Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Economics Boyz

Well the faux-rap is becoming such a tired played out thing - thank you Andy Sandberg and YouTube. But THAT BEING SAID, this one is kinda sweet.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Prediction

Colts over Jets, as much as I like the old school smash mouth football the Jets play, I think that the Colts win. Peyton too good against the blitz.

Saints over Vikings. Let the Favre "will he-won't he" talk begin. In what looks to be a pretty entertaining game I see the Saints pulling away in the 3rd and putting it away in the 4th. New Orleans is a great town with great fans and deserves this victory. Brees and Co. have the tools on both sides of the ball to earn it as well.

last week: 0-4 v. spread, 1-3 straight up
playoffs: 3-5 v. spread, 4-4 straight u

As long as the Colts win we should have an entertaining Superbowl no matter who comes out of the NFC. But New Orleans's food makes for good football party fare.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Wow, glad I wasn't in Vegas

Cause I would've gotten my ass kicked. Picked 4 games, picked 'em all wrong. Well maybe not but I did get the Saints right, but I didn't think they'd cover so that is my bad.

The Saints rolled. They did the great trick, hit Kurt Warner and hurt 'em, if you let him get comfortable in the pocket he'll pick you apart, just ask Rob Woodson.


In the second game, the one I thought would be the best of the lot, the boring Colts rolled. The Ravens didn't get to Manning like they did Brady the week before, and then when they had opportunities they coughed it up in the Red Zone, and Flacco is not the guy who is gonna be able to make a comeback. Maybe one day Flacco will be the guy, but not today.

Speaking of the guy who will never be the guy. Tony Romo is not going to be the guy. And just when I was fooled and thought that he would be "the guy" this time. He proved that yet again he ain't and he ain't ever gonna be. Maybe Dallas should think about trading for Matt Hasselbeck, he ain't ever gonna be the guy, either. In fact Matt Hasselbeck was the basis for that quote. My buddy texted me exact that after no. 8 failed to gain 8 yards for a game winning FG attempt at Bears in 2007. It made me mad at the time, but unfortunately he has been proven right.

So there were 3 games everyone thought they were going be great and they were just plain lousy. So of course the game that everyone thought would be a one-sided blow-out in favor of San Diego. But the Jets showed up and did what they do, and it is the kind of smash-mouth football I love. Control the ball through the run and play tough defense. But saying that I don't think they have a chance at Indy next week, but this just may be the stuff that feeds 'em "us against the world" blah blah blah.

The NFC game better be the late game because really that is the game everyone wants to see. Favre v. Saints - great compelling matchup. Think the winner will have their hands full with Indy. Looks like a very attractive Super Bowl is shaping up, but then again I thought there would be a lot of good football this weekend except for the Jets-Chargers. So what do I know.

Friday, January 15, 2010

"Now Challenge that call...challenge that call

NAW, That's not a good call"
I tell you what's not a good call: Athletes making music videos. But 25 years after the Super Bowl Shuffle the problems persist. As demonstrated by LT's little display below. This has to be some fund raiser for some disabiled kids, groups or homeless shelter or something judging by background dancers.


Hope they raised alot of money, because this is way too lame to be a vanity project.
" I read the defense, read the defense..."

Divisonal Round

Well I am back, it took another week but I am back. It looks like I am turning this into a sports blog. Which is kind of boring but maybe the direction this thing is headed, because frankly I haven’t been following politics as close without an election, and what else I am to write about? How cute my kids are? Vain. Earthquake in Haiti? Way too depressing. Pacific Garbage Patch? Again, way too depressing.

Besides it is the NFL playoffs and I went 3 for 4 last week and the one I lost (GB/AZ) went to OT and could’ve gone either way. The Cardinals were straight up lucky to have gotten past the Packers last Sunday. Everybody is talking about what a great game it was, but was it really? It was only really a game from the 10 minute mark in the 3rd quarter, when the Packers brought it within 3 scores and then recovered their onside kick. It was a helluva entertaining game from then on. The officiating i was lousy. The face-masking on Rogers on the game winning play should’ve been called, but Rogers should’ve connected on the first play of the OT, and despite what Whitlock says here, I don’t think Favre makes that play. So without further ado here are this weekend’s picks.

