Ranting and raving (mostly ranting)....

Well this past week sucked and it's gotten me a little annoyed so without further ado...

There was an article this past week in the Washington Post saying that the Washington Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden was treated this past week for skin cancer. Now it's all fine and dandy now because it appears that the cancer was removed and Bowden will be fine so what's my beef with this? Jim Bowden found out he had this cancer in June, I'll retype that so you make sure you read that right JIM BOWDEN RECEIVED CANCER TREATMENT IN OCTOBER WHEN HE FOUND OUT HE HAD CANCER IN JUNE! How important can any job be that you put off cancer treatment for the rest of the season, sure the trade deadline was in July but you had limited trade commodities, hell even though you put off cancer treatment you still failed to sign your 1st round pick Pithcer Aaron Crow. He should've died out of principle to show people how dumb you can be and not get away with it.

Here's the brief article about it since you have to be a user to browse the more extensive version of the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102102114.html



Lou Holtz may be the worst analyst on ESPN and that is really hard to do considering myself stabbing myself in the eye when hearing the likes of Steve Phillps, John Kruk, Emmitt Smith and Fernando Vina speak. He spits so much when he talks it puts Sylvester from Loony Tunes to shame, I'm convinced the man is senile and has fake teeth. I feel bad for Mark May and Rece Davis for having to put up with him and his dementia week after week. And recently it's come out he was a member of the Nazi party. Lou has a segment everyweek called pep talk in order to fire up the troops for some team the following week and he referenced Hitler in one of his speeches. Obviously that's a big no-no and I say that without even thinking about the politically correct world we live in, it's just something you don't do infront of a camera.

Read an article about it here: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2008/10/18/2008-10-18_lou_holtz_sorry_for_hitler_line.html

What annoyed me though was that there was no repercussion for Holtz aside from being forced to making an apology, now let's go a couple months back during the NBA playoffs when columnist for ESPN Jemele Hill also made a Hitler reference. Hill being a Detroit native and die hard Piston fan compared rooting to the Celtics was like saying Hitler was a victim. The comment somehow slipped past her editor and was online for some 2 hours before the comparison was removed, she got suspended after a gigantic uproar was thrown at her. I guess the good people at ESPN feel that Lou Holtz is an old man and you just can't fix these type of mistakes that he's made. You know how you probably had a grandparent who still calls black people "collard people" or is always going off on some sort of offensive or racist diatribe, maybe it's kind of like that.

But a young black female reporter makes a similar comment she's threatened with her job and suspended for a short time. Ah double standards don't you love 'em. Kind of like how we've hardly heard a peep from ESPN how Yankee's new golden child Joba Chamberlain recently receieved a DUI but if ESPN gets some audio about Terrell Owens saying Tony Romo's farts smell bad they'll have a 15 minute segment on how T.O. is trying to blow up the team with these outlandish remarks. What's even more startling is that Holtz was alive when Hitler's terror reigned which makes his comments even more misguided, I realize both were in the wrong but I don't see why 1 person gets punished while one gets away with it. Of course we'll never know why, we still don't know the full story for why Harold Reynolds was fired.


And despite this double standard ESPN still managed to top itself this week by failing to mention a peep of the Brett Favre fiasco on account not wanting to hurt wittle Bwetty's feewings. And if there was any mention of it from the world wide leader it was to defend the golden boy after receiving a barrage of criticism from the blogsphere for showing a bias. At this point whenever there is a Brett Favre story on ESPN I'd like for them to put up a viewers discression graphic containing graphic material for those who may want to look away.

Sunday Morning Jay Glazer reported that Brett Favre held an hour long conversation with Detroit Lions coaches and then team President Matt Millen. Other teams claimed to have heard about this and other rumors claim Favre has done this with several other teams just not to the exent of Detroit. Here's the article: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8694746/Sunday-Scoops:-Is-Favre-guilty-of-insider-trading

By Sunday Night Peter King of Sports Illustrated and former lover of Favre himself (in the brief separartion from John Madden) received a text from the golden child flatly denying any of this.

Now when looking at the final score for the Detroit-Green Bay game, the score reads 48-25, but the game was much closer then that. Green Bay went ahead 21-0 before Detroit came storming back took a brief 25-24 lead. Green Bay then scored 10 quick points and 2 late defensive TD's to make the score look even more out of hand. So obviously the Lions had a great comeback before they realized what jersey they were wearing.

Now I'm not shocked that ESPN is trying to ignore this all week but how it happened and how they tried to avoid it was downright hilarious. profootballtalk.com (PFT) obtained an email from an employee where they were ordered to not report or discuss the Favre story, here's the excerpt:

Under the heading “DO NOT REPORT . . . DO NOT REPORT . . . . DO NOT REPORT . . . DO NOT REPORT” (um, we get the point) appears the following:
“Yesterday, FoxSports reported that Brett Favre spent 60 to 90 minutes before the Week Two game between the Lions and the Packers educating the Detroit coaching staff regarding the Packers’ offensive strategies. WE HAVE BEEN TOLD BY RELIABLE SOURCES THIS REPORT IS NOT TRUE. We did NOT report it yesterday. Today, the NFL responded to the report, saying even if Favre did this he did not break any league rules. We are NOT reporting it today, because that would mean airing the erroneous report. DO NOT REPORT IT.”

That excerpt was obtained Tuesday afternoon, also Detroit Lions Head Coach Rod Marinelli was still not commenting on the situation which again makes you think something was up. And by Tuesday Night ESPN finally released a statement to PFT as to why they hadn't reported it: “Like all reports that come in, we gave careful consideration to this one,” ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said. “We couldn’t confirm it. It’s obviously a judgment call. Given the nature of the story, we needed to bring a lot of sensitivity to our reporting and do what we felt was the most responsible thing.”

Sensitivity my ass, the only thing they're sensitive is to Brett Favre's feelings, they went as far as to clear up that the conversation between Favre and Tony Romo the previous week was initiated by Tony Romo and not Favre as originally thought. This was only stated because of the notion that Favre sticks his nose into other team's business (Gee when has he ever done that?)

Even on ESPN's website they employee writers to blog about each of the 8 NFL divisions and Kevin Seifert who's beat is the NFC North still had yet to say anything about it under order from those up top.

Part of the reason they (ESPN) hadn't commented on the story was the validity of it, which is complete BS, just reading up on this story alone I have found out just how good Jay Glazer is with his sources, the man last season got the big scoop breaking the "Spygate" story, this past offseason he was the 1st to report about the Packers filing tampering charges against the Vikings when the whole trade Favre story was hot. And if question him with Favre well he beat NFL Network, Chris Mortensen and Peter King in reporting the Packers traded Favre to the Jets.

But by then it was to late, Glazer earlier in the week saying he believed his story was true by 1000% and on the Dan Patrick show saying it had 1 million % credibility. And when asked about ESPN saying his report was garbage, "Don’t make it personal with me. I’ll make it personal with you.”

Finally Favre decided to pipe up to the media confirming that he did in fact respond to Matt Millen's questions about the Packers and there tendencies. He still decided to defend himself by saying players and teams do this all the time like his teammate Calvin Pace gave some tips when playing the Cardinals. But you know the only difference between those 2 Brett? Calvin actually played for the Cardinals while you're just bitter and as a Packer fan I'd almost feel inclined to turn my back on him until he retired because I would be crushed if a guy like Emmitt or Troy decided to relay info to the Redskins or Giants. He also claimed the conversation was only about 15-20 minutes and was also spent discussing other things like hunting etc...He sure changed his stance from earlier in the week when it was "complete BS"

And back to ESPN, after finally realizing they've been completely owned here's what the higher ups said in another excerpt emailed to PFT:
This story is now HOT.
We had not reported it because it was unsubtantiated [sic].
Today, however, Favre addressed the issue in a public forum so we will go with it.
Use this lead-in:
On Sunday, Fox Sports reported that ex-Packers quarterback Brett Favre had been in contact with the Detroit Lions before their Week 2 game with the Packers, educating the Lions coaches on Green Bay’s offensive schemes.
The Lions, by the way, lost that game 48-25.
Later that day, Favre denied the report in a text message to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King.
Today at Jets camp, Favre addressed that report in his weekly press conference….
WE WILL BE BRINGING IN SOUND FROM THIS SESSION.

