NFL Week 17 Picks: "Plinko"

First of all, hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and for those readers not in North Carolina this weekend, have a very Happy New Year.

For the final week of the season, we come to ye olde favorite, Plinko. You never know what's going to happen when you slide that chip down the plinko board - and you never know what kind of performance you are going to get from teams during this last week. Will they mail it in (I'm talking to you, Cleveland)? Will they fight for their embattled coach (Raiders, Cards)? Will they fight for a coach they love even though they have no talent (Lions)? What playoff contenders will fall on their face this week? You know one of these teams - Giants, Jets, Broncos - will lose.

Let's go to the board:

Was 24, NYG 23. A fitting end to the Giants' season, no?
KC 20, Jax 17. I have no idea on this game.
NYJ 17, Oak 13. Oakland's defense is good. This spread is way too high.
Sea 24, TB 10. I know tampa is favored, and Seattle has nothing to play for, but I think Seattle wants to establish something before the season is over - they'd like to look good in 1 game.
Cin 27, Pit 13. The Bengals taking out their frustrations.
NO 20, Car 17. Yikes. Don't watch this.
Ten 24, NE 20. Milton Berle game I. Why would the Pats show anything here?
Cle 47, Houston 3. So Ken Dorsey goes out with a line like 35-51, 354 yds, 3 tds. Now what do we do?
StL 27 , Min 17. Jackson plays well in domes.
Dal 23, Det 20. Milton Berle game 2.
Den 26, SF 23. This will be a fight to the end.
SD 27, Az 10. Warner is back at QB for Arizona? Good luck there. And the Chargers are playing for something.
Ind 20, Mia 16. I'm rethinking this one now, but I think we all are overvaluing the Colts.
Phi 24, Atl 16. Bye bye Jim Mora.
Bal 26, Buf 13. Can't fault Jauron for passing up that dicey FG last week into the wind. Gus Johnson was apopletic in the booth.
GB 27, Chi 24. C'mon - NBC is scripting this game. Favre goes out with a win and into the playoffs. You know it's happening.

16 best bets:
Eric: last week: 7-9; overall: 132-116-8
Derek: last week: 8-8: overall: 125-131-1

I need to go better than 6-10 to guarantee a winning record (>52.3% ) for the year.

Was +2.5
Oak +11
Sea +4
Cin -6
NO +3
StL -2
Det +13
SF +10 1/2
SF/Den Over 40 1/2
SD -13.5
SD/Az under 44
Mia +8.5
Ind/Mia under 42
Bal -8.5
GB +2.5
GB/Chi over 36

Week 16: "Switcheroo"

I love this game - I wish they played it more on TPiR. Basically, it's like setting your fantasy football lineup. You have five prizes, one of which is a car, the other four being "consolation" gifts under $100. You need to correctly match the 4th digit of the car and the 1st digit of the remaining gifts with the 5 numbers you are given.

Whichever ones you match correctly with the actual prize, you win! It's kind of like Fantasy Football in the sense that you are given 2 or 3 choices to start at QB, RB, WR, etc. every week - and you've got to pick the best one out of the list to maximize your points and win.

Quick fantasy football update. What a year so far. I was in 3 leagues:
League #1: 9-4 regular season, winning the regular season on a tiebreaker and winning 50% of the pot ($500). Lost in 1st round of the playoffs.
League #2: 9-4 regular season, division champion, and playing in the championship game this week. I am the 2-time defending champion. My opponent is starting - get this - Derek Anderson.
League #3 - the church league - I finished up the regular season with 4 wins to finish at 7-6 with LdT as my star; I swept through the playoffs and won.

So- totals: 25-14, with at least one championship under my belt. Not bad.

Week 16 predictions:
KC 24, Oak 10. There are rumors - imagine this! - that Shell may be fired.
Buf 17, Ten 13. Off the bandwagon again.
NO 31, NYG 24. The NYG defense is not good. I thnk Brees and co will have their way.
Atl 23, Car 10. Has Carolina given up?
StL 17, Was 16. Low scoring, lots of rushing yards.
Ind 27, Hou 17. I'm not trying to figure out hte Colts anymore.
Pit 20, Bal 13. I'm buying into this "Steelers still have a shot" talk...
Cle 20, TB 10. And Derek Anderson is anointed the starter for 2007.
Chi 21, Det 13. Even if Chi rests their starters, I'm not scared of Kitna against the Bears.
Jax 24, NE 20. The Jekyll and Hyde Jags return.
SF 26, Az 13. The 9ers are on a roll.
Cin 23, Den 17. Hello - Cutler's first win last week was against Arizona. Here, they will play a real NFL defense, and Cutler will struggle.
Sea 20, SD 17. Somewhere soon, Marty will cost them a game. I believe this is it.
Dal 27, Phi 20. I'd love to see Philly win, but I just can't understand how.
Mia 22, NYJ 16. The Jets are WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE! An overrated teamwith a gaudy record against sub 500 teams. The Cleveland rule applies here.

Picks:
Eric: Last week: 8-7-1; overall: 125-107-8
Derek: Last week: 11-5 (!): overall: 117-123-1.

16 best bets this week:
KC -7
Ten/Buf Under 37
NO +3
NO / NYG Over 47
Atl -6.5
Atl/Car Under 41
Was/Stl Under 43 1/2
Pit -3.5
Chi/Det Under 43
NE/Jax Over 36 1/2
SF -4
Az/SF Under 45 1/2
Cin +3
Sea +4.5
SD/Sea Under 46 1/2
Mia -2.5

Saturday ramblings

1. Good to see Derek alive and somewhat well with his post. I was worrying about him for a bit. Seeing his picks tells me he's at least breathing and concentrating on the important things, like football.

2. As far as I know, there is no set agenda for the weekend besides the three scheduled activities:
- Friday 1 pm: shower for the girls
- Saturday 6 pm: Reheharsal dinner (for some)
- Sunday 3 pm - ?: the big event.

We can use this blog to start planning any other events for the weekend. Friday at 8 pm is the Maryland-Purdue game; I think Don has plenty of Purdue gear and he will pay me $$$ to run around Friday night decked in yellow and black.

(You all can then get back at me by pissing me off by wearing Texans gear on Sunday for the big Cleveland-Houston game - but good luck finding any Texans gear....)

3. Speaking of the Browns, I will be one of approximately 10,000 fans in attendance tomorrow in Cleveland! Last minute plans came through, and we have 50-yard line upper deck (row 3 ) seats for the game. However, the tickets came electronically; I have to print out some pdf files and supposedly show that at the entrance. Has anyone done this before? Will this work?

4. Thanks Ryan for the link to the Cliff Hangers music. Is there a way we can work that into the reception, Derek?

5. Need the oddsmakers out there: If Derek's wedding is at 3 pm:
a. When is the last time that Eric will look at his pager before the wedding?
b. Will Eric look at the pager during the ceremony?
c. Starting at 3 pm, how long can Eric go without looking at it?

6. Quick question: We pulled into a bank the other day to get money out of an ATM. There were two lines for the drive-thru at the bank two cars deep.
Who uses the drive thru anymore at banks? For what purpose? Anyone?

7. On November 1st, I had no idea who Ben 10 is or what network it was on. Now, I am running around Targets throughout Cincinnati to find the one alien character that is out of stock. I felt like Sinbad in that bad Chirstmas movie with Arnold.

8. Was in the return line at Toys R Us. I noticed there were a couple of letter magnets on a pole right behind the return desk. The letters were:
"n o b j"
Umm.... is this a message to the staff of some sort? Is this a problem at the return desk? Or is this purely coincidence? I didn't have the courage to ask Taniqua, the lady helping me with my return.

Football picks to follow....

Bobafett? Bobafett?

Holy Shit, I'm getting married in 8 days. Fuck!!! What the hell was I thinking. No joke. Seriously. I'm one of the most selfish guys that I know. Nothing against Carol, since she knows all of my faults and puts up with it, but jesus this is just so.....Final. This is it isn't it. Crap. I feel like Solo when he was blind on Jaba's ship looking for Bobafett.

Anyway, for those of you coming down, you are in for a treat. Carol said that everything is perfect. The house is crazy big. 3 big floors with the bottom floor being a room with several couches, pool table, fooz ball table, and a flat screen. Told her that most of us will be down there watching the games and she said that was cool. Add in Eric's table games (Vegas Style) and this could be ground breaking for a wedding. Football and Gambling at a wedding? Let's see.

Onto the games which is the only thing that keeps my mind off of all of this shit right now.

College
Rice -5.5
S Florida -5
NM -3
Utah -1
Hawaii -7

Home Underdogs that I'm taking
Raiders +7
Texans +9.5
Seattle +4.5
Detroit +5.5

Buying into the Sportsguy
Denver -3
Browns -3
Atl -6
Jets +2

My own shit
Rams Under
TN -4.5
Giants Over 47.5

Last minute Christmas shopping...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/nyregion/18whale.html

Some quick follow-ups

1) About the college bowl pool; I have received two emails for pools that people have to pick against the spread. One is for a $5 entry; the other for $35. Email me if interested.

2) Records for the Derek vs Eric challenge:
Derek: Was 100-108-1;
week 14: 6-10
overall: 106-118-1

Eric: Was 109-92-7
week 14: 8-8
overall: 117-100-7

3) Yahoo Sports is now reporting that Browns C LeCharles Bentley is out for the 2007 season as well. I saw that posted on a site but don't have the link. Great - at least we find out about the bad news 8 months in advance, so we're not surprised by it.

(And if anyone was surprised in general by this news, well, you're not a Browns fan then. )

Week 15 NFL picks: "Cliff Hangers"

I wish I knew how to attached audio to a blog post. I would be able to find that obnoxious yodeling and attach it to this file in honor of our Pricing Game this week, "Cliff Hangers"!
The last three weeks of the NFL season are like the three prizes that you have to guess in Cliff Hnagers. One really bad move - like guessing "$500" for a $35 blender - would cause Olaf to go over the cliff. But if you make the right moves, and limit your losses, you too can win and make the playoffs.

