Quick hits...

1) Nice job by Clemson in representing the ACC last night:

Elon 74, Clemson 69

This is Elon's first win vs. a D-I opponent this year.

2) On a better note, the Cavs get a big win today, beating Detroit at home - handily - by 13. These are the wins that help build confidence in a young team.

3) Bowl pick'em standings: our hot starts have been wiped away. Through the NC State game:
Eric - 10
Derek - 9
Gooch - 9
Don "Mr. wins every odd year" - 8

The leader has 15.

NFL Week 17 - and thoughts on the Browns

I am stunned and devastated by the news coming out of Cleveland today. Nothing is official, but from all sorts of sources, here are the details with some opinions of mine thrown in:
- Randy Lerner (owner) and John Collins (President, muckety-muck from NY) are not/have not been happy with the negotiation styles of our GM, Phil Savage;
- Leigh Bodden, our stud young CB, was given a 4 years extension today; there is talk that Collins did not agree with the extension that Savage gave him;
- Collins finally confronted Lerner sometime recently saying that Savage needs help on the negotiation end; Lerner and Collins may have contacted someone from Atlanta (where Chris Mortensen's sources are from);
- Savage disagrees; and Collins and Lerner may have decided to get rid of Savage; that trial ballon may have been floated today.
- Lerner sees the HUGE backlash that such a move would cause. I would say that 96% of the fans would back Savage over Collins in this way. Lerner saw that - and now is backtracking on the firing. The official site is denying anything and the three are "renewing their vows" to make the Browns an elite team (quote from WTAM radio today, from Collins. Collins, for his part, has denied any firing).

So even though there is no official shakeup, this can't be good. The saying "where there's smoke, there's fire" certainly applies here. There is a whole lot of hatred in the FO; no one is sure who's going to win any sort of power play that may be going on.

I have not gotten any impression that Romeo is part of this way, although the front office (Lerner/Collins) may ask Romeo to fire a few assistants.

This is just bad bad bad. I am sick and tired of the ineptitude of this front office, especially at the inability of the FO to "get" Browns football. Collins - today - even admitted that he is finally realizing the fan's passion and the place that Browns football has in the civic heart of Cleveland. WHAT THE F*^#$^* took you so long, you ass?

Argh. I know most of you don't care, but I had to get this off my chest. A depresssing day in Browns world.

Picks for week 17:
SD 31, Den 20
NYG 20, Oak 10
Pit 24, Det 7
Ind 27, Az 13
TB 27, NO 10
Cle 10, Bal 9
GB 24, Sea 20
Buf 19, NYJ 13
NE 24, Mia 17
Cin 31, KC 24
SF 16, Hou 13
Jax 27, Ten 20
Chi 16, Min 10
Was 31, Phi 14
Dal 27, StL 10

Best bets: 19 of them (last week: 8-6-2; overall: 135-124-13)
SD/Den over 43
NYG/Oak under 41
Pit -13.5
Ind -6.5
TB -13.5
Buf -1.5
Mia/NE Over 37
Cin +7
Cin/KC Over 46
SF +1
SF/Hou Under 37
Jax -3.5
Jax/Hou Over 37
Chi +4
Chi/Min under 35
Was -7.5
Was/Phi Over 37
Dal -12.5
Dal/Stl Under 43

Credibility of ESPN

Today, Dec. 30, could be the day where I cease to use ESPN for any real news.

Chris Mortensen is reporting that the Browns are planning to fire our GM, Phil Savage, as early as today.

According to the Browns board, nothing is set in stone and no firing has been announced. There are plenty of doubts within the organization that this will happen.

I know a lot of us has made fun of Peter Gammons in the past with his "gossip column" - Gammons reports trades that are "imminent" or "just about finalized" that somehow -shockingly- don't happen.

But this is real news, and it toys with the strings of fans around the nation. If this story turns out to be false - and Savage is still here in a month - then ESPN has a lot to answer for. It's getting to the point where all mainstream media is turning into a bunch of Dan Rathers.

(If the report is true, however.... well, let's not think about that.)

Power to the AL Central

So I get the kitchen pass tonight and go out with some people from work....we meet up at a bar with a lady from work (Casey) and a few of her friends.

