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/

Baseball Playoff Predictions

National League:
Braves over Cardinals

Reds over Giants
Nationals over Braves

Reds over Nationals


American League:
Rangers over Orioles

Tigers over A's
Yankees over Rangers

Tigers over Yankees


World Series:
Reds over Tigers

Weekly Picks

Finally got off the schneid thanks to the Chargers. And the two games I got wrong, the favorites won, but didn't cover which happens less often than you think. My overall record is back to .500 and I will improve that this week. The picks are up early this week because I am getting my best bet out of the way early.

CINCINNATI -3 miami
I really like the Bengals easy schedule. Even in a loss Miami had a great performance last week, especially Tannehill. Bad teams and rookie QBs tend to be up and down.

CAROLINA -3 seattle
Panthers will break through one of these days. Seattle is incredibly overrated and I will pick against them whenever I get the chance.

san diego +3 1/2 NEW ORLEANS
A 3-1 team getting more than a field goal from an 0-4 team. Believe what you see, not what you believe. I've been hot with the Chargers (30% of my wins) and they will let me down eventually. But not this week.

NEW YORK JETS +8 houston
Things are never as bad as they seem. Was hoping to get 11 in this game but I will take 8 and hope they don't get blown out at home for the second straight week.

BEST BET
arizona -2 1/2 ST LOUIS
Cardinals are a good team (there's a zero in their L column) coming off a bad game, albeit a win. The Rams pulled off a good win but I don't seem them doing it twice in a row.

Last Week: 3-2 (4 points)
Season: 10-10 (8 points)
Best Bets: 1-0 (1-3)
Home Favorites: 0-2 (1-7)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (2-0)
Road Favorites: 3-0 (4-3)
Road Underdogs: 0-0 (3-0)

He Waited Seven Years For This?

In 2005 Adam Greenberg stepped to the plate for his first major league plate appearance. He was beaned in the head.

He spent the next 7 years trying to recover, experiencing vertigo and a host of other ailments as he fought his way through the minor leagues, the independent leagues before eventually giving up baseball last year.
But the Florida Marlins decided to do something nice for Greenberg and give him a pity at bat. Which is fine, and a nice thing to do, but they did it out of pity, and for the attention.

Unfortunately for him, his long awaited at bat came against the knuckleball of R.A. Dickey and he struck out on three pitches.

Pleasantly Plump News Personality

Before I offer my thoughts on the subject I want you all to watch this, even if you’ve seen it already, watch the entire thing. WKBT news anchor Jennifer Livingston got a viewer e-mail critical of her weight and here is her on-air response:




I disagree with her on several parts of this:
1) She chose this profession. It is a very superficial profession by nature. If she didn’t want to be judged largely based on her looks she should have chosen a different profession. And if she wanted to be on TV despite that, she should learn to ignore.
2) I thought the letter was fair and thoughtful. It didn’t call her a fat pig or a dumb bitch. It pointed out her visibility in the community and how she should be a better role model. If she were smoking cigarettes on air she’d get 100 letters like this. We’re going to create laws restricting what people eat but we can’t point out when people are overweight. That’s a little too much “love the sinner, hate the sin” for me. I’m a big personal responsibility guy we can’t expect people to have proper eating habits if we apologize for them when they get fat as the result of those bad habits.

Note: please don’t come at me with “maybe she has a medical condition.” There are very few medical conditions that make it impossible to be thin. Certain ailments or medications make people put on weight. But even so, it is possible to control your weight, maybe a little more difficult perhaps.

1) This guy was just being mean. He had no prayer of opening her eyes to healthy eating habits and an exercise regimen. He just wanted to be nasty and hurt her feelings. Not sure why that would give him any satisfaction but that’s why he did it.
2) I think she looks nice. She’s very pretty. She’s a little overweight, not obese on a fair standard and at her age probably not at risk for many obesity-related illnesses.
3) “If you are at home talking about the fat news lady, guess what? Your kids are going to go to school and call someone fat.” She’s right about that. Parents are the examples for kids. To teach them how to have healthy eating habits and to teach them how to treat those that don’t.