But then when ESPN does get around to reporting the article it is completely skewed, so pathetic I just want to link you to PFT's take on it: http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/10/22/espn-butchers-the-favre-story/

CREDIBILITY COMPLETELY SHREDDED! If only there were bigger outlets out there for me to watch instead of almost having to rely on ESPN's biased news network, oh how I yearn for a network with some actual journalistic integrity.


Thanks to PFT for all the links on the story, here are all the links I used for this final story in order:
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/10/19/favre-denies-helping-lions/
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/10/21/espn-continues-to-ignore-favre-story/
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/10/21/espn-issued-internal-do-not-report-warning-on-favre-story/
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/10/21/espn-explains-decision-not-to-report-favre-story/
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/10/22/glazer-goes-on-the-warpath/
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/10/22/favre-admits-to-strategy-session-with-millen/
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/10/22/espn-finally-embraces-the-hot-favre-story/


And finally before you thought Isiah Thomas couldn't become an even bigger douche bag and laughing stock reports surfaced that he OD'ed on sleeping pills. It's unclear about whether or not it was a suicide attempt. My favorite comment from a message board that I frequent, "Guy can't succeed in anything since his playing career ended, can he?" Tasteless and hilarious. So get off your overplayed and rehashed Nazi schtick Lou Holtz suicide humor is where it's at. But the pathetic part of this pill popping incident was Isiah tried to pin it all on his daughter and even got his son to go along with it. Rush Limbaugh was a pill popper too but he didn't pin any of on his kids that's low even by Isiah standards, what else is there for this guy, just a classless waste of space, and yet all NBA fans are praying he gets another job so his reign of terror can continue.

This is what Isiah had to say about the incident in the AP report, "It wasn’t an overdose,” he told the newspaper. “My daughter is very down right now. None of us are OK.” Then Harrison County Police Chief gave us this golden nugget, "I understand that this person claims it was his daughter; he is lying,” Hall said. “It was definitely not his daughter, it was a male. We know the difference between a 47-year-old black male and a young black female.” Maybe the quote of the year, just when you thought he couldn't go any lower.

Last little bit before I get to picks, the NFL is stupid for not having a Sunday night game because it wants baseball to have it's moment in the sun. What a stupid thing that is, when did sports become about anything but money? Did I miss a memo? I love baseball but if I'm football I'd want to jam my foot up there ass as long as they're going to call themselves the National Pastime and just absolutely crush them in the ratings. I'd try as hard as I could to get a Cowboys vs. NFC East division foe to just completely embarrass baseball, they'd probably still get more ratings if they put a Bengals/Lions game on TV as nauseating as that matchup sounds. It also makes me wonder why John Madden got last week off if he was going to get this week off anyways, just because the fatty's afraid of flying gives him no excuse to miss an announcing assignment because he doesn't want to drive 3 straight weeks across country, especially if you'd get these next 2 weeks to recover.

Alright finally on to the picks, man I had an awful week for picks, now I know why this stuff is so hard to predict, I don't know if the league is mediocre because the league is all close in talent or what but I got murdered.
Last week: 3-11 just abysmal and embarrassing, stupid close games. 0-3 in the over/under could have been a tie if not for that stupid half a point in the Giants/49ers game.
Games I'd bet on: 0-3 and missed on the over/under, so much for trying to build some credibility to this thing.
On the year: 39-44-3 vs. the spread 14-11-2 vs. the over/under
And games I'd bet on: 3-4 and 1-1 for the over/under

Week 8 games:
Atlanta Falcons @ Philadelphia Eagles (-9)
I'm praying for a shootout here as I have the Burner Turner, McNabb and Rowdy Roddy White on my fantasy team this week. Though Atlanta has been no pushover this year they've been less then stellar in 2 of there 3 road games. Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson will release the hounds upon rookie QB (and current favorite for Rookie of the Year) Matt Ryan and he'll likely be in for a long day. I also read under Andy Reid the Eagles are 9-0 after the bye, Eagles big and I'll take the over which is set at 45. Atlanta's offense better at least halfway show up because I'm tired of losing the over/under by 3 points because an offense can't score 10 freakin points.

KC Chiefs @ NY J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS (-13)
The Chiefs are averaging 8 points on the road for the year and there season just got worse because Brody Croyle is very brittle (which I hate to see, he has a cannon for an arm) Lately these teams facing large spreads have overcame them for the most part, and I expected the Jets to roll big last week but they were on the road. This is a home game and I expect a bounceback performance, Jets.

St. Louis Rams @ New England Patriots (-7)
The Rams are playing with an all time confidence right now and they should be, but the Pats looked equally as impressive last week as they jet us all witness just how truly terrible Denver's defense is (especially once Champ Bailey gets hurt) I'll take the Patriots and people will start buying into them, especially if Sammy Morris has another big game on the ground this week.

Buffalo Bills (-1.5) @ Miami Dolphins
The 1st time I go with Miami last week and of course they crap the bed, and I've been equally as bad picking the Ravens. The Bills need to win this and they will.

Oakland Raiders @ Baltimore Ravens (-7)
Dare I say another positive thing about Joe Flacco only to be partially disappointed again this week? Sure, both teams are riding high after last week, this will be an ugly game but I'll guess Jamarcus Russell throws at least 2 INT's and the O-line struggles to protect them, Ravens.

Washington Redskins (7.5) @ Detroit Lions
The 'Skins were supposed to run all over there last 2 opponents and frankly it's upset me that they havent (yea right) I thought they were ready for primetime but have slipped against the likes of the Rams and Browns. They should be dominating these opponents since this is there easy part of the schedule. The Lions have beat the spread the past 2 weeks and have made games the past 2 weeks, I'll still pick the 'Skins and Clinton Portis (who's running better then anyone right now) since this is a game they should win handily.

Arizona Cardinals @ Carolina Panthers (-4.5)
I've learned to not trust the NFC South when playing on the road but have now learned to trust them at home. They are a combined 3-9 on the road where they are a combined 14-1 at home. Panthers. Over/under set at 43.5 the Panthers aren't known for there offense (does this team have a real identity yet though?) but I'll take the over since they're playing the Cardinals.

San Diego Chargers (-3) "@" Nawlins Saints
The same rules should apply here but this game is in England it's pretty much all bets are off. For the 2nd straight week the Bills are playing are travelling across the country (or in this instance the globe) so who knows if fatigue will be a factor, plus west coast teams struggle with this noon start time. The Saints will be without Reggie Bush and struggled mightily without him getting slaughtered @ Carolina last week. Marques Colston will try and give it a go this week as will Jeremy Shockey. Deuce McCallister and DE Will Smith are facing possible suspension after this week for taking some weight loss pills (or masking the pills for steroids) This is a game to stay away from, the Chargers suck on the road and the Saints are banged up, if I have to pick I'll take Drew Brees, maybe try and prove a thing or 2 to his former organization.

Tampa Bay Bucs @ Dallas Cowboys (-2)
Why the hell is Dallas favored? I realize the home team normally gets 3 points so technically they're not but this team is falling apart infront of our eyes and is just depressing the hell outta me. I expect a fired up effort by our defense this week though aside from 1 game where Jeff Garcia played for the Cleveland Browns he's thrown for 10 TD's and 1 INT at Texas Stadium. But my God Brad Johnson almost made me want Drew Bledsoe back there last week, at least he can throw an accurate ball, Johnson may have thrown 1 or 2 decent looking balls last week, all the others were either to high, to low behind receivers or just lame ducks that hung in the air. I might call for Brooks Bollinger next week if he craps the bed again, do you know how pathetic that sounds? BROOKS BOLLINGER! I'm taking the Bucs, I've picked the Boys ever week and I think they've only covered the Cleveland game. SHOW ME SOMETHING DALLAS!

Cincinatti Bengals @ Houston Texans (-9.5)
Houston for the 2nd straight week favored by a substantial amount against the leagues trash, there offense is good and should cover especially by a team led by Ryan Fitzpatrick (I can't get over that little note) Texans

Cleveland Browns @ Jacksonville Jaguars (-7)
Not much to say about this game, Jaguars

NY Giants @ Pittsburgh Steelers (-2.5)
Nothing would make me happier then to watch Eli with that goofy confused look on his face sulking on the sideline, we got a preview of it in Cleveland when we got see our favorite Eli instead of this Eli on an undeserved pedestal. Eli throws 3 picks and the Steelers roll in steel town.

