11 Reasons Why I Hate NASCAR
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!
NASCAR is a sports, i dont care if you don't like NASCAR,whoever doesn't like it can go DIE!!! seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!

(If only the Confederacy used NASCAR as motivation)

Time to take me behind the woodshed, so here are some of my predictions from 2008 that were absolutely F'N awful.

11. Your 07-08 NBA Coach of the Year will be Scott Skiles. He was fired midseason. (Reviewing my NBA Predictions)

10. The Saints will go 14-2 and get the NFC #1 seed. Not quite. (NFC South Preview)

9. Richie Sexson will be your comeback player of the year. I think he's basically out of the league now. (AL Award Predictions)

8. The Miami Heat will win the NBA Southeast Division and Get the 3 seed. More like the 15 seed. Who knew Wade was going to get huryt and Shaq traded? (Reviewing my NBA Predictions)

7. The Canadians were not going to make the playoffs. They got the #1 seed. (Review of my NHL Predictions)

6. The Lakers will miss out on the playoffs. They got the #1 seed, ha. (Reviewing my NBA Predictions)

5. NFL Comeback player of the year will be... Marc Bulger. Ugh. (2008 NFL Awards Predictions)

4. The Tigers would have the best record in baseball with 96 wins. They won 74. (AL Central Predictions)

3. The Mariners will win 91 games they won 61. Ouch. (AL West Predictions)

2. The Ravens will be the worst team in the NFL and will go 1-15. Perhaps I should stop predicting the NFL season by picking game by game and just start giving out generic records. (AFC North Preview)

1. The Lions will win 8 games this year which will.......... Win them the divsion. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Awful. (NFC North Predictions)

Breakin it down is 5 key stories plus a pick for each postseason game this season.

Is it the Iggles or the Eagles?

Which team in the NFL has been more inconsistent than the Eagles? It's almost as if they have two seperate teams that they travel with. They beat the Steelers at home and the Giants on the road. They tie the lowly Bengals and get embarrassed by the Ravens. Their offense scores 3 points against a floundering Washington then it scores 44 against a playoff fighting Dallas.

I Repeat You Are Not a Power Running Team

This is where the Eagles sometimes lose games. Andy Reid in his all knowing fupa decide that its time to man up and pound the rock. It never works because they just don't have the personnel to do it. It'll be benificial if the Eagles avoid manning up.

Will The Fat Be In the Middle?

Pat Williams is the player that makes the Vikings rush defense so formidable. You want to run up the middle? Well too bad because you have to get past a 6 foot wide man. The problem? Pat Williams has missed the past two weeks and is questionable for a weekend return. If he's not there than maybe even the Eagles can run up the middle.

Can T Make the Big Play

Tarvaris Jackson was benched. He wasn't making plays. He wasn't accurate. So the Vikings went with of all people, Frerotten. Then the Gus Gus got banged up and now it's back in T's hands. So what will he do in his first playoff game? Will he the guy who made plays against the Cardinals? Will he be the fumble machine like he was against the Falcons? Or will he return to the guy who couldn't throw a pass into the ocean if he was standing on a one foot wide island.

Is It Destiny?

Everything looked down and out for the Eagles. They catch potential game tying touchdown at the one and have to watch time and most likely their playoff chances expire. But the 1 o'clock cards fell right into the Eagles lap. The Raiders somehow won a big game and the Bears couldn't control Andre Johnson. Is Lady Luck still with Philadelphia after the Phillies took home the Series?

The Pick

Adrian Peterson is a beast but I just can't trust Tarvaris to make a play. Meanwhile I just think with all the cards falling the Eagles way in week 17 that maybe luck is on their side.

Power Rankings are a fickle thing. They truly are meaningless, well except for college football, and yet everyone seems to do them. Who's better than who is always on everyones mind so the best way to say who's better than who is to print out a 32 deep list.

But then when putting together the list two things make them completely biased. First off, everyone needs expectations and preseason rankings are those biases. So the Falcons for instance started out as the worst team in the NFL and yet wound up at 7 to end the season. Whoops. The next bias is that whatever happened today is significantly more important than what happened yesterday. Look at the Jets. They get crushed on National TV in San Diego and move to #21 on the list aka pathetic then they lose to the Raiders to stay below the midway point yet weeks later when they beat the Titans they are the 3rd best team in the NFL? Whoops.

Anyway here is your ESPN NFL Power Rankings. I've including graphs tracking the progression of each team from from prior to week 1 to yesterday and a table that shows all of the rankings week to week plus each teams average ranking, the difference between their starting ranking and finishing ranking as well as their years high and low ranking. I've also posted a few wrap up notes at the bottom.

Power Ranking Notes

~Only three teams were ranked #32 in any poll and one of them was the Falcons.

~The Lions were ranked 32 in the final 12 polls. Ouch.

~Only the Steelers and the Giants stayed in the top ten all year long.

~Five teams achieved #1. Titans, Giants, Cowboys, Steelers and Pats.

~Only 4 teams that started in the top ten finished in the top ten, and one of them didn't make the playoffs.

~The Falcons and Dolphins not surprisingly had the biggest positive swing whereas the Jags and Seahawks had the most negative swing.

~Nine teams that didn't make the playoffs were at one point or another considered top 5 quality.

~The Broncos were the only team to start and finish at the same place. The problem is every point in between was lower than the end points.

~The Raiders, Bengals, Chiefs, Rams and Lions all stayed in the bottom ten all year long meaning it might be easier to predict futility.

Jeremiah Masoli is my new favorite Quackerback. Sure his passing appeared piss poor last night, but on two seperate occasions he dropped his shoulder and absolutely trucked an Okie State Dback. Including the one shown here at the 40 second mark, which after he trucked the DB he took to the house.



And... Mr. Robinson might want to check to see if his brain cell count is the same as it was yesterday after this head smash.

Breakin it down is 5 key stories plus a pick for each postseason game this season.

The Health of 81

Mr. Boldin has missed out on the final two weeks due to injury, granted both games were meaningless for the Cardinals but there is still reason to be concerned. He says he's playing but if he's not 100% the Cardinals secondary is not very scary.

Will the Lawyer Be At Work?

Lawyer Malloy might not be the dominant force he used to be back in the day with the Pats, but he's still a veteran leader in the secondary and a warm body. The Falcons will be in nickel and dime coverage all day trying to matchup with the 3 or more wideout sets, so if the Lawyer is not in town the Falcons may suffer.

Burner Turner

Mr. Turner is out of the shadows and into the limelight. He seemingly scores 3 touchdowns a game and against a weak Cardinals defense he could easily take over the game and give the Falcons a first round victory.

Ice Water

Matty Ice is 3-0 as a starter in games in January, aka he won all three bowl games at BC. The rookie has played anything like a first year inexperienced player this season but still in his first game in the postseason will the veins stay icey or will Matty be thawed?

Captain Small Hands

What's the best way to rattle the old veteran? Hit him in the mouth or hit him in the back. The Old man still can fumble the football with the best of them and key turnovers could sink the Cardinals.

The Pick

The Falcons played well down the stretch run and the Cards have been gashed by the run so I expect the Falcons to pound the rock with Norwood and Turner and take home the victory.

Listening to the Radio I just Heard a Jet Fan Call in and Say "Yesterday was a great day to be a Jet fan, we actually fired a coach that wanted to stay. That's the first time that's happened since like Kotite."

Actually, the Jets didn't even get to fire Kotite. He resigned two days before his final game of the 1-15 season. Then we got Parcells who "retired" from coaching. Then Bill Belichick quit a day after getting the job. Al Groh quit to take the head coaching job at UVA. The Herminator left to take the Kansas City job after going 4-14. The last coach the Jets fired was Pete Carrol, and that was to hire Rich Kotite. Shit.

Jeff Wolfert is a very accurate kicker. How accurate? Wll Wolfert eclipsed the NCAA Record for accuracy percentage after he made the field goal to tie the game at 23 and so ESPN's broadcasters started to stroke his stats. The ESPN broadcasters continued to go on and on about how great of a kicker he was, and when he stepped up to kick the game winner with 3 seconds left it was just a formality. ESPN even posted the tagline showing he was the most accurate kicker of all time to give the extra confidence boost.

So what does Wolfert do? He shanks it of course.

I've always been interested in where people go to college and what sort of trends pro teams may have when they recruit players. Thus last year going into the conference championship game I put that interest into action and created a spreadsheet which separated the 4 remaining NFL teams rosters by conference. I tallied up the total players, marked down which NFL team scooped up the most players, and noted some notable players from each conference. And of course pulled together a little conclusion and analysis at the end. This year I'm slightly ahead of the game and have created the list for all playoff teams.

If you care to quiz your knowledge on the subject first I set up a 12 question quiz earlier. Additionally if you desire the spreadsheet you can go here for the D1 list tabulated by conference and here for the D1-AA and Lower list. Hopefully this will appease those who want more info / give some clarity to all those who may be confused.

Now onto the Conference by Conference breakdown sorted by which Conference has the most representatives during this weekends title game matchups.

ACC (94)

Once again the ACC is incredibly benefited by the imports of Miami, BC and VT as they consist of 30 of the 94 bodies. The U of course leads the way with 17 but FSU trails barely behind with 15. The ACC has plenty of star power on both sides of the ball plus the entire conference has at least one player representing them so even Duke has someone to root for. And finally the Giants really like acquiring people in the ACC.

Most Notable Players: Matt Ryan, Brian Dawkins, Anquan Boldin, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Reggie Wayne, Edgerrin James, Julius Peppers, Willie Parker, Chris Hope
Biggest School Contributor: Miami with 17.
Schools Without Representation: None
NFL Team With Most Players: New York Giants with 11.

Big Ten (88)

Ohio State much like the actual football games wins this battle with Michigan as they edge them out 14 to 13 in players represented. The Wolverines may have the bigger names though with two stud offensive lineman and LaMarr Woodley who has emerged as one of the more fearsome pass rashers in the NFL. The Colts apparently like getting very good players from Iowa.

Most Notable Players: Dallas Clark, Bob Sanders, Jake Long, Steve Hutchinson, LaMarr Woodley, Kerry Collins, Derrick Mason
Biggest School Contributor: Ohio State with 14
Schools Without Representation: None
NFL Team With Most Players: Arizona, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Carolina with 9

SEC (79)

Unlike last year, Eli Manning has some solid company at the top of the SEC, like his brother Peyton. Face Stomper Albert Haynesworth just might have eclipsed Eli as the 2nd best player representing the SEC as well. Atlanta in the heart of SEC company not surprisingly leads the way with the numbert of roster spots while Georgia dominates all in representation even the mighty Gators. Also, poor Vandy has no one to cheer for.

Most Notable Players: Albert Haynesworth, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Joseph Addai, Ronnie Brown, Lito Sheppard, Jevon Kearse, Hines Ward
Biggest School Contributor: Georgia with 15.
Schools Without Representation: Vandy
NFL Team With Most Players: Atlanta with 12.


Big 12 (62)

Snoooooze. The Big 12 is your clubhouse leader for most boring power conference representation. The Big 12 really supplies limited offensive fire power but with Williams and Hampton provides a lot of beef. The Long Horns tied Miami for the most players represented in all of college football but don't provide the flare like the U.

Most Notable Players: Justin Gage, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Ricky Williams, Quentin Jammar, Pat Williams, Casey Hampton
Biggest School Contributor: Texas with 17.
Schools Without Representation: None
NFL Team With Most Players: Minnesota and Baltimore with 7.

Pac 10 (59)

The Giants like recruiting on the East and the West Coast as they lead the way for the Pac 10 as well. USC leads the way with 12 with Cal, Oregon and the Arizonas not too far behind.

Most Notable Players: LenDale White, Jonathan Stewart, Lawyer Malloy, Todd Heap, Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata, Antonio Pierce, Troy Polamalu
Biggest School Contributor: USC with 12.
Schools Without Representation: None
NFL Team With Most Players: New York Giants with 7.

Big East (40)

Doesn't Syracuse suck? Why is it that they not only lead the way in Big East representation but dominate their conference mates. The Cuse have 11 where the next closest is Pitt and Rutgers with 8. Additionally they have the biggest names with Harrison, McNabb, Freeney and Bulluck. Perhaps the Cuse can be good again? Oh and poor UConn's got nobody to love.

Most Notable Players: Marvin Harrison, Donovan McNabb, Larry Fitzgerald, Dwight Freeney, Trent Cole, Keith Bulluck
Biggest School Contributor: Syracuse with 11.
Schools Without Representation: UConn
NFL Team With Most Players: Indianapolis with 7.

Mountain West (26)

Please tell me how Joey Porter went to Colorado State? Doesn't he just seem like he went to the U? Also, Steve Smith doesn't seem like a mormon to me, but who knows. The Chargers lead the way in the Mountain West and of course have its prized possession in LT.

Most Notable Players: LT, Joey Porter, Steve Smith
Biggest School Contributor: BYU and Utah with 7.
Schools Without Representation: Air Force
NFL Team With Most Players: San Diego with 5.

WAC (25)

Ya not much excitement coming from the WAC either, with Lorenzo Neal probably the best player and he's a fullback. Fresno St. dominates with with 10 representatives, but when the hell was the last time they won the conference? The Dolphins lead the way with 5 with no other team having more than 3.

Most Notable Players: Bernard Berrian, Jason Elam, Kevin Curtis, Lorenzo Neal, Travis LaBoy
Biggest School Contributor: Fresno St. with 10.
Schools Without Representation: San Jose St.
NFL Team With Most Players: Miami with 5.

Conference USA (24)

Conference USA has less reps than the WAC but certainly has larger names with DeAngelo and Chris Johnson form the back field and Chadwick as a possible 2008 MVP.

Most Notable Players: Chad Pennington, DeAngelo Williams, Roddy White, Asante Samuel, Chris Johnson, Gus Frerotte
Biggest School Contributor: Marshall with 4.
Schools Without Representation: Rice and Southern Methodist
NFL Team With Most Players: Minnesota and Philadelphia with 4.

MAC (18)

The MAC's got some players with Gates, Turner and Big Ben leading the way. The Colts have the most players in a conference that's in their back yard. Oh and what's up with Directional Michigan coming in very very weakly.

Most Notable Players: Antonio Gates, Michael Turner, Domenik Hixon, Ben Roethlisberger, Chester Taylor
Biggest School Contributor: Kent State, Akron and Northern Illinois with 3.
Schools Without Representation: Central Michigan, Western Michigan and Ohio
NFL Team With Most Players: Indianapolis with 4.

Independents (13)

Woo Notre Dame has 12 reps with Justin Tuck leading the way. Fasano is a decent name but really none of the other Golden Shower helmet wearers are worthy of mention.

Most Notable Players: Justin Tuck, Anthony Fasano
Biggest School Contributor: Notre Dame with 12.
Schools Without Representation: Army, Western Kentucky
NFL Team With Most Players: Giants and Philadelphia with 3.

Sun Belt (9)

Last year Osi lead the way but he's been out the entire year so he gives way to the Ragin Cajun Jake Delhomme and La-Lafayette leading the way. Poor Florida Atlantic is the lone Sun Beltian with nothing to cheer for.

Most Notable Players: Jake Delhomme, Ike Taylor
Biggest School Contributor: Louisiana-Lafayette with 3.
Schools Without Representation: Florida Atlantic
NFL Team With Most Players: Miami and Carolina with 2.

Division 1-AA (72)

There is certainly talent to be had at the 1-AA level. Three of the likely starting quarterbacks in the playoffs were 1-AA QBs. Two of the star running backs were 1-AA players. And the craziest defensive lineman went to school at Idaho St. Don't sleep on 1-AA.

Most Notable Players: Joe Flacco, Brian Westbrook, Jared Allen, Kurt Warner, Adam Vinatieri, Bart Scott, Tarvaris Jackson, Brandon Jacobs
Biggest School Contributor: Northern Iowa, Montana and Howard with 3.
NFL Team With Most Players: Minnesota and Tennessee with 9.

Division 2 or Lower (28)

Not overly surprising nobody who went to school D2 or lower is a massive impact player. Fort Valley St., wherever that is, is the only school with more than one player represented. Meanwhile None is represented twice by both Australian punters, plus it took me forever to figure out that Bradley for Marcus Pollard does not have a football team.

Most Notable Players: Kevin Boss, Nate Washington, Grady Jackson, Dominic Rhodes
Biggest School Contributor: Fort Valley St. with 2.
NFL Team With Most Players: Indianaplois with 5.

