~I stand by my statements around how it did not feel like these were the two best teams in baseball. I mean Jamie Moyer is the #3 starter? He's 93 years old and throws softer than me.

~The biggest play Wednesday night to me was not the Iwamura play but rather Upton bouncing into an easy DP. That inning had potential and it single handedly sapped all energy out of the Rays.

~I found watching the 2nd half of game 5 weird. I'm used to having my eyes stapled at 1 am while watching the conclusion of games.

~Cole Hamels is a pitching beast, but he sounds like he could use a little more testosterone in the voice.

~Joe Madden's decisions in game 5 were questionable at best. I'm unsure why he was so adamant about having a lefty face Pat Burrell. Bunting a pitcher who faces one batter the next half inning and gives up a double does not look good.

~It would have been nice if Longoria showed up. Pena would have been nice as well.

~David Price will be an all star within 2 seasons and I would trade a boatload to get him on my keeper team. The team that has him in my league also has Tiny Tim, so he's gonna be diesel for a long time.

~There's always a little luck, Zobrist ripped the shit out of the ball, just to the wrong spot.

~A neutral field world series is a stupid idea. So what if it's cold outside. I played softball in mid 30 degree weather last week, pro athletes can play when its cold out too.

~With that being said, pushing the World Series back to November is god damn stupid.

~Am I insane or are the commercial breaks between innings in playoff games significantly longer?

~Do you ever think Joe Buck during a commercial break flips out and says, "If I have to hype up this Drinkability bullshit one more time I'm gonna take my microphone and beat Tim to death with it. He can fucking read right? Make him do one damn promo."

~Philly seemed to enjoy rioting a lot.

~I would just like to say that I got almost everything right in my revised predictions. The only series I was incorrect on was the Dodgers vs. Cubs and that's via a poor choice of flip flopping. I originally had the Dodgers in 4 but then switched to the Cubs in 4 cause, I looked at the genius pre-season useless predictions and decided I should hold form to those where I had the Phillies beating the Cubs. Soy Stupido wouldo beeno 100 percento.

~Can we please get a good World Series next year? This feels just like the mid 90s Superbowl drought when ever game was an uninteresting clunker.

This is a week where we pick on all the miserable teams in the league... Except for the Lions of course.

5. Detroit Lions (+12 1/2) at Chicago Bears
The Lions missed three straight covers last week by a .5 a point. They get back on the losing games but covering the spread trail this week.

4. Arizona Cardinals (-2 1/2) at St. Louis Rams
Homecoming for Kurt in St. Louis means lots of tds for the offense. In addition SJax is questionable which means the Cards should cruise to a td victory.

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-8 1/2) at Kansas City Chiefs
The Jets played 100% miserable after several arm punts by the gun slinger and yet they still won. Jeff Garcia and the Bucs need to bounce back this week after their poor showing against Dallas and they will win by double digits.

2. Jacksonville Jaguars (-7 1/2) at Cincinnati Bengals
The Jaguars are still a good team right? I mean they have the same running backs the same line and the same Q, why aren't they dominating on the ground again? And why is Fred Taylor the most useless fantasy running back in history. They're going to win this week by a lot cause the Bengals are pitiful.

1. Philadelphia Eagles (-6 1/2) at Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are terrible. They won last week because the 49ers are really terrible. The Eagles need to continue to win and everything is turning up Philly this week. Eagles absolutely dominate and McNabb (newly acquired via trade for TO and others) will lead me to fantasy victories.

Survivor League Pick: SCREW Seattle
Sorry Dan-O but pick the Bears to beat the Lions.

Non-Spread Picks

Episode 2 of Arm Punt Formations starring the "Gunslinger"



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The question for the day to ponder is whether or not college football coaches have a responsibility for improving their community or whether or not their simple object should be to win football games at all costs.

In my personal opinion the a college coach is hired to do one thing, win football games. That's his job. Winning football games does two major things for a university. First the more a university ends up on television the more free marketing it receives. So if you look at a state University like UConn and its history of demand from out of state students it significantly ballooned after their basketball team became a national powerhouse. Now multiply the Final 4 hype by 3 because that's how much better ratings college football garners throughout the year.

Next a winning college football program significantly boosts student moral. If you have a top notch football program in the South that is contending for national titles your student body will simply be happier. In addition your alumni will be happier. They will purchase more apparel, more bumper stickers, etc. (again free advertisement). In addition alumni will be more likely to donate to both the school in general as well as the schools athletic teams.

After winning football games everything else is peripheral. Holding charity events and other things that benefit the community will never be a negative but its not necessarily in their job description. Being a mentor to students and getting them to graduate certainly is good pub for the school, but again not completely necessary. Being a good guy and well liked by people, the media, and school officials have its perks, but its never as important as winning.

Again just like the last post, the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year is meant to be for the well rounded coach both on and off the field but is voted on by the fans. So the question is if you are a voter can you actually divide the two equally or will your eyes always be jaded to the results on the field because that is truly their job description.

There are lots of new faces around the NBA, so here's a quick rundown on how they did during their debuts.

Winners

Mark D'Antoni made a nice debut with the Knicks in leading the squad to victory over the Heat. The biggest story however has to be his benching of both Curry and Marbury sending messages to both that he will not tolerate lack of team play and lack of hustle. If you're a Knicks fan last night has to get you pumped.

Jermaine O'Neal made his debut in the Raptors victory over the 76ers after forming exactly the type of twin towers the franchise was hoping for. In 34 minutes he scored 17 points and pulled down 8 boards and dished out 4 assists complimenting Chris Bosh perfectly.

Derrick Rose got his pass on during the Bulls opening night victory over the Bucks. In 32 minutes Rose dropped 9 dimes and added 11 points with most coming from the stripe.

Crazy Ron made a solid debut in the Rockets drubbing of the Grizzlies. He had 16 points and 3 steals in 40 minutes.

Yi might actually sell some jerseys for the Nets if he continues to play like he did in his debut. In the Nets 95-85 victory over the Wiz, Yi scored 17 points on 7-11 shooting with 2 triples. He also pulled down 6 boards and had 2 blocks in 31 minutes. Meanwhile Bobby Simmons, also acquired in the deal, scored 5 points on 2-8 shooting in 18 minutes to make a less flashy debut.

In the Timberwolves victory over the Kings Kevin Love got off to a very solid start to his career. In just 19 minutes of PT Love scored 12 points and pulled down 9 boards. Meanwhile, his new teammate Mike Miller did not have an aw inspiring start scoring just 11 points in 31 minutes.

James Posey will be missed in Boston and enjoyed in New Orleans. Last night during the Hornets opening victory over the Warriors Posey played 28 minutes drained 3 triples and I'm sure played stellar D on somebody.

Losers

The Thunder made their debut in Oklahoma City and unsurprisingly were defeated. Durant was the only starter to score in double figures for OKC and that was on 5-14 shooting.

As we all know Greg Oden already injured himself in his debut against the Lakeshow. Teammate Rudy Fernandez however made a solid debut with 16 points in 29 minutes including three triples.

Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo was certainly given the green light in the Grizzles loss to the Rockets but it probably wasn't a good thing. He went just 5-20 from the field including 0-7 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile in the same game Marc Gasol made his debut and went 12 and 12 in 36 minutes, not a bad day for the bearded brother.

Richard Jefferson got off to a slow start with the Bucks during their Tuesday night defeat at the hands of the Bulls. RJ shot just 5-17 from the field and pulled down just 4 boards in 38 minutes.

Elton Brand struggled in his debut against the defense of Bosh and Jermaine O'Neal. Brand only went 5-14 from the field for 14 points but he was beastly on the boards pulling down 13 boards in 39 minutes.

B Diddy certainly could have gone without the 40 point cross town drubbing in his opener against the Lakeshow. Davis played 28 minutes scored 11 and dropped 7 dimes.

TJ Ford in the Pacers loss against the Pistons struggled with the assist to turnover ratio after having only 5 assists to 4 turnovers. He also scored 10 points in 30 minutes.

Michael Beasley struggled in the first game of his career going 4-14 from the field in 27 minutes in the Heat loss against the Knicks. Additionally Beasley only pulled down 4 rebounds and went 1-5 gunning away from 3.

Mo Williams dropped 12 in their Nationally Televised loss to the Cs.

Oh and just for fun here's Marbury on the bench.

This week is a week of two games. The battle for the large cocktails and the battle for Texas Supremacy. O

5. Miami Hurricanes at Virginia Cavaliers
The Hurricanes certainly are not back to their glory days, but they still somehow have a chance with the ACC clusterfuck at the top of their division. Step 1 is defeating the resurgent Al Grohs in Grohland. The Pick: Grohs by 3

4. West Virginia Mountaineers at UConn Huskies
For all the haterade dumped on Bill Stewart for his 2 losses during the opening month of the season, he still is currently 2-0 in the Big East with a very good chance of making another trip to a BCS game. Mostly because Noel Devine is an animal not because he's a good coach. This week a trip up to Hartford to knock UConn out of the rankings which they do not deserve to be.The Pick: Mountaineers by 13

3. Florida State Seminoles at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
So Florida St. really jumped up those rankings this week after knocking out both of VaTech's QBs. The matchup this weekend vs. the Yellow Jackets could easily decide the ACC title game attendee. The Pick: Jackets by 3

2. Georgia Bulldogs vs. Florida Gators at the Cocktail Party
Simply put this game decides the SEC East title. This game decides who will face Bama in the SEC title game and this game arguably puts the winner in the driver seat for 1 loss teams. Will Tebow get revenge from last years td celebration? Yes. The Pick: Florida by 3

1. Texas Longhorns at Texas Tech Red Raiders
The Red Raiders always look good at the start of the year. They always beat the crap out of their out of conference opponents. They always score 9000 points against Baylor. Their QB always leads the Nation in yards and tds and passer efficiency. And they always get dominated by Texas. The Pick: Longhorns by 13.

The 2008 season is underway and as expected Scals remained with his ass cemented to the bench. I think this will be the absolute recurring theme this year and will lead to a lot of very easy weekly updates with 3 letters prevalent everywhere: DNP.

I set the Over/Under for Scals games played at 41 and I took the under. If you look at the Celtics roster right now, when is he actually going to get in? Just blow outs or if KG/Perk have serious injuries, I'd imagine. I mean everyone knows that he doesn't exactly provide anything while on the court and chances are good that O'Bryant is in front of Scals on the Big Man Depth Chart.

In reality the more likely question is how often Scals will be wearing the uniform in comparison to the the jeans and sports jacket. Last night Scals made the 12 man roster and was rockin the warm ups (sans uni of course) at the expense of Player/Coach/Alien Sam Cassell and the rooks JR Giddens and Bill Walker. Cassell is eventually going to demand that he plays in a few games so he can average .99 shots per touch of the basketball. Giddens probably isn't ready to contribute to the squad but Walker appeared in the preseason to have some potential. Granted it was the potential to provide exciting scrub time dunks, but that's better than brick-layed white 3s. Eventually Doc is going to get Bill the Towel Urinator on the roster and into the games at the expense of Scals.

So 08-09 will be the year that Scals officials transitions into the highest paid male cheerleader in history. Congrats.

By the way, how massive are those rings?

So what if they mean it the other way around, when you buy a limited edition Mark D'Antoni/Donnie Walsh T-shirt for $20.08 you get free tickets to November 5th Knicks Game vs. the Bobcats. You also get a Hot Dog a Soda and a Free Bag of chips. This could truly turn into a bargain if Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury get into a fist fight on the court. But... I still think I'm out.

June Jones took over the Hawaiian Football program in 1999. In 9 years with the program he coached the Rainbow Warriors (he axed the Rainbow) to their best success in their history. He went 75-41, had only two losing seasons, won the WAC twice and won 4 bowl games. He was easily becoming a Hawaiian legend despite also garnering the highest public salary in the state. On January 1st his undefeated Warriors met up with Georgia, the hottest team in the nation, in the Sugar Bowl. Unfortunately for June the perfect Hawaiian season was brutally beaten into the ground with every thud of Colt Brennan's helmet to the turf.

On January 7th June Jones was introduced as the next coach of Southern Methodist University. He had left the islands for the money (and to abandon a potential sinking ship now sans Colt Brennan). This job provided one major perk, 2 million dollars annually. SMU was once a proud football program, but not during my lifetime. In fact the last time they made a bowl was 1984. Essentially money talked for June Jones over Sunshine and leis.

Fast forward to this past Saturday afternoon and I wonder what June Jones is thinking about his January decision now. On Saturday SMU fell to 1-8, but that far from tells the whole story. In their 34-7 defeat against Navy, the Midshipmen did exactly the opposite of a June Jones called game. They ran the ball, and ran the ball, and ran it some more. In fact they not once put the ball in the air (the 1st time since 1997), instead their 3rd string quarterback buried his head through the piles for 224 yards and 4 touchdowns on 42 carries.

