. The Jets only lost one, but a good playoff team would not have lost to any of them. Now New England has the same problem, sort of, a loss to Miami four weeks ago, but among their 5 wins in the past six are wins against the NFC's best, Chicago, and road wins at Jax and Tennessee (both playoff hopefuls) the past two weeks.

New England is just a far superior team and a playoff veteran. They will not lose to an inferior opponent and right now, that is what the Jets are.

New York Giants at Philly
Philly is hot, on a roll. The Giants made the playoff on a tiebreaker. The Giants did not come close to beating a quality, non-divisional opponent this year. The Giants also almost imploded earlier and got crushed in every way possible 6 out of 7 games before eeking out a win in the final game. The only Giants win in that stretch was against Carolina, who were absolutely horrible at that time. The Giants have played bad and do not trust each other to play well. They get what they hope for?

The Giants won four games in the division (nothing special), and the other four wins were the aforementioned Carolina and Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Houston. While Philly's wins have not come against much better opponents (Green Bay and Atlanta as their best) this one is all about the streak that Philly is on. Are they that good? Or is it the weak opponents? We'll see next week when Philly has a real opponent. Anyway, no way do the Giants win this game. No way.

This is so going to be a perfect week for me. Just you wait and see.

What is Wrong with this statement

2007-01-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Item 1) Tiki Barber was asked during an interview about Eli Manning and his struggles. Here is what Tiki said: "Eli can handle anything, it's just a matter of us protecting him, keeping him confident so he's not getting hit, so he's not feeling pressure and forcing himself into mistakes."

What is wrong with this statement? May I begin? You can certainly add your thoughts in the comments. Tiki's main premise appears to be convincing us that Eli Manning can handle anything. If that is true, why do his teammates feel the need to protect him against seemingly everything, including himself? I would have no problem with this statement if Tiki had simply started this way: "Eli can't handle anything...".

Itme 2) I hate sad stories and death and all, and I certainly don't intend to minimize the death of Darrent Williams of the Broncos, but I heard a sort of pet peeve of mine from Coach Mike Shanahan when interviewed about the tragedy: "You never know why God takes somebody but I know one thing... He got somebody very special".

What is wrong with this statement? Coach, a murderer "took" Darrent Williams, not God. Very special people wouldn't have bad things happening to them if there was God watching over them all the time. I know I've heard before that the reason God "called someone home" when that person was not expected to die was that God just wanted to hang out (my words) with that person (No, I'm not intending to get into a theological debate on the subject of God). Most of all, by now, haven't we learned that God, if there is one, does not really pay attention to sports with all the other things to look after.

Final week before playoff's re-cap

2007-01-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

NY Giants at Washington - WRONG
"Washington to win."
The Giants surprise me. Just when I think they suck, they win. When I'm convinced they can win, they suck. And they made the playoffs so I have to deal with them one more time.

Pitts at Cincy - CORRECT
"Cincy has a chance to make the playoffs with a win, but this is the bad decision team of the year and it all comes together in the last game where they choke their chance away to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh really needs to win this one to salvage their post championship year, and Pittburgh will win to do just that."
I leave the entire projection intact for your review. I do this when I'm really proud of myself. Not only did I get it right, but Cincy had a really good chance to win but their kicker yanked a mid range field goal at the end of regulation. Nice choke, Cincy.

Detroit at Dallas - WRONG
"Screw it, Dallas will win."
I finally injure myself by picking Dallas and they show their true selves. You can't lose to Detroit and seriously hope to ever win again. Easpecially in the playoffs.

New England at Tennessee - WRONG
"Tennessee will win this game."
No they won't. New England still can win 'em when it matters.

Jax at K.C. - CORRECT
"K.C. to win."
K.C. needed the win for a chance to make the playoffs and it worked out for them. Is that going to be playoff momentum?

St. Louis at Minnesota - CORRECT
"St Louis might make the playoffs. Maybe they will. They will win this game."
Yeah, I got it right. St. Louis was eliminated from the playoffs when the Giants won, so they were playing for nothing.

Carolina at New Orleans - WRONG
"New Orleans finishes strong, but against Carolina, who wouldn't?"
I was a victim of New Orleans resting many key players since this game meant nothing.

Oakland at NY Jets - CORRECT
"*Laughing too hard to tell you that the Jets will win*"
*Still laughing*

Seattle at Tampa Bay - CORRECT
"Seattle: Weakest division winner ever. At least they win this one to finish over .500."
To salvage what remains of the shred of respect the NFC has.

Cleveland at Houston - CORRECT
"Houston will win."
I checked everywhere I could and it seems that they really did actually play this game. Why?

San Francisco at Denver - WRONG
"Denver to win. I can't talk about the Niners anymore. They have done me wrong all year."
The Niners. Geez. Denver pretty much gagged this one, but it still says something about the niners. Says a little bit. Says, "Wait 'till next year".

Miami at Indy - CORRECT
"Indy will win for the last time this year."
We'll see if the whole prediction plays out next week...

Atlanta at Philly - CORRECT
"Philly to win; just too good as of late as they roll with Jeff Garcia into the playoffs."
Philly had their spot clinched going into the game, rested starters, and still won it.

Arizona at San Diego - CORRECT
"San Diego will win, but I hope they forget this one as soon as its over."
Wow, another shrewd prediction. Not only did they win, but QB and RB both got a bit dinged up (so they want to forget the game?) as they clinched home field for the playoffs. They'll need the week off, and the home field (no cold weather!).

Buffalo at Baltimore - CORRECT
"Baltimore will relax just enough to give Buffalo a chance, but in the end, Baltimore is just too good to lose this one."
Yup. I was right on the money. Again.

Green Bay at Chicago - WRONG
"The only reason this will possible be close is because Chicago has no offense. Chicago to win."
Serious conspiracy game here. I know Chicago has no offense, but they were so downright horrid in this one, and so was their defense, I think that the NFL told them to lay down and let Brett Favre win since the game announcers were going to verbally fellate him for three hours.

So 10-6 for the week. 78-62 for my year. Now the picks will count.

Based on my picks, I though St. Louis would make the playoffs but the Giants did, and I thought Denver, not K.C. would make it. I guessed all the other playoff teams correctly, but learned that they had all clinched spots before this week anyway, so I'm just not going to brag about those predictions. You might not believe me.

Now I gotta go concentrate on the playoff matchups. I don't want to miss one.

Happy New Year (personal version, skip it if you're only here for the sports)

2006-12-31T16:05:00.000-08:00

I'm looking up at 2007. I paraphrase from Dream Theater:

Life is short
So learn from your mistakes
And stand behind
The choices that you make

Face each day
With both eyes open wide
And try to give
Don't keep it all inside

You've got the future on your side
You're gonna be fine now
You're ready to begin
Don't let a day go by in doubt
The answer lies within.

**

I've shed enough tears this year, but I can't say I won't shed more.

To those people who stood by me, Thank You and I Love You, for you are the reasons I was able to keep it together. Even though my "posse" may be small, it is powerful, as evidenced by how I would feel before and then after talking it out with any one of them. I won't hesitate to tell you what you mean to me this year (not that I failed to do that this year, mind you).

To anyone out there who I may have wronged in some way, I'm sorry. If you come to me I will say it to you personally. Now let's see if those who have wronged me will do the same. Speaking of... A special note to them: I have never been treated so poorly, and subjected to as much baseless contempt and dishonesty as I was by you. You have no integrity and no future as honorable people. If you have a conscience, listen to it and do what is right for once. It'll save me the trouble. Someday, who you really are, and what you did, will be known in a way that will affect you, and then may you suffer as I have. Remember, it’s only a secret if only you know it. But if as I might suspect, you can't even be honest with yourselves, then just know that I will always be a better person than you.

Day one has begun...

Happy New Year (sports version)...

2006-12-31T11:01:00.000-08:00

... or not, depending on your point of reference. I sure hope mine is happy. Can't really get worse, now, can it? Here's what I hope to see (or not see) in 2007.

Barry Bonds does NOT break Hank Aaron's record

Barry Zito does NOT earn his money as a Giant

A major professional sport in the U.S. adopts a "relegation" rule

The best team rolls through the playoffs and wins the championship (Too many underdogs winning are ruining sports. What can you trust anymore)

The NFL lets players celebrate a little more

The NFL gags T.O.

Pro athlete salaries actually come down. Dramatically.

It’s our fault, really. We pay for the expensive tickets, we buy the jerseys and hats. We treat the athletes like heroes of some kind. Pro athletes run out and buy new luxuries for themselves whenever they feel like it while my kid's school is recycling the same books for years and the teachers are buying crayons for the classroom

ESPN goes out of business. Then football players will learn how to tackle, basketball players will learn how to pass, and baseball players will learn how to hit the cutoff man

Less TV Shopping Channels

Less foreign language channels

More...actually, any... free "adult" channels (yeah, I said it. You wanted me to)

To borrow an idea from The Sports Guy, teams should be required to hire a V.P. of Common Sense and run all decisions through him or her.

Raise your hand if you don't care whether Brett Favre retires

Raise your hand if you want all the sportscasters to SHUT UP about Favre already (especially Michaels and Madden)

Raise the rim to 12 feet

Make a dunk worth only 1 point

In fact, if touching the ball above the rim is goaltending, isn't a dunk illegal?

Sorry, I'm diverging from the format at times

But seriously, Favre is crying after the game and the reporter asks, "What are your emotions right now?"

New rule for baseball to end the embarrassing "brawls". Leave the dugout or bullpen to join a fight, you are suspended and fined

Hockey does it, other sports should try. Commit a penalty, you’re off the field for a set time. Football... two plays. Basketball... a minute or two. Soccer... five to 15 minutes depending on the violation. Hey, why not?

Baseball needs something like this, too, but they have no fouls or penalties. How about you strike out with a runner in scoring position and less than two outs you can't take the field on defense the next inning until there is one out. If it’s the pitcher or catcher, the opposition picks another player to take a seat. Now what if two guys do it? Yeah, make two guys sit!

Don't ever forget about the underdog

Happy New Year. Have a good '07.

Last warmup before playoff picks

2006-12-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

The apparent meaningful trend for this week is strong playoff bound teams playing weaklings. It may not bode well for these playoff teams to have an unchallenging game just before the playoffs lest they get too relaxed. This therefore looks good for those playoff bound teams that have a worthy final week opponent, like New England, then maybe Baltimore with Buffalo being on a roll of late. That's it. Jax and K.C. play each other with the winner having only a chance of making the playoffs so if one of them does make it, put them in the tough-opponent-in-the-last-week category as well. The rest of the playoff teams either play a total weakling, or they play at home against a semi-weakling.

Of course, after this week's games, I wil give my predicions for who I think will make the playoffs. I think I will do very well with those predictions.

On to this week's picks:

NY Giants at Washington
Roll a turd out onto FedEx Field. Then watch the Redskins step in it and wipe their feet. Now watch the actual game. You won't see much difference. Washington to win.

Pitts at Cincy
Cincy has a chance to make the playoffs with a win, but this is the bad decision team of the year and it all comes together in the last game where they choke their chance away to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh really needs to win this one to salvage their post championship year, and Pittburgh will win to do just that.

Detroit at Dallas
Screw it, Dallas will win.

New England at Tennessee
Here's the deal, Tennessee keeps winning. In different ways, all close, but winning. Too late for this year, but next year...look out. Tennessee will win this game.

Jax at K.C.
A Jax special. Collapse on the road against a good team. K.C. to win.

St. Louis at Minnesota
Ummm, who cares, Part 1. Even though with a win St Louis might make the playoffs. Maybe they will. They will win this game.

Carolina at New Orleans
New Orleans finishes strong, but against Carolina, who wouldn't?

Oakland at NY Jets
*Laughing too hard to tell you that the Jets will win*

Seattle at Tampa Bay
Seattle: Weakest division winner ever. At least they win this one to finish over .500.

Cleveland at Houston
Who cares, Part 2. Not even playing for the first pick in the draft. That's how boring this one is going to be. Houston will win.

San Francisco at Denver
Denver to win. I can't talk about the Niners anymore. They have done me wrong all year.

Miami at Indy
Indy will win for the last time this year.

Atlanta at Philly
Philly to win; just too good as of late as they roll with Jeff Garcia into the playoffs.

Arizona at San Diego
San Diego will win, but I hope they forget this one as soon as its over.

Buffalo at Baltimore
Baltimore will relax just enough to give Buffalo a chance, but in the end, Baltimore is just too good to lose this one.

Green Bay at Chicago
The only reason this will possible be close is because Chicago has no offense. Chicago to win.

There you have it folks. Wish me luck.

Re-capping my lousy picks once again.

2006-12-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

I think this is my 9th week doing this. It’s all just a warm-up for the REAL picks. The ones that count. The playoffs. Then I will really be on my game. For now, for what its worth, who cares, how'd I do?

Minnesota at Green Bay - CORRECT
"...Green Bay should win."
And so they did in a manner which caused several inadvertent napping sessions to break out all over the country since this was a nationally televised game.

Kansas City at Oakland - CORRECT
"This game is OIL. KC to win."
Anyone out there pick Oakland? Anyone?

Carolina at Atlanta - WRONG
"Atlanta to win."
Jeez. 94 yards passing (with two INT's) and 8 whole first downs by Atlanta against a Carolina team that would have had trouble defeating its cheerleaders the past few weeks.

Tennessee at Buffalo - WRONG
"Buffalo to win."
Tennessee remains on a hot streak (MHS) and Buffalo died. The Titans can still make the playoffs and I think it would be cool, and scary for opponents. They need to win and have Denver lose, and Cincy lose, and K.C. would have to win, and I think the Cubs would need to win the World Series, too.

Tampa Bay at Cleveland - CORRECT
"Tampa should win this one."
Call it the Ex-Niner Factor. Tim Rattay, winning QB. See also Philly & Jeff Garcia. If you have an ex-niner starting at QB, you will win.

Chicago at Detroit - CORRECT
"Chicago will win this game."
Yes, but again, wayyyyy to close. Chicago will die in the playoffs.

Washington at St Louis - WRONG
"I will not be watching Washington win the game."
Doesn't that sound like I'm NOT picking Washington? Like, I'm not going to watch Washington win, uh, because I think they are going to lose? No? See how if I only give you the last sentence I can take things out of context later. Sort of like claiming to be misquoted in an autobiography. I need to pick all my games in a vague double meaning way from now on.

New Orleans at NY Giants - CORRECT
"WAKE UP New Orleans. Ahh, the Giants. That should do the trick."
Eli Manning: 9 for 25 for 74 yards. Factoring in sacks, the Giants had 59 yards passing. Oh yeah, just two minutes into the game, Eli threw a 55 yard TD pass. the Giants had a net of FOUR YARDS PASSING the rest of the game. Never took a snap over the 50 yard line in the whole game. This is Raider-level anti-quality playing. And to top it all off, the Giants still have a shot to make the playoffs as an 8-8 team.

Baltimore at Pittsburgh - CORRECT
"Baltimore wins."
Another EASY pick.

New England at Jacksonville - WRONG
"Jax to win."
Okay I missed it, but it was only a three point win. Wrong, but not horribly so.

Indy at Houston - WRONG
"Indy to win."
Indy just proved itself to be the worst good team ever. You can't really expect to contend in the playoffs when you lose to a team like this. Bad Indy.

Arizona at San Francisco - WRONG
"If the Niners are true to form, they will win this game."
And just when I thought the Niners might be on to something....

Cincinnati at Denver - WRONG
"Anyway, I think Cincy will win this one"
So Denver seems to be getting it together with the rookie QB just in time for the playoffs, which they seem really likely to make now. But really, Cincy blows a sure tie with less than a minute to go by blowing a PAT? Whatever.

