Those Aren't Brains

Pokernews.com's Caitlyn Howe interviewed poker player Jonathan Jaffe after day 3 of WPT Montreal, an event he went on to win.
Clearly Howe was not hired because of her poker knowledge, her reporting skills and certainly not her bullshit detector.



"I'm working for the core of engineers in Vermont, I'm studying, there's an indigenous population of squirrels that are being eaten by a new invasive species of bird."
"That's incredible. What a virtuous pursuit."

There are two big reasons she got the job. You can see them here.



And here.



But she was not the only one to get duped by Jaffe. The ESPN crew (technically an outside production company working in association with ESPN) broadcasting the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event got fooled.



Jaffe ended up finishing 42nd and ESPN eventually admitted its gaffe in not fact checking Jaffe and not giving the photoshopped picture of him feeding a dolphin closer inspection.

Enough about him, this post is really about Caitlyn Howe.

Weekly Picks

I'm 9-6 over the past 3 weeks and thankfully I finally got a best bet right. I really wanted to pick the Lions on Thanksgiving but I totally forgot to actually make it so.

new york giants -3 JACKSONVILLE
I think the Giants are a little better than their record. As long as Eli doesn't turn it over a bunch of times I expect them to beat the Jaguars easily.

cincinnati -3 1/2 TAMPA BAY
Another case of a decent team playing a bad team on the road and getting a reasonable price.

ST. LOUIS -6 1/2 oakland
The Raiders are not winning two games in a row. The only question is whether the Rams will beat them by enough. I went with the lower spread of the two choices just to avoid a potential push.

denver -2 KANSAS CITY
I thought I had it with the Broncos last week after that huge comeback but they allowed that backdoor TD to crush my dreams. Normally I would avoid picking against a good team coming off a horrible loss, but I'm not so sure the Chiefs are a good team.

BEST BET
miami -6 1/2 NEW YORK JETS
The Jets are just the worst. And the Dolphins are good, coming off a bad loss, and they need this game. Again I selected the lower of the two spreads to avoid a push.

Last week: 3-2 (4 points)
Season: 27-33 (23 points)
Best Bets: 1-0 (4-8)
Home Favorites: 3-2 (9-14)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (2-1)
Road Favorites: 0-0 (8-6)
Road Underdogs: 0-0 (8-12)

Song of the Week

"A Sky Full of Stars" - Coldplay
I have always said that had I not been a teenager on Staten Island when Wu-Tang's 36 Chambers came out "I would be listening to Coldplay like the rest of the white kids."
But it did, so I wasn't. I hated Coldplay.
But I made up my mind before I knew Coldplay sang this song. I guess I wasn't familiar enough with them to know the voice of their singer (who is more palatable now that he's not married to that pretentious copper nanotube anymore.)
Maybe I didn't know their style well enough either, though I think this is a departure from their normal genre.
I would be hypocritical if I didn't post a good song I liked just because I didn't want to seem like a cheesy white kid like Focks.

Weekly Picks

Not a bad week except for losing my best bet again.

BUFFALO -2 1/2 new york jets
I don't care when and were this game is being played. As long as there are people assigning value to something that doesn't really matter, I will pick against those schmoes.

CHICAGO -5 tampa bay
The Bears are a hard team to figure but they do have a lot of talent and I could see them rattling off a few wins now that the schedule got a little easier. Plus the ECPs had a big win last week and I don't expect them to win two in a row on the road.

DENVER -6 1/2 miami
You think they're going to hold Peyton Manning to 7 points two weeks in a row? I don't.

HOUSTON -2 cincinnati
I don't like this matchup of Andy Dalton versus the Texans defense.

BEST BET
SEATTLE -7 1/2 arizona
This is probably the biggest spread a team with the best record in the league has ever faced this deep into the season. It makes sense for some reasons but it's also designed to attract those people who are living in the past, evidently, like me.

Last week: 3-2 (2 points)
Season: 24-31 (19 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (3-8)
Home Favorites: 2-0 (6-12)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (2-1)
Road Favorites: 0-0 (8-6)
Road Underdogs: 1-2 (8-12)

Song of the Week

"Don't" - Ed Sheeran
Kind of a cool funky sound that we don't normally hear in pop music.
Video is also different and interesting.