So June, how does that Hawaiian Sunshine Sound Now?

The Degrees of Loss Separation is a simple concept, I go out and find a highly rated team with some losses playing against a crappy team with lots of losses. Next I find a chain of losses which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt (not at all) that the underdog is going to pull the major upset and storm the field. The Final Outcome is calculated simply: Add up the scores of the losers, add up the scores of the winners in the degrees of loss separation and divide both by the # of degrees.

The Game: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Michigan St. Spartans

It was nearly impossible to find a game to use for the Degrees this week with many teams only losing to undefeated teams or the chains ending in undefeated teams. For instance BYU -> TCU -> Oklahoma -> Texas. Or USC facing winless Washington. So I endeded up choosing Michigan St. vs. Wisconsin because the Spartans are ranked again and the Badgers are still in the bottom half of the Big Ten. Plus, I want D'Antonio to get a beatdown after his 2-6 bath last week.

9º of Loss Separation : Wisconsin > Fresno St. > Rutgers > Pittsburgh > Navy > Air Force > New Mexico > Arizona > Cal > Michigan St.

And after deciding to pick this game I had to spend like 20 minutes figuring out the Degrees because there's no close link. Any way here it is. Wisconsin was ranked at one point and knocked of Fresno St. who was also ranked when they knocked off Rutgers to open the season. Rutgers completed last weeks Degrees when they pummeled Wanny. Wanny had previously doubled up Navy. Navy snuck one out in a military showdown against Air Force by 6. Air Force however is having a solid season and knocked off New Mexico who knocked off Arizona in a border war. Mike Stoops however is also having a solid season and defeated Cal rather soundly. The same Cal Bear team opened up the season by narrowly defeating the Spartans.

Final Outcome: Wisconsin 34 Michigan St. 22

And there you have it the Badgers show a little life in what has been an incredibly disappointing season in Madison and go to the land of Sparty and put on a mini beatdown. Badgers 34 Spartans 22.

Episode 1 of Arm Punt Formations Starring the 'Gunslinger'



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Again simple over/unders just like the MLB competition. The winner gets again, mouth love from Swallowman.

1. The Celtics will win 60 games. (Over/Under)
2. Rasheed Wallace will have 12 Technicals this season. (Over/Under)
3. 4 White Guys will make the NBA All Star Teams. (Over/Under)
4. The Knicks will win 30 Games. (Over/Under)
5. Dwight Howard will average 3 Dunks a Game. (Over/Under)
6. Yao Ming will play 60 games this season. (Over/Under)
7. Greg Oden will average 14 points per game. (Over/Under)
8. Derrick Rose will average 8 assists per game. (Over/Under)
9. Jason Kidd will shoot 40% from the field. (Over/Under)
10. Big Cock Gallinari will average 9 points per game. (Over/Under)
11. Brian Scalabrine will play 41 games this season. (Over/Under)

Again my picks in the comments.

The NBA Season has arrived so here is the biased and contradictory predictions.

NBA East

1. Boston Celtics, Atlantic Champs - The Celtics will take some time to figure out how to replace Posey on the defensive end and for clutch threes but they should be even more gelled as a unit than they were last year. Hopefully Bill Walker jumps into Posey's role a bit while not starting brawls. The Cs should have the best record in the East and approach 60 wins.

2. Detroit Pistons, Central Champs - The Pistons said they were going to shake things up in the offseason and well they didn't. Which means they will once again be 2nd best in the East.

3. Cleveland Cavs -LBJ got some toys to play with in the offseason. Should make the Cavs slightly better but not much. They should approach 50 wins because LBJ is King.

4. Orlando Magic, Southeast Champs - The Magic were a surprise last year and should hold onto the Southeast crown because very other team is terrible.

5. Philadelphia 76ers - Elton Brand makes the 76ers an intriguing watch this year.

6. Toronto Raptors - Chris Bosh is still the most unknown stud in the NBA thanks to playing in Toronto.

7. Miami Heat - A Healthy D-Wade equals the playoffs this year right? They won't need a superb record to get in and Wade should be able to reapply the superman cape.

8. Atlanta Hawks - The Hawks have no depth but still have the same 5 that lead them to the playoffs last year and gave the Cs all they could handle. J-Childress bouncing to Greece will hurt some.

9. Washington Wizards - Injuries to start the year will give them a miserable record that will be too difficult to overcome.

10. New Jersey Nets - Devin Harris will emerge as one of the best young point guards in the league but it won't be enough to get them into the playoffs.

11. Chicago Bulls - Still no low post scoring for the Bulls who missed their window to trade for a Superstar when they had the chance.

12. New York Knicks - The Knicks shall be interesting this year at least with all the big name benching D'Antoni will do, starting with fat Eddy.

13. Charlotte Bobcats - A team without a superstar is a team with a miserable record.

14. Milwaukee Bucks - Richard Jefferson and Michael Redd are not good enough to carry a team to the playoffs.

15. Indiana Pacers - Name 5 Pacers? Go... How many do you have 1? Maybe 2? Did you come up with Dunleavy?

NBA West

1. LA Lakers, Pacific Champs - With Bynum back at full strength and Pao for the entire season the Lakers should cruise into the Pac title.

2. Houston Rockets, Southwest Champs - Ron Ron fortifies the Rockets defense that much more. With Ron Ron and Shane Battier the Rockets have Crazy & Calm stud defenders. Now if only they could keep Yao and T-Mac healthy for once to have a great offense to go with the D.

3. New Orleans Hornets - Chris Paul is a beast and David West is an all star. Adding James Posey just gives them the Title experience they may need to get over the hump.

4. Utah Jazz, Northwest Champs - I <3 Deron Williams.

5. San Antonio Spurs - Manu being hobbled does not bode well for the aging Spurs who will easily make the postseason but is their run done?

6. Phoenix Suns - The Suns are going in a different offensive direction, which could end up in disaster.

7. Portland Trailblazers - The Blazers will make the playoffs this season behind their two rookies Rudy Fernandez and Greg Oden. They will emerge at the tale end of the season as the team nobody wants to open with in the playoffs.

8. Dallas Mavericks - J-Kidd is just about done but the Mavs still have enough talent to make the playoffs.

9. Denver Nuggets - Getting rid of Camby for nothing shall doom the Nuggets.

10. LA Clippers - B-Diddy is going to have a rough first year for the Clip-Show.

11. Sacramento Kings - Kevin Martin is good, but not best player on a playoff team good.

12. Minnesota Timberwolves - The T-Wolves may surprise some people this year after their additions on the perimeter, but it certainly won't be enough to make the playoffs just yet.

13. Golden St. Warriors - The Warriors are done without Monte.

14. Memphis Grizzlies - The Grizz are Gay's team and well that's not really a great thing yet.

15. Seattle Supersonics OKC Thunder - Karma says this team should have the worst record in the conference.

Eastern Conference Champs: Boston Celtics

The Lebrons gave the Cs a huge run for their money last year and chances are they will again this postseason. They just don't have enough to get it done and neither do the Pistons. The Celtics are still the class of the East and barring major injuries should once again represent the Conference in the finals.

Western Conference Champs: Houston Rockets

We're going a little balls to the walls and non-traditional with the pick this year. Somehow someway T-Mac and Yao will be healthy in the postseason. Their health plus the defense of Battie plus the sprinkling of crazy dust from Ron Ron gets them past the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

World Champs: Boston Celtics

I was gonna go with the Rockets to be completely out there and say I'm so smart I picked the Rockets to win the title and they did. Or say whatever I went out on a limb when they don't make the playoffs. But screw it I'm picking the Celtics to repeat. Sure they lost Posey but they replaced him with youth. They still have the Big 3 and they now have an extra year to congeal into the perfect team. The Celtics continue to dominate the NBA.

NBA Season Awards

Comeback Player of the Year: Dwayne Wade, He was out long enough to be considered comeback right?

Coach of the Year: Nate McMillan, When the Blazers are good this year the media will proclaim Nate McMillan a great coach.

Rookie of the Year: Rudy Fernandez, Greg Oden will be a beast but Rudy Fernandez will slightly outshine the big fella for the rookie of the year award.

Sixth Man of the Year: Shane Battier, When Battier gets fully healthy he will emerge as the all-around best 6th man in the league.

Defensive Player of the Year: Tayshaun Prince, Lanky Prince will get the award thanks to his Nationally Televised Defense of LBJ.

Most Improved Player of the Year: Amir Johnson, Now a starter Johnson

Most Valuable Player: Lerbon James, At some point in time the voters will stop screwing him out of the award he deserves every year.

Eastern Conference
				W						L	PCT
1	Boston			57						25	0.695122
2	Detroit			55						27	0.6707317
3	Cleveland			50						32	0.6097561
4	Orlando			44						38	0.5365854
5	Philadelphia			44						38	0.5365854
6	Toronto			41						41	0.5
7	Miami			38						44	0.4634146
8	Atlanta			36						46	0.4390244
	Washington			36						46	0.4390244
	New Jersey			34						48	0.4146341
	Chicago			33						49	0.402439
	New York			30						52	0.3658537
	Charlotte			30						52	0.3658537
	Milwaukee			30						52	0.3658537
	Indiana			20						62	0.2439024
Western Conference
				W						L	PCT
1	LA Lakers			59						23	0.7195122
2	Houston			58						24	0.7073171
3	New Orleans			56						26	0.6829268
4	Utah			56						26	0.6829268
5	San Antonio			55						27	0.6707317
6	Phoenix			51						31	0.6219512
7	Portland			51						31	0.6219512
8	Dallas			50						32	0.6097561
	Denver			48						34	0.5853659
	LA Clippers			37						45	0.4512195
	Sacramento			32						50	0.3902439
	Minnesota			30						52	0.3658537
	Golden State			25						57	0.304878
	Memphis			23						59	0.2804878
	OKC			21						61	0.2560976

Wow You Guys Suck: Bungles & Lions, Collectively 0-15 and unfortunately not lined up to play against each other. Who wants to go winless more? Runners Up: JT O'Sullivan likes to throw the ball to the other team, Fred Taylor who is useless this season.

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Brett Favre, Throw the ball to the people wearing Green jerseys. They are the ones that are on your team. Runners Up: James Harrison for volunteering to long snap for the Steelers, Brett Favre again cause he was doubly stupid.

Cough Cough Cough: Tampa Bay Bucs, You've got the ball in the red zone on your final drive, you need to get it done. The Bucs just fell short and instead of leading the division they are a game behind the Panthers. Runners Up: Arizona way to get pounded in the 2nd half, the Jags apparently don't really want to make the playoffs.

The Shocker: The Chargers and Colts Standings, Coming into the season everyone thought the Chargers and Colts would remain among the elite and after 8 weeks of play both teams are on the outside looking in and absolutely reeling. Runners Up: I'm not that surprised the Dolphins beat the Bills, if the season ended today the Ravens are in the playoffs.

The Pimp: Brian Westbrook, Westbrook just might be the league's most valuable player. Every time the Eagles have him they put up dominant offensive stats and every week they don't they look lost in both the run and pass game. This week he was back for 167 and 2 tds on the ground plus 42 receiving yards. Runners Up: Drew Brees enjoyed his London trip, Ted Ginn Jr. with 175 yards huh?

You Got Jakked Up: Vernon Davis, Verbally Jakked up that is.

My Fantasy MVP: Santana Moss, the most inconsistent fantasy player of all time has one of his super weeks when I need it.

New York Jets MVP: Leon Washington, Leon is the only player on the Jets offense with breakaway speed and he showed it on several occasions this weekend.

My Picks

My Picks: 8-6
Preseason Picks: 8-6
Picks Vs. Spread: 4-10
Pick Suggestions: 2-3

Very very very very bad week. Two suggestions lost by .5 a point which is gay.

I lost my suicide pool in week 2 because the F'n Seahawks lost at home to the 49ers. Well it pisses me off that A) They beat the shit out of them this weekend. and B) Since that point in time I have not gotten a single pick wrong on the Eliminator Challenge on ESPN. Go Screw Seattle.

I created another Fantasy Hoops League that will draft this sunday in which I will once again draft the 2008 version of the White Warriors. If you care to join then here are the settings. Yahoo League ID#: 135671, Password: password. Or just follow this link.

Can we get some damn excitement for once in a World Series? Please just one F'n time. The last good World Series was 2002 when the Angels pulled off a 7th game win against Barroid. Since then we've been subjected to the Anti-Climactic World Series of 2003 where the drama was all in the ALCS and NLCS, 3 sweeps and an 82 win Cardinal team taking home the crown. It's been boring. And this World Series thus far has been no different.

Game 1 was brutally ugly with nobody getting any clutch hits. Game 2 started with an error by the Phils and some bad calls by the umps and more Phillies pathetic hitting. Game 3 started after 10 on a Saturday with little to no one watching. And Game 4 turned into a beatdown where even Joe Blanton hit home runs. The only exciting drama came in Game 3 at quarter to 2 in the morning. That's the perfect time for great baseball.