Conclusion and Analysis

~Once again this is done by current conference alignment and not what conference these players actually played for when they went to school. Therefore the ACC massively benefits from its inclusion of Miami whereas many of those players actually played in the Big East.

~The SEC is always hyped as the best conference in America yet for the second straight year they trail other conferences on the total playoff player tally.

~If you're going to a DII school than your chances of making the NFL are very very slim and you're chances of being a superstar are almost nada.

~The Armed Forces is not a very good gateway to the NFL as Navy, Army and Air Force combine for one player in the playoffs.

~Tom Brady made the Big Ten's list a lot prettier last year.

~Randy Moss's inclusion made Conference USA's list look prettier as well.

~There are 118 or so D1 programs and yet three of the playoff starters slipped through the D1 fingers.

~Why do so many kickers not go to major D1 schools?

~I find it amazing that of the major BCS conferences only UConn and Vandy lack any kind of representation.

~The Cuse beat out some major colleges including current BCS bowl bid collectors Bama, Oklahoma, Utah, VaTech, Cincy, Florida, and Penn St. and yet they seemingly have won a single game in the past five years.

*All Rosters were taking from Yahoo.com and their active 53 man roster list. If a player is on the PUP or IR he is not included.

If You're Looking for Humor, go watch the Jets Highlights here and pay attention for when Eric Mangini says "Why Would He Throw That?" after a patented Gunslinger arm punt.

AFC

#5 Florida at #4 Utah in Salt Lake City

Florida Key Wins: Miami, LSU, UGA (n), @FSU, South Carolina
Florida Losses: Ole Miss
Florida Wildcard Win Over Georgia Tech (72%)

Utah Key Wins: BYU, TCU, @Air Force, @Michigan
Utah Losses: None

Storyline: Can Urban return to Utah and dominate his former school?

#3 Southern Cal at #2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa

Southern Cal Key Wins: tOSU, Oregon, Cal
Southern Cal Losses: @Oregon St.
Southern Cal Wildcard Win Over TCU (85%)

Alabama Key Wins: @Clemson, @Georgia, @LSU
Alabama Bad Losses: None

Storyline: Can Pete Carroll lead his Trojans to a massive victory on the road against Nick Saban?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Online Surveys & Market Research

NFC

#6 Texas at #2 Oklahoma in Norman

Texas Key Wins: OU(n), Mizzou, Okie St., @Kansas
Texas Losses: @TT
Texas Wildcard Win Over Penn State (66%)

Oklahoma Key Wins: Nebraska, Texas Tech, @Okie State, Cincy, TCU
Oklahoma Losses: Texas(n)

Storyline: Can the Sooners enact revenge on their homefield?

#5 Texas Tech at #1 Boise State in Boise

Texas Tech Key Wins: Nebraska, Texas, Okie State, @Kansas
Texas Tech Losses: Oklahoma
Texas Tech Wildcard Win Over Cincy (89%)

Boise State Key Wins: @Oregon, LaTech
Boise State Losses: None

Storyline: Can Mike Leach lead the Red Raiders to victory on the smurf turf?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Online Surveys & Market Research

Wow You Guys Suck: Tampa Bay Bucs, There were a lot of collapses yesterday, but none to me was worse than the Bucs. At home against the awful Raiders in a game that could have potentially put you into the playoffs and you lay an egg. You let Michael Bush who was the Raiders 3rd running back, run all over you. Embarrassing. Runners Up: The Cowgirls can enjoy Cabo without any media attention this year, J E T S Just End the Season

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Jerry Jones, Think it was a bright idea now to say that you are going to definitely bring back the coach next year before the game and then reiterating it after the blowout? Now when you fire him you're going to be a liar. Solid job Jerry. Runners Up: Dick Jauron is a play calling whiz,

Cough Cough Cough: Denver Broncos, There were a lot of chokes this year, but the Broncos were probably the worst. They had three straight weeks where they could have clinched the division and each week they fired blanks including the beat down in San Diego last night. Runners Up: the Jets going 1-4 down the stretch, the Cowgirls getting embarrassed, the Bucs going 0-4 in December.

The Shocker: The Eagles Sneaking In, The Eagles need everything to fall their way at 1. They needed the Bucs to choke. They needed the Bears to choke. And they needed to beat the Cowgirls. It all happened and now the inconsistent Eagles could be a scary playoff opponent. Runners Up: the Raiders really the Raiders?, goal posts falling down in Buffalo.

The Pimp: The Johnsons: Andre and Calvin, Andre and Calvin Johnson are arguably the two best receivers in the NFL right now. Both had over 100 yards and two touchdowns yesterday. Calvin unfortunately couldn't strap a victory on his back whereas Andre dashed the Bears playoff hopes. Runners Up: Chad Pennington dominating in his return outing, Drew Brees throwing a lot of yards.

You Got Jakked Up: Three Day Old Cheesburger's Noggin, How did that concussion feel Ben? I'm guessing you don't remember.

My Fantasy Anti-MVP: Hope is Gone, I'm out of the postseason so it's all meaningless.

New York Jets MVP: Nobody, Screw them all.

My Picks

My Picks: 10-6
Preseason Picks: 8-8
Picks Vs. Spread: 6-10

2008 Season Picks

My Picks: 165-91
Preseason Picks: 150-106
Picks Vs. Spread: 130-126

Overall the Spread picks were so so and really tailed off at the end of the year. The preseason picks are pretty solid considering I Had the Ravens and Falcons with about 4 wins combined, whoops.

The Jets collapse in December so somebody needs to take the fall, and that man is Eric Mangini. Owner Woody Johnson and GM Mike Tannenbaum decided that it was time to let the "Mangenious" go and well to that I say meh.

The Mangenious moniker came in 2006 and was strictly handed down by the media because the Jets made the playoffs when everyone thought they were going to suck. But here's the deal in the NFL, teams make dramatic turnarounds all the time. Look at the playoffs this season. The Falcons, Ravens and Dolphins were all horrible last year and then they get good quarterback and look now they're in the playoffs. In 2006 that's exactly what happened. The Jets in 2005 were a disaster mostly because Pennington got injured. In 2006 Pennington came back and played well and thanks to a weak schedule the Jets managed to win 10 games. It was certainly a welcome unexpected outcome but in heinsight it really wasn't completely shocking. Last season once again Pennington went down and the season was gone before it started. So whatever on the 2007 season.

Now onto this season. After week 12s victory over the Titans everything looked great in the world. A lot of things went wrong in the last 5 weeks, the defense sucked especially on the pass, the play calling was suspect, the coaching decisions were questionable, etc. But most of all Brett Favre sucked. He sucked. In 5 games Brett Favre never eclipsed a quarterback ranking of 62. He didn't once throw for more than 1 touchdown. He didn't once throw for more than 250 yards. He was awful and he's the main reason we choked. But in the world of the NFL it's Mangini that takes the fall and not the man really at fault.

Apparently being ridiculously jacked up and 264 pounds of pure muscle doesn't mean you're going to make an immediate impact in the NFL. The Jets 6th pick in the 2008 draft Vernon Gholston recorded 13 total tackles this entire season, with 5 of them being solo. Not quite the impact you look for from a top ten draft choice.

The Jets in their decision making this past offseason were win now. They opted to bring in the aging Favre. They spent top dollar on free agents Pace, Faneca and Woody. They traded for defensive tackle Kris Jenkins. They were set to win this season. But why then draft a kid that everyone proclaimed had massive talent and physical skills but lacked polish and was going to be a project. The kid didn't pick up football until his sophomore year of high school so his experience isn't quite top notch. Maybe in a couple of years he'll round into a pro bowl but right now he was a complete waste of a pick and the difference between having an impact rookie and 13 tackles just might be the difference between making and not making the playoffs.

Here is a recap of my thoughts throughout a Sunday afternoon at the bar. All times are estimated

1:00-2:15 Go Buffalo

2:15 Aww crap stupid Rian Lindell

2:30 Haha, can't kick through a 50 mile per hour wind can you Gostkowski.

2:45 Seriously? Dick Jauron might be the worst coach in the NFL. How do you call a run on 3rd down with 22 seconds left and no timeouts left? You're getting fired tomorrow and you deserve to get fired. The Bills are done, this sucks.

2:55 Trent Edwards you stupid prick, how the hell do you not see the rusher right in your god damn face. The Bills are screwed.

3:00 Touchdown Pats, well there goes the division.... Go Chad?

4:00 Hmm, what are the chances the Jaguars come up big? I mean the Raiders won so maybe? Please maybe?

4:20 Eh 3-0 Baltimore shit.

4:25 Nice Arm Punt Brett ya douche.

4:30 J A G S JAGS,JAGS,JAGS... 7-3 Wooooo

4:35 6-0 Jets Yay

4:40 Crappity Crap Crap the Jags are fucked... Go Chad?

4:50 Eh touchdown Chad, stupid f'n Jets

4:55 Oh shit balls, this Jags game is over... Go Chad?

5:25 Wow Brett you really Phil Merling in stride. Congrats on that studly pass.

5:30-7:00 Whatever just give me an f'n beer, Screw Mangini, Screw Favre, Screw the Pats.

7:10 Another god damn interception... Well at least the Pats aren't making the playoffs. Get me another drink.

Episode 8 of Arm Punt Formations starring the "Gunslinger"



Check out more Episodes of Arm Punt Formations

So I have a little 2008 New York Jets Calendar hanging up in my cubical and for the entire month there has just been this chilling face staring back at me. See the Calendars are made approximately October of the previous year, so they're really just guessing who's going to be on the team the next season. They always include players who are no longer on the roster, for instance in 2007 Curtis Martin was prominently displayed despite retiring. But this year is different, this year is all about bad karma because December is Chad Pennington month.


Not only is Chad 3-0 in December while the Jets are 1-2, but now the Dolphins can clinch the division in the Meadowlands during the last December game. Karma is a bitch.

Chad's also on the Calendar Cover too.

Wow You Guys Suck: NFC Wild Card Contenders, First the Cowboys stumble at home against the Ravens, then the Bucs get thumped at home by the Chargers and finally the Eagles can't get it done against a Redskins team that has been imploding. Nobody wants to make the playoffs. Runners Up: the Jets don't want to make the playoffs either of course, the Lions are 0-15.

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Every Jet Player and Coach, 4 games on the West Coast against below .500 teams. 4 games that should be wins. And yet you come home with 4 losses. Someones got to rethink travel schedules because obviously it isn't working. Runners Up: me for actually getting my hopes up, the Cardinals for even making the trip to New England.

Cough Cough Cough: Three Day Old Cheeseburger,The Cheeseburger vastly outgained the Titans but then he decided to turn the ball over 4 times. Whoops. Runners Up: John Casey missed the 50 yarder to clinch home field, all the teams who held destiny in their hands and threw it away (Jets, Bucs, Cowboys, Eagles).

The Shocker: Buffalo Bills, The Bills should have beaten the Jets last week but other than that they've been on a downward spiral, so who expected them to travel cross country and knock off the Broncos when they needed the victory. Runners Up: the Eagles losing the game by a single yard, the Dolphins are 1 win away from the division title.

The Pimp: Derrick Ward, With homefield advantage on the line and Brandon Jacobs still banged up Derrick Ward became the man and rushed for 215 yards on only 15 carries. Runners Up: Matt Cassel is Tom Brady?, Ed Reed is a hero.

You Got Jakked Up: My Spirit, Shattered.

My Fantasy Anti-MVP: Hope is Gone, I'm out of the postseason so it's all meaningless.

New York Jets MVP: Nobody, Screw them all.

My Picks

My Picks: 8-7
Preseason Picks: 8-7
Picks Vs. Spread: 6-9
Pick Suggestions: 1-4

Tack one more thing on an already awful weekend.

Here is the current NFL playoff picture. I didn't go into the detail of which team gets the NFC's 5th seed if the Falcons lose, if I get time to do that over the course of the week I will.



Mangini can go screw.

So you're team isn't going to make the BCS Bowls this year, I know it sucks. Do you want to go to one sometime in the future (Obviously)? Do you want to know what kind of recruiting it takes to get there (Of Course You Do)? Well here's a breakdown of how many 5 star, 4 star and 3 star recruits each BCS school has recruited over the 4 years.

So what do we get from such a chart? Well first of all you can see that if you're not dominating the recruiting scene in the Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, or SEC than chances are you've got limited chance against the elite. Meanwhile VT has become the ACC elite since joining the conference but is at a notch below Florida, OU, UT, & USC in the recruiting game. This map also shows either just how solid of a coach Brian Kelly is or just how terrible the Big East is. 10-2 in a BCS conference with one single 4 star recruit in 4 years. Something tells me that his 'Cincinnati is a big time program now and not a stepping stone' statement will probably be regrettable when he still can't get the recruits he needs to turn the school into a perennial elite.

Other notables are: USC dominates the top 100, UT dominates the 4 star recruits, Bama dominates the 3 star recruits. USC doesn't want 3 star recruits cause you're not really good enough. Also, Utah has better recruiting numbers than Cincy over the past 4 years.

I'll be taking time away from the computer this week so the posts will be much less frequent then the norm. Everyone (except Brett Favre) have a great holiday.

JUST END THE FUCKING SEASON

Here are my selections for the Bowl Pick'Em game. If you care to soundly defeat me then join up here Tebow is a Superior Being, Password: Tebow. All the action begins tomorrow.

EagleBank Bowl: Wake Forest over Navy because rematches in college football are uber lame.

New Mexico: Fresno State over Colorado State cause the Bulldogs have a victory over the best football team in all of Jersey.

magicJack St. Petersburg: South Florida over Memphis cause nothing says magic like the Grothe mohawk.

Pioneer Las Vegas: BYU over Arizona cause the Mormons and Vegas mix beautifully.

R+L Carriers New Orleans: Troy over Southern Miss because Trojan men don't lose bowl games.

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia: TCU over Boise State cause Boise St. is not on the Smurf turf.

Sheraton Hawaii: Notre Dame over Hawaii cause the Irish are bound to snap that bowl loss streak against a lame opponent.

Motor City: Central Michigan over Florida Atlantic cause the its the god damn Motor City bowl who in Florida wants to go to Michigan in December.

Meineke Car Care: West Virginia over North Carolina cause Pat White is going to go out a weiner, I mean winner.

Champs Sports: Florida State over Wisconsin cause the Badgers lost to Michigan, that means they are TERRIBLE.

Emerald: California over Miami (Fla.) cause that's a long plane ride to the West Side.

Independence: Louisiana Tech over Northern Illinois cause the Independence Day was won over the Technically advanced advanced Aliens when Will Smith Jeff Goldblum cracked the code.

Papajohns.com: Rutgers over NC State because Jersey obviously loves cheap Pizza more than North Carolina.

Valero Alamo: Missouri over Northwestern cause the Chase Daniel wants to get drafted on the first day.

Roady's Humanitarian: Maryland over Nevada cause I'm ranking ACC competition over the west coast advantage.

Texas: Rice over Western Michigan cause well its a home game for Rice, how many fans does Western Michigan have.

Pacific Life Holiday: Oregon over Oklahoma State because he's a man he's 40.

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces: Air Force over Houston cause its the Helicopter bowl, shouldn't the armed forces get a little love from the officials.

Brut Sun: Pittsburgh over Oregon State cause you do not mess with the Wannstache on New years Eve.

Gaylord Hotels Music City: Boston College over Vanderbilt cause BC never loses bowl games cause they always play in shitty ones.

Insight: Kansas over Minnesota cause the Gophers are highly fraudulent.

Chick-fil-A: Georgia Tech over LSU cause the Tigers have definitely packed it in this year.

Outback: Iowa over South Carolina cause the Hawkeyes already shot down one old coach its time for another.

Capital One: Georgia over Michigan State cause Sparty isn't ready for the big time.

Konica Minolta Gator: Clemson over Nebraska cause the Tigers are lifted from the anchor that was Tommy Bowden.

Rose Bowl Game: USC over Penn State cause the Trojans feast on the Big 10 in Pasadena.

FedEx Orange: Virginia Tech over Cincinnati cause the the Hokies will score one defensive touchdown and win 7-3.

AT&T Cotton: Texas Tech over Ole Miss cause the Red Raiders are pissed off at all of their countless snubs.

AutoZone Liberty: East Carolina over Kentucky cause its a Pirate's life for me.

Allstate Sugar: Alabama over Utah cause its the SEC vs. the Mountain West no brainers.

International: Connecticut over Buffalo cause it's time for Turner Gill's resume to take a dip.