The NFL is Poop - Week 4

Mark Sanchez Stinks
The problem with Mark Sanchez has nothing to do with Tim Tebow, and everything to do with himself. The narrative over the summer was that the acquisition of Tebow was going to hurt Sanchez’s confidence and prevent him from performing at his best. That is total bullshit. The problem with Sanchez is that he is not a good quarterback. The analysis from pseudo-psychiatrists on talk radio is not accurate here. He plays bad because he is bad (purposeful grammatical error). The Jets have a real problem here. To win in this league you need a good quarterback. The Jets don’t have one. And usually the only way to get one is through the draft. I am not recommending turning the team over to Tebow because he can’t pass. But Sanchez isn’t much better. They probably need to get rid of both of them and move on. I do understand that Sanchez has some good games and I don’t want it to seem like I am over-reacting to one bad game. This is his fourth season in the league and he hasn’t shown the improvement necessary to believe he will ever be a better than average NFL quarterback.

The Packers Want the Replacement Refs Back
A week after being victimized by the worst game-deciding call in NFL history, the Packers were once again on the wrong side of officials’ calls, though they overcame and beat the Saints anyway, 28-27. The Saints first touchdown came on a play when obvious offensive pass interference on Marques Colston was ignored. Later in the game the refs missed on obvious fumble by Darren Sproles, who clearly hadn’t yet hit the ground. But the Packers couldn’t challenge. I think the greater lesson here is that even though we are happy to have the real referees back, they screw up a lot of calls too. It was easy to pick on the replacements, but not all of the problems will be fixed now.

Why Teams Play the Prevent Defense
I always say the prevent defense prevents you from winning. And it’s true. But the main reason teams play the prevent is to make sure they don’t allow one huge play, whenever the opponent doesn’t have the time for several smaller ones. The Panthers led by 1, with 59 seconds left, and had the Falcons backed up to their own 1 yard line. If ever there is a time for the prevent this is it. 60 yards to go, at least, 59 seconds to do it and no timeouts. All the Panthers needed to do was keep the Falcons in front of them, and maybe in bounds, and they would run out of time. But on the first play Roddy White gets behind safety Hiruki Nakamura for a 59-yard gain. One penalty and two short passes put them in position for the game-winning field goal.

Game of the Week
New England 52 Buffalo 28
Normally the game of the week is a closer battle but this one interests me. I was driving in the car listening to instant feedback on 3 different Sirius channels. When the Patriots got down 21-7 the hosts were considering doomsday scenarios if Patriots should fall to 1-3. And then they woke up. The Patriots scored 6 touchdowns (and a field goal) in the last 23 minutes of the game. Roughly translated into 120 points if the pace kept up for 60 minutes. 6 straight touchdown drives, none longer than 3 minutes 20 seconds. The last three all started in Bills territory thanks to a fumble, an interception and a failed onsides kick.

Game of Next Week
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
Interesting battle for the state. The Eagles have been getting either incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky. They won 2 of first three games by 1 point each, despite making 12 turnovers. In game 4, 0 zero turnovers, but they survived thanks to a missed field goal. Either they are not this bad and will improve, or they will stop getting lucky and struggle. Steelers also have something to prove.

Picture of the Week
Josh Cribbs has his helmet blasted off by a hard hit. He was down for several minutes but thankfully was able to walk off under his own power.

Taking Being a Tough Guy Too Far
Colts new coach Chuck Pagano is out indefinitely, probably for at least the rest of the season after being diagnosed with leukemia. He will be hospitalized for 6 to 8 weeks while undergoing chemotherapy.
Pagano’s wife pushed him to see the doctor after noticing unusual bruising on the coach’s body. He waited until the Colts’ bye week to be checked out after experiencing extreme fatigue and bruising, starting in training camp. Pagano believed he was experiencing football fatigue, but a blood test revealed the diagnosis of leukemia.
This is when the tough-guy ethos of football can really be dangerous. The guy noticed bruising in training camp and waited over a month to get checked out? Thankfully it doesn't seem like the delay hurts his prognosis.

