A Piece of My Childhood -- Gone

Golden's Deli, a staple for Staten Island Jews, has closed down.
Apparently the owners and the landlord couldn't agree on a lease arrangement. Golden's may reopen at some point in a new location.
But if not a lot of cool childhood memories will be gone:
I always loved the pickle bar
I liked sitting in the train/subway car, though it wasn't big enough to accommodate large parties
One time Mama Poop and Papa Poop played a trick on us, they told us we were going to dinner at Snedlog, and we had to figure out what it washttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
And of course, I will miss the mushroom barley soup, which came in third on my soup rankings



Story Suggested by BC

Weekly Picks

Had a little bit of a bounceback last week but the season is still a disaster. 11 games left, best I can do is get them all right.

cincinnati +3 1/2 HOUSTON
This is a tough game to call, as evidenced by the 3 point spread, which basically means pick'em on a neutral field. I trust Andy Dalton a little bit more than an injured TJ Yates, especially because if something happens to Yates, Jake Delhomme comes in.

NEW ORLEANS -10 1/2 detroit
This spread is way too big and there is definitely a chance Detroit is down 17 and scores a junk touchdown at the end. But I love the way the Saints are playing right now. And last week's record-setting performance by Matt Flynn wasn't an aberration. It doesn't necessarily mean Flynn is so great, it means the Detroit secondary is terrible. Basically we know New Orleans will score 31 or more. And Detroit can put points on the board, so this game comes down to Stafford's turnovers. If he has 1 or 0, the Lions will cover, if he throws 2 or more picks, the Saints will.

atlanta +3 NEW YORK GIANTS
I like the Falcons offense, but they are going to have a tough time containing Eli Manning and Victor Cruz. Similar to the other game, it's basically an even match, so I will just take the points.

BEST BET
pittsburgh -8 DENVER
I haven't been able to get Tim Tebow right all year. But I have finally jumped off the bandwagon again. Pittsburgh may have a hard time scoring 8 points, but if they do, they could very well shut out Denver.


Last Week: 3-2 (4 points)
Season: 38-47 (36 points)
Best Bets: 1-0 (7-10)
Home Favorites: 1-1 (16-19)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (0-3)
Road Favorites: 1-1 (11-14)
Road Underdogs: 1-0 (11-11)

Success and Sacrifice

On a recent episode of NFL Films Presents I caught up with some childhood heroes as the show visited a retreat sponsored by Coach Gibbs, gathering every player from the 4 Super Bowl teams he coached.
I was particularly moved by defensive end Charles Mann. He said when he wants to be reminded about his successes in life he looks at the ring finger on his right hand, where he wears his Super bowl ring.


When he wants to be reminded about the sacrifices needed to achieve that success he looks at the ring finger on his left hand.

What Do You Give Me For? Richard Cordray & Jack McBrayer

What do you give me for Richard Cordray, the President's choice to head the CFPB and Jack McBrayer who plays the gay guy on "30 Rock?"

NFL Playoff Predictions

Wild Card Playoffs
Atlanta Falcons over New York Giants
New Orleans Saints over Detroit Lions
Pittsburgh Steelers over Denver Broncos
Cincinnati Bengals over Houston Texans

Divisional Playoffs
Green Bay Packers over Atlanta Falcons
New Orleans Saints over San Francisco 49ers
New England Patriots over Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens over Pittsburgh Steelers

Conference Championships
New Orleans Saints over Green Bay Packers
Baltimore Ravens over New England Patriots

Super Bowl
New Orleans Saints 31 Baltimore Ravens 16

Song of the Week

"Love on Top" - Beyonce
I like to call her "Bee-Ontz." Funny mispronunciation of her name. Anyway, I don't usually dig Beyonce's music because she is so pop and the teenage girls love her. I did like her turn on "Party" with Andre3000 but since it's officially a Kanye West song I couldn't make it SOTW. I like the old school sound of this song, the simplistic video, the awesome dance moves, and the double-sided tape that provided a big assist in outfit #2.

The NFL is Poop - Week 17

Passing Fancy
2011 was a great season for passing and so it's fitting it should end with the best passing game ever. Matthew Stafford throwing for 520 yards and Matt Flynn for 480. A perfect round, 1000, the most combined passing yards in one game in NFL history. I have no idea why the Packers were playing so hard in a game that didn't matter. Do they think Aaron Rodgers is their only important player? They are lucky no one got hurt.