Tostitos Fiesta: Texas over Ohio State cause screw the Buckeyes.

GMAC: Tulsa over Ball State because Hoke bailed ship for San Diego St., that's not even a good job.

FedEx BCS National Championship Game: Florida over Oklahoma cause the Gators have Tim Tebow and the Sooners do not.

1. New York Giants (11-3)
Remaining Schedule: Carolina, @Minnesota
Can Clinch Homefield With: A Win Carolina
Can Clinch Bye With: A Win or a Vikings loss

If the Giants win one of the next two games they get a bye. If they lose both then they could go from 11-1 to wildcard weekend.

2. Carolina Panthers (11-3)
Remaining Schedule: @Giants, @New Orleans
Can Clinch Division With: A Win

The Panthers still have to win a game to clinch the division title as both the Falcons and Bucs would hold a the tie-breaker over them thanks to a better record within the conference.

3. Minnesota Vikings (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: Atlanta, New York Giants
Can Clinch Division With: A Win or a Bears Loss
Can Clinch 2 Seed With: Two Wins and Two Giants Win
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Carolina, Chicago

The Vikings win this week and they clinch the division thanks to common game record. If they lose this week and beat the Giants while the Bears win out than it drops down to Strength of Victory in which would be a serious toss-up in the final week. The Bears would have key wins against the Colts and Eagles where as the Vikings would have key victories over the Giants and Cardinals.

4. Arizona Cardinals (8-6)
Remaining Schedule: @New England, Seattle
Already Clinched Division: Snooze
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Nobody

The Cardinals can get the 4 seed if they win out and the Vikings lose out. Snooze.

5. Dallas Cowboys (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: Baltimore, @Philadelphia
Can Clinch Wildcard With: Two Wins
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Tampa Bay

The Cowboys hold the tie-breaker over the Bucs and thus 2 wins gets them into the postseason and likely the 5 seed.

6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: San Diego, Oakland
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Nobody

They just need teams to lose ahead of them. They get two home games against AFC West candidates and win out and they'll have a chance. Too bad for them the Chargers are still alive coming into their game sunday or else they might have just laid down for them.

7. Atlanta Falcons (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: @Minnesota, St. Louis
Can Clinch the Wildcard With: Two Wins*

The Falcons do not control their destiny and yet can still win their division, the 5 seed or 6 seed.

8. Philadelphia Eagles (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: @Washington, Dallas
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Doesn't matter cause of the tie.

For the Eagles it's simple win out and hope for a Bucs or Falcons loss. In reality they need either the Bucs or Falcons to lose this weekend as their week 17 competition is the Raiders and Rams respectively.

9. Chicago Bears (8-6)
Remaining Schedule: Green Bay, @Houston
Can Clinch Division With: Two Wins and Two Vikings Losses

The Bears obviously need to take care of business first but they need to put on their Matt Ryan hats big time.

Ugh, looking for a bounce back from last weeks debacle.

5. Philadelphia Eagles (-4 1/2) at Washington Redskins
The Eagles are playing well and are still in the playoff hunt where the Redskins have officially given up on the season.

4. Houston Texans (-7 1/2) at Oakland Raiders
Come on the Raiders are atrocious and the Texans are playing really well. This one is a gimme.

3. Detroit Lions (+6 1/2) vs. New Orleans Saints
The Saints are done this year and the Lions are a cover machine, plus they have more motivation to win this week. Who the hell wants to be 0-16?

2. Indianapolis Colts (-6 1/2) at Jacksonville Jaguars
The Colts let me down last week by only losing by ten, but I didn't no Dan-O the cover machine was playing for the Lions. This week the Colts clinch the three seed with a win and destroy the decrepit Jaguars.

1. New York Jets (-4 1/2) at Seattle Seahawks
If I'm gonna go down in a heap of misery I'm going to do so with confidence. The Jets got the lucky bounce they needed last week and now they can finally get that first west coast victory.

Survivor League Pick: SCREW Seattle
Running out of teams so we're going with the Broncos at home against the Bills even though I hope they lose.

Non-Spread Picks

Wow You Guys Suck: Washington Redskins, You're playoff hopes were essentially trashed coming into last week already but you certainly threw some extra dirt on your grave by losing to the friggin Bungles. Runners Up: Cardinals defense gave up 4 touchdown passes to Tavaris Jackson, Oakland's defense let the Pats score on their first 5 possessions.

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Dick Jauron, The Jets needed a gift and I was about one more first down away from turning it off and kicking a hole in the wall, but alas Dick Jauron and JP 'Loss'man were there for me. And now the Jets have two more weeks to break my spirit. Runners Up: the Refs that decided it was indisputable that Santonio scored the touchdown, Jeff Fisher opting to throw a bomb No-Hands McCareins rather than kick a 49 yard field goal.

Cough Cough Cough: The HERMINATORS, The HERMINATORS had an 18 point lead and the chance to knock the Chargers out of the playoffs. But then their offense opted to not score anymore and their defense opted to give up just enough points to lose. Runners Up: JP 'Loss'man let the ball and the game slip threw his fingers, the Saints D let their playoff hopes go out the window by giving up back to back drives to Kyle Orton.

The Shocker: Houston Texans, I know I picked this game last week but I started convincing myself towards the weekend that the Texans had a shot to take home a victory. (Mostly when I wrote the Manning Bowl post and thought the Colts still had a shot at the division, they don't). But it's still the most shocking outcome of the weekend. Runners Up: the Redskins are lifeless, the pounding Minnesota gave Arizona on the road.

The Pimp: Andre Johnson, If this guy had a quarterback for his entire career he might just be thought of as a potential hall of famer, that's how good he is. But he was stuck with David Carr for too many years and is relegated to putting up 209 yards on a top ranked defense without much media adulation. Runners Up: the Cowboys pass rush tortured the G-Men all night long, Philip Rivers two touchdowns in just over a minute is pretty pimp.

You Got Jakked Up: Eli Manning, Eli was getting pummeled on just about every play as his line decided that they didn't want to block to many blitzers on sunday night.

My Fantasy Anti-MVP: Hope is Gone, I'm out of the postseason so it's all meaningless.

New York Jets MVP: Abram Elam, he can't cover anyone but he made a huge game and potential season saving play.

My Picks

My Picks: 9-7
Preseason Picks: 13-3
Picks Vs. Spread: 6-9
Pick Suggestions: 1-4

Hey, I was great at picking week 15 games in September... not so much in December.

Episode 7 of Arm Punt Formations starring the "Gunslinger"



Check out more Episodes of Arm Punt Formations

There are a total of 32 possible combinations of wins and losses over the next two weeks. The Dolphins and Jets both win 12 of the possibilities where the Pats win the division in 8 of the scenarios.



1. I highlighted two of the Dolphins wins with a 1. In this scenario the Dolphins and Pats would have the same Division Record, Common Game Record, and Conference Record. It would then come down to Strength of Victory where beating a better team helps you out. The only difference in their victories would wind up being the Chiefs and the Chargers. The Dolphins would have beaten the Chargers and the Pats beaten the Chiefs. Because the Chargers have a better record the Dolphins would win the Tie-Breaker.

1. Tennessee Titans (12-2)
Remaining Schedule: Pittsburgh, @Indy
Can Clinch Homefield With: A Win over Pittsburgh or A Win over Indy and a Pittsburgh loss to Cleveland

The Titans can lock up the #1 seed this week with a win over Pittsburgh. A loss however sets up a situation where they would need Cleveland to show up and beat the Steelers in week 17. Doubtful.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-3)
Remaining Schedule: @Tennessee, Cleveland
Can Clinch Homefield With: A Win over Tennessee and Either A Win over Cleveland or a Tennessee loss to Indy

Thanks to the Texans the Steelers now control their own destiny. Win out and the AFC title travels through Pittsburgh. Lose to the Titans and they may have to schedule a return trip to the land of country music.

3. New York Jets (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: @Seattle, Miami
Can Clinch Division With: Two Wins or A Win over Miami and a Patriot Loss
Holds Tie-Breakers Over: Patriots and Dolphins in the Event They Beat the Dolphins. Nobody if they lose to the Dolphins.

The Jets currently hold the tie-breaker over both the Dolphins and Patriots thanks to division record. If the Pats lose in either week 16 or 17 than all the Jets need to do is beat the Dolphins. Beating Seattle wouldn't be necessary. If the Jets lose to the Dolphins they are almost certainly done. They would need to beat Seattle and have both the Ravens and Pats drop their final two games, meaning the Jets would need big efforts from the Jaguars and Bills in the final week. Doubtful.

4. Denver Broncos (8-6)
Remaining Schedule: Buffalo, @San Diego
Can Clinch Division With: A Win over Buffalo, A Win over San Diego or a San Diego Loss
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: New York Jets

It's simple win 1 more game or get a Chargers loss and they are in. The Broncos lost to both the Pats and the Dolphins so in order to get the 3 seed they would need the Jets to win the division at 10-6 which isn't overly likely.

5. Indianapolis Colts (10-4)
Remaining Schedule: @Jacksonville, Tennessee
Can Clinch 5 Seed With: A Win over Jacksonville or Tennessee
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Everyone, thanks to a 8-2 conference record which at worst would be 8-4 in addition to wins over Baltimore and New England.

Take care of business against the Jaguars and the Colts can rest up in week 17. If the Colts lose both of their remaining games they will need a maximum of one of the Ravens, Patriots, Jets and Dolphins to win out.

6. Baltimore Ravens (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: @Dallas, Jacksonville
Can Clinch the Wildcard With: Two Wins
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Miami

The Ravens currently hold the tie-breaker over the Dolphins and the Patriots thanks to a victory over Miami and a better conference record than the Patriots. If the Ravens fall to 10-6, a loss to the Cowboys would maintain their tie-breakers over both the Dolphins and the Pats. The tie-breaker with the Jets is a bit more confusing as the Jets could also wind up with an 8-4 conference record. Than it would come down to Common Games which are Cincy, Tenn, Oakland, Miami. Both teams would likely be 5-1 against those oppnents. Than it comes down to Strength of Victory which would likely go to Baltimore's favor thanks to the NFC east competition.

7. Miami Dolphins (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: @Kansas City, @New York Jets
Can Clinch the Division With: Two Wins
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Patriots

The Dolphins currently hold the tie-breaker over the Pats thanks to conference games so they win out and they not the Pats win the division. If they lose to the Jets and the Pats beat the Bills that tie-breaker flip-flops. If they lose to Kansas City and beat the Jets than they would win the tie-breaker if the Pats also finished 10-6.

8. New England Patriots (9-5)
Remaining Schedule: Arizona, @Buffalo
Can Clinch Division With: Two Wins and a Jets and Dolphins Loss
Holds Tie-Breaker Over: Denver

The Patriots do not control their destiny for either the wildcard or the division and will need help to get either. The reason is because all of their losses have come within the conference where as their competition has lost at least once to an NFC opponent. A Ravens loss or a Jets and Dolphins loss will give them back their own destiny. The Pats are the only team that could go 11-5 and miss out on the playoffs.

9. San Diego Chargers (6-8)
Remaining Schedule: @Tampa Bay, Denver
Can Clinch Division With: Two Wins and Two Denver Losses

The Chargers path is simple. Win these week and put on your Buffalo Bills cap at 4 PM.

The Lions are putrid, disgusting, pitiful, incredibly awful, etc. Just think of a negative adjective and you can easily apply it to Detroit. They are 0-14 and have incredible potential to go 0-16. They have started three different quarterbacks who haven't put a W on the board: Jon Kitna, Dan Orlovsky and Dante Culpepper. Two of them are veterans and close to household names, the other is the unknown who has consistently outperformed the others.

Sure Orlovsky is forever going to be known as the dumb ass who ran straight out of the end zone for a safety, but the fact is he has played vastly superior to his teammates. In games in which Orlovsky has started (5 in total) the Lions have lost by a combined 25 points or an average of 5 a game. These starts came against the Colts, Texans, Vikings, Bears and Washington before they turned dogshit. Meanwhile in games started by Kitna or Culpepper (9 in total), the Lions have lost by an average of 19+. The only double digit defeat with Orlovsky under center came this week against the Colts. Meanwhile, the Lions 7 times under Culpepper and Kitna lost by 10+ points.

In the games started by Orlovsky he's played at a QB rating of 88.58, which certainly isn't spectacular but not futile. He's only thrown two interceptions, both coming in the game he tore up his thumb. Meanwhile he's thrown for 6 touchdowns and averaged 233 yards per contest. None of this is Pro-Bowl worthy but it just might be good enough to give him a realistic shot of winning the starting job in 2009.


Quick Note: He graduated in my senior class in high school, so you gotta hope the hometown kid gets a shot.

Seriously who wants to go to a football game and see a person with enormous man boobs and arm fat flapping in front of their face shirtless for 3 hours. Would it be that bad if he was just wearing a t-shirt with a green J.


And really if you're going to paint your damn chests (which is lame) the least you can do is be funny. See Syracuse.

AFC

#5 Florida at #4 Georgia Tech in Atlanta

Florida Key Wins: Miami, LSU, UGA (n), @FSU, South Carolina
Florida Losses: Ole Miss

Georgia Tech Key Wins: @BC, @Clemson, Miami, @UGA,
Georgia Tech Losses: @VT, UVA, @UNC

#6 TCU at #3 Southern Cal in Los Angeles

TCU Key Wins: BYU
TCU Bad Losses: @OU, @Utah

Southern Cal Key Wins: tOSU, Oregon, Cal
Southern Cal Losses: @Oregon St.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Online Surveys & Market Research

NFC

#6 Texas at #3 Penn St. in Happy Valley

Texas Key Wins: OU(n), Mizzou, Okie St., @Kansas
Texas Losses: @TT

Penn St. Key Wins: Oregon St., @tOSU, Michigan St.
Penn St. Bad Losses: @Iowa

#5 Texas Tech at #4 Cincinnati in Cincy

Cincy Key Wins: USF, @WVU, Pitt
Cincy Bad Losses: @Oklahoma, @UConn

Texas Tech Key Wins: Nebraska, @Kansas, Texas, Okie St.
Texas Tech Bad Losses: @Oklahoma

Online Surveys & Market Research

Online Surveys & Market Research

We've all seen a post or two about what would happen if the BCS ran the NFL. But like last year I will again be taking the opposite view and looking at what would an NCAA Playoff Look Like if it built like the NFL's post season.

First step is figuring out what to do with the divisions. The NFL has 8 divisions and 12 playoff teams while the NCAA has 11 conferences so you have to make some sort of move there. So I'm going with 3 conferences getting the axe and the remainder will be associated with an NFL Division. I decided to eliminate the Sun Belt, Conference USA and the MAC. I've aligned the divisions as such.

NFC East: Big East, NFC North: Big Ten, NFC South: Big 12, NFC West: WAC
AFC East: ACC, AFC North: Mountain West, AFC South: SEC, AFC West: PAC 10

Next the playoffs are set the exact same way as the NFL. 6 teams per conference, 4 division winners and 2 wildcards. The seeding will be done using NFL tie breaker rules. Conference championship games will be ignored as they do not universally apply and would be eliminated if gone to this scenario.

NFC Seeds

1. Boise St. (12-0): Undefeated Boise St. gets the #1 seed.
2. Oklahoma (11-1): Oklahoma and Texas Tech win the tie-breaker over Texas thanks to overall conference record as Oklahoma has a win over Cincy and TT has a win over Nevada. Then when it breaks down to 2 teams it reverts back to head to head and Oklahoma takes the tie-breaker.
3. Penn St. (11-1): Penn St. wins the NFC North but loses the tie-breaker for the bye to Oklahoma due to strength of Victory.
4. Cincinnati (10-2): Champs of the NFC East
5. Texas Tech (11-1): As stated before the Red Raiders win the tie-breaker over the Longhorns so they get the 5th seed.
6. Texas (11-1): The Longhorns still manage to get the final NFC playoff spot.

AFC Seeds

1. Utah (12-0): Undefeated Utah narrowly gets the top seed as the tie-breaker came down to Strength of Victory and Utah's out of conference wins. Thanks to Oregon St., the Utes came out with a better winning percentage than did their competition.
2. Alabama (12-0): Again the conference Title Games are eliminated from consideration so the Crimson Tide and not the Gators are the AFC South Champs.
3. Southern California (11-1): The Trojans easily win the AFC West.
4. Georgia Tech (9-3): Unlike in College the #1 tie-breaker is overall record, so that immediately eliminates VT and FSU with 4 losses. The two left are then BC and GaTech and Tech advances thanks to their week 2 victory.
5. Florida (11-1): The Gators don't get their division crown, but still manage to get a favorable Wild Card Spot.
6. TCU (10-2): TCU advances to the 6th spot over BYU thanks to their head to head victory.