Casey is a 23-year old right out of Iowa St; one of her friends is a young woman (23 or so, as well) with a husband. The husband- Dan - is a tall young guy with a Tigers cap on. Well, there's not a lot of teams I can trash talk to, so I go over, introduce myself as a Cleveland fan, and our conversation quickly turns to baseball (Grady Sizemore, Dmitri Young, Travis Hafner, Bobby Higginson, etc.). He is a Michigan native teaching school in southern Minnesota, it turns out.

So we're talking baseball for a while, when Casey comes over and says that there is a guy in the bar (who none of us know) that actually pinched her ass and was hitting on her! Well, Dan and I spring into action. We both had to take a trip to the men's room, so on the trip over, we both give the guy (an Iowa college frat boy, no older than 22) a long stare down with the evil eye.

When we return, Casey thanks us, saying that the offender actually apologized to her after we walked by!

That. my friends, is the AL Central in action.

Happy Holidays

Ahhh... the holidays are over. Finally!! For the first time ever, I never got in the Christmas mood. Don't know if it was due to all the traveling or what, but I just totally shut down this year during Christmas. I didn't go shopping, put up a tree or lights, or sent out Christmas cards. So to all those people who I didn't send a card or presents to, I'm sorry. I'll make up for it over the next couple of months.

And yes, I missed an entire week of picks. I was in Bermuda and totally forgot. If Eric permits, I'll go ahead and make up the 16 picks during the Bowl Season and this weeks games. Judges? If they rule in my favor I'm going to post my 16 college picks in the comments section.

Speaking of Bowl Season, the book is in bad shape. We are in the red for the first time in years and this is heading into Murders Row with the NFL Playoffs, the dreaded New Years Day Bowl Games, and then the Superbowl. I've always had a solid cushion going into these games, which makes everything a little less stressful, but not this year. If things go bad I might be playing the nickel slots in Vegas in March. I've already received a heads up call from the Boston collation that New Years Day will be heavy. Usually I love to hear this, but not this year, especially since Boston has done pretty well this year.

But, if things go well then I might go ahead and buy a Motorcycle. Yep. That's right, a Harley. Over in Bermuda we rented these little mopeds that top out around 50 MPH and it was a blast. We would just tool around the island on these things and it was so much fun and so relaxing. And with the way that the weather is in the OC, I could ride the bike year round. I'm still on the fence on this, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about those freakin mopeds and how much fun they were.

Monday Night Football

I am firmly on the side of Peter King, Dr. Z and even Sports Guy on this one. What is the big deal about the "finale" of Monday Night Football on ABC?

This is not the end of Monday Night Football - it will live on next year on ESPN. So the idea of football on Monday nights is still with us.

The last several days has been just a crap-fest of media self-love. No one cares about ABC and its decision not to renew. It's not like MNF was stolen from ABC; ABC decided not to renew- it's even going to its sister network, ESPN! This was a clear business choice.

The TV business model from the 70s and 80s is over. The three big networks don't matter anymore. TV is not "more special" if it is on ABC, CBS, Fox or NBC.

I believe that's what this week's love-fest was all about - a pity party for the established media realizing that it is not 1986 any more. Geesh.

(That being said, I think NBC will do a great job on Sunday night, and in 5 years, Sunday Night Football on NBC will be bigger than MNF on ESPN. This is partly due to the announcers, but also the flexibility that NBC willhave in chooisng games.)

Gambler's note: Our good friend Don Criqui will be announcing the Browns-Ravens game this weekend! Big Don and the Browns have a 3 game winning streak - are you going to bet against the Criqui magic? No way! We make it 4 this weekend with a 17-14 win over the Rats.

NFL Week 16

It's Friday night, and I am engrossed in an ESPN Classic showing of the 1987 PBA Los Angeles Open, announced by the great Chris Schenkel and Nelson "Bo" Burton Jr. Schenkel and Burton were staples in our house every Saturday afternoon in the 80s.

Don't know if Derek will get his picks in: he is in Bermuda, I believe, as I type, spending his Christmas vacation with friends. Whatever happened to the mystery of teh Bermuda triangle? That, too, was big in the 80s - planes mysteriosuly disappeared, strange weather occurred in that region, etc. Did Leonard Nimoy do a "In Search Of..." special on the Bermuda Triangle and answer all the questions?