A Brief Rant About the Redskins
Another great game by Robert Griffin III. They had been running him too much in the previous two games. Putting him in the option is not the only way to utilize his speed. They can get him to throw on the run, for the occasional QB draw and he's deadly in the red zone, which they took advantage of in this game.
Kyle Shanahan had another bad game as the play-calling was atrocious. They again got conservative trying to sit on a 4th quarter lead. The two drives preceding the final one resulted in one first down. A few first downs, even without points, would have sealed the victory.
Billy Cundiff is horrible. For years the Redskins have lost games because of missed field goals and have never adequately addressed the problem. Thank God he made the last one but we never should have been in that position in the first place.

If the Super Bowl Were Played Today
Houston Texans 31 Atlanta Falcons 17
After years of being the trendy pick the Texas finally look like they are for real. And with a really weak division it shouldn't be hard for them to win home field throughout the playoffs. The Falcons were a little shaky but they got the job done. They also have a bad division (and a 3-game lead), the others 3 teams are 2-10 with Carolina's and Tampa Bay's wins both coming against New Orleans.

Song of the Week

"I'd Wait a Million Years" - Grass Roots

I Hope This Doesn't Mean The End of Car Chases on TV

I love watching live car chases on the news. The fun part about them is that you never know how they are going to end. The bad part about them is you never know how they're going to end:



You have to be really careful with something like this, must run it on e a delay. If something goes bad you need to be able to cut away before the audience sees a perp blow his head off.

For the record the guy who killed himself was Jodon Romero. He stole a car at gunpoint, shot at the cops, then led them on a hourlong police chase.

Weekly Picks

I got royally fucked over by one of the biggest screwjobs in NFL history. Why does it have to be that one crazy game happens every 20 years and I have to have it as my best bet. Very frustrating. But I have noticed a trend. I am 5-0 picking underdogs this year, 2-8 picking favorites. So this week I am picking 5 favorites and seeing what happens.

san francisco -4 1/2 NY JETS
I still think the 49ers are good. And the Jets are not. The 49ers are 2-1 and in second place but they beat two really good teams and just had a letdown. The Jets are 2-1 and alone in first place but they beat two bad teams and really aren't very good. I expect Sanchez to struggle mightily against the 9ers defense.

cincinnati -1 JACKSONVILLE
I watched the Bengals last week and I think they are pretty good. They have a very easy schedule and could be 5-1 in a few weeks. But Jacksonville hasn't been as bad as I thought they would be.

ARIZONA -4 1/2 miami
Believe what you see, not what you believe. The results are telling us the Cardinals are a pretty damn good team and the Dolphins are not. The Cardinals great defense against the weak Dolphins O should lead to a blow out.

GREEN BAY -7 new orleans
Believe what you see, not what you believe. The Saints stink. The Packers don't but due to some bad luck they desperately need this game.

BEST BET
san diego -2 KANSAS CITY
This could go badly but I'm trusting my read here. The Chargers played great for two weeks then got blown out at home by an awesome team. The Chiefs got blown out twice then barely beat a bad team on the road. I'm predicting that will normalize this week.

Last Week: 1-4 (0 points)
Season: 7-8 (4 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (0-3)
Home Favorites: 0-2 (1-5)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (2-0)
Road Favorites: 0-2 (1-3)
Road Underdogs: 1-0 (3-0)

Rectum? Damn Near Killed Him

A University of Tennessee student was dropped off at the local medical center with a blood alcohol content of above 0.40. The legal limit in most states is 0.1. And 0.4 death can occur.
You wouldn’t think someone could drink enough to become that intoxicated, you’d throw up or pass out first. Turns out he didn’t drink that much. The zany brothers in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity were giving each other alcohol enemas, also known as butt-chugging. Police found this out after “extensive questioning” of the brothers.
Here’s how it works: you put a rubber tube in your ass; then pour the alcohol into the tube with a funnel. Why would you want to consume alcohol through your ass? There are a lot of capillaries and blood vessels in the rectum, therefore the alcohol gets into your blood stream faster and it skips the filtering by the liver.
It actually seems pretty ingenious when you think about it, except for the part about nearly dying.

