The Foxy Four

I have been lax in following the Hottest significant other tournament. When we last posted about it there were still 16 contenders, now we are down to four.
While the top 8 seeds survived the Sexy 16, there were a couple upsets in the next round.
After surviving a run-off against Eva Longoria, Jennifer Walcott (girlfriend of Rams safety Adam Archuleta) troucned top seeded Elsa Benitez.
She now faces a tough match against Elin Nordegren.
In the other semi-final, my pretournament favorite Elisha Cuthbert advanced in an upset by seeding only, over Veronika Varekova.
She will face Carmella DeCesare, a very formidable foe.

It should be noted that in my first post about this, I listed three favorites, two are still alive.
More impressively Derek has nailed 3 of the Foxy Four, including surprising Jennifer Walcott. He is a most impressive talent scout.

Super Bowl Commercials

By most accounts the ads were even disappointing this year. Personally I liked the Secret Fridge and the one with Kermit the Frog. The one with the woman tackling that guy in the bar was also hysterical. The favorites were also the streaking sheep and the FedEx caveman. If you don't remember them, watch them again.

Super Bowl

I know you've had your fill of the Super Bowl already, the complaining about the officiating, etc. But a lot of you do like to read my opinions so here they are. Officials screw up every game, but very seldom do they actually determine the outcome. Even the Pittsburgh-Colts game, when it seemed like they were trying to, they couldn't give Indy the win. Here's the bad calls:

Darrell Jackson push-off. There's no way any with a brain can watch that play and say it doesn't deserve to be called. Also people complain that it was called late, after the defensive back asked for the call. Watch it again. The referee tried to throw the flag but missed the first time.

Ben Roethlisberger's touchdown. He was in. I think this is clear from the replay. If any part of the ball is over any part of the goal line at any time it's a touchdown.

Sean Locklear holding call. This one was a bad call. But looking at it again, I believe it was Hagans, threw up his arm in a way that made it looked like he was being held. But this flag proves my point. On the very next play the Seahawks allowed a sack that knocked them out of field goal range. Two plays after that Hasselbeck threw a bad interception and got called for a low block penalty (another unfortunate call). Three plays after that Seattle gets duped on a trick play and the game is over.
The way I see it Seattle made three mistakes, the refs made one, maybe two. So why aren't we blaming them? Who did more to lose the game? The ref who made a questionable holding call or the quarterback who held the ball too long and then threw it away.
Why do we expect the refs to be perfect?

Overall impressions:
The Steelers deserved to win even though they played underwhelmingly. During the playoffs they beat 4 of the top 5 teams in the league.
The game of course was disappointing but at least it held our interest.
The Rolling Stones were horrible and there definitely should have been local Detroit acts instead of them.

Now we get ready for March Madness, and spring training.

Why So Few Posts Today?

The day after the biggest sporting event of the year and only three posts? I know that's disappointing, sort of like the game itself. But I have a very good reason. Mrs. Poop was home today and we needed to get some things so I suggested a trip to Target. Why would I go to Target? Popcorn. At the front of the store they have a little snack bar and the popcorn is delicious. A big bag for only $1.29, that would cost $4.50 at the movies. In Penn Station its $1.50 for a bag half the size, with no butter and twice as much salt. Mrs. Poop got the popcorn combo, the small bag with a drink for a dollar. How do they stay in business? Anyway, thanks to the popcorn, if I have to go shopping, I'll take Target over any other place. So blame them for the light workload today.

Big Ben to Shave

Ben Roethlisberger will shave his beard on Letterman tonight. He will do it with the new Gillette five-bladed razor, which has 25% more blades than the Schick Quattro TallSkott hooked me up with.

Crazy Coincidence

Marc Stern is an idiot. A generous unlucky idiot.
In 1962 he was a student at Dickinson College in Carlisle Pennsylvania. He had two tickets to the Warriors-Knicks game in Hershey, but he had an exam the next day so he gave his tickets away.
That was the game in which Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points.
Now he has Lakers season tickets, but due to a birthday party he gave his tickets away to the Lakers-Raptors game, in which Kobe Bryant scored 81 points.
This seems too ridiculous to be true. I wonder what the media did to verify his story that he gave away tickets in 1962. Was his word good enough? Even so, its quite a tale.