Cardinals(+7) at Saints: The Saints have been sucking for weeks now, but the Cardinals are just lucky to be here. The Saints are the better team, and they will get it done at home in an entertaining game, I don’t think New Orleans covers though.

Ravens (+6.5) at Colts: The Ravens are a bunch of bad mother fuckers. It is just that simple. Driving last Sunday, I was listening to the end of the Bal/NE game, and heard Terrell Suggs in a on-field post-game interview say “We came here, with the intention to kick their ass and that is what we did”. Indeed sir. The Ravens proved the old Tyson adage: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” - true. Last weekend the Ravens squared up and landed Brady and Belicheck right on the kisser. I expect them to bring the ruckus again Saturday, and I expect Manning to collapse under the pressure. It is a pity, Manning is great player, but his team decided to let their foot off of the gas with an undefeated season still on the table. That was a mistake and I think that everyone is now figuring it out, now. The Ravens win, in the game of the weekend.

Cowboys (+2.5) at Vikings: The media and the sportsbook seems to think that this will be the best game of the weekend, I don’t. The Cowboys are rolling, and I expect them to keep on rolling. The Vikings, like the Saints, have been slumping the last half of the season, but unlike the Saints they do not have a favorable match-up. Their o-line doesn’t look as strong as before and they are not running the ball like they use to. Adrian Peterson is not the #1 fantasy pick next year. Favre is 40+ and is showing every day of it. He slowed down at the end of last season, and this year too. He won’t be able to get it done now. Who are his WR’s there? Bernard Berrian? That ain’t gonna do it, and unless Peterson and Hutch can find the magic again, Minnesota is in a lot of trouble. Cowboys roll and win by 3 scores.

Jets (+7) at Chargers: This game is the only real sure thing this weekend. The Jets are hot but caught a few breaks to get themselves “hot” and into the playoffs. They had 2 teams lay down for them down the stretch, and then faced a Bengal team who stopped playing good football after Thanksgiving, and had a QB with a bad thumb. The Chargers never let off the gas all year, and are rolling, they have a dynamic QB, who is a “red ass” (new sportsradio term), two great RBs, a fantastic receiver in Vincent Jackson, and a great TE in Antonio Gates. Chargers roll, and this will be over by the third quarter. If I was a betting man I’d say bet the mortgage, but don’t blame me if you lose your house. Besides judging from the housing statistics I’m reading, most of the country's house are taking on water anyway.

Playoff Picks: 3-1

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Insert Picture of Pete Carroll here

Well the news came down late yesterday morning: Jim Mora, Jr. was fired as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, and USC Coach Pete Carroll is rumored as the successor. Now I was never the biggest fan of Mr. Mora, but I wasn't calling for his job, I was repeatedly calling him a "clown", but I wasn't calling for his job. The problem with the team wasn't so much coaching (which was lousy too) but it was more of a talent problem. But Mora definately lost control of the team, they were heading in the wrong direction, they were far worse a team at the end of the year than they were in the beginning of the year. Wide Receivers were calling out radio analysts on air, and genuinely running a muck. To coin a phrase the inmates were running the asylum.

So I'll walk you through yesterday, how I got the news and my reaction . So I am walking out of the gym at about 11:30 am. I pull my kids out of the gym's "Kid's Zone", strap them into the car and see that I have 5 text messages to inform me that Jim Mora has been fired, best one: "Guess we'll be seeing lessa mora". Now I am fine with the firing, but I would've been fine with giving him another year, too, because like I said above 5-11 wasn't all on him. But now that he is gone, I am happy about it. I like the move, I like the initiative, I like that ownership is not satisfied with the obvious negative direction of the team. Which is refreshing for a fan of Seattle sports, with ownership regularly content with just filling seats and not winning titles. But the Mora firing really it makes sense as a new GM still needs to be hired, and whomever takes the GM job is most likely going to want to name his own coach. So great clean house from top to bottom.