San Diego at Seattle - CORRECT
"San Diego wins this game."
Normally if you beat a division winner on the road you've accomplished something. Not so here. San Diego wins by only three, dropping the NFC West champs to 8-7. San Diego IS the team to beat. Super Bowl favorites as we speak.

Philly at Dallas - CORRECT
"Stuff a Cowboy loss in my stocking, please. I've been a very good boy. Dear Santa, Philly to win."
I was clearly on the good side of Santa's list. Let that be known to some of the "former" people no longer in my life. I'm good, and you suck.

NY Jets at Miami - CORRECT
"...Hopefully there will be Christmas pudding with brandy butter, and mince pies.... Jets wear green, so Jets will win."
There was, and they did. Christmas Day was really good to me. If I get around to this weeks picks, I will break down how the Jets can make the playoffs. That's a joke, they are in with a win this week. So they are in. They play the Raiders.

Another 9-7 week for me. Not too good, really. Of course if I was in the NFC, I'd be a sure playoff team with that record. 68-56 overall, meaning with just 2 correct picks this week, I can do no worse than .500 for my inaugural pickishness. Considering that the Raiders and Lions both still play, there's my two right there.

See ya.

Nominations for the Sports Idiocy of the Year

2006-12-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

Its time for my annual Sports Idiocy of the Year award. In some places awards will certainly go out to Terrell Owens for his body of lunacy, and the Cincinnati Bengals for achievements by a team with their eight (at last count) arrests. There are also numerous bizarre injury awards (not necessarily due to stupidity) like Jeff Francoeur injuring himself sneezing and Thomas Jones injuring himself TAKING a team physical.
I am going to ignore the obvious and present some other worthy nominees. I like to think of this as a place where absolutely stupidity, or one time idiotic acts or decisions are rewarded. It'll make you all think to yourselves, "Oh why are they able to be so rich and famous with that brain?"

My nominees:

David Beckham - Beckham was asked in an interview about helping son Brooklyn with his homework: "I think it was maths, actually. It's done totally differently to what I was teached when I was at school, and you know, I was like, 'Oh my God, I can't do this.'" Brooklyn is seven.

LeBron James - During a "Read to Achieve" session with elementary school children, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James was unable to read one of the tongue-twisting names in Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go."

Joel Zumaya - Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya was sidelined during the playoffs with an injury described as "right wrist and forearm inflammation caused by playing video games".

Eddie Griffin - Griffin, a highly paid professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberowlves was cited for (among other things) "Inattentive Driving" after an incident in March. He was also drunk. And the inattention? The porno DVD he was watching on the dashboard video screen of his Cadillac Escalade.

Mitch Cozad - University of Northern Colorado punter... backup punter...former backup punter. Former because he was kicked off the team, and evicted from the dorms, and expelled from school, and yeah, arrested, after stabbing the first string punter in the leg, the kicking leg, of course.

Joe Cullen - A coach for the Detroit Lions. No, that is not what he is nominated for, though it’s almost good enough. But Cullen is an overachiever. He was arrested for DUI on Sept. 1st. Okay, I know that's not going to get any awards in the sports world. It was a good follow up to Cullen's incident a week earlier, on Aug. 24th, when Cullen was arrested for driving without... clothes at a Wendy's drive-thru (and how many of you said "license" to yourselves?).

Those are the nominees; please vote in the comments section. And while you ponder the tough decision that awaits you, I bring you sports related idiot Konoshin Kawabata, 48, of Osaka Japan. Kawabata is a thief and one night as he was on the prowl for something to steal, he came upon an unlocked door. So enter unlawfully he did and browsing for something to take, he unfortunately awoke one of the occupants of the building, a dude named Hideyuki Kawahara, who is also known by his Sumo name Dewanosato. Oh yeah, the building is a training center for sumo wrestlers. Kawabata was placed under citizen's arrest.

Your vote counts!!!

One of those bugs again

2006-12-19T21:37:00.000-08:00

Basketball fouls, what’s up with that... Okay, I was watching a college game today and I saw a foul. A stupid, why-is-it-a-foul foul. Dude catches ball, shoots, and after he lets the ball go, a defender, just a little late, touches his wrist, or hand. Anyway, in no way whatsoever did this act by the defender affect the shot. The shot actually made it, and here is the referee calling a foul cause the guy hit the other dudes arm, not the ball. Can someone tell me what the foul is here? I get it that if you hit the guy and affect his shot to the point that he misses, it’s a foul. I get that. But, ummm, nothing the defender did affected the shot; it was not harmful, malicious, or flagrant. He was bit late and touched the guy. Whoopie.

Same game, dude goes for a layup, and a defender touches the ball when it was on the way down toward the rim. Ball goes in anyway, and although it WOULD have been a goaltending call, the shot was good, so like no harm, no foul.

Basketball has some of the most stupid, idiotic fouls in all of sports. You can legally flatten a guy on a screen, no foul. You can beat each other to death trying to get "position", no foul. Look funny at a guy who is shooting...FOUL.

Thank you for letting me rant for a moment.

Oh yeah, don't get me started on traveling.

Combo picks post

2006-12-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

I figure that I might as well just explain why I was wrong for last week and pick this week at the same time. Heck it’s getting hard to tell when last week was and when this week starts anymore. I mean I know that the week starts on Monday, or Sunday, but in football it usually starts on Sunday, unless its college then usually on Saturday, except when it starts on Thursday, or even Wednesday, ending on Saturday, or Monday. Except for Tuesdays. They seem to be pretty much football free zones. Problem with that, its Tuesday right now and there's a bowl game on ESPN. Am I going to get anything right this week?

I realize I didn't spend much time analyzing last weeks games before I made my picks and the results of that method will be made obvious in a moment. Now as we get closer to the playoffs, some games have different meanings than usual. Like if I'm the Lions and I can knock someone out of the playoffs, I might just try a little harder to end the season on a good note. Ok, the Lions may be a bad example, but you get the point. So what I'm getting at is that I will be putting some actual though into my picks the rest of the year. And my reasoning will hopefully make no sense at all, as I hope for.

Oh yeah, and within two weeks I will make my predictions of who I think will make the playoffs. All the great football writing minds do this, and I'm no different. Except that the others foolishly do this BEFORE the season starts. What dolts. Who could guess that early?

San Francisco at Seattle - WRONG
"They are about to kick off in Seattle. It is raining. Seattle will win the game.
But... GO NINERS!!!!! (First time I've felt it worthy to cheer for them this year) (Actually, go Frank Gore, my starting fantasy running back)."
Frankie really helped me out. He was the only one, so I lost in round one of the playoffs. The Niners surprise people, me included. Check this out, the Niners sucked gutter scum in the first year of Bill Walsh and Joe Montana (2-14), then improved a little the next year (6-10), and no one expected much the third year, but the won the damn Super Bowl. So here's Mike Nolan and Alex Smith. Year one, 4-12. Year 2, sitting on 6 wins with two to go. The pattern emerges so watch out for the Niners next year. And holy golly Alex Smith is actually starting to look like a QB for a change. Several darned impressive...outstanding even... plays and solid thoughout the game. But what is more important is the offensive line, even when a starter goes down, they continue to do the job. A big chunk of O-Line success is playing well as a unit (yeah, awesome talent helps, but only so much). This bodes VERY well for this team. I wonder if the addition of Larry Allen, though not the super stud he was in his prime, has anything to do with this. The guy knows what it takes, and surely knows how to pass on this knowledge.

Dallas at Atlanta - WRONG
"Atlanta off wins, Dallas off a loss = Atlanta wins game."
Enough about the Niners and their awesomeness already. I hear you all over there. So I'm getting giddy about my team again. So what. I hope they play the Cowboys next year. It would be so fitting to plow over the Cowboys on the way to the Super Bowl. Yes it would. Not sure what happened to Atlanta in this one.

Miami at Buffalo - CORRECT
"Miami only beats who you don't think they will, Buffalo too. Buffalo wins game."
Remember back in the 80's and it was always Miami and Buffalo going to the super bowl? How many did they win again? Buffalo is on a roll. Remind me.

Tampa at Chicago - CORRECT
"Chicago way better, wins game."
Chicago also felt they were way better. They appeared to have assumed victory and left the field well before the game was over. Thankfully for them, they returned for the overtime. This is not a good sign for the NFC come super bowl time.

Detroit at Green Bay - CORRECT
"Detroit way worse. Green Bay wins game."
No one cared. Certainly not I, beyond the fact that I got it right.

Jacksonville at Tennessee - CORRECT
"Vince Young keeps winning. Tennessee wins game."
Well, I was right about the winner, but it sure wasn't Vince Young's doing. Then again, Tennessee didn't so much win and Jacksonville gave it away. Tennessee had FIVE first downs and less than a hundred total offensive yards. Pathetic.

NY Jets at Minnesota - WRONG
"Jets came back to earth. Minnesota wins game."
Theory... Jets are boring. Opponent thusly falls asleep. As do game viewers.

Houston at New England - CORRECT
"Hope for snow, New England wins game."
Four INT's for David Carr. And he fumbled once (got it back). Rumor is David Carr brew up a Patriot fan.

Washington at New Orleans - WRONG
"New Orleans too good. New Orleans wins game."
WTF? New Orleans lays an egg. Just like I said about Chicago, this does not bode well for the NFC. The top teams simply have to beat the also-rans. One other note... Drew Brees is my fantasy QB. His turd-like performance just might have cost me the playoff win.

Pittsburgh at Carolina - WRONG
"Carolina shaky, Pittsburgh ugly. Carolina wins game."
Carolina shaky, ugly, rancid, and DONE.

Cleveland at Baltimore - CORRECT
"Baltimore way better. Baltimore wins."
Yeah. Easy pick. No brag.

Denver at Arizona - WRONG
"Denver going wrong, Arizona going right. Arizona wins game."
Yeah. Lousy pick. What was I thinking? Arizona?

St. Louis at Oakland - CORRECT
"Its the Dysfunctional Bowl. Oakland champs at dysfunction, St. Louis wins game."
I watched the California State Championship Football games last weekend. First time in a long time the state has pitted northern Cali against Southern Cali winners for a state title. Three good, well played games... You know where I'm going with this don't you? Of course you do. And yes, you gotta admit, any one of the six could have. You gotta admit it.

Philadelphia at NY Giants CORRECT
"Philly on a roll, NYG wacky dudes lately. Philly wins."
Maybe, just maybe, my most astute pick of the week. My only astute pick of the week.

Kansas City at San Diego - CORRECT
"San Diego just the best team in the league right now. They win."
Nice little game overall. But lets just concentrate on my Fantasy team, shall we. I would have hoped for even little bit from Antonio Gates. Or Larry Johnson, or anyone else on the KC offense, seeing how my opponent racked up some points with the San Diego defense.

Cincy at Indy - WRONG
"Abbreviation bowl. Scoring will not be abbreviated. Cincy has a longer abbrev., Cincy to win."
Indy did their part.

For the week: 9 right, 7 wrong. I'm now 59 and 49 on the "career" picking games straight up. Not too good. A little look inside the numbers this week makes me look worse. I get six of my nine correct picks this way, by picking Chicago, New England, and San Diego to win, and by picking Detroit, Cleveland, and Oakland to lose. This is not so hard to do. My other three correct picks were Buffalo, Tennessee, and Philly, and all three are on major hot streaks, all I did was notice that. Again, not really all that impressive. Throw out the really obvious winners, and then pick opposite me, take those picks to Vegas and you're rich, baby.

Just for fun, I'm gonna note the games this week that fall under the three categories: Obviously superior winner (OSW), obviously inferior loser (OIL), team on a "major hot streak" (MHS). I'll avoid a team on a "major losing streak" because they are probably already an OIL. And soccer in the U.S. is hurting enough (and if you get the joke, let me know). Besides, losing is so easy to do, you don't have to be on a streak to do it.

So without any further raving about the Niners immediate future.... on with the picks (and for the record, I will rave about the Niners some more):

Minnesota at Green Bay
Not to start off with the excuses already, but I usually type all the game headers and then go back for the "analysis" and the pick. As I typed in the headers this week, I was shocked at all the games that will be hard to pick. Lots of Good vs. good, and crap vs. crap games. This is one of them. The second kind. Favre either throws for 400 yards and 5 TD's, or he throws 6 picks. Either way, Green Bay should win.

Kansas City at Oakland
This game is OIL. KC to win.

Carolina at Atlanta
Carolina needs something to get back on the winning track. I think it's next years training camp. Atlanta to win.

Tennessee at Buffalo
MHS vs. MHS in this one. My edge? Well it goes to Buffalo. they are really a TEAM on a hot streak, whereas Tennessee has been a player on a hot streak, and last week got plain lucky with defensive scores. Buffalo to win.

Tampa Bay at Cleveland
OIL vs. OIL. This game will implode. Not even the NFL office will pay attention to this one. Except to check for uniform compliance. Tampa...as much as it pains me to say it...well, their uniforms look better. Tampa (coming after a HUGE near win) should win this one.

Chicago at Detroit
OSW vs. OIL game. I hate wasting two easy to pick teams in one game. Cuts into my record. Chicago will win this game, or they should have to forfeit their first playoff game as punishment.

Washington at St Louis
St Louis shutting out Oakland should mean nothing. They are still borderline OIL themselves. Washington, who should not take too much pride in beating a Saints team that failed to show up, is not much better, but they have been more "okay" than the Rambs (spelling intentional, one step away from being the Lambs again). I will not be watching Washington win the game.

New Orleans at NY Giants
WAKE UP New Orleans. Ahh, the Giants. That should do the trick. Warm up the voice all you wanna be announcers out there. Prepare for the game... repeat after me... "Eli back to pass, throws it off his back foot, INTERCEPTED!"

Baltimore at Pittsburgh
OSW game. Baltimore needs to keep up with the Joneses. Make that the Mannings and Bradys and Riverses. Who is Baltimore's QB this week? Like it matters. It might in the playoffs, but not this week. Baltimore wins.

New England at Jacksonville
New England may be a part time OSW, but not against Jax. This is simply the kind of game that Jacksonville wins. Jax's problem is the losses to Houston, and Tennessee, and Washington and Buffalo. These keep their record down, not allowing them to get home field in the playoffs, and their home is where they beat teams like New England. As they will do this week. Jax to win.

Indy at Houston
OSW vs. OIL. 2nd one this week. This schedule is killing me. Indy to win.

Arizona at San Francisco
Check my theory out with this one. If I am right about the Niners, this is exactly the type of game they will win. At this stage in their development they might not kick ass, but its the type of opponent that last year, and in fact earlier this year, they lost to. (Next week at Denver will be the more telling game, frankly) If the Niners are true to form, they will win this game.

Cincinnati at Denver
Here's hoping that Cincy, win or lose, takes a lot out of the Broncos, weakening them for next weeks game against the Niners. Now if Denver wins this one, they can clinch a playoff spot, otherwise, their playoff hopes may depend on that game against the Niners. I'm totally rooting for a situation where the Niners go into Denver, and knock Denver out of the playoffs. I so want that. Anyway, I think Cincy will win this one, based on true analysis...they just better right now.

San Diego at Seattle
Very OSW! If I were predicting playoff teams, I would likely pick San Diego as a team with a chance to get in the playoffs. AND I'M GUESSING THAT WITH TWO WEEKS TO GO!!!! Astounding. Seattle is likely going to make the playoffs. Oh the power of the NFC!!! San Diego wins this game.

Philly at Dallas
Bonus Monday game! How many damn times is Dallas on in a prime game slot (Either Sunday night or Saturday, Monday, or Thursday games)? Frickin' A, NFL, not everyone is Gald Darn Cowboy fan. You morons. Oh sure, we may like to watch them lose horribly, but you give us Philly? Or the Giants? Come on, how about letting us see them get crushed by Baltimore. Or run over by the Colts? Or kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered by the Bengals? Every shred of fiber in my being wishes to see the Cowboys lose. Its Christmas for Santa's sake. Stuff a Cowboy loss in my stocking, please. I've been a very good boy. Dear Santa, Philly to win.

