Weekly Picks

My best week of the year followed by my worst week of the year. Undefeated Cardinals lost to a bad Rams team. Winless Saints beat a good Chargers team. My first loss while picking an underdog all season. I have never seen such a wide split between performance picking favorites versus underdogs. Underdogs are hot this year, and I am reluctant to pick them as my best bet, which explains my struggles.

cincinnati -2 1/2 CLEVELAND
I was going to make this my best bet but got scared off because of how live home dogs have been. But we have a decent team coming off a bad loss against the worst team in the league and the spread is less than a field goal. As Mike Singletary might say "I like this kinda party."

SAN DIEGO +1 denver
I still like what the Chargers have done so far this season. And I am certainly concerned that Denver's tough schedule could be masking a better team than I think. But I'm looking for a home dog to take.

indianapolis +3 1/2 NEW YORK JETS
Despite picking the Jets last week when everyone else was against them, I do agree that the Jets stink. I'm a little worried about the Colts because this whole Chuck Strong thing is bullshit, but they're actually pretty good.

ARIZONA -4 buffalo
The Cardinals had their problems with the Rams defense last week. But even though they paid a lot for them, the Bills have the worst defense in the league.

BEST BET
BALTIMORE -3 1/2 dallas
This pick has me a little nervous because when we last saw Tony Romo he was throwing 5 interceptions against the Bears. I am quite certain that won't happen again. But it doesn't need to for the Ravens to win this game comfortably.

Last Week: 1-4 (0 points)
Season: 11-14 (8 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (1-4)
Home Favorites: 0-2 (1-9)
Home Underdogs: 1-0 (3-0)
Road Favorites: 0-1 (4-4)
Road Underdogs: 0-1 (3-1)

There Will Be No Beano

ESPN college football analyst Beano Cook passed away. His former partner Chris Fowler did a touching tribute to him, but unfortunately it only included a small snippet of Beano's most famous moment: "I can hear him!" (at about 2:05 of this video)

Staten Island's Eiffel Tower

Staten Island will soon be home to the world's tallest ferris wheel.
It will be 625 feet tall and cost $230m to build. It will carry 1,440 passengers at one time. It will be on the north shore overlooking the Statue of Liberty.
It is part of an effort to revive the St. George area of Staten Island which including a 100-shop outlet mall and a 200-room hotel.
Senantor Chuck Schumer says “the ferris wheel will be Staten Island’s Eiffel Tower.” Chuck Schumer is a moron.
But it’s actually not a bad idea. People from Staten Island will definitely visit this. I would. And maybe some tourists and Manhattan visitors would be encouraged to take the ferry to Staten Island if there were something cool to do. And maybe if you’re looking to visit Manhattan on a budget you’d rather stay at a nice hotel in Staten Island and take the ferry across.
The idea seems ridiculous but I believe it has a lot of potential and could be a pretty cool thing for Staten Island.

Here's a mock-up of what the Ferris Wheel and the surrounding area would look like:

Just a Pawn in the Game of Life

Alex Karras died today at the age of 77. Karras has unique appeal to members of three generations. In the 1960s, Karras was a star defensive lineman for the Detroit Lions. He was suspended for the entire 1963 season after he admitted to gambling on NFL games. In the 1970s he a great role as Mongo in "Blazing Saddles," where he famously punched a horse.

But everyone is going to be posting about that today. Here at the Poop, we try to do things differently, especially when it comes to obituaries.
We post random and obscure memories from the deceased's career, like this clip from "Webster" with Alex Karras as George Papadopoulos.

Song of the Week

"Mathematics" - Mos Def
DJ Premier is probably one of the five best producers in hip-hop history. Here he is at his best, scratching 7 samples together for the song's hook:

"The Mighty Mos Def..." (from Mos Def's "Body Rock"),
"It's simple mathematics" (from Fat Joe's "John Blaze"),
"Check it out" (The Lady of Rage's vocals from Snoop Dogg's "For All My Niggaz & Bitches"),
"I revolve around science..." (Ghostface Killah's vocals from Raekwon's "Criminology"),
"What are we talking about here..." (dialogue from the film Ghostbusters)
"Do your math.." (from Erykah Badu's "On & On"), and
"One, two, three, four" (from James Brown's "Funky Drummer")

The NFL is Poop - Week 5

Brees Passes Unitas
Drew Brees set the all-time record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass when he hit Devery Henderson for a 40-yard score. Brees passed Johnny Unitas who set the record of 47 straight games, back in 1960. A very special moment for Brees, that’s three years without getting shut out. And it came in a Saints win, to keep them from going 0-5, though even at 1-4 I think their playoff chances are slim. The most curious thing to me was the NFL (Roger Goodell) granting clemency to Sean Payton, temporarily lifting his suspension so he could attend the game. Seems like the NFL has gone soft. The guy was banned for the year because his team was running a bounty program and he failed to stop it. The punishment was just and it should be enforced as it was meted out.

He Kind of Has a Point
Chiefs offensive lineman Eric Winston went off on fans for booing Matt Cassell while he was laying on the field after getting knocked out by a hit.