Here is your complete Bracket:



Each winner will be decided using votes. The Voting Periods Will be as follows.

Wildcard Vote: Dec 15th-Dec 22th
Divisional Vote: Dec 22th - Dec 29th
Championship Vote: Dec 29th - Jan 5th
Superbowl Vote: Jan 5th - Jan 9th

Duke Preston really really miss-timed his usage of the hit stick. He really should have waited until he was close to Shaun Ellis, but instead his right trigger thumb was a bit too quick and Jeff Triplette took the brunt of the hit stick.

MDS at the Fanhouse believes that the 2008 Lions, arguably the worst football team ever, would not only beat the 1972 Undefeated Dolphins team but dominate them. I understand that todays athletes are bigger, stronger and more athletic than than they were in the 1970s. But is there nothing to say about teamwork? The Lions are never on the same page, they bicker, they have no quarterback and they never perform. Meanwhile the Dolphins while less talented and athleticly gifted were cohesive enough to not lose a signle game all season despite playing much of the year with their backup quarterback. [link]

Remember when Imus got fired because he made derogatory racial remarks about Rutgers black basketball players? Pretty humorous how this happened months before those remarks.

Who really cares how McCoy played against Rice or how Bradford played against Chattanooga or Tebow against the Citadel. What matters is how they played in the biggest games of the year. For each team I trimmed down their schedule to their biggest six games of the year. For McCoy that meant including essentially their entire Big 12 schedule and stretching a bit with Kansas and Colorado. For Bradford that meant including TCU and Cincy and ignoring Kansas and Nebraska. For Tebow that means FSU plus their big SEC games but ignoring the U.

When you get those stats in the same place you'll notice that really, McCoy does not belong in the conversation. The table below shows the stats for those 6 games and I've highlighted their totals for each category, green is tops, yellow is middle and red is bottom.

First off McCoy played weaker opponents throughout, because he played no out of conference games of any consequence. He had less passing touchdowns than either Tebow or McCoy, had way less passing yards than Bradford and half the rushing touchdowns as Tebow. In McCoys one loss he had one of his two worst performances where as Bradford threw for 5 touchdowns and 387 yards in his loss and Tebow threw for over 300+ yards for the only time of the season and had 3 touchdowns. All three had costly turnovers in their losses as McCoy threw an INT, Bradford thre 2 and Tebow had a key fumble lost.

To me it comes down to Bradford or Tebow. Do you prefer Tebow's versatility as the power back? Or do you perfer Bradfords highly superior but one dimensional passing numbers? Me? I think I'm leaning towards Bradford. All 6 of his teams are ranked in the top 25. The only game he didn't have 4 or more tds his team scored 62 points. Tebow was great and absolutely carried the Gators in the SEC title game and is also a good choice but to me seeing Bradford average 375 yards in those 6 games should win him the award.

Apparently it's favorite week, except of course for last nights game which I of course lost already.

5. Washington Redskins (-6 1/2) at Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals are so incredibly terrible.

4. Arizona Cardinals (-3 1/2) vs. Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings are playing Tarvaris Jackson again... that's why I'm picking the Cardinals.

3. New England Patriots (-7 1/2) at Oakland Raiders
The Raiders have put up more than 1 good game this season, but their typical game is complete shit. So I'm guessing this weekend will be complete shit.

2. Indianapolis Colts (-16 1/2) vs. Detroit Lions
The Colts haven't lost in a long time and the Lions haven't won in longer. Nothing is going to give.

1. Tennessee Titans (-3 1/2) at Houston Texans
This spread is absolutely begging a sucker to take it. And well I'm just that sucker.

Survivor League Pick: SCREW Seattle
Washington over Cincy. I know Washington is struggling but it's Cincy they suck.

Non-Spread Picks

I was perusing BetUS Sportsbook to see if I could find any interesting bets for the football season and I came across the Manning Bowl. The odds for an all Manning Superbowl this year is +900.

So is +900 a good bet? Currently the Colts are +400 to reach the Superbowl which puts them as the third favorite in the AFC behind the Steelers and the Titans. This means that in all likelihood they will have to win three straight road games. Whom would they likely face off against? First you have either the AFC East champ or Denver Broncos. The Colts have eaten the Broncos alive historically so that would be a safe bet. The Jets can't cover the pass so again a safe bet. The Dolphins, Chad vs. Peyton worked out in the Jets favor years ago but I think Peyton is over his postseason malaise now. And the Pats well it's Cassel not Brady. The next round will be a lot trickier. One or the other the Colts will have to go on the road to Pitt or Tennessee and deal with a team that can consistently run the ball down their throat and then in all likelihood they will have to beat the other squad the very next week. The Colts road is a difficult one.

What about the G-Men? The GMen are currently at +120 and the leading favorite to reach the Superbowl in the NFC and all of the NFL. They're currently locked into the bye and likely homefield throughout. That would force them to win only two home games, but is that a good thing? Eli has historically never thrown a tight spiral and the wind as seen last week can play massive tricks on his passes, but will an excellent performance on his end truly be needed? Just look at their possible opponents. The Vikings have no passing attack. The Cardinals have already experienced one Giant beatdown. The Cowboys are crumbling emotionally. The Eagles are coming back but might not get in. The Bears have Kyle Orton. The GMen beat the Bucs last postseason with ease. Jake Delhomme throws countless horrible interceptions. There's a reason why the Giants are the odds on favorite to represent the NFC.

So would you lay down 100 to take home a grand on the Manning Bowl? Do you think the Giants will repeat as NFC champs while Peyton battles on the road for three straight weeks?

No matter what happens during this weekends game the Giants fans have already won the mental game.

Courtesy of HHR

Broken Arms That's How. Just look. One's a coincidence, two's a trend?

Sudden Death Overtime in the NFL is incredibly lame. That is all.

The Mets bullpen sucked last year. It sucked mightily. It cost them their chance to win the division and paved the way for the Phillies to win the World Series. And in the past two days they've gone about trying to address this. They brought in K-Rod to be the closer, even though many people have brought up valid points about how he's already on the decline, and they brought in JJ Putz to pitch in the 8th. Sometimes I'm a bit wary about sending a dominant closer back to the 8th inning, but still he's certainly a lot better than what they had last year. But there is still something missing. Who the hell is taking the ball to start the game?

The Mets right now have three starters, Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and obviously Johan Santana and then well nothing. So time to spend more money? Let's see who they could potentially target.

Ollie P: He's been there two and a half years and he's been great. And then bad. And then great. And then really bad. You never quite know what you're going to get from an Ollie P start. Will the Mets dip back into that well? I'd imagine so.

Pedro Martinez: The best pitcher of his generation is nothing more than a #4 injury riddled starter now. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mets bring him back, but I'm leaning towards thinking that they won't.

Bartolo Colon: The Fat man is a free agent and seemingly no one knows about it cause he did limited for the Red Sox last year. He does fit the Mets general description (Latin) though, and my guess is he winds up on the Mets roster as their #5.

Freddy Garcia: You know he's only 32? Seems like he's been around forever. He's also coming off multiple injuries so he could be a cheap get for the Mets as well. Plus he's you guessed it Latin.

Tom Glavine: That made me chuckle a bit.

Ben Sheets: Who's trying to sign Sheets now? Anyone? Perhaps he'll wind up with the Mets when I want him to wind up with the Yankees.

John Smoltz: If Glavine bolted once then why not Smoltz? Ya not gonna happen.

Derek Lowe: They could potentially go for Lowe but I'm not sure what he as a country hunter boy adds to the clubhouse chemistry.

Carl Pavano: I think he's going to go as far away from New York as possible. Although it would be humorous if he went to the Mets and wound up on the DL in Spring Training.

Brad Penny: Eh fat, not very jolly, and white do not make a Met.

Randy Wolf: I don't think Wolf fits the Mets mold either.

So we're guessing the Mets sign 3 of these 4: Ollie P, Pedro, Bartolo and Freddy.

SI's Hot Clicks is Running Their Very First Clicksy Awards going over the best and brightest of the blogosphere. So I figured I'd put my two cents in to discuss who I'm voting for. Last up is the bizarre stories category.

Check Out The Other Sumups: Women, Highlights of the Year, Videos

Bizarre Stories

Most Bizarre off-field story: Jason Giambi admits to wearing lucky thong, Sean Avery does a summer internship at "Vogue", Chad Johnson changes his name to "Ocho Cinco", Green Bay station pulls "Seinfeld" because it's Eli Manning's favorite show
All of these stories are very odd, but for a TV station to pull a show thinking it was going to effect their opponent, that's just a bit ridiculous.

Most Bizarre On-Field Incident: College pitcher intentionally(?) hurls pitch at umpire, Referee throws forearm at South Carolina quarterback, End of the Steelers-Chargers game in Week 11
I've been a part of the don't catch the ball let it hit the umpire before, that happens way more often than people think. I've never seen a referee blow up a running back on a play before.

Wackiest Minor League Promotion: Elliott Spizter Night, Larry Craig Bobblefoot Night, Beetle Eating Night
Anything involving Spitzer this year was wacky.

Worst Sports TV Moment: TBS misses start of Game 6 of the ALCS and shows The Steve Harvey Show, Game 6 of NHL Finals on Versus gets cut off in third period for Victoria Principal infomercial, Fox's Danielle Sargent's interview with Mike Singletary
You can't ask someone with a serious face how their conversation with a dead man went the night before.

Most Ridiculous Injury: Brandon Inge injured lifting a pillow, Mikhail Youzhny splits his head open after hitting himself with his racket, Hunter Pence walks through a sliding door, MLS' Fabian Espindola breaks leg after doing backflip to celebrate goal
The best part of this injury was the fact that the goal was waved off because he was offside, therefore he broke his leg celebrating nothing.

Most Embarrassing Fan Moment: Rockets fan proposes during game, girlfriend says no, Phillies fan gets knocked off traffic light by flying vodka bottle, Naked woman in SkyDome hotel gets put on JumboTron during Blue Jays game
Proposing at a sports event is pretty lame in the first place, but getting rejected in the process, wow.

Most Disturbing Fan Story: Patriots fan tattoo's logo into his head, Bruins fan urinates on other fans during game, Iowa fans have sex in Metrodome bathroom
You had me at urinates.

Now Go Vote

SI's Hot Clicks is Running Their Very First Clicksy Awards going over the best and brightest of the blogosphere. So I figured I'd put my two cents in to discuss who I'm voting for. Now up, the videos. Their page has links to all of the videos.

Check Out The Other Sumups: Women, Highlights of the Year, Bizarre Stories

Videos

Cheesiest Team Video: Dodgers: Baseball Boogie, Eagles: Buddy's Watchin' You, Rams: Ram It
All 80s team music videos were horrible but the Rams was really bad.

Best Viral Ad: Kobe jumps over Aston Martin, Gatorade's ballgirl catch, Tiger walks on water
Tiger dominates this.

Best Video Of An Athlete Singing: Tony Romo sings Sweet Child O'Mine, Patriots sing The Right Stuff, Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen sing Blame It On The Rain, Greg Oden sings It's Gonna Be Me
Can't say I saw the top three so we're going with Oden.

Coolest Athletic Video, Compilation: Remi Gaillard, Ben Wilson, Stuart Tanner schools Devin Harris
You got served by a White British dude in a sweater.

Coolest Athletic Video, Single Play: Wisconsin high school linebacker leaps over offensive lineman for tackle, Morgan State's Edwin Baptiste makes circus catch, Philip Lutzenkirchen of the Lassiter Trojans laterals ball from back of end zone
Catching the ball while going out of bounds and tossing it back to one of your teammates is pretty pimp.

Best Pop Culture Video: Sarah Silverman: I'm F------ Matt Damon, Bill O'Reilly flips out, Any Tina Fey as Sarah Palin clip
F'n Matt Damon was pretty classic, but I couldn't get enough of the Bill O'Reilly clip.

Favorite News Mishap: Bird poops in reporters mouth, Reporter walks into pole, Reporter gets taken out by sled
Does anything say funny quite like shit in the mouth?

Now Go Vote

SI's Hot Clicks is Running Their Very First Clicksy Awards going over the best and brightest of the blogosphere. So I figured I'd put my two cents in to discuss who I'm voting for. Now up, the highlights of the year. There page has links to all of the videos.

Check Out The Other Sumups: Women, Bizarre Stories, Videos

Highlights of the Year

Best Sports Commercial: Olympic hoops Nike ad with Marvin Gaye singing national anthem, LeBron James sneaker commercial with Pussycat Doll, Heidi Klum for Guitar Hero
Can't say I'm enamored with any of these but we'll go with Klum.

Best Rick Roll: Eastern Washington basketball game, Mets organization, John McCain, Hot Clicks readers
It would have been great if they played it every 7th inning stretch.

Most Memorable Betting Story: Sasha Vujacic throws in meaningless 3-pointer in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, Iowa St. covers +13 against Iowa in Week 3 because of an intetional safety by Iowa, Phillies bettors get paid for suspended Game 5 of the World Series, End of the Steelers-Chargers game in Week 11
That was the biggest nonsense ever.

Blogosphere Moment Of The Year: Chris Berman "unplugged" videos hit Deadspin, Shaq asks Kobe how his a-- tastes, Chris Cooley accidentially shows his junk on his blog
Boomer cursing left and right was pretty damn hilarious.

Best Banned Commercial: 1/28:Jawbone, 9/3: New Yorker, 10/10: Bud Light, 11/24 Ikea
Those Ikea spots were pretty solid.

Best Sign: Erin Andrews Loves The Hardwood, Incoming Kelvin Sampson Call, Let's Lei Hawaii Doggie Style
She does in fact love it.

Funniest NBA Players: Chris Bosh, Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James, Greg Oden
Who says Big Men Can't Sell?

Now Go Vote

SI's Hot Clicks is Running Their Very First Clicksy Awards going over the best and brightest of the blogosphere. So I figured I'd put my two cents in to discuss who I'm voting for. First up is the women category

Check Out The Other Sumups: Highlights of the Year, Bizarre Stories, Videos

Women

Best Hot Clicks Newcomer: Feres Twins, Leryn Franco, Jags cheerleader, Kelli
Twins is the key word.

Hottest Athlete Girlfriend Always Featured In Hot Clicks (Major Sport): Kim Kardashian, Gisele Bundchen, Minka Kelly, Adriana Lima, Jessica Simpson
Honestly not a big fan of some of these ladies, I'll lean with Minka over Lima cause Lima looks a little to evil sometimes.

Hottest Athlete Girlfriend Always Featured In Hot Clicks (Secondary Sport): Ingrid Vandenbosch, Brooklyn Decker, Elin Woods, Ashley Judd
How Roddick ended up with that is mind boggling, too bad he doesn't do that well on the court.

Hottest Woman Often Featured In Hot Clicks For No Reason: Emmanuelle Chriqui, Stacy Keibler, Jessica Biel, Blake Lively
I'm a brunette guy and Biel to me is slightly superior to Chriqui.

Hottest Reporter, National Level: Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson, Rachel Nichols, Ashley Russell
EA has no sideline competition.

Hot Clicks Lifetime Achievement Award: Erin Andrews, Leryn Franco, Marisa Miller
Erin Andrews is wonderful but I'm sorry she does not comapare with Marisa.

Athlete You'd Most Want To Trade Places With For One Day: Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, Tim Tebow, David Beckham, LeBron James, Tiger Woods
Everyone of these guys is a superior talent and some have superior talent with the ladies, but I'm a bball guy at heart and did you see LBJs highlights from monday nights game? He dunked like 17 times. Give me that any day and I'll be blissful.

Now Go Vote Yourself

One thing to take into consideration when voting for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award is how committed they are to their program. Think about, what kind of positive effects it has on a university when the coach is completely committed to the program? Also, think about what kind of effect it has on the players and the university when you know an coach is really there because they were the highest bidder and because he's a paid gun.

The perfect example of someone who does not exemplify commitment to a university is Nick Saban. He's absolutely a great coach. He's turned the Alabama program around in no time at all. But when it comes down to it, his commitment is not to the University of Alabama but to the massive multi-million dollar deal he's receiving. If you're a player being recruited by him, do you think that he's definitely still going to be around for your 4 years? Or are you worried that you well end up like the LSU players when he fled for the NFL dollars? Certainly you're glad he's coaching you now, but there's a good chance you'll end up really hating him in the future.