Seattle Seahawks @ San Francisco 49ers (-5)
I'd hate to live on the west coast where I'd be subjected to this crapfest between a franchise corrupt with injuries and another in disrepair having recently fired there coach among other terrible moves the franchise has made lately. But I'll take the franchise in disrepair (49ers) with there new coach Samurai Mike

Monday Night
Indianapolis Colts @ Tennessee Titans (-4)
I don't know what to make of this Colts team they are very frustrating, I finally expected them to be "back" last week and put on a show vs. the Packers but they got obliterrated so I'll have to bet against them for now. They just arent playing good football right now and 2 of there 3 wins they were more then fortunate on. Titans, but I'd be interested to see the Titans fall behind early because I'm not sure how they'd fare trying to overcome a 2 TD deficit since there defense hasn't put them in that predicament yet.

And now for the games I'd bet on (trumpets please)
Eagles at home vs. the Falcons, Bills on the road vs. the Dolphins and Patriots at home vs. the Rams.
Over/under I'd bet on would be Philly vs. Atlanta take the over at 45

And to the person who commented on not enough Packers last week (Dan?), I'll see what I can do, but they're on a bye this week.

So until next week where I'll probably be writing to myself...

The Highs and Lows of Sports...

Ah I love sports, there really is nothing like it, sometimes I wonder why I like it so much. I just became attached to it at an early age and have just developed a real unhealthy addiction to it, just about all my free time is devoted to watching sports, reading about sports or even taking my sports nerdiness to the next level and discussing it on the internet. But again why do I like it so much? In the grand scheme of things it's not that important and most of all the payoff is often rare (IE Championships) and in the end more often then not you're left feeling a little demoralized and bummed out almost wondering if your team will ever be successful again. But those moments when you do experience victory that feeling of why you've been watching or playing your whole life comes right back to you.

This past weekend was a great weekend though, for those that don't know I go to Oklahoma State and me and my roomate Cameron drove up to Columbia, Missouri to watch them take on the Missouri Tigers. We have some buddies from high school we were allowed to stay with and we figured why not get hammered and then enjoy some college football on the side. So we made the 6 and a half hour drive up there despite being a heavy underdog to the number 3 ranked Missouri Tigers. Fast forward to Saturday and we're out tailgating among the masses that attend Mizzou, as we're making the way through the parking lot a chorus of boos hits me and Cameron which makes us even more fired up for the game. It was mainly playful aside from one douchebag trying to bait my friend in a fight.

Fast forward to the game, 1st and foremost I was not expecting to win this game, I was really hoping Oklahoma State could just prove they're a legit team, a win was somewhat far from my mind. But man what an intense game, so many twists and turns and back and forth action. We somehow held them to a field goal on the 1st drive when the Tigers were stopped a foot from the goalline and we march down there and score a TD when QB Zac Robinson tucked it and ran it in. Then later we forced them to punt and we also had to punt...or so I thought, on 4th and 18 our punter decided to tuck the ball and try and run for it when we were around our own 35 yard line. Thankfully I found out that wasn't head coach Mike Gundy's decision but the punter has that option when he sees fit. But what was that punter thinking, it's hard enough to run a successful fake punt but to do it where you have to run 18 yards, it's damn near impossible. Not to mention you just gave one of the best offenses in the country fantastic field position and all momentum you had going for you.

So of course they go down and get a quick TD, but the entire 1st half had sloppy special teams play, both teams missed chip shot field goals, one was blocked and one was flat out missed. And towards the end of the half OSU also failed to score some points when Zac Robinson fumbled the ball away costing us another shot at points. So we go into half time down 10-7 even though we clearly out played them and obviously I'm down about it since you're just waiting for the Tigers offense to get going and you feel that we let a giant opportunity slip away. Thankfully we got the ball back in the 2nd half.

So a few plays into the 2nd half and our standout Sophmore Running back Kendall Hunter takes off down the sideline as he dances 68 yards towards the end zone. He did one of those tightrope dances on the sideline and I just think it's amazing how these athletes are able to keep there balance when one is trying to push you out of bounds, same goes for how receivers can get 2 feet down after catching the ball. Then there is some back and forth tug of war for field position as both QB's throw an INT with in a span of 3 plays. Then Mizzou drives the ball 95 yards to retake the lead 17-14, OSU dealing with a ton of pressure follows up with a 40 yard TD pass to Damian Davis, and OSU never lost the lead again, after going up 21-17. Fast forward to after the game where OSU had shocked the country and upset Missouri 28-23 what a great feeling, walking out of the stadium everyone that talked crap after the game were dead silent and not even acknowleding Cameron and I. Our friends didn't want to talk about what they thought would have been a guaranteed victory and all we could do was soak in the sweet feeling of victory with the Oklahoma State fans that walked among us.

Fast forward to the next day where the Dallas Cowboys get down 7-0 on the opening kickoff and continue to trail the majority of the game and me and my friends are cheering our asses off and they complete the miracle comeback to tie up the game on a clutch field goal by Nick Folk. And as sweet as that moment was that was maybe the worst thing that could have happened to this team. The Cowboys win the toss and Tony Romo severely damages his pinkie finger and is noticeably hurt the next 2 plays and obviously the complete screw up by special teams that led to Mat Mcbriar not only damaging his knee but forcing him to miss the remainder of the season. I have said it for the longest time, special teams has been our weak link to this team, it was a large reason why we lost in the playoffs last year and was the reason we lost against Arizona in a game where we should have gained ground on Washington and New York. And on top of the Romo and McBriar injuries Felix Jones, Kevin Burnett, Anthony Spencer are all out for next week, Adam Jones was suspended for 4 games while we still have other people hurt like Pat Watkins and Roy Williams (the safety, who should return this week) and Guard Kyle Kosier.

As I said, in sports you can go from a high to a low in an instance, and what made the loss against Arizona even worse was that me and Cameron were looking ahead to a 6 and a half hour drive back to Stillwater, talk about a kick in the ass. The loss was terrible because this offense hasn't looked good since the Philadelphia game, I'm almost hoping for a Terrell Owens blowup because he deserves to, I've finally realized that he is the real reason this offense goes and when he's held ineffective the team is ineffective. The defense played solid, though Kurt Warner through all over them in the 2nd half but that was due to some spectacular grabs by Larry Fitzgerald and due to Anthony Henry not being able to cover anything that runs faster then a 4.8. But I am tired of the offense, last year we were a downfield passing attack that was pass first, this year it's almost like Jason Garrett offensive coordinator is getting to cute and doesn't always go with what's working and forgets that there is a middle of the field that you are allowed to pass on or that you can move Owens in motion to try and spring him open. I was at least happy to see our defense blitz and not play zone defense much, we were hitting Warner and was surprised at the throws he was making because he was getting absolutely drilled on some plays. Kudos to him and Fitzgerald and the Cardinals defensive line who crapped all over our offensive line who could not stop them if there lives depended on it Sunday, just a downright pathetic display, as bad as the playoff game vs. the Giants last year.

But as I stated Highs go to Lows and Lows go to...the Middle. The trade the Cowboys made to bring in Roy Williams (the receiver) made me happy. We may have given up a little to much but I really don't buy that because ever since we acquired TO everyone has said we need to get a younger legit #2 WR. And guess what, we got him and we didn't need to develop him, we'll have him in the prime of his career rather then take a risk on a player in the draft where a majority of the players bust. He'll be able to pick up the offense as the year goes by and by the time the playoffs come around he should be good to go. This also should help T.O as he's been troubled the past couple games facing constant double teams and teams have been very physical with from the outset since teams will be afraid of Williams on the opposite side whereas a guy like Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin don't exactly strike fear into the other teams. Plus with the amount on draft picks the Cowboys had that is another reason why I am fine with the trade, they still have a 2nd round, 3rd, and multiple 4th 5th and 7th round picks so if they want to they can trade into the 1st round of the draft. And I do not think there are that many positions needed to be adressed for starters, the last several drafts all we have been drafting for are the backup positions or positions to find where the old guys are, the only weak spot we may have is right tackle if we choose to not resign Marc Columbo this off season. I think the 1st round pick is a lot more valuable to the rebuilding Lions then it would be to the Cowboys who would just sit that guy on the bench or he'd see limited time behind the backups.