Easy Breesy
Drew Brees just completed the pest season any quarterback has ever had (by the numbers). Brees set records for passing yards, pass completions and completion percentage, which taken in context is even more impressive. Obviously, comparing Brees's accomplishments to passers from other eras is not fair, but by any measure, it's an impressive season, which is why Brees is my MVP. I had Rodgers going into the final week. But then when I saw Matt Flynn put up Rodgers-esque numbers in Green Bay's offense I decided to go with Brees, even though it's very likely he's a "system QB" too.

It Takes Years to Become an Overnight Sensation
Victor Cruz was an undrafted free agent. He made the most of his chance catching 3 touchdowns in a preseason game last year. But he got injured early in the season and didn't catch a pass. This season Cruz emerged, catching 82 passes for 1536 yards. Included in that total, 5 touchdowns of more than 65 yards, second-most all-time.



Second-to-last Tebow Rant?
I was too late to get on the Tim Tebow bandwagon and now I'm too late getting off it. Looks like I was right all along. Tebow cannot throw. And all his other positive attributes don't make up for that giant failing. Teams adjusted to Denver's half-option running game and actually played more man coverage against him because he's not good enough to pick apart zones. For the second straight year (Seattle last year) a home team is a bigger than touchdown underdog in the first round of the playoffs. And I don't like the Broncos chances against the Steelers.

Picture of the Week
Somewhere Mike Curtis is smiling because Packers linebacker Brad Jones tackled a fan who ran onto the field.



Bad Joke of the Week, Maybe Year
Kyle Orton's pass was too high. It went somewhere over Dewayne Bowe.



A Brief Rant About the Redskins
There is some hope for the future with some good young running backs (Helu and Royster), drug users (Fred Davis and Trent Williams) and great defensive lineman (Ryan Kerrigan and Brian Orakpo). But the back 7 of the defense is getting old (Hall, Wilson, Fletcher, Atogwe) and we still have no quarterback. And we're not getting Luck or Barkley so maybe we will rest the next three years of our franchise at the feet of Robert Griffin III.

If the Super Bowl Were Played Today
Green Bay Packers 45 New England Patriots 41
These aren't my picks for the Super Bowl but these teams have surely done enough to warrant these spots for the final regular season Poop.

The Poop's New Year's Message

I am going to try to be better in 2012.
I know you’re thinking “but Poop you’re fine just the way you are.” And yes, I am pretty awesome but even I can get better, and I plan to do so in the following ways:
Most importantly, I want to control my temper. I don’t get outrageously angry too often, but I shouldn’t do it ever. And I can definitely avoid getting frustrated for even a minute with Mrs. Poop or Mama Poop. I think I do a pretty good job with the kids of dispensing discipline without getting angry but I’ll try even harder this year.
I want to lose weight. I’ve had this desire for a couple years now and haven’t had the time or energy to really go after it. I’m around 204 pounds (I was as high as 212) and I hope to get down to 185 at some point. I’m going to eat healthier, especially at work, and once the weather gets nicer I’m going to go out for a run at least three times a week. And I have to drink more water.
I want to post more. I hope 2012 will be the first full year in the history of the Poop which has more posts than the year before it. 2011 sank to 343 posts, an average of less than one per day. It is hard for me to find time to work on these posts. And I do lack motivation because readership has fallen so much. I’d say only about 5 people read regularly, with another 5 checking in occasionally. But statistically it was another great year for the Poop, as Jerry Sandusky Jokes contributed about 12,000 hits, the most popular post ever. I will try to continue cranking out posts to appeal to my regular readers, and to attract Googlers.
I will be more positive. See how I didn’t say “I want to…” My life is too good to waste any time being angry or upset. Though those emotions often fuel the best posts. In those cases I will harness them for artistic purposes and let them go. I will avoid negative people this year, and continue to seek to surround myself with positive energy. Note: this will not apply to my feelings about my favorite sports teams.
Check out my New Year’s predictions for 2011. Some of them were spot-on (though Julian walking, Bones winning and Juice proposing were layups), some were way off (how did the Heat, Patriots and Phillies all lose in the playoffs?) and some were pretty close (just need unemployment to fall by 0.2% in Friday’s report).

Weekly Picks

chicago +2 MINNESOTA
DENVER -3 kansas city
JACKSONVILLE -3 1/2 indianapolis
pittsburgh -7 CLEVELAND

BEST BET
baltimore -2 CINCINNATI

Last Week: 1-4 (0 points)
Season: 35-45 (31 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (6-10)
Home Favorites: 0-1 (15-18)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (0-3)
Road Favorites: 0-2 (10-13)
Road Underdogs: 1-1 (10-11)