I'd Buy It And Invite Johnny Fontaine Over

The house that served as Don Corleone's home in "The Godfather" is for sale.
The house is located at 110 Longfellow Rd in the Emerson Hill section of Staten Island.
The outside was used for the wedding scenes at the beginning of the movie. They didn't shoot in the interior of the house, but the home owners renovated it to replicate the rooms in the movie.
It is list for $2.895 million.

The Disney Reveal

We sprung a trip to Disney on Chase and Julian right after we got home from trick or treating on Halloween.



So the reaction was very underwhelming to me. Chase reacted just as I thought he would, but I expected Julian to jump and yell like he did in the famous anywhere chair video

How Tall This Fall

2014:

2013:

2012:

2011:



2010:



2009:



2008:



2007:

Weekly Picks

No one ever went broke betting against Mark Sanchez -- except me.

CHICAGO -2 1/2 minnesota
So it hasn't been going too well for our system this year, but after an embarrassing loss in prime time in front of a huge audience I like a team to rebound.

seattle +1 1/2 KANSAS CITY
Are the Chiefs really this good? Are the Seahawks really in trouble despite pounding the Giants last week?

cincinnati +7 NEW ORLEANS
Again, embarrassing loss, but Andy Dalton can't be that bad two weeks in a row, can he?

GREEN BAY -5 1/2 philadelphia
Going to try this Sanchez thing again.

BEST BET
detroit +1 ARIZONA
Normally I have this backup quarterback theory where a team doesn't have the big dropoff we would expect when their starting QB goes down. But I just happen to really like the Lions this season.

Last week: 3-2 (2 points)
Season: 21-29 (17 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (3-7)
Home Favorites: 1-0 (4-12)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (2-1)
Road Favorites: 2-1 (8-6)
Road Underdogs: 0-1 (7-10)

I Just Booked a Two-Week Trip to Hawaii for Any Woman Named Halle Berry

From the Toronto Star:
If you’re a Canadian citizen with a passport and an itch to explore the world, you may be eligible for a free trip around the world. Just one condition: your legal name has to be Elizabeth Gallagher.

Jordan Axani, a 28-year-old real estate development manager with some spare plane tickets, is willing to fund your airfare for a two-week trip around the world, provided that you’re willing to leave a few days before Christmas.

The Cabbagetown resident posted a notice on Reddit looking for a travel companion late Sunday night. He writes that the offer resulted from a break-up with his girlfriend with whom he had been planning to take the trip since March.

His search for another woman who has the same name as his ex began when he discovered what a hassle it can be to make changes to plane tickets.

“Anyone familiar with the archaic system that is modern air travel will know that a name change on a ticket is damn near impossible,” he writes on Reddit. “Moreover, the flights were purchased during a massive blow-up on Priceline and were frankly so cheap and on so many different airlines that they’re not worth the headache or money to cancel.”

Song of the Week

"I'm Your Puppet" - James and Bobby Purify
Major quandary here deciding which version to use. James and Bobby Purify did the original so I wanted to give them credit, but I actually prefer a cover version by the great Marvin and Tammi.
But I decided to go with the original just to point out that the original "Bobby Purify" was actually Robert Dickey. And he was eventually replaced by Ben Moore.

He's Not Here Anymore

"I'm here, and I'm there. I'm Big Bank Hank and I'm everywhere."
One of the originators of hip-hop, Big Bank Hank from the Sugar Hill Gang died today at the age of 57, which means he was only 22 when he revolutionized music with Rapper's Delight.
And don't forget Apache (SOTW, 8/22/07)



And the worst part is, now he will literally be rolling over in his grave when he sees what has become of rap music.

The Person Who Did This is a Dipshit

Funny typo from Fox 4 in Dallas where the lack of a space between temps and hit turned a weather report into an internet gag.

Another Mistake

The Mets will never learn. Mike Cuddyer is the latest old (36), injured (48 games last year), overpaid ($21M over two years) veteran the Mets hope will finally hit for them.
Cuddyer is coming to them from the Rockies where his stats were obviously inflated by the ballpark. And like all the others he will surely suffer in CitiField.
And even if he were to hit pretty well, he is an absolute butcher defensively, perhaps a worse outfielder than Lucas Duda was.
I grant you that the Mets didn't have many better options to play left field, but my my concern is that he won't be much better than a Nieuwenhuis/den Decker combo would be (including defense and baserunning) and his arrival will result in fewer at bats (and defensive chances) for Juan Lagares -- because Terry Collins is a moron who thinks you need to keep guys fresh (and he has a crush on Eric Young Jr).
Once again the Mets have turned to free agency to improve the problems with their team because they think that is what they are supposed to do and they think that showing the fan base you're committed to winning is important even when doing so actually makes it less likely that you will win.
So Cuddyer is old, unlikely to be healthy for two years, terrible on defense and likely to see a significant decrease in offensive production based solely on home parks.
The Mets will never learn.