All in all I think the problem with the World Series is that at no point in time does it really feel like these are the two best teams in baseball. Perhaps it is just me, but watching a team go 1 for their first 28 with runners in scoring position does not scream great baseball. Watching a teams 3 and 4 hitters go 0 for in the first 4 games does not scream great baseball. Watching the winning run of a game come on a hit by pitch, a wild pitch, an error and a swinging bunt does not scream great baseball. Watching both defensive teams (one supposedly superb) make at least one error in each game a piece does not scream great baseball. It just feels more like an inter-league series in June than the World Series. Perhaps this will change if the Rays can finally get to Hamels tonight, but chances are this World Series will fall right in line with the past 5 in the easily forgettable category.

Remember this is all about Quality Wins and Bad Losses so if you lose to a top ranked team its not going to kill you, if you lose to Arkansas St. in the opener it will haunt you the entire season.

And the undefeateds now sit at 4 with PSU, Bama, TT and UT all getting it done. This time next week there shall be 1 less.

1. Texas - No bones about it, Texas is the #1 team in the country right now. One thing you did learn is that Oklahoma St. is for real. They had the ball with a chance to win in the 4th and through dumb play calling couldn't get it done. Quality Wins: Oklahoma(n), Mizzou, Oklahoma St.

2. Alabama - Nick Saban busted out the beat down stick on Fulmer's Belly. Quality Wins: @Georgia

3. Penn St. - The Old man won the big one. Now its avoiding a horrible loss and hoping for a Saban meltdown. Quality Wins: Illinois, Oregon St., @Ohio St.

4. Georgia - So all eyes on the Cocktail party this weekend don't you think? Quality Wins: South Carolina, Vandy, @LSU

5. Oklahoma - Sam Bradford is playing like the best quarterback in the Nation by a longshot. It certainly wasn't his fault the Sooners lost to the Longhorns and after this weekends 470 yard performance he might just be atop the Heisman board. Quality Wins: TCU, Kansas

6. Oklahoma St. - Oklahoma St. looked pretty damn good on Saturday. They could potentially be the 2nd best team in the Big 12. Quality Wins: @Mizzou

7. USC - Not that strong a performance against Arizona but still I think USC could beat any team in the country. Quality Wins: Ohio State, Oregon Bad Loss: Oregon St.

8. Florida - Tim Tebow might be back to scoring tds like 2007. Quality Wins: LSU Bad Loss: Ole Miss

9. Texas Tech - Ok ok I submit you win this week Mike Leach. You ate up the fat man so I'll let you in. But if you get your arse kicked this weekend you will be dropped. Quality Wins: Kansas

10. TCU - One massive win against the mormons keeps TCU in the mix. Quality Wins: BYU

11. Utah - Is Air Force good? They only have 2 losses but I have never seen them play so I have no idea. Quality Wins: @Air Force, Oregon St.

Dropped Out: Boise St. cause I had to include TT

Noticeable Absences: Nobody really

(n) = neutral field

Did Joe Pa forget to go to the bathroom or does he just wear Depend Diapers?

At first I said "A Kid named Zamboni? Well that's just F'n stupid." But Looking below, he really does complete the family.

Where picking the Lions with the points continues to happen for no apparent reason.

5. Detroit Lions (+7 1/2) vs. Washington Redskins
Should the Redskins absolutely destroy the Lions? Yes. Will they? Probably. But the Lions are on a 2 straight cover streak for me behind Dan Orlovsky and I'm sticking with them.

4. New Orleans Saints (+3 1/2) vs. San Diego Chargers in London
I think this is a toss up game with both teams still not being healthy at all. I'm taking the Saints simply thanks to the 3 1/2 points.

3. Arizona Cardinals (+4 1/2) at Carolina Panthers
I know the Panthers absolutely beat the crap out of New Orleans last weekend but I think fresh off the bye week the Cardinals offense is going to be firing on all cylinders. Do I think the Cardinals will win? Well yes I do. But I certainly won't throw away those 4 1/2 points I get either.

2. Oakland Raiders (+6 1/2) at Baltimore Ravens
Flacco has not played well in recent weeks, the Ravens offense still isn't explosive and 6 1/2 points is a lot to give in those circumstances. I think the Raiders lose but keep it close.

1. New England Patriots (-7 1/2) vs. St. Louis Rams
The Pats showed a little 2007 in their dominant victory monday night over the Broncos. I don't think they will look quite that good this weekend, but they should be good for more than a touchdown victory.

Survivor League Pick: SCREW Seattle
Eagles need the win at home and Westbrook should be a go. Plus Matty Ice is due for a bad game.

Non-Spread Picks

Below there are ten Silhouette's of All-Star Left Handed Hitters. How well can you identify each of these famous stances / follow-throughs? If you get stumped you can opt for help by either going here for 10 clues or here for the list of the 10 players so you can match them up to each Silhouette. When you're done or have given up, here are the answers.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.
7.

8.

9.

10.
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Russell Crowe is a man's man. He's the Gladiator. He always play a complete bad ass in every movie. He seemingly can drink with the best of them. He certainly has a fiery temper and isn't afraid to throw inanimate objects people. He always seems to have the scruff 5 days after his last shave look. All in all if you were going to create a movie with a guy killing lots of people with a sword, Crowe would be amongst your top choices.

So when you find out that he owns an Australian Rugby Squad you can't be surprised. Of course Russell Crowe wants to watch men not in pads bash the living crap out of each other. Why wouldn't he? Again, he's a man's man... But then you find out the name of the team he bought. The South Sydney Rabbitohs? Also, nicknamed the Bunnies? Could there possibly be a less intimidating name for a Rugby Squad?

Come On Russ, let's get something a little more your taste. Like the South Sydney Throat Slitters. Now that has a nice ring to it.

Three undefeated teams have major challenges this week with 1 (Alabama) getting to feat on Fulmer.

5. Southern California Trojans at Arizona Wildcats
Not like I think the Wildcats are back to being a Pac 10 contender but they are 5-2 right now with the same conference record as the Trojans. So if the Trojans lose that they could potentially be in trouble for the Pac 10 crown, but eh who sees them losing to any Arizona squad? The Pick: Trojans by 17

4. Texas Tech Red Raiders at Kansas Jayhawks
Hey look the Red Raiders finally play a decent opponent and it just so happens that it's going to come on the road. Well priding myself as a Raider Hater I think Mangino is hungry for some Leach. The Pick: Jayhawks by 6

3. Georgia Bulldogs at Louisiana State Tigers
This matchup seems to not be getting the National love it really deserves. As prominent 1 loss teams in the SEC both are still in the Title hunt. If either runs the table the rest of the year than odds are in their favor for joining the Longhorns in the title game. Personally I think it's time for Matthew Stafford to have a big game and pull out the road victory. The Pick: Bulldogs by 3

2. Penn State Nittany Lions at Ohio State Buckeyes
Joe Pa's biggest challenge on the way to an undefeated Big 10 season and a trip to the BCS title game. The problem is that the Buckeyes are at minimum an equal team, have a better coaching staff, perennially have better recruiting classes and are at home. Sorry Joe Pa. The Pick: Buckeyes by 6.

1. Oklahoma State Cowboys at Texas Longhorns
Two more wins before the Longhorns can cruise into the Big 12 title game. This week they host the Cowboys who softened up Mizzou for them. The Cowboys come into Austin with National Title dreams still alive. Those dreams will be crushed by Colt McCoy. The Pick: Longhorns by 7.

I know that I've been calling for Tom Brady to get injured for a long time now, and was pretty pleased when it finally happened. But I can only be so cruel. I asked for one season without Brady and I've received it. I never asked for multiple seasons and do not wish to see him need anymore surgeries because of the infection.

Maybe I'm going soft... Or maybe I just need to see this again. Ok I've regained the Hate. Screw him, have another surgery.

6 games is too early in ones career to define them as a bust. A player can breakout at any point in time and become the great player that many thought they were going to be. What you can do however is assess what kind of impact a draft pick has made on a team after their first 6 games. And with Vernon Gholston the #6 pick of last years NFL Draft, that impact has been non-existent.

Through 6 games the Jets sit at 3-3. They are lacking massive playmakers on both sides of the ball. They contain no deep threat at wideout, inhibiting Brett from 'Gunslinging'. They do not contain a breakaway back (TJ ran for 150+ this weekend but had 3 opportunities for massive tds if only he beat the safety who was the lone player in his path. Each time he was easily tackled). On defense they lack a consistent pass rush and they lack a secondary cornerback after Revis.

In these 6 games Vernon Gholston was supposed to be the dominant edge pass rusher the team needed. We were told that he has the speed and power to attack and dominate offensive tackles. What has happenned through 6 games has been anything but dominant. Gholston has zero sacks and in fact has yet to even sniff one. He currently has 6 tackles on the season, 4 of which being solo. The 4 solo tackles puts him exactly one in front of Brad Smith.

If the Jets want to make a playoff run they are going to need Gholston to sack up and be a part of the team.

So how exactly did the Rays get their World Series roster? Here's how.

Doin It Through the Draft

You know what sucking for a long time gets you? It gets you a lot of draft picks in the top 5. It gets you the "can't miss" prospects. Start with a core of top 50 draft picks and sprinkle in some late round steals and you've got the biggest building blocks.

David Price 2007 Round 1 Pick 1
BJ Upton 2002 Round 1 Pick 2
Evan Longoria 2006 Round 1 Pick 3
Rocco Baldelli 2000 Round 1 Pick 6
Carl Crawford 1999 Round 2 Pick 52 (1st pick of the 2nd round)
Fernando Perez 2004 Round 7 Pick 195
James Shields 2000 Round 16 Pick 466
Andy Sonnastine 2004 Round 13 375

Tradin Garbage for Gold

What's another step to forming a great team? Pulling off trades in which you completely rip off the other squad.

Scott Kazmir & Joselo Diaz from the Mets for Victor Zambrano & Bartolomé Fortunato. Nothing says rip off like 20 year old beast Scott Kazmir in 2004 for Victor Zambrano.

Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett & Eduardo Morlan from the Twins for Delmon Young, Jason Pridie & Brendan Harris. The Rays decided to go with pitching over hitting and traded top prospect Young and a solid shortstop for Top Prospect Garza and a solid shortstop. Not a complete ripoff.

JP Howell from the Royals for Fernando Cortez and Joey Gathright. Joey Gathright is fast that's it.

Edwin Jackson & Chuck Tiffany from the Dodgers for Danys Baez and Lance Carter. The Rays brought in Jackson hoping he would regain the form that made him a top prospect. He's been good at times but not great.

Willy Aybar & Chase Fontaine from the Dodgers for Jeff Ridgway. Never heard of any of these other guys.

Dioner Navarro, Jae Seo and Justin Ruggiano from the Dodgers for Mark Hendrickson & Toby Hall. Navarro was the starter over Russell Martin until he got hurt and when Martin played out of his head in 06 the Dodgers didn't need him anymore.

Grant Balfour from the Brewers for Seth McClung. Seth McClung was ok for the Brewers but I'm sure they would rather have Balfour back.

Ben Zobrist & Mitch Talbot from the Astros for Aubrey Huff. Huff was gonna be a free agent so they spun him off for 2 players. Not a ripoff really just a rebuilding move.

Dan Wheeler from the Astros for Ty Wigginton. Pretty even, but again trading hitting for pitching.

Chad Bradford from the Orioles for John Cass. Beat out other squads for Bradford's services.

Gabe Gross from the Brewers for Josh Butler. Never heard of Butler but I don't think Gross is really good.

Michel Hernandez from the Pirates for Cash. They essentially needed a backup catcher and got Hernandez on August 31st this year.

The Free Agent Market? Really the Rays do that?

Trever Miller 1 year 1.6 Million: They brought back old man Trever Miller and well, he's not that important.

Carlos Pena 1 Year 0.8 Million + 3 Year 24.25 Extension: Pena was signed off the scrap heap of both the Red Sox and Yankees in the 2007 offseason. He was signed to a Minor league contract and because of the great 2007 campaign was given a massive extension in January of this year.

Cliff Floyd 1 Year 3 Million: Clifford is a solid role model for the youngster but his time as a stud is long gone.

Akinori Iwamura 3 Years 7.7 Million: Not a superstar but an all around solid player. Gets the job done at leadoff and has a great glove.

The Degrees of Loss Separation is a simple concept, I go out and find a highly rated team with some losses playing against a crappy team with lots of losses. Next I find a chain of losses which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt (not at all) that the underdog is going to pull the major upset and storm the field. The Final Outcome is calculated simply: Add up the scores of the losers, add up the scores of the winners in the degrees of loss separation and divide both by the # of degrees.