(Where else do you get a blog comparing Nelson Burton Jr. and the Bermuda Triangle? I swear, we should charge for this sort of entertainment.)

On to the picks:
KC 27, SD 23: this is a classic Marty game - as in, "I can't believe Marty lost this game!"
Mia 23, Ten 20: Tennessee will be the surprise team of the 2006 season (well, maybe a 2nd surprise team beside Cleveland).
Jax 17, Hou 16. Can we really expect the Jags to win by more than 10?
Dal 24, Car 13. A contrairian pick. Bill will rally the troops here.
TB 27, Atl 17. As stated before, I have no faith in the Falcons.
Stl 20, SF 10. A lot of these games do not requrie a comment.
NO 20, Det 17. Like this one.
Cle 13, Pit 12. Why not?
Cin 31, Buf 14. The Takeo Spikes bowl. Mularkey has to go at the end of the year, right?
Was 20, NYG 13. This should be a great game. I need Tiki to have a good game - I don't think he will this week.
Az 27, Phi 20. I have a feeling about this one.
Den 28, Oak 13. C'mon, Jake, open it up and throw for 350.
Sea 30, Ind 20. I have no idea.
GB 16, Chi 13. Just have a feeling that Favre has one more good game left in him. This would be an ideal time.
Min 24, Bal 16. Boller's game Monday night was like an oasis in the desert - a mirage.
NE 24, NYJ 23. One last gasp effort by teh Jets to be competitive this year; NE will let up a bit.

Best bets: (last week: 9-9; overall: 127-118-11).
KC pick em
Hou +6
Dal +5
TB -3
TB/Atl Over 36 1/2
SD/Stl under 41 1/2
Cin -13 1/2
Was -3
Az -1
Az/Phi Over 39 1/2
Ind/Sea over 44
GB +7
Min +3
Min/Bal over 34
NYJ +5.5
NE/NYJ Over 37

Random thoughts

More random thoughts, mostly focusing on ESPN:

1) So ESPN is putting up a poll about how the current USC team would sack up vs. other great college football teams in history. For example:
- would the 05 Trojans beat the 91 Huskies?
- would they beat the 02 Buckeyes?
and so on....

I hate to rain on the parade, but...
doesn't USC have to win the championship first???

I mean, gees, why not do a poll asking if Eric Zahn winning the 2006 US Open is the greatest upset in golf history? I will enter it - it's just a formality that I actually win. Let's start the poll now!

Of course, I'm not saying that USC's chances of winning the national championship is as remote as me winning the US Open. But it's not a done deal. If I were Mack Brown, I'd force all of the Horns to watch these segments as motivation.

2) On a semi-related note, I see that Leinart was reinstated by the NCAA from his little issue with "promoting" ESPN. I would have loved to see the NCAA take the hard line and make him ineligible for the Rose Bowl.

Hey, if Jeremy Bloom can't play in the olympics and play football, then Leinart shouldn't be able to promote ESPN and play as well.

This would take ESPN down a few notches.

3) The Browns are now 3-0 when Don Criqui announces. That's good enough for me to have him be our full-time CBS announcer, even if he keeps calling our starting RB "Reuben Jones".

We have Mr. Orgasm Gus Johnson this week. Argh.

4) I'm sick already of the Johnny Damon signing. We are talking about the 3rd and 4th best teams in the AL here. Both still have a ways to go to get to the White Sox and, in my opinion, the Angels.

Note to ESPN and others: Most people outside of the original 13 colonies are sick and tired of having the Red Sox/Yanks thrown down our throat.

How is this different than, say, Albert Belle signing with the White Sox in the 1996 offseason? Or Tom Glavine signing with the Mets a couple of years ago? (Hint: it isn't).

5) College Bowl pool update:
The Gooch leads early on with 2 of 2 correct; Derek, Don Hershey and I have 1 correct.

76 players entered the pool; 21 have 2-of-2 so far.

Advice to the Democratic Party

Here's a political thought as I pace around trying to see if Arkansas St. can hold off Southern Miss from scoring again and covering the 17 point spread:

I read Andrew Sullivan from time to time to get a fresh perspective on issues and events; Andrew is a libertarian, pro-defense gay writer. Andrew takes both parties to tasks for various reasons.

He does have guest posters come in now and again when he is on vacation; one such person today is an unknown (to me) who offers some very valuable advice to the Democrats. Here is the full link:

link

Here is the first paragraph, which is very much worth reading.