NY Jets at Miami
I will be a bit potty from all the nog by the time this game rolls around, so I will need something to help me stay up for it. If you recall, I think the Jets are boring, too. Hopefully there will be Christmas pudding with brandy butter, and mince pies. These things always get me jacked up. This reminds me, I better get off my butt and get my shopping done. Oh tannenbaum. Jets wear green, so Jets will win.

And to all a good night!

Picky football games

2006-12-16T15:09:00.000-08:00

I'm really busy this week, so not much thought with the picks. Deal with it.

Dallas at Atlanta
Atlanta off wins, Dallas off a loss = Atlanta wins game.

Miami at Buffalo
Miami only beats who you don't think they will, Buffalo too. Buffalo wins game.

Tampa at Chicago
Chicago way better, wins game.

Detroit at Green Bay
Detroit way worse. Green Bay wins game.

Jacksonville at Tennessee
Vince Young keeps winning. Tennessee wins game.

NY Jets at Minnesota
Jets came back to earth. Minnesota wins game.

Houston at New England
Hope for snow, New England wins game.

Washington at New Orleans
New Orleans too good. New Orleans wins game.

Pittsburgh at Carolina
Carolina shaky, Pittsburgh ugly. Carolina wins game.

Cleveland at Baltimore
Baltimore way better. Baltimore wins.

Denver at Arizona
Denver going wrong, Arizona going right. Arizona wins game.

St. Louis at Oakland
Its the Dysfunctional Bowl. Oakland champs at dysfunction, St. Louis wins game.

Philadelphia at NY Giants
Philly on a roll, NYG wacky dudes lately. Philly wins.

Kansas City at San Diego
San Diego just the best team in the league right now. They win.

Cincy at Indy
Abbreviation bowl. Scoring will not be abbreviated. Cincy has a longer abbrev., Cincy to win.

I only picked three road teams to win. Most of the games its either home team is just better, or the home edge is the difference. I didn't just pick all the home teams to be lazy. Lets see how I fare, shall we.

Some stuff, some randomly

2006-12-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

I could play right tackle for the 49ers and there would be no noticeable dropoff in performance...Some people think they know everything, but most of the time they are really only hoping that you know less than them...I am not very patient, I want instant karma...I mean, I have instant coffee, instant cocoa, instant oatmeal, and even instant mac and cheese...And yes, I hate people who don't deserve what they have, especially when they take it from me...Gifts from one's kids are the best kind...I hate flies...If you didn't work for 6 months, would you get bored?...Don't sports teams realize there is not that much difference in what you get from a minimum salary rookie than from a high priced superstar? At least not enough to account for the difference in salary...Look at it this way, did Alex Rodriguez produce 7 times as much as Brandon Inge?...If you knew your local police department let untrained people run around with badges and guns, would you approve?...Don't ever waste time deciding which celebrity you would sleep with. It'll never happen anyway...Do I want the different, yet still interesting job (which pays less, but is "easier") or same interesting job like I had before (which pay more, but is "harder")?...If you could travel anywhere, right now, all expenses paid, would you go to a "vacation" spot, or go see family and/or friends?...Do I ask too many questions?...I passed by the scene of a head-on accident on the freeway today. It got me thinking, who would I NOT stop and help if saw them involved in such a collision? (Notice how I did not wish ill upon anyone, just won't stop and help)...Why is it okay for an ethnic person to make fun of their own etnicity, and to use otherwise unacceptable ethnic slurs toward their own ethnicity?...That did not make sense...I am a cracker...If the Earth WAS flat, could you see India from North America?...In what three ways can you tell if a box of cereal has any cereal in it without touching it?...Is there anything that has been in use without improvements for so long a time as the Number 2 Pencil?...I'm thinking I need another sports bit about now...I'm n ot one of them, but I know a lot of people who buy things for the "image"...Could you name a really whiny athlete in three different sports? Go ahead, its really easy...

Thursday, quickly

2006-12-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

San Francisco at Seattle
They are about to kick off in Seattle. It is raining. Seattle will win the game.
But... GO NINERS!!!!! (First time I've felt it worthy to cheer for them this year) (Actually, go Frank Gore, my starting fantasy running back).

Let me know how I did.

The Last pick re-cap episode (until the next one)

2006-12-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

I think there is a conspiracy in the NFL this year. Teams start kicking ass all over the field, I think they are unbeatable, then they lay eggs against the meek. And those meek. One day they can't beat the middle school all stars, then they roll off three in a row against playoff contenders. All in a grand design to keep me down, man.

Oakland at Cincy - CORRECT
"Cincy should win this one."
Too easy. Lets move on.

Minnesota at Detroit - CORRECT
"I'll manage to pick Minnesota in this one."
Not really any tougher to pick this one.

Baltimore at Kansas City - WRONG
"K.C. should beat Baltimore."
Shocking, just shocking. I have no real excuse for this one. Well, it was a tough game to pick, so I'm not that bad for missing it, at least I got the next one right. Uh, I did, didn't I?

New England at Miami - WRONG
"Don't care but just enough to pick New England."
What the frickin' crud happened here? Someone needs to explain how these games can happen. Just when you think a team is "something" they aren't. And when you think they are "nothing" they are.

Atlanta at Tampa Bay - CORRECT
"Atlanta may be back on track. Tampa still sucks. Atlanta to win."
Was this a defensive battle or a "lack of offense" battle?

Philly at Wash. - CORRECT
"That means Philly should win."
Jeff Garcia for MVP!

New York Giants at Carolina - WRONG
"Carolina intercepts Eli 7 times and wins the game."
Eli: THREE TD's, ZERO Interceptions. Who saw this one coming?

Indy at Jax - CORRECT
"...for picking Jax to win this game."
This one I feel good about. Indy has some serious issues stopping the run. This will hurt them (see how smart I am?)

Tennessee at Houston - CORRECT
"Tennessee should handle Houston. Vince Young is hot."
And who scored the winning touchdown in O.T.? Who? Yeah, that's right, Vince Young did. Vince Young for MVP!

Seattle at Arizona - WRONG
"Oh good. Back to a good team playing crappy one. I was getting tired of having to think to make picks. Seattle to win."
Well I missed it. Matt Leinart follows Vince Young into the winners column. This result just adds another layer of mediocrity to the NFC.

Green Bay at San Francisco - WRONG
"San Francisco should win."
The Niners resort to their ever cute losing ways. Just when I actually thought (for a change) they might win.

Buffalo at New York Jets - WRONG
"I am becoming a Jets believer. Then I see Pennington still at QB and I waver. They do have a shot to make the playoffs and lose in round one. Oh well. Jets should defeat the Bills in this one."
I am officially off the Jets bandwagon. Does Buffalo have a bandwagon yet?

Denver at San Diego - CORRECT
"San Diego to win."
San Diego is clearly the team to beat. Until they choke one up like everyone has. But until then....

New Orleans at Dallas - CORRECT
"New Orleans should beat Dallas."
This was one enjoyable game to watch. New Orleans kicked Dallas' ASS. Best part... N.O. play called no T.D., N.O. challenges a call, wins the challenge and thusly has a T.D., then the ON SIDES KICK is recovered and then a bomb for another T.D. to just deflate the Cowboys. Well, Parcells didn't deflate, he is still full of hot air.

Chicago at St. Louis - CORRECT
"This one will feature Chicago winning."
And we end on a high note. As do the Bears. Decent thrashing of the Rams. Just still too many "non offense" points make them look better than they are, and the Rams were able to move the ball.....

9 right and 7 wrong this week. Not too darn good. I quit. 50 and 42 since I started keeping track. If anyone out there has picked worse than me, can you please let me know. I need to feel better about myself.

Picking games

2006-12-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

I skipped the Thursday game, and I am so glad. I had no reason to watch or pay attention for any reason whatsoever. Instead I saved my considerable forecasting talents for the important weekend games in the quest for the perfect week. And in case you are wondering, I'm gonna take credit for perfection without picking that dumb Thursday game. 15 games is still good enough. Just like the bye weeks. On to my superior selections:

Oakland at Cincy
This is a good sign. The first game of the week is possibly the easiest game to pick all year. Cincy's defense is hot, giving up a total of 7 points in two weeks. If it were possible, they could hold the Raiders to minus points. Cincy should win this one.

Minnesota at Detroit
Lead off the schedule with the two worst teams in football. It would be nicer if one of the better teams were up against Detroit, but I'll manage to pick Minnesota in this one.

Baltimore at Kansas City
So much for breezing through a bunch of easy picks. I wish this one was at Baltimore. I'm all about K.C. at home. Somehow I can never seem to get behind Baltimore 100%. Maybe its the constant lack of offense. K.C. should beat Baltimore.

New England at Miami
Don't care but just enough to pick New England.

Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Atlanta may be back on track. Tampa still sucks. Atlanta to win.

Philly at Wash.
Philly magically won last week, so I'm guessing that the Jeff Garcia experience continues in an upbeat mode. That means Philly should win.

New York Giants at Carolina
Two teams who really have been trying to lose every game. The Giants are much better at that. The one thing they have going for them. Carolina intercepts Eli 7 times and wins the game.

Indy at Jax
Do you realize how many keystrokes I save by abbreviating these two teams in this way? Jax is crushing good teams and losing to crap. Typical. Makes it hard to forecast a winner in a Jax game. I think I've missed more of theirs than any team but Dallas, and that's because I hate Dallas and ALWAYS pick against them. Excuses, excuses...for picking Jax to win this game.

Tennessee at Houston
Their records are only 1 game apart. Throw out the records. Tennessee should handle Houston. Vince Young is hot.

Seattle at Arizona
Oh good. Back to a good team playing crappy one. I was getting tired of having to think to make picks. Seattle to win.

Green Bay at San Francisco
Thinking.... Ok, just go with the home team. San Francisco should win. Ummm, score of 20-17. How's that?

Buffalo at New York Jets
I am becoming a Jets believer. Then I see Pennington still at QB and I waver. They do have a shot to make the playoffs and lose in round one. Oh well. Jets should defeat the Bills in this one.

Denver at San Diego
Wow. San Diego...really good, but playing closer games than they should. Denver, really good...or they were, but then changed QB's, and now....well they will struggle for a few weeks at least, until new QB gets some experience. In this game, he will experience the grass. San Diego to win.

New Orleans at Dallas
The Saints are my hope for redemption. Go forth to Dallas and trod upon the Cowboys. New Orleans has really been on top of their game, and Reggie Bush suddenly decided he CAN play in the NFL. Just hold onto the ball, Reggie. Just hold onto the ball.... New Orleans should beat Dallas.

Chicago at St. Louis
Hee hee. Started with and easy one, ending with an easy one. The signs are there for the perfect week. I feel good about this. Except for that one game. Or maybe two of them. Three? No matter. This one will feature Chicago winning.

Think positively. If we work together we can do anything.

Fifth try at picks, the recap.

2006-12-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

Baltimore at Cincy - WRONG
"Baltimore WILL win this game!"
I was sure of myself. Not at first, so I should have stayed with the old first instinct again. Who knew Cincy had a defense?

San Diego at Buffalo - CORRECT
"San Diego will win this game"
Maybe my problem is overconfidence? Yeah, San Diego won, but barely.

Minnesota at Chicago - CORRECT
"Chicago wins"
Come playoff time, Chicago will need an offense. Remember that. You can't count on special teams and defensive touchdowns in the playoffs.

Kansas City at Cleveland - WRONG
"KC will win this game."
I said "will" again. Two out of three "will" games are losers and the third was too close.

NY Jets at Green Bay - CORRECT
"I will not fall for my own second thoughts again. Jets will win."
Finally I listened to myself. It paid off.

Indy at Tennessee - WRONG
"This should be one of the easier picks of the week. Should be. But Vince Young is starting to look like the unbeatable dude he was at college, and you can't seriously think to pick against a guy like that. Right? However, this is Indy. Cream of the crop. Top of the mark. Pick of the litter. Tennessee, and Vince, have not yet proved that they have reached that level of "can beat anyone". Until they do (maybe after this one) I gotta go with Indy to win."
Again I must torture myself by repeating my logic. When will I learn? I really wanted to pick Tennessee but sort of talked myself out of it. No more. Tennessee is now a team to reckon with, and Indy is NOT immune to losing at any time.

Arizona at St. Louis - WRONG
"St. Louis will win."
I said WILL again, didn't I?

Detroit at New England - CORRECT
"New England will win"
Ok, thank you Detroit for sucking so much. I said "will" and again, even though I got it right, it far closer than it should have been. "Should", now there's a word I should ...will... use more often.

San Francisco at New Orleans - CORRECT
"Therefore, New Orleans will win this game."
A "will" pick that was right on the money. Its about time.

Atlanta at Washington - WRONG
"Stinker of the week? ... Washington will win."
My picks are the stinker of the week.

Houston at Oakland - WRONG
"I gotta go Raiders in this one."
Seriously, the Raiders held Houston to NEGATIVE passing yards. And lost. From now on, if something is so bad you cannot compare it to anything to make someone understand just HOW BAD it is... call it Raider Bad.

Jacksonville at Miami - WRONG
"I look deeper. I pick Miami."
What was I looking deeper into?

Dallas at NY Giants - WRONG
"The Giants have been stinking up the joint lately... the Giants, I think, really should win, because they really need to."
And I do believe I have lost all confidence in the Giants now. And I do believe I have missed EVERY Dallas game so far. Hatred hurts.

Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh - WRONG
"And the 10 year old says: Tampa Bay."
I swear I would have picked the Steelers.

Seattle at Denver - CORRECT
"I do believe Seattle will win."
I do believe I got another one right, surprising even myself at this point.

Carolina at Philadelphia - WRONG
"Until further notice, Philly will not win (without McNabb and all), unless they play Detroit or Oakland. Carolina is not Detroit or Oakland. All I have to say is this: Hey, Carolina, get off your asses and play some football, will ya. You are better than, um... losing to Washington! Gee whiz. Carolina to win."
My punishment...here is my logic again. This is why I do not bet on football.

Well now, 5 weeks of this? I'm 41 and 35, which for just picking winners is not too hot. I may continue to embarrass myself doing this. I may just pick opposite how I would pick if I was trying to pick the winner just for fun. In any event, one of these days I'm going to have a perfect week and don't you want to be there to witness it?

Picks of mine

2006-12-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

Here's hoping the rest are better than the Thursday one:

San Diego at Buffalo
San Diego is much better. Even on the road, in the snow (if there is snow) San Diego is better. San Diego will win this game or step one in the road to the end will be achieved.

Minnesota at Chicago
Chicago is like the best team in the NFC, if only by default at this point. But no matter, they are at home against a crappy team. Time to clinch the division? Chicago wins, or step two in the road to the end will be achieved.

Kansas City at Cleveland
Kansas City was shaky last week. And the week before. Cleveland was worse than horrible against Cincy. Not quite a stinker, because KC is still at least decent. And KC will win this game.

NY Jets at Green Bay
Ok, this one baffles me, I'll admit it. I really want to pick the Jets. They've been good on the road, Green Bay really bad at home. Favre is two years past useful at this point. I think the Jets QB is Chad Pennington, and I really hate the name Chad, but Chad trumps Brett at this point. I really want to pick the Jets. And since that is my first though, I will pick the Jets. I will not try to rationalize picking the Packers. I will not fall for my own second thoughts again. Jets will win.