The Game: Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Pittsburgh Panthers

Pittsburgh is currently charging away as the favorite in the Big East after defeating South Florida. They could potentially get Wanny a trip to the BCS. Meanwhile Rutgers is 2-5 and won its first conference game of the season last weekend due to UConn turning the ball over and missing a game tying field goal in the last minutes. Clearly these teams are heading in different directions. But its Wanny and he likes to lose games he shouldn't. And the Degrees don't lie.

5º of Loss Separation : Rutgers beat Uconn beat Temple beat Miami(OH) beat Bowling Green beat Pittsburgh

This all starts with Bowling Green's shocking upset over Pitt the first week of the season. Who saw that coming? Bowling Green than struggled in losing many games including this past weekend against the Redhawks of Miami of Ohio. Miami of Ohio had previously lost to Temple in easy fashion 28-10. The same Temple squad suffered their first loss in OT after they choked away a late lead to UConn. The same UConn who last week could not nail the tying field goal in Piscataway.

Final Outcome: Rutgers 21 Pittsburgh 13

Rutgers will scoop up 3 shocking tds and will slow LeSean McCoy and the rest of Pitt's offense down in securing the 21-13 victory.

More Trivia at SimonOnSports
Bodies of the WTA
American Wagrivia
What College Did I Go To (ESPN Edition)
NBA Playoff Beard Trivia
NBA Bald Dome Trivia
Yankee Uniform # Trivia

Wow You Guys Suck: Denver's Defense, Sammy Morris came into the game averaging 3.2 yards a carry. The Broncos turned Sammy Morris into Jim Brown. Matt Cassel came into the game off his worst start. The Broncos turned Matt Cassel into Tom Brady. They are really really bad. Runners Up: The Chiefs Rush Defense, The Raiders Rush Defense.

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Brett Favre, Hey let's just lob up a hail mary down 3 to nobody on your own team. That's gonna work out brilliantly. Runners Up: Why was Jay Cutler still playing when they were getting killed and he was already injured, Shannahan deciding he was going to call timeouts to let the Pats set up just how they were going to beat them on 4th and 1.

Cough Cough Cough: Cleveland Browns, Down 3 with the ball on the 36 yardline with 46 seconds and no timeouts, the Browns had the opportunity to move into tying field goal range. Instead Derek Anderson dropped back to pass three times, threw three straight incompletions and then watch Phil Dawson missed the 50+ yard attempt. Ouch. Runners Up: Indy really doesn't want to win the division this year, the Jets want to lose to bad teams that commit 87 penalties a game.

The Shocker: The Downturn of the Cowgirls, So much for the most talented team in the league moniker. Apparently you also need talent on defense to win ball games. Who Knew? Runners Up: I thought New England would win but damn, I don't know if anybody saw the Bills as a 5-1 team this year.

The Pimp: Sebastian Janikowski, Game winning field goals are a dime a dozen. Game winning field goals from 57 yards that easily would have been good from 65 yards never happen. Janikowski showed cockiness and skill in sticking a dagger in my heart. Runners Up: All Titan Running backs, Steven Jackson putting a hurting on the Cowgirls.

You Got Jakked Up: Keith Rivers, Broken Jaw Ouch

My Fantasy MVP: Steven Jackson, Hoorah 38 points and my second win of the season. ya onto the championship I go...

New York Jets MVP: Jay Feely, Who the hell saw him kicking a 52 yarder? Certainly not me, nor the broadcasters.

My Picks

My Picks: 8-6
Preseason Picks: 7-7
Picks Vs. Spread: 5-9
Pick Suggestions: 3-2

Another ugly week of picks, and yet again the Suggestions go 3-2.

+s

~We got to watch the Red Sox fail several times when the opportunity to win was presented to them.

~Losing last night essentially makes the greatest single game playoff comeback of our lifetime meaningless.

~We won't have to listen to any of that dynasty talk.

~David Ortiz looks like he might be on the steady decline.

~Ortiz went 0 for last night including a huge strike him out throw him out DP.

~V-Tek is officially 100% washed up.

~Jon Lester might not be the superhero that he appeared to be through the ALDS.

~No Papelbon dancing.

-s

~The Yanks still suck and the Red Sox today still on paper will have better team in 09.

~With Pedroia, Youk, Lester, Beckett, Lowrie, Jacoby, and Dice-K the Red Sox still have a core of players to build around for the next 5 seasons.

~BJ Upton officially is back to being an uber prospect.

~Matt Garza might have just gone from #3 on the staff to lockdown ace / Cy Young contender.

~Evan Longoria could easily turn into the best 3rd baseman in the league if Arod starts declining with age.

~David Price has the balls as a rookie with literally no Major League Experience to go out in Extra Innings in Game 2 and in the final innings of Game 7 and dominate. He is a future ace.

~Kazmir is a multiple all star performer and he just might be their 4th best pitcher next season behind Shields, Garza and Price.

~Because of all those points above the Devil Rays might be better next year and certainly will not be going away anytime soon.

In news about myself and continuing my recreational sports playing, I am in a flag football league on sundays. I typically play DB, Kick/Punt Returner, and occasionally some wideout. Well this weekend our Quarterback was not there and since our line could not block anybody, we made the genious decision to put me at quarterback.

Let's just say that I've got a baseball throwing motion and I only throw 50% spirals. I'm 5 foot 8 while the lineman on both teams were 6 foot plus so I never could see down field and I had to jump throw to get the ball over the on coming rush.

So... Simon's statline looked something like this. 60 yards rushing, 7-13 for 70 yards. Zero touchdowns. Two interceptions. One interception that was batted in their air by an oncoming rusher and caught by a different DE. And one that was knocked out of a receivers hands in the end zone and bobbled in the air by a crowd and taken down by a DB.

Next game we gratefully move back to the comfort zone.

And the 2008 Red Sox season is officially over, so let us all enjoy the faces of fail. And yes, this is pure hate based on the fact that the Red Sox and Rays will probably still be better than the Yanks next season.


Well that felt good...

Remember this is all about Quality Wins and Bad Losses so if you lose to a top ranked team its not going to kill you, if you lose to Arkansas St. in the opener it will haunt you the entire season.

So Texas is pretty damn good. Ole Miss is about 4 plays away from being the #1 team in the country. And Sam Bradford is a beast.

1. Texas - Chase's FUPA was no match for the Longhorns who look like a pretty safe bet to make it to the Big 12 title game right now. Okie St. is a nice club, but look at the difference between the final scores against Mizzou. And Texas Tech never beats UT. Quality Wins: Oklahoma(n), Mizzou

2. Alabama - Bama once again barely held onto a game which makes you think that eventually their time is going to come. They drop from the top spot due to Texas dominance and Clemson falling from the ranks of a quality win cause well they stink. Quality Wins: @Georgia

3. Oklahoma - Sam Bradford is playing like the best quarterback in the Nation by a longshot. It certainly wasn't his fault the Sooners lost to the Longhorns and after this weekends 470 yard performance he might just be atop the Heisman board. Quality Wins: TCU, Kansas

4. Oklahoma St. - Okie St. win over Mizzou lost a bit of luster after the Longhorns pummeled them, but still I'll give them the mild edge for this week over Penn St. Quality Wins: @Mizzou

5. Penn St. - The Lions fought off a first half scare by the Wolverines to utterly embarrass them in the 2nd half. But Goodbye Wisconsin from the quality wins. Damn what happened to the Badgers this year. Next week the Lions have their biggest challenge on the road to a national title game. Quality Wins: Illinois, Oregon St.

6. USC - USC mowed down Wazzu making the 40+ point spread look like nothing. Additionally the Buckeys destroying clubs in the Big 10 makes them look like a very likely 1 loss team in the Championship game. Quality Wins: Ohio State, Oregon Bad Loss: Oregon St.

7. Florida - A week off and two weeks to the Cocktail Party which will decide the SEC East. Quality Wins: LSU Bad Loss: Ole Miss

8. Boise St. - Boise St. still holds the nice win over Oregon who sits at 5-2 with their only onther loss against the Trojans. The Broncos don't have much competition in their conference this year and just may end up undefeated once again. Quality Wins: @Oregon

9. TCU - The Horned Frogs took those Mormons this weekend and stole all their wives. Plus, you can't kill them for losing to Oklahoma badly on the road, most teams would do that. Quality Wins: BYU

10. Georgia - UGA jumps back into the poll with their win over probably overrated Vandy. Again Cocktail Party in two weeks shall decide their 2008 fate but in the meantime they get to travel to the Bayou this weekend. Quality Wins: South Carolina, Vandy

11. Utah - The Utes now have to think about whether or not TCU is their toughest opponent this year and not BYU. Quality Wins: @Air Force, Oregon St.

Dropped Out: VaTech who's offense is terrible, Texas Tech cause I'm not a believer in their Big 12 North wins

Noticeable Absences: Texas Tech I just don't like them, The Buckeyes cause I'll wait til they beat PSU this weekend, LSU who will join up if they win this weekend

(n) = neutral field

In a broadcasting world where everyone seems to stroke Brett's member, the team of Dick Enberg, Randy Cross and Dan Fouts make the all-stroking team. Yesterday Brett Favre was bad. He had one miserable interception at the goal line costing the Jets points. He completed just 55% percent of his passes. On the sole Jets touchdown drive the team ran the ball 8 of the 9 plays. Sure he threw a block on the 36 yard reverse, but so does every other quarterback in that situation. Yes he lead the Jets down the field for the game tying field goal, but the prior possession he threw up a prayer to nobody which was intercepted. And then in overtime he went 1-4 over three possessions to never lead them into field goal range. Plain and simple, he played poorly.

And yet, somehow someway Enberg Cross and Fouts managed to blow him the entire 4th quarter. The man did absolutely positively nothing special yesterday, but according to threesome he was amazing and you can never count him out because he's a veteran with moxy. [Vomitting]

Ok I'm obviously ticked off that the Jets lost to the miserable Raiders and somehow squandered a 160 yard performance from Thomas Jones. So I obviously was angry and not in a good mood while watching the game but still it was impossible to listen to these three. Every word out of their mouths cam with their hands wrapped around Favre's johnson pulling it up and down. I truly hope that they do not get another Jet game the entire season.

Oh, and if I hear the word moxy from anyone today they're going to take a right cross to the jaw.

Thanks Terry. I think anyone listening to that nonsense would have liked to crush the woman.

Two years ago Greg Schiano decided that Rutgers was a better job than the University of Miami. At that moment Rutgers looked like the Big East program of the future. They won their first 9 games and were nationally ranked, they lost the Big East crown to WVU but they dominated their bowl game. Additionally, Schiano had ties to Florida and could pluck a few recruits away from the major Florida schools. The state of New Jersey was once a prime territory for recruiting of Penn St., with Rutgers bringing pride to the state they could tap into that underrated talent base. The potential to create a solid program seemed there.

Last year Greg Schiano ended talks with the University of Michigan because he decided that Rutgers was a better job. At that moment Rutgers was a team underperforming the preseason expectations. But still, 8-5 is a solid season for Rutgers and 2006 was a tough act to follow and perhaps the preseason expectations were not realistic. Michigan on the other hand was losing their entire offense and he would have to leave the program he's built up. While it's tough for some [me] to understand how a man could choose a program with little history over the winningest program in histroy, at least legitimate points could be brought up in Rutgers favor.

Today Greg Schiano sits at 1-5 with the only victory coming over perennial powerhouse Morgan St. Instead of attempting to build up dominant programs in Michigan and Miami he sits in Jersey lost without the production of Ray Rice. Two years ago Schiano was the 'it' coach, now he looks more like Kirk Ferentz. This offseason Schiano will not be getting an offer from a powerhouse, rather he will continue trying to convince Floridians to live in Jersey for 4 years.

Where picking the Lions with the points continues to happen for no apparent reason.

5. Detroit Lions (+8 1/2) at Houston Texans
Yes they beat the spread last week despite scoring 10 points... they shall do it again.

4. Indianapolis Colts (-1 1/2) at Green Bay Packers
The Colts aren't back all the way quite yet but they are back enough to defeat the Packers with relative ease on sunday.

3. New York Giants (-10 1/2) vs. San Francisco 49ers
The Giants will bounce back and absolutely crush the niners.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (-10 1/2) at Cincinatti Bengals
At the Jets game last week one thing was noticeable about the Bengals, they are awful.

1. San Diego Chargers (+ 1/2) at Buffalo Bills
Still not a believer of the Bills and believe that the Chargers will get the big road win.

Survivor League Pick: SCREW Seattle
A Homer Pick with the Jets...

Non-Spread Picks

One thing is for certain this National League postseason, you can't blame the Dodgers loss on Manny Ramirez. Manny who seemingly everybody thought was on the decline is obviously still one of the elite hitters in all of baseball and this was never more evident than in this postseason.