Song of the Week

"Dope Chick" - The Dream featuring Pusha T
This is The Dream's third appearance on SOTW. I believe that is close to Jaheim's record. Bonus points for bring back Pusha T formerly of Clipse.

The NFL is Poop - Week 3

Nightmare Scenario

The worst possible scenario happened: the replacement officials blew a call directly affecting the outcome of the game. Golden Tate and M.D. Jennings wrestled for the ball. The two officials standing next to each other ruled it differently.

This was not the case of simultaneous possession because Jennings clearly had his hands on it first. If that's the case, if one guy catches it first, and maintains possession, even though another player grabs it and possesses it later (exactly what happened here) the first player is deemed to have caught the ball. This is not like the NBA situation, you don't have a tie-up.

But don't put all the blame on the replacement officials. A non-replacement supervisor and non-replacement replay official were both involved, and obviously didn't force the refs to overturn the call. ESPN also messed up saying the play was not reviewable because it was simultaneous possession. It wasn't and even if it had been, it still was reviewable according to Rule 15, Section 9 which says the question of whether a pass was “ruled complete/incomplete/intercepted” is subject to replay review, with no exception for questions of simultaneous possession.

Oh, and they also missed an obvious pass interference call on Tate, though it is rarely called on Hail Marys.

Thank God That Didn't Happen to Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick was angry over a pass interference call (likely the right call) and a field goal that was ruled good even though it went over the upright (almost certainly the right call), the legendary coach assaulted one of the replacement, grabbing him by the arm. He probably wanted to discuss the calls, even though the game was already over. The officiating marred a terrific team between two of the AFC's best teams who are quickly becoming bitter rivals. I can't imagine what he would have done if he had been on the wrong end of that blown Hail Mary call.

Picture of the Week
The big story of the Ravens win over New England should have been Torrey Smith. Just after midnight Sunday morning, Smith received a call that his 19-year-old brother Tevin had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Smith left the team hotel to be with his family. He came back to the stadium at 4pm and told John Harbaugh he wanted to play. Smith had 127 yards and two touchdowns, after both he kneeled down and pointed to the heavens.

Even Sean Payton Couldn't Fix This Mess
The Saints aren't a distracted team missing its coach. They are a bad team with a bad defense and after Sunday maybe a lack of heart as well. They are perhaps off to the worst start in NFL history. The only NFL team to start 0-3 with all 3 losses to teams that all lost their other 2 games, meaning they are 0-6 against everyone but the Saints. The latest loss (which hurts a little more because I picked them in the Eliminator pool) came as they allowed 21 straight points, the last 14 of which didn't come on two touchdowns, but on four field goals and a safety.
And you can't just blame the defense. After Jamaal Charles went 91 yards to make it 24-13, here are the Saints offensive possessions:
4 plays, 46 yards, interception
3 plays, 2 yards, punt
3 plays, -8 yards, punt
2 plays, -9 yards, safety
3 plays, 0 yards, punt

You are reading that correctly. On their last 11 plays, they totaled -15 yards. They say the best offense is a good defense. But sometimes a good offense can help your defense too. Any kind of sustained drive probably would have at least gotten the Saints a 3-point win.

Game of the Week
Tennessee Titans 44 Detroit Lions 41
I guess I pre-ordained the outcome of this one when I said the Titans couldn't put points on the board to keep up with the Lions. They went out and had an historic game with 5 touchdowns of over 60 yards.
Tommie Campbell 65 Yd Punt Return (off a cross-field lateral.
Jared Cook 61 Yd Pass From Jake Locker
Darius Reynaud 105 Yd Kickoff Return
Nate Washington 71 Yd Pass From Jake Locker
Alterraun Verner 72 Yd Fumble Return

After all that, and losing their QB Matthew Stafford, the Lions still had a chance to win. But on 4th and 1 from the 7, in overtime, the Lions went for it and got stopped, instead of kicking the field goal and at least rolling the dice with their horrible defense. Shaun Hill got stuffed and then thrown under the bus. After the game Jim Schwartz said the play call was to try to draw an off-sides penalty and if not call timeout and kick. Implying that Hill called his own number against the coach's wishes. I would have kicked, but I can understand if he said his best chance to win was going for it, instead of giving the Titans the ball needing only a field goal against his porous defense.