But so goes the highs and lows and live to see another week...
Here's how I did last week: 8-6 vs. the spread and 2-4 vs. the over/under
On the year: 36-33-3 vs. the spread and 14-8-2 vs. the over/under
And for the games I'd most likely bet on 3-1 vs. the spread and I aced the over/under pick

If there wasn't so much offensive inneptitude I would have won the over/under picks. All New England had to do was get another TD, same for the Ravens and the Raiders/Saints needed 11 more combined points. I knew the Raiders would struggle with a new coach but to the tune of 3 points? Pathetic.

Onto this week:

San Francisco 49ers @ New York Giants (-10.5)
Well for seemingly the 1st time all year I picked the Giants last week and for the 1st time all year Eli was the normal Eli and not the "All-Pro better then his brother Eli" that some moron analysts had hailed him as. But the 49ers defense sucks and seemingly has surpassed the over/under every game they have been in, Giants and over (46.5)

Pittsburgh Steelers (-9.5) @ Cincinatti Bengals
Carson Palmer again appears to be out this game could get ugly, Steelers BIG!

Tennessee Titans (-9) @ KC Chiefs
Last time KC had an undefeated team at there place they pulled off the upset, I think the Titans offense is shaky enough for it to possibly happen despite the Chiefs playing without Larry Johnson. Titans win, but Chiefs cover.

Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears (-3)
Nice divisional matchup between these 2 bitter rivalries, the Vikings coming off a squeaker in Detroit and the Bears coming off a heartbreaker vs. the Falcons. It's hard to imagine this Bears team could be undefeated if not for a few mistakes (like squib kicking last week, it's not like the Falcons have Devin Hester back there) I like the Vikings to march into Soldier field and come out with a victory.

San Diego Chargers @ Buffalo Bills
It looks like there's not really a line set on this game, I've seen a Bills favored by 1 so I'll go with that. It looks like Trent Edwards will start in this game for the Bills which is good for this team coming off there bye week vs. a notable opponent. I liked that San Diego came out with some fire last week vs. the Patriots and they need to continue doing that this week and not come out flat like they did vs. the Dolphins. I'll give them some credit and pick the Chargers, the over/under is set at 44.5, if the Chargers plan on winning it will be somewhat high scoring OVER.

Nawlins Saints @ Carolina Panthers (-3)
Well the Panthers got there butts beat last week, the game was over before it even started, so much for thinking the Bucs weren't for real (why do I continue to doubt Jon Gruden's team?) Drew Brees has been the MVP so far and will continue to play like it vs. this divisional foe, Saints.

Dallas Cowboys (-7) @ St. Louis Rams
I think Tony Romo will get the start, he may not be in very long but in the end I think he will start, the Rams will be fired up since they are coming off a huge upset vs. the Redskins in there own house. The key is for the O-line to block, whether it's for Romo or backup QB Brad Johnson, both are brittle, one has a hurt pinkie the other is coming from a retirement home, they both need max protection. They need the QB to be a game manager vs. the Rams, Washington clearly outplayed them last week but won because of a few costly Redskin mistakes (like that fumble by the 'Skin guard which led to a 60+ yard fumble return for a TD with less then 20 seconds left in the half) I also hope this game doesn't come down to a field goal because Josh Brown is as clutch a kicker as Nick Folk. I'll take the Cowboys, but they haven't covered the spread in a while, maybe since week 1.

Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins (-3)
What a crappy game, I hardly want to pick this, but so far Miami has looked legit, look for them to contine this nice display at home.

Detroit Lions @ Houston Texans (-9.5)
The Texans have looked like a good team the past 3 weeks though they only have 1 win to show for it. It's hard to believe they're favored by this much but I'll still take it. What's sad is this is probably Detroit's easiest game the rest of the season, there schedule is just brutal. Aside from this week here are probably there easiest opponents: @ Carolina vs. Tampa Bay, vs. Minnesota and @ Green Bay the final week of the seaosn. Those are there easiest games, all their remaining games are vs. playoff contenders. If they're up for moral victories they did cover a significant spread last week vs. the Vikings, they could seriously go 0-16 though.

New York J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS (-3.5) vs. Oakland Raiders
Favre coming off a bye week, he could have another week off and they'd still win this game, JETS! and the over/under is 41, I'll predict Favre puts on a show in the black hole.

Indianapolis Colts (-2) @ Green Bay Packers
The Colts offense looks to finally be back so I'm tired and ready to wrap this up, I'll take them, despite Aaron Rodgers doing fairly well for himself and his team.

Cleveland Browns @ Washington Redskins (-7)
The Browns moved the ball at will on the Giants last week and there defense (which was the key to there game) actually played decent for once. If the normal Giants defense would have shown up they probably would have stomped them because of the sole fact that the Browns killed themselves with penalties, almost as if they were trying to lose the game (and for awhile I was sorta convinced they were) I'll take the Redskins this week for the bounce back, but I'd be more then happy to be wrong.

Seattle Seahawks @ Tampa Bay Bucs (-10.5)
Hard to believe the Seahawks would face a game where they're double digit dogs this year, but they've been decimated by injuries and as soon as there WR's got healthy, Matt Hasselbeck got hurt, so much for the magical sendoff that Coach Mike Holmgrem was hoping for. I guess I'll take the Bucs, albeit reluctantly.

Monday Night
Denver Broncos @ NE Patriots (-3)
The Patriots are going to fall out of the race if they lose this game, so I forsee this as being one of the games Coach Bellichick wins and shocks people since this Broncos team should be able to put points up at will against this team. So I'll go for the surprise with the Pats (though they're favored).

3 most likely matchups that I'd bet
Take the Jets vs. the Raiders, Colts on the road vs. the Packers and the Redskins at home vs. the Browns

Over/under of the week is the Jets vs. Raiders (41)

Until next week, where I'm probably writing to myself

Is Monday Night football back?

The 2005-2006 NFL season was the final season Monday Night Football had with ESPN, ending over 35 seasons of memories and events and the big bright lights of football on primetime TV. The final decade or so ABC was losing money from Monday Night Football despite it consistently being one of the highest rated shows for there program, but they decided it was time for a change. So there partner station (and sports media's evil empire) ESPN entered into the picture and took over broadcast duties for Monday Night Football. (MNF for short) They'd long hosted the Sunday Night Footballs game but since ABC had left the pro football game, a market in which NBC had been vacant in for years they decided to pony up some dough for the Sunday Night Football game. So now the NFL wanted to make Sunday night the marquee game of the week, much like MNF used to be, they even have the 1st option on the NFL's flex scheduling to switch out games scheduled earlier in the year to get a more favorable matchup.

Al Michaels had been the voice of MNF for over 20 years had jumped ship to NBC to team up again with John Madden and like that another spectacle of yesteryear seemed to be going down the tubes. Gone were the days of Howard Cossell talking to John Lennon and in were the days of Tony Kornheiser rambling incessantly about how Brett Favre walked on water, Monday Night Football was a shell of it's former self.

But this year has changed, I'm still not the biggest fan of Mike Tirico or Tony Kornheiser but I do like Ron Jaworski who is the best at breaking down plays. They're putting more focus on the games, aside from Kornheiser who only sees stars. I like Tony on a smaller format but ESPN has been trying to push him and his co-host from Pardon the Interruption Michael Wilbon down our throats the past couple years, now Wilbon is apart of the pre game show on the NBA on ABC. As crazy as it sounds if ESPN wants a guy who will just ramble on about stars or this weeks top stories I'd choose Charles Barkley, but maybe that's because I love Chuck. The afforementioned Wilbon and Kornheiser are not dumb but I don't think they are qualified at all to be in the position that they're in. But back to the game, they are no longer bringing in a guest every week promoting there new show or upcoming movie and one of the few times ESPN is doing it, they're actually focusing on the games.