Manny stepped up to the plate 36 times in 8 games. He reached base in 24 of those 36 plate appearances which is essentially a high quality softball player's on base percentage. In all 8 games Manny recorded at least 1 hit and in 5 of the 8 he recorded 2. In 7 of the 8 games Ramirez recorded and RBI and only in the 3-1 clincher against the Cubs when Manny scored 1 run and was walked two times did he not. Ramirez finished the postseason with an unimaginable OPS of 1.747. Ever stat you can look at shows Ramirez's excellence. Without him the Dodgers might not have made the postseason and certainly would not have challenged in many of their postseason games. Even on the losing squad he deserved some of the MVP recognition.

For Red Sox fans lingering on the edge of defeat with an offense that's sputtering the questions of what might have been have to creep into the mind. Sure Jason Bay has had a terrific Postseason as well with 3 home runs and a .406 average. But he's not the protection for Big Papi that gave them the best 1-2 punch in the game, he's not the feared hitter that Ramirez is and his 9 RBI have come in 3 of the Sox 8 games. He's just not the player Ramirez is. Headache or not, Ramirez helped the Sox win two World Series with his bat and his presence and his absence can not be understated.

For Dodgers fans you have to wonder what Manny will be like if they give him a 4 year deal. Will he go in the tank and stop hustling? Or is it true that he's just happier now and more comfortable out of the Boston unscrutinizing media and fanbase. Is their anyway with the October results that the Dodgers organization could not sign him? And if they don't will you revolt as a fanbase? For the past 4 months their has been one thing you can count on as a Dodgers fan, Manny Ramirez. What is the price you will pay to hold onto that?

Whether Manny always felt suffocated in Boston or whether he's just motivated for the next contract, whatever the case may be the man can still rake. And in October 2008 it is obvious perhaps more than ever that Manny Ramirez is one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.

Week 8 is starting to bring out matchups that will decide the title runs for each major conference. Each matchup this week in the Big 5 has major implications for BCS contenders.

5. Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan State Spartans
The Buckeyes and the Spartans face off as undefeated squads in the Big 10. With the fall off of Wisconsin they both find themselves as the major challengers to Penn St. The Pick: Spartans by Degrees of Loss Separation

4. Kansas Jayhawks at Oklahoma Sooners
The Jayhawks now get to join in on the Big 12s festivities unlike last year when they were able to avoid all talented Big 12 South opponents. They'll be getting a rude awakening on Saturday when Bradford throws for 350 yards and 5 tds again. The Pick: Sooners by 17

3. Vanderbilt Commodores at Georgia Bulldogs
Vandy might have lost their slim chance at the SEC East crown by getting croomed last weekend, but they will officially lose their chance when they go into Athens and get smacked in the face by UGA. It was a nice few weeks for Vandy fans but it ends Saturday. The Pick: Bulldogs by 13

2. Brigham Young Cougars at Texas Christian Horned Frogs
As soon as BYU loses a game they can be eliminated from the BCS contenders. Tonight is their first actual challenge heading to the land of previously ranked Purple Frogs. The Sooners were able to manhandle the Frogs earlier in the year and if BYU is for real they should do the same. I just don't see that happening given their week previous opponents. The Pick: BYU by 3.

1. Missouri Tigers at Texas Longhorns
The Longhorns are amidst the the Big 12 Death March. They past the first and largest hump by beating the Sooners. Now they get the 2nd hardest challenge in Chase and Mizzou. Mizzou who is coming off a surprising loss and needs to get back to Ws if they want to stay with Kansas in the Big 12 North. The Problem? Mizzou's defense isn;t very good and Colt McCoy is going to add to his Heisman Candidacy. The Pick: Longhorns by 7.

Hey look the Big 12 has a bunch of teams ranked in the top 11 now so walla they've surpassed the SEC as the best conference in football right? Or have they? What happens when you never play any challenging out of conference football games? Well unless you are Michigan you stay undefeated and alas the story of the Big 12.

The chart above shows the out of conference schedule for each Big 12 team, and conveniently the Big 12 schedules and plays all of their out of conference games in the first 4 weeks of the year, so they are all done. The chart also highlights in yellow the BCS teams they play and in light green the non-BCS teams they play who have an above .500 record. So let's dig into it a bit.

Who actually played good BCS schools? Well Baylor for one. Wake Forest is amongst the class of the albeit miserable ACC and UConn is a solid squad from well again another miserable BCS conference. Baylor lost both games. Colorado also played two solid BCS schools from the ACC and Big East and managed to split the games. Winning at home against overrated and undercoached WVU and losing to Florida St. Kansas had arguably the biggest non-conference game for the Big 12 when they faced off again versus a Big East squad when they lost at South Florida. Mizzou knocked off the Juice and the Zook who have proven the overall squad might not be that hot. Nebraska took the loss at home against VaTech who's stature is still TBD. Awful A&M proved itself to be so at home against the building U. Oklahoma dominated the Bearcats at home.

So amongst those what really stands out? Everyone is proclaiming the Big 12 conference on the basis of Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., Texas, Texas Tech, Mizzou and Kansas so let's just focus on them. Arkansas is terrible so I don't really credit Texas much for that victory. Cincy is 5-1 but they essentially have done so by playing the MAC. Mizzou beat Illinois at home but in the process gave up 42 points to a team already with 3 losses who just lost to Minnesota. Kansas lost their only big out of conference game and Ok St. and Texas Tech have essentially defeated nobody of note.

I think the only thing we've learned about the Big 12 so far is that they like cupcakes much like the Big 10 last year. Teams are undefeated partially because they've played inferior opponents over the course of 4 weeks.

Basically what I'm saying is matchup the SEC and Big 12 and give me the SEC any day of the week.

So my team is 1-5 and completely and utterly miserable at almost every single spot [Thanks Rams/Chad Johnson] but mostly at Quarterback. I have to start 2, I have Bulger, Hasselbeck and Jason Campbell on my roster. Bulger has done nothing. Hasselbeck has done less and is injured/might not play this weekend. And Campbell has been decent but not spectacular.

Because there are a plethora of other awful teams in my league I still have a chance to make the playoffs so the question is. Do I A) Just go with what I have or do I B) Get sentimental and just pick up Orlovsky cause at least I can say whatever I suck but did you take Social Studies with your fantasy QB or C) Pick up Brad Johnson cause Romo is a homo and the Cowboys should still score a lot of points*.

I would like someone not named me to make the decision because all my decisions this season have sucked.

*Already picked up by someone else...

The Degrees of Loss Separation is a simple concept, I go out and find a highly rated team with some losses playing against a crappy team with lots of losses. Next I find a chain of losses which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt (not at all) that the underdog is going to pull the major upset and storm the field. The Final Outcome is calculated simply: Add up the scores of the losers, add up the scores of the winners in the degrees of loss separation and divide both by the # of degrees.

The Game: Michigan St. Spartans vs. Ohio St. Buckeyes

The Spartans have surprised many this year by going 6-1 and find themselves with a legitimate opportunity to make the trip out to Pasadena. Both squads are currently undefeated in the Big 10 with both losing their battles in California. The Buckeyes started off the year with title hopes that were dashed in the LA Coliseum but are also still playing with hopes of a Rose Bowl trip while in the back of their minds praying for a lot of chips to fall their way. The Spartans are lead by Javon Ringer who has approximetly 4000 carries in 7 games and is in the running for the Heisman while the Buckeyes have turned over their squad took Freshman Sensation T Pryor.

5º of Loss Separation : Michigan St. beat Notre Dame beat Stanford beat Oregon St. beat USC beat Ohio St.

This all starts off with the beatdown of Ohio St. at the hands of the Trojans and then the Trojans following up the massive win with another chokejob against the Beavers. The Beavers who have been beaten by two undefeated teams but also were knocked off the opener against Stanford. Stanford of course did their annual losing to the Fighting Irish who were manhandled in their trip to East Lansing.

Final Outcome: Michigan St. 30 Ohio St. 16

The Degrees say that the Spartans will win this game by 2 touchdowns. Because USC was able to throttle the Buckeyes so badly it increased the outcome predictor of this game significantly. If the score does in fact wind up 30-16 then you can expect Ringer's Heisman hopes to be bumped up another notch.

The Trade Deadline apparently isn't completely lame as the Cowboys gave up the farm for Roy Williams. A first 3rd and 6th for Williams and a 7th? Who knew the Lions were capable of intelligent decisions.

It's currently 4 PM and the trade deadline has come and gone and seemingly we've seen zero action. Why? Well A) the trade deadline is ridiculously early in the NFL. B) I guess it's 'harder' to learn a system in football than in baseball or basketball so teams shy away. C) The annoyingly strict Hard CAP. And D) Well teams are pretty lame. I mean some teams have 1 win others have zero, some teams are obviously lacking at skill positions and with acquisitions could significantly bolster their Superbowl hopes. And yet nothing ever happens. Let's quickly run down players who probably should have been dealt for whatever they would return and teams that obviously could utilize a given position.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh - You just fell to 0-5 which means you are done. You're QB is on the verge of sitting out the rest of the year and you have one of the best over the middle receivers in the league about to become a free agent. Time for an extra draft pick.

Roy Williams - He's a free agent at the end of the year who will be chriping for a huge contract. You're an 0 for team with QB who voluntarily runs out of bounds. Just get any draft pick you can.

Who Needs A Wideout? A lot of teams that's who. The Titans are the 'best' team in the NFL yet they are starting Justin 'No Hands'. They obviously need a wideout. The Dolphins if they want to make any kind of run desperately need someone to throw the ball to. The Bills could probably utilize another game changer. The Bears or the Vikings could use someone who makes plays. The Eagles always have a need for a wideout.

Tony Gonzalez - The man is old but is still good. The Chiefs are awful, have no qb and will be in the draft one mode next year. It makes no sense to hold onto ToGo.

Who Could Use a TE? Again the Bills could use ToGo to stabilize their offense.

Some Raider Runningback - Either Fargas or Bush should have been dealt. They have 3 runnings backs and needs practically everywhere else on the field. Their season is over. Time to cut the excess and fill in some need.

Who Needs a Running Back? The Eagles could use a backup RB given that Westbrook gets injured weekly. Pittsburgh could also use some more depth given Fast Willie and Mendenhall being banged up.

Josh Brown - He's got ice water in his veins. But clutch kicks aren't coming around too often for the Rams this season...

Who Needs a Kicker?The Saints do. They've lost 2 games thanks to Martin Gramatica.

Ok I know Braylon Edwards is completely pissed off at Rich Rodriguez and his stupidity for giving the #1 jersey to a freshman D-back at the start of the year but he eventually made sure no one was wearing the jersey. I also understand that it is not very fashionable to be a Michigan fan/alumnus the two days after they go out and lose to Toledo. And I definitely understand that as one of the best players in Michigan history that he has to be pretty fired up at the fact that the squad is currently in line to miss a bowl game for the first time since before he was born.

But wearing a Penn St. t-shirt? Really? You don't even play in Pennsylvania. You're not even from Pennsylvania. And Michigan is heading into happy valley this weekend to face off against the #3 team in the country.

I was going to just assume he lost a bet to a teammate who was Penn St. player, but he doesn't have any former Penn St. teammates. So, maybe he just lost a bet to a good friend or something. Ugh...

Wow You Guys Suck: Cincinnati Rushing Attack, Having gone to the game on sunday it's pretty evident that the Bengals offense is a shadow of its former self. Granted Palmer -> Fitzpatrick is a big downgrade, but they have absolutely no rushing attack at all which hinders any chance of throwing deep passes. They are awful and that is why they have zero wins. Runners Up: Seattle is effective at being miserable this season, the Raiders for being strong in their first game under their Cable guy.

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Dan Orlovsky, You've all seen it, no need to elaborate. Runners Up: Aaron Ross might want to stay on his feet when he is covering Braylon Edwards, the Dolphins for having zero linebackers on the final play of the game and letting Schaub easily stroll into the endzone..

Cough Cough Cough: Chicago Bears, Nothing ticks me off more than the squib kick. All game long you kick it deep because that's the best chance to pin a team deep. But then at the end of the game you get afraid of a big run so you effectively give them the ball at the 40. Then you lose. Runners Up: The Refs blew the Lions first win of the season with a horrible pass interference call, the 49ers were outscored 23-0 in the 4th to lose the lead and eventually get blown out.

The Shocker: The Annihilation of the Superbowl Champs, I figured last night could be a trap game and I debated it with my buddy Joe who said they were going to blow out the Browns. I figured it would be a close game but the Giants would end up winning by about a touchdown. And then they go out and get flat out pummeled. Runners Up: The Pats just getting completely manhandled in San Diego, St. Louis winning their first game despite zero offensive tds.

The Pimp: Sean Morey, You're probably asking yourself who the F is that? And well the answer to the question is the awesome special teamer from Arizona that blew threw the Cowboys line and practically snatched the punt out of the air for victory. And down goes the 'Most Talented Team' in the NFL again. Runners Up: Matt Ryan's spectacular pass to set up the game winning field goal, Andre Johnson for reeling in a ridiculous 4th down reception on the game winning drive.

