What the Deuce??

The Word of the Day is Dumb.

What in the hell was Bill Belichick thinking? Fourth and two on your own 29, Peyton Manning on the other side of the field, and two minutes left in the game. WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU GOING FOR IT ON FORUTH AND TWO???????? I don't want to hear all of this statistical crap about how Belichick and company hits on fourth down 75% of the time, or that the Patriots defense had let the Colts run up and down the field in the fourth quarter. Unless you can GUARANTEE WITH 100% CERTAINTY that you will hit on fourth down, you PUNT, PUNT, PUNT.

Congratulations to Michelle Wie. She has had to endure a lot of unabashed criticism with the way that her father has advised her career. This is huge for Michelle's career, because now with the orangutuan off her back, she won't have to deal with the Anna Kournikova comparisons anymore. I think this is the start of a legendary career. One thing that has been overlooked this year is how close Wie has been to winning this year. She's had two second place finishes and two third place finishes. I will be the first one to go on the record right now and say that Wie WILL win a major championship next year, and in fact, my prediction will be she wins the Nabisco Championship. You heard it here first.

Nice to see the NFL took a very hard stance on Bud Adams. His egregious actions flipping off the Bills sideline is ridiculous. As an owner of a team, and a representative of the NFL, Adams MUST be held to a higher standard. The $250k fine is a great start, however, I would like to see a little bit more. First off, I think a full page apology from Bud Adams in the Buffalo News needs to be in order. I also think Adams needs to donate some money to a local charity, ideally the same amount as his fine.

Skip Bayless must be eating his words right about now. Chad Ochocinco boldly predicted that the Bengals would finish 12-4 this year. After sweeping both Baltimore and Pittsburgh, I don't see any way they don't finish 12-4 and win the AFC North. Right now they are in line for the #2 seed in the AFC, giving them an important bye and home field for the divisional round.

Manny Pacquiao was extremely impressive in his win over Miguel Cotto Saturday night. I am looking forward to a PacMan vs Money Mayweather matchup next year. This should be a match of the century candidate.

Congratulations to Andrew Bailey and Chris Coghlan for winning the American and National League Rookie Of The Year awards. Both players deserved to win, and both players flew under the radar for most of the season. I'm glad the writers went for the best years instead of the most hyped, as Elvis Andrus and Andrew McCutcheon didn't quite do enough to earn the awards. For McCutcheon that wasn't his fault though, as the Pirates waited until June to call him up.

So at midnight ESPN will be running 24 hours straight of LIVE NCAA basketball games to kick off the 2009-10 season. I'm looking forward to watching all 24 hours of their coverage, seeing teams that normally wouldn't get national TV coverage.

I swore to myself I wasn't going to mention the situation with Allen Iverson and the Grizzlies, but here it is. I knew that it was never going to work, because Iverson's ego was going to get in the way.

I'm going to skip the Browns/Ravens game tonight. The only way I would watch this game is if I wanted to sleep. And since I just woke up, I really don't want to sleep.

NFL Week Ten Preview

The Word of the Day is Sweeps.

It's Sweeps Time for the Nielsen ratings, which means it's time for the annual Indianapolis/New England regular season matchup. Brady vs. Manning, Colts vs. Patriots. It's an annual AFC Championship game preview that usually never disappoints. This year will be no exception. Indy and New England are 1st and 2nd respectively in scoring defense in the league. Add in the fact that Indianpolis is 8-0 right now and this has all the markings of an instant classic. This is the sixth undefeated team that New England has faced this year in nine games. I might be making this pick with my heart being a Patriots fan, but with the injuries that the Colts are dealing with on defense, I'm picking New England 38, Indianpolis 24.

Speaking of sweeps, the Cincinnati Bengals are looking for their second season sweep in two weeks when they travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers. Marvin Lewis has put the kibosh on Chad Ochocinco's plan to send the Steelers' secondary bottles of mustard. I think the emergence of Rashard Mendenhall for the Steelers is huge in this matchup, as he wasn't a big factor in their first meeting. In a close game, I'm picking the Steelers to win at home, 24-20.

The first Thursday night matchup of the year brings us the Chicago Bears traveling to San Francisco to face the 49ers in what is being billed as the Mike Singletary Bowl. Vernon Davis has already caused waves by trash talking the Bears, and the 49ers have yet to win after signing star wide receiver Michael Crabtree. The Bears looked dreadful against the Cardinals last week, and coming into a short week, I don't see any reason why things will be any different. 49ers blowout the Bears, 33-10.

Quick hits for the rest of the week:

Denver at Washington: This is going to be ugly for the Redskins. Broncos are looking to rebound from consecutive losses. Denver 42, Washington 6.

Jacksonville at New York Jets: Jacksonville has improved with the play of Maurice Jones-Drew, and the Jets are still hard to figure out. For some reason, I think the Jags pull off the upset, 21-17.

Buffalo at Tennessee. Vince Young is 2-0 for the Titans. The Bills have won two games all season. Vince goes to 3-0, Titans win 23-3.