Many of the finalists have shown commitment to their university. Pat Fitzgerald is an alumnus. Jim Tressel, Mack Brown and Bob Stoops are all very committed to their programs. But of the finalists for the award, no coach exemplifies commitment to their university more than Joe Paterno. Joe Paterno is Penn State football. He has been there for 59 years, that's longer than most of the other candidates have been alive. Joe Paterno is certainly not still at Penn State for the money as his 500 thousand dollar contract is amongst the lowest in the BCS conferences. He's there because he's dedicated to Penn St. football and because of this he's idolized by all Penn State fans. Surely you know that eventually he's going to retire, but he makes sure at any time he is asked the questions to defer them until after the season. He does everything he can for his players and for Penn State.

If you want to see all of the Harris Poll Ballots in the Same Place to see if you can find more ridiculous outliers, Go Here.

The Harris Poll Voters are a mish-mosh of the famous and the random and while they have less conflicting interests than coaches obviously do, their ballots are just as wacked out if not more so.

Larry Keech Has a Mid-Major Crush, Makes the Case for the Worst Ballot On the Planet
1 Man and 1 Man alone voted Utah #1, and that man is Larry Keech. He followed that up by ranking Boise St. #2 and Texas #3 then Oklahoma and Florida. But the mid major crush does not end there. Ball St. at 10 despite the embarrassing championship loss. TCU at #11. And Rice at #18? Seriously Rice. And of course he went out in a mid-major flurry. Western Michigan at #23, East Carolina at #24 and Tulsa at #25. This same bright jackass voted Hawaii #1 last year. Any chance his vote can be revoked?

Thurman Thomas is Anti-Leach
Thurman Thomas voted his former squad Okie St. at #12 so only 1 spot above where the Cowboys wound up. So where's the confusion? How about the fact that he voted Texas Tech at #14 despite them having two more wins including a 56-20 beatdown of the Cowboys.

I Wonder Who Voted for Rutgers?
Hmm look at Rutgers down there with 2 points despite going 7-5. I wonder who voted for them. If you guessed their radioplay-by-play guy Chris Carlin than you sir would be correct.

On That Note, Who Voted for Nebraska?
Our former ESPN and former CornHusker Trev Alberts of course.

Other Alma Mater Bumping
Former Beaver Travis Prentice had Oregon St. highest on his ballot when he put them 16th.

Oh Shit I Kind of Well Forgot
Don Criqui, the CBS broadcaster, kind of forgot to send in his ballot.

Didn't TCU Crush BYU? Must Be A Lot of Mormon Voters
Packers Director of Scouting John Dorsey might have missed the memo on that outcome because he ranked TCU at #24 (far and away their lowest ranking) while ranking BYU at #23. Interesting choice. Perhaps former Ohio St. coach Earl Bruce was also busy that weekend because he voted BYU #12 and TCU #21. Mike McGee was also throwing down shots of Tequila that weekend as he had TCU at #17 and BYU at #15. Former UConn AD, John Toner, completed the confusin with TCU at #18 and BYU at #17.

I Guess When You Live in Hawaii You Grow To Hate the East
Bob Wagner the former Hawaii coach must have a little grudge against the Big East as he voted only one team in the Big East into the top 25, conference champs Cincy at #25. Think he was trying to lower their ranking to try and sneak Boise St. in?

I Appreciate the High Education
Former UNLV AD Charlie Cavagnaro may have called his softball players 'Dykes in Spikes' and his basketball players monkeys but he appreciates some good old fashion learning and that's why he has Northwestern at #12.

Conference USA Sucks Right? I think This Guy is Confused
Former SMU athletic director Jim Copeland voted Tulsa #14 which gave them 12 of the 20 poll points they were allotted.

Bonus Points for Being the Defending Champ?
Army Radio broadcaster John Minko voted LSU at #23 and allotted them all three of the points they were given. You can't really blame Minko, it's got to be miserable for your health to watch Army every week.

Got any others? Leave Them in the Comments.

I've ventured into the quest of making an Interactive Harris Poll much like the USA Today Poll. Below is the Google Docs attempt, its not overly interactive and its not the platform to get it done. It's an ok attempt but I'm still working towards the optimal solution.

Here's how it works. Each tab highlights the votes received by 3 different teams. So if you want to see Florida, Oklahoma and Texas look at the 1-3 tab. If you want to see Bama, USC and Penn St. look at the 4-6. Etc. When you scroll from left to right on each tab it will be easy to view the outliers.

If you want a detailed look at an individual ballot just click on one of the names in the top row you will be redirected to their top 25 ballot on the Harris' website. Unfortunately Google Docs does not support Vertical Text which is lame, so you're just getting the first two letters of their first name. Here's a list of the voters.

I asked Grutt what his thoughts were on the Sabathia signing and I thought his response pretty much nailed it. So here it is.

I don’t know. Every year I get a little more disenchanted with baseball. Yea, it’s great we signed the top pitching free agent. But we were supposed to. No team was even in the ballpark of the Yankees offer yet they still needed to jump from the already ridiculous price of $140 million to $160 million to close the deal. Now I hear we are going to sign more pitchers who will also get large contracts and the position player gaps are still glaring. Each new, large contract just adds to the feeling that the Yanks are supposed to win it all. “I think we have a good chance this year.” That is a lost feeling. If they don’t win I’ll wonder why, like there has to be some other reason besides that it’s a sport you can never predict how things will work out and some years just aren’t yours to be won. If they win I will be pleasantly smug. It gets a little more dismal every year.

But hey, they got him and hopefully he will be something special to watch. He better be for $160 million, right? He isn’t human anymore so he isn’t allowed to make mistakes.

The CC Sabathia free agent rollercoaster ride appears to be docking in the Bronx finally but it was an up and down and side to side ride.

The Brew Crew sends Jeff Suppan to the hill and lose 6-2, eliminating them from the playoffs. Sunday October 5th marks to first day the Sabathia free agent rollercaoster hit the tracks.

The Brew Crew make their first offer to Sabathia on November 3rd.

The Yankees make their first official offer on November 14th.

Doug Melvin comes out and says that the Yankees are overbidding for Sabathia.

One week later newly appointed Hal decided to come out and give CC a deadline, "We've made him an offer. It's not going to be there forever."

On December 1st the Brewers offered CC arbitration to ensure their draft pick compensation.

Sabathia and the Yankees meet on Sunday night to go over 'What it's like to play and live in New York'.

Early on Monday morning Buster Olney said the meeting with CC and the Yankees went GRRREAAAT.

Later on Monday reports came out from Los Angeles and the Dodgers GM Ned Colletti that Sabathia wanted to play for Dodgers.

Then yesterday reports out of San Francisco saying Sabathia had rejected the Yankees offer were blasted throughout the media.

And now you wake up this morning and find out that CC and the Yankees have essentially agreed to a 160 million dollar deal over 7 years.

Let us count down the 10 plays that were the biggest culprits in the Jets loss to the 49ers.

1st Quarter

3rd and 2 at SF 38 (13:54) (Shotgun) B.Favre pass incomplete short right to D.Keller.
The Jets recovered the onside kick and had every chance to jump out to a big lead given their ridiculous field position but instead they went three and out thanks to Keller's drop. It was the biggest culprit of the Jets not taking advantage of their opportunities.

2nd and 5 at NYJ 7 (2:26) S.Hill pass short middle to J.Hill to NYJ 1 for 6 yards (H.Poteat). FUMBLES (H.Poteat), recovered by SF-J.Staley at NYJ 0. TOUCHDOWN. Caught at NYJ 3, lost ball at NYJ 1. J.Staley recovered ball in end zone for TD.
The Jets sucked it up for the second straight defensive drive but once again managed to force a fumble. Cody Spencer a backup linebacker had the first opportunity to fall on the ball, and he did. The only problem is he didn't come close to holding onto the ball and the Jets were down 6-0.

2nd Quarter

2nd and 20 at NYJ 40 (2:00) (Shotgun) S.Hill pass short right to D.Zeigler to NYJ 27 for 13 yards (D.Lowery). Caught at NYJ 29.
The Jets on 1st down with the Niners driving got pressure and got the sack then in typically fashion on 2nd down they play soft coverage and let them get all their yards back plus some more. The Niners got the 1st down on the next play.

3rd and 4 at NYJ 4 (:50) S.Hill pass short right to F.Gore for 4 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Caught at NYJ 6.
The Jets forced Hill to throw 2 separate incomplete passes and had a chance to force a San Fran field goal. But the beautiful defensive scheme decided that Frank Gore should be covered by the safety in the middle of the field who was forced into a futile fight through 2 wideouts and 2 dbs.

3rd Quarter

2nd and 20 at NYJ 38 (:57) S.Hill pass short right to J.Hill pushed ob at NYJ 27 for 11 yards (K.Rhodes; T.Law). Caught at NYJ 33.
Once again the Jets got the Niners into a 2nd and 20 thanks to a holding penalty and a sack and yet again they fell into incredibly soft coverage and let them get the lost yardage plus some more. The Niners once again got the 1st down on the next play.

4th Quarter

J.Nedney kicks 69 yards from SF 30 to NYJ 1. L.Washington to NYJ 40 for 39 yards. PENALTY on NYJ-J.Ihedigbo, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at NYJ 40. KORet for TD nullified by holding penalty. L.Washington credited with 39-yard return.
The Jets seemingly took the lead and I had a second of joy but alas it was not to be as Ihedigbo was called for a highly questionable holding penalty.

1st and 10 at NYJ 30 (14:29) B.Favre pass incomplete to T.Jones (M.Lewis). PENALTY on NYJ-C.Baker, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at NYJ 30 - No Play.
The Jets followed up the kicking holding penalty with and offensive holding penalty which killed their chances at a successful drive.

3rd and 6 at NYJ 13 (7:47) S.Hill pass short right to J.Hill to NYJ 4 for 9 yards (D.Coleman).
The Jets needing a stop to keep the game at 1 possession saw the 49ers run a wide receiver criss-cross to Jason Hill. Revis had the opportunity to step up and make the tackle prior to the first down but took a miserable angle and allowed Hill to get by him and get the 1st.

J.Nedney kicks 65 yards from SF 30 to NYJ 5. B.Smith to NYJ 14 for 9 yards. FUMBLES, recovered by NYJ-L.Washington at NYJ 1. L.Washington to NYJ 1 for no gain (B.Bajema; T.Banta-Cain). B.Smith attempted a backward pass and is charged with a KOReturn of -4 yds.
Desperate situations leads to desperate moves and the Jets running the option on the kickoff was just that. I honestly think with a good pitch it may have been succesful because Leon looked like he was in the clear to gain 20+ additional yards, but instead the pitch sucked and Leon was lucky not to take a safety.

1st and 10 at NYJ 38 (2:00) (Shotgun) B.Favre pass intended for L.Coles INTERCEPTED by W.Harris at SF 7. W.Harris to SF 7 for no gain (L.Coles). Penalty on NYJ-L.Coles, Offensive Pass Interference, declined.
The exclamation point on their shitty play. Brett throws up an arm punt down the sidelines which Coles has to attempt an offensive interference to avoid it being intercepted, but it doesn't matter as Harris came down with it anyway.

Wow You Guys Suck: Detroit Lions, Just 3 games away from 0-16, that'll be so much fun. And I don't know if even a federal bailout would help them Runners Up: Anybody think Marvin Lewis is dying to get fired, seriously what happened to Jacksonville?

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Antonio Pierce, You tried to say that you were good to go in the game but you obviously were both distracted and frustrated. On one drive you took two absolutely horrendous penalties. Runners Up: Whoever designs the Jets coverage schemes, the Jets for letting Pennington free and allowing him to go to the Dolphins.

Cough Cough Cough: Tony Romo, The chance was there despite the Steelers comeback. You had the ball in a tie game needing only a field goal and instead of driving you throw a game losing pick 6. Runners Up: the Jets choked away their chance to lengthen their division lead, Seattle had the game in their hands but couldn't hold on

The Shocker: The 49ers, Grr crapity crap crap shit. Back to back weeks I have the Niners at the shocker. I'm sorry but I just didn't see this coming before the game and then during the game it was all too clear. The Jets opted to play no defense and essentially force themselves to win out if they want to make the playoffs. Runners Up: the Cowboys collapse, the Giants offenses virtual no show.

The Pimp: Carolina Running Backs, Both Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams dominated last night to retake the division lead. 301 total yards on the ground between the two was by far the biggest reason for their victory. Runners Up: Brian Westbrook ate the GMen alive, Matt Schaub is back and throwing for 414.

You Got Jakked Up: Ronde Barber, Down 7 points in the fourth on back to back running plays Ronde Barber was brushed off via the stiff arm resulting in two carries for 46 yards and a td.

My Fantasy Anti-MVP: Hope is Gone, I'm out of the postseason so it's all meaningless.

New York Jets Anti-MVP: Defense, If their mission was to make Shaun Hill look and feel like Steve Young than it was accomplished.

My Picks

My Picks: 11-5
Preseason Picks: 9-7
Picks Vs. Spread: 8-8
Pick Suggestions: 2-3

An eh week after two very solid spread weeks.

Join up and prove that you are more intelligent than me (doubtful) in regards to college football.

Group: Tebow is a Superior Being
Password: Tebow

It's the last poll of the year, so the USA Today kindly gives us this beautiful interactive chart featuring all of the coaches who vote. Let's have some fun looking at some of the more ridiculous and random outliers.

My Team is Better than Everybody Else Thinks It Is
Hey Mike Leach, the Red Raiders are #2 in the country? Ahead of Florida, Texas, and Alabama? Awesome. Butch Davis thinks North Carolina should be ranked, the rest of the world does not. Bo Pelini knows Nebraska should be ranked, other coaches do not.

Grr We Beat You, You Aren't As Good as People Say
I'm not saying I'd vote for Ball St. in the top 25 either, but Buffalo's Coach Turner Gill doesn't think they're that good as he was one of the 12 coaches who left the Cardinals off his ballot.

That Team Beat Us Because They Are Super-Dooper Awesome
Ole Miss had some good games and emerged as probably the 3rd or 4th best team in the SEC this year, but Urban you seriously voted them in at #12?

Hey You Used to Coach With Me, I'll Rank You Higher
Hal Mumme used to employ Mike Leach as his offensive coordinator from 1989-1998, so I guess he's got a little loyalty there when he ranks TT at #3. Gene Chizik was one of 4 who voted Texas #1, it just so happens he was the Co-Defensive Coordinator of Texas in 05 and 06.

My Daddy Should Be Ranked
Fired Tommy Bowden still has a vote and he voted daddy #21. Daddy on the other hand left the Seminoles off his ballot.

No We're the 2nd Best Team in Texas Not You
Gary Patterson voted two loss TCU at #10 and 1 loss Texas Tech at #11. Guess he just thinks his ass whoopin by the Sooners was better than Leach's ass whoopin by the Sooners.

Pat Hill is Random and Doesn't Like Mormons
Pat Hill is going for the most random ballot. Kansas at #16, he knows they lost 5 times right? Plus, Rutgers is ranked huh? You finished 7-5, they finished 7-5 and you beat them by 17. I'm confused. And the icing on the cake is apparently Hill's dislike for Mormons as he was the only coach to not include BYU in the poll.

Rick Neuheisel is the Riddler
Texas at #1? Uh I guess. Oklahoma at #4? Perhaps. Cincinnati is #19 and Pitt is unranked? I guess he's just a west coast guy. Oregon St. is #17? Perhaps he didn't want to drop them much.

Gary Pinkel Hates All Mid-Majors Equally
Utah is #15. Boise St. is #16. TCU is #17. Mizzou is #18. BYU is #19. Is there a school in there that doesn't fit?

Tyrone Willingham Needs a Job
Hey hey Gary, I voted Mizzou #11. How about you get me an assistants job?

Can you find any other ridiculous outliers or biased voters?

de⋅press⋅ing [di-pres-ing]
–adjective
serving to depress; inducing a state of depression: depressing news.

Sentence Usage: Getting your hopes up as a Jet fan only to get them shattered back to reality is incredibly depressing.

Given that it's only early December, meaning I am only mildly in tune with the college hoops world, it's not surprising that on Saturday afternoon I completely forgot about the fact that Michigan was hosting the Blue Devils*. But thanks to the power of gambling my buddy, whose house I went to, was completely in tune to the game. Why? He was laying cash on Michigan +10, so instead of just focusing on the 1st half of the SEC championship we were hitting the last channel button plentifully and it was glorious.

