Song of the Week

"Broccoli" - Big Baby D.R.A.M. featuring Lil Yachty
I'm not saying I like this song. But I'm also not saying I don't. But anytime I Shazam the same song twice, it automatically becomes Song of the Week.
Also, I am glad the video provided a couple of out of work strippers with an honest day's pay.

Happy Halloween

Lincoln's First Halloween was a great one. Mrs. Poop made an awesome Toad costume to go along Mario and Luigi.

How Tall This Fall

2016:

2015:

2014:

2013:

2012:

2011:



2010:



2009:



2008:



2007:

Weekly Picks

Damn. I really thought the Falcons had that one. Keep reading.

oakland +1/2 TAMPA BAY
People still keep underrating the Raiders.

minnesota -4 1/2 CHICAGO
If the Vikings are any kind of serious contender they will bounce back from a loss with a big win over a lousy team.

new england -6 BUFFALO
No way the Patriots lose to the Bills again. Only question is if they will win by a touchdown.

DALLAS -4 philadelphia
It's outrageous to think Dak Prescott is playing for his job. But I could totally see them starting Romo. Don't delude yourself, the 5-1 start is more about the offensive line and Ezekiel Elliott and Prescott just has to not fuck it up.
BEST BET
ATLANTA -3 green bay
I've actually seen a good bit of Green Bay this season and they really aren't that great. I love Atlanta and just wished they hadn't choked away a game against the Chargers. Though it could lead to them coming back stronger this week.

Last Week: 2-3 (1 point)
Season: 12-18 (10 points)
Best Bets: 2-4 (I forgot week 1)

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)

It Worked for Curt Schilling

Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer cut his finger on the propeller of a drone he was working on and needed 10 stitches in his pinky finger.
The stitches didn't hold and he was bleeding like a stuck pig, blood literally dripping off his hand during Game 3 of the ALDS. He didn't even survive an inning before the gaping wound forced him out of the game.

The Indians held on in that game and the Series and will now seek to win their first World Series in 68 years, and to deny the Cubs their first in 108.

By the way, the Red Sox streak was exactly 68 years in 1986. And it took them another 18 to finally get there, ending their streak at 86.

Bauer says his finger is patched up and ready to go for the World Series. So we won't see anymore items joining Curt Schilling's sock and OJ Simpson's glove and the most famous blood-soaked items in sports.

Song of the Week

"Unwritten" - Natasha Bedingfield

2006 wasn't a good year for music, if you're an old grump. The pop music was just some of the worst there could be. "Buttons" by the Pussycat Dolls being one example. But this song is good, and has a nice message. There is only one you in the world, so be yourself and make the most of your brief chance to exist on this giant rock hurtling through space. At least that's my interpretation.

Weekly Picks

Finally got one last week thanks to Tom Brady. Let's see if I can keep it going. Trying five underdogs this week.

jacksonville +1 CHICAGO
The Jags are the better team. The better team is more likely to win.

san francisco +9 BUFFALO
Let's see what Colin Kaepernick can do.

cleveland +7 TENNESSEE
Ok, this one may be crazy. But it's also possible that each successive QB isn't necessarily worse than the one who preceded him.

OAKLAND +1 kansas city
I don't get this spread at all. I know Murray is out, but Carr and Mack are still playing, right?

BEST BET
altanta +6 SEATTLE
Atlanta has been the better team this year. I hope I'm not overestimating them based on a win over the Broncos, but they have looked really good.

Last Week: 3-2 (4 points)
Season: 7-13 (5 points)
Best Bets: 1-3

Song of the Week

"Ready or Not" - The Fugees
The easiest choice I ever had to make. I have never listened to an album as much as we listened to "The Score" in 1996. I just to drive around with my friends, playing this CD over and over again.

Circle the 6 Differences Between These Two Pictures

Chase was a little version of daddy. Nine years later, Lincoln wore the same shirt. See if you can spot the other differences in these pictures?

Note: don't really, do that, I'm only kidding. There's a million of them.

Weekly Picks

Another horrible week. 1 point through 3 weeks. Thankfully we have a guaranteed best bet this week.

philadelphia -4 DETROIT
I'm not sure I believe in the Eagles yet but I believe they are better than the Lions.

new york giants +7 GREEN BAY
This is way too many points for Green Bay to give when they seem to be struggling on offense.

atlanta +5 DENVER
The Falcons can score. I know the Denver defense is good, but I am not sure how many points the Broncos can put up with Paxton Lynch at QB.