A Brief Rant About the Redskins
The Redskins defense is terrible. 32, 31 and now 38 points allowed. Without Brian Orakpo it is only going to get worse. The secondary is horrible. Three of the Bengals touchdowns were passes of 48 yards or more, including one thrown by a wide receiver on the first play of the game. They spent far too long chasing after the Bengals.

As far as the offense goes, RGIII is still awesome. He played horribly in the first half but mostly because the play-calling was run, run, pass. When they opened it up in the second half he began to hit some passes. I think they ran too much option and I fear he won't be able to stay healthy if he doesn't become more a pocket passer, but the offense is definitely improved. The Redskins didn't score more than 28 at all last season. So far they haven't score fewer than 28.

Picture of the Week
Raiders wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey was on the wrong end of a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit. He was laid out for about 10 ten minutes, strapped to a board and carted off the field. As he was being driven off the field, he gave the thumbs up. Seems good, but Mike Utley did the same thing in 1991. And he hasn't walked since. Heyward-Bey's injury is not thought to be as severe. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Game of the Week
New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers
Ok, so the team's are a combined 1-5. But I still love their offenses and they are still great stories. Imagine if both are 1-3. Very hard to climb back from that. Plus, the Packers took one of the worst beats in NFL history. How will they respond to that.

If the Super Bowl Were Played Today
Atlanta Falcons 31 Houston Texans 23
Two teams that have been thought of as sleepers in the past are finally coming into their own this season. The Falcons look scary-good on offense. I'm still not convinced about the Texans, but the AFC is very wide-open this season and it's very possible the Texans can sweep their 6 division games.

Weekly Picks

Another frustrating 2 point week because I know how difficult it is to get more than 50% of your picks right. Frustrating I keep picking the wrong ones to be my best bets. Especially because the Giants game ended as a push. Proud of myself for picking Arizona. A lot of underdogs come up early in the season as lines adjust to who is actually good, as opposed to who we think is good.

detroit -4 TENNESSEE
The Lions can put up points quickly. The Titans cannot. Simple as that.

NEW ORLEANS -7 1/2 kansas city
This is when we really find out about New Orleans. Are they really going to crash and burn like this just because they don't have Sean Payton? This game should be a blowout but that pesky half-point could cost me again.

INDIANAPOLIS -3 jacksonville
I really like what I am seeing out of Andrew Luck. Hate what I see from Blaine Gabbert. He's been terrible and hasn't even thrown an interception yet. He'll throw two this week.

OAKLAND +3 1/2 pittsburgh
I've had some good luck with home dogs so far this year and the Steelers are missing a couple key defensive players.

BEST BET
green bay -3 1/2 SEATTLE
Glad Seattle beat a lifeless Cowboys team so I could continue betting against them for a few more weeks before people realize how overrated they are.

Last Week: 3-2 (2 points)
Season: 6-4 (4 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (0-2)
Home Favorites: 1-2 (1-3)
Home Underdogs: 1-0 (2-0)
Road Favorites: 0-0 (1-1)
Road Underdogs: 1-0 (2-0)

Francesa Fights Back

I was driving home the day after the Mike Francesa sleeping incident hit it big and I decided to eschew my usual afternoon soul jams in favor of hoping to hear Francesa address his on-air nap. And I was not disappointed. A caller made a vague reference to it and Francesa got angry. He asked the guy (keeping him on the line but not letting him talk) "how long have I been doing this? 25 years. And how many hours a day? 5 and a half. Add that up. You can't because you don't have a brain in your head. People are jealous and they want to attack me. They can't attack the ratings. Can't attack the performance. So they attack me over 12 seconds. It didn't affect anyone, no one knew about it. Its 12 seconds in 25 years."

Note: that is not an exact quote, but it's pretty close.

Well that wasn't the end of the prank calls and it wasn't the end of Francesa's tirades.



Suggested by Master Bates