Michigan has played Duke multiple times in the past decade and well the results aren't good. Hell the results aren't typically good when they play anybody nevermind Duke. But not this saturday. Nope the Wolverines are no longer miserable (don't know if they're good either but not miserable). Sure the Wolverines were at home and Duke struggled mightily from beyond the arc (7-33 ouch) but who cares, there's no better feeling in college basketball than beating Duke.

And that's what I did on saturday afternoon I enjoyed watching Michigan beat Duke. I enjoyed the back cuts. I enjoyed the clutch threes by white kids I've never seen play before. I enjoyed the dejected looks of Scheyer and Singler. I enjoyed the lack of PT given to the douche aka Greg Paulus (10 minutes ha!). I enjoyed the fact that Michigan now has two marquee out of conference wins and may break the misery streak of 10 years without an NCAA bid.

After last years misery, including a loss to Tommy Amaker, it's nice to see that John Beilein is finally getting the message across to his players. Perhaps this means that next year RichRod will do the same?

I think I'll end this post on a song:

Michigan beat Duke HaHaHa.
Scheyer is a Crier, HaHaHa.
Paulus is a Douche, HaHaHa.
Michigan beat Duke HaHaHa.

* I mean I had a presentation in the morning and decided to skip the part of my 2nd class just so I could get home for the Bama vs. Florida game, there were things on my mind.

a⋅bom⋅i⋅na⋅tion [uh-bom-uh-ney-shuhn]
–noun
1. anything abominable; anything greatly disliked or abhorred.
2. intense aversion or loathing; detestation: He regarded lying with abomination.
3. a vile, shameful, or detestable action, condition, habit, etc.: Spitting in public is an abomination.

Sentence Usage: Yesterday, the Jets play was an abomination.

o⋅ver⋅rate [oh-ver-reyt]
–verb (used with object), -rat⋅ed, -rat⋅ing.
to rate or appraise too highly; overestimate: I think you overrate their political influence.

Sentence Usage: After beating the Patriots and then the Titans the Jets were completely overrated by every member of the media.

mo⋅ron [mawr-on, mohr-]
–noun
1. a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment.
2. Psychology. a person of borderline intelligence in a former classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50 to 69.
3. Psychology A person of mild mental retardation having a mental age of from 7 to 12 years and generally having communication and social skills enabling some degree of academic or vocational education. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.

Sentence Usage: Eric Mangini is a complete moron. His play calling and defensive schemes are obviously only at a 5th grade level.

The traditional Army Navy game happened this saturday, and once again Navy obliterated Army. Navy extended its win streak to 7 by running running and more running. The Midshipmen had 368 rushing yards while while Army mustered only 154 total yards in the 34-0 rout. But the pain wasn't just in the score or the play but also in aesthetics. Isn't it bad enough that Army is in the midst of an incredibly poor streak against their rival and were completely embarrassed on the field. Did the fashionistas at the school have to go out and force them to wear the most hideous uniforms of all time as well? I mean how much do they want to punish these kids that are going to serve our country? It just seems cruel.

Online Surveys & Market Research

piss-poor [pis-poor]
–adjective Slang: Vulgar.
of extremely inferior or disappointing quality or rating.

Sentence Usage: The Jets defense is extremely piss poor. Their tackling is piss-poor. Their secondary is piss poor. Their pass rush is piss-poor. Their effort is piss-poor.

use⋅less [yoos-lis]
–adjective
1. of no use; not serving the purpose or any purpose; unavailing or futile: It is useless to reason with him.
2. without useful qualities; of no practical good: a useless person; a useless gadget.

Sentence Usage: The Jets Wide Receivers are one hundred percent useless.

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.

The regular season is over and without a playoffs we get the two most deserving teams in the BCS championship game. Does that mean they are truly the best? Maybe not.

1. Oklahoma - The best part about Oklahoma this season is the fact that they never want to stop scoring. It doesn't matter if your up by 30 with minutes to go, it's still time to run shotgun and put more points on the board. Quality Wins: Cincinnati, TCU, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas Tech, @Oklahoma St., Mizzou (n)

2. Florida - Despite not having Harvin the Gators proved that they are the best team in the SEC and probably the best team in the nation. Quality Wins: UGA(n), @FSU, Bama (n), South Carolina

3. Texas - Hey it sucks for you Texas but perhaps you should schedule a good out of conference game instead of cupcakes. Quality Wins: Oklahoma(n), Mizzou, Oklahoma St., Kansas

4. Texas Tech - Sure that loss was miserable but who else in the nation has a victory of a team the quality of Texas? Quality Wins: Kansas, Texas, Okie St. Bad Loss: Oklahoma

5. USC - An easy victory against cross town rival. I believe they are the 2nd best in the nation based on their Defense, but unfortunately for them the Pac 10 sucks this year. Quality Wins: Ohio State, Oregon, Cal

6. Alabama - Why the massive fall? They played well against the Gators and deserved to be on the same field as them, but at the end of the year who did they really beat? Georgia was eh all year long. Clemson also was eh. And Ole Miss kind of came out of nowhere to be the 4th best team in the SEC. Not really the greatest of schedules. Quality Wins: @Georgia, Ole Miss

7. Utah - Wee a Sugar Bowl beatdown is on the docket. Quality Wins: @Air Force, Oregon St., TCU, BYU

8. Penn St. - Woo a Rose Bowl beatdown is on the docket. Quality Wins: Oregon St., @Ohio St., Michigan St.

10. Cincinnati - Woo a boring Orange bowl is on the docket. Quality Wins: @WVU, Pitt, South Florida Bad Loss: UConn

10. Boise St. -Crushed Fresno St. to win their conference. Unfortunately for them Utah shall snatch up the non-BCS conference BCS birth. Sucks to be undefeated and miss out. Quality Wins: @Oregon

11. Ohio State - Another trip to the Fiesta bowl for the Buckeyes. Woo how exciting. Quality Wins: @Michigan State, @Northwestern

Dropped Out: no one

Noticeable Absences: no one

Oct 23 8:00 PM MLB @ Tampa Bay Rays Win (77.9%)
Victory number 1 came with James Shields vs. Brett Myers in Game #2 of the World Series. It was the Rays single series victory.

Oct 24 9:00 PM NCF Boise State Broncos Win 2 (97.8%)
Not really even sure why this was an option given that Boise St. is nationally ranked and San Jose St. was 6-6. Probably why Boise St. was a 97.8% national selection.

Oct 25 7:45 PM NCF Alabama Crimson Tide Win 3 (98.9%)
At the time the Crimson Tide was #4 in the nation and Tennessee was awful. Again a pretty obvious selection.

Oct 26 4:15 PM NFL New York Giants Win 4 (43.7%)
And the first ballsy pick, the Superbowl champs on the road against the Steelers. This game came down to the holder snapping the ball out of the back of the endzone. The streak could have easily ended at 3 but it continued.

Oct 27 8:00 PM MLB @ Philadelphia Phillies Push (67.3%)
The rain soaked game so it was ruled null and void.

Oct 28 10:30 PM NBA Andrew Bynum (LAL) Win 5 (68.7%)
In the first ever Bynum Oden showdown ESPN asked who would score more points. BigSam went with Bynum who only had 8. Oden however got injured and scored 0.

Oct 29 10:30 PM NBA New Orleans Hornets Win 6 (96.6%)
The Hornets were on the road against the Warriors. The warriors might have been winless and they stayed piss poor, losing by 5.

Oct 31 8:00 PM NBA Rajon Rondo (BOS): Points + Assists Win 7 (37.5%)
The second ballsy pick as he went against the crowd and said Rondo would have more points and assists then #1 pick Derrick Rose. The Celtics won by 20 so Rondo spent much of the 4th quarter on the bench which allowed Rose to almost pass him by, but alas Rondo finished with 20 and Rose with 19 and the streak continued.

Nov 01 12:00 PM NCF @ Michigan State Spartans Win 8 (97.6%)
Another massively close call as he went with the nation once again and chose Sparty against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers lead for the entirety of the game but were eventually sunk by a Sparty last second field goal.

Nov 02 1:00 PM NFL Adrian Peterson (MIN) - Rushing Yards Win 9 (93.6%)
Adrian Peterson vs. Steve Slaton. Who was going to have more rush yards? Peterson was a safe bet.

Nov 02 4:05 PM NFL Miami Dolphins Win 10 (18.1%)
This is arguably the most shocking selection he made. The Dolphins at a time when no one really knew they were good, on the road against the division leading Broncos. The Dolphins won comfortably.

Nov 05 8:00 PM NBA LeBron James (CLE) - Points Win 11 (68.0%)
Lebron James point total vs. Derrick Rose's Points + Assists + Rebounds. Ya that's a pretty easy pick.

Nov 08 12:00 PM NCF Ohio State (@ Northwestern) Win 12 (80.3%)
The pick was whose margin of victory was going to be larger, the Gophers or the Buckeyes. Considering the Wolverines beat the Gophers this was a solid pick.

Nov 08 8:30 PM NBA Cleveland Cavaliers Win 13 (92.6%)
A straight pick'em of the Cavs vs. the Bulls. Well that's simple.

Nov 09 1:00 PM NFL @ Minnesota Vikings Win 14 (34.1%)
The Packers were looking good and the Vikings were so so, thus the nation went with the Pack. With 6 minutes left the Pack was up 6 and looking good. But the Vikings were able to shove home a late td to keep the streak alive.

Nov 09 8:15 PM NFL New York Giants Win 15 (66.2%)
Saturday night football the Eagles stayed with the Gmen for awhile but that night unlike yesterday was the Giants night.

Nov 15 7:45 PM NCF Alabama touchdowns scored (vs. Mississippi St.) Win 16 (72.3%)
Will a top team in the country playing an awful team have more tds than points Kentucky would beat Vandy by? Yes because Vandy beat Kentucky.

Nov 16 4:05 PM NFL Arizona Cardinals Win 17 (98.1%)
The Cards trip to Seattle any other year would be one to run away from for Cardinal fans. But in 2009 the Seahawks are god awful and the nation was very right.

Nov 18 7:00 PM NBA Miami Heat Win 18 (97.1%)
The Heat may not be great this year, but the Wizards really suck.

Nov 20 8:00 PM NBA Boston Celtics: Winning Margin Win 19 (47.6%)
The pick was whether the Celtics winning margin would be larger than Iverson's total assists. Considering AI doesn't pass much and the Celtics are awesome, this was an easy pick.

Nov 21 7:00 PM NBA Orlando Magic Win 20 (90.3%)
The Streak likes to offer NBA games where a good team faces a mediocre team on the road, and this is another example with the Magic going to Indy to play the Pacers. The Magic snuck out of Indy with an overtime victory to keep the streak going at 20.

Nov 22 3:30 PM NCF Boston College Eagles Win 21 (84.2%)
Down 5 points with 5 minutes to go BC drove 70 yards down the field for the game winning touchdown while taking 3:45 off the clock in the process.

Nov 23 1:00 PM NFL @ Baltimore Ravens Win 22 (51.3%)
Andy Reid's decision to bench his starting quarterback at half time certainly helped BigSam1122 extend the streak to 22.

Nov 24 8:30 PM NFL @ New Orleans Saints Win 23 (38.0%)
While gmreynolds was going for a million by betting on the Packers on the road, BigSam1122 went with the Saints. The Saints scored about 18 billion points to take it home.

Nov 30 1:00 PM NFL @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers Win 24 (69.3%)
One week after going with the Saints, he goes up against them. With 3:50 seconds left the Saints started a possession in a tied game only to watch Brees throw an interception which set up the Bucs for the game winning field goal.

Dec 07 4:15 PM NFL @ Pittsburgh Steelers Win 25 (74.2%)
All hope looked lost in the 4th quarter with the Steelers down by 10, but they roared back thanks to 2 clutch offensive possessions and a terrible Romo interception and the million was his.

cov⋅er⋅age [kuhv-er-ij, kuhv-rij]
–noun
1. Insurance. protection provided against risks or a risk, often as specified: Does the coverage include flood damage?
2. Journalism. the reporting and subsequent publishing or broadcasting of news: The World Series receives international coverage.
3. the extent to which something is covered.
4. the area, groups, or number of persons served or reached by a newspaper, radio or television station, advertising campaign, business, etc.; market.
5. Radio and Television. the area within the broadcasting range of a station or network, usually calculated by the number of owners of radio or television receivers.
6. Finance. the value of funds held to back up or meet liabilities.
7. Photography. covering power.

Sentence Usage: The Jets coverage is non-existent. If the Jets were an Insurance company and they gave you similar coverage you would probably have to pay them if you were injured.

cross-coun⋅try [adj. kraws-kuhn-tree, kros-; n. kraws-kuhn-tree, -kuhn-, kros-] adjective, noun, plural tries.
–adjective
1. directed or proceeding over fields, through woods, etc., rather than on a road or path: a cross-country race.
2. from one end of the country to the other: a cross-country flight.
–noun
3. a cross-country sport or race.

Sentence Usage: After a cross-country flight the Jets play like they have their heads stuck 2 feet up their asses.

I'm Highly annoyed so today we will be defining terms exemplified by the Jets yesterday. The first word is fraudulent.

fraud⋅u⋅lent /[fraw-juh-luhnt]
–adjective
1. characterized by, involving, or proceeding from fraud, as actions, enterprise, methods, or gains: a fraudulent scheme to evade taxes.
2. given to or using fraud, as a person; cheating; dishonest.

Sentence Usage: The Jets defense is completely fraudulent.

Bigsam1122 was patient. He waited 6 days to make his 24th pick and when he selected the Bucs he was just one pick from being a millionaire. And so he waited, he waited an entire week to make his final selection in his lengthy quest.

Throughout the week Bigsam1122 opted against many different options. He avoided monday night football and the Canucks vs. Jackets. On tuesday he opted to stay away from whether Stoke or Arsenal would score more goals, the over under on the Lakers Pacers game and goal total in Lighting Fliers game. On wednesday, the goal total in the Lazio vs. AC Milan game, the winner of the Penguins vs. Rangers, nor the winner of the Bucks vs. the Bulls were his cup of tea. On thursday night 6 different options were available including the over/under in the Raiders game but no cigar. Fridays 6 course slate included whether Paul Pierce or Brandon Roy would score more points, but this was not the dish for him. Yesterdays college football slate consisted of 7 options including the obvious pick of the Wannstache against the Huskies but he didn't want a mustache ride to a million.

And finally today he skipped over the early games and went straight to taking the home favorite Steelers against the Cowboys. At about 7:10 it must have looked dire. The Cowboys were up by 10 with only so much time left on the clock. But all of that changed. The Steelers put up 10 offensive points to tie the game with a litte over 2 minutes remaining. And then Tony Romo threw a beutiful touchdown pass of BigSam, one directly to Deshea Townsend. After a 4 incomplete Romo passes it was complete, ESPN is paying one random individual 1 million dollars thanks to some smart decisions and some luck. Congrats and don't spend it all in one place.

Pick by Pick Breakdown of BigSam1122 Path to a Million

In 2006 the Celtics were abysmal. They were a horrendous basketball team that was even horrendous at being horrendous. Eventually they just started tanking games and I was all for it. Why? Because I wanted Greg Oden. I wanted him in Green. I wanted him paired up with Al Jefferson for eternity. Could you imagine? Jefferson utterly dominant and dynamic in the post on the offensive end, but eh on the defensive end and Oden the exact opposite? A more perfect big man blend would be difficult to imagine.

And then in June when the chances looked wonderous, the dreams were crushed. The Celtics lost the draft lottery and the pairing was not to be. The Celtics went on to get KG, Ray Allen, Eddie House and James Posey to win an NBA title to dull this memory out quickly, but forgive me if I slip into what if every once in awhile, I still love Big Al.

Tonight marks a glimpse into that what could have been as Oden's Blazers head into the Garden to lose to the Celtics. And maybe I'll be the only one thinking about what could have been rather than focusing on what already is the best team in the NBA.

Jeff Van Gundy was on the Michael Kay show on 1050 ESPN Radio and made the point that right now Stephon has no leverage and the Knicks have all the leverage. The Knicks will be content with just letting him rot and paying him while Steph wants to get his money but still play. Because of this Steph needs something to put in his favor Van Gundy has this great idea, hire Lebron James agent, Leon Rose, and have him work on the contract.