Here’s what Winston said after the game:
"It's 100-percent sickening. I've never, ever -- and I've been in some rough times on some rough teams -- I've never been more embarrassed in my life to play football than at that moment right there. I get emotional about it because these guys, they work their butts off. Matt Cassel hasn't done anything to you people.
"Hey, if he's not the best quarterback, he's not the best quarterback, and that's OK, but he's a person. And he got knocked out in a game and we've got 70,000 people cheering that he got knocked out.
"We are not gladiators and this is not the Roman Colosseum. This is a game. This is a game that's going to cost us a lot down the road. That's OK. We picked it. We deserve it. I don't want your pity. But we've got a lot of problems as a society if people think that's OK."
To wit, this text being passed around Twitter from a fan who sent a text (before the injury) to one of those anonymous security numbers designed to alert stadium security about an unruly fan.

Good Luck, Chuck
I never buy into the whole motivation angle because I think for the most part teams and players are always trying hard, always motivated and always wanting to win. That’s why I reject the notion that the Colts pulling off a 30-27 upset of the Green Bay Packers had anything to do with inspiration from head coach Chuck Pagano. The win had to do with Andrew Luck throwing for 362 yards, and leading the Colts to 27 points in the second half. It had to do with Reggie Wayne diving across the goal line for the last 4 of his 212 receiving yards. It had to do with Mason Crosby shanking a potential game-tying field goal. ChuckStrong is a good slogan, but slogans don’t win football games.

They’re Back Baby
Maybe I was wrong about the San Francisco 49ers again. Before the season I predicted they would have a significant letdown from last year’s 13-3 record. Then everyone started declaring them the best team in football after wins over the Packers and Lions. In week 3 they lost to the Vikings and everyone rethought their positions. The 49ers have been pretty convincing in blowing out their last two opponents by a 79-3 combined score. There was some pretty good balance there too, 311 rushing yards and 310 passing yards in the win over the Bills. And they had basically stopped passing the ball somewhere around the middle of the 3rd quarter. They have a loss on their record so I can’t put them over the Falcons at the bottom of this column, but I’m pretty sure they will be there eventually.

A Brief Rant About the Redskins
So it finally happened. We knew it would. Hang Robert Griffin III out there long enough and eventually he would take one vicious hit to the head. And that’s exactly what happened, and because he was a runner and not a passer, and because the shot was with shoulder, not helmet of forearm, it was a legal blow. RGIII reportedly was unable to tell medical staff the score, or the quarter, so as a precaution they kept him out of the rest of the game.

I actually can’t blame Shanahan for this injury because even though I’ve been imploring him to protect RGIII more I have suggested the red zone is the best time to unleash him as a runner. Though I want planned sneaks, the injury occurred on a scramble after a passing play broke down.

But Griffin hadn’t really done anything at that point in the game, throwing for only 91 yards. But he was definitely better than Kirk Cousins who led two 3 and outs, one touchdown drive on a 77-yarder to Moss on what was clearly a broken coverage and then ended the game with two interceptions, killing any chance for a comeback.
And then there’s Billy Cundiff who missed another 31-yard field goal this week. And even though I don’t believe in momentum, the kick could have given the Redskins a 10-0 lead. Instead the Falcons got the ball in good field position and drove to tie the game just before the half. But if Shanahan didn’t cut him after last week’s disaster what are the chances he cuts him now?

Game of the Week
New England 31 Denver 21
So this wasn't a great game the whole way through but it did have Manning vs. Brady which is always fun to watch and Manning almost led an amazing comeback. And he might yet be able to lead the Broncos on one this season. Yes they are 2-3 but the three opponents the lost to (Houston, Atlanta and New England) are a combined 13-2. Seven of the Broncos 11 remaining games are against teams with 1 win or 0 wins, right now (Saints, Panthers, ExpensiveCornPrices, Raiders, Browns and Chiefs twice). It might be hard to win all 7 of those, but win 6, that's at least 8 wins with 2 games against the Chargers plus the Bengals and Ravens. I expect to see the Broncos in the playoffs.

Game of Next Week
Green Bay Packers at Houston Texans
This will be a very important game for both teams. It's a good chance for the Texans to show they are for real by defending home turf against a good team. The Packers coming off a loss to the Colts will really start to be in trouble if they fall to 2-4.

Picture of the Week
Peyton Manning got fucked up pretty good and need to revive himself with smelling salts on the sideline. Looks like the helmet left a little mark on his forehead.

If the Super Bowl Were Played Today
Atlanta Falcons 27 Houston Texans 24
Neither team looked all that great and both probably could have lost to inferior teams had those teams not been hit with injuries. But road wins are still hard to come by in this league so we'll keep both teams here. But the 49ers and even the Bears are nipping at the heels of the Falcons.

They Read Mrs. Poop's Letter On Air

It is normal to tell immature jokes. It takes the edge off the intellect. Thank you Dr. Ablow. Here's the link since embedding doesn't seem to be working: http://video.foxnews.com/v/1875190013001/