New Orleans at St. Louis. A scrimmage for the Saints this week. No chance of an upset for the Rams here, as the Saints win big 49-13.

Tampa Bay at Miami. Tampa is coming off their first win of the season against Green Bay, and they don't have to travel far to face the Dolphins. The 'Fins didn't look impressive against New England last week offensively. I'm going on the board for a Buccaneers upset here, 16-10.

Detroit at Minnesota. Detroit got Calvin Johnson back last week, but still looked awful. Minnesota is coming off a very well timed bye week. Vikings win a game that will be closer than it should be, 27-21.

Atlanta at Carolina. Atlanta needs this win to have a chance to make the playoffs, as they have struggled in recent weeks. As long as Jake Delhomme is still the starting quarterback, I won't pick the Panthers. Atlanta bounces back, 30-13.

Kansas City at Oakland. This game has the potential to be a worst game of the year candidate. One of these teams has to win, however. Or do they? As much as I want to call for a tie, I'm not going to do that. Kansas City 10, Oakland 6.

Dallas at Green Bay. The Cowboys have run off five straight wins, while the Packers just lost to previously winless Tampa Bay. The Packers offensive line is a sieve, and the Cowboys will exploit that. Dallas 28, Green Bay 20.

Philadelphia at San Diego. The Chargers have charged back into the AFC West race thanks to the Broncos losing two straight, and the Eagles have fallen back into second in the NFC East after their loss to Dallas. A must win for the Eagles, but I don't think they will. Chargers win a close affair, 24-23.

Seattle at Arizona. Kurt Warner is coming off a 5 TD performance last week against the Bears overrated defense. The Seahawks aren't as good. Arizona gets their second home win big, 38-14.

Baltimore at Cleveland (Monday night): Baltimore looked bad against Cincinnati for the second time this year. The Browns would look bad against Cleveland State right now. Baltimore wins big 30-7.

Veterans Day

First off a very hearty shout-out to the veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Thank you for protecting our country both in wartime and in peace.

The Word of the Day for today is Youth.

For those who criticize poker as not being a sport, you're going to be disappointed that I am starting a blog with a poker note. But since it is covered by both ESPN and Sports Illustrated, and is featured on many sports networks, I'm covering it. Congratulations to 21 year old Joe Cada on winning the 2009 World Series of Poker, becoming the youngest Main Event champion of all time. He came back from having just over 1% of the chips with 7 players remaining to win the whole thing. He did get lucky a couple of times, notably when he had pocket 3s against Jeff Shulman's pocket jacks and hit a 3 on the flop, and when he hit another set with his deuces against Antoine Saout's pocket queens three handed. Watching Darvin Moon playing the final table made me realize that should I ever get the opportunity to drop $10k to play the main event that I have just as good a chance as anyone to win it. Could he have made losing look any easier?

The Pittsburgh Steelers looked impressive on the road Monday night against Denver. They rattled Kyle Orton into having his worst game of the season, forcing three interceptions, while Rashard Mendenhall showed why the Steelers made him their first round pick in 2008.

Brady Quinn has regained the starting quarterback position in Cleveland. Is there any worse job in sports right now than to be the Browns' QB? I can't seem to think of anything short of being the Oakland Raiders general manager. The Browns are making the Raiders look like a professional franchise.

The Patriots and Colts are set to play in their annual AFC Championship Game preview game. This is probably the biggest game for the Colts on their quest to go undefeated. More on this game tomorrow in my NFL preview blog.

I'm going to rail on Time Warner Cable for a minute. How is it that the NFL Network has been around as long as it has, yet you STILL refuse to add it to your basic cable package. It's pathetic the NFL is on their network on Thursdays starting this week, and so many NFL fans are unable to watch the game.

The Hot Stove season is in full swing, as teams are already starting to position themselves for the 2010 season. The Red Sox added Jeremy Hermida as insurance in case they are unable to re-sign Jason Bay, and extended Tim Wakefield for two years. Wakefield's contract is significant, as they have been working together on mutual options for the past four seasons.

The Twins and Brewers made a trade last week that filled needs for each team. The Brewers sent embattled shortstop J.J. Hardy to the Twins for outfielder Carlos Gomez. You'll remember Gomez as the centerpiece of the Johan Santana trade before the 2008 season. Gomez fills a need for the Brewers, as he will be cheaper than Mike Cameron would have been to re-sign, and the Twins had a gaping hole at shortstop. I really like the trade for the Twins if Hardy can go back to his pre-2009 form. The Brewers are going to need to get more offense though to make up for Gomez and his sub-.300 on base percentage, although Gomez is one of the best defenders in the game.

The Power Rankings section of the blog.

NFL Top Five:

1. New Orleans (8-0). Second straight week they've come back from a double digit deficit to win by double digits.

2. Indianapolis (8-0). Peyton Manning along with Drew Brees the top two MVP candidates.

3. Minnesota (7-1). Bye week couldn't have come at a better time. Let's see what Brett Favre has in the tank for the second half of the season.

4. New England (6-2). Two major tests in the next three weeks for the Patriots, first at Indianapolis this week, and two weeks later at New Orleans.