While more legally-minded types bicker over the legitimacy of the Bush wiretapping, it's worth pointing out that the odds of this fracas redounding to the Democrats' long-term benefit are somewhere between slim and none. Let's suppose, for the sake or argument, that John Dean is right, and Bush just became "the first President to admit to an impeachable offense." The Democrats aren't going to try impeaching him for it - they aren't that stupid, are they? - so all that the offense does, in the public mind, is add to the existing perception of the GOP as the party that sometimes goes too far and skirts the law in the pursuit of national security objectives. And it's almost always better to be tagged as "the party that might go too far" than as "the party that won't go far enough" - which is how the Democrats are perceived these days. This explains why the GOP can weather controversy after controversy, from Iran-Contra down through Iraq War intelligence and the secret prisons and CIA waterboarding, and still hang on to the public trust on foreign affairs - because in each case, they're perceived as having gone too far with good intentions, 24-style, and in an arena that most Americans perceive as being slightly outside the law anyway.


This pretty much sums it all up in a nutshell. I just wonder sometimes if the Democrats have a strategy at all and realize how they have painted their party not just for now, but for the next generation....

Steeler Celebration Photo

This picture was taken from a bar in Pittsburgh where 6 loyal fans celebrated their win over the Vikings yesterday:

Derek, you asked me what I wanted for Christmas: I want nothing more than a win on Saturday to knock these inbreds out of the playoffs.

NFL Week 15

I got a sinking feeling in my stomach when the real estate agent called today - "Can you show your house at 4:00 in the afternoon on Sunday?"

THE ONE DAY where the Browns have a late (3:00) game, I'm forced out of the house. Argh. That's why God invented TiVo, I guess.

Here are the picks:
NE 27, TB 13
KC 31, NYG 24
Den 20, Buf 10
Mia 23, NYJ 10
StL 21, Phi 17
Hou 20, Az 17
Sea 31, Ten 17
Ind 34, SD 24
Car 23, NO 10
Jax 20, SF 9
Min 17, Pit 13
Cin 31, Det 17
Cle 20, Oak 17
Dal 16, Was 13, OT
Chi 17, Atl 13
Bal 24, GB 20.

Best bets: I am now 118-109-11 on the season:
NE -4.5
KC +3
KC/NYG over 47
Mia -8.5
Hou +1.5
Az/Hou under 43
Sea -7
Ind/SD Over 51
Car -9
Car/NO under 40
SF +16
Jax/SF Under 37
Min +3
Min/Pit Under 41
Cin -7.5
Dal +3
Dal/Was Under 35
Bal/GB Over 33

Fantasy Help needed

Boy, am I in a pickle. The 1st round of our playoffs start this weekend, and my quarterbacks on my roster are:

1) Bulger (out)
2) Plummer (in Buffalo)
3) Brooks (benched).

So - do I start Plummer, or go off the board with Garrad (vs SF) or Carr (vs Az)?

How in the hell did I find myslf in this predicament.....

Any advice would be appreciated.

College Bowl Pool

A friend of a friend is organizing a pool for all 28 bowl games. You have to pick the winner with the spread - so it's not as easy as it looks.

If you are interested - it's open to anyone - e-mail me and I will send you the spreadsheet. $5 to enter, unlimited entries. My address is zahn4@msn.com.

We should then post the entries of the posters/readers here for our own little contest.

Random thoughts from Week 14

First of all, it's hard to get pumped up for a game when you arrived home the "night" before at 6:30 in the morning. I haven't done that in a long, long time. Fortunately, I stopped drinking around 3 so there was no hangover - I was just zoned out the whole day. But I was alert enough to make the following observations:

1) Try as I might, I just can't find myself to hate Chad Johnson. Believe me, I love to hate everybody in the AFC north, especially Mr. Fraud Ben Roethlisberger (I want to punch the TV when his Fathead commercial comes on). But something about Chad makes me smile. I like his TD dances - they are planned, but planned with the fan in mind! - and comes across as genuine. Also, he gives props where props are due. On his "Can they cover 85?" chart he has publicized, he gave Leigh Bodden a "yes" after Sunday's game.