Indy at Tennessee
This should be one of the easier picks of the week. Should be. But Vince Young is starting to look like the unbeatable dude he was at college, and you can't seriously think to pick against a guy like that. Right? However, this is Indy. Cream of the crop. Top of the mark. Pick of the litter. Tennessee, and Vince, have not yet proved that they have reached that level of "can beat anyone". Until they do (maybe after this one) I gotta go with Indy to win.

Arizona at St. Louis
This one has the makings of the stinker of the week. The makings only, but its not THE stinker. You'll see. The key to picking this one is "AT ST. LOUIS". Its the only factor that I can take seriously. Arizona's only hope would be a pumped up Matt Leinart, but after USC's choke job to UCLA, Leinart will likely spend Saturday night lying drunk in a gutter. St. Louis will win.

Detroit at New England
New England will win or step three in the road to the end will be achieved. And every Patriot fan will implode. And the earth will reverse on its axis and destroy all life upon its surface.

San Francisco at New Orleans
Not quite as easy to pick as the game above, but New Orleans is WAYYYYYY better than the Niners. Really. This does have the makings of one of those "emerging team shocks the world by beating wayyyyy better team" games.... again, the makings, but not all the fixin's. Therefore, New Orleans will win this game.

Atlanta at Washington
Stinker of the week? Again, not quite able to make that claim. As bad as Washington is, Atlanta has crashed into a wall. Washington has the New QB smell coming off a win. That bodes well for them. Until Atlanta proves wrong the late year collapse theory, I gotta pick against them. Washington will win.

Houston at Oakland
Stinker of the week, part one. This one has the makings, the fixin's, and the whole ball of wax. Part one only because its not the only game that can make that claim this week. Houston's a little better. Oakland is at home. Hey, check this out. Oakland fired their offensive coordinator. Me thinks the new guy is going to want to prove himself right off the bat. Expect some new things from Oakland. Like SCORING. I gotta go Raiders in this one.

Jacksonville at Miami
I look at this game and see teams going in opposite directions. Miami is on a "can't pick against them" roll, and Jacksonville just lost to Buffalo (and they have a habit of losing to sub-.500 teams in general). If you only look at records, you'd pick Jax. I look deeper. I pick Miami.

Dallas at NY Giants
The Giants have been stinking up the joint lately. Dallas has been rolling along just fine with Romo under center (and over Jessica Simpson, perhaps?). How can you root against that guy? Well, I have no issue with Romo, except that he plays for Dallas, and that's not really all his fault. Not now, anyway (but save yourself Romo, first chance you get, get out of Dallas). So this game really becomes a HUGE one for the Giants. If they lose it, their season may very well be over. But rally around each other (and stop bitching about each other to the media), especially rally around your fragile QB, and show everyone that you are still a team to fear. I just saw the U of Florida's QB throw an interception on an attempted shovel pass to a guy 10 feet from him, and I never imagined a QB doing that badly, so unless Eli starts getting even worse and doing things like that, the Giants, I think, really should win, because they really need to.

Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh
Stinker of the week, part two. Someone will win only because someone has to. No, I am not going to predict a tie again (that was a joke and it cost ME a chance at a win). I am above picking the winner of a second certified stinker in the same week, so I am allowing a 10 year old who knows nothing about football the chance to pick it. And the 10 year old says: Tampa Bay.

Seattle at Denver
Sweet game here. Seattle is hoping for snow. So far, they're the only team to win a game in snow this year. Denver has chosen to switch to a new QB. Mr. Jay Cutler. Worrisome, but those first time QBs often tear it up in their first start. Or do they choke, gag, and puke on the sideline? A lot of times, a brand new QB entering DURING a game for the first time thrives because the opponent was not planning for his "style", but that next game, when the opponent can prepare, and has something to view to plan against, then is not the shining moment for that new guy. I'm going to take half of this, the part about Seattle being able to plan for Cutler, and assume that they are going to do the smart thing and confuse him, show him things he has never seen, and generally kick his butt. I do believe Seattle will win.

Carolina at Philadelphia
Until further notice, Philly will not win (without McNabb and all), unless they play Detroit or Oakland. Carolina is not Detroit or Oakland. All I have to say is this: Hey, Carolina, get off your asses and play some football, will ya. You are better than, um... losing to Washington! Gee whiz. Carolina to win.

See you on Sunday (or Monday, or Tuesday.................)

Thursday game?

2006-11-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

I don't like this Thursday game stuff. Just a gimmick to push NFL Network. Late season Saturdays are ok, but Thursday comes too quick, and then there's three days to wait for the rest of the games. Dumb. Besides, isn't there a distinct advantage for the next game to the teams playing Thursday? Both Thursday teams have to play on short rest, so no advantage, but they both get long rest before playing the next game, likely against an opponent on normal rest. I don't like this one bit.

So now there may be weeks where I simply ignore the Thursday game for a pick. Out of spite or because I forgot. Either way...Damn you NFL!

I'll pick this week's because it should be a good game (I may not watch it anyway because I never miss the King of Queens/Friends/Seinfeld re-runs). I may even re-cap the pick and add it to my total record before the rest of the games just to streamline to whole blogging process.

Baltimore at Cincy
Would I be surprised if Cincy (formerly known as Cinci) beats a division opponent at home, especially based on the way they have been playing? Nope. Now in the spirit of last week's picks, I should stop after my first thought and pick Cincy. But I never learn, or at least it takes me more than that to learn sometimes, so I still have to think that the way Baltimore has been playing is just that much more impressive than Cincy. I am not knocking Cincy here. There is a difference between a 49er 3 game winning streak and a Cincy streak (which is only 2 games, I know). Just as there is a difference between having the Rams as you next opponent and having the Ravens. What is the same, is the loss looming to end your streak. Baltimore is too strong right now to pick against. Its really that simple (there I go again using that word).

Baltimore could possibly win the game. I sound so confident, don't I? That is pretty weak. I'll try again: Baltimore WILL win this game!

The nightmare that was my picks

2006-11-27T17:32:00.000-08:00

This is going to be cool. Not the recap of what I think is a poor week of picking, but I'm writing this as the Monday Night game is about to begin. And its snowing in Green Bay. Snowy games are fun. So as I write, I may throw in an observation or two along the way. If so, they'll get stuck here, before the recap. Don't get confused.

The snow is actually falling in Seattle. I am flabbergasted. When I saw snow, I assumed Green Bay. Sorry.

Snow may make this game worth watching. Especially if you like interceptions.

If you don't really listen to what Joe Theisman is saying, he sounds really smart.

"Run the ball? Lets try that, shall we. And look, now we are winning" - Mike Holmgren

Sideline reporter seems confused that a player became dehydrated...because it is cold. I'm confused because they claim he had an IV because of it and is back play in five minutes.

ESPN needs to stop having guests come into the booth. Every week they get someone better than the guys doing the game. This idea is making it really obvious that they could do better.

The results:

Miami at Detroit - CORRECT
"Yes, Miami will go on the road, on a major holiday, and beat Detroit."
Good start. I seem to have a good sense of Miami right now. Gotta ride that feeling.

Tampa Bay at Dallas - WRONG
"I just want Tampa to win sooooo badly. I think they deserve it because they try hard and when they are losing, we have see "Gruden Face" for three hours. Not a good Thanksgiving meal appetizer. Go Tampa Bay!"
It was ALL Gruden face in this one.

Denver at Kansas City - WRONG
"To put it simply, the Denver Horsies will win this game."
To put it complicatedly, there was a change in philosophy with the coaching mechanisms deep within the heartfelt stereotypical playcalling of the outcome based ramifications of such, and thusly, I was misled in where I should lean my positivity laden victorious suggestion. Yeah, I screwed up.

New Orleans at Atlanta - CORRECT
"Atlanta's struggles won't allow for victory. New Orleans takes it."
Atlanta's struggles were demonstrated by their QB's double-middle finger salute to the fans.

Jacksonville at Buffalo - WRONG
"Jacksonville to win."
Well, I'm having a bad week. But Jacksonville certainly feels worse after coughing away this one to Buffalo.

Cinci at Cleveland - CORRECT
"No challenge, Go Cinci."
I nailed it. Shut 'em out! I'm feelin' Cinci!!!

San Francisco at St. Louis - WRONG
"Normally I would give the edge to even a struggling St Louis at home against the Niners. The Niners only road win was against Detroit..."
I should have stopped right there. But not me. I overthink, I second guess, and I actually do this for the first time this year: "The pick is the 49ers."
Bad picker. I need to be punished.

Arizona at Minnesota - CORRECT
"Stinker of the week...Minnesota wins this one."
Man the Vikings tried to lose this one, but Arizona is still weeks away from becoming less "Arizona-like" as the young star QB keeps learning. Once the QB is solid, all they need is the rest of a team.

Houston at NY Jets - CORRECT
"Jets to win."
The Jets are a game over .500. In the NFC, they'd be a playoff team. In the AFC, they're in the thick of the also-rans. Clearly I knew they'd beat the Astros... er, Texans.

Carolina at Wash. - WRONG
"Wash. is horrible, Carolina is good. I refuse to spell out Wash. until they rejoin the NFL. Carolina wins it."
Carolina got washed and dried and folded and put away in the closet. They should hide there until we all forget what we just saw from them.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore - WRONG
"Pittsburgh wins this one"
Pittsburgh was on a roll coming into this one. I'm not sure if the result shows how strong Baltimore is, or how wrong I was. Yeah, I'm wrong either way, but whichever way makes me seem less wrong, think that.

Oakland at San Diego - CORRECT
"Oakland will not win."
The referee clearly picked San Diego on his blog, too.

NY Giants at Tennessee - WRONG
"The Giants are hurting... Despite the troubles for the Giants, they still have enough to win this one."
Okay, you gotta admit, I looked right on this one. Giants up 21-0 in the fourth quarter. I even started bragging about my superior foresight. But once again, I should have stopped after my first sentence. Too bad the Giants couldn't have stopped after 3 quarters.

Chicago at New England - CORRECT
"New England has what it takes right now to take down Chicago and prove the AFC supremacy. New England to win."
That's what I said, and that's what this one was. A strange way to go about it, but if one of the factors to use in judging good teams is who wins a 9 turnover game, the the Pats show again that the AFC is way ahead right now.

Philly at Indy - CORRECT
"Indy wins."
Too easy. Can't wait to see who falls down in front of Indy next week.

Green Bay at Seattle - CORRECT
"Seattle wins."
Snow was cool. Yeah. Remind me later, in snow games, pick the team that can run, and if equal in that, pick the team that can stop the run.

Whew, comeback at the end. Just like Seattle. And Tennessee. 9 and 7 for the week, making me 35 and 25 on the experiment. Bye.

What the... Oh, its just another Sunday of football madness

2006-11-26T16:43:00.000-08:00

So I watched a bit of football today. It was a fascinating day. I was amazed at the bizarre happenings, pathetic performances, and unlikely endings. But it was two "what the..." moments that inspire me to blog.

First, this seems to be the consensus definition that I could find for a particular football term, the FORWARD PASS: "A forward pass - usually called simply a pass - is a throwing of the football from a member of the team in possession of the ball to another member of the same team who is closer to the opponent's goal line". The play in question will likely cause a new rule as a result of the inexplicable decision by the referee. And once again, at the expense of the Raiders. Like they need any un-help. Anyway, opponent catches pass as he falls to the ground. He is not touched by a Raider. He gets up, again not being touched, and immediately "flings" the ball toward the ground, slightly forward of where he stands (he is facing "the opponents goal line"), and as the ball hits the ground, it bounces a bit further "forward". He was not throwing the ball to ANYONE, let alone a teammate who was closer to the opponents goal line.

Now EVERYONE ELSE ON THE FIELD realizes that the guy was not touched, and he just tossed the ball away, and thus the ball is live and anyone can pick it up. So the ENTIRE RAIDER TEAM goes for the ball, and it seemed to me that all the opponents in the picture also went for the ball. The Raider recovered the... we'll call it a fumble, since tha's what it is... and after some thought, the referee ruled Raider ball. He then thought some more and ruled that after the player caught the ball, he threw an illegal forward pass, causing the play to end at that point. He assessed a five yard penalty from the location of the illegal pass, but the opponents were allowed to retain possession of the ball. They of course went on to score the winning touchdown on the drive.

Bottom line: Stupid player throws the ball down without realizing the play is still live (or should have been)= FUMBLE. Your thoughts?

Then, in a move makes me wonder how coaches keep their jobs, the Niners are at the opponents 6 yard line, like 4 minutes to go, leading by 1 point. All day they have been running the ball very well. But itfourthth down. But its fourth and like less than a yard. Two options. 1-Field Goal, 2-Go For It.

Pros and cons: Kick Field Goal-PRO; make it and lead by 4 so opponent has to score a touchdown to win, with only four minutes to go. CON; miss it and opponent gets the ball at the 20 and needs only a field goal to win.

GO FOR IT-PRO; make it and score, or at least have three more shots at a touchdown, to lead by 8 (more than likely), which means the opponent needs a touchdown AND a 2 point conversion just to tie; failing that, you still have a chance to kick a field goal, all the while running much more time off the clock, likely causing opponent to use timeouts; and let's not forget showing confidence in your players that they can perform a relatively simple football task. CON; don't make it and opponent gets the ball at the 6 and needs only a field goal to win.

Seems to me that the downside of both options is the same, while the upside of kicking the field goal still allows a better chance for the opponent to win. The upside of going for it, even if just to eventually kick a field goal later, is HUGE. Go for it and make it and the game is all but over if you do things right.

If you can't make a yard, or you as the coach don't think your team can, then you lose. He kicked, it was good, and they lost. Your thoughts?

The rest of the picks

2006-11-25T14:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, time is short this week because of the holiday traveling and the rides in police cars. So without further ado, the rest of the picks:

New Orleans at Atlanta
New Orleans and Atlanta have both been a bit wishy washy lately after both looked so good early on. But Atlanta troubles of late look a bit more terminal than the Saints woes. This one should be a close one for the familiarity of the division matchup, and the home team advantage going to the "lesser" team. Close but Atlanta's struggles won't allow for victory. New Orleans takes it.

Jacksonville at Buffalo
Jacksonville is not your typical warm weather team. They can and do win on the road in bad weather. And they typically beat the lesser teams that aren't named Houston. They've shut down much better offenses this year. Jacksonville to win.

Cinci at Cleveland
Cinci seems to be hitting that offensive stride now. Defensively, not so much, but good thing the opponent is Cleveland's offense. No challenge, not even on the road. Go Cinci.

San Francisco at St. Louis
Wow, San Francisco is surprising me. Normally I would give the edge to even a struggling St Louis at home against the Niners. The Niners only road win was against Detroit, and they lost at Arizona. Not impressive. But the Niners are on a three game winning streak, and the Rams are on a five game loser. They had a three game winning streak right before, but those three were all close games and they were against Green Bay, Detroit, and Arizona. Add it up, three close wins against really bad teams, followed by five straight losses. I don't care who you are playing (unless its the Raiders) or where the game is, you can't pick a team on that kind of run to win. The pick is the 49ers.

Arizona at Minnesota
Stinker of the week. Don't watch it. And you don't have to, because I can tell you that Minnesota wins this one.

Houston at NY Jets
Houston at New Jersey, actually. I may start picking against teams that don't even play in the same state that the city they are named after is a part of. May, but when I look at this game, I won't start that trend. I just can't pick Houston on the road, any road, until they prove themselves worthy of such confidence. Their only road win is at Jacksonville, and they own Jacksonville (2 of 3 wins are against them). Now the Jets may not be the best home team around, but where is home after all? Jets to win.

Carolina at Wash.
Wash. is horrible, Carolina is good. I refuse to spell out Wash. until they rejoin the NFL. Carolina wins it.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore
Pittsburgh is hot, on a roll, they've turned it around, the are still the defending champs. But this is AT Baltimore. So... UPSET SPECIAL!!! Pittsburgh wins this one (and creates a lot of AFC drama in the process).