You Got Jakked Up: Mat McBriar's Foot, Not only did Sean Morey win the game for the Cardinals, he also broke McBriar's foot. Which is pretty solid.

My Fantasy Anti-MVP: F'N Everybody,My entire team sucks. I'm done with the Rams and Chad Johnson and Santana Moss and Hasselbeck and every f'n player on my team... when do I get to draft my all white fantasy basketball team again?

New York Jets MVP: Thomas Jones, Oh my Thomas actually figured out that getting into the endzone is a good thing. It's amazing. Congrats Thomas. 3 TDs is 2 more than all of last year.

My Picks

My Picks: 7-7
Preseason Picks: 6-8
Picks Vs. Spread: 9-5
Pick Suggestions: 3-2

Um ya... not very often the Spreadpicks are better than they actual picks. The Pick suggestions remain slightly over the hump, this week thanks to the Lions.

Roman Abramovich the Billionaire Russian owner of Chelsea and builder of the largest yacht on the planet, is not having a very good 2008 apparently. Why? Because just like everybody else his shares are falling through the floor. The difference? He has a lot more shares than any of us. Enough shares to make his net worth fall 20 billion, with a B. Why? Because the two companies with which he had major holdings in have fallen 80% since May.

But don't worry too much for Abramovich. He's still worth at least 3.5 billion and well as his publicist or agent said it was just a paper loss. He was never planning on selling any of his stock and utilize the money, so he just like many of us are waiting for the more days like yesterday. And he can always ask for the near 1 billion dollar loan he's granted Chelsea back...

On Saturday night the Rays survived a slugfest deep into the night to even up the season and give them hope. They did so behind massive efforts from their bullpen including Dan Wheeler and they benefited from drilling Jonathan Papelbon and forcing him out after an inning and a third. Had they lost their names could effectively be etched on a tombstone, but now they have life they have a chance but the road to the World Series starts off with the hardest of climbs.

Josh Beckett has been one of the best postseason pitchers of all time but he's obviously not himself. Dice-K has a solid ERA and is rock-steady under pressure but he always works the count and never lasts deep into the game, and with so many base runners he's bound to give up some runs. Timmy Wakefield is off and on with his stuff and could potentially the Rays have had success against him this season.

This season Jon Lester has emerged as a potential ace. He finished the year with 16 wins a 3.21 ERA and 152 Ks in 210 innings. But it's his postseason track record that is already becoming something to marvel at. Since Jon Lester's first outing in the postseason he has not allowed a single earned run. In this scoreless stretch he's thrown 22 2/3 innings and most times looked unhittable. If those numbers look scary then I'm sure the fact that Lester was 11-1 at home with a 2.49 ERA and 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA against Tampa aren't helping either.

If Lester wasn't enough to worry about there's always Papelbon lurking in the back of the bullpen. He may have struggled a couple of weeks this year when he was overworked but he is effectively morphing into this generations Mariano Rivera. He himself is working on a massive scoreless streak of 22 innings, but unlike Lester he has yet to give up even an unearned run ever in the postseason. Nothing nada zippo. You don't score on the Papelboner.

All signs today point to a Red Sox victory. If the Rays lose they'll still have a chance but they will certainly have a difficult path to victory. If they win however they may just have crossed the most difficult stretch on their way to the World Series.

This weekend a Bengal fan friend of mine* that I have dialed me up and told me that he had an extra ticket to the game so I obliged and headed down to the wonderful Meadowlands for the game. We headed out after my flag football game and gave ourselves 2 hours to drive 59 miles. Was that enough? Well it was enough to be able to see the stadium with 40 minutes left to get into it. But nope not enough time to get. In fact at one point a person was walking on the side of our car about a mile, mile and a half away from the stadium and we rolled down the window and asked if he needed a ride. He responded, no thanks I need to get there by kickoff. This followed with us watching him in his casual walk fade into the distance as we stayed mostly stationary. We finally were able to park at around kickoff time (in some restaurant lot because no longer is the Meadowlands lot big enough for all the fans) and we ended up miss about 1/2 of the first quarter.

The actual game was enjoyable but far from thrilling but hey who am I to complain it's the first time I've been to a winning Jet game ever. The Jets played sloppily and included some miserable interceptions by Favre but the Bengals offense behind Fitzpatrick was mostly miserable. All in all it was nice to go to the first game in awhile, and then you have to drive home and all of the joyous feelings you have go out the window. Why? Because the Jersey turnpike is the creation and house of Satan.

2 hours. It takes over 2 F'n hours to go 11 miles. 2 miserable tolls that both intelligently merge 8 lanes of traffic down to 2. A trip that should take about and hour and 20 minutes winds up taking 3 1/2 hours in which your soul is slowly extracted by the devil.

For as much as it would have sucked for Manhattan to add football traffic, I know at least for myself if I was heading to a Jet game on a Sunday with a stadium on the West side I would take the F'n train and it would afford me skipping out on the testicle clamping pain that is the George Washington bridge.

Jersey Sucks...

*Why He's a Bengal fan is still to be determined.

Remember this is all about Quality Wins and Bad Losses so if you lose to a top ranked team its not going to kill you, if you lose to Arkansas St. in the opener it will haunt you the entire season.

And Week 7 is officially upset week in college football.

1. Alabama - Bama stayed idle this weekend so that's means people mostly forgot about them so the polls were able to let Texas high-jump then lest we forget that Bama destroyed the preseason #1 team in America on their home turf as well as effectively ruined Clemson's season and sent them into head coach firing tailspin. Quality Wins: @Clemson, @Georgia

2. Texas - The Longhorns could be #1 but we're giving the edge to Bama simply because they're throttling of UGA was more impressive. Quality Wins: Oklahoma(n)

3. Oklahoma St. - So I certainly didn't see the Cowboys coming into Mizzou and knocking off Chase and his crew. They frustrated Chase to the tune of 3 ints and were able to come out with the upset and one of the biggest wins thus far of the season. They get Baylor this weekend and UT in 2 to back up their first big win. Quality Wins: @Mizzou

4. Penn St. - Ok all of this wins are of questionable quality but all of them come with the caveat of complete blowouts. Any of these teams could drop off the list next week but for now we shall keep the Lions at #4. Quality Wins: Illinois, Oregon St., Wisconsin

5. USC - I don't know why USC is kind of flying under the rader now, but Ole Miss at home is just as bad a loss as Oregon St. on the road and USC has beaten 2 solid teams to Florida's 1 so they get the edge. Quality Wins: Ohio State, Oregon Bad Loss: Oregon St.

6. Florida - With that being said the Gators are certainly back in the title picture.Quality Wins: LSU Bad Loss: Ole Miss

7. VaTech -ECU just got pounded by the Al Groh's so we shall chalk that up as a bad loss now. But that UNC win is looking nicer by the week. Quality Wins: GaTech, @UNC, @Nebraska Bad Loss: East Carolina

8. Oklahoma - Well you can't take anything away from them for losing to Texas and the TCU win holds up so they shall not move down a ton. Quality Wins: TCU

9. Boise St. - The Oregon win is holding strong for them. Too bad their conference is not equipped with many quality opponents. Quality Wins: @Oregon

10. Texas Tech - We shall include Tech reluctantly after their win over Nebraska and giving them 2 decent wins in the Big 12. This is very reluctant and I will enjoy dumping them once they lose to Oklahoma and Texas. Quality Wins: @K State, Nebraska

11. Utah - Holding on by a thread but will eventually get a chance to bolster their rank when they play BYU and TCU. Quality Wins: @Air Force, Oregon St.

Dropped Out: Vandy for getting Croomed. Ohio St. because Wisconsin just ain't that good. LSU more for the lack of wins thanks to Auburn being horrendous than due to the loss, Mizzou after a tough loss and both Illinois and Nebraska biting the dust.

Noticeable Absences: BYU cause they play nobody

(n) = neutral field

I'm sure this video will be taken down in a few minutes, but come on Dan Orlovsky's safety isn't the dumbest QB move ever. Sure it was bad, but come on Gus Frerotte head-butted the wall and almost broke his neck. That's got to be dumber.

So the Lions decided to give Kitna a breather and start 4th year QB Dan Orlovsky. Dan just so happened to be in my graduating class and the starting QB of my high school team. Let's just say Joe Benanto did not teach Dan to run out of the back of the endzone to avoid a sack.

I'd have to imagine this happens often around the US as behind the goalposts always seems like a popular place for little kids to play.

Well I have no idea how you can direct the ball that well with the bottom of your foot.

Not me of course but rather a user named bobb1982 who has put together a consecutive win streak of 20 on ESPN's Streak for the Cash Game. ESPN is giving away 1 Million dollars to the first person to put together a 25 game win streak which means if bobb can make 5 solid decisions in a row he will take home a lot of Golden Sacagaweas. I'd have to imagine that over the course of the next few days ESPN will make the games even more random and attempt to get his chance of attaining the million dollars to as close to a (1/2)^5 or 3% as possible. I doubt they made this game with any intention of giving away the money. So good luck Bobb, take home the big sack of cash.

A new weekly tradition where I try to think of some clever sign someone could parade with on Saturdays at ESPN's CollegeGameday.

Where picking the Lions with the points continues to happen for no apparent reason.

5. Detroit Lions (+13 1/2) at Minnesota Vikings
Ok the Vikings offense isn't good and their defense isn't superb. The Lions absolutely blow but 2 touchdowns is too much right? [This is a stupid pick don't listen to it]

4. Miami Dolphins (+3 1/2) at Houston Texans
I don't really see how this game is anything less than a 50/50 propostion on the winner. The Dolphins are coming off two victories over the Chargers and Pats while the Texans are winless. Granted the Texans should have won last week, but they didn't. The Dolphins are getting underrated thanks to last year. They will win this game.

3. New Orleans Saints (-7 1/2) vs. Oakland Raiders
The Saints blow more winnable football games than any team in the league right now, but that won't be the case against the Raiders. The Raiders are a mess, they have a new coach, they are traveling to New Orleans and they will get pummeled.

2. New England Patriots (+6 1/2) at San Diego Chargers
Giving 6 1/2 to the Patriots? Hmm I'll take that any day of the week any location any opponent. The Chargers are a 2-3 football team, they aren't as good as they were last year and they just, like the Pats, lost to the Dolphins.

1. New York Giants (-7 1/2) at Cleveland Browns
Cleveland is a mess and the Giants have been very solid this entire season. I'd be much more comfortable if the spread was 6 1/2 but regardless I'll take Eli and the boys to win by 10.

Survivor League Pick: SCREW Seattle
Go with the stupid Saints who will avoid choking away the win unlike monday night.

Non-Spread Picks

You're Joe Torre, you have one significant pitching decision to make outside of gametime decisions and that is who are you throwing game 4. Your options are poler opposites.

On one hand you have Greg Maddux, who made his debut in 1986 and was one of the best pitchers of his generation. He has all of the postseason experience you could ask for having started 30 games in his career including 5 games in the World Series to the tune of a 3.32 ERA. Granted he doesn't have the stuff he used to have and he struggled down the stretch for the Dodgers (5.09 ERA in Dodger Blue) but he's a wily veteran who knows how to get it done.

On the other hand you have young uber prospect Clayton Kershaw. A rookie born 2 years after Maddux's major league debut, he's a giant fireballin lefty with superb stuff. Kershaw also finished off the season with his best month posting a 3.45 and 29 Ks in 28 2/3 innings. He'll definitely bring youthful exuberance to the hill if he starts but could the pressure adversely effect him?

Outside of the experience factor and the stuff factor there are matchup questions. Neither pitcher had much success with the opposition as Kershaw posted an 8+ ERA in 2 starts and Maddux a 5+ ERA in 3 starts. The Phillies are a left handed dominant team with their biggest two bats being Utley and Howard so that would lead you to believe that throwing the lefty Kershaw would be the smart move. But then again, if you could utilize Kershaw as the left handed specialist to go after Utley and Howard in clutch spots in every game wouldn't you?

It's a tough decision for Joe, but I think I'd go with the Maddux experience and the ability to use Kershaw to match up with Utley and Howard on a nightly basis.

Week 7 has some solid matchups all around but it truly centers on two games. The battle in the swamp between Florida and LSU and of course the Red River Shootout between #1 Oklahoma and #5 Texas.