And they've had some of the top games the NFL has had this year, 10X better then NBC's Sunday Night Football. Week 1 they had the much anticipated debut of Aaron Rodgers for the Green Bay Packers vs. division rival Minnesota Vikings led by Adrian Peterson. It was a back and forth struggle all game until Rodgers and the Pack broke through and scored a couple TD's. The next week was a wild affair with the Cowboys and Eagles, I can't recall a game that featured so many up's and downs and high's and low's you couldn't look away for your TV or else you'd miss a score or a turnover. And the network exec's were popping bottles open as ESPN scored one if it's highest ratings ever for a cable broadcast, what more could they ask for, a high scoring affair between the most popular NFL team and it's division foe.

The next week the Brett Favre train rolled into San Diego as the Chargers were fresh off having been screwed by Ed Hochuli's crew and they came ready to play. The game was never all that close but like the Cowboys/Eagles game, there were big plays happening all over the field. At 2:03 left in the 1st the Chargers scored a TD, then the 1st play in the 2nd quarter, Antonio Cromartie makes an acrobatic catch and returns a Brett Favre INT for a touchdown. The ensuing kickoff Leon Washington runs it back to the San Diego 6 and the Jets score 2 plays later. Not to worry the Chargers get the ball back and score 2 and a half minutes later. Favre then throws another pick and the Chargers score with 3 minutes left in the half. That my friends is an exciting and action packed quarter of football that you can only wish happens week after week.

And so far this season it has, the Steelers/Ravens game was a physical hard hitting matchup but Joe Flacco looked like a polished veteran the majority of the game. And the Steelers didn't look good until there offense started moving into the no huddle offense. Baltimore was dominating the majority of the game and was up 14-3 then BOOOM! Big Ben Rothlesberger to Santonio Holmes for 38 yards, Ravens get the ball back, 1st play Flacco drops back WACK! Gets sacked by James Harrison and Lamar Woodley picks up the ball and waltzes into the endzone 7 yards out. Picture the BOOM AND WACK! Like they were straight out of a Batman comic where the bad guy doesn't know what hit them, because the Ravens sure didn't. Game goes into overtime and the Steelers squeak out the victory on a Jeff Reed field goal.

And then that brings me to this past week's Monday Night extravaganza, a game the Vikings had no real business winning if not for the Saints ineptitude. There is absolutely nobody out there who would say the Vikings would win if Adrian Pterson was healthy and only rushed for 32 yards on 21 carries. But give Gus "The Concussed" Frerotte credit. By the way, I'm claiming that nickname since I've never seen it, and if you don't know the story, google it. The Saints Monday Night sort of reminded me of my fantasy football team in week 4. I needed like one of 5 things to go my way and none of them did and I barely lost. The Saints outgained the Vikings by over 100 yards and I think 2 times as many yards in the 1st half, but they still trailed 20-10 going into half time.
And then Reggie Bush and some great blocking from his special teams (something Adam "Pac Man" Jones could only dream of on punt returns) took 2 touchdowns to the house. And then the Vikings did something that they haven't done since Daunte Culpepper was launching touchdowns to Randy Moss, won while passing the ball through the air. Frerotte threw a 33 yard TD reception to Bernard Berrian though it was intended for another WR. And later when the game was tied 27-27 with 2 minutes left, he threw it up and stupidly a Saints safety who wasn't looking for the ball (which he could have picked off) ran into the intended Vikings receiver. The Vikings were able to milk the clock down to 14 seconds before kicking the go ahead field goal, game over. I might add that for the 2nd straight week Martin Gramatica missed a potential game winning field goal. They still scare me because there offense led by Drew Brees and Reggie Bush can hang with anyone in the league which makes them a very dangerous potentially underdog team in the playoffs.

If Monday night can keep up this string of great games they can maybe become the primary football game from week to week that we have come to expect. They got the great analyst and Jaws, still have Hank Williams Jr. music "All my Rowdy Friends" that I have always loved and that built in core audience, it is becoming a weekly watch again. Just a couple more tweaks that I would make.

Onto my picks, I had a pretty good week last week, though I lost the 2 primetime games which stifled what could have been a standout week. Damn you Gramatica!

Last week I was: 7-5-2 vs. the spread and 3-3 vs. the over/under
For the year: 28-27-3 vs. the spead and 12-4-2 vs. the over/under
A lot of close games last week, I should have lost the Indy/Houston game if not for monumental collapse by Sage Rosenfels. But I was also just a couple points away from pulling out the Jacksonville/Pittsbugh game if not for a late comeback and had Kansas City got 1 TD or 2 field goals I could have surpassed the over/under in that game, seriously how do you get shut out? And though it is real hard to say perhaps the Bills/Cardinals outcome would have changed if Trent Edwards didn't get injured, of course the Cardinals could just be a completely different team at home then on the road.

Picks for this week:

Carolina Panthers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-1.5)
Both teams feature good defenses but the Panthers offense is loads better, and they're only average to slightly above average, for the Bucs to win they'll have to score at least 1 non-offensive TD. Panthers.

St. Louis Rams @ Washington Redskins (-13)
Washington is looking like the best team in the NFC (and yes I realize I'm forgetting the Giants I'll get to that piece of crow in a second) having gone into 2 divisional foes houses and beaten them. There schedule gets a little easier for the time being and there remaining division games are all at home. Washington's offense is good but doesn't really strike me as a team that will completely destroy teams, but this is the Rams we're talking about. I'll take the 'Skins and the over/under is 44 take the over.

Cincinatti @ New York J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS (-6)
The Jets coming off a bye week play the hapless and winless Bengals, the Bengals looked good against my Cowboys and were in position several times to take the lead, especially with Jason Garrett calling a very conservative game plan. The Jets are fresh off there bye week after pounding the Cardinals into the ground in there last game played, if the Jets were favored by a larger number I'd be inclined to choose the Bengals but 6 isn't all that big. The Bengals defense could slow down the Favre passing attack though, maybe Thomas Jones will run the ball a lot this week.

Oakland Raiders @ Nawlins Saints (-7.5)
Had the Saints not made so many crucial mistakes last week in the 1st half they would have won that game somewhat handily, they need to rebound. Luckily da RAAAAAIDAS are fresh off firing Lane Kiffin and going into the Superdome, look for the Saints to blow them out big to where they won't need to rely on Martin Gramatica's leg, because the only thing that's been automatic about him lately is his ability to miss kicks with games on the line. Hope that line didn't come off as lame as it probably did. Over/under 47 if the Raiders can get 2 touchdown's this game should surpass it. Over

Miami Dolphins @ Houston Texans (-3)
2 straight weeks the "Wildhog" formation has worked for the Dolphins, the Texans are coming off what could be considered the franchises most devastating loss but I think they rebound, I'm not completely ready to buy into what Big Bill and Tony Sparano is doing in Miami, Texans at home.

Chicago Bears (-2.5) @ Atlanta Falcons
The Bears could easily be 5-0 right now if not for blowing some 2nd half leads and they'll regret that later on in the season when they're battling for a playoff spot in the division. Atlanta is 3-2 riding high after going into Lambeau, Michael "the burner" Turner finally had a good game on the road and one of the most underappreciated WR's in the league "Rowdy" Roddy White (coined by me, taken from Rowdy Roddy Piper) had 115 yards in the 1st half. For the 2nd straight year I'm reaping the benefits of him being the only legit receiver on that team, and the only one the QB will target. Atlanta has looked great at home and that's why I'm picking this to be an upset FALCONS!

Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings (-13)
I think this Lions team is as bad if not worse then the Dolphins were last year. You know how much you suck when a team who can't pass the ball is favored by 13 against you, and it's even worse when I have to take them.

Baltimore Ravens @ Indianapolis Colts (-4)
I'm still waiting for that breakout game for Peyton Manning and the Colt offense, it most likely won't come this week but they've only looked like the Colts of old when faced with some urgency in a crucial moment where they absolutely have to score. I'm going to take them this week but wouldn't be shocked if they lost because Joe Flacco has put his team in position to win the past 2 weeks only to have them blow it in the games waning seconds. Over/under is 38.5 it's low for just about any game but high for a game involving the Ravens, I'll take the over though.

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Denver Broncos (-3.5)
The Broncos proved last week they can play a low scoring grind it out game, and the Jaguars last week proved they can score points if needed. The Broncos this week are without Tony Scheffler and Selvin Young (though he doesn't matter enough b/c Shannahan won't give him the damn ball!) But it shouldn't matter as long as Brandon Marshall is in the lineup, but I'm going to guess the Jags pull off the upset anyways. Come on the Colts and Jaguars can't let the Titans already run away from the division, not even halfway through the season.

Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5) @ San Francisco 49ers
The Eagles are 2-3 yes but this line is absurdly low, I mean sure the teams have identical records but I refuse to believe this 49er team is good. It looks like Brian Westbrook may not play which could even up the playing field but I still take the Eagles, just hope they don't have to rely on a running back punching it in from the 1 yard line. Andy Reid you have when healthy, a top tier QB who can make plays with his feet and arm, all you have had to do the past 2 weeks is play action rollout and look for a wide open tight end in the back of the end zone, yes it is that easy. And although the 9ers suck I hope they keep getting these low over/under lines, it's at 42.5 this week; Over.

Green Bay @ Seattle (-2)
That was an embarrassing display last week by the 'Hawks, maybe it was the 9 o'clock west coast start time (the NFL should fix that for west coast teams playing on the east coast) I thought they'd look different since Deion Branch and Bobby Engram were coming back but now it looks like Matt Hasselbeck could be hurt, if not for the Packers close losses the past 2 weeks they'd be favored, and I guess on a neutral site they are. DUH DUH DUH. DUH DUH DUH DUH GO PACK GO! The over/under is 46.5, I'm staying away from that line, if the 'Hawks offense shows up this week they'll surpass that though.

Dallas Cowboys (-5) @ Arizona Cardinals
The past 3 weeks I have disliked Jason Garret's offense, it has either been to run heavy or pass heavy, he's called to many short routes on passing play when we have excelled at a more vertical and downfield passing attack. And last week though it worked to some extent I've never seen an offensive coordinator call the same running plays so many times, the fake pass handoff to Barber is a good play, but it's not good enough to where I need to see it 15 times. And though it worked this week I'd like to never see a pitch on a short yardage situation, much less a 4th and 4, I don't care how fast Felix Jones is, it only takes 1 defender to stay keep containment and the play is dead. I want to see a more agressive offense that I'm used to seeing I don't want you to forcibly run the ball because people in the media are bitching about it or get it into our star WR's hands because everyone thinks he'll run a hissy fit I just want to see great offensive execution that everyone is used to seeing and not this conservative BS. I'm almost curious if Garrett doesn't want to give away any of our big plays that we may use come playoff time.
Defensively I still see us playing zone defense, not so much last week, Adam Jones was manned up on Chad Johnson last week and was our best defensive player and that was while our defense was getting little to no pressure. Why have we not shown any agressiveness towards getting after the oppositions QB, is it because then you have to force your CB's to go one on one with no safety help if you decide to play man? We are playing a QB this week who is immobile and fumble prone if you can get to him he gets a little rattled we need to get after Warner early and often. I want at least 4 sacks and a INT. This is a game I can easily see us losing. Arizona has scored 72 points in 2 home games but I'll stick with my team in this tough situation where they have looked less then impressive.

New England Patriots @ San Diego Chargers (-5.5)
These 2 teams are bitter and hate each other, the Chargers are painted in the media as cry babies and whiners while the Patriots are viewed as cheaters in the eyes of many and there coach is a jackass. None of these teams have much respect for each other and the fans of other teams don't care much for either of these teams. I think like in week 2 when Bellichick faced off against Eric Mangini and Favre he had something planned and I imagine he has something in store for the Chargers this week. The Chargers at times have looked attentive and lacked agression but will come ready to play today. Chargers at home, over/under is 44.5, take the over, especially if the Chargers are going to win

Monday Night
New York Giants (-8) @ Cleveland Browns
It's hard to believe that this game could be another great matchup for ESPN, but the Browns are desparate and in dire need of a win coming off there bye week. If they have any hope of getting into the playoffs they need this game to prove that they are still here, they will come out with a ton of fire it will be up to the Giants to extinguish that fire. I've been wrong about the Giants the entire season, wanting them to fail, I'm still not completely sold on Eli but for the 1st time this season I will concede that they are legit and a top 3 team in the league (arguably #1) I'll even pick them to win this week, they should win big but I've seen stranger things happen. Wouldn't even be completely shocked to see them lose (wishful thinking?) Over/under 43, Over.

And I'd like to start choosing the 3 games I'd be most likely to bet on and the best pick for the over/under

3 games: take the Saints at home vs. the Raiders, Panthers on the road vs. the bucs (hopefully they'll prove they're legit) and Philly on the road vs. the 49ers

Over/under of the week take the over in the Philadelphia/49ers game 42.5 should be high scoring

Until next week, where I'll probably be writing to myself.

Here's a link to the Rangers review who's to lazy to scroll down: http://dirtfromd.blogspot.com/2008/10/rangers-season-is-over.html

NFL picks week 5

I just wrote a long post and don't have it in me to completely focus on my annoyance on this past week's Cowboys loss. Let's just say the entire Sunday was a complete disaster for me. A couple quick things on the game though, the offensive and defensive gameplan sucked, just an embarrassment. Why must the Cowboys insist on playing zone defense and not only that, give each WR they face 8 yards minimum each play, it allowed Jason Campbell to pick them apart because he rarely had a 3rd and long. Offensively, I don't like the fact that they ran only 8 times with a running back but that wasn't the worst part, Jason Garrett got to cute, he kept calling short routes rarely trying any long or intermediate passes and he kept trying to work the sidelines for what ever reason but whenever we went over the middle we did a good job explointing it. And we lost the game by coddling to TO's "needs" and half the passes that went his way weren't good passes, granted he was being covered well the whole game but Romo's accuracy was off at times. And why is this team almost scared to get Felix Jones involved in the offense? They've gotten away from him more and more each week, he's a valuable weapon USE HIM! This team better be in gear this week because it will be embarrassing if Cincinatti keeps it close like they did vs. the Giants 2 weeks ago.

And on top of the Cowboys loss was the field day I had fantasy wise, I have multiple teams but really 1 or teams that I pay alot of attention to particularly one where I have 60 bucks invested in with hopes to turn into more money. The 1st thing I see when I wake up at 1:30 is Carson Palmer decided to take the week off in one of the few weeks where they'll have a shot at winning, then Robert Meacher WR for the Saints gets 99 yards, if you get 100 receiving or rushing yards you get an extra 5 points, I was going against LT and Phillip Rivers I needed those points! Damn you Drew Brees and Sean Payton for reluctantly playing him! Roddy White was also held to 90 yards.

So I was up about 45 points when the Chargers got playing and I only had a kicker going, the good thing was though the Raiders were holding them all game until the 4th quarter, where 1 minutes into the quarter Rivers throw a TD pass followed quickly by a Tomlinson touchdown not even 2 minutes later. At this point I'm panicking, but for the next 9 minutes in the game the Raiders and Chargers seemed to just be going back and forth exchanging possessions and the Chargers get a field goal with 1:51 left in the game to take a 21-18 lead, the Raiders get the ball back and the drive ends with a Jamarcus Russell incompletion with 1:17 left in the game, so you think okay the game is pretty much a done deal, Chargers get the ball back run once with Tomlinson, timeout Raiders. Then a dagger goes through my heart, LT is sitting at 60+ yards and lo and behold he scampers 40 yards for a TD leaving me in shock the next hour. So not only does he get a meaningless TD but goes over 100 yards to get an extra points and I go from up 12 to down 5 in a matter of seconds. And to top it off we have both our kickers going in the Sunday night game, and to sum it up, David Akers misses 2 FG's over 40 yards, he makes 1 of them we tie the game and since I had the tie breaker I would have won.

Isn't fantasy football grand?

Onto the picks, hopefully next week I'll get back to football in the real world (and pick back up to bitching about the Cowboys

Last week I was 7-6 and 3-1-1 vs. the Over/Under
So for the year that is 21-22-1 and 9-1-1 picking the Over/Under

Buffalo @ Arizona (-1)
I'm a little surprised that the Bills aren't favored in this game. Granted they've gotten off to really bad starts 2 weeks in a row they've still won both of those games, while Arizona is coming off a week where they gave up 56 points and also have a hobbled Anquan Boldin. I'll take Buffalo, and the over/under is 48.5 take the over, especially if 'Zona gets down early.

Kansas City @ Carolina (-9.5)
KC is riding high after last week...and will crap the bed this week. Carolina over/under is 38.5, come on they'll find a way to combine to go over that.