Oakland at San Diego
San Diego is one of the top 5 teams in the NFL. Unless Oakland's opponent has been changed to San Diego State, and even then maybe... Oakland will not win.

NY Giants at Tennessee
The Giants are hurting. Many defensive guys out hurt, QB has regressed to high school form, running game getting shut down. Going on the road to play an inferior opponent. Would not be a major upset for Tennessee to win at home, but it would be an upset. Despite the troubles for the Giants, they still have enough to win this one.

Chicago at New England
New England stopped their slide, and a hot Patriot team is hard to beat at home. This is a classic game to determine conference strength. New England has what it takes right now to take down Chicago and prove the AFC supremacy. New England to win.

Philly at Indy
No question here. Indy wins. And I'm running out of time...

Green Bay at Seattle
Seattle wins.

Talk to you all after the games!!!

NFL T-Day game picks

2006-11-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the holiday upon us, I will be thankful for being able to pick the three winners on this festive Thursday slate of games. Thankfulness is always an appropriate response when a gift is bestowed. Since I have to pick these three games with three less days of analysis available, it will be a gift if I were to pick them right. I can just about guarantee that if I were allowed to make these three picks on Friday or Saturday, I would get all three right. On to the picks!!!

Miami at Detroit
Here is a traditional Turkey Day matchup that this year is all turkey and no matchup. Detroit may have settled in as the worst team in the NFL. I said may. I hedge that bet because at last check, the Raiders are still in the NFL (I kid the Raiders, but they love it). Midseason relegation to the CFL is not happening yet (I kid the CFL. They are not so amused).

Miami is one of the teams I have identified as one on the rise. They still reside in a tie for last in their division with Buffalo. So Buffalo better win this week if they want to stay in that tie. Yes, Miami will go on the road, on a major holiday, and beat Detroit.

Tampa Bay at Dallas
Dallas is the other traditional T-Day game host. This is a tradition so old that no one remembers why its a tradition. In my opinion, that is when you re-examine a tradition and make some changes. It had been a tradition in the land to start the "Christmas Season" after Thanksgiving. That was apparently re-examined in the recent past and not the "Christmas Season" begins after Halloween. So everything is subject to change. Anything that makes Dallas less relevant is fine by be.

Dallas knocked off Indy last week. If Dallas wins this game it means that I would still pick it wrong if I picked it on Friday. I just want Tampa to win sooooo badly. I think they deserve it because they try hard and when they are losing, we have see "Gruden Face" for three hours. Not a good Thanksgiving meal appetizer. Go Tampa Bay!

Denver at Kansas City
Hey look, a new tradition is started! Its a third T-Day game. And its being shown on the NFL Network. Have you heard of that? Can you get that on your home television system? Will anyone still be awake to watch it after all that food? Aren't we traditionally napping at this time? The NFL started its own network this year, and rumor has it that they want to do their own broadcasting of the games after the current TV deals expire. So they gotta get their network on all the cable systems. So they are hoping if you don't have it on yours, you will call and complain to your cable company, otherwise you can't see this game. Ok, maybe you don't really care about THIS game, but its the foreshadowing of ALL games being on NFL Network, meaning the ones you do want to see.

In a not so subtle move that shows how the NFL flexes, the two early games on the other networks are duds, with only one winning record and not even a good rivalry OR intra division matchup. This game has all that, and interesting head coaches, one of the best home crowds in the game, and its in "Prime Time". It won't have Madden's 18 legged turkey, but that's about all this one is missing.

For the game itself it comes down to this. Denver lost a tough one to San Diego so they should be hurting for a win, and coming off a game in which their level of play had to be high they will no doubt have that high level of play ready to go. Kansas City just barely beat the Raiders. So they think they can win, but at what level are they grooved into? If that made any sense at all and you know what I'm trying to say, you can skip the next sentence and go get a snack. To put it simply, the Denver Horsies will win this game.

There you have it. I just picked all three road teams. I'll let you know after the games how I would have picked them if I had that few extra days to do the analysis.

Happy Turkey Day, y'all.

Sports AND Random.... this one is random

2006-11-21T22:47:00.000-08:00

I am watching the American Music Awards. It occurs to me that America's taste in music is declining. The BIG performance was Lionel Ritchie, doing 14 year old songs. That's not too bad, I suppose, but they also had Barry Manilow? And it seems that he has a current hit album out? This is not good. But the Grand Finale is coming up. I'm excited. According to the guy I've never heard of who is about to introduce the Grand Finale, "We did seen a lot of 'dope' performances tonight. My favorite being Mary J, Jamie Foxx...". Uh, that's two, dude. The Grand Finale? Snoop Dogg. I rest my case.

My favorite AMA moment, without a doubt, and maybe, just maybe, some justification for one of my pet peeves, one that even extends to sports... thanking God. Mary J. Blige thanked God (all his glory, da da da...). It was the first "thank" she said. She won again and thanked God again. We know Mary, we know. Carrie Underwood thanked God first, too. At least one other early winner thanked God. I almost started counting, but I was playing on-line poker too and lost track of the winning moments sometimes. But oh, was I paying attention when they announced the winner of the best "Inspirational Artist", formerly known as gospel, of course.

The winner was well known gospel artist, Kirk Franklin (I read that on the internet). He approached the podium, dressed very nicely in a suit, and the FIRST thing he said was that one of the other nominees was his favorite band and said something nice about them, then I think he thanked his mom, and/or other family members, and record company dudes or something... I'll admit I really didn't pay attention to exactly what he said because I was waiting for him to praise God and all the glory of His music that he makes come out of his mortal vocal cords. Something like that. Franklin NEVER thanked God. This is the musician who seems to have a good feel for God, and His place in his life, since he spends his career singing His praises. Seems he is also aware that he is doing the singing, it's his talent, inspired by and in tribute to God, perhaps, but not imparted into him by God's majesty, and no fake "Thanking" going on to try to appear as anything other than what he is.

The moment continued: He then said that he just hoped that the way he lived his life (whether in honor of God, he didn't say) was a good example to others. Then he quietly walked away from the podium.

I didn't hear Snoop Dogg hoping he was living his life as a good example to others.

Peace out, homies.

v. 3.0 (beta) Recap

2006-11-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

Cinci at New Orleans - WRONG
"After the mammoth scoring game Cinci and San Diego were in last week, I see points. I loaded up my fantasy team with as many Saints as I could. Yeah, I think the Saints will win."
I was wrong about the outcome, but there points. And Brees threw for over 500 yds. Big help to the fantasy squad, not enough to overcome Cinci's offense.

Buffalo at Houston - CORRECT
"Buffalo showed their potential last week... Go Buffalo."
And Buffalo did go. Closer than I might have guessed, so I will remember that, but da Bills were on the road. You know, I think this was a good pick on my part. Why thank you.

New England at Green Bay - CORRECT
"New England's slide ends this week."
I've also been saying that Green Bay is not that good a team this year. So many reasons to pick New England so I sure am glad I did.

Oakland at K.C. - CORRECT
"KC wins."
Again, a little closer than I would have guessed. But since I didn't guess about that, I can again claim overwhelming victory. Now I didn't know that Oakland's starting QB was returning from injury himself this game. So that's what made the difference. You like that excuse. You like I'm making it even though I actually got this one right? I may need to save excuses, so lets move on.

Atlanta at Baltimore - CORRECT
"Baltimore, at home, just too strong for an average NFC team. Besides, it looks like Vick and the Falcons have already hit the wall they hit every year when they go from super bowl to toilet bowl. Baltimore wins."
So how good am I? Nailed it.

Chicago at NY Jets - CORRECT
"I just can't fathom Chicago losing to the Jets."
Chicago couldn't fathom it either. I'm sure glad to have them on my side.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland - CORRECT
"Pittsburgh appears to have awoken (is that a word?) from their slumber... that will be plenty to take care of the pitiful Browns."
Played the game like they played the season up to now. Sucked early, looked like they couldn't beat the...the... well the Browns. Came on like the ex-champs, uh, I mean defending champs, and celebrated victorious triumph.

St. Louis at Carolina - CORRECT
"St. Louis travels to Carolina. I wonder if they will find the place? Are NFL teams required to give directions to the stadium to the opponents? ... St. Louis. Try winning. Not going to this week, though."
Forget the game predictions, all though they are almost all awesome. Lets start looking at the little things in my picks. Did St. Louis find the stadium? It appears not. At least their offense didn't make it. Perhaps they rounded up some tailgaters in the parking lot and threw uniforms on them. Hmmm, quarterback didn't make it. Hey, there's a guy eating a burger. Close enough. Just need to make that "R" an "L". Yeah. Mission accomplished.

Tennessee at Philly - WRONG
"Philly will win, enough about the game."
Little did I know that Philly's awesome star starting QB would go down with a season ending injury just after the game started. That kinda sucked for me. I am torn apart by the development and shocked that I have taken a loss in a game that I really should have won. Its like nothing can go right for me all of a sudden. Man, I am pissed. (I wonder how the Eagles feel about it?)

Wash at TB - CORRECT
"That should be enough. For Tampa. To win."
Whatever it was, it was enough. Tampa score 20. Won by three. At home. Against Washington. Who had a starting QB who was starting for the first time. Ever. I've seen more impressive offenses in World Cup soccer. But I got it right!!!!

Minnesota at Miami - CORRECT
"Oh, Miami wins because they are at home."
Miami was NEGATIVE in rushing yards. And not too impressive passing. Minnesota actually ran forward, but twice gave the ball to a grateful Miami defender in the fourth quarter. Each defender, in the spirit of the season, hogged the ball and ran for self glorification to the end zone for the elusive defender-scored touchdown. If you are keeping score at home, that's 14 points from the 'D' in the 4th Q, in a game that ended 24-20. Weak game. Excellent pick by me.

Seattle at San Francisco - wrong
"Seattle is muchly the better team and as such shall vanquish the 50 minus ones."
Maybe I am being to hard on my 49ers, the team I know so well. Maybe I keep guessing them to lose because I am afraid of appearing biased? I mean, seriously, Shaun Alexander is nowhere near ready to dominate and Hassleback is still out...what was I thinking? Gore is tops in the league in rushing yards. Alex Smith is a NUMBER ONE draft pick coming into his own. Honestly, the Niners have nowhere to go but up. I should be more careful. I'm sorry I doubted you, my 49ers.

Detroit and Arizona - WRONG
"I predict a tie."
Close. But close does not count. Oh it counts in horse shoes. And hand grenades. Half credit for knowing that Detroit WOULDN'T win? At least I know who is worser. Duly noted. Thank you Lions.

Indy at Dallas - wrong
#^#$@

San Diego at Denver - CORRECT
"In my humble opinion, I think San Diego is slightly better as a team than the Denvers. Usually, in closely matched games, the home boys get a nod towards victory. In hard fought intra-division rivalry games who is at home seems to matter a bit less. Even big upsets occur in some divisional games because of how familiar the teams are with each other. So being better, or at home should not be a factor in this game. If you have followed so far, I have predicted that neither team will win, or, either team CAN win. I should leave it at that and claim victory myself after its over, but I have saved energy and will delve a little deeper into this one for you, my faithful readers. San Diego will win because Philip Rivers is really coming on strong and looks like a top flight QB, he's got LaDanian Tomlinson on his team, and the SD defense is powerful; while Denver may have the strong D, and the running game, Jake Plummer is still Denver's QB."

Again, I leave you my entire pick reasoning to read again. I'm pretty good at this. The end comes down to Plummer with the last chance to win after Rivers and Tomlinson lead the Chargers to come from behind in dramatic fashion. And though San Diego appears to keep helping the Broncos at the end...Plummer finds a way to not win, throwing two yard passes with 98 yards to go, and to cap it off, fumbling on the last chance play.

New York Giants at Jacksonville - No Pick
Yeah. I never got around to a guest pick. I would have picked JAX, of course. Just look back at the last two weeks and you should be able to figure that out. But I didn't get it in in time.

So I'm 9 and 5 this week making me overall, 26 correct to 18 wrong. That's like 2/3 correct. Nearly. If you added half again as many wrong picks to my wrong picks it totals just more than my right picks, so that's why I say 2/3, almost. And it would be if I had gotten in my JAX pick. So its not only "almost" mathematically, but "almost" if-I-had-gotten-in-my-pick-ally, as well. Darn it.

Stay tuned for my "2/3 of the Season (or close to it since there can't actually be 2/3 of 16 games played) Report".

Plus my basketball re-preview report, my English Premier League "Game of the Year" Preview, Various Miscellaneous Rants, and then the post where I apologize for never getting around to all those other posts.

Feel free to comment via the link under this word.

Weekly NFL picks, v. 3.0 (beta)

2006-11-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

No ranting... for that, see my last post, and likely my next post... just picks.

Cinci at New Orleans
After the mammoth scoring game Cinci and San Diego were in last week, I see points. I loaded up my fantasy team with as many Saints as I could. Yeah, I think the Saints will win.

Buffalo at Houston
Buffalo showed their potential last week. Houston has never showed theirs (except against Jax, last weeks opponent). Go Buffalo.

New England at Green Bay
I've been predicting the New England slide for one whole week now. I'm so proud. I know that my luck spotting trends does not extend beyond one. New England's slide ends this week.

Oakland at K.C.
Trent Green returns for KC. Don't know what that really means. And he could get hit early and go back out. Don't know what that means, either. KC has Larry Johnson. I know what that means. Oakland is not a good team, and now the lousy QB is complaining about the lousy coaching. I really know what that means. KC wins.

Atlanta at Baltimore
Baltimore, at home, just too strong for an average NFC team. Besides, it looks like Vick and the Falcons have already hit the wall they hit every year when they go from super bowl to toilet bowl. Baltimore wins.

Chicago at NY Jets
6th game in a row that I really don't have to think too hard about to pick a winner. There have got to be some tough ones coming up or all this extra brain power will be going to waste. I just can't fathom Chicago losing to the Jets. Even though they struggled early against the Giants last week, they won going away, and the Giants are far tougher than the Jets. See the logic?

Pittsburgh at Cleveland
Pittsburgh appears to have awoken (is that a word?) from their slumber. If you average how they have looked this year with how they looked last year, and factor in that they are starting to head back closer to last year in performance... that will be plenty to take care of the pitiful Browns. I only had to think a little for this one, but you can see that my brain is slightly off due to the lack of a decent pre-pick stretching session.

St. Louis at Carolina
St. Louis travels to Carolina. I wonder if they will find the place? Are NFL teams required to give directions to the stadium to the opponents? But I digress. I really think the Rams are taking the lead of the Cards too seriously. Around .500, eek into the playoffs, no one takes you seriously, win the whole thing. Not going to work again, St. Louis. Try winning. Not going to this week, though.

Tennessee at Philly
Philly will win, enough about the game. Now I like to abbreviate when I can. Because I'm basically lazy, I suppose. Or I'm trying to save wear and tear on my keyboard. Thus the use of Philly, SF, KC, Cinci, Indy, NY, and others, sometimes always, sometimes sometimes. Or the use of the nickname instead, but that's off the topic, so never mind that for now, I trying to make a point. The point is, is there a good abbreviation for Tennessee? Ten? Nope, that's another word. Tenn? Now it looks like I can't spell ten. Tnse, Tenns, Tnese? All appear as if I am not relaxed enough to spell tense, or tennis. So I'm putting out a call. Anyone have a good easy to understand abbrev. for Tennessee? Until such time comes, I may never pick them to win, just to save the keyboard.

Wash at TB
Finally I have to think about one. Give me a minute. Okay. Tampa SHOULD be the better team. They are also at home. Washington's defense is so bad, Tampa's offense might look respectable. That should be enough. For Tampa. To win.