Predictions for this week:
(submitted Saturday): Atl 24, Dal 13. Well, this was way off
NYJ 20, Min 17. So many people are trying to convince to take the Vikings - but one question for them. If they only scored 3 against the 9ers, how are they going to score here? Detroit gave them so many points last week thru turnovers.
Bal 27, Cle 7. The end of Romeo starts?
NE 31, Hou 13. Tell me a reason why this game won't end like this.
Buf 19, Mia 16. I am just biased against Miami. Stay away from this.
Pit 20, Car 13. Pittsburgh just looks good - and now they have 10 days of rest to face a dejected Panthers team.
NO 27, Was 17. Should be a comfortable win for the Saints.
Jax 27, Ten 20. Jax is too good to lose here, with the playoffs on the line.
Chi 20, TB 3. How is Tampa going to score? Oh yes, they'll save it for next week.
NYG 28, Phi 23. Can't figure this one out.
GB 30, Det 20. It will be warm in Green Bay, so there will be lots of passes.
Den 23, Az 20. Cutler's first win? I have no clue on this one.
SD 27, KC 20. Niether on this one. I believe SD will have some letdown, however- it won't be a blowout.
StL 20, Oak 9. Again, tell me how Oakland scores on offense.
Cin 30, Ind 27, OT. A Monday Night classic.

16 best bets:
Atl +3.5
Dal/Atl Under 45
(wow - good start to the week)
NYJ +3.5
NE -11
Hou/NE Over 37 1/2
Pit pick
Jax -3.5
Jax/Ten Over 41
Chi -13.5
Chi/TB Under 34
Phi/NYG over 43 1/2
GB -5.5
GB/Det Over 44 1/2
StL +3
Stl/Oak Under 38
Cincinnati +3

Records to be posted later. Hopefully, witha good week this week, I can make Derek's hopes of winning this challenge go off a cliff, like this man's chance of winning the game:

College Pickem Pool

Anyone interested in doing a $20 pool for the Bowl Games, please let me know asap.

Question of the Day?

Should the Cleveland Browns change their name to Arizona- East? Good luck against the Ravens.

Found the perfect groomen gifts...

Icewater in the veins

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/sports/baseball/14blood.html?ref=baseball

DL Drew and other questionable moves

Anyone who doesn't care about the Red Sox should just click on the Next Blog link at the top right corner of the page....

OK, still here? I've been quiet on this topic for long enough, so I need to vent a little with regard to the Sox moves this winter.

The good:
1. Winning the Dice K posting. Yes, putting up 51.1 million just to talk to a guy is so piggish, that its amazing Steinbrenner didn't do it. But, it does make sense for the Red Sox. The feeling is that the Sox can recoup some of that money in new Asian revenue streams due to the exposure they'll gain. Also, this money is outside the scope of luxury tax calculations, so it can't really be added to payroll costs (although EVERYONE will add the posting fee to his contract and say "Is he worth 100 million????"). If he is a top end starter, then having him under their control for the next 4 or 5 years will be a big boost to the rotation of the future. Potentially a 2007 rotation of Schilling, Beckett, Dice, Wakefield and Papelbon isn't too bad, although every single one of them has MAJOR question marks. Can you ever remember a more boom or bust rotation?? Not one sure thing in that bunch, but each guy you could make an argument for winning 14+ games.

2. Sox ownership. I was convinced that back in 2002 the new owners would eventually pare down payroll a bit. Maybe not to Oakland or Minn levels, but closer to the mean level for larger market teams. Instead, they have spent pretty much without reservation. While this is not always a good thing, you'd rather have an owner who can spend than one who refuses to go over 50 million. Its clear that Henry has gotten caught up in competing with Steinbrenner and is saying "F it I'm a multi-billionaire, If we have to pay a little luxury tax... oh well".

3. Not giving Manny away. Look, he quit last year. He decided when the season was over, and he shut it down. Well, about 2 weeks later the season actually WAS over, even though the Calendar still said September 1st. He can be a total pain in the ass, but he still produces. There really isn't anyone available that can make up for his offense if you remove him from the lineup. So, despite their efforts to move him, they weren't just going to give him away (even though they already did that by placing him on waivers in 2003!!). That is a good decision. Manny is going to report in March, because he wants his 16 million (wouldn't you?). If someone like the Angels or Dodgers gets involved and gives you a nice package of players/prospects that maybe you can turn around for an Andrew Jones or someone you do it. Otherwise, I'll see Manny doing Manny things again this season for the Red Sox. Lather Rinse Repeat.

OK, now the bad:

1. DL Drew. Yikes. Just a boo-fest waiting to happen. WTF?!?! I know his OPS is great, I know his hit charts say he'll hit .680 at Fenway with a zillion HRs, but he is ALWAYS hurt. Every report says he doesn't really give a shit, has bounced around from a ton of teams already, the Dodgers are practically doing backflips now that he is gone....and the Red Sox hand him 70 mil!?! You have to love Theo saying he is a "complimentary player" at his press conference. What a freaking joke. For 15 million per year!? And Damon wasn't worth more than 10 per??? Ouch, a terrible miscalculation that has led to a cascading series of questionable moves.

2. Closer. Apparently they don't need one in 2007. They'll have a payroll of about 150 when it is all said and done, yet the bullpen door will swing open in the 9th and out will come....... Nobody!

3. The overall plan. What the hell is it?? Draw a "Patriot-esque" line in the sand on Damon saying you won't go above this number, then spend like drunken sailors on Drew and Lugo. Last season they "had 7 starters", but yet they had to acquire guys who were waived by the Royals to make starts for them since they had so many guys hurt and nobody ready to take those starts in AA or AAA. They trade away Arroyo for Pena, let Damon walk - so they have to scramble and trade for Crisp. Now they sign Drew, so they are back with having Pena as a 4th outfielder having watched Arroyo lead the NL in innings pitched. Ouch. Lets not mention letting Orlando Cabrera walk, overpaying for Renteria, then eating 3 million per on his contract just to get him out of town. Last year the buzzwords were "run prevention", they were going with a plan of pitching and defense. Now they got rid of the middle infield (which was brilliant defensively), and brought in a guy who is an avg fielder at SS. And they still haven't really addressed the pitching problems.

This overall circus of moves over the last couple years reminds me of the Wizards in the mid to late 90s. Remember when they were making trades that if you looked at each one in a vacuum, you could defend it as a decent move (bringing in Rod Strickland, bringing in Richmond, trading Rasheed, etc). However, colectively when you go back over all the transactions together you say WTF just happened??? Thats the Red Sox right now. Not good.

I'm not pining for the days of Lou "what would we do with Willie McGee?" Gorman, but an overall sense of a plan would be nice. Of course, if JD Drew blasts a 3 run HR off Pettitte in the first Yankee series, I'll be telling everyone what a genious Theo is....

Monday Morning Ramblings

Went to another concert last night with Carol and her friends to go see The Shins, Pete Yorn, Modest Mouse, and some other alternative band called Silvertrain something or other.  I really can't remember.  I've been to concerts where I absolutely hated the music or I loved the performance, but this concert was just so blah.  Terrible music to go see live.  Its like they are trying to be cool and alternative, but when you break it down they are more like Neil Diamond, but with less passion.   The bands had no personalities and the music was just OK...I guess.  I left with absolutely no opinion on the performances at all, which was such a strange feeling.  

Did anyone watch the Jack Lalanne segment on Real Sports. Creepy guy since he blinks once for every word he says, but he is truly amazing. Did you know that he invented all of the universal machines but forgot to patent all of them? Ouch.  He comes off saying that all he needs in his life is his health and family, and I guess that's how he has to justify leaving billions on the table. 
 
Wedding- OK, I'm tired of this.  Eric caught the brunt of this the other day and I apologized to him because his question was just bad timing, but to answer everyone's questions, I don't care what you wear to the wedding.   Wear what you want to wear.  Yes its on the beach, but its still a wedding.  I will be wearing a tux and Carol will be wearing a nice wedding dress.  Yes, it more than likely will be cold outside, so bring a coat.   What type of coat?  I don't know.  Its like everyone (and yes I mean everyone) has turned into a 5 year old and can't make up their mind on what to wear.   Jesus.  But keep in mind my mom will be judging everyone, so dress accordingly.  Ha!!!!

This Real World has a chance to become legendary. I'm serious. They have gone over the top with the casting. Two big black guys, one gay and one straight, another gay guy that has some serious issues with the big black guy and his own sexuality, two borderline lesbians who love to do the triple kiss thing, one strange girl that its clear will flip out on someone by the end of the show just to get some attention, and one male whore that will probably end up screwing everyone in the house. And I mean everyone, even the big black guy. I'm so excited!!!!

And finally, Fantasy Football. I backed into the play-offs in my Farmers League (12 teams) and end up beating the 1st place team to advance. Now I face a team that is starting Drew Brees. Now in my other league, I'm in first place, starting my first week of play-offs and I have Drew Brees. What a dilemma. I don't know what to do on this. Both are equal money payouts for winning the play-offs so it makes it so tough to decide what to do. Should I just start my backup QB (Vick) in the one league, just so I don't have an issue. Also, RRD how did it turn out on the Kitna-Favre thing? Who did you start and who won?

More Random notes

Just some random thoughts....

1) It is constantly disorienting to catch a 6:00 am flight from Cincy to OHare, fall asleep on the plane (since I have to get up at 4 am to catch the flight!), land, and then be told the time is 5:45 am. I don't care how many times it happens, it is just odd for me.

2) Another OHare sight.... if you use the term "folklore schmoklore" on your cellphone conversation, the next three words should NOT be "that's fuckin bullshit".
What are you, an urban Amish teenager?

3) It's hard for me to get too excited about the Cavs when the lose to the Knicks, Bobcats, and Hawks at home. Aren't these the worse teams in the East? It's hard for me to imagine NBA champions like the Bulles, Lakers, Pistons, etc. losing to the dregs in the regular season. How good are the Cavs if they lose to these types of teams on a semi-regular basis?

4) Well, as Don Henley would say, "I got the call today, I didn't want to hear... but I knew that it would come...". Went in for my measurements for the tux. Let's just say my waist size does not start with a "3" anymore.

I know I'm not exercising enough, and my weight is like the stock market - gradually setting all time highs - but I wasn't prepared for it. But - amazing! - I tried on the larger pants, and it's a nice fit! Now I've got a quandry. Do I actually go out and by 3-4 more Dockers/slacks in the new size, or do I assume I will lose the weight over the next couple of months?