I Am the Champion

Thanks to my pick of Pittsburgh, I have won my yearlong Matchsticks pool and the $1200 first prize. It was a long and arduous season but I dominated as soon as I got back from the honeymoon (started the season with two rough while making picks from Hawaii and Las Vegas). I even bragged about my standing at the annual pizza party midseason, and avoided the kibosh despite that. I got three of four best bets during the playoffs including the Super Bowl.
If Seattle had scored a garbage touchdown to make it 21-17, I would have won due to a push. Had they scored the touchdown and the 2-point conversion I still would have won, because I would have been closer to the point total.

But here is the final post of the season:
"All hail to the victor as this year we pay tribute to Cannon920 who came through big time just when he needed it the most. He could have easily folded under the intense pressure of trying to hang on to the slimmest of leads, but instead reached down for a major gut check and made the biggest pic of his matchstick career. Great job and congrats from us all!!!"

While the rest of my crew (my father, brother, his father-in-law and brother-in-law, my brother-in-law, his cousin and mike) had good runs none of them kept it up through the end. Some of you have expressed interest in participating next year so I'll go over the rules again.

$125 entry fee for the whole year.
You make 5 picks per week. 4 games are 1 or 0. The fifth game is your best bet, worth 2 or -1. There is $1 per week from every person entered into the perfect 6 pool, which goes to whomever gets the perfect 6 that week (its more rare than you might think). About 55 people were in it this year, and I hope more of you will join next year. If you think you might be interested write a comment in this post to that effect. I will review this post in August and contact those interested parties.

Pittsnogle Baby Details

Pittsnogle's wife, Heather, went into labor Thursday night, and they both spent the night in the hospital. At 5:31 p.m. Friday afternoon, she delivered a 22-inch, 9-pound, 5-ounce boy named Kwynsie James via Caesarean section. ("I thought of the name, she thought of the spelling," Kevin said.)
At noon Saturday, exhausted-but-elated dad was walking out to the center jump circle.
"It's probably the best feeling I've ever had in my life," Pittsnogle said.
Pittsnogle had been text-messaging updates on the baby's progress to Beilein on Thursday night and during the day Friday. The Mountaineers practiced Friday afternoon without Pittsnogle, and didn't know for sure until that night that he would play. When the baby and his wife came through healthy, he called in and said he'd be ready when they rolled out the blue-and-gold carpet Saturday to introduce the starters.
What did Heather say about his decision to play?
"She didn't say nothing," Pittsnogle said with a smile. "She's sleeping."
Pittsnogle said he left the hospital around midnight and went home to sleep for "five or six hours," while his mom, Tammy, stayed with his wife. He walked in for West Virginia's 8:30 walk-through with a picture of his newborn son and, as Beilein said, "a big smile on his face."
Pittsnogle got a 15-minute crash course on Cincinnati's sets and plays, information he missed from practice Friday. Then, a few hours later, it was time to locate enough energy to play 37 minutes against Bearcats strongman Eric Hicks.
"My teammates kept me up," he said, "and the adrenaline from the crowd got me going."
Down three coming out of halftime, Pittsnogle swished a pair of 3s in the first 100 seconds for a 36-33 lead and a huge momentum swing. Cincinnati immediately called timeout after the second 3-pointer, and West Virginia was largely in control from that point forward.
"He made a couple huge shots that changed the game," Cincy coach Andy Kennedy said.
It was not a virtuoso Pittsnogle performance. He shot 4 for 17 and finished with 12 points, more than seven below his season's average, and seven rebounds. But you try playing Big East basketball within hours of becoming a father.
"The man just had a great game, and he just assisted in childbirth," Beilein said. "I wanted people to give him a big round of applause. It was complete theater, that's all it was. I know everyone was probably clapping for Heather at the same time."
Pittsnogle said his family has already decided Kwynsie looks like Kevin did at birth. There's no telling whether he'll grow to be 6 feet 11, but dad is optimistic about the little man's potential shooting range.
"Hopefully 30 feet," he said.
And Pittsnogle has promised this: He'll find some spare room on his heavily inked body for a new tattoo honoring the arrival of Kwynsie James.
"There'll be one soon," he said. "Everyone will see."

Kendra Davis is Crazy

Two weeks ago I blamed the whole Antonio Davis in the stands incident on his wife Kendra. Turns out I was probably right.