Chicago (-3.5) @ Detroit
Detroit looking for a fresh start after there bye week and they get a rival at home. They should stack the box the entire game looking to stop Matt Forte and I'll even hazard a guess that they're successful at it for a majority of the game but in the end the Bears will pull away.

Cincinatti @ Dallas (-16.5)
I'm a little leary at the spread of this game, I mean the Bengals suck but still that's 2 TD's and a field goal I'll pick the Bengals to cover Cowboys to win. Curious if Chad Johnson get's a TD too, I'll guess if Terrell Owens gets 2 TD's he'll steal Chad's TD Dance. Over/under 44 take the over. Of course if Carson Palmer fails to play again I'll take Dallas.

Tampa Bay @ Denver (-3)
I can't imagine Denver losing at home and they'll bounce back against Tampa Bay. Look for them to jump on the Bucs out of the gate and the Bucs don't have enough firepower to come back, though you don't really need that much firepower against this Denver defense. And I think Denver has gone over the over/under every game they've played, it's set at 47.5 and I'll take the over.

Atlanta vs. Green Bay (-4)
I usually use Yahoo sports for looking at the spread, but since Aaron Rodgers status is up for grabs it says n/a. Another site I looked at says the Pack is favored by 4. Green Bay has struggled both running and stopping the run so Atlanta has a shot, and I'll pick them to pull off the upset.

Indianapolis (-3) @ Houston
Houston should be fired up for there home opener and I'm excited to see if Peyton and the Colts have worked out all there kinks in the offense. Both teams are coming off close losses to the Jaguars, give me the Colts.

Pittsburgh @ Jacksonville (-4)
Pittsburgh deserved to lose last week and had they not been facing a rookie QB with fumbling problems they probably would have. Jacksonville rolls in this game

New England (-3) @ San Francisco
I pray Randy Moss can come back to this offense, he failed to light up the Dolphins and if he struggles against the 49ers defense you know somethings wrong. I just need 1 week where people believe he's back so I can ship him off my team. Oh yea, there's still a game to be played, take the Patriots but if they get stomped you know they won't be making the playoffs and all Bill Belichick will focus all his energy on beating Eric Mangini and the Jets again. Also San Francisco has been puttingi up some pretty big numbers this year, this game should surpass the over/under of 41.

Seattle @ NY Giants (-7)
I'm tired of the Giants looking mediocre week to week and seeing them squeak out a victory, Eli still doesn't look that great but no one will say anything because of that Superbowl MVP and the fact that he was bailed out by Amani Toomer's great catch in OT against the Bengals 2 weeks ago. Seahawks get back Deion Branch and Bobby Engram this week and I'm taking the Seahawks.

Washington @ Philadelphia (-6)
I'm curious as to how this game is a 6 point favorite in advantage of the Eagles, they're 2-2 and there 2 best players McNabb and Westbrook are hurt and may not play. Whereas Washington has looked like the best team in the division since week 2, normally when they have any kind of momentum going for them though they screw up. I'll still take the 'Skins.

San Diego (-6.5) @ Miami
The Chargers are back and coming off a big comeback win vs. the raiders and they should roll in Miami. The Cardinals QB Kurt Warner picked apart the Dolphins secondary in week 2 and I look for this week to be much of the same. Over/under is 45 take the over.

Tennessee (-3) @ Baltimore
I really really liked how Joe Flacco looked last week, he made a couple mistakes and fumbled the ball a couple times but overall was a good performance vs. a tough Pittsburgh defense, maybe Baltimore has finally found a quarterback, he's got a rocket arm, can run and looks like he can make all the passes. The Ravens should have won last Monday. You know how much I like Flacco? I'm going to pick them to upset the Titans and hand them there 1st loss.

Monday Night

Minnesota @ Nawlins (-3)
I expect the Saints to have a good passing game despite there lackluster offensive line Drew Brees still gets it done nearly every week. The Vikings are the type of team you can succeed playing the bend but don't break defense and if you can keep Adrian Peterson limited or stifle him a couple drives you should be able to beat them. And if you get a lead early they're screwed. Saints.

The Rangers season is over...

This is always one of the worst times of the year sports wise, baseball's coming to an end and unless you have real interest in playoff baseball you pretty much are stuck doing nothing waiting for the weekend. Not to say I hate playoff baseball but my interest goes down with every passing year the Rangers don't make it. And the lack of football during the week doesn't help aside from the occasional upset (like last weeks Oregon State victory over USC) Sports is always good when there is at least 2 sports going on at a time, that's why from about the time March Madness starts to the middle of May or June is the best sports time of year. Because normally one season is winding down and teams are gearing up for a playoff run and the other team has hope and rejuvenation hoping to make something out of the upcoming season.

Think about it you got the most exciting tournament in all of sports with March Madness, the NBA is about to start its playoffs while baseball season is starting up (and there is nothing like baseball's Opening Day) And if you are as big a draftnik as I am the NFL draft is at the end of April which gets you more excited for the upcoming season.

But I'm rambling as that time is months away, I'm hear to talk about the Rangers season in review. There was some good and some bad, most people around here care so little about the Rangers they just ask them to get them to Cowboys training camp with a respectable record. It started off terrible but they got there record back to .500 by June and sat around the .500 mark for a couple months. In early August they got to a season high 6 games over .500 when they took the 1st 2 games of a 4 game series vs. the New York Yankees. Then after that they started to fall off, losing 14 of there next 17 games and never getting back to .500. David Murphy played his last game August 6th and Ian Kinsler got a sports hernia August 17th and that ended his season when at the time he was one of the best offensive players in the game.

There were plenty of good games and at those times I felt really good about this team and then there were times where I was completely disgusted with this team and if I had something better to do (you know like hang out with friends) I probably would have ignored them. Instead I caught every game I could even if the team did piss me off the night before.

Here are the good things about the team this year:
Josh Hamilton, easiest choice, I think people were aware of his potential just based on when he was drafted and what he did in limited time last year but still it's just amazing to watch him play, whether it's him chasing down a long fly ball, gunning down a guy at home or 3rd, watching him turn the burners on as he runs for a standup triple or send a homerun into the upper deck the guy did just about everything you could ask for him this year. And to think he could become even better.

Emergence of Ian Kinsler, I personally feel he was the Rangers best player this year, people love the Hamilton story and I understand that but the majority of the time Kinsler was healthy he was the AL leader in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player for you non-sabermatricians) and some defensive metrics say he's gets to the most balls of any 2nd baseman and despite his high error totals that is what I want out of my defense rather then a high fielding % and a guy with limited range (Michael Young) He is becoming a leader of this team and is a big reason why this team featured the league's best offense, he'll battle with Dustin Pedroia for the best AL 2nd baseman crown for years (maybe sprinkle in Brian Roberts and Robinson Cano too if he bounces back)

The play of all the young players getting there 1st shot of extended playing time:
From Chris Davis to Taylor Teagarden to Matt Harrison to David Murphy and plenty of others just about every young player that got a look in the big leagues had at least 1 positive game or moment in there time up here (even Luis Mendoza, though I'd be better off never seeing him again)
But I think the Rangers this year found there future 1st baseman (or DH or 3rd baseman, depending on what the club decides is best for Chris Davis) There future catcher (whether it be Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Taylor Teagarden I'm fine either way) And with Nelson Cruz's successful September the club will have to decide who they want to be in there starting outfield in 2009 between him and David Murphy. 1 or 2 future starters in Scott Feldman and Matt Harrison. A potential 7th or 8th inning guy in Warner Madrigal (and a perennial candidate for ugliest player in baseball) along with a possible solution for the closer position with Frankie Francisco. Francisco inherited the closer role after CJ Wilson was shut down for the year and Eddie Guardado was shipped to the Twins, here are the #'s he posted in his brief stint as closer:
11 Appearances, 11 IP, 4 hits, 4 BB, 1 R, 0 ER and 18 strikeouts
I think the team has also found there future utility player with German Duran, could be pending for the next year based on whether or not Ramon Vazquez will come back. The team also found there 4th or 5th outfielder in Brandon Boggs and a possible backup C in Maximus Ramirez.

So all in all the club had a club record 55 players and a number them contributed in some sort of positive manner, did I mention there is more on the way...