5) So I need to change my lifestyle to fit in some exercise. The only option I see is to get up a little earlier in the morning - like 6 - and jog then. I seem to be dead at night (9 pm) after putting the kids to bed, and it's hard to get motivated when you feel exhausted. So now I have to force myself to get up at 6 and go out and run... when it's 15-20 degrees out. I can do it - I did it in Iowa - but it's hard to force those good habits back again.

6) There may be a chance for Janice and I to go to the Browns' game Christmas Eve - vs. the Bucs. How sick am I to be excited to actually go to a home game to watch a 4-9 team play a 3-8 team? It would be our first home game since.... wow, since when? The Browns-Colts game in 2002? Geesh.

7) The kids' favorite show in the morning is the Snorks, followed by the Wacky Races. God love the Boomerang network. We're currently watching a promo for Hong Kong Phooey. Should I introduce them to pot now, or wait until they watch Scooby Doo for 5 hours straight?

8) I hate to say this to the Terp fans out there - but where is the signature non-conference win? Both Illinios and Michigan St are down this year, and probably will not make the tournament. Looking back, I think the Winthrop win will look mighty good in March.

Week 14 NFL Picks: "Hole in One..."

No, I can't put together some neat-o analogy of the NFL to this classic game. I realized I hadn't used it yet, and it is one of my favorite games - so here you go.

Is this game really fair? I mean, if you have never picked up a golf club in your life, how are you supposed to make a putt to win a car? Scott Hoch - a pro - couldn't make a 2 1/2 foot putt to win the Masters, so how is Betty Frunagle from Cape May, NJ, supposed to make a 2 footer for the Chrysler Le Baron?

On to the picks:

KC 24, Bal 21. Should be a good game; Trent Green looks like he is mostly back.
Atl 17, TB 10. On the Browns board on Friday, we were talking about firing Romeo and a possible replacement, and one poster said : "How about Jim Mora Jr.? It looks like he will be fired from Atlanta!". NO NO NO NO. That man is insane.
Det 23, Min 13. Geesh, Minnesota looks bad.
Ten 20, Hou 13. I can't tell you how awful that Hou-Oak game was. And I watched it in 20 minutes on the Short Cuts on DirectTV. The 4th quarter was:
Oak turnover
Hou: 3 plays, lose 5 yds, FG
kickoff
Oak turnover
Hou: 3 plays, lose 2 yards, FG
kickoff
Oak turnvoer
Hou: 3 plays, lose 4 yards, FG.
That's how they scored 9 points in the 4th to win, 23-14.
Car 23, NYG 20, OT. Should the Giants just draft Brady Quinn next year?
Dal 31, NO 23. I need a few TDs from Romo.
NYJ 16, Buf 13. I've gone back and forth on this one - I actually think the Bills have a chance here.
Ind 27, Jax 20. I just can't see the Colts losing here.
Phi 19, Was 13. I like how Philly has come together after the injury. And -as SG says - is there a Ewing theory in here somewhere?
CIn 27, Oak 7. How is this only 10 1/2 points?
NE 24, Mia 20. This should be a tight one till the end.
SF 20, GB 14. The Pack can't play on the road.
Sea 31, Az 27. No defense for Az plus an offense that just passes = a shootout. Did you see the Az-Min game? The Cardinals ran the ball5 times all game. Five!
SD 26, Den 10. What is Merriman going to do to Cutler?
Chi 20, Stl 17. Monday Night Home Underdogs....

Best bets:
Bal/KC over 36
Atl -3
Atl/TB under 37 1/2
Det -1
Ten -1
Car +1
Buf/NYJ Under 37 1/2
Ind -1
Phi -1
Phi/Was under 40 1/2
Cin -10 1/2
NE/Mia Over 37
GB/SF under 43
Sea/Az Over 45
SD -7 1/2
StL +6 1/2

Overall records to be posted tomorrow.....I had a good week and Derek did not, so my lead has grown. If Derek's afternoon picks go bad, he might need Bob to hit the button so he can double up on the night games and make it "Hole in One........ or Two!"

I'm supposed to get excited over...

Joe Borowski?
Roberto Hernandez?
Aaron Fultz? (well, I guess stealing a White Sox player isn't so bad)
David Dellucci?

Buster Olney seems to love our moves... I hope so. The four guys above clearly could play well, but it won't be a surprise if they don't.

And Octavio Dotel may be next?

These are all questionable moves... it could work out, then again, it may be another Jose Jimenez signing. I guess I just have to wait until April.

Who wants a slice?

I'm still torn over this signing. I'm happy that its not a multi year contract, but I'm concerned that he will not be enough to replace Thomas. Floyd is next on the docket for us, but I'm sure TX and company will drive up the price. Spending $8.5 million on Piazza doesn't leave us with much room to go after Floyd.

But what I really like is the Embree signing. This allows Kennedy to move into the starting role again, moving Sarloos back into the bullpen which is always good. Harden (not going anywhere. Just a ploy by the Mets on Boras), Harren, Blanton, Loiaza, and Kennedy is pretty solid. This also gives us a really outstanding bullpen in Street, Duke, Calero, and Embree. Not bad at all.

Onto Thursday night football. What is the ploy here by the NFL? Why put these games on Thursday night on the dish. Is anyone watching? Is anyone buying the dish because of this? I want to see numbers, because I think this is a terrible move. The games really aren't that good. No offense, but Browns-Steelers isn't a big draw this year. The Bengals-Ravens- who cares really. Talking to my staff here, who are big football guys, they aren't making any moves to buy the dish over this. We just all stay at the office late to watch it on our TV that is hooked up to the dish network. Now start moving a group of games on Sunday and then I think you will get a bigger response. But just one game on a Thursday night probably isn't having the impact that they thought it would have. Agree? Disagree?

Monday Night Dog saves the day

OK, some non sports related items....

1. I'm tired of work. I feel defeated. Talking to these no talent claim reps kill me. And to think that they are married, have kids, and a mortgage and they still preform so poorly, it kills me. I want to jump across the desk and slap them around telling them that I'm going to fire them in 30-60 days because they suck. Oh and their excuse to me is always "I'm having personal problems at home." And what do I say to that?? F that. That's what I say. I remember when I broke up with Amy and was in pretty bad shape, I found my safe haven at work. Yeah I cried a little bit everyday after lunch, spent the mornings reading old emails in my archive from her, and slept with a girl that we called "The Linebacker", but I worked my ass off. It was the only place where I could take my mind off of all my personal problems. But these kids now, yes kids, they just don't know how to cope with anything.

2. Finally I picked the right time to stop eating Taco Bell!!!!

3. Is it me or does Brittany look absolutely wonderful. I mean just fabulous. And that crotch shot doesn't hurt things either. It feels like 1998 all over again.

4. Watching Studio 60 for the first time and I'm totally unimpressed...Pretty crappy. Its like West Wing without the interesting topic. I mean this writing was great when you are dealing with national security, but when you are writing about finding snow for the set, it sucks.

5. Number 1231 why I'm having second thoughts on getting married. I have to fill a cat stocking with Christmas presents. Yup, I was assigned a cat to go buy toys for. I wanted to get a live guinea pig, but I mistakenly told Carol this and it was vetoed. Can you imagine how much fun it would of been to watch two cats go bezerk on a guinea pig.

6. One sports related topic which I forgot to mention- A big furniture store had a promotion last week, that any furniture that was purchased last week, and UCLA won, then it was free. Ooops.

7. I was kidding by the way about getting married. I can't wait. Totally excited. I just realized that the ceremony will be at 3:30 and we have fireworks for New Years Eve, so that makes close to 8 hours of straight drinking. Hmmmm. This could get very very ugly.

Preach on, Brother Edwards!

In the post-game news conference, Braylon was asked about the upcoming Thursday night game with the Steelers. Four words said it all:

"To Hell With Pittsburgh!"

Right on, Brother Braylon! You better have 52 others in your flock by Thursday!

Smartest Man Alive

As the Winter Meetings start up I want to give props to one of the smartest men alive...Scott Boras.

Several weeks ago, when JD Drew opted out of his contract, Austin and myself were just laughing at how stupid Drew was for doing that. He was overpaid to begin with. The guy can't make it through 140 games without playing half of those with no energy at all. He should be happy just to be getting paid double digits each year.

Then we heard about Boston and how they might pay him $15 million a year. What???? I called Austin and we were just laughing. I wanted to call Jay and tell him this would be one of the worst moves to date if they signed Drew, especially if they thought that he is going to be able to replace Manny. To take a line from BSG, try asking a fan of the prior team on a player you are about to sign to see if it is a good move. The answer is clearly no. Unless you feel as if $15 million is a good move for someone who will probably play 120 games and hit 25 homers.

And this news came on the heels of trading Manny. Why do they want to trade Manny? Once again, this would be terrible for the Sox. Manny is one of the greatest hitters of our time and despite being somewhat of a liability in the outfield. He IS worth the $20 million you are paying him. Especially now, when Drew and Lee will get $15 million a year. Why is it that every year this comes out?

Now onto the A's:

1. That Loiaza deal is looking really nice now isn't it. Wolf getting $12 million makes Loiaza's $7.5 million a year look like a bargin.

2. If Bonds comes to the team (highly unlikely) I'm not too sure what I'm going to do. I can't say that I won't watch anymore, since I will, but I would be so pissed. I almost hate Bonds as much as I hate Rutgers.

3. Losing Frank Thomas isn't as bad as losing Zito. No way Thomas replicates what he did last year, so not only would we be paying more for less, we would have to find improved players to make up for his dip in production. Now Zito, who throws 230 quality innings (most of the time) will be harder to replace. Harden, Haren, Blanton, Loiaza, and our #5 isn't bad, but there is no depth. Counting on Harden is like counting on Peyton Manning in the playoffs.

4. Word on the street is that we are looking at Piazza and Floyd. Man I love these washed up players. It all started with David Justice (who I absolutely loved).

Bowl Crazy

Is it just me or does anyone really care that Florida made the championship game over Michigan? I can understand why Florida made it over Michigan and at the same time I wouldn't of had a problem if Michigan made it over Florida. Very weird that I don't have a strong opinion on this. While both teams only have one loss, they both have major holes in their schedule and both can hang with Ohio St. Should be interesting.

Now onto some other bowl comments:

Purdue-MD: WOW, how exciting. Both of these teams have fucked me during the entire year, so I'm probably going to stay away. Maybe the over at 52? That seems high though.