Minnesota at Miami
Miami is on the same train as Pittsburgh right now. Shaking off the early season horribles, and making a case to be only slightly below average (oh how I lavish the praise). Minnesota on the other hand just lost to the Niners and Packers in consecutive weeks, and before that, they were the last team that New England beat before their slide. Minnesota's train isn't just going the other way, it derailed twice on the way. Someone needs to stoke the boiler under the Vikings before they are eliminated from reaching the playoff platform. Oh, Miami wins because they are at home.

Seattle at San Francisco
I like typing out San Francisco because I am among the 5% of Americans who can correctly spell San Francisco. Strangely enough, only 5% of Seattlites can spell Seattle until they've had their morning coffee. The Seahawks might be better served to fly into San Fran... SF the morning of the game, making sure to have some coffee on board. Shaun Alexander MIGHT play (though really, he could rest one more week, its only the Niners), but even if he is just the wafting aroma of his usual cup o' self, it shoudn't matter. Seattle is muchly the better team and as such shall vanquish the 50 minus ones.

Detroit and Arizona
Stinker of the week. Anti-Super Bowl. Both teams LOST to the 49ers. Three wins between them. Frankly, it would be an upset if either team won, even against each other. So I'm going radical. Edgy. Off my rocker. Outside the box. I predict a tie.

Indy at Dallas
By now, I don't really need to tell you my pick for this one. Everyone together now... INNNNNNNNDY!!! Bonus Dallas game prediction: Parcells looks like someone just stole his puppy after T.O. complains yet again and subsequently drops a key pass.

San Diego at Denver
In my humble opinion, I think San Diego is slightly better as a team than the Denvers. Usually, in closely matched games, the home boys get a nod towards victory. In hard fought intra-division rivalry games who is at home seems to matter a bit less. Even big upsets occur in some divisional games because of how familiar the teams are with each other. So being better, or at home should not be a factor in this game. If you have followed so far, I have predicted that neither team will win, or, either team CAN win. I should leave it at that and claim victory myself after its over, but I have saved energy and will delve a little deeper into this one for you, my faithful readers. San Diego will win because Philip Rivers is really coming on strong and looks like a top flight QB, he's got LaDanian Tomlinson on his team, and the SD defense is powerful; while Denver may have the strong D, and the running game, Jake Plummer is still Denver's QB.

New York Giants at Jacksonville
Stay tuned for the upcoming Guest Pick for this one, after which I will reveal my obviously superior choice. And no, I'm not going to let my sister embarrass me yet again.

False Advertising

2006-11-16T14:23:00.000-08:00

If you read an ad offering bananas at 79 cents a pound and when you get to the store they give you head lettuce at 79 cents each...If you purchase a vacation package to Aruba but when you look at the plane ticket it says "Panama"...If you buy an Ipod and when you get home and open the box you find a pea pod... Well, you would feel ripped off. Blatant false advertising, no? Since this is not a blog about consumerism, where am I going? Glad you wondered. Its time for my rant, inspired by recent proposed moves by my beloved A's and 49ers, about sports teams calling themselves whatever they want. And getting away with it.

To my dismay, it seems that the A's are practically in Fremont already. Taking a page from the insanity that is the Angels, they propose calling the team "The San Jose A's of Fremont" and at the very least "of Fremont" will be part of the name. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are not in Los Angeles. The "Anything" A's of Fremont will be in Fremont, no where else. If you want to move to Fremont, you lose the marketing edge of the "big" city. Call yourself the Fremont A's. If they were to retain the Oakland name, the city of Oakland should sue for copyright infringement or something. Ditto for San Jose if they try that trick. Since I'm whining about it, here's a quote about wine labels from winebrats.org

"Appellation of Origin
If a wine says "California" on the label it must be 100% from California. If a wine is labeled with a specific county name, i.e. Sonoma, Mendocino, Santa Barbara, etc., it must be 75% from that county. As you get more specific, the standards go up. If the bottle is labeled with an "American Viticultural Area," or AVA, such as Napa Valley, Dry Creek, or Central Coast, then 85% of the grapes in that wine must be from that area. If the label mentions a specific vineyard, then it must be 95% from that vineyard. Generally, the more specific the label, the more consistent and more expensive the wine is going to be."

The rules for wine are exactly what I'm trying to talk about here. The New York Giants and New York Jets play in New Jersey. I believe that neither team even has offices or practice facilities in the state of New York anymore. If the 49ers offices and practice facilities are in Santa Clara but they play in San Francisco, could they refer to themselves as from either location? What's more important?

As one example from the college ranks, UCLA plays its games in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl. But college teams "represent" the college as the players all attend it. I suppose if all the players on the New York Giants lived in New York, they could call themselves New York all they wanted. But I don't think a pro team really can represent a place in the same way a college does.

The Lions used to play in Detroit, then moved to Pontiac, and are now back in Detroit. They always used "Detroit". The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Devil Rays don't represent Tampa Bay. Close, but they don't actually play in the water, they play on dry land. The Dallas Cowboys play in Irving, yes Irving. Say it a few times, then imagine how intimidated the opposition would be having to face the "Irving Cowboys". Sounds like a sequel to Brokeback Mountain.

There are numerous other examples of this false advertising in sports and there are laws against false and misleading advertising, so when your team name is a large part of your marketing, why should you be allowed to get away with it? Why do I wonder why a city has not "sued" over the use of its name for a team that does not play there? Simple, they still get the benefit of the advertising, and the status as a "major league" city. So why don't the actual home cities of these teams do something? Could it because they are still reaping the direct benefits of the team's location? Hey, people come to pump money Irving's tax base whether the team name is the Irving Cowboys, Dallas Cowboys, or The Southwestern US/Northeast-ish Texas Cowboys. Someone needs to remind me that its all about money. Silly me sometimes forgets that.

On another team name angle, some teams cover up their exact location with wide geographic area names. The New England Patriots represent an entire region of the country, the Carolina Panthers cover two whole states, the Texas Rangers, Golden State Warriors (who ARE in Oakland, so...), Minnesota Wild (no I didn't make that up, they are a Hockey team) all claim an entire state as their home area. I have real no issue with them...except when there are other teams from the same geographic area. There are other baseball teams in Texas and other NBA teams in the "Golden State" after all. Maybe a complicated, yet more accurate designation can save me some mental anguish. How about, "The Golden State (Except for the Los Angeles and Sacramento Metropolitan Area) Warriors?

So to all the sports teams out there I say: Guys, if you're from Oakland, Detroit, New Jersey, or, yes, even Irving, PROUDLY claim it. Build your facilities in the place you call home. At least have your offices in the city you claim to represent. Otherwise go away. Look at it this way, if the BUFFALO BILLS can proudly claim to be from Buffalo, what's your excuse? What...the heck you say, the Bills play in Orchard Park? Oh my.

How did I do on my picks?

2006-11-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

Not too good. My spiffy decision to include my picks against the spread as well seems to have confused my picking acumen. Had I just put my considerable narrow focus into just picking a winner (I am good at that, so I've been told), like I did last week, I would have done much better, as I did last week. Experiment over.

I am withholding judgment on the guest picker. For now. But the guests better miss once in a while or I might abandon that idea, too.

On to the results...yuck:

Green Bay at Minnesota
"Minnesota at least knows humiliation, and they will not lose to a second lousy team in a row (I have no idea what that had to do with the Bears last week). But they aren't really very good either, so Green Bay covers with the gift of 5 1/2 points."
Minnesota needed more humiliation. How they can fit it all in the Metrodome I couldn't tell you. But I got the spread right!

Baltimore at Tennessee
"Baltimore even covers the 7 1/2 they are giving the Titans."
Egads, it was close. A one point win should not please the Ravens, but I'll take it.

Houston at Jacksonville
"JAX wins it, but I think it'll be close enough for Houston to cover with the 10 1/2 they are getting."
If not for Miami Chicago last week, this would be the upset of the year. I am excused for not seeing it coming. But again, I nailed the spread pick!

Kansas City at Miami
"K.C. covers it."
My worst pick this week? Missed both guesses, so maybe. We'll see...

NY Jets at New England
"(Upset game?) Something tells me that the Jets could win this. New England was hot, then got rolled at home by Indy. I smell a downward trend for New England. This is one where I don't even agree with the other half of myself, but I certainly don't see New England covering 10 1/2 points. Not this week. But I gotta pick it..... New York Jets to win."
I have left the whole text of the original pick. I want you to read it again. So do you. I told you this would happen. Can I take extra credit for this one? Erase one of my wrong ones?

San Diego at Cinci
"Chargers cover."
Big time comeback, lots of points. I nailed the outcome. The Chargers like me.

San Francisco at Detroit
"I gotta go with the Lions. ...getting 6 1/2 points, the Niners can cover...."
I missed another straight pick, got lucky on the spread. See, if you pay attention, and pick the favorite to win and the underdog to cover, you can split a lot of games. Its really a cheap way of doing it. So what. Oh yeah, this game was ugly. I watched it.

Washington at Philly
"Philly, at home, no problem, give Washington 6 1/2 points and Philly still covers."
Nicely done by me as Philly romped. My third game in which I nailed the winner and the spread. Third and last, unfortunately.

Buffalo at Indy
"Call me after the game, I want to hear how amazing this pick was. Buffalo wins it."
Hot damn I almost called this one too. One more point? Can't I... I mean Buffalo...get one more point? I should take the credit for this one, too, it was so damn close to super-upset. I am starting to smell like I know what I'm thinking. It smells like an overheating toaster.

Cleveland at Atlanta
"I'm getting tired. Atlanta wins this one. At home, giving 9 1/2 points, they cover. Its Cleveland, yo."
I was tired. That's my excuse for this pick. I should have seen the Vick implosion coming.

Denver at Oakland
"Denver carries the 8 1/2 points in a rousing victory."
Denver again causes me anguish by playing down to the level of their opponents. Way, way down in this case. Oh, they won the game, but I will remember the facts. Of course, if I had done a little research I would have seen that this is a great Denver tradition. Good example of why I am bailing on spread picks from now on.

New Orleans at Pittsburgh
"Saints to win. And for the joke of the year so far, the Steelers (at 2-6) are actually FAVORED to win over the 6-2 Saints."
Hmmm. Someone in Vegas knows more than me? I'm shocked. So are the Saints.

St. Louis at Seattle
"Uh, Simply put, home team wins. That's Seattle."
Odd game. Seattle takes it by 2. Nothing to be proud of, Seattle fans. But I'll take that end of the pick. I'll take anything about now.

Dallas at Arizona
"Dallas. I hate them."
Arizona did not win.

Chicago at NY Giants
"Giants give 2 1/2 at home as home favorites, and they cover it."
Now I know. Eli Manning crashes and burns 8 weeks before his brother does. Point taken. As long as teams keep handing the Bears bizarre TD opportunities, I will not pick against them.

Tampa Bay at Carolina
My sister said, "I pick the Panthers over the Bucs. Johnson and Smith are going to have excellent games and romp all over the poor pitiful Bucs (sorry Annie) It will be a good day in our house!!!"
Damn she's good.

My scorecard: I picked only 7 of 16 winners, makes me 17-13 in my two week history. I picked only 7 of 16 against the spread. Only 3 did I get both ways, while 5 I missed both ways. Bad, bad week. Try to forget it. As for my sister. 1 for 1, and Johnson and Smith go for 14 catches, almost 200 yards, and two TD's. Damn she's good.

The Monday Night game official "not mine" pick.

2006-11-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

So far this week has been a disaster for my picks. I will recap the weekend of terror later on, but without further ado, I present the Guest Pick of the Week! This week, it happens to be the Monday Night tilt between the Panthers of Carolina and the Bucs of the City of Tampa. Your guest picker: My sister.

"Talk about pressure. I have a bit of a dilemma here. My friend Annie loves the Bucs! But that cannot sway me, can it.

The truth is I have had it in for John Gruden since he left my Raiders. Big Time...everytime I see his mug on the TV I yell at it (and it has't been pretty) So my pick it definitely not based on team stats or anything. It's pure emotion.

I pick the Panthers over the Bucs. Johnson and Smith are going to have excellent games and romp all over the poor pitiful Bucs (sorry Annie) It will be a good day in our house!!!"

My sister is a Panther fan, could you tell? Anyway, since I usually pick based on intellectual statistical analysis (except Dallas games), emotion may be the way to go. But just for laughs, I think Carolina will win, too. But given 9 1/2 points... Tampa should cover.

Sunday Sports...What Sucks, Part 3

2006-11-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

NASCAR. Really. Not all of it. Just these two little tiny issues.

First: I'm watching and there is "debris" on the track. A small piece of something. So the yellow comes out. Everyone slows down, no passing allowed. Pace car gets on the track, the leader stays behind it, and the rest of the cars line up. Within a lap, every car is lined up behind the pace car. Plenty of opportunity for some track worker to dash out and pick up the "debris", and the pace car can get back off the track and the race can start back up after ONE lap under yellow, okay, maybe TWO laps might be needed on a shorter track.

BUT NOOOOOOO. Five or so laps of yellow flag "racing", so that all the cars can make relaxed pit stops which only affect track position that will be quickly made up since everyone lines back up before the race starts again. Can't they clear the track a little quicker?

Second: The Lucky Dog. Really, they have one. When the yellow comes out, the first guy behind the leader who is a lap or more down is "The Lucky Dog" and is allowed to PASS the leader (and anyone else on the lead lap between the leader and he) to get a lap back. No skill involved at all. If you are a lap or more down and just happen to be in the right place at the right time, you get the gift of A LAP. Now remember what insignificant thing can cause a yellow flag. As if a baseball team was given a run every time they trailed by at least two and there was a foul ball. But in NASCAR, even non-participants can affect the outcome. If I'm Joe Nascar fan and "my driver" was down a lap, and he was in the "Lucky Dog" position, I could toss an empty beer can onto the track, bringing out a caution, and allowing my guy to get that lap back. Is there anyone out there who thinks this is a good thing? Oh please NASCAR, get rid of the Lucky Dog rule.

Sunday Sports...What Sucks, Part 2

2006-11-12T14:16:00.000-08:00

I watched the first half of the MLS Championship game. American pro soccer has a long way to go. Scoreless first half, which will not attract the casual American fan, who wants OFFENSE!!!! But it will not attract the soccer aficionado either, since we (yeah, I'm going to say I'm one) demand quality play. In the first half, I saw NO sustained attacks ending in a good offensive chance. Pass, pass, long pass intercepted was about 90% of the game. And that's only if they got two passes first. I actually saw a dribbler surrounded, make a good decision to back pass to a wide open defender who was 30 yards clear of an opponent, and he chose to blast a first touch long pass to...the opposition. As the camera followed the flight of the ball I even saw the four wide open teammates he COULD have passed to.

And unfortunately, the TV commentary (including recent US National Coach Bruce Arena, who I hate) kept saying stupid things like, "These two teams are taking some time feeling each other out" into the 40th minute. Like they haven't played each other 42 times in the past year or so. Sorry guys, but what it really is...American soccer is not "world class" yet, and its boring.

Sunday Sports...What Sucks, Part 1

2006-11-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

Thought number one: I saw a Denver Bronco punt return in the first half, the returner zigged and zagged through almost all the Raiders. He only had the punter to beat. And in such good fortune, he had a blocker ahead of him. The blocker was 13 year veteran linebacker Keith Burns. He saw the runner coming, turned upfield, saw only the punter in the way, and then chose to run PAST the punter to block...no one, because there was no one else between he (and the runner) and the goal line. What was he thinking? Did he want to joyously run into the endzone with the runner? Blocking the punter may have prevented that, even though just "getting in the way" of the punter would have been sufficient.

