Weekly Picks

Lousy start to the playoffs.
The only game I got right was the only one I wanted to lose. Fuckin Steelers really pissed that one away.
And there are so many injuries this week that it's hard to figure out whom to pick.

NEW ENGLAND -4 1/2 kansas city
If Gronk plays they will win.

seattle +1 1/2 CAROLINA
I picked the Seahawks to win it all before the playoffs started so I'm sticking with them even though I wish I were getting 3 1/2 instead.

pittsburgh +7 1/2 DENVER
Very difficult to be confident in Pittsburgh without Antonio Brown and an injured Ben Roethlisberger but the Broncos do have problems of their own.

BEST BET
ARIZONA -7 green bay
I know the Packers exploded and destroyed my beloved Redskins last week but I still wasn't wowed by them, I think the Skins just choked and made bad plays and bad decisions.

Last week: 1-3 (0 points)
Season: 47-42 (43 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (9-9)

John Starks Wasn't Sure Either

Columbia University's basketball team played a team from Central Pennsylvania College over the weekend.
In advance of the game the Columbia Spectator wrote:

"...forward John Starks Jr.—son of former New York Knicks guard John Starks—is second on the squad with 17.1 points per contest. "

Only problem is, despite the name, he is not the son of that John Starks.

Columbia issued an apology.

What makes this even crazier is that when we were discussing this story, someone walked in with a brand new intern and said "this is Grant Hill."

Turns out this intern's father went to Duke, his name was Hill obviously, and Hill was a recent Duke star, so he named his son Grant.

Song of the Week

"Changes" - David Bowie
This is pretty much the only David Bowie song I know, because it was in "The Amazin Era," a recap of the first 25 years of the Mets existence, chronicling the part of their history when the Mets traded Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman on the same day.

Get Your Globes Out

Katy Perry joked that she had to "get my globes out" for the awards show.
And did she ever, winning this year's Poop Golden Globes Award.

Pissed Off

Poker legend Antonio Esfandiari was disqualified from a poker tournament for urinating at the table.
Esfandiari was involved in a large prop bet (rumored to be $50,000) with hedge fund manager and poker whale Bill Perkins.
Starting at midnight on Saturday, Esfandiari could not walk, he had to lunge everywhere for the next 48 hours.

He spent most of the first day lunging to the bathroom in his hotel room.
But Day 2 he had to play the $5,000 buy-in Main Event at the PCA (Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure).
He was allowed to take the shuttle from his hotel to where the tournament was being held, but had to lunge all the way to his table.
Well that walk evidently took a lot out of him, because at least 8 hours later his legs were so shot that he didn't think he could make it to the bathroom and back.
He got a bottle, a towel and a bunch of people to stand around him.
Someone saw, and he was disqualified from the tournament for "a major breach of etiquette."
Afterwards Antonio was apologetic. But not sorry for waiting out the rest of the bet on a couch with Sarah Herring.

Pulverized

On their first play from scrimmage in their Wild Card round matchup with the Redskins, the Green Bay Packers got 11 yards. On their next 12 plays, the Packers lost four yards.
During that time the Redskins took an 11-0 lead. But it was the points they didn't score that told the story.
Desean Jackson holding the ball behind him, instead of in front, costing the Redskins 4 points

Then Dustin Hopkins missed an extra point, so what should have been 16-0 was only 11-0.

And then the Packers woke up. Their next five drives resulted in 4 touchdowns, 1 2-point conversion and a field goal for 32 points.

The difference was not momentum or any psychological mumbo-jumbo you might here, it was strategic. The Packers went no-huddle and the Redskins were ill-prepared to deal with it. Twice they were caught substituting, both times drawing penalties, but even worse, the second time resulted in a touchdown.

They were also picked apart physically as Rodgers was zipping the ball all over the field for short passes that set up easy first-down conversions.

Another fatal error was a crucial fumble by Kirk Cousins when the Redskins led 11-7 and were driving.

While the defense was crumbling the offense suddenly became unable to move the ball with its previous efficiency.

And the field position game the Redskins had dominated turned against them as well.

This was an unfortunate way for a surprisingly good season to end.

The Redskins had been picked to finish last in the division by pretty much everyone, with record projections consistently between 2-14 and 4-12.

To be honest, the Redskins weren't that good. They were slightly better than the competition, losing all four games they played against winning teams (Panthers, Patriots, Jets and including this one against the Packers).

I'm still not sold on Kirk Cousins as a great NFL QB but the Redskins certainly did better when they unleashed him later in the season after running on first and second down every series for the first 6 weeks (or so it seemed).

But the Redskins definitely have to give Cousins a big contract and bring him back. With a solid offensive line and a talented group of backs and receivers, especially emerging star Jordan Reed, maybe Cousins can continue to improve.

The defense needs a lot of help, especially the linebackers and defensive backs.

But it was a fun season thanks to the shocking performance of Kirk Cousins on the field (best QB in the NFL over final 10 weeks) and in the bowels of the stadium.



And also the hilarious rotundity of video-bombing defensive tackle Chris Baker.

And I like that!