5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish at North Carolina Tar Heels
Surprisingly Notre Dame is 4-1. They've won all their home games and lost all their road games (1). This week the Irish fly down to Chapel Hill to face freshly ranked North Carolina lead by Butch Davis. I'm betting The Pick: Tarheels by 6

4. Missouri Tigers at Oklahoma St. Cowboys
The other two undefeated Big 12 teams facing off is much more under the radar. Probably because the Cowboys haven't played anybody good and no one expected much from them this season. And I don't expect much from them this weekend. The Pick: Mizzou by 13

3. Penn State Nittany Lions at Wisconsin Badgers
So Wisconsin went from a top ten team to basically out of the BCS picture in the span of 6 quarters. This weekend they get to host undefeated Penn St. who can still contemplate and dream about a national title trip. Well until sunday morning when they will be contemplating how they just lost to the Badgers. The Pick: Sconsin by 2

2. Louisiana State Tigers at Florida Gators
In an effort to eliminate all of the undefeated SEC teams, the LSU Tigers get to bring their perfect record to the Swamp and face of against Tim Tebow and his crew while they are not firing on all cylinders. Despite LSU's edge on defense, I say the Tebow finds away to avoid the Gators second loss of the season. The Pick: Florida by 6.

1. Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl
The Red River shootout comes this year with neither team having a signature victory under their belt. Unlike in years past when the Longhorns faced off against the Buckeyes, they have played a mostly cake early schedule. Same goes for Oklahoma whopse toughest challenge was TCU, whoopdie-do. Regardless, this matchup could easily provide a National Title representative. The winner could potentially cruise through the remainder of the season and find themselves challenging for the crystal ball in January. But I'm sure Mizzou will have something to say about that.The Pick: Sooners by 4.

Justin McCareins is currently the second least efficient receiver in the NFL. He's been thrown the ball 31 times and has 8 catches and is only better than Ashley Lelie for players that get a minimum of 4 looks per game. Do they not know the man has no hands?

Not Like anybody cares about the Yankees right now, but whatever I have a point to make.

The Yankees do not have a single player in their starting lineup that overachieves. They do not have a single person on their roster that's success is based significantly more on effort than on talent. If you look at the playoff teams now you will see several of these players. Guys that fight to be good to be great.

If you're a Red Sox hating Yankee fan then you need to look no further than your arch-enemy to find examples of people playing over their heads. Dustin Pedroia is arguably going to take home the 2008 MVP award. Dustin Pedroia is listed at 5 foot 9 180 which means lop off two inches and some pounds and the man is probably 5 foot 7 a 165. You know who is probably bigger and might be in better shape than Dustin Pedroia, me. I'm 5'8 165 and I'm playing in a softball leagues. Pedroia obviously has a boat load more talent than the average human being but at his stature he needs to fight for everything he gets. He doesn't show up at the field like Cano with gifted athleticism and size. No he rakes on 115% effort. If you want another Red Sox example you don't have to look further on the diamond. Kevin Youkilis was an absolute beast as well this season. Youkilis has the athleticism and speed of a tortoise and yet he comes up massively clutch all the time and plays over his head all the time.

How about them fightin Phillies, they have some overachievers as well. Neither Shane Victorino nor Jimmy Rollins are listed above 5 foot 9 or above 180. Both are again my size but both play the game with full effort all the time. Victorino's entire game is centered around hustle and speed but he also manages to throw some power in their occasionally. Rollins is the MVP of the league because he comes up huge in big spots, manages to motivate his team with his confidence and mouth and always backs it up on the field.

Meanwhile in the Bronx the Yankees have all prototype baseball players. The Yankees are littered with 6 foot plus 200+ built for baseball bodies. They are littered with players like Abreu, Cano and Arod who have more talent then just about anybody on the planet. Each of whom their entire lives have always just been better than everybody, they never had to work to be great they were just god gifted.

So why do the Yankees need one of these guys? It's a mindset. It's something that infiltrates the clubhouse. If you see somehow like Pedroia or Victorino all out hustling all the time, playing well above what they should than it rubs off. It gets the uber talented to play harder. It gets the Cano's and Abreu's of the world to stop acting like asshats. This offseason the Yankees need to find that player. Someone who's a solid player but through non-stop effort because a stud. They need to change the atmosphere and this would be a step in the right direction.

*Note: I am a massive Victorino fan and wish that there was anyway the Yanks could pry him away from the Phillies to play centerfield for the next 5 seasons at the new stadium.

Baseball rosters are unlike football rosters in that a large portion of players never attended college and were drafted either straight out of high school or also unlike football imported from a different country. Surprisingly though, 60 of the 100 players on the rosters of the Red Sox, Rays, Phillies and Dodgers went to college. Here's a breakdown of which conferences have the most representation come tonight and tomorrow.

Pac 10, SEC & ACC (7)

The West Coast and South dominates college baseball landscape and it shows with the Pac 10, SEC and ACC leading the way with 7 a piece.

In the Pac 10, Arizona St. and Stanford lead the way with 2 (surprisingly tied for the most representation of any school) with Sun Devils Dustin Pedroia and Andre Ethier and Trees Eric Bruntlett and Jed Lowrie. Jeff Kent was an asshole back in college for the Cal Bears while Chase Utley and Geoff Jenkins were LA rivals going to UCLA and USC respectively.

The SEC however spreads the wealth around with 7 players from 7 different schools. Eric Hinske is a former Arkansas Razorback, Gabe Gross a War Eagle at Auburn, Joe Blanton a fat whiskey swigger at Kentucky, Paul Byrd an old man in the Bayou at LSU, the Papelboner a little bit crazy at Miss St., unknown backup catcher David Ross at Florida and finally David Price becoming the #1 draft pick at Vandy.

The ACC clusters them up at only 4 different schools. JD Drew was making bank at FSU while Kevin Cash was washing his uniform as a Seminole as well. Old men Nomar and V-Tek were in the ATL playing for the Yellow Jackets long before either took steroids. Pat the Bat and Alex Cora were chillin with Warren Sapp down at the U. And Javier Lopez is shedding tears of disgrace this year while watching his Virginia Cavaliers embarrass themselves on the football field daily.

Atlantic 10 & Big 12 (3)

After the 3 powerhouse conferences there is a precipitous drop off. The Atlantic 10 and Big 12 have three reps each. For the Atlantic 10 they have Joe Beimel from Duquesne, Sean Casey a former Richmond spider, and Jamie Moyer a 1932 graduate of St. Joe's. In the Big 12 Oklahoma leads the way with 2 reps in Greg Dobbs and Jason Bartlett while the other member of the shootout Texas has JP Howell. I wonder if they'll be any side bets in the Rays clubhouse this weekend between Howell and Bartlett.

Big East, Big West, Missouri Valley, & Southland (2)

4 Different conferences come with 2 player representation led by 2 of the many 'Big' conferences. The Big East brings Shrek-like Youkilis from Cincy and Brad Lidge as a Notre Dame golden domer. The Big West has California representation with Mark Kotsay from Cal St. Fullerston and Evan Longoria from Long Beach St. The Mizzou Valley enjoyed beastly Ryan Howard when he played for Southwest Missouri St. (now lamely called Missouri St.) and Casey Blake when he was giving gals the Shocker at Wichita St. Finally the Southland has two players from McNeese St. (got me where that is) in Danny Ardoin (who?) and Clay Condrey.

The Scrap Conferences

A lot of D1 conferences have one lonely representative. So we shall rank them based on whether the player is any good or not. Jason Bay is a big fan of Adam Morrison as a West Coast Conference Gonzaga Bulldog. Matt Garza wore the giant green V in the WAC at Fresno St. Carlos Pena was hittin bombs in Boston for Northeastern of the CAA. Juan Pierre got a tan in the Sun Belt at South Alabama. Chad Bradford was gettin dirt on his knuckles at Southern Miss in Conference USA. Ben Zobrist voted Independent while at Dallas Baptist. Fernando Perez is the lone scholarly Ivy Leaguer having played at Columbia. Andy Sonnanstine was a Middle American at Kent St. JA Happ is the lone Big 10 suitor from Northwestern and well I have no idea what he does, so the Big 10 is bottom.

The JuCos, Community Colleges or Below D1s

Chances of you actually knowing where a Junior College or Community College are if you are not from the area are approximately 1 in a billion so here's a quick run off. Old Man Tim Wakefield sawed off his knuckles at Florida Tech. Coco Crisp went to Pierre JuCo. Dan Wheeler got his angry pitching on at Central Arizona. Scott Eyre was pitching in the pen for the always dominant Southern Idaho Junior College. JC Romero threw near the miserable Gulf Coast beaches in Mobile. Chris Coste played 3 games a year for Concordia in Minnesota. Cory Wade (who?) played (pitched?) at Kentucky Wesleyan. James McDonald (who?) found nuggets at Golden West Communtiy College. And finally Russell Martin ate solid burritos at Chipola JuCo.

The Asians Go to School Too?

Apparently some of the Asians go to school too. Who knew? Chan Ho went to Hanyang in Korea. Saito went to Tohuku Fukushi which sounds awesome. Soooo Taguchi was sooo awesome at Gakuin and finally Hiroki Kuroda went to Senshu. Apparently the Red Sox only go for uneducated Asians as neither Dice-K nor Okajima went to college.

Good Ole John Hollinger comes out with his magical formulaic player efficiency ratings at the start of each year. He effectively ranks every single player in the NBA from number 1 to number 319. He always seems to ignore any contributions non-statistically to defense so this year Amare Stoudemire ranks in at #3, just behind Lebron and Chris Paul.

Anyway, while most people focus on the top of the list and argue how in the world Lebron or Kobe do not rank as the best player in the NBA, I immediately sift to the bottom of the list and see if the bane of my existence Brian Scalabrine ranks dead last. And just like last year Mr. Scalabrine was thwarted from his attempt of being the worst player in the NBA by one Jason Collins. But 2009 was a special year for the Collins brothers as Jarron joined Jason in all the fun of the last page of the Hollinger rankings as he snatched up the ranking of #4 worst player in the NBA.

I guess being 7 feet plus and a twin somehow keeps you employed in the NBA despite being horrible. Here's hoping that A) Scalabrine takes the title next year and B) the Lopez brothers somehow manage to join the Collins brothers last page party.

The Degrees of Loss Separation is a simple concept, I go out and find a highly rated team with some losses playing against a crappy team with lots of losses. Next I find a chain of losses which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt (not at all) that the underdog is going to pull the major upset and storm the field. The Final Outcome is calculated simply: Add up the scores of the losers, add up the scores of the winners in the degrees of loss separation and divide both by the # of degrees.

The Game: North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

So I'm not picking a crappy team vs. a really good team for the first weekend of the 2008 version of the Degrees of Loss Separation, but I wanted to get it off to a good start this season by predicting a Notre Dame Loss. Both teams have 1 loss. The Tarheels moved into the rankings and the Notre Dame fans are whining that they aren't included. This weekend the Tarheels host Notre Dame on National TV after throttling ranked UConn last week.

6º of Loss Separation : North Carolina beat Uconn beat Virginia beat Maryland beat Cal beat Michigan St. beat Notre Dame

The degrees starts off with the thumping of Notre Dame at the hand of the Spartans. The same Spartans were fought off by the Bears week one of the season who were than shocked by the Terps the following week. The Terps then caught fire until they lost to miserable UVA 31-0 nothing after being a 14 point favorite. This same UVA team got embarrassed at UConn who was equally embarrassed in Chapel Hill last weekend.

Final Outcome: North Carolina 35 Notre Dame 15

In those Degrees there have been 2 close games and 4 absolute blowouts which means the degrees says another blowout. And who would be surprised if Butch's boys roll up 30 on a mediocre Notre Dame squad while pounding and frustrating weirdo Clausen.

College Football is littered with different national coaching awards, the Liberty Mutual, Coach of the Year is supposed to represent the coach who shows the best collection sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence. So what makes a coach have these characteristics, which is most relevant to being the coach of the year and since this award allows fan voting which is typically overlooked.

Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship is a lot of things, it's 'playing the game the right way'. It's respecting your opponent. It's teaching your players to do all of the above. But as far as what fans would decide as the coach of the year, does it register? Les Miles is the national championship defending coach and one of his players just came out and said they hope to injure Tim Tebow. Is that Sportsmanship? Certainly not. Does that mean that Les Miles is less of a coach to the average fan or more importantly the average LSU fan? My guess is no.

Integrity
Integrity means playing by the rules and doing things the right way and teaching your players to do the same. But when you look around you see a lot of infractions a lot of arrests. Just look at Penn St. having their best season in decades behind classy Joe Pa. This offseason the Nittany Lions were littered with infractions and arrests. Will the voter look at that or look at the fact that Penn St. is having a surprisingly excellent season.

Responsibility
The coaches responsibilities are many. First they have the responsibility to give it their all and give full effort. Next they are responsible to teaching their players the game and respect. They are also responsible to encourage their players to go to class and make something out of their lives outside of the game of football. But again like the categories above, this is behind the scenes. Stuff the fan doesn't know and doesn't necessarily care about. If you're school has a 50% graduation rate but goes to a BCS game every year do you care? Do you car if Duke can crack educational jokes at your school when you beat the pants out of their football team? Probably not.