If the Knicks want Lebron in 2010, which they obviously do, than they probably want to make really nice to Lebron's agent. This signing would put a little pressure on the Knicks to stop acting like douchebags and to just cut Marbury outright.

Now the odds of Marbury doing something intelligent like this is probably 1 in a million, but it is a bright idea.

It's Championship Week and Trips to BCS games are on the line everywhere.

5. MAC Championship: Ball State Cardinals vs. Buffalo Bulls
Ya this is a reach. Do you really care about Ball State? No I didn't think so. I actually hope they lose because they ducked playing Boise in a bowl game. The Pick: Cardinals by 6

4. Southern California Trojans vs. California Los Angeles Bears
Red vs. Powder Blue. Two years ago the Trojans faced off against UCLA in the Rose Bowl with a chance to play in the Championship game and they ended up giving Karl Dorrell one more year. This year there will be no slip up, the Bruins will not see the end zone. The Pick: Trojans by 30

3. ACC Championship: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Boston College Eagles
For a trip to the Orange bowl the Hokies and Eagles rematch in what might be dubbed "The No One in Attendance Bowl". The Eagles are without their starting quarterback and for the most part the Hokies have gotten horrible QB play. Might be a boring game. Either way the winner gets the Oranges while the loser probably gets a trip to Detroit (ugh) or the DiamondHazulnut bowl. The Pick: Hokies by 3

2. Big 12 Championship: Oklahoma Sooners vs. Missouri Tigers
Wouldn't it be nice if Texas and Oklahoma were just playing again? The game would certainly be more showcased and Texas Tech would both be getting screwed as the lame 3rd wheel as well as potentially getting the benefit of getting the 2nd BCS bid. But alas we get underachieving Mizzou. This game is going to be score after score after score. Defense is entirely optional. The Pick: Sooners by 14

1. SEC Championship: Florida Gators vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
Hey look it's the National Semifinal (I guess). Will the Crimson Tide return to the Bear Bryant like past (much like Saban's hair color returned to that of his childhood) or will Tebow garner another trophy to add to his incredibly large mantlepiece. The Tide will need to keep the score much lower than where the Gators consistantly wind up. Percy Harvin's availability could be the difference between a Gator blowout and a Bama victory. The Pick: Gators by 13

As this offseason and free agency period moves on I continue to be amazed by one thing, the massive hype surrounding AJ Burnett and the fact that not one word has been spoken about Ben Sheets. Let's compare and contrast the two and see if I can come to a logical conclusion as to why Burnett is Free Agent Pitcher #2 and Sheets is Free Agent Pitcher Meh.

Age

Burnett turns 32 in January while Sheets turns 31 in July. Not really a big deal.

Injury History

Everyone seems to be focusing on Ben Sheets injury history but does it only take 1 season to forget about Burnett's? Sheets started off his career with 25, 34, 34, & 34 starts per season respectively. The past 4 years have been injury riddled with 22, 17, 24 and 31 this past season where he couldn't finish out the last week. Burnett on the other hand had 34 starts this season and limited signs of injury, but does that make it disappear? After his rookie year in 1999 when he was a late season callup Burnett has never been the epitome of health. He made 13, 27 and 29 starts his first three full seasons. Then in 2003 AJ blew out his ucl and needing Tommy John Surgery. He came back in 2004 made 19 starts and then in his free agent year in 2005 he started 32 games and had a 3.44 ERA. After that he went made only 21 and 25 starts respectively his first two seasons with the Blue Jays until this year his free agent year when he once again had a fully healthy year.

So to recap, both pitchers have thrown 200+ innings 3 times. In the past 5 years both pitchers have pitched a full season just twice.

Statistics

If you look at the career statistics of Sheets and Burnett or more specifically focus on their recent past you will notice that Burnett does one thing and one thing alone better. He strikes more people out. Since Sheets ungodly season in 2004 his Ks per inning has dropped below 1, whereas Burnett typically strikes out around 1 per inning. Meanwhile, Sheets WHIP and ERA have been better in 4 of the past 5 seasons. There of course is something to be said about pitching in the National League rather than the American League, but in 2008 was the difference in leagues big enough to explain away the 3.09 as compared to 4.07 ERAs or the 1.15 as compared to 1.34 WHIP?

Conclusion

Do I think Sheets is the bigger injury risk of the two? Yes I do, mostly because his recent history is worse, but if I was a GM and I could get him at significantly less money than Burnett than I would take him in a second.*

*All of this Assumes He will Be Able to Start the Year in the Roatation

Did You Know the Dolphins actually control their own destiny? The Dolphins currently sit 1 game behind the Jets and behind the Patriots thanks to their current 2-2 division record. And yet, with 4 games left it is the Dolphins and not the Patriots that control their destiny. Let's explain why.

First and foremost the Dolphins play the Jets which the Pats do not therefore the math is simple. If the Pats win out then there still is the chance that the Jets also win out and they finish in 2nd. The Dolphins however if they win out will clinch at minimum a tie for the division crown with either the Jets, Pats or both.

So let's say the Dolphins finish in a tie with either or both, why would they take the division crown. Well let's look at the tiebreakers.

In a 3 way tie here are the tiebreakers:

1. Head-to-head (Each team would be 2-2 against each other)
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division (Each team would be 4-2 in the division)
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games (Common games outside the division are the NFC West and AFC West in which the Jets would be 6-3 and the Dolphins and Pats would be 7-1) Jets Eliminated

Then it breaks into a 2-way tie between the Pats and Dolphins, here are the tiebreakers:

1. Head-to-head (1-1)
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division (Both 4-2)
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games (Both 7-1)
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference (Dolphins would be 8-4 and Pats would be 7-5) Pats Eliminated

What does this truly mean, why do the Dolphins have such an advantage in tiebreakers? It's simple they lost out of conference to the Cardinals and the Jets and Pats would have swept the NFC West. Additionally the Jets won both of their non-common games (Bengals & Titans) whereas the Pats (Pitt & Indy) and Dolphins (Ravens & Texans) lost both of their non-common games.

From 1-15 to controlling their destiny with 4 games left, life is always a lot better under Parcells.

In case you haven't heard former NBA Player Rodney Rogers Crashed his ATV and was left paralyzed from the Shoulders Down.

Midway through the 2002 season, the Celtics decided it was a bright idea to their rookie 6 foot 7 guard that they selected with the #10 pick in the draft. Why? They wanted to make a run at the weak Eastern Conference and needed some veteran help to give them a chance. So they packaged up Joe Johnson (now his 4th straight year 20+) for Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers. At the time it seemed like a move desperate to get the Celtics into a 2nd place position (because no East team had a shot against any West team) but Johnson wasn't doing much and at least it would give you some excitement in the postseason.

That version of the Celtics consisted of the dynamic duo of Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker, with Kenny Anderson at the point, tough Eric Williams fightin downlow, Tony Brickhands Battie, and of course Walta. It was a team that in most years wouldn't sniff the conference finals in most years, but again this was the early 2000s eastern conference of shit. Rodney provided the team two things they didn't have prior. A physical body down low who could take some of the pounding at the 4 that Antoine and even Williams could not. He also created massive matchup problems on the offensive end thanks to shooting the triple.

The Celtics made the playoffs as the #3 seed in the East and dispatched both the 76ers and Pistons (ugliest series ever) in 5 games. Rodney was never great and never the full reason they won a game but he was always a solid contributor. Then in the conference finals the Celtics went down to the Nets in 6 games losing games 4,5 and 6. Rodney had his best game when he scored 20 points on 6-9 shooting including 4-5 from behind the arc, but it didn't matter thanks to the miserable shooting of Antoine. He finished the postseason averaging 9 points, 5.5 boards, and 2 assists with a player efficiency rating of 17.3. It was evident that while Rogers wasn't a superstar by any means, he was a solid role player and overall contributor and I had started to take a liking to his banging down low on defense and popping from deep on offense.

And then came the offseason with Rodney Rogers a free agent. The Nets offered more money than the Celtics and as simple as that he was gone. 44 games in Green with 16 of them coming in the playoffs, a playoffs where he was rated only behind Pierce in player efficiency. I liked Rodney for a few months and then he was gone.

After another solid all around week, this weeks suggestion theme is favorites.

5. New York Jets (-3 1/2) at San Francisco 49ers
The Niners came out and shocked the Bills which was highly unexpected. meanwhile the Jets got slaughtered at home. This is why the line is 3.5 for this game. The Jets will be able to settle back in on D against a team with poor Quarterback play and will easily win this game.

4. New England Patriots (-5 1/2) at Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are essentially a dead and the Patriots will look to bounce back in a major way.

3. Minnesota Vikings (-9 1/2) at Detroit Lions
I'm not a big Viking guy, but assuming their two DL play they will probably shut out the Lions. Plus, Adrian Peterson is due for a 200 yard game.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (-2 1/2) vs. Dallas Cowboys
This is probably the best matchup of the week and I'll be rooting for the Cowboys, but I think the Steelers D is going to hit Tony a lot and force turnovers.

1. Indianapolis Colts (-11 1/2) vs. Cincinnati Bengals
The Colts sucked last week but still won. What do you think the chances are that Peyton will be mediocre two weeks in a row against bad teams?

Survivor League Pick: SCREW Seattle
Cardinals over Rams because the Rams are done, well done.

Non-Spread Picks

This week was 'Decide Whether You Want to Offer Arbitration' week, which means that if you have a Type-A or Type-B free agent and they decide to leave your comfy confines than you get yourself some bonus picks. Many teams offered arbitration to many a player but the Yankees said screw it we don't need draft picks. So to make them feel stupid let's take a look at who would make up the All Compensation Draft Team in 2009.

Starters

Starting Catcher: Kelly Shoppach for Rheal Cormier [2001 Pick #48]
Starting 1B: Conor Jackson for Greg Colbrunn [2003 Pick #19]
Starting 2B: Brian Roberts for Rafael Palmeiro [1999 Pick #50]
Starting 3B: David Wright for Mike Hampton [2001 Pick #38]
Starting SS: Kelly Johnson for Jose Hernandez [2000 Pick #38]
Starting LF: Johnny Damon for Kurt Stillwell [1992 Pick #35]
Starting CF: Torrii Hunter for John Smiley [1993 Pick #20]
Starting RF: Aaron Rowand for Dave Martinez [1998 Pick #35]

The starters consist of only 1 superstar in David Wright and would have a suspect middle infield with Kelly Johnson forced to patrol short rather than 2nd but the lineup would be deep and the outfield defense would be extraordinary.

Bench

Shannon Stewart for Tom Candiotti [1992 Pick #19]
Jeff Mathis for Mark Petkovsek [2001 Pick #33]
Nick Swisher for Johnny Damon [2002 Pick #16]
Jacoby Elsbury for Orlando Cabrera [2005 Pick #23]
Jarrod Saltalamacchia for Mike Remlinger [2003 Pick #36]

Elsbury obviously would get some PT as he is essentially Johnny Damon in his youth. Mathis and Salty provide depth at catcher. Swisher provides the comedy and Stewart supplies some veteran leadership.

Rotation

#1 Starter: Chris Carpenter for Tom Henke [1993 Pick #15]
#2 Starter: Adam Wainwright for Russ Springer [2000 Pick #29]
#3 Starter: Jeremy Bonderman for Kevin Appier [2001 Pick #26]
#4 Starter: Joe Blanton for Jason Giambi [2002 Pick #24]
#5 Starter: Dustin McGowan for Graeme Lloyd [2000 Pick #33]

The rotation is deep but not spectacular. Chris Carpenter was once the best pitcher in the national league but coming off injuries there would be major question marks about his 2009 production. Adam Wainwright was a staff ace before also getting injured last year. Bonderman has been a solid 2 or 3 starter for years again until he got injured last year. Blanton proved he could be the 4th starter on a World Series Champ. McGowan would be a great #5 starter but again he also got hurt last year.

Bullpen

Closer: Brad Lidge for Darryl Kyle [1998 Pick #17]
Setup Man #1: Joba Chamberlain for Tom Gordon [2006 Pick #41]
Setup Man #2: Huston Street for Miguel Tejada [2004 Pick #40]
Power Mid Relief: Jensen Lewis for Omar Vizquel [2005 Pick #102]
Lefty Specialist: JP Howell for Raul Ibanez [2004 Pick #31]
Young Mid Reliever: Phil Hughes for Andy Pettitte [2004 Pick #23]
Clay Bucholz for Pedro Martinez [2005 Pick #42]

The best part of this All Compensation Team would be its bullpen. Brad Lidge was the best closer in baseball in 2008. Huston Street has been a solid closer for the A's for a few years. Joba is arguably the best setup man in baseball when used as such. Jensen Lewis took over the closer role for the Indians in August and pitched very well. JP Howell was the lefty specialist for the AL champs. And finally Hughes and Bucholz would provide very talented mid-relief that could easily make spot starts if needed.

So what do you think? If this was a team in 2009 what would their record be? Would they have playoff or even World Series Aspirations?

Check Out More SimonOnSports Trivia including other What College Did I Go To Trivia? such as the ESPN Edition, the PGA Edition.

2006 Tom Gordon leaves the Yankees to go get himself a closers role in Philadelphia after not accepting the Yankees Arbitration offer. The Yanks then received 21st and 41st selections overall. Who'd the Yankees select with those picks? You guessed it, their young ace Joba Chamberlain as well as #3 pitching prospect Ian Kennedy. [2006 1st round]

2004 Andy Pettitte leaves the Yankees to go back home to Houston after not accepting the Yankees Arbitration offer resulting the the Yanks getting two additional 1st round draft picks. Who'd the Yankees pick? You guessed it, their quote unquote #1 pitching prospect Phil Hughes. [2004 1st round]

On monday Brian Cashman decided that it was more important for the Yankees to not assure Bobby Abreu's departure than to offer him arbitration and get draft picks for when he leaves. Well Brian here's a quick lesson of the importance of top draft picks. See Dustin Pedroia.

Dustin Pedroia just won the god damn American League MVP. The MVP award just in case you forgot what it stands for is given to the Most Valuable Player in baseball. Now Dustin still yesterday Dustin was still in a contract with the Red Sox for 4 more season. 2009 under the 400K or so base pay and then 2010-2012 as arbitration eligible. But when your the MVP you really don't want to get paid 400K for another season so you enter into contract discussions to get paid now but because you don't have much leverage given your contract status you kind of have to take what they give you.

So what ended up happening? The Red Sox signed Pedroia, again the AL MVP, to a 6 year deal worth 40.5 million dollars with an option for a 7th year. 40.5 million dollars for the AL MVP for 6 years. You know what you're going to get for 40.5 million dollars Brian? A year and a half of Sabathia or a two years and a half of Burnett.

Our Guest Poster Today is Passionate Notre Dame Fan Dell who obviously celebrated will full fervor after ND's first first down on the final play 3rd quarter on Saturday.

On what would seem to be a normal, frigid December morning, the Gold & Blue aficionado find themselves standing on the brink of one of the most short-lived and disappointing eras in Irish football. It seems almost ages ago that the Fighting Faithful were promised a messiah who would deliver them to the promise land of crystal footballs… or at worst a long-awaited major Bowl victory. However after one of the biggest tip teases in college football history, Charlie Weis’ stock has plummeted worse than any other DOW-Jones ticker.

However after struggling in major games with poster boy, Brady Quinn at the helm of his “superior” offensive squadron, Weis has subsequently lost his perfect QB and has had to seek solace on the West Coast. We have seen the leader of our Golden Domers change from an intelligent, strong-armed, down home Ohio boy to a lackadaisical Californian with sun bleached hair; whose biggest interests seem to be stretch Hummer limos, beer pong and throwing interceptions. Now don’t get me wrong, Clausen is not the only problem with Irish football these days, but I do expect a sophomore with a 9-13 record to heed the advice of his coach and HOLD ONTO THE BALL.

While we are currently seeing our top rated QB painfully and slowly develop, we can look to brighter horizons in the backfield. Cierre Wood, one of the most touted running backs in the country, is set to be the savior of a long-awaited running game in South Bend. Not since Autry Denson have we hoped to see a guy that can take some pressure off of our non-threatening aerial attack. I mean seriously, how many touchdowns does Golden Tate have to snare to keep us in ballgames? Hopefully the x’s & o’s in Ol’ Charlie’s mind somehow include Wood on a greater scheme to control ball games. When the defense has to play 45 minutes of a given ballgame, even the great ones start to tire and give up points.