Kendra Davis has been charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly flinging a hot cup of coffee on another woman during a traffic altercation in Naperville.
A woman claimed Davis ran a stop sign on Oct. 27, 2005. When she confronted Davis, Davis threw a cup of McDonald's coffee through the driver's side window.
Davis told police that she threw the cup of coffee because the woman used a racial slur. There was no charge until Thursday because the woman did not decide to pursue a criminal complaint until then. Wonder what prompted her sudden change of heart? Maybe she found out Antonio Davis' salary?

And the Pick Is...

The Pittsburgh Steelers -4.

Here are my reasons:
1) I love the way they are playing right now, especially Ben Roethlisberger. I've always said the most important thing in determining the winners and losers of football games is turnovers. And that's what makes football so hard to predict. But I think the Steelers are less likely to make that game ending bad play. I love the way they've been coached in the playoffs. Their game plan for the Colts and Broncos was excellent and if they get up a couple scores on Seattle early I think it will be the same result.
2) The AFC. I thought all season the AFC team was going to win the Super Bowl. Seattle had a relatively week regular season schedule. And they beat the 5 and 6 seeds at home to get here. The Steelers beat 1, 2 and 3 on the road.
3) Bettis. Something about all that's been going on, it just seems right that he should win.
4) The Pistons game. The Steelers seem to be having a lot more fun this week wearing Chauncey Billups jerseys at the Pistons game. I think the looser team has an advantage.
5) Tommy Maddox. Had he not thrown one or two games while Ben was hurt the Steelers would have been a 2 or at worst 3 seed in the playoffs. Everything would have been different and the spread would be bigger and the Seahawks wouldn't have this 1 vs. 6 card to play. Basically the Steelers are a better team than they are even getting credit for. They shouldn't be underdogs, Cinderellas, they should have been division winners if not for Tommy Maddox.
6) Smokey. I think it would be bad karma to root against my long-lost brother Smokey, who will be going to the game. Smokey and Krista were able to get tickets from a friend, at face value. Since they will be in Detroit and I don't want their trip ruined I will be rooting for Pittsburgh. Carson Daly and Earl Hickey will agree with me on this point.
7) The tights. Even though Cleveland eventually lost to LeBron and his magic tights, Smokey will be wearing his in Ford Field and I believe in the power of the tights.

One thing that worries me, too many people are picking the Steelers and a lot of times popular opinion is wrong. Also I feel like I am inviting Eliminator to pick Seattle, as his one chance to win the pool (but he could fall down several spots if he does that and loses). But if the Steelers cover the points is moot. I'll be going with the retired #44 as my total points for the game. Steelers 24-20 would be a push, and a victory.

Go Stillers!!!!!!!!!!! or push!

It All Comes Down to This

You may recall that I am in first place in my pool heading into the Super Bowl.

Here is what the commissioner had to say about me:
So this is what it all comes down to. Super Sunday finds everything up in the air both at the top and bottom. Cannon920 was clutch this week and can win this whole thing if he can only make one more good pic. But Little Bro and Eliminator are right there just waiting and hoping for him to choke.

Mets Super Bowl Picks

The Mets sent me an e-mail the other day with a brief video (you can see it there) to let me know who was picking whom in the Super Bowl.

Willie Randolph takes the Steelers because he started his career with the Pirates during the Steelers' heyday in the late 1970s.
Cliff Floyd also took the Steelers. He likes the way they are playing, but he felt the need to point out that he is not a Steelers fan.

David Wright took Seattle. He offered some good analysis, saying he liked the Seahawks running game even though the Steelers were the hot team after winning a lot of road games.
Tom Glavine doesn't care because the Patriots aren't in it, but he takes the Seahawks.

Billy Wagner, I have to quote directly. "I'm a Steelers fan, but I like the Seahawks too, so I'm going to have to go with a tie."

It's a Boy

Heather Pittsnogle gave birth to a healthy baby boy Kwyncie James Pittsnogle, yesterday afternoon. Today Kwyncie's daddy scored 12 poits in a victory over Cincinnati.