Rutgers-Kansas St: I wanted to go against Rutgers so bad, but Kansas St fell apart at the end, despite their win over TX. They remind me of MD, win a few, then just totally collapse against teams that they should beat. Fuck Rutgers!!

Hawaii-ASU- The over/under is 75. 75!!!! And I don't see how I can't take the over. 42-35 as the final score?

Clemson-KY- Kentucky in a bowl???? I'm licking my chops on this one. Wiz, any thoughts?

Boise St-Oklahoma- Either of these teams could be playing for the National Championship. If it wasn't for the blown call against Oregon, Oklahoma would have one loss and probably be in the running, and Boise St is undefeated but play in a super weak conference. I was hoping that both of these teams would be playing someone else like LSU or Wake so I could take them, but now they are playing against each other and I have no clue who to take. This will be a great game though. Take Boise St and the 8 points.

LSU-ND: I like this match up for some reason. I think LSU will win, but giving 9 points? I'm taking ND.

Louisville-WF: Nice pull Orange Bowl. I'm going super heavy with Louisville. They should be playing for the National Championship if Rutgers didn't fuck it up with a game of a lifetime. Again fuck Rutgers.

USC-Michigan: Not a bad Rose Bowl at all. Can someone tell Pete Caroll to stop going for it on 4th down? Its like they are playing backyard football every week with this shit. It cost them the Championship last year and the UCLA game this year.

WV-Ga Tech- I hate the ACC. Let's go WV!!!!!

Wisconsin-Arkansas- Interesting matchup. Don't like either teams, and I think that Wisconsin is way over-rated.

Cincy-W Michigan- Fuck Rutgers, let's go W Michigan.

Texas Tech-Minnesota- How the hell did Minnesota make a bowl game?
Nevada-Miami-How the hell did Miami make a bowl game?

I'll continue this tomorrow as I have to get back to work.

One more Vegas note

Everyone remembers the Thanksgiving episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, right?

"Happy....... Thaaaaaaaaa.....nks......giving! Happy Thanksgiving!
From......W...............K..................R...............P!!!!'

Well, I swear I feel like Mr. Carlson that Saturday night in Vegas before the Rutgers-Cincinnati game.

To borrow from his final line of that episode:

"As God as my witness.... I thought Rutgers would win by 30."

Vegas Trip Wrapup

Gees! I never got a chance to post about the Vegas trip. First of all, thanks to all who joined us for Derek's party. I hope we all made it a special weekend for Derek - and thanks to all the attendees for putting up with us degenerate gambling addicts and our idiosyncrasies over the few days.

And - financially - I ended up about even for the weekend, based on two shocking turn of events at the end of the trip.

Random thoughts from the weekend:
1) Dumbest move: When I arrived, I sat down with Derek and 7 others at lunch int the House of Blues restaurant. The waiter came over and asked if I wanted anything; I hastily replied "Vodka Tonic". Uh sure - you can pay $7 for it now, or pay... let's see... $0 for it in 20 minutes.

2) I'm saddened that I turned 8-10 people away from the Blue Jackets for the rest of their lives.
3) I saw a row of "Blazing 7's" slot machines on Friday; I called Kermit to tell him I was thinking of him - I believe he was on the internet at that moment searching out plane tickets to come out for Saturday. He better make it out in March - right, Mer?

4) On every trip, you can look back and see a "turning point" - the point where (from a gambling wins/losses standpoint) went south. I believe that would be waking up on Saturday. (that's better than some trips, where the turning point was getting in the cab at the airport!)

5) Dammit, if you know for a fact that the Terps are going to lose - then bet it! Bet it big! Don't do this pansy ass $22 bet against the Terps. Betting against a favorite sports team is NOT the same as betting don't pass. Agree?

6) It was great fun sitting at the sports book for 12 - TWELVE - straight hours on Saturday. However, I've got to adopt the Don Hershey eating cycle for those sessions, since it is VERY easy to not eat for 12, 15, 18 hours. Stomachs and intestinal systems don't like that very much.

7) Forgot about the craps session at the Excalibur. That was fun, even though we were all losing money.

8) I don't have the absolute hatred of teh Excalibur that others do, but it is a weird place. Even the pit bosses are creepy - one talked to me for 10 minutes about his son's baseball team in Iowa while I was playing Texas Hold Em (the table game). I was going to scream "I don't care!" but I was winning, so that helped my mood.

9) Went back to the Monte to buy magic tricks for the boys. I walked thru on Sun afternoon - there were $5 craps, blackjack available - and a $5 Pai Gow table! How do they make any money on that at all?????

10) Can't tell you how depressing and deflating the Browns' loss was in the sportsbook. That was harsh.

11) Played $5 craps at the Luxor later that day. I took Keith over with me - I think he had a great time observing the table and all the various bets and action. He doesn't know this, but I caught myself getting pissed at him. We were there for about 45 minutes,I was up $40, 50 or so - and I asked him what the score of the game was. He said he'd check, and left to the book.

next roller - establish a point, seven.
next roller - craps, establish a point, seven.
next roller - craps, craps, establish a point, seven.

Of course, we know whose fault this is. WHERE THE HELL IS KEITH????

(just kidding,Keith...)

12) But then had a fabulous black jack session over there. I'll blog about this later, but at a $10 table where I sat by myself, I turned $125 into $600 in 20 minutes.
I was supposed to meet Jay and Keith back at the Mandalay at 8 pm to leave for the airport; I left the craps table about at 7:30. I was walking thtough the Luxor when my eye caught an completely empty $10 BJ table. The table seemed to be under a little more light than the others. As I was still walking by, I looked at the dealer.

He gave me a small smile, held out his hand, and said, "Sir?"

I didn't intend to play, but it looked so inviting, and I had 20 minutes... .ok.

Let's just say the dealer was perfect - the one I want to have if they have blackjack in heaven. He was foreign - Turkish or Central Asian, I think, and spoke with a thick accent.
He was very formal - but not at all unfriendly. There was no small talk, but there was no doubt that he wanted you to do well. He said "thank you" every time you put a bet out for him - not just when he won. And then of course, when he won with me, he said "thank you" again. I sawre, in a 5 minute period, he said "thank you" 30 times.
His actual dealing was impeccable. It was not slow, but it was not overwhelmingly fast. I was able to think and process the cards without being rushed, nor was I waiting for the dealer to deliver the cards.

And I was the only one at the table - and when you have a limited amount of time, that's the only way to play.

I won a few right off the bat, so I started to increment the base $10 bet by $5 everytime I won.

I got to $25 and then started to put a $1 delare bet on hands over $25.

I eventually got to a $70 bet. That's how good it was.

13) I never play slots at all - but had some time in the airport so I put $20 in a video poker machine. About 10 minutes in, I drew "A-7-A-8-A".
Wow! I wonder what four of a kind pays? I look - it says 400 credits ($100).
Cool - I draw - I get a 2 and another Ace!

The machine starts binging. I look and confirm the pay - only the four of a kind line was not lit.

The next line above was "Four Aces". That payed 800 credits. But that was not lit.

The line about that was "Four Aces with a 2, 3, 4". That payed....2000 credits.

The only thing I know about slots is that if you hit a jackpot, don't touch anything and yell for help. So I let out a weird "aaaaaaaaaaaa!", not much in joy but more of a scream when you find a garter snake in your basement. The attendant came over, smiled, told me how to cash out, and I was on my way with $500 in profit.

14) I recovered much better this time from the red eye. I was able to work on Monday and was fully recovered by Tuesday (compared to a recovery date of Thursday in the spring). 4 cups of Starbucks on the trip home certainly helped.

Week 13 NFL Picks: Pathfinder

Sorry about all the non-posting, everyone. I have at least 17 topics to post on, including the Vegas trip. I promise that will be the next post.

Week 13's theme is "Pathfinder". Will the teams find a path to the playoffs? Or will they take 3 or 4 consecutive wrong turns that leads them off the stage with their Turtle Wax in hand as a parting gift?

(You know, when I was young, I always thought they said "party gifts". Wow - adults give Turtle Wax out at parties? That must be cool... . Of course, I was 8 at the time.)

So some teams better find the right digit # on the Pathfinder board this week, else it's off to the Showcase Showdown. This means you, Falcons and Jaguars and Giants and Panthers. Three of those will carry on, while one slips further down. On with the picks:

Chi 23, Min 10. And I have Chester Taylor. Yikes.

Pit 27, TB 10. Geesh, Tampa is terrible. That reminds me - the last 2 games for the Browns are Tampa and Houston. How much would it take for you to watch those two games for 3 hours non-stop? $50? $100?

StL 24, Arz 20. I benched Bulger in my fantasy league - he's like Jake Plummer to me.

Ind 31, Ten 13. Lost in the comeback last week is that the Titans were shut out through three quarters. Without gifts from the opposition, the Titans will struggle to score.

Jax 20, Mia 17. Just when you think it is over for the Jags...

NO 31, SF 14. NewOrleans is quietly heading to a possible #2 seed in the NFC. Wow.

Atl 23, Was 16. Why am I picking the absolutely INSANE Jim Mora, Jr.?

Cle 20, KC 17. No reason at all.

NE 31, Det 20. Kitna will have good garbage time stats.

SD 24, Buf 13. How can you go against the Chargers now? (Is that a gooch? I believe so.)

GB 23, NYJ 20. The Jets are horrid. The only reason they are 6-5 is their schedule. They are 5-1 vs. teams with a losing record... and we know who that "1" is. They are like the Bears from last year - if the Browns can beat them, how good are they?

NYG 27, Dal 24 (OT). Just a gut feeling. Buck has an orgasm in the booth over this game.

Hou 19, Oak 16. Of course, I will be watching this game instead, because I like train wrecks. (I watched the Hou-SF game in last year's week 17 versus the Was-Phi game. I had money on the Texans!)

Sea 27, Den 20. I don't buy this Jay Cutler = Tony Romo stuff, not againt Holmgren.

Phi 20, Car 17. What's that again about Monday Night underdogs at home?

Last week:

Eric: 9-7; overall: 98-87-7

Derek: 9-7: overall: 95-97-1 (how do you go through ~200 games and only have 1 push????)