But that's not the only horrendous event on the punt return. I've seen NFL players amazingly break very good tackle attempts. I've seen runners literally drag several defenders for yards before going down. This runner avoided several tackle attempts by NFL quality defenders, some even touched him but could not stop him. Then he comes to the punter. He juked, and tried to go around the punter, who was able to dive fully stretched and just get a hand on the runners leg. And down goes the runner!?!?

Weekly NFL picks

2006-11-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

It went so well last week, I am going to make my harebrained picks public again. Sooner or later I might become the object of scorn and ridicule. Might be, just because no one may read this.

I had planned on another post this past week after I reviewed last weeks picks, but I guess nothing caught my fancy enough to have a thought about. Not even the new plans for my beloved A's to move to Fremont (where?), or my beloved Niners to move to Santa Clara. Since I moved to where its a two hour drive to see either team, I haven't gone to the games much. Okay, I've never gone to a Niner game at Candlestick, but I went to see them in L.A. against the Raiders once. But the A's once were a regular thing for me. Moving another 30 minutes away is not really going to make a difference to me. Except for one thing. Since I moved far away, I've always driven to the nearest BART station and hopped the train to the Coliseum. Not going to happen now. I am not going to DRIVE to Fremont to pay for parking. The train was cheaper than parking, not to mention more fun than driving, and wildly more entertaining all the way around. Unless one was to tailgate. Solution... find a nearby watering hole and drink before the train ride. Makes that part even more entertaining.

So there you go. The reason I have not posted about the A's or Niners impending moves. Except I just did. And I likely will again when something more concrete is afoot. Or the hopes of Oakland and S.F. are like feet encased in concrete and dumped into the bay.

Okay, time for picks. Here's how I roll. I am entered in two pick em "groups" on line. One is a straight pick, and one is by the spread. I try not to pick the two groups right after each other, that way if I think differently about a game later, I can debate myself when I compare the picks. So this will be my debate space if needed, and I might not agree with either of my selves here. Should be fun reading about me debating myself about...who is going to win a football game... and by how much, and why I just changed my mind. ENJOY.

Now on to the picks:

Green Bay at Minnesota
Like I said last week, Green Bay is not that good this year. But Minnesota just lost to the Niners, and the Niners didn't even need a touchdown do do it. That is sad. Very sad. My thought about Bears, who played the Niners the week before, was that they were rested after not needing to put out the effort. The Bears were rested right into losing. My analogy and how it plays regarding Minnesota? Minnesota at least knows humiliation, and they will not lose to a second lousy team in a row (I have no idea what that had to do with the Bears last week). But they aren't really very good either, so Green Bay covers with the gift of 5 1/2 points.

Baltimore at Tennessee
Baltimore is on the road but this is the kind of mismatch that matters not where it is played. Play it on the moon and the Ravens win. Tennessee is that bad. Baltimore even covers the 7 1/2 they are giving the Titans.

Houston at Jacksonville
My instinct says Jacksonville for some reason. I even agree with myself on that note. Now for some reason, this game stands out as one of those "close to major upset" games. Top level team, big favorite at home against perennial, unproven, weakling. JAX wins it, but I think it'll be close enough for Houston to cover with the 10 1/2 they are getting.

Kansas City at Miami
This is looking like a week where each game has at least one sucky team in it. That reeks of upsets everywhere. K.C. has been the better team, and all Miami really has going for it is last weeks upset of the Bears. I hope Miami doesn't think they are that good. K.C. will show them, Miami comes back to earth. I agree with myself, and K.C. is a 1 1/2 point road favorite. That is too few points to stress over. K.C. covers it.

NY Jets at New England
(Upset game?) Something tells me that the Jets could win this. New England was hot, then got rolled at home by Indy. I smell a downward trend for New England. This is one where I don't even agree with the other half of myself, but I certainly don't see New England covering 10 1/2 points. Not this week. But I gotta pick it..... New York Jets to win.

San Diego at Cinci
Cinci loses to a tough D last week, and again this week. They just are not last years Bengals anymore. San Diego is 1 1/2 point road favorite...ditto what I said above about 1 1/2 points. Chargers cover.

San Francisco at Detroit
Yikes. Are they actually going to play this one and call it the NFL? Time for a second division and make this a battle to avoid relegation. Heck, the Niners are going to move anyway, to a less than major league city. Detroit is NOT IN DETROIT. Or they weren't, but now they are. I think. I don't care who wins, and I'm a long time Niner fan. The loser? Anyone who watches this game, and pro football in general. This should be a close game, just don't judge the winner too favorably. In Detroit (or wherever the stadium is this year) I gotta go with the Lions. The Niners play like a water polo team on the road. But I'm thinking that getting 6 1/2 points, the Niners can cover, since its not likely that a touchdown will be scored (by an offense anyway).

Washington at Philly
I nailed the Washington "not loss" last week. This week they will lose. Philly, at home, no problem, give Washington 6 1/2 points and Philly still covers.

Buffalo at Indy
So Indy, the best team in the league, at home, weak opponent, Indy just relatively easily beat their nemesis on the road, Indy 12 1/2 point favorites, 5 games better than Buffalo in the standings... Everything says INDY. Except me. This is the game this week that has everyone scratching their heads saying, "I did not see that happening". Call me after the game, I want to hear how amazing this pick was. Buffalo wins it.

Cleveland at Atlanta
I'm getting tired. Atlanta wins this one. At home, giving 9 1/2 points, they cover. Its Cleveland, yo.

Denver at Oakland
I'm not falling for any tricks this time. Upsets are when a team that most, or all people think won't win, does win. Does that mean that technically, Oakland can win? Well, not really. Because LESS than no one really gives the Raiders a chance against Denver. This would not be just an upset. The person most responsible for a Raider victory would be looked at closely for either Sainthood, or Satanhood, depending. Denver carries the 8 1/2 points in a rousing victory.

New Orleans at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh keeps getting worse and worse. They are Worser. After this week (weak?) they will be worserer. They are very nearly the sauce. Saints to win. And for the joke of the year so far, the Steelers (at 2-6) are actually FAVORED to win over the 6-2 Saints. Go figure.

St. Louis at Seattle
Didn't they play last week? I swear, these are two very generic teams. Middle of the road records, no real excitement on the rosters. Even their stars are boring. Its hard to pick a game that is so boring. I have to check the standings to see how they are doing because they do nothing to make anyone notice them. So lets see, which game am I picking? Oh, them. Uh, Simply put, home team wins. That's Seattle. Even the gift of 4 1/2 points won't help the other team.

Dallas at Arizona
Dallas. I hate them. See last weeks picks for details. Arizona is not a good team. I so WANT Arizona to win, that I will even pick them to win. Its not confidence. Its hope. Or hatred. Arizona to win, and they are the underdog. Now its going to get old picking AGAINST Dallas every week, so I will make it interesting. I will pick beyond the game when it comes to Dallas. This week, I pick...Tony Romo gets hurt, and Drew Bledsoe has to come off the bench to rally the Cowboys to the loss.

Chicago at NY Giants
Chicago's dream season ended last week. Oh how the mighty will fall, like this week to the Giants. Bears QB Grossman is leveling off after a hot start, and the Giants D will eat him up. Eli may not be the best QB in the land, but he and Tiki are enough this week, yes they are. Giants give 2 1/2 at home as home favorites, and they cover it.

Tampa Bay at Carolina
Yeah! Last game to pick. I should turn to a guest picker for this one. In fact, I think I will. Its a monday night game, so its a biggie. I will find a Carolina or a Tampa fan to pick this one for me. Maybe a trend will start of a guest picker for one game a week. Stay tuned for the actual pick.

Enjoy your football!

Pick-em results post

2006-11-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

How many people actually own up to their picks, bad ones anyway. I will be totally honest: As of right now, I do not know how I did. I was busy this weekend and did not follow the results, except the 49er, Raider, and Pats/Colts contests. And I think I picked all three wrong. But I'm going to check the scoreboard and recaps now, and here we go....

Green Bay at Buffalo - RIGHT
"So Buffalo should win..."
Wow, they did. More points than I thought, but I was right about Green Bay being bad.

Miami at Chicago - WRONG
"...Miami was the last undefeated team and the last time they played an undefeated Chicago squad, in 1985, Miami won. So this year, my choice is too easy. Chicago in a walk."
I so should have ended that thought after the first sentence. But really, did anyone outside of Dade County pick this one?

Atlanta at Detroit - WRONG
"...Detroit will not win this one."
Wow. Two pretty much major upsets in a row. One a week, maybe. Two. Odd. Detroit at least was the home team, and I guess they had some home cooking mojo going. If I knew anything, I might have seen this coming. I just had no idea Atlanta would forget to put their defense on the plane.

Kansas City at St. Louis - RIGHT
"...and Larry Johnson is on my fantasy team. I pick KC."
Yeah, and Larry goes for 172 and a TD!!!! I still needed more, KC had enough.

Houston at NY Giants - RIGHT
"But the Giants win this one..."
Yes, they did. Had to rally late, and Eli (and Toomer) killed my fantasy team.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay - RIGHT
"...its too much Saintliness."
Solid pick, solid win for the Saints. Brees was on my fantasy bench. He won't be next week.

Dallas at Washington - RIGHT
"Dallas will lose."
I nailed this one. Even a bizarre ending works out for my astute forecasting. And the guy I won't mention drops a pass that is key in the Dallas loss. Extra sweet.

Tennessee at Jacksonville - RIGHT
"...three things push this one to Jax."
Again, as if I need to tout my wisdom, Jax blew them away. I will be uploading my next picks post from a Vegas sports book!!!

Cincinnati at Baltimore - RIGHT
"The pick is the Ravens."
Regardless of WHY I picked the Ravens, I did. And you don't need to re-read the original post to find out why. It does raise an interesting question. If your instinct is right, but you just can't express the feeling, does it matter in the end?

Minnesota at San Francisco - WRONG
"I still think the Niners can win this game. They are at home. And they really conserved their energy last week against the Bears. They can win, but they won't."
Here we go again. When I really think about it, I end up being wrong. Minnesota's O clearly joined Atlanta's D at that vacation resort this week. Please, the Niners score 9 and win? Add the Vikings to the list of teams that suck when it really matters.

Denver at Pittsburgh - RIGHT
"This one is Denver. Easily."
Pittsburg is horrid, so this was an easy pick. Thankfully Denver put their whole team on the flight to Pittsburg, not that they needed to.

Cleveland at San Diego - RIGHT
"...the Chargers have LT2...Yes, Chargers take this one."
Closer than I would have guessed, except I don't pick scores. I still feel bummed because my fantasy opponent had LT2 (and Javon Walker of Denver).

Indianapolis at New England - WRONG
"So figure the Pats, especially at home, to control this game from the start. The score may not be a blowout, but you'll know who's in control from the start and never doubt the outcome."
Oops, I missed it. Indy is on fire, and Brady chose this one to stink.

Oakland at Seattle - RIGHT
"Ummm, Seattle in this one."
On the bright side for Raider fans, they doubled their offensive yardage to 185. No points is a bit of a downer. Who could score in that driving rain, though. I know Seattle did, but they were opposed by the Raider defense so its not a fair comparison.

Hey, not bad. I did get the Raider game right. I go 10 and 4. And really, three of my losses were pretty major upsets. I'll even it up next week.

My first "pick-em" post

2006-11-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

I just decided to blog my picks for this weekend's NFL contests. And I will absolutely include my well thought out reasons for why picking who I picked. On to my FIRST EVER PICKS POST (this is so very exciting):

Green Bay at Buffalo
10 years ago...what a game this would be. This weekend, its two sub .500 teams playing in the freezing rain. They last played in 2002 and Green Bay won 10 to 0. Green Bay is not that good anymore. So Buffalo should win, just because they are at home. The final score would be 0 to -3, except thats not possible. But I don't predict final scores anyway.

Miami at Chicago
I was doing a bit of research to help me pick the winner of this one. I read that Miami's offense might struggle against the Bears. Hmmm, good info. Chicago allows nothing, and Miami scores nothing. Chicago scores tons, Miami allows an average amount. Chicago is 7 and 0. Miami is 1 and 6. BUt if you remember your NFL history, Miami was the last undefeated team and the last time they played an undefeated Chicago squad, in 1985, Miami won. So this year, my choice is too easy. Chicago in a walk.

Atlanta at Detroit
Again, too easy. Even though Atlanta is on the road, they are 5-2 to Detroit's 1-6 mark. So unless Detroit fires Matt Millen and imports an entire new roster, Detroit will not win this one.

Kansas City at St. Louis
They have the same record. Its at St. Louis. KC is playing a backup QB. But two factors swing this in KC's favor. St Louis just won the World Series, so they deserve no more glory, and Larry Johnson is on my fantast team. I pick KC.

Houston at NY Giants
Its is still just about impossible to pick Houston on the road. They just still are not that good a team. The giants are a strong team, with an up-and coming QB, excellent receivers, superb running game, and one of the top defenses in the league. If only they actually played in New York. But the Giants win this one in New Jersey anyway.

New Orleans at Tampa Bay
N.O. is 5-2, T.B is 2-5. Being the home team can allow you to overcome a game or two worse record. But not 3 games. Tampa's starting QB is horrible, and he is injured, so his backup is playing. Reggie Bush was humiliated in his last game, he will learn from it...at least thats what the Saints fans hope. Even with Deuce McAllister hurting and Bush humbled, its too much Saintliness.

Dallas at Washington
Dallas may have the better record, but this is a big rivalry game, so toss out the records. Rivalries are more often won due to outside the box reasons. I hate Dallas more. I don't like Bill Parcells, I don't like the star, Jerry Jones, Too Tall Jones, Michael Irvin, or Danny White. I will not mention.... Not that I'm a big fan of Washington, either. So I'll put it this way. Dallas will lose.

Tennessee at Jacksonville
I'm not too familiar with these two teams. To just pick based on their records is a cop out. But its all I have. And the better record is the home team, so I've got that, too. But I check stuff, and three things push this one to Jax. They have a stronger defense. Which ever of their QBs they trot out there is better than what the Titans have (right now, anyway). And Jeff Fisher's mustache?

Cincinnati at Baltimore
The second best game of the weekend. Cinci is still trying to put it all together, Baltimore is suviving with tough D. This looks like an edge to Baltimore based on
the year so far, but Cinci is still a dangerous team waiting to bust out. This is the time to do it. Prove yourself on the road against a potential playoff team with a stifling defense and power running game. Just not going to happen. Too many Bengals players have those tiring meetings with their defense attorneys during the week. The pick is the Ravens.

Minnesota at San Francisco
San Francisco is the team I know the best. Did you know that their starting middle linebacker, Derek Smith, is suffering with "lazy eye syndrome" and cannot see straight. In fact he and the team have admitted that it is really affecting his play. But Smith has decided that rather than have corrective sugery that might end his year, he is going to keep playing, even though he can't see well enough to see where the ball is some of the time. Now Ronnie Lott once had a finger amputated so he could keep playing, but he actually helped his team when he played. Smith on the other hand? Well, if your middle linebacker can't see, you have a built in excuse for being bad. Like they need another. But.... I still think the Niners can win this game. They are at home. And they really conserved their energy last week against the Bears. They can win, but they won't.

Denver at Pittsburgh
Denver has the annoying habit of losing the big road games. Pittsburgh is the defending Super Bowl Champs. Fortunately I have paid attention to what has happened this year so far. Only one factor need apply, though. Pittsburg lost to the Raiders. They are that bad. This one is Denver. Easily.

Cleveland at San Diego
Yeah, I know San Diego has been a little unstable. Yeah, I know that Philip Rivers is in his first year as a starter. But its Cleveland, folks. And the Chargers have LT2, and Shawn Merriman is still playing while waiting to appeal his steroid suspension. And most of all, you know that the Browns are going to be disoriented, what with that glare from the strange sun in their eyes. Yes, Chargers take this one.