The Solution to Josh's Marital Problems

Josh's TV is 51 inches (measured diagonally) and Stacy Keibler's legs are 42 inches (vertically). All Josh needs to do is get Stacy Keibler's legs next to this TV. That would diminish the size of the TV by comparison, and certainly, the TV would no longer be the focal point of the room. Now, it would be crazy to suggest that he could get the real Stacy Keibler to stand next to his TV, so I suggest a lifesize cardboard cutout, or a statue perhaps.
Anyway, ABC put up week 5 pictures, but still not week 4. Enjoy!

Knicks Trade

The Knicks acquired Jalen Rose and Denver's first round pick from the Raptors for Antonio Davis. I like this trade because Davis was basically worthless, and his wife was crazy. Hopefully this will mean more minutes for Lee and Frye. There are a couple drawbacks to this trade. Jalen Rose is a weak defender (part of the Toronto contigent that allowed Kobe to score 81 points). The Knicks already have too many of those players. Davis' contract is up after this season (which is what made him attractive to the Raptors). Jalen's contract goes for one more year, he is due $17m next year (the differences in salary this year is negligible). So I like the trade from a talent standpoint, not convinced about it from the future of the organization standpoint. I had hoped we could use our expiring contracts to get better draft picks or a legitimate star who is legitimately unhappy such as Paul Pierce or maybe Mike Bibby.

But enough of what I think, what do you think:
Matt Focks: loves the deal because it gives the Knicks 3 UMich guys along with JC & Mo.Tail.
Mike: loves the deal because recent history has shown that players unhappy in Toronto come to this area and do well.
Derek Haskins (two Dereks read this blog, I need to differentiate): hates the deal because Jalen taunted Denver fans with chants of "Plummer" after the Broncos lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.
Justin: loves the deal because during the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals we watched a Pacers-Knicks game from a sports book in Acapulco. After Jalen hit a shot someone (who Justin thought to be a local) screamed out "La Rosa!" Turned out that was me.
Me: One more thought, Jalen is a frequent contributor to the Best Damn Sports Show Period. I like his appearances a lot, including his conversations with Eva Longoria at last year's NBA Finals. He says "things of that nature" too often but he always comported himself with class. One time they did a sketch showing a black woman giving birth to two kids, one black and one white. Those babies turned into Jalen Rose and Best Damn host Chris Rose. In the climactic final scene it was revealed that the boys' father was Pete Rose. Funny stuff. If I left you out and you have an opinion on this trade we'd love to hear from you, especially if you go by the name of "The Concierge."

Cutest Drug Mules Ever

Colombian drug smugglers surgically implanted 2 one-pound packets of heroin into the stomachs of 10 dogs.
Only three of the Labradors and Rottweilers they used actually survived.

ABC is Fucking Us

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Super Bowl Memories

Over at the Horsehead Derek has been reliving past Super Bowls in which the Broncos appeared. Weel, you may remember that in one of those games, Super Bowl XXII. Hard to believe that was XVIII years ago.
Anyway, while Derek was wearing balloons to root for his team, I was watching this game in my first ever jersey. A generic #83 (Ricky Sanders), with no name on the back. What's so ironic is that back then I was the opposite of the way I am now. Even after Ricky Nattiel scored a 56-yard touchdown, I still thought the Redskins were going to win. Now if my team is up 10-0, I think they are going to lose.
The second quarter of that game happened so fast, I don't remember anything. I do remember Timmy Smith going nuts, and Doug Williams throwing four touchdowns, but I most vividly remember Sanders scoring an 80-yard touchdown.
For 15 minutes of game clock, that team played perfectly. Scored 35 points. 5 touchdowns, 3 of them from 50 yards are more. Like I said. It all happened so fast. I wish they bottled that feeling and sold it in stores. That game was awesome. Little did I know that somewhere in New Hampshire a small child about my age was crying and covered in balloons. Sorry Haskins.

We Goin Sizzler Again

Last month I won the jobs report pool and I have now extended my streak to 3 months in a row.
This morning I said 192,000 new jobs added, the number was 193,000.
Added another $8 to my winnings.

Oops!

We've all seen the e-mails of the chicks in the crazy prom dresses.
Eric Govan, the No. 3 person on the Warriors' media relations staff, sent the e-mail featuring these pictures, many depicting scantily clad black people in formal attire and commentary on the outfits. The e-mail went to dozens of newspaper reporters, columnists and sports editors, as well as television and radio stations.
He was fired immediately. More crazy prom dresses can be seen here.