2) So I watched a bit of the Jax - Hou game - who was the ref? Bernie Kukar, a 2-time Super Bowl ref with 22 years of experience. My God, what is he doing there in week 14? Hey NFL, get the best officials at the best games late in the season.

3) Speaking of refs, let's make a rule - a ref can not wear a woolen face mask if fans are going shirtless at the game. I saw Mike Carey all bundled up with one in GB for the Sunday Night game - and then I saw shirtless guys in the stands. C'mon, sack up, Mike!

4) Didn't know Billick owned a Harley.

5) Can a hole open up more than it did for Washington during that kickoff return? Geesh - even I could fit through that hole.

6) So I'm about to cover the under in the Sea-SF game when I see Josh Brown out there attempting a 52 yd FG in a 38-3 game. 38-3! Of course he made it to put the total at the over.

7) It was a pleasure to see Derek go 1-10-3 on his picks on Sunday. He did win 2 on Monday, and I only gained 3 games on him, but nevertheless, it was fun calling him and telling him what his record was.

Go Panthers!

As some of you might know, the Div I-AA Championship game is this weekend, featuring our very own Northern Iowa Panthers. (The campus is located in Cedar Falls, about 70 miles north of Iowa City). UNI's most notable athletic accomplishment before this was beating Missouri in the 1st round of the NCAAs in 1990 as a 14 seed (no, I did not pick that, although they were a tempting 12-point dog).

If you don't know the details of how they won, then you haven't heard the story of the colossal coaching blunder of the year.

Northern was down by 8 (37-29) with 4 minutes left, playing on the road at Texas State in the semi finals. UNI drives and scores a TD with about 1:20 left to play, and makes the 2pt conversion. Now the score is tied, 37-37, and Northern has to kickoff to Texas State, who has 2 timeouts left.

Texas State gets the kickoff and is tackled at its own 25 with 1:15 left.

Let's repeat this: Texas State:
a) is tied 37-37
b) is playing at home in a I-AA semifinal
c) has the ball at its own 25 with 1:15 left
d) and has 2 timeouts.

What play(s) would you call?

The coach opted to take a knee 2 times and send the game to OT. The fans went beszerk - booing their own team (coach) in a playoff game.
Northern got the ball first, kicked a FG, and intercepted a Texas State pass to win, 40-37, to go to Chattanooga on Friday.

Back in the Saddle

Ahhhhh. Finally we are back up and running. Still don't know what happened to the site. Anyway, here are some quick thoughts from an active two weeks:

• Career change is on the way for me. I'm moving from managing numbers to managing people. If all goes well in my meeting this morning with my VP on my succession plan, then I'll be off to Long Beach. I'm sure my lack of patience and my shortness to people who are stupid will go over well with my new office.
  
• Went out to Vegas last week and had one of my first winning sessions in about 6 years (excluding poker). After breaking down the session two things came to mind on why I won; I stayed away from Blackjack and I went in with some good karma. It is so apparent now that if you tip generously, say hello to everyone, and generally be pleasant to all strangers then you will win.
  
• Probably the best outcome of the trip was that my buddy Ben, who doesn't gamble that much, is now hooked. I'm sure we will make another couple of quick trips out in the upcoming weeks.
  
• Bumped into Shaq last week in a crappy restaurant late night. He was sitting in the corner and was holding court with all of the wait staff. After he left (of course giving me the traditional head nod) the wait staff was going crazy. Apparently he gave them all $100 bills as a tip.
  
• Why can't I find any name brand dress shirts with a 17.5 inch neck. This is getting ridiculous.
  
• Bradley to the A's. Well I don't want to get too excited since I'm sure this will go well for the first 2 months and then something will happen. I don't want to make excuses for him but what has he done as a Dodger that has been bad? Ripped Kent? Um..the guy is an ass. Get a little too emotional on called strikes? I like the passion. Chuck a bottle at a fan...hmmm I got nothing on this.
  
• Won a couple of poker tournaments over the last two weeks. I'm now becoming unstoppable in my private games which is resulting in 30 people sitting around the table openly cheering against me. Takes a little while to get used to, but I actually enjoy it now.
  
• I think I finally got rid of the Crazy Asian Chick.
  
• Finally going back to Baltimore on Saturday for two weeks. I'm so excited to see everyone!!!!!!
  