Best bets for this week (16):

Chi -9.5

Pit -7

Ind -7.5

Jax pick

NO -7

Atl +1.5

Det/NE Over 42

SD -6

Buf/SD Under 42

GB pick

NYG +3.5

NYG/Dal over 43 1/2

Hou +3

Sea +4

Sea/Den over 40 1/2

Phi +3

Cigars

Quick Question- What is the easiest way to get Cuban Cigars into the US? One of Carol's friends said that he just took them out of the wrapper and the custom agents didn't ask him any questions. Is it that easy? Any thoughts?

Bowl Games

Did anyone else notice the bowl schedule this year? I'm annoyed that they string the BCS bowl games past New Year's Day, but whatever, I can live with that. But have you seen the two bowl games scheduled for Jan 6th and 7th? C-USA #2 vs Ohio on the 7th and W. Michigan vs Big East 4/5. Now I'm not saying that I won't watch these games (or gamble on them for that matter), but why are they after New Year's Day?

I'm doing my picks now since I might not have time over the next couple of days.


CMichigan -3.5
WV -10
Navy Over 49
Cal -28
USC Over 48
San Jose St. -4
Louisville -27
Colorado St. -2.5
Nebraska +3.5
GA Tech -2.5

Pro
Ravens +3
Indy -7.5
Cowboys -3.5
KC -5
Bears -9
Rams -6.5

Week 12 NFL Picks: Squeeze Play

Well, this is the time of year where teams are sorted out - "squeezed out" of playoff contention. It starts to become clear who the real playoff contenders are and who are just digits to be discarded on the floor by Bob during one of my favorite games.... Squeeze Play!

The Browns, of course, were picked out last week and thrown to the ground as a digit obviously not belonging to the pool table as seen below. They were the digit "1" in the example seen here.

Now, who will be asked to leave the Squeeze Play set this week? Here are the picks:

Buf 16, Jax 13. The Jags' up and down season continues. And who else out there cut Lee Evans 2 weeks ago?
NYJ 20, Hou 13. Wow - if you need to sleep, watch this one - oh wait, Gus Johnson is announcing the game.
Bal 27, Pit 13. You know, many people over the year ask me "who do you hate more, Baltimore or Pittsburgh?" I usually pause and think about it - not knowing how to answer. Well, if anyone asks me that question again, I just need to think about this week. I want Pittsburgh and Toothlessberger to be exposed as the absolute fraud they are. I'm so pissed we couldn't finish them off last week. It took me about 2 days to get over the Browns' 15-14 loss to the Ravens; I'm still pissed about last Sunday. I want the Ravens to win 99-0 if they could. God, I can't believe I'm saying this. Ravens - beat the hell out of Pittsburgh today.
Cle 27, Cin 24. I had a dream last night that we were losing 21-0 to tbe Bengals in the 2nd quarter when it was called for rain. I hope that's not a sign to come.
Min 24, Az 13. What to say about this?
StL 27, SF 24. Bulger will throw for 3 TDs - AND HE BETTER, since I didn't play Romo in one of my leagues this week!
NO 31, Atl 28. Talking about frauds - here's the Falcons!
Car 17, Was 13. I can't figure out this Panthers team.
NE 20, Chi 17. Should be a classic. And yes, this is a 'punt' pick for the game.
Ind 31, Phi 10. Even the flex schedule can't save Sunday night this week.
Ten 24, NYG 21. I hope the Giants season implodes -a nd I know that means Dallas will become the default champion of the NFC East. I'm already sick of that "BallIn' " jump shot. What does that even mean?
SD 27, Oak 10. I need 6 TD's, LT. Let's get to work.
Sea 31, GB 20. Is Shaun healthy? We will see.

13 best bets for today:
Buf +3
Jax/ Buf Under 35 1/2
Hou/NYJ Under 39 1/2
Bal -3
Min -6.5
SF/Stl Over 44 1/2
NO +3
NO/Atl over 48
Ind -9
Ten +3
SD -13
SD/Oak Under 43
GB/Sea Over 44

( we were 2-1 on Thanksgiving...)

Records to be updated soon.

Quick Picks

I'll update this later with the lines. Just wanted to get my picks up.

Detroit
Chargers
Indy
USC
USC Under
Louisville
CMichigan
Nebraska
TN
Maryland
WV
Rutgers
Missouri
FSU
VA Tech
Hawaii

Picks

What the hell happened to me???? My picks tanked this week. Now I think I have way too much ground to make up on Eric. 6-10. Ugh. And this picture will haunt my dreams for the next several nights.

Pro
Denver (loss)
Jacksonville (win)

College
USC (win)
MD (Loss)
Wake (Loss)
Ga Tech (win)
Ohio St (loss)
Oregon St (win)
Washington St. (loss)
Wisconsin (loss)
Missouri (loss)
ND Over (Loss)
Uconn (loss)
Louisville (win)
W Michigan (win)
Rutgers (loss)

Vegas

Just wanted to say thanks for everyone coming out this past weekend. Had a blast, eventhough it seemed as if we didn't do anything. All I wanted to do was go out there and spend some time with my friends and gamble. We didn't make it to the nice dinner on Saturday, but we had more important things to do at that time, like watch the second half of the USC game. Anyway, just a couple of quick notes from the trip.

1. Sportsbook- Remember that it is a long season. No reason to wager a lot of money on the second half line of the Apple Cup (Washington St. vs Washington) to make up the money you lost earlier in the day. Be patient, like waiting for the Utah St. vs Drake night game in Alaska to make up the losses.

2. Stay away from teams everyone is behind that are undefeated and playing on the road. They will not win. Period. And Wiz, the Rutgers team plane did not crash on the way home.

3. When you have a bunch of degenerate gamblers sitting at one table, searching for a game to bet on, you should just get up a leave and ignore all the talk. Its amazing to how desperate people are when it comes to finding a game to bet on. And I'm including myself in on this one.

4. Rutgers is a Fraud. A fucking fraud. And Eric, I don't want to hear it from you on college football again, until all the games are played.

5. Time out....Time out.

6. I didn't think I would enjoy spending so much time in the sportsbook, but having a table, along with some comfortable chairs made the 12 hours go by so quickly.

7. Got back into playing some poker. Did OK. I just really like the feel of the Mandalay poker room so much more than the Monte and the Mirage.

8. What makes you decide on which casino to stay at? We aren't whales so its not the comps and we aren't cheapskates so its not the low end tables anymore. In my mind it is all about customer service. Friendly dealers and fast drink girls. If I was a manager there, I would just be focused on these two items. I have never seen such a big swing between ultra friendly and just plain mean dealers at one casino. Just crazy. This probably makes me not want to stay at the Mandalay anymore, despite having an amazing sportsbook, nice layout, and a great poker room.

9. I don't mind going into the Sahara or the Golden Nugget, but for some reason I get so disgusted going into the Excalibur. What a shithole. I just feel so dirty.

10. Played a game with Ben on the way home. Got into Baker, which is 1 hour outside of Vegas. Ben asked if I could make it back home in 2.5 hours, which would put us there at 1:30. I said sure, and then forgot about it for a while. I hit some traffic outside of Barstow, but when I got to Victorville, which is about 75 minutes from our place, I thought I was going to be able to make it in time. For the last hour of the drive, this is all that we talked about. I must of averaged close to 100mph on the toll roads back into Dana Point and 75mph on the side roads. As we were approaching our place with only 2 miles to go, I had three minutes left to make it. As I made the last left hand turn with 45 seconds to spare, I hit a fucking red light on the straight away approaching our place, which sent both of us into hysterics. As I pulled away from that intersection somewhat slowly, we both see a speed trap ahead at the St. Regis. Close to 3 cop cars pulling everyone over. Can you imagine how fast I would of been going if I made the left hand turn, going into the straight away with a green light with 45 seconds left to hit the 1:30pm mark? The only good luck I got all weekend and I will take it. Oh, and I pulled into my parking spot at 1:31 exactly. So close.

Thud

Its 4:30 EST on Monday and I am finally up, showered, and moving about like a normal person. Red eye flights just kill me. I can't sleep on a plane. Can't do it. The lack of sleep, combined with not eating a meal since the 1st Half of the Colts/Cowboys game caused me to feel nauseous for the last two hours of the flight. Not good times.... Anyway, had a great time this weekend (although it felt like I was gone for a week for some reason). Some personal highlights (and lowlights)

- Even though I dropped $200 at the craps table, it was worth it for Eric's outcry for all the sports bets gone wrong with each roll. "This is for Rutgers!!!", "This is for the Service Academies!!", "This is for the Cavs!". High comedy.

- On a positive note, I landed in Vegas with about $400 in my wallet, I am home now and still have $302. Includes paying for some small meals, my excellent dinner on Friday, a (losing) bet for my dad, taxis, and airport parking. Not bad at all.

- A quick F-U to NY area teams. Why was I betting on them????? The Nets, Jets, and Rutgers all cost me money. Although I did have the 1st half Cinci line, but I almost felt guilty since Wiz had so much riding on it. Anyway, I broke my cardinal rule of not betting on NY teams

- A moment of weakness on Sunday afternoon, I decided to bet the NYJ money line (vs Bears). My main reasoning? I really wanted to shout out "The Bears are who we thought they were!! The Bears ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!!!!!". Alas, the NYJ are who we thought THEY were.

- Another downer was losing my carefully crafted NBA schedule flow chart. Damn! That had all my wagers on it (including some football). I ended up forgetting which games I picked. I know some of you are saying why can't you remember?? Well, as Dr Henry Jones Sr said in the Indiana Jones movies about the Grail Diary..."I wrote them down so I wouldn't HAVE to remember!" Sigh.

- I was outside for a grand total of 11 minutes the entire weekend. Warrants mentioning.

- Last trip I felt like I didn't play enough poker, this trip I feel like I didn't play enough Black Jack.

- My near vomitting aside, I had a great experience with TED airlines. They upgraded me to "Economy Plus" for free which includes seats in the front of the plane which are a little wider and have more leg room front to back. Much more room than SW. Plus, they offered a movie and some TV which was a nice touch. I had nightmares of a small prop plane pulling up to the terminal since I had never flown them before, but I was pleasantly surprised. So if you are looking for low fares, don't be afraid to check out TED.

- There is a chance I can go out in March. Its up for debate in the Senate over the next two months.