Indianapolis at New England
This is the game of the week, except for some folks in Oakland or Seattle (prime time games of course trump the daytime contests). I sure hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but this is not going to be as good a game as a lot of people expect. Indy can score and score... against most teams. But Indy cannot stop opponents running up the middle. 5.2 yards a carry against them. New England defensive schemes outwit Peyton Manning led teams at will (or so it seems). And you know that the Patriot coaching staff will exploit the Indy defensive weakness, and the Pats passing attack is getting really good. And they got a lot of practice with it last week with that almost constant 5 wide attack (3 times as many runs as passes). So figure the Pats, especially at home, to control this game from the start. The score may not be a blowout, but you'll know who's in control from the start and never doubt the outcome.

Oakland at Seattle
Okay, its the Raiders. No team in NFL history looked worse the first 5 weeks. Then the miracle happened. They played the Cardinals. Then they beat the defending champs. Seattle is without their starting QB, and big time Shaun Alexander should return to the lineup, but will he be full strength? Even at Seattle, the Raiders might look like a good pick...this week. But I look a little deeper. Even though the Raiders beat the Steelers last week, they did it due to Steeler mistakes more than anything. Andrew Walter was 5 for 14 for 51 yards. Raider offense for the game...98 yards. That beats no one. If you saw the game, the Steelers had to work really hard to lose. So just a win against the Cardinals does not make for great hope. Ummm, Seattle in this one.

Hey, I've run out of games. I was just getting into this. I pretty much B.S'd my way through half those predictions, so I should do pretty well overall. Feel free to add your picks in the comments.

Basketball preview issue

2006-11-01T18:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read correctly. I have an issue with basketball previews. All sports season previews actually. They are all wrong. If the experts were expert then they would all forecast the same outcome. They aren't, they don't. That would be boring. Oh sure, a very small percentage can pick the eventual champ, but so can a similar percentage of homeless Hungarian children throwing darts at the team logos painted on a donkey. In fact I bet that if you let me write 30 NBA previews I could predict the eventual champ. Just hold of reading any of them until after the year, then I'll show you the "real" one that I was going to publish, honest. Being a sports fan, I still read the previews, of course. Boring and wrong as they are.

So why not throw out the usual forecast, and predict something a little different. Like how many times is Rasheed Wallace going to be ejected this year, or how many times is Jason Kidd going to questioned by the police, or how many times is Jay Williams going to be confused with Jason Williams. And how do you say this name: YAKHOUBA DIAWARA. Oh, wait... thats not a forecast, thats a blind guess. Eh, same thing.

I can't go that deep, because I really don't follow basketball that closely. The closest team to me geographically is the Warriors, explaining why I don't follow basketball that closely I suppose. I did read a preview of the Warriors but I thought I'd gotten the archives instead. Don Nelson? That was YEARS ago. But I checked the date, its a current article. I better check the roster, maybe his son is on the team now. Nope. Not unless Don adopted Zarko Cabarkapa. I only know five of the names on the whole roster. Maybe six. Isn't that Pietrus guy the one who was supposed to be a big deal last year? Maybe he was supposed to be, but it doesn't look like he was after all, cause I don't know him. So I only know five guys on my "home town" team. Is this player turnover and new talent? A rich draft class? Or lack of familiarity because I don't actually pay much attention to basketball (did I mention that yet?).

For laughs, I started checking the rosters of the other teams to find all the ex-Warriors, or guys I knew of from anywhere. I started with the Atlanta Hawks. I found Zaza Pachulia. I never heard of him, but what a cool name. I'd heard of only like five of their guys, too. And I suspect that three of them I'd heard of because of college stuff, and the other two have odd names (Speedy Claxton and Tyronn Lue)that might have helped me remember them. I have heard of Joe Johnson, too, but not the basketball player, unless he is also the singer. Or was that Joe Jackson? Okay, I'm not going to count names that are that common unless I'm positive I know the PLAYER by that name.

On to the Boston Celtics...or not, I hate Boston teams. On to the Charlotte Bobcats? Charlotte has a team? When did that happen? But looking at their roster I see... Primoz Brezec? Is it mandatory that each team have a completely unpronounceable name on the roster just to challenge the arena announcers? Beyond Primoz, I find four names I recognize.

To be fair, I'm taking credit if I can name the college a guy went to. Or his position. Or his ethnicity. Because otherwise, I might look like I don't know anything about basketball at all, when I actually know "little" about basketball.

On to the next team, the Chicago Bulls. I know these guys, I'm sure. I think they were the champs last year. Or a few years ago, or something like that. Anyway they cornered the market on the names. They have Martynas Andriuskevicius, Luol Deng, Viktor Khryapa, and Thabo Sefolosha. Heck, throw in Andres Nocioni, too. I've heard of five other guys, and their coach, too.

Now, this is getting boring, so you can find the rest of the odd names yourself (that is what we were doing, right?). My eyes are scrambled from all those consonants anyway. And my spell checker just went up in flames. But I've made my point. I don't really know all that many names on the rosters. Maybe the starters, but not much more. So I either need to pay more attention, or forget about writing any good basketball posts this year.

Being no expert, I still feel adequately qualified to lay at your feet, my very own NBA preview edition post:

Western Conference - The Lakers will implode again due to the negative gravitational pull of Kobe Bryant. The Suns look good. A lot of experts pick them. So they will not win it all. Dallas is like the A's of basketball. Always in the playoffs, always look strong, never make it to the end. The Hornets have that New Orleans mojo, need better players. Denver, Portland, Sacramento, Houston, Minnesota, Utah. No. Memphis, Seattle? Not a chance in heck. The Warriors suck way too bad. San Antonio? Maybe. But aren't they getting kind of old? 10 guys born in the 70's? That leaves... Yes, the Clippers. Your Western Conference Champs. Book it, go to Vegas, bet the farm.

Eastern Conference - Umm, short version? Heat? Too many people think so, and repeats are out of style these days. Indiana? Dallas of the East. Its gotta be the New Jersey Nets. Really. Unless they have the injury woes. Land gently Vince.

Feel free to hate my preview. I'm sure its worng, too. I just hope it wasn't boring. And now the finale...

The NBA champs this year just can't be the Clippers. The world is not ready for that yet. Not so soon after the Red Sox. Go Nets!

Update: Rasheed - 1 game, 1 ejection. This might be too easy a prediction. There needs to be a new rule that a player can be ejected more than once per game or else everyone will guess 82.

Where ya from?

2006-10-29T19:16:00.000-08:00

If I watch pro football or basketball, I learn where players went to school (mostly college, a few high school names in there). Players are spoken of by the announcers thusly: "Catch made by Jones, in his third year out of Alabama Southern". It may be somewhat relevant if a player is a rookie. You are reminded where he was last year, which may or may not mean something to you. If he has been a pro for a year or more, he is now fully immersed in the pro game, on a pro team. Terrell Owens went to Tennessee-Chattanooga, but he's in his 12th pro year, on his 3rd pro team. Does anyone really think that anything he was ingrained with at T-C is still present in his ways today?

If you want to tell me where a guy is "from", why not where he was born? Oh, that means nothing 20-some years later.

Baseball does not do this. Maybe because a higher percentage of baseball players go to the minors from high school or Junior Colleges, not to mention from other countries. Maybe because college IS the minor leagues for football or basketball?

In any even, I realized today that I officially hate this practice of naming the college a guy attended. I really liked a player and was rooting for him to succeed. He was doing so well, and the announcers were taking note of his performance and I felt a swelling of pride for "choosing" him as a favorite now that he was being noticed on a grand scale. The "experts" on highlight shows were even giving my new found hero major props. I've added him to my fantasy roster, and I was just about to start bidding on anything that had his likeness on it on ebay. And I have money to burn... and then they said it, and ruined it for me, and now I hate the guy, and I may just start hating his whole team... because I just learned the guy went to USC.

Average Baseball Fan

2006-10-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm your average, run-of-the-mill baseball fan. Nothing special. Joe fan.

I'm the guy MLB targeted with their Tommy Lasorda ad campaign. I'm the guy my hometown team tries to get to buy tickets to the games. I'm perfectly happy watching the game on TV, and that's free. I might buy a cap, maybe even a t-shirt... but no jerseys, and no face paint. I might stick on that free pin they gave away, but my cap is not covered in pins. That hurts when someone pats your head. Oh, I might pay attention and read the newspaper stories every day when my team is winning. If they suck, I might not know who's on first.

If they get to the playoffs, then I wear that t-shirt all the time (but I'm gonna wash it... I'm not a insanely superstitious dude), and I FEEL happy when they win take the lead, or if I'm really lucky, actually win a game. But when they lose out in the first round on a sweep, or however they happen to bow out of the playoffs, then life goes on. The t-shirt goes back to the bottom of the drawer, maybe becomes the "painting shirt". I don't perform sacrifice rituals with the cap, the newspaper articles, or the un-used playoff ticket my boss gave me. I just throw them out.

Maybe I keep the cap. I might need it next year, because next year...oh never mind. They're going to lose next year, too. They just extended the manager's contract.

SO what did the average fan do during this world series? Well, I found myself glued to the television for minutes at a time several times. I laughed at errors, misplays, baserunning mistakes, and dumb managerial decisions. And as little as I actually watched the games, it seems that I always saw those things happening. Joe fan was not impressed (I know my team could have easily won the damn series. If they just could have gotten there). I was asked before the series who I would root for. Uh, no one. I just don't care. ALL I WANT IS GOOD, EXCITING GAMES TO WATCH. Thats all, MLB, thats all I want. And you and Tommy cannot deliver. Now I know why I hate the Dodgers, again.

I was pressed on the issue of rooting, though. I was told you have to root for someone so you can get into the series. Maybe. Being your average fan, I decided that if everyone thought the Tigers were going to win, then I would "pull" for the Cards. I can't "root" for them, they are not my team. So now that the Cards have won, I can finally enjoy a playoff victory because the team I wanted to win actually won!!!

And then MLB ruined the moment for me. They gave the MVP to David Eckstein. They gave him a yellow Corvette and he was happy to have his first new car. Huh? How old are you? How much money do you make? And you never bought a new car before? Average fan is not happy that below average baseball player can win the MVP. Average gets you NOTHING in the real world. This guy gets a car. And my team...the one that SHOULD have been there, and WOULD have won...gets nothing. My team has several below average guys on the roster. Why couldn't it have been us? We are much less than average than the team that won it.

On a side note, I know why they gave him a yellow Corvette. So you wouldn't notice the phone book he needs to see over the dash.

Of course, being the average fan, just this quickly I'm over it. In 5 months or so, I will be surprised to hear that spring training has started. I will start wondering who these guys are, what happened to my favorite player (he's in New York now), and why did we go and get that guy. He sucks.

Oh well, it doesn't matter. We'll win anyway. We're going all the way this year. And if we don't....

Watching the World Series reminds me...

2006-10-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the game is not won or lost in the 9th inning. If your lead is in jeopardy in the 6th, 7th or 8th (or whatever) then shouldn't you use your "closer" then? I mean bases loaded, no outs, 4 to 2 lead in the 6th? The opposition may not get a better opportunity in the final 3 innings, so why not bring on your stopper, the big stud of the bullpen? We all know that if a manger uses the stopper in the 6th and some other guy blows the game in the 8th or 9th, the manager will lose his job. Just not if I was the owner. If the game is lost in the 6th when the closer is relaxing in the bullpen and you send in your 5th best reliever... well that manager should lose his job, too, don't you think? Why not stock your bullpen with more than one "closer"? Just kidding... just use the one you have when the game is on the line. If the game is on the line again later... so be it.

Tonight, the game was on the line, and so LaRussa bring in his closer in the 8th, with one out and a man on 2nd and a one run lead. No problem. Okay so he gave up the tying run, but you had your big guy in there to do the job. If Inge had doubled off Joe Schmo to tie the game, LaRussa would (or should) have been skewered. Win with you best, lose with your best. No problem. Of course, this ignores the fact that Wainright is a closer in the World Series, but thats someone elses story. At least he isn't one of the closers who has to come in at the start of an inning (hello, Huston Street).

And one other thing... Eckstein gets a hit because Granderson fell down? We all know he would have caught it if he hadn't fallen, so it shouldn't be a hit. But to give Granderson an error because he slipped on the sloppy wet field is cruel. So what do you call it? On base due to unexpected forces? Environmental assist?

Its like when a shortstop makes a great diving grab, fires to first and the first baseman can't quite sccop the throw, and the runner goes to second. Or the outfielder makes a great throw to the plate but it takes a bad hop and the catcher can't grab it and make the tag. Has an error been committed? Often times one is given. Mostly on the throw. But thats total B.S. The great play, or trying to make the hard play, and it doesn't work out... how about, no error, or "team" error, charged to no individual player, but an error on the team? If everyone played like Eckstien... just making the play, nothing spectacular... there would be fewer errors, but the game would be nowhere as exciting as it often is. I would rather see Torii Hunter try to make the impossible play...and miss it, than watch everyone just pull back to take the easy route.

Okay, so what am I ranting about? The game is often won or lost (in theory) in innings other than the 9th. Treat it that way. And sometimes, a hit isn't deserved, and neither is an error. Something needs to be done so that events that are not claerly hits or errors can be classified as somw thing other than "hit" or "error".

And don't get me started on "lucky" hits.........

Watched MNF, and...

2006-10-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

Fans suck. Boo your starting QB, chant the name of the back up. As long as the starter stays on the field, the fans are right. Well, good old Tuna just showed fans everywhere that they are stupid and should just shut up. Now whose name are you going to chant?

And I'm sick of T.O. I'm a 49er fan (I know, they suck and I'm an idiot) and I don't remember T.O. being this way here. Was he? Or was I just a fan blind to it. I just recall the guy was a good player and I hated to see him go. THEN he went nuts. That's what I remember. Anyway, the cameras kept showing T.O. on the sidelines and the announcers were telling us something like, "Now he's yelling at the coach, now he's yelling at the equipment guy...". He didn't look like he was yelling, but all they could do was talk about how upset he was, or was going to be. Then the guy catches a pass and the next thing you know, its a montage of T.O. on the screen when they came back from a commercial. Like he was Brett Favre or something. Come on, is he a terrifically fabulous player, or a jerk weasel? Both? In any event, until the guy shoots someone or actually lives up to his own self-hype (like, make it through a game without dropping an easy pass?) lets just leave him alone. He's only the center of attention because the sports media says so.

Issue Number One

2006-10-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Why can't the NCAA figure out a way to determine the BEST football team in the land? Uh, in Division I anyway. I am against any sport that has outcomes even partially determined by "judges" (the polls). Ski jumping? Why not... WHO JUMPED A LONGER DISTANCE. Why are style judges involved in this? Ice skating. Forget it. Boxing? Nah. But boxing can easily be transformed away from judges decisions. Ultimate Fighting, anyone? Officials can make mistakes, but at least umpires are not determining safe or out based on style. Or Derek Jeter would bat 1.000 every year.

So back to my first point. Why is it that a small group spread out across the country can decide in part who is the best? Do we elect Presidents that way? Ok, bad example. Play a whole season with "one of" the best records to make the "playoffs" and go from there. Sure a team that barely makes it in could be hot at the right time and win, but thats all part of the system. Pro baseball, hockey, basketball, and maybe football (season is short, not everyone plays a similar schedule) do it.

Maybe each conference in the NCAA can have a champ (oh yeah, they do) and some playoffs can start from there? I know my idea sucks, but its better than whats done now.

Oh by the way, I don't really know squat about the NCAA.

2006-10-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

Sports will never be as pure as they were when....