Now like the rest of you reading ESPN and every other Irish blog out there today, we’re starting to see a glimpse of the fact that Weis will be returning for the 2009 season. I know he is due to meet with Swarbrick next Monday to determine his ultimate fate, but I have a funny feeling he will undoubtedly be back. At this point I could care less about what comments are made about how ND determines the selection of its head coaches, I just want to see the recruiting plan completed. I was one of the masses who jumped for joy at the two early winning seasons produced by the Weis/Quinn tandem, but sitting at 9-15 in the ensuing two years we are left to wonder where the original problem lies. Was it player performance? Is it a coach who is better suited for Sundays rather than Saturdays? Or can we blame school admins for choosing the wrong personnel overall? I hate to be the fickle fan that praises the coach when we’re beating Michigan and calls for blood when we lose to Navy for the first time in over 40 years, but I can’t help feel the desire to return to the national spotlight. IF Weis is allowed to return to South Bend for a fifth season in the director’s seat, I would have to say this would be his last chance. Given a few additional weapons, he will be expected to produce at worst a 9-3 season… and I tell you what, he better beat Carroll’s Trojans on our home turf. 0-4 against USC and a winless bowl record will for sure be enough to can the f.u.p.a man. And hey if that happens, I heard Washington is in need of a head coach still.

Image via LockerStink

The Saga of Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick's search for a new head football coach.



If You Enjoyed that Comic Than Check Out Arm Punt Formations, starring Brett Favre the Gunslinger.

Oh really a poll that consists of 100 random folks ranging from former players to radio broadcasters to sports information directors (huh?) has people that don't pay much attention. You don't say. For proof let's hand it over to Berry Trammel of the Oklahoman:

I asked Harris poll voter Pat Quinn, the former Oklahoma State University sports information director, how he would vote OU and Texas if the Sooners won Saturday night.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Quinn said. “Doesn’t really matter.”

Really?

“I think Alabama and Penn State will probably play for the national championship,” Quinn said.

You do?

“They’re the only undefeated teams, aren’t they,” Quinn said.

Uh, actually, Penn State has a loss.

“Oh well,” Quinn said, “those Big Ten teams have a lot of votes.”

I just can't wait for Penn St. to get pummeled in the title game.

Wow You Guys Suck: Thanksgiving Games, What a crock of crap those games were. If you ever wanted to stay awake after the Turkey dinner by watching TV then you were shit out of luck if you wanted that TV to be football. The Lions were a disgrace and the Seahawks were embarrassing. At least Drew Henson found the whole thing funny. Runners Up: Cincinnati should just stop showing up, everybody involved in the Jets pass defense not name Revis.

This Scarecrow Needs a Brain: Tom Cable, At what point in time did you think that Fake field goal had any shot in the world of being successful. Janikowski running with the football? Your punter throwing it between his legs? Ugh. Runners Up: Hasslett for apparently not playing a healthy SJAX down the stretch, Brett Favre threw up a beautiful arm punt.

Cough Cough Cough: Drew Brees, Say goodbye to the MVP. Tie game with 3:50 remaining you throw and INT which puts the Bucs in position to hit a lead grabbing field go despite going 3 and out. Then you get the ball back with 1:55 down by three and on your second pass you throw a game ending INT. Runners Up: The Jets had the chance to solidify them as an elite and instead solidified themselves as suspect, the Bears could not pound the ball in on four plays from the 1 and then gave up a 99 yard td.

The Shocker: The 49ers, I've stated over and over and over again that the Bills were overrated early this year, but a home loss to the Niners? Seriously? That's terrible. I don't care if your QB got injured or not, the Niners suck. Runners Up: San Diego is 4-8 and essentially dead, Jacksonville is 4-8 and completely dead.

The Pimp: Pittsburgh Defense, Matt Cassell looked like he might be emerging after back to back 400 yard games, and then he met up with the Steel Curtain. That matchup didn't bode well for the former backup as he turned into a punching bag and a turnover machine. Runners Up: Brian Westbrook had 4 quick tds, the Giants are not phased by any Plaxico distraction.

You Got Jakked Up: Wes Welker, Ouches.



My Fantasy Anti-MVP: Donovan McNabb, 2 Weeks in a row you lay massive eggs. If I won 1 of those weeks, than your 35 point outburst this weekend would be meaningful. But it wasn't. 5-8 and out of the playoffs.

New York Jets Anti-MVP: Coaches, Use Thomas Jones on 3rd and 4th and 1 please. The man is gaining nearly 10 yards a clip, give him the football.

My Picks

My Picks: 10-6
Preseason Picks: 4-12
Picks Vs. Spread: 11-5
Pick Suggestions: 3-2

Once again I go diesel on the spread picks but still somehow only go 3-2 on the suggestions. Odd. Also, the preseason picks are beginning to crumble.

The WNBA opened its doors in 1997 to American applause everywhere [ha]. When the doors were thrown open the greatest professional dynasty of the 90s shot through, the Houston Comets. What other American franchise could claim winning their leagues championship every active season during the decade? Then to throw the Cherry on top, the Comets took home the 2000 championship as well.

Well, after only the twelfth WNBA season, the Comets are closing up shop and shipping off all of their players in a dispersal draft. Why? Because the WNBA couldn't find a buyer for the organization. Ha.

4 Time WNBA Finals MVP Cynthia Cooper (now Cynthia Cooper-Dyke) said this:

"This is disturbing news, this is a team that was an integral part of the WNBA. It is a team that helped establish the league, helped the league grow roots." Houston Chronicle

Or translated to:

"Waaaaah, Waaaaahhh. Why does nobody love basketball that involves inferior athleticism and inferior play but with more, sometimes, attractive athletes?"

I just can't write anything more. After this severely depressing news I need to bury my face in a Chocolate Bar to ease the pain.

Episode 6 of Arm Punt Formations Starring the Gunslinger



Check out more Episodes of Arm Punt Formations

The Yankees decided to decline offering arbitration to 8 players yesterday including Andy Pettitte and Bobby Abreu who were Type A free agents and if they signed elsewhere would have resulted in the Yankees receiving draft pick compensation. Here is what GM Brian Cashman had to say about the matter:

“The determination we made today was to make sure we control what amount we’d be spending, at least in the event that we’re fortunate enough to bring those players back,” NY Times

Let me translate into truth speak for you.

"We determined today that there is no f'n way we are spending a dime on Bobby. 16 Million dollars for that bum? I don't want him to even have any option to come back. Sure it sucks we won't get the draft pick compensation but we're the god damn Yankees we're going to lose all our draft picks anyway when we drop 140 on CC and 70 on Burnett and 150 on Big Tex anyway. Plus we can just drop loot on foreign players when we expand our scouting in the Dominican. Bottom line is I don't want that clown wearing the uniform anymore and decided that even though chances are slim he's going to wait until february to sign a 1 year deal instead of a multiple year contract elsewhere, I just don't want that option out there."

Cashman must really think that Bobby wants to play with the Yankees no matter what because this really makes no sense. I understand he does not want to give the man 16 million a year, but what 34 year old is not looking for his last long term contract? Abreu went .296, .371 OBP, .471 SLG, 20 HRs, 100 RBI, 100 Runs, 22 Steals last year so its not like he's not producing anymore. Can you remember the last time a player of Abreu's stature took a 1 year arbitration deal? I certainly can't. It just seems to me in the situation the Yanks are just throwing away draft picks they really could use considering they will lose picks for signing any of the free agents they are targeting.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I understand not offering Andy arbitration. Why? Because in all likelihood the only places he's going are back to the Yankees or to Houston to retire. Sure the Dodgers have expressed interest but does he really want to spend his last years in a place where he has no prior experience and will have to move his family cross country? I'm willing to bet no. Therefore by not offering him arbitration the Yankees can offer him a salary which more closely resembles his 2009 value and not the bloated 2008 contract which he played under this past season.

It's the second season of the Scalabrine Watch which is meant to point out just how terrible he is as a basketball player. It shall track both his typical numbers as well as his +/- which the signifies the total number of points the Celtics lose while he is on the court.

It's been a massive football month so I've slacked hardcore on the Scalabrine watch. Sue me. Anyway, I'll be doing the Scals watch on a monthly basis and it shall feature more of a wrap up than game by game analysis like last year. Perhaps if I get bored after football it will return to last years weekly format.

November Sum Up

2008-2009 Started off with a bang for Scals, he got a DNP. He followed up with 6 impressive minutes at a -13 clip way to go Scals. Then the DNPs came in at a furious pace with 6 of the next 7 games having Scals play the cheerleader role on the sideline.

Since the string of DNPs Scals has played in 8 straight for the Celtics all Green wins. He's had one game of note against the Knicks (does that count?) in which he contributed and started because KG was suspended. He had a season high in minutes (21), points (8), rebounds (3), assists (1) and blocks (1). That's full ranging production. Other than that its been a decent amount of PT in blowouts with no PT above 15 minutes, no point totals above 5 and no rebound totals above 1. In the last Celtic victory against the Bobcats, the closest outside of the Knicks game where he was basically forced to play, Scals only got 2 minutes of burn and recorded two stats, a foul and a turnover.

Overall November Performance: -21

Overall Scals ranks in at a solid -21. It all heavily circles around his first appearance of the season when he went a whopping -13, ouch. The rest of the season has been up and down with the biggest up coming against the Knicks when he actually made a big shot (who knew).

November Totals: 115 Minutes, 30 Points, 11-22 FG, 7-13 3s, 1-2 FTs, 9 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 2 Turnovers, 0 Steals, 2 Blocks

November Averages: 10 Minutes, 2.73 Points, 1-2 FG, .64-1.18 3s, .09-.18 FTs, .64 Rebounds, .45 Assists, .18 Turnovers, 0 Steals, .18 Blocks

If you look around the league this weekend there were a lot of former backup running backs coming up massive.

Michael Turner

Hi I'm Michael Turner, you may formerly know me as the 'best backup' in the NFL for 4 seasons behind LaDainian Tomlinson, the former best back in the NFL. Now what you should know is that in 2008 I am a far superior back than my former stealer of carries. See LaDainian only has a meager 794 yards and 6 touchdowns on the ground and he's only been able to take 217 carries. I on the other hand have been a complete horse. I have 1208 yards and 13 tds on a league leading 282 carries. Oh and did you notice this weekend when my Falcons went into San Diego and came out the victor and LT just had a meager 24 yards on the ground. Ya pathetic.

In fact if you look at where Atlanta is right now and where they were at this time last season you could even make a case I'm a darkhorse MVP candidate. Man it's nice not to be in the shadows or confined to the bench anymore.

Peyton Hillis

Hi I'm Peyton Hillis. You might remember me as that other guy in the Wildcat formation. You know the one that just stood next to D-Mac rarely got the ball and just mostly hit people for Felix or for Dmac. Hitting people is always fun so I enjoy blocking but sometimes you just want the damn ball. Sure I'm white and in a fullbacks body but I can run too. Just ask the Jets this weekend. I rushed 129 yards on just 22 carries, and they were supposed to be a good rush defense. Ha I ate them up. And you know what, guess who has more touchdowns this year, Dmac or Me? Ya Me. What about Felix or Me? Ya me. Maybe that's why Houston Nutt had to runaway from Arkansas last season, he didn't get me the ball enough. I dominate, and I am not on the bench anymore.

DeAngelo Williams

Hi I'm DeAngelo Williams. You all wondered why DeShaun Foster was a starter for so long and I was his backup. You must have just thought I was injury prone and couldn't get the bulk of the carries. But you're wrong. I'm getting the bulk of the carries and I'm dominating just like I did back at Memphis. 955 yards on 193 carries. That's 4.9 yards a carry, that's unstoppableness. Did you see me this weekend? I put up 4 touchdowns on the Pack. 4. Top that DeShaun. I'm no longer on the bench and because of that the Panthers are back.

Deaths in the 2008 Running of the Bulls in Pamplona: 0
Deaths in the 2008 Running for the Discounted TV in Walmart:1

That is just messed up.

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.

The Sooners held off their rival for the Big road victory and remain atop the Power Rankings. Bama despite being undefeated is truly lacking the statement game.

1. Oklahoma - The Sooners scored and gave up a ton of points at Bedlam and will take their rightful place in the Big 12 title game this weekend. Sorry Texas, head to head just does not mean you are always the better team. Quality Wins: Cincinnati, TCU, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas Tech, @Oklahoma St.

2. Texas - It sucks to be Texas right now but the facts are when you play an out of conference schedule with Rice and FAU it means that in a tie you're going to lose out. Sorry but those are the facts. Get your Missouri rooting shoes on. Quality Wins: Oklahoma(n), Mizzou, Oklahoma St., Kansas

3. Alabama -LSU is off the quality win board because they have zero QB play so Bama stays firm at #3. A win over Florida in the title game would jump them over Texas. Quality Wins: @Georgia, Ole Miss

4. Florida - Ole Miss is good so we removed that as a Bad Loss, but also removed LSU from the quality win category so it balances out. I think Florida is the best team in the country and would put money on them winning the title right now, but the way this here poll works they don't have the wins to climb up to #1, mostly because the SEC is eh this year and just lost 3 of 4 to ACC. Quality Wins: UGA(n), @FSU

5. Texas Tech - Quality Wins: Kansas, Texas, Okie St. Bad Loss: Oklahoma

6. USC - Took care of ND as they should have. It just doesn't carry any impact this year. Quality Wins: Ohio State, Oregon, Cal

7. Utah - Idle and booking the trip to the Sugar or Orange bowl. Quality Wins: @Air Force, Oregon St., TCU, BYU

8. Penn St. - Got their wish and will now in all likelihood get destroyed by the Trojans rather than throttling the Beavers for a second time this year. Quality Wins: Oregon St., @Ohio St., Michigan St.

10. Cincinnati - The Bearcats have sewn up the Big East title and get the relaxing 13th game at Hawaii next week to celebrate their first BCS birth. Perhaps they overllook the game? Quality Wins: @WVU, Pitt, South Florida Bad Loss: UConn

10. Boise St. -Crushed Fresno St. to win their conference. Unfortunately for them Utah shall snatch up the non-BCS conference BCS birth. Sucks to be undefeated and miss out. Quality Wins: @Oregon

11. Ohio State - Meh, I've included the Buckeyes reluctantly because no one else really deserves to be here. Quality Wins: @Michigan State, @Northwestern

Dropped Out: Okie St. mostly because Mizzou lost.

Noticeable Absences: Nobody really

Another monday another night where someone can win one million dollars off ESPN by making one single good decision. This week its BigSam1122 who has a five game lead and after a week sitting at 23 victories went with the Bucs yesterday to get to 24.

After gmreynolds71283 went down by picking the monday night football game last week, will he do the same, or will he opt to hold off for one more day? My guess is he's going to hold off for another day, he seems like a patient one.

So, who wants to drink the Green Kool-Aid today? Best team in the AFC my ass. Here's what transpired yesterday at the Meadowlands. A division leader was throttled by another division leader in pretty much every aspect of the game.

1. Brett Favre Sucked Dong: He threw one Arm Punt to Dre Bly which was absolutely nowhere near the intended receiver. He missed short passes for first downs. He threw tons of incomplete passes and made zero good throws by the goal line. It was a pitiful display of football.

2. The Coaches Are Fucking Morons: Once again the play calling was incredibly suspect. Thomas Jones numbers read 16 carries 138. Two carries went for 59 and 29 yards respectively, so the typical carry was 14 for 60 or 4+ a carry. So on 3rd and 1 you should feel comfortable running the football. And then when you play action pass stupidly on 3rd and 1 and throw and incompletion you should feel comfortable running on 4th and 1. But no you throw the ball twice. And then when you get 3rd and 3 and 4th and 3 later in the game you do the same fucking thing. Gardock. 16 carries 138 yards, give him the god damn football.

3. The Defense Blew: Here's what I said on Wednesday last week, "...please tell me who's covering Eddie Royal this week? Ty Law? Too Slow. Dwight Lowery? Too awful. If they decide to cover him with Revis than that means constant double coverage on Marshall which will leave Scheffler and Graham to patrol the middle in single coverage by a linebacker. That didn't work out so well against Ben Watson. The Broncos have a very good shot at putting a ton of point on the board and pulling off the upset...". What happened? Tony Scheffler 7 catches 90 yards. Eddie Royal 5 catches 84 yards and a td. Daniel Graham 6 catches 59 yards. That's 213 yards passing to two tight ends and the #2 receiver. The Broncos were also able to rush the football consistently which hasn't happened to the Jets since week 2. It was a completely miserable effort.

So which member of the media is going to reach for the Kool-Aid pitcher this week?