- Overall I was happy with the Mandalay. The only negative is the isolation factor. You kind of take for granted being able to "change it up", and quickly walk to the other casinos (MGM, NYNY, etc). But the rooms were really nice, and the poker room and SB are fabulous. The tables could have been a notch lower, but whatever. I would stay there again, but I'm not committed.

- Had a great time, and look forward to seeing everyone in the Outer Banks!

Week 11 NFL Picks: Blank Check!

Crap! I had this post all done and ready to go - comparing the trip to Vegas to the Blank Check game, where contestants fill in a check, add it to the price of a prize, and if it falls between a certain range, they win the prize and the check - but just as I was about to post, my IE crashed. $$#$%#&(^^&(*$$#$%#&#$^@$&^.

Anyway, here are my picks:

KC -9.5
KC/Oak under 35 1/2
Ind -1
NO/Cin Over 51
Ten +13
Bal/Atl Under 41
Stl +6.5
Hou -2.5
NE/GB Over 44
TB -3
Chi -6.5
Mia -3.5
Az -2.5
Det/Az Under 46
Sea/SF Under 44 1/2
SD/Den Over 42

And if I lose my bets, I'll still have the souvenirs of the losing betting slips - like this contestant, who had his check voided by Bob....

I can't believe....

1. I can't believe we haven't heard Derek protesting the possible A's move to Fremont. I also can't believe he's not in this video:

Protest video for the A's.

2. I can't believe it's been 10 years since...

a) Ohio St. beat Indiana 27-17 to clinch its first trip to the Rose Bowl in 14 years, and...
b) I married the love of my life, Janice.

(everybody together....awwwww. But notice which event came first in the list above...)

10 years have flown by. Wow.

Football update

Here are the long-awaited results and standings of teh Derek v Eric challenge:

Derek:
before week 8: he was 50-61-1.
Week 8: 10-6
Week 9: 11-6 (one extra game)
Week 10: 9-7

Overall: 80-80-1.

Eric:
before week 8: 58-48-6
Week 8: 5-11
Week 9: 8-8
Week 10: 9-7

Overall: 80-74-6, up 2 1/2 games.

Derek - do you want to take a pass this weekend since we will be in Vegas?

And I expect an apology from you after you compare me to Saddam, yet wonder why "for some reason decide(s) to root against me." (See Derek Rant, 10/16).

I believe....

1) I believe that Freddie and Warren don't like Almond Joys, even though they have never tried it.... so I'll just take it from their Halloween basket without them knowing. What are they missing?

2) I believe that the Browns have a shot at the playoffs this year. Hear me out.

First, we've got to predict a record for the final playoff team. With NY Jets & KC tied at that last spot now at 5-4, I think 9-7 will be in a tie for the final spot.

Now let's take a look at the Browns - their past (3-6) and future this year.

Home games: The worst team the Browns have played at home so far is 5-4, and the Browns won that game. They lost at home to teams with records of 6-3, 7-2 and 7-2.

"Now Eric", you say, " you're not going to somehow say that the Browns are going to beat a 7-2 team at home in the 2nd half of the year, are you?"

I don't have to.

The best team the Browns play at home the rest of the way - 4 games - is a 5-4 Chiefs team. The other teams are 4-5, 3-6 and 2-7.

So I believe there is a chance - not a great chance, but a possibility - that we could sweep these games and go 4-0.

Now for the road games; we've played 5 road games so far. We've lost to a 7-2 team; played two 5-4 teams and spilt, and beat a 2-7 team.

We have a 7-2 team, a 3-6 team and a 2-7 team upcoming on the road.

Why can't we win 2 of those?

That would give us 6 wins in the last 9 games, putting us at 9-7.

And a 9-7 record would most likely tie us with the Jets and Chiefs , who we have already beaten (Jets) or plan to beat (Chiefs, in Cleveland). There's the Jaguars also at 5-4, but we won't play them this year.

And for those that pooh-pooh this argument, but think the Steelers can still get back in it, let me compare two teams:

Team A: Record: 3-6. In those 9 games: 4 home, 5 away. Opponents record so far: 48-33
Team B: Record: 3-6. In those 9 games: 5 home, 4 away. Opponents record so far: 44-37

So Team B has played 1 more game at home against a weaker schedule, and still has the same record as Team A.

Of course, Team A is the Browns and Team B is the Steelers.

That's why this Sunday's game is sooo important. We need to prove we are better. At home.

3) So I've been thinking about the elections. I'm trying to figure out the Republicans' loss - and make no mistake, the Republicans LOST it, the Democrats didn't win it.

The Republicans shot themselves in the foot so many times over the past year:

"Bridge to Nowhere"
Doing nothing on immigration, until the fence... and then...
Not publicizing the fence
Not caring about the deficit
The whole Rumsfeld fiasco

and so on...

I finally gave up and said "It's as if they didn't WANT to win..."

and then a light bulb went off in my head.

That's the plan. They sacrificed this election.... in order to win 2008.

They knew that the Speaker of the House -and then the DE FACTO leader of the Democratic party - would be Nancy Pelosi.

Nancy may be smart, but certainly does not come across as a warm and fuzzy lady. She seems to be - and can be portrayed as - a cold and calculating liberal.

The Republicans are gambling that turning over the House to a lady with this demeanor is a small price to pay - in order to show the people that liberal women would be disastrous for the country. (Due to their politics).

And - what a coincidence!!! - who is the leader right now for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008???

Of course, Hillary.

After two years of Pelosi, would this country be ready to elect Hillary President as well? They're thinking no.

So - sacrifice 2006 with the intention of keeping the White House in 2008 by effectively disqualifying Hillary due to Pelosi's leadership and style.

Will this work? You males out there tell me - would you vote for a country with Hillary and Nancy as our leaders?

I'm not judging, I'm just asking the question....

Things I really like right now

1. NBC's selection of the Sunday night game. This should of happened years ago. The best idea from the NFL in a long time. I'm just worried this doesn't turn into the NFC East Sunday Night Game. Last night's game was so nice to have.

2. Idiots like JD Drew. For some reason this made me smile when I saw that he opted out of the last three years of his $36 million deal. What an idiot. What is he thinking?

3. College Football- Love it that everyone is going crazy over Rutgers. Let's see them win out first and then we can talk about the National Championship. And this is the genius behind the people who run College Football BCS rankings. Eric, who is not a college football fan, is all fired up and watching regular season Big East games and Pac 10 games because of BCS implications. REGULAR SEASON GAMES!!!!! The conferences are cleaning up because of this in television contracts. Throw in the boatload of money each conference gets for bowl games, and the happy alumni that gets to have a nice winter vacation to go to a bowl, and this my friend, is why we don't see a playoff system in college football. Every year, college football is the lead story on every single sports talk show for 2 straight months since they are all bitching about the system and who is getting robbed. THEY WANT IT THAT WAY. This forces you to watch to see if USC will lose against Cal, or if Rutgers can beat WV, or Florida can beat out which ever cupcake SEC team they need to play. Its come to a point this year, where OSU vs Michigan isn't the top college football story right now. Its Rutgers and how they might get robbed. Why does this surprise everyone???

Emptying of the mind

A lot of topics to post on that are flying around in my mind. Please indulge me in the cleaning out the cobwebs of my mind:

1) Janice and I had a great trip to OC last weekend. On Saturday we went on a boat ride - that's where that picture was taken of me. Three hours on the boat sailing the seas about 1-2 miles off the shore. I have a feeling that I enjoyed it the least - I wasn't feeling too good for about the first hour until I stood up for the rest of the ride. I wasn't seasick, but just uncomfortable.

2) Sunday was the Browns-Chargers game; the Browns kept it close for a while (leading with 1 min left in the 3rd!) before losing, 32-25. I hope those 6 FGs by Dawson won the game for you, Derek. There were a lot of Browns fans there that surprised Derek. Chargers fans were nice to us; there were plenty of fights we saw 2 section over in the 4th, mostly caused by alcohol.

3) Charlie Frye did not look good - too many throws into double and triple coverage; he missed more than a few open receivers, and there was the gift TD that he gave SD by putting the ball on the ground at his own 5.

Derek - a neutral observer - was not impressed. Period. However, one professional writer was impressed:

Charlie Frye's better than I thought he was.

Yep! Of course, Peter King.

4) I did get Derek to root for the Browns and to wear the vaunted 26-year-old Browns scarf during the game. So that was a success.

5) I didn't do well with the jet lag for the quick trip: I was up at 4 am on Saturday and 3:30 on Sunday (Pacific Time). Just couldn't adjust quickly. And that, coupled with the game on Sunday, meant I was completely wiped out at 8 pm on Sunday. barley made it to the end of the Pats- Colts game!

6) I have never been a fervent cult follower of Starbucks, but....
the Maple Macchiato is heaven. Wow.
Memo to Peter King: the Starbucks in terminal G of the O'Hare airport is a good one. Those Maple Macchiatos (2, one on Thu morning and one on Sat morning) were perfect. The yogurt parfait was a bit watery, however.

7) One quick note on the election: boy, am I pissed at George Bush right now. Congrats on the Democrats by the way on winning.... they successfully turned this into a national referendum without providing any specifics on what they would do differently.

Anyway, Bush ends up firing Rumsfeld after the election. What the hell, George?

You knew he was unpopular 6-12 months before the election... yet you kept him around. I thought it was because you still had faith in him and his performance - which is entirely possible given the constant (and mostly unwarranted ) witchhunt against him...

But you get rid of him. Why? What the hell changed? the election? What does that matter?

You should have either:
a) fired him 6 months ago - AND MOST LIKELY SAVING 5-10 SEATS IN THE HOUSE AND 1-2 IN THE SENATE; OR
b) stick to your PRINCIPLES and re-iterate that you believe in him despite the unpopularity.

Why the hell did you fire Rumsfeld NOW? I can't explain it....

Well, I have one possible theory why... it's a devious plan for 2008. I'll explain that, and how the Browns can make the playoffs, in a future post.

(PS - I'm spell-checking this post; it suggest I replace "FGs" above with "fags". How is that in the dictionary????)

Crickets....

I'm glad the Zahn boys are still around, I was beginning to think that you guys left the country following Tuesday's results.

I hope you guys are looking forward to next weekend. Are you already scoping out some high value games for betting? I wish I could be there, I'm bummed I can't go.