Excellence
Excellence is winning football games. When you introduce Excellence into the Coach of the Year conversation you diminish the remaining characteristics from a fans prospective. Fans care about winning and little else. Winning is the solver to any problem. A Coach could do all of the other characteristics above but build a loser and they will be fired. If they are missing one or more of the other characteristics but dominate, they can win the coach of the year. Winning is key, and the winner of this award will have a great football season.

So think about the traits and try to be a little bit different when you vote here.

The Red River Shootout is this weekend and it pits the #5 Texas Longhorns against the #1 Oklahoma Sooners. This rivalry is the best in the Big 12 and amongst the best in all of college football and has a history of featuring a ton of NFL talent but who has had the best of it recently? Let's take a look at the current pros for both teams.

Overall NFLers: Texas 36 vs. Oklahoma 19
To me it's almost shocking that the Sooners only have 19 players currently active in the NFL that really is a weak amount for a team that has been elite for years now. Meanwhile Texas with 36 is solid and about the average for elite programs in America. Edge: Texas

Potential Hall of Famers: Texas 0 vs. Oklahoma 2
If you look at all 32 of the Texas players currently in the NFL you will find several familiar names and several pro bowlers but no one that sticks out as a potential member of the Hall of Fame. Ricky Williams would have had a chance if he loved football more than pot. Meanwhile if you look at the Sooner NFLers you can make a serious case for two players, Tommie Harris and Adrian Peterson. Both are young and certainly not automatic by any stretch, but both are arguably the best player at their position currently. Harris is 25 years old and already has 3 Pro Bowl appearances in 4 seasons and Peterson set rookie records while making the Pro Bowl last year. You could also make the case for former Oklahoma safety Roy Williams and his 5 pro bowls, but he seems to get in despite being overrated thanks to the massive Cowboy fan vote. Edge: Oklahoma

Pro Bowlers: Texas 6 vs. Oklahoma 4
Outside of the 3 Perennial Pro Bowlers, the Sooners only have one more Pro Bowl recipient in Jammal Brown the offensive tackle for the Saints. The Longhorns have Leonard Davis (1), Shaun Rogers (2), Nathan Vasher (1), Ricky Williams (1), Roy Williams (1), and Vince Young (1). Rogers and Ricky arguably have the most talent but have shat away what should have been more pro bowl trips thanks to pot or laziness. The Longhorns still have the edge on quantity of Pro Bowls despite lost opportunities. Edge: Texas

So Which Program Is the Better NFL Churner
The elite players belong to the Sooners but that's it. The Sooners have yet to produce an NFL Quarterback (Sam Bradford will be the first) while the Longhorns currently have two on rosters with Chris Simms and Vince Young. The Sooners haven't produced an elite wideout while the Longhorns have Roy Williams. In the end, the Longhorns just have a ton more quantity than the Sooners while also producing comparable quality given that they have more Pro Bowlers.

Winner: Texas Longhorns

All Rosters Taken from ESPN's List of College Players in the Pros

Between last night and tonight there was only 1 game in American D1 Football or American professional sports. 1. That's the only result today because Baseball insists on having 5 days off between series to 'Set Up' the best television nights. Note to TBS, your numbers sucked last week in part due to the games being on, on awful nights. At least that Troy vs. FAU game last night was a thriller.

In all seriousness, I watched the debate and during 90% of it I wanted to blow my brains out because its a crime to actual answer a question rather than a sentence to address the question and then take the mic time to whatever topic you care to discuss.

I just want to remind everybody after another shutout performance by Jon Lester than in the offseason none other than Steve Phillips suggested the Red Sox should trade Lester, Bucholz and Elsbury for Johan Santana. This man was actually a GM in major league baseball...

Last night Mike Scioscia decided that it was his time to pull the genius move that it was his time to make the difference and that 1 run would get it done. So he called the suicide squeeze with his speediest runner at third and his biggest sacrificing lamb at the plate, and it completely backfired. Willits was tagged out and the momentum swung from the Angels dugout directly into Jason Bay's at bat and the rest is history.

If you look just at the players involved in the situation it looks like the right call. If Aybar, not a very good hitter and arguably your best bunter, gets the ball down you then get to turn a 1 run lead over to a record breaking closer. The strategy at the top level looks solid. But dig a bit deeper and there are some holes to find. Obviously on a suicide squeeze its essential to get a ball that can be bunted. Aybar had a 2-0 count against Delcarmen, so it would appear as if Delcarmen needed to bring a strike. The problem was that Delcarmen almost drilled Aybar on two previous pitches and with 1 out in a tie ball game throwing a strike on the next pitch was not due or die. In addition the faster the pitch the more difficult it is to bunt and Delcarmen is certainly a hard thrower. So combine these aspects and what you end up with is expected, a 95+ heater off the plate inside, a difficult pitch to handle for any bunter.

If it had worked everyone would have applauded the genius of Scioscia, but he picked a bad spot for the squeeze and because he did, his team now has a tee time for Wednesday afternoon.

Wow You Guys Suck: Detroit Lions, Honestly how bad can a franchise possible be? You would figure that after they dumped Matt Millen that maybe just maybe some of the team cancer would be lifted and instead you go out and get completely throttled by a piss poor offensive opponent. Runners Up: Kansas City getting dumped 34-0, the Bengals moved to an impressive 0-5.

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Minnesota's Punt Squad, 1 to the house is a fluke. The second one that should have gone to the house is a trend. And the third one that did go to the house is just plain old stupidity. Runners Up: Me for picking the Lions to win 8 games, Sage Rosenfels for turning into a helicopter turnover machine.

Cough Cough Cough: Houston Texans, This is how you stay winless, you somehow manage to blow a 17 point lead in the final 5 minutes by turning the ball over 3 times. Now that's choking it away. Runners Up: Martin Gramatica just straight up blows, Baltimore had their shot to knock of the Titans but couldn't get it done.

The Shocker: Miami Wild Hog Formations, So I'm willing to wager that none a single person on the planet pre-season had the Dolphins losing their first two games but moving to 2-2 by beating the Patriots and than the Chargers. Not 1 human being. I don't know where they are going to go from here, but they have a QB playing well and two stud running backs so anything is possible. Runners Up: The Falcons are 3-2, huh?, the Cardinals thumped the Bills which didn't surprise me.

The Pimp: All Giants, The Giants did not need Plaxico to destroy the Seahawks. Instead of passing to Plax, Eli just threw to every other open receiver while also watching the Juggernaut truck through linebackers and the defense completely shut down Hasselbeck and Julius Jones. Runners Up: Reggie Bush was an unstoppable return force, DeAngelo Williams who had the best game by far of his career.

You Got Jakked Up: Punt Blocked, I have no idea who made the block or who received the hit but the player on the Vikings on Reggie Bush's first punt return got KTFO.

My Fantasy Anti-MVP: Bye Week Boredom, When 6 of your players are on bye then your team is gonna get pummeled and mine did.

New York Jets MVP: Bye Week Boredom

My Picks

My Picks: 10-4
Preseason Picks: 8-6
Picks Vs. Spread: 7-7
Pick Suggestions: 3-2

The Preseason Picks slipt to 99.8% but My Picks moved up into a tie with the Preseason. We shall see what happens in the future.... Meanwhile my spread picks remain mediocre and the suggestions were capped off by the genius Lions pick... whoops.

Remember this is all about Quality Wins and Bad Losses so if you lose to a top ranked team its not going to kill you, if you lose to Arkansas St. in the opener it will haunt you the entire season.

Not a big upset or big win week for anybody this weekend. Wanny's victory is really the only one.

1. Alabama - A win is a win is a win, and Bama held off Kentucky for the W and still stands with two elite victories this season. Ole Miss and Tennessee are up next and both should amount to easy victories. LSU on November 8th is the game to look forward to. Quality Wins: @Clemson, @Georgia

2. Vandy - So Vandy apparently is the dominant force of the SEC? Well that's friggin weird. Wins vs. South Carolina and Auburn are pretty damn nice. Shall be interesting to see how they perform on the road. Quality Wins: Auburn, South Carolina, Ole Miss

3. Mizzou - Throttling Nebraska is porbably a bit overrated but the Juice was loose this weekend and beating him ain't easy. Quality Wins: (n)Illinois, @Nebraska

4. Penn St. - Oregon St. is a highly questionable quality win, but they did kill them and the Beavers did beat USC. One more loss by the Beavers and they're off the list. But Juice Williams is a pimp extraordinaire. Quality Wins: Illinois, Oregon St.

5. LSU -Auburn's glimmer is a bit diminished, but it was still a big win for the Bayou Bengals. This week in the Swamp would be an even bigger victory. Quality Wins: @Auburn

6. Oklahoma - It's probably just me but I'd like to see Oklahoma defeat a nasty team before I throw them in the top spot. And well they get Texas this weekend so that'll be the one. Quality Wins: TCU

7. USC - So who's surprised that the Trojans went out and throttled the Ducks? Nobody. Ok move on then. Quality Wins: Ohio State, Oregon Bad Loss: Oregon St.

9. VaTech -UNC and Butch Davis are for real and while the Black shirts got pounded for another week the Hokies still sit a top 3 quality wins and a flukie loss on a blocked punt. Quality Wins: GaTech, @UNC, @Nebraska

9. Boise St. - They throttled a nobody. Who cares. It'll be smurf turf vs. the Utes in the race to be the non BCS school in the BCSQuality Wins: @Oregon

10. Utah - Ok Michigan sucks, so goodbye quality win. Soon enough Oregon St. will also be eliminated from this category. Quality Wins: @Air Force, Oregon St.

11. Ohio St. - This could have been just about any team but I'm going with the Buckeyes after a win in Badger land and because you can't fault them too much for getting pummeled by USC without Beanie. Quality Wins: @Wisconsin

Dropped Out: South Florida you can't lose to Wanny...

Noticeable Absences: Oklahoma St., Texas & Texas Tech with their very difficult out of conference schedules. The Big 12 is lame. Texas has the Red River shootout to prove if they belong.

(n) = neutral field

Ok this happens every year now apparently. Last year it was London this year Prague, but why the hell does Hockey start the first week of October? Anyway here are the wonderful predictions from someone who maky watch 5 regular season hockey games this year. Now with new and improved records so I can evaluate to the point how wrong I was.

NHL West Standings

		W	L	OTL	PTS
1	Detroit	49	23	10	108
2	San Jose	49	23	10	108
3	Calgary	44	28	10	98
4	Dallas	46	28	8	100
5	Minnesota	44	28	10	98
6	Anaheim	45	29	8	98
7	Colorado	44	30	8	96
8	Chicago	41	32	9	91
	Nashville	40	33	9	89
	Edmonton	41	35	6	88
	Vancouver	39	33	10	88
	Phoenix	38	35	9	85
	Columbus	32	38	12	76
	St. Louis	32	40	10	74
	Los Angeles	32	43	7	71

West Conference Finals

San Jose Sharks over the Detroit Red Wings - Because enough with Detroit's dominance of all things Hockey.

NHL East Standings

		W	L	OTL	PTS
1	NY Rangers	47	24	11	105
2	Montreal	47	25	10	104
3	Washington	44	30	8	96
4	Pittsburgh	47	26	9	103
5	Philadelphia	44	28	10	98
6	Boston	43	27	12	98
7	Buffalo	44	29	9	97
8	New Jersey	44	30	8	96
	Ottawa	44	30	8	96
	Carolina	41	32	9	91
	Tampa Bay	37	36	9	83
	Florida	34	37	11	79
	NY Islanders	33	39	10	76
	Atlanta	33	40	9	75
	Toronto	32	41	9	73

East Conference Finals

New York Rangers over the Pittsburgh Penguins - We're going NYC overly Pittsburgh because the Giants won the Superbowl.

Stanley Cup Finals

New York Rangers over San Jose Sharks - Jagr will bring the Ewing theory to hockey because without him the Rangers win the cup.

NHL Awards

There's way too many awards in the NHL, so obviously I'm not going to do them all...

Adams - Gordon Bombay, is their any doubt he's going to be the best coach in the league, give me an f'n break. (Perennial Pick)

Calder - Candace Parker

Hart - Who's got Hart? The one female in the NHL of course. Sydney Crosby. (Perennial Pick)

Norris - Named after Chuck for being bad ass. Sean Avery because dude gets the ladies and is annoying as hell.

Pearson - Alexander Ovechkin, he scores a lot.

Lady Byng - Someone I will lose respect for. Awarded for Sportsmanship? It's Hockey there should be none of that. I'd imagine this goes to someone on a loser team. So we'll go with someone on the Maple Leafs. Mats Sundin sounds good.

Vezina - Henrik Lundquist es un swedish pimp from Club Vandersexxx. (Perennial Pick until he wins)

Not to be completely 100% cruel, but I just have to have at least a slight chuckle at all of these Cub fans who are obviously in agony over the complete choke job that was their team this playoffs. 97 regular season wins. Zero postseason wins. Ouch.

Well at least Vince Vaughn still looks Ok.