Weekly Picks

Another -1.

DETROIT -2 1/2 miami
I think I am just have trouble adjusting to teams I thought were bad or good, suddenly changing and staying that way for weeks. The Dolphins may actually be good. But I like Detroit anyway.

pittsburgh -3 1/2 NEW YORK JETS
Last week I picked against the Steelers because they were coming off a monumental performance. I picked the Jets because they had just turned in a monumentally bad performance. Now let's try something different.

atlanta -3 TAMPA BAY
I cannot believe how awful the Falcons have turned out to be.

denver -12 OAKLAND
A huge road spread for the Broncos but they got smoked last week and the Raiders hung in against the Seahawks.

BEST BET
carolina +6 1/2 PHILADELPHIA
Mark Sanchez is the starting quarterback for the Eagles.

Last week: 0-5 (-1 points)
Season: 18-27 (15 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (3-6)
Home Favorites: 0-2 (3-12)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (2-1)
Road Favorites: 0-0 (6-5)
Road Underdogs: 0-3 (7-9)

Song of the Week

"Changes" - Faul & Wad Ad
80,000,000 youtube viewers can't wrong

Weekly Picks

A slight bounceback last week. I am posting these picks from DisneyWorld so maybe I will have a magical week.

DALLAS -2 1/2 arizona
Dallas had a profile stinker against a bad team on Monday night. Arizona had a shocking high-profile victory and got a lot of attention.

new york jets +9 KANSAS CITY
Ok, so this sounds crazy but the Jets can't possibly be that bad every week, can they? Jets fans? Plus, this is a lot of points for a team as mediocre as Kansas City to be giving up.

san diego +2 MIAMI
The Dolphins are seriously flawed. The Chargers are seriously good.

SEATTLE -14 oakland
A visit from the Raiders is good for what ails the Seahawks.

BEST BET
baltimore +1 PITTSBURGH

This is just a bet against Ben Roethlisberger having a game anywhere close to the one he had last week.

Last week: 3-2 (4 points)
Season: 18-22 (16 points)
Best Bets: 1-0 (3-5)
Home Favorites: 0-0 (3-10)
Home Underdogs: 1-0 (2-1)
Road Favorites: 2-1 (6-5)
Road Underdogs: 0-1 (7-6)

Song of the Week

"Always Together" - The Dells
These guys just get me
"When the years have turned your hair to silver
And the days of our youth have left us so very far behind
Golden, golden memories we'll keep in our mind
And we'll always be
always be
Always together"

So Long Mrs. Kotter

Actress Marcia Strassman died at the age of 66 after a long battle with cancer.
Strassman was best known for playing Julie Kotter, Mr. Kotter's wife on "Welcome Back, Kotter."
Most of her role consisted of listening to Mr. Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) tell bad jokes about his "uncles."

Weekly Picks

Minus-1. I stink. I actually think I will stop doing these next season. No one participates in the pool upon which this is based and it ruins my Sunday that I get every game wrong all the time. And the picks aren't helpful unless some studious Poophead wants to bet against me.

houston -3 1/2 TENNESSEE
The Titans stink and playing a QB who looks like a joke is not going to help. I would have gotten the Texans right last week if not for some fluky disastrous run of plays. This week they will rebound.

seattle -5 CAROLINA
There could actually be something seriously wrong with the Seahawks. But a three-game losing streak for the world champs? I doubt it.

CINCINNATI +2 baltimore
Have the Bengals really regressed this much this quickly?

green bay +2 1/2 NEW ORLEANS
Aaron Rodgers has been on fire and Drew Brees has been mortal.

BEST BET
miami -6 JACKSONVILLE
The Dolphins aren't that good but teams as bad as the Jaguars generally win 2 games a season, not 2 games in 2 weeks.

Last week: 0-5 (-1 points)
Season: 15-20 (12 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (2-5)
Home Favorites: 0-2 (3-10)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (1-1)
Road Favorites: 0-1 (4-5)
Road Underdogs: 0-2 (7-5)