I'm in DE right now, and can't watch the Pats Jets game. Damn I hate not having Sunday Ticket. I'm addicted.

Week 10 NFL Picks: "The Race Game"

Yes, I am racing to try to get my picks in for this week. It feels like I have only 45 seconds to get my picks in for today. Here we go:

KC 27, Mia 17. Chicago gave the game away to Miami last weekend. Miami won't be as lucky this week.
Jax 24, Hou 13. Do these two teams play every 3rd week?
Cin 26, SD 20. I'm not impressed with SD. If you put pressure on Rivers, he's toast.
Atl 20, Cle 13. The worst rushing D in the league going against Vick, Dunn and the Falcons- on turf. Yikes.
Bal 27, Ten 17. McNair will be ready.
Ind 31, Buf 17. A typical 14 point win for the Colts with the questions on the team (Rush D) still lingering.
NO 27, Pit 24. Is this the week that a) I finally pick against Pit, and b) they find themselves and win? Of course it is.
Phi 24, Was 10. I don't want to say this is a lock, but....
NYG 20, Chi 17. Should be a great game.
Min 27, GB 20. I don't care about this year's version of the team - throw the records out when these two play in the dome. It's a shootout.
NE 28, NYJ 10. I'm still unimpressed with the Jets after the Browns game 2 weeks ago.
Det 27, SF 13. I like Kitna and co. in this game. Who knows what type of team the 9ers are...
Den 20, Oak 7. Just like the 13-3 game a few weeks back.
Stl 23, Sea 20. Another fun game when these two get together.
Dak 30, Az 17. I'd LOVE for Parcells to blow his top if they lose, but they won't.
Car 20, TB 17. It will be locser than people think.

16 best bets:
KC +1
Cin +1
Bal/Ten over 38
NO +5.5
NO/Pit over 46
Phi -7
Phi/Was under 41 1/2
GB/Min Over 39 1/2
NE -10
Det -6
Det/SF Under 46
Den -9
Den/Oak under 33
Stl +3
Dal -6.5
TB +9.5

And Derek - who's better in the NFL,a team at 8-7-1 or 8-8? A tie game is half a win and half a loss. THat's how it is judged as.

Hopefully, this will be my result at the end of the day:















And Derek will pull the lever and see..

The Ace of Spades

Now that Saddam is on his way out, we have a new target. This is my enemy!!! Yes he looks friendly enough, but it is coming down to crunch time in our little competition.

Eric: 71-67-6
Derek: 71-73-1

Now, we need a little clarification on the rules of the contest. Is it the person with the most wins, or is it the person with the best winning percentage?

Before I get onto the picks, can I just say that I love Harrison Ford!!! Watching Star Wars/Empire/Jedi on HBO this morning and its just amazing to see that the only real difference between the old trilogy and the new trilogy is Harrison Ford.

And this brings me to my next little subject. Whenever I drive and I'm being a little too aggressive, I always tell my passenger "Hang on Chewy" and its usually Ben, Jon, or someone like that who will always respond with a Chewy yell or at least chuckles. Well now that Carol is the main person riding shotgun, she gets a little offended when I call her Chewy. She wants me to call her Leiah, but I can't since she never rides shotgun, unless its Chewy driving, but since I'm Han, then she's got to be Chewy. The wedding was almost called off as I went through this explanation with her.

Anyway, onto the picks:

Terps -3.5
S Florida -10
PSU Under 45
BC -29.5
Arkansas -5.5
Washington -19
ND -11.5
ND Over 54
Uconn +8
Illinois -3
Wake +8.5
Clemson -18.5
UCLA +2
USC -8.5

I hate all the pro games this week.
Chicago Pickem
Ravens -7

One more casualty from last night

I'll have more thoughts on the election later, but first, we have to mention some words about Jim Leach.

Jim Leach, R-IA, was my congressman when I was in Iowa. He started serving in 1976 and is widely known as one of the top 10-20 liberal Republicans in the house. The district was redrawn in 00, causing him to be placed in the more Democratic areas of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Gore and Kerry both carried this district, but he kept getting elected.

He is widely regarded as an honorable man who ofter touts his integrity (and it is genuine).

Two positions made him stick out this year:

1) He was one of 5-10 Republicans against the Iraq War.
2) He was the co-sponsor of the Internet Gambling Bill. I read somewhere that most gambling interests fear Leach (he is chairman or vice-chair of the Banking Committee) more than any other Rep.

He lost last night by about 500-1000 votes to a college professor who ran in 04 (Leach won, 52-48, in 04).

It is very easy to believe that the votes he lost by were U of Iowa Students that voted against Leach due to the Internet Poker ban.

Election Day Live Blog

We're live from the basement in front of the big screen TV as we await the results from the 2006 Elections. We are also having our traditional, all-American meal of hot dogs, french fries and apple pie.

We'll try to live blog this as we keep up with the results as they come in.

6:52: First exit poll results coming in - and they are not good for Bush and the Rep's. 60% in exit polls are making their vote based on national issues; corruption is showing up as one of the top issues on voter's minds. Late deciders are breaking 3-2 (60-40) for the D candidate.

Take this with a grain of salt, based on my last post on exit polls. We'll see.... first significant polls close at 7.

7:02. Oooh! Virginia is in........ and it's too close to call. Really? What a shock.

Brit Hume is explaining the Fox graphics. They have a "balance of power" bar - "Don't eat it!" says Brit, trying to inject some humor. OK, there, Brit.

7:17. Diet Squirt...... yummmmmm

7:21: First real results...our friend Anne Northup - KY Dist 3 - (Louisville) - 53% in - tied 50-50. Hoo boy.

7:35: Is this the night we are going to have? In IN-9, with 17% of the vote in, over 29,000 votes, the Rep leads the Dem by SEVEN votes. (14,761 to 14, 754).

7:49: Allen up 55-45 in VA with 11% in. I have no idea where these votes are coming from. One republican advisor said turnout in SW Virginia was huge and should carry Allen over by 30,000 votes. Who knows.

8:03. 25% in in VA; Webb now leads Allen by 1,500 out of 550,000 votes so far...

8:25. The smartest person in America just got done talking. One big issue that Michael Barone brought up - in IN 9, suburb of Cincinnati, there is a suburb county called Dearborn County.

Turnout is up 27% from 2002. In 02, 57% of the votes went to the Rep - but now, it looks like 53% is going to the Republican.

So the Republicans are turning out the vote -but it may not be voters that will vote for the Reps!

Also - wow, this is amazing - the marriage proposal will PASS in Virginia. Gay marriage will fail in VA by about 58-42.

And if this holds up, traditional marriage winning 58-42 - and Allen loses, well, that will be a blunder by Allen of the BIGGEST proportions.

8:40. Well, both Santorum (in PA) and DeWine (OH) has been called as Democrats wins (Casey and Brown). Ohio will miss DeWine.

8:58: Mort Kondracke and Fred Barnes almost came to blows -Mort pretty much called Fred a liar - "Fred, that's just not so" - about people talking about the Dems taking over the Seante as of 2 weeks ago. The sexual tension there was palpable.

9:15: More polls close, including MD; VA is showing a 7,000 Allen lead with about 66% in. The big question there is wherther the No Va votes have been counted already; according to our guests, Chuck Schumer and Ken Melhman, the answer is " very little" or "a substantial majority"...... Why do we have partisan guests on again?

9:29: OK, first signs of bad news for Republicans.. they say Steele will lose in MD; in fact, they have called it. In the big six house races in IN and KY, already 3 races have been called for the Dems. Not good.

And now RI has been called for the Democrats - Lincoln Chafee loses.

9:44. Fox News has called the MD Governorship for OMalley. Well, good luck there, Maryland. Don't expect to shop at a Wal Mart anytime soon.

9:49: I think everyone is coming to the foregone conculsion that the House will go democratic. The Senate looks like a 3-out-of-5 battle between MO, TN, AZ, VA, and MT.

10:10: All three IN House races that were close - districts 2, 8, and 9 - have gone D. A Connecticut seat has lost as well. However, it looks like a couple of southern seats - FL seats, GA - seems to be in the R column.

Is this is wave, or is this the Northeast/Midwest independents rebelling, but the rest of the R's staying with the party? We will see.

10:20: The northeast massacre of Republicans continue; Jay, you are happy to know that Charlie Bass- NH-2 - has lost. This race wasn't even on the map 3 months ago.

Good news - the Northern Ky Rep - Geoff Davis - has held on. Another piece of evidence that the Rep get out the vote effort works - but works regionally, and certainly not in the NE and Mid-Atlantic.

10:30: Everyone is fascinated by the Va race. Where the hell are the non-reporting precincts? 94% in, Allen by 30,000. I'm sure there will be lawsuits here, no matter what.

Haven't seen any numbers from MO or TN yet - that's just as big.

10:45: Apparently, one of the 16 precincts in Ohio with problems is in Cincinnati, so we won't have results from OH-1 (W. Cincinnati) for a while now. However, OH-2 (Jean Schmidt's and Don Hershey's district) is starting to come in, and Schmidt leads by 4% with about half of the vote reamining. If this changes, then it is free wine for everyone.

10"50: 95% in in VA; still Allen by 28,000 or so. Michael Barone says the outstadning precincts are in both urban (Norfolk) and rural/beach/suburbs. Barone said it is a mix. In the DC Metro area, ALL ARE COUNTED, according to Barone.
36 precincts from Loudon county, 33 precinct from Prince William are still out. Barone says these couties are pretty much 50/50.

Barone is saying this may be headed for a recount. 36 days, plus or minus a week. You heard it here first.

10:51: Now, more news from VA: State Law says that if the result is within 1% (which it looks like it most certainly will), the losing candidate can call for a recount - and there it goes! It's automatic. Hoo boy.

10:57: Two quick notes:

1) Steele HAS NOT conceded yet, according to instapundit and NRO's The Corner. He does not believe the Exit Polls.

2) THERE HAVE BEEN NO VOTES counted in St Louis and Kansas City yet for the MO Senate race. Is this fishy, or what?

More House races fall - Heath Shuler is coming to Washington. Good luck. He beat a R incumbent in NC.

11:10: NEWS FLASH

THE WASHINGTON POST HAS WITHDRAWN THEIR PROJECTION OF CARDIN WINNING THE MARYLAND SENATE RACE

Fox has not, yet.