Poker Question

Hand #1
7H, 8H, W, W, JH

Hand #2
(in no particular order, in other words, you tell me what order the hand goes in)
8S, W, W, W, 10S


Who has the better straight flush?

Football update

So the lesson learned from this weekend is that if I spend 5 minutes on the picks in half darkness in a hotel room when everybody is sleeping, that's better than if I spend an hour or more on the week. Okaaaaay...

Last two week update:

Eric: was 44-43-5; last two weeks were 8-11-1 (see below) and 9-6:
overall 61-60-6
Derek: was 53-36-3; last two weeks were 8-11-1 and 7-8
overall 68-55-4

slowly gaining ground.

Thanksgiving Sunday was terrible. How in the hell can I have Washington (+3), Houston (+ 3 1/2) and Dallas (-2), and have all of them go OT, and LOSE ALL OF THEM???? Isn't every game decided by a FG in OT? My God, was that painful.

Sports sound clips

Completely random sports question:

What is your #1 favorite sports-related audio clip? Some nominees:

- Jim Mora's "Playoffs?? Playoffs?" tirade
- Herm Edwards "you PLAY to WIN the GAME" press conference
- Jim Schoenfeld's classic: "Eat another donut, you fat pig"
- The John Chaney/John Calipari grudge match: "I KILL YOU!"
- Anything by Bob Knight (I love the "game face" one)
- Hal McRae's tirade from a few years ago

I'm sure I'm missing some obvious ones.

If I could set my alarm to Herm Edwards' voice every day, I think I would double my productivity in the morning.

Cue The Pretenders

Sorry about the lack of blogging - but the last several days have been pretty busy. Yes, it is offical - we are going "Back to Ohio" as our move back to Cincinnati was announced just befor Thanksgiving. We knew this would be coming eventually, but we are surprised it is so quick.

Went househunting for 4 days last week, and luck smiled upon us as we found a house, placed an offer, and was accepted during the 4 days. A big relief. Now we get to put our house on the market and try to keep it in immaculate condition for 30 days, with 2 kids and 2 dogs, over the holiday season. Nothing like an impossible task there.

Sirius came in handy on the way home as I listened to the NFL games - with the highlight being Braylon's torn ACL somewhere east of Peoria, IL. So close, yet so far away.

Picks

Since Eric is now driving back from Cincy, he will not be able to give his two cents on this week's games. I'm not going to take his place since I've sworn off doing so since I went 0-100 during the MLB playoffs. So I'm just going to post the games for the both of us.


Eric: 15 games
TB -3.5
TB/NO Over 39
Car -3
Car/Atl under 43
Bal/Hou Under 38
NYG.Dal over 41
Min -3
Min/Det over 38 1/2
Buf +5
SF +3
Was -3
NYJ/NE Over 41
KC +1
KC/den over 45 1/2
Phi +4

Derek: 15 games
USC
VT
Texas Under
Miami -5
Pitt -3.5
Baltimore -8
Jax -3.0
Chicago -7
TB-3.5
Washington -3
Denver -1
SD -11.5
SD Over 50.5
Seattle -4
Dallas +3

The Dealer is Hot!!!

Was in Palm Springs last week, and ended up going over to one of their 3 casinos the last night I was there. Don't know why I did, since I'm trying to quit BJ and I wasn't in the mood to play poker. But as I walked in, I thought I saw a couple of craps tables, which got me excited, but then I was thinking that California has a law against any dice games, so it must be something else. Anyway I walked up to the table and saw that it was craps with a slight twist. To get around the "no dice" law, they have the pit boss grabbing one card with his right hand from a group of six cards and one card with his left hand from a group of six cards. The group of cards are just Ace-6, and i represents the roll of the dice. Strangest thing. It was terrible because there was no excitment as well as its sort of tough to cheer for the pit boss. I don't know what is more amazing, the fact that I lost $150 or that there was a guy playing with $500 chips next to me.

And let me say something about Palm Springs...Wow. Exceeded all of my expectations. Hotels were amazing, weather was great, and people told me that the golf was excellent and reasonably priced. And the selection of high end restuarants close by was nothing like Vegas, but it was still better than most large cities.

And since Eric is in Cincy on a house hunting tour, he probably won't get his picks in until tomorrow, so here are three of my college picks today:

USC -20.5
Texas Under 61
VT -14