Song of the Week

"Giants" - Matt Nathanson
Every year the World Series of Poker picks a theme song which it plays incessantly. But quite often I actually like the song. The live final table plays out in three parts this week, starting on Sunday. Watch and you will hear this song.

Mrs. Poop Will Never Buy MetLife Insurance Again

MetLife will no longer use Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang in its advertising.
After 31 years, MetLife is ending the relationship because now that it is exiting U.S. life insurance, it will have mostly corporate clients, and less consumer ones.
No more blimp, and no more commercials. The end of an era.

Why I Am Rooting Against the Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are in the World Series for the first time in 71 years and they have a good chance to win the World Series for the first time in 108.
And everyone will be rooting for them. Except me.
Why? Because as someone who is not a Cubs fan, the streak is fun. It adds to the mystique of baseball. And every year is a new chance for them to either win it all. Or lose in painful fashion and add another chapter to their painful lore.
Haven't the Red Sox become a lot less fun now that they have won 3 World Series titles in your lifetime, instead of 0 in an octogenarian's?
Of the 7 billion people on Earth I'd bet few than a couple thousand were actually alive in 1908.
There's the Billy Goat curse, Leon Durham's glove and of course Bartman, you want all that history to end just so the nickel dime people who don't even work can celebrate and get drunk in some bar?

Note: The only good thing that would come out of a Cubs win would be the absolution of Steve Bartman. The poor guy was treated horribly. Yes, he made a mistake, but it's one many of us would have made in the same circumstance. His biggest problem is that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And for that he was ostracized from his community? I don't want to the assholes who threw beer on him and threatened his life celebrate a World Series title.

Another note: At least Bill Buckner was on the team. He was reasonably expected to field that ground ball.

One more note: There is one other good thing. If Theo Epstein is the general manager who breaks the curses for the Red Sox and the Cubs and he does so this time with Joe Maddon, maybe some people around baseball will start to do things differently. Instead of doing things the way they've always been done, because they've always been done that way, maybe people can look at how the Cubs became a model franchise (they built from the farms, and added key pieces once they were close, spending a lot of money on defense) and stop making the same mistakes they've been making for years.

Weekly Picks

Trying to bounce back after a disastrous start. Got my best bet two weeks in a row but the underdog thing otherwise didn't work out that great.

CINCINNATI -10 cleveland
The Browns stink.

baltimore +2 NEW YORK JETS
The Jets stink. Flacco should play.

buffalo -3 MIAMI
I think maybe the Bills have actually figured something out. And I don't think the Dolphins are any good, so coming off a big win is the perfect time to pick against them.

new england -7 PITTSBURGH
I normally don't get that jazzed about picking against teams using their backup quarterbacks, but the dropoff here could be severe. And Bill Belichick is the other coach.

BEST BET
ATLANTA -6 1/2 san diego
It's rare that I pick the same team as my best bet twice in a row but I think the Falcons continue to be underrated.

Last Week: 3-2 (4 points)
Season: 10-15 (9 points)
Best Bets: 2-3 (I forgot week 1)