OAKLAND -3 1/2 san diego
I love the Raiders this year.

BEST BET
new england -10 CLEVELAND
Guaranteed.

Last week: 2-3 (1 point)
Season: 4-11 (1 point)
Best Bets: 0-3

Outdueled

I got to witness an all-time great pitching duel in a winner-take-all wild card game.

Unfortunately angry and ornery Madison Bumgarner

beat our lovable Thor who was equally as awesome, but a little less efficient, and therefore only pitched 7 innings.

I blame Terry Collins only slightly here, I would have given Thor a chance against the bottom of the Giants order in the 8th, even though he struggled in the 7th, because I knew Bumgarner would keep putting up zeroes.

I don't however blame the Mets strategy of swinging early in the count. They knew Bumgarner was going to throw strikes. If you don't swing, you're in a hole against a great pitcher. If you swing at least you have a a chance to get a hit on a good pitch.

It sucks to lose, and not have another crack at the Cubs, and it sucks to watch a team celebrate on our field for the second year in a row.
But it was a difficult season with a lot of injuries and realistically, they didn't have a good chance of beating the Cubs anyway.

But the hurt is still very real right now.
I suppose Noah Syndergaard put it best when he said on Twitter "Baseball has a way of ripping your heart out, stabbing it, putting it back in your chest, then healing itself just in time for Spring Training."
And I can't wait for spring training because maybe, just maybe, next year will finally be our year.

Buck Blew It

In one of the worst managing decisions in recent times Buck Showalter allowed his team to get knocked out of the playoffs with Ubaldo Jimenez on the mound, while Zach Britton watched. 

Britton is having on of the best years a closer has ever had. And when a fly ball will beat you, you need a strikeout or a weak ground ball. Britton was eminently more likely to get one of those results than Ubaldo.  Britton had the highest rate of ground balls per batted ball of anyone ever. 

But those are the specifics. Let's address the broader issue:  you need your closer to protect a lead of you get one. 

No you don't. 

The way closers are used in baseball is terrible and counterproductive in many ways. But that's the way it is. 

But in these special circumstances (it wasn't just a playoff game, it was a single-elimination playoff game, in extra innings), you need your best pitcher to pitch one or two innings to maximize the chances your offense will get to win the game. 

You just cannot get beat without using your best relief pitcher. It's a terrible mistake and it cost the Orioles a chance to win the game. 

Song of the Week

"The Glory of Love" - Peter Cetera
A great song typifying the 1986 sound. Add in the fact that it was from "The Karate Kid II" soundtrack and it was a pretty obvious choice.

Postseason Predictions

National League
Wild Card
Giants over Mets

Division Series
Cubs over Giants
Nationals over Dodgers

League Championship Series
Nationals over Cubs

American League
Wild Card
Blue Jays over Orioles

Division Series
Rangers over Blue Jays
Red Sox over Indians

League Championship Series
Red Sox over Rangers

World Series
Nationals over Red Sox

Weekly Picks

Another horrible week. I will do better this week. I promise.

buffalo +7 NEW ENGLAND
Maybe this is a huge mistake but maybe the Patriots won't go 4-0 without Brady.

TAMPA BAY +3 denver
I think the CornPrices are actually pretty good. And I never ever pick home dogs, so if I like one I'm going to go with it.

oakland +3 1/2 BALTIMORE
I love the Raiders too, and don't think too highly of Baltimore.

carolina -3 ATLANTA
The Falcons don't have the defense to do to Cam what the Broncos and Vikings did.

BEST BET
ARIZONA -8 los angeles
Classic bounceback game.

Yankees Fan Tries To Propose, Can't Find Ring

An idiot Yankees fan (sorry for the redundancy) tried to propose to his girlfriend, but couldn't find the ring. The entire section was looking for it.



Eventually they found it, seemingly in the cuff of her pants. Despite him being a complete moron, she said yes and they will live happily ever after.

Now I don't want to insult the couple too badly, but they are the typical Yankees couple. He's a dead-eyed douchebag and she's cute but trashy.

I wish them well.