So I am in the car now, and I turn on the radio and as I pull out of the parking garage the AM Sportstalk Radio (I listen to both 950 and 710) informs me that Jim Carroll has been contacted to be the next head coach, and that it is all but a done deal. Now this make sense for Carroll. USC has been skating on thin ice with the NC2A for quite some time, between the Reggie Bush situation (his parents living in nice house paid for by an agent while he was still in school, OJ Mayo all but getting checks from his agent while he was still in school, current USC football star McKnight cruising around town in a brand new Range Rover while he was still in school). All of this has USC running scared. In an attempt to keep the NCAA violations board buzzards at bay SC issued self-imposed a ban on postseason play for its men's basketball program this year. But the buzzards are getting way too close so the best bet for Carroll was to jump shit before the axe came down.

So now the fans are angry(?) and blowing up the phones on the radio, and hating the Carroll move. Just hating it. Me? I think that I like it. For all the talk of Carroll being a failure in the NFL he did have a winning record in 4 seasons. And that was 10 years ago, and the guy has earned his chance to come back to the league; 3 national titles, 7 BCS games, numerous players to the pros.

Today, I still feel the same. This evening I walked up to the 7-11 for a pint of ice cream. Walking past the newspaper rack I saw the headline for Steve Kelly's column: "Carroll will make this mess worse." Such a take only reaffirms my position. Kelly is the worst columnist in all pro sports markets, his takes are never original, he routinely states the obvious and/or apes the reaction of the most vocal and knee jerk of all Seattle sports fans, and like the rest of him he is probably wrong on this one. No matter what Steve Kelly or the rest of the sports talk radio callers Mora was not gonna get it done, and Carroll is a sexy coach, and sexy coaches do well here. Now let's see if he can get past that talent disparity on his new team. Fingers crossed coach, rooting for ya!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Slow Starting and WildCard Winners

Well we are now 8 days into the New Year and I still haven't got the writing 30 minutes a day thing up and running yet. But this week has been spent finding my feet with the kids and the gym. William had a better day at the child care than before. Today are swimming lessons for both of the kids, a bit nervous about that one, but I am sure it will be fine and that the kids will have fun. Have that West-B test tomorrow, hope that I am not underestimating that test, not passing it would really f'up the program.

Anyhow I guess I will use the blog to post, for the record, winners of this weekend's NFL Playoffs Wild Card Weekend.

Saturday Early - Jets at Bengals. The Jets got into the playoffs by the luck of scheduling playing both the Colts and these same Bengals in Weeks 16 and 17. Neither opponent had anything to play for, while NY had everything to playoff. The Jets rolled and wound up in the playoffs. The Bengals started strong, with a revitalized Carson Palmer and a back from the dead Cedric Benson. Yet they have faded the second half of the year. I am going with the Jets, they have a bit of a swagger, exemplified by Coach Ryan's boast yesterday and are playing loose. The Jets D is fantastic, their play helped to lift my fantasy team -the StLee Cynics, to their first fantasy football championship. So I've got a bit of soft spot for them. Their only weakness is their rookie quarterback Sanchez, but good defense can counter suspect QB play just ask the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. Jets: 20 Bengals: 17

Saturday Late - Eagles at Cowboys. Another week 17 rematch. Last week the Eagles had everything to play for, a first round bye, but they went to Dallas and absolutely laid an egg. The Cowboys are playing really well, particularly due to the emergence of their young stud WR Miles Austin. Still not a Romo fan, but he'll win this week and big. Eagles: 10 Cowboys: 27

Sunday Early - Ravens at Patriots. The best game of the weekend. The Patriots are back, but they are fully back? One cannot help but feel that this is an dynasty on the downside of things. The injury to Welker is a major issue to them, as he was Brady's main safety valve, 3rd and 6+ is going to be more difficult for them to convert now. The Ravens D, whether it is all reputation, is still very formidable, and will keep the Brady-Moss connection in check, whether they can get their offense running behind Flacco will be the really deciding factor. Ravens: 17 Patriots: 13 in a really great game.

Sunday Late: Packers at Cardinals. This is the end of the line for the defending NFC champs (who got the Steeler's officiating treatment in last year's Super Bowl, too - but that is another post). The loss of Bouldin to injury hurts them, but not as much as Welker's injury to NE, and the radio said that there is a good chance that he still plays. But that will be no matter. The Packers are really feeling it right now, and have been riding a wave for the entire 2nd half of the season. A wave they caught after going 0-2 in the Favre games. Look for the Packers to do their part to head towards another showdown in Minnesota. Packers: 35 Cardinals: 17