Which leads to my last positive on the season, the farm system. Ranked a paltry 28th just a couple seasons ago this club has done a massive rehaul to this organization's farm clubs, headed by a couple of smart trades by GM Jon Daniels and some successful drafts I've seen in some ESPN chats the past week that Baseball America's Jim Callis and ESPN's Keith Law considers Texas to boast the top farm system in baseball as of right now. This system is so loaded at nearly every position and plenty of experts have different opinions on who this organizations #1 prospect is, whether it be Neftali Feliz or Elvis Andrus (both acquired in the Mark Teixeira trade) Derek Holland (drafted 25th round and signed as a draft and follow) Justin Smoak (drafted 11th this past year, considered by many to be a steal) or Engel Beltre (acquired in the Eric Gagne trade) But the great thing is that hardly begins to touch the surface of how deep and loaded with top notch prospects this system possesses. It's scary to think how good this thing can become...but with our luck few will pan out like they should and the ones that do get traded away, and so goes the life of a Rangers fan.

You didn't think it could all be susnshine and lollipops did you? After all this is the Rangers we're talking here, so let's get to some negatives:

The slow start - for the 2nd straight year this team has been the worst in baseball coming out of the gate, mixing in some of the worst defense I've seen, terrible pitching and an anemic offense it hasn't been a good mix. Texas has an easier schedule to start out next April and it is ver important for this team to get off to a good start, if not we could possibly see the Rangers mix up some positions in the front office or see Ron Washington lose his job (which he was mighty close to losing in late April) In 2007 this team was out of the race by April and it was pretty much the same story this year, sure we got within 4 or 5 games of the Angels in early July but we still only played a couple meaningful games and none of those came in the last month and a half of the season.

The defense - The Rangers had 129 errors in the league far and away the most in the league. The catchers, pitchers 2nd baseman and 3rd baseman each had 20 errors by players who fielded those positions. This led to the team giving up 967 runs, but only 860 runs were earned. I realize that errors are not the end all be all to defense and they will happen from time to time but someone is not doing there job whether it's the coaches or our players are just dumb when you give up over 100 unearned runs! What's especially embarrassing is that Ron Washington was brought into improve infield defense and it's gotten exponentially worse. I'm curious how many times in the past decade pitchers and catchers have combined for over 40 erros. The 2003 Detroit Tigers lost 119 games, how many errors did there pitchers and catchers have, they combined for 20!

And of course the pitching - I feel bad for just about anyone in our building it has to be extremely taxing. Jamey Wright was completely abused and the last half of the season he was completely useless and yet Ron Washington kept calling his name from the bullpen. The 1st 2 months of the season he had a 2.97 ERA and at the end of June still had a 3.60 ERA and after that it never got below 4.26. He never made less then 10 appearances in a month though he was a massive pile of suck the last 3 months of the season and yet every other day Ron Washington would come calling to the bullpen going for his #1 guy, I just didn't understand it. And he just melts when faced with any sort of adversity, whether he's called in during a tough spot or he creates it himself by walking the 1st 2 batters of the inning.

And on top of giving up the most hits in the league they were 25th in the league in walks, and a couple times walked at least 9 in a game. It's bad enough seeing your pitcher get shelled but when he's making the problem worse by walking a guy it's just a dagger.

Injuries also stacked up against this team, looking at this team for pitchers who pitched at least 20 innings on this team, these are the players who didn't go on the DL: Warner Madrigal, Jamey Wright, Sydney Ponson, Josh Rupe, Frankie Francisco, Matt Harrison and Kameron Loe. So pretty much if you were a starter on this team chances are you ended up on the DL.

And then there are several incidents where Ron Washington made boneheaded decisions on who to choose out of the bullpen.

But I digress, all in all it was a very fun season my favorite moments came when Josh Hamilton in his 2nd game of the year hit a 9th inning 2 run homerun off Seattle Mariners closer JJ Putz to give them a 5-4 win. The other 3 favorite moments of mine was the walkoff homer again by Hamilton this time at home off of Francisco Rodriguez. And my personal favorite because I was at the game was the Marlon Byrd walk off grandslam. I remember my friend Justin bringing up the scenario prior to the game or the inning before and then lo and behold in the 9th inning the bases are loaded for Marlon Byrd and 1st pitch off Damaso Marte is sent into centerfield and to top it off it was against the Yankees! The worst game I'd guess would be the 19-17 loss vs. the Red Sox where we got down 10-0 and eventually took the lead only to blow it, thankfully that was one of the few games I missed.

This offseason will be interesting, how will the catching situation be sorted out? Who will be this years starting 1st baseman, 3rd baseman or DH? Will David Murphy or Nelson Cruz be the primary starter next year in the outfield? Will the club pick up Hank Blalock's option since he finished the season strong? Or is there a possibility that Milton Bradley will be re-signed (though it's looking less likely) Will Jon Daniels go after a big name pitcher via trade or free agency and who will be in the bullpen come next spring?

Personally here's what I would do, I would move Chris Davis back to 1st base and start Travis Metcalf at 3rd base next year. He's the best fielder we have and it helps to have an abover average defensive player next to Michael Young. And of course since this is what I want to do I would resign Milton Bradley (though I'm almost certain it's not going to happen) I would also pick up Hank Blalock's option with the intent to trade him.
If I have to choose between Nelson Cruz and David Murphy I'll take Nelson Cruz, maybe it's a little crazy but after watching him the last month of the season he's changed for the better. He's finally learned how to take a walk which he had never shown before at the major league level, I like Murphy, he's the kind of players love to gush about for playing his heart out and being a David Eckstein type player. The announcers will bring up all kind of superlatives for "playing the game the right way" and all kinds of other compliments just to avoid saying he's white. But Cruz has more power, is a better defensive player (though they're both good) and it appears he can get on base at a higher clip. Plus this club is really missing a good right handed bat in there lineup, it's predominantly left handed. And they're both going to be cheap, either way you're going to get the players prime years of his career for cheap and Cruz appears to have a bigger upside, they're only separated by 15 months too so it's not like Murphy is alot younger then Cruz.

I think the club should go after Derek Lowe, people say sinker ball pitchers work in this park and he's one of the best there is. This could turn into a Milwood type signing but if he is willing to go 3 years (and I might even go 4) for 50 million or so I'd be all over that. And if I was Daniels I would also try and acquire a young starter that is under control for ahwile. I think that is what is going to happen and since I chose to keep Nelson Cruz over David Murphy I'd dangle him and a couple top prospects in a trade for a guy like Matt Cain or Zach Greinke. And right now there are rumors speculating that Jake Peavy is available, Yes please. They need help at about every position, here are the players not available in a trade for Peavy: Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland. And I think that I might give up one of Feliz or Holland, they'd just have to not expect to get much else with them.

I think this team will trade 2 of 4 catchers Gerald Laird, Taylor Teagarden, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Max Ramirez. I pray that Laird is one of the 2 out and then I'd trade either Salty or Teagarden for the best value. I think that Teagarden is easily our best defensive catcher and he surprised me with his bat in September, he can really put a charge in the ball when a pitcher makes a mistake. I think his value is alot higher then Salty's at this point. I think in the end he'll be the better hitter out of the 4 though, he possesses the best OBP skills and the last month before he got hurt he hit over .350. He struggles mightily against lefties but hit .311 against right handed hitters. If we can get Clay Buchholz from the Red Sox for either of them I'd do it in a heartbeat, he came into this season ranked as one of the best prospects in the game but struggled with his command, he alread has a No-hitter under his belt and strikes out nearly a batter an inning he just needs to get some control he possessed in the minors, of course with our pitching instructors that never seems to happen with us.

As for next season it's just another season of building which is what Ranger fans don't want to hear but it's the truth, another year where our prospects develop and move through our system, maybe even Derek Holland or Neftali Feliz makes a start next September or Elvis Andrus or Julio Borbon play with the big league club. I can't decide if the Rangers were lucky or unlucky this year, they had the worst defense and pitching but on the other hand had a ton of young players coupled with the best offense. They won 79 games and there pythagorem theory was 76 wins so they didnt completely outperform expectations where the Angels overachieved by a dozen games. I imagine that next year will be more of the same, I don't expect the defense to be as bad and I don't expect us to be as bad to start the season but then again I thought the same thing about this team coming into this season.


NFL Picks to come....