11:21: Fox has declared the Democrats will take over the House - ironically, by carrying Tom Delay's seat. Welcome Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker.

Still no word on VA - now within 11,000 votes, TN (Corker (r) by 4%) or fraud-laden MO.

11:28: And now the other NH house district - NH 1 - has fallen to the democrats. This is a seat that was not on a radar screen - and is clearly a sign of the regional sweep of this election.

11:35: Barone was on talking about Maryland - and frankly, he can't understand the withdraw. Steele is running well behind Ehrlich's numbers in 02 - he talked about Calvert county (Ehrlich 63%, Steele 52% this year) and PG county. The one wildcard is the black vote - will Steele get substantially more black vote than Ehrlich? WE will see.

11:59: Wow. Brit Hume signs off with the latest VA totals -Webb is now up 2500 out of 2.4 million cast, 99% in. Recount is definite.

12:40: Corker (R) wins in TN. The inner city MO votes are now coming in for McCaskill (D) in MO; she now leads by 1100 with about 70% of the vote in. No one is sure what the hell is going on in Montana right now.

It looks like control of the Senate may - MAY - be held up in the Virginia recounts over the next few weeks.

Election Day

Well, the big day is finally here. We will try to do a live blog tonight with live commentary as things unfold.

I want to take this time to urge all of you to put no stock in exit polls. I think they were proven to be a fraud in 2004, but nonetheless, some network(s) will use data from them at 5:30 to make broad inferences about the electorate.

Here's why they are flawed, based on some real stories from 2004.

First, the idea is fine, in theory. Go to some critical polling places, set up shop, and grab every fifth voter and ask them to fill out a survey, right?

Here are the problems:

1) Most of the exit pollers were graduate students, mainly women. I'm going to generalize here , but everyone remembers when they were in college, right? If someone said you had to be at a place at 6 am, but there was no one expecting you (or watching you) at that time....

you got in around 8, right? Right. No one's looking....

So a group of voters from 6 am to 8 am were missed. And the demographic of that group who votes at that time? Mainly working men. Who lean mostly Republican. So no exit voting was done of those voters.

2) So you are supposed to pull out every fifth voter. Fine. Remember, you are 21-23 years old working in the suburbs in an area you don't know.

You count people since your last survey...1...2...3..4..and then two people exit:
- a 27 year old stay at home mom, or
- a 55 year old man who is in a suit.

What do you have the most in common with? Who would you pick to interview? In most cases documented in 04, the 27 year old mom was picked if given a choice.

Most of the interviewers were democrats, it was found, and the natural human tendecny is to seek out people that "look" to be similar to you and have comparable life experiences/age/beliefs. We can't fault the interviewer for being reluctant to interview Republicans - but it was not taken into account.

3) The early results had to be reported to the network by 4 pm. So you've interviewed from 8 -4. Who are you missing from 4 pm - on? See the answer to #1 above.

4) The exit polls were set up in the traditional swing neighborhoods - not, of course, in all precincts - and the exit pools completely missed the GOTV operation in the ex-urbs that the Republicans set up, most notably in OH, FL, and other states.

This is how the exit polls showed that:
- Kerry would win PA by TWENTY POINTS (remember that?)
- The D's would be extremely close in VA, NC (they lost both by 10+)

This affects how the networks call races... I distinctly remember the networks not calling VA or NC when they closed ( Bush won both over 10 pts, as I said) but called MI and NJ 10 minutes after the polls closed (Kerry won MI by 3, NJ by 7).

The networks aren't biased - the polling procedure was.

I don't know what fixes were put in place for this year... but keep this in mind when reading any early tea leaves today.

(unless, of course, the news is good for the Republicans...then it's 100% accurate!)

Odds and Ends

A few random thoughts while stuck in a hotel in Scranton PA (home of The Office!).

- I have been battling a brutal head cold for the past two weeks. This has been awful. Yesterday, my cold turned into an ear infection. Seriously, when is the last time anyone on this space had an ear infection?!? I feel like I am 7 years old. Next up, Flinstone Vitamins!

- How bout them Terps beating Clemson? Pretty nice turnaround by Fridge's boys. Can you believe I still can't sell my Miami tickets at face value on stubhub. WTF??

- I am with the Sports Guy in thinking the C's will be better than people think (maybe the 7 or 8 spot in the East), but then they go out and stink the joint out in their two openers, choking away leads in both games. Yuck.

- Zahn should enjoy this... nice

- Republicans are officially grasping when they are trotting out criticism about FICTIONAL novels. Scrape, scrape, scrape... yup I think we are at the bottom of the barrel.

- Pats 24 Cols 18. Manning will get 260+ yards passing, but will be settling for FGs instead of TDs. If the Pats could shut down the 49TD, 4500+ yard record setting Colts offense a few years ago with the 5th string DBs, then they can slow down the current Offense with a D that is playing much better. The D is back to doing Belicheckian things like stuffing the run, being very stingy in the red zone, and creating TOs. Meanwhile the Pats O is starting to get in gear, and the Colts and the 29th rank run D comes to Foxboro with them. We'll see a lot of 2 TE and a lot of Dillon and Maroney. This is like the Cinci matchup earlier, a hyped offensive team with a fatal flaw of soft run D. The Pats manhandled them by running right up the gut. Can't wait for tomorrow nights game.

That is all for now.

Week 9 NFL Picks - "The Clock Game"

We're coming live tonight from gate F7 in the always-efficient Chicago OHare airport. The weather is fine, but the f&&#^$#n FAA put a "hold" on flights for whatever reason. I now expect to land in Cincinnati at 1:25 am and will get to bed just after 2. Nice.

Anyway, I feel like these picks are my version of the clock game. I have about 10-15 minutes to post these picks.... so, first, with the game itself -
Who doesn't love this game?

The clock will start with your first bid...
$400? "Lower"
$300? "Lower"
$200? "Higher"
$250? "Higher"
$225? "HIGHER", says Bob, while muttering "dumbass" under his breath.

Ah yes. Not saying that this particular contestant did that - I have no idea. But you have to love this guy's smile and hair.

Anyway, the picks for week 9:

St Louis 27, KC 10. St Louis will crush them. San Diego is that good (referring tothe Rams loss last week).
Bal 24, Cinci 13. If Palmer is under a rush, that's big problems for him.
NYG 23, Hou 14. Houston can move the ball - they just have to avoid the turnover.
Jax 20, Ten 10. Just enough defense for the Jags.
Was 23, Dal 13. I think this is Derek's rule of NFL betting - Dal and Washington ALWAYS split.
Buf 27, GB 20. I had to drop Lee Evans this week to make room for a trade - I have a feeling this will be his breakout week.
TB 20, NO 17. Is this the end for the Saints?
Atl 31, Det 28. I started Kitna over Eli in one of my leagues this week. Indoors? Should be a track meet.
Chi 30, Mia 14. Does Joey Harrington = Alex Smith? >? Min 24, SF 23. The Vikes can't look this bad two weeks in a row, right?
Cle 20, SD 19. YEAH BABY! THE UPSET! (ok, maybe that is the caffeine talking)
Pit 20, Den 13. Pit isbacked into a corner, and Denver is overrated.
NE 28, Ind 27. How can you NOT take Belichick in this one?
Sea 23, Oak 12. Lost in the game last week was that Oak had <100 yards of offense. How will they score if not for turnovers?

No time for the recap of the records. Derek, can you do this?

Best bets:
StL -3
Stl/KC Under 46
Bal +3.5
Hou +14
Jax/Ten under 37
Was +3
Dal/Was Under 42
Buf/GB Over 40
TB +1.5
Atl/Det over 43
Chi -14
Chi/Mia Over 37 1/2
SF +5
Pit -3
NE/Ind Over 48
Sea -8

A couple of belated items.

Been so busy I forgot some things:

1. Happy belated B-Day to Jay and his son Luke. My mom still has Luke's present at the house and is hounding me on when I'm going to get it out of there. By the time I eventually get it to Luke, he will be old enough to use the poker chips I got him.

2. How did we all let this slip through? I'm ashamed. With Eric, Lee, Jay, Jon, and I, none of us mentioned that Bob Barker is retiring? Shame on all of us.

3. Had a request to route some traffic over to our old blog site by Jorge Blogsada:

Hey, can i get some credit for posting on everyone's 2nd favorite blog? There's a little surprise waiting for everyone brave enough to travel down the internet's darkest alley.

I can't wait to start blogging over there when I have to complain about my soon to be wife. Only me, Ben, and Jorge will read it.

Good Day

I LOVE CAMI

Let's lighten the mood up...

Random thoughts about non-serious topics:

1) Lot of news about ESPN: first, Harold Reynolds is now suing ESPN for his firing (details at Smoking Gun). Also, on ESPNU during the N Ill - Iowa game, Brian Kinchen (the color guy) talked about how:
"the quarterback needs to caress the ball - cradle it...... I guess that sounds kind of gay".
Needless to say, he is now on double secret probation.

2) Has anyone seen the new Citicards commercials? The ones with the Russian old guy amassing points? I think he says it is very "rewarding", but it comes out "bevording". I find them amazingly compelling. I think I may be the only one who enjoys these.
Is that Judd Hirsch doing the ad?

3) At the end of the Steelers-Raiders game, they showed a picture of Al Davis. Janice almost threw up her dinner. "Who IS that?" she asked. It's the owner. "Wow - he looks dead". That may be a compliment.

4) Is there any doubt that if it was a Browns player making that non-catch in the end zone at the end of the Browns-Jets game , there would be ZERO national outrage about the push-out rule? And people wonder why there is such hatred toward east-coast teams...

5) More bathroom blogging: Look, if you are in a stall, especially the first stall that is adjacent to the urinals and the rest of the bathroom, do NOT drop your pants so much that you expose skin to the rest of the people underneath the stall wall. Why do you feel the need to throw your pants and underwear on the floor (with your two legs still loosely inside them) so that we can see:
- what socks you are wearing
- what kind of underwear you are wearing
- your badge lying on the floor
Ugh! When taking a crap, the pants don't go lower than your kneecap. Man Law?

6) Derek and I had a vocal argument about College Football vs College Basketball - which sport most embodies American Ideals?
And Derek - what about Rutgers? If they are the only undefeated team left besides Ohio St, do they play in the Fiesta Bowl against the Buckeyes?