5. Cincinnati (6-2). They are for real. Two impressive wins over the Ravens, and a win over Pittsburgh. One tipped pass away from being 7-1. Big game this week against my #6 team Pittsburgh.

NFL Bottom Five:

28. St. Louis (1-7). Can Steven Jackson get some help, PLEASE?

29. Detroit (1-7). Matthew Stafford going through some growing pains in his rookie season.

30. Tampa Bay (1-7). Great to see Josh Freeman get a win in his first start.

31. Kansas City (1-7). Amazing what a little talent can do to a person, isn't it Matt Cassel?

32. Cleveland (1-7). Ugh, could things get any worse?

Sunday NFL Quick Hits

The Word of the Day is Shout-Out.

This blog goes out to Chad Ocho Cinco (@OGOchoCinco on Twitter). Watched your Ustream show this morning, you're one of the great players and promoters for the NFL. And your mama is cool too. Good luck against the Ravens Chad.

Here are my picks, three hours before game time.

Washington at Atlanta. Falcons win big, 34-10.

Arizona at Chicago. Bears win a close one at home, 24-23.

Baltimore at Cincinnati. No way I'm picking against the Bengals this week, why shout out to the star if you pick em to lose. Not good PR. Bengals 27, Ravens 17.

Houston at Indianapolis. Houston is 1-17 all time against Indy. Make it 1-18. Indy 31, Houston 28.

Miami at New England. This isn't last year's Wildcat offense. New England 34, Miami 27.

Green Bay at Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay goes to 0-8. Packers 28, Bucs 7.

Kansas City at Jacksonville. Jamaal Charles at RB for Chiefs. Chiefs upset on road, 23-18.

Carolina at New Orleans. A couple of close games for New Orleans. This won't be one of them. Saints 44, Panthers 13.

Detroit at Seattle. Stafford gets Johnson back at WR. Don't like the look of either team. Lions upset Seahawks, 17-13.

Tennessee at San Francisco. Tennessee got their first win last week, Niners are reeling. Tennessee gets win #2 with VY at quarterback, 20-14.

San Diego at New York Giants. Giants have lost three straight, can't run the ball. Chargers can't run it either. I like the Chargers secondary better. Chargers win a shoot out, 37-28.

Dallas at Philadelphia. Eagles are the hottest team in the NFC not named Minnesota or New Orleans. Eagles 28, Cowboys 20.

Pittsburgh at Denver (Monday). Denver suffered its first loss last week. They won't do it here. Broncos 26, Steelers 23.

Quick World Series Take

This isn't going to be long tonight.

The word of the day is Champion.

So now we're going to be oversaturated with Yankees discussion for the next week, and on a personal level I'm gonna be ridiculed without prejudice being a Red Sox fan. Joe Girardi got lucky that his three man rotation succeeded in October and November, because had they lost, he would have been highly criticized for it.

The person that will get a huge amount of criticism, however, is Charlie Manuel. How do you let the pitcher who was named the team's pitcher of the year in J.A. Happ get less than THREE innings of work in the postseason. Starting Joe Blanton in game four of the Series was a mistake against the Yankees' lefty heavy lineup.

It has been a turbulent season for the Yankees, starting with their expensive stadium and outrageous tickets, and Alex Rodriguez' steroids issues, and the big contracts they gave to C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. They struggled in the early part of the season, in particular against the Red Sox, but after their last series loss to the Red Sox, and not coincidentally with the return of Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees heated up, and took the rest of the baseball world by the throat.

Hideki Matsui was huge in the three games he was able to play with the designated hitter, particularly tonight. He tied a World Series record with six RBI in one game, tying Bobby Richardson in 1960. I would have been tempted to start Matsui in the outfield in the NL games and move Damon over to right field just to keep his hot bat in the lineup, though. Matsui's game six performance wrested the MVP trophy away from Chase Utley, who was bidding to be the first player since Richardson to win the MVP for a losing team.

Now, onto the Hot Stove Season.

Being Played For A Fool

It's November. Yay.

The word of the day is Played. As in, I got played for a fool.

I really hate the internet sometimes. I really do. In particular, people who can't be who they really are and create different people just to get their jollies off. Pisses me off to no end.

Ok, now that I'm off that sandbox.

I've come to a conclusion. The Giants are overrated. For the third straight game, they have looked simply awful. The Eagles showed just how bad they were defensively, sending Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson all over the place. Speaking of DeSean Jackson, he's a total beast. He has six touchdowns already this year of more than 50 yeards. The Eagles are clearly the best team in the NFC East right now.

The Saints are as good as advertised, although Atlanta gave them a hell of a run last night. They are just one point per game behind the 2007 Patriots record pace. Looking at the rest of their schedule this year, I see only one or two games that they could lose.

The Rams and Lions showed in the same game just how bad they really are. Both offenses, save for Steven Jackson of the Rams, are putrid. How Steven Jackson is having the year he is having is amazing. Probably one of the most impressive seasons in NFL history considering the circumstances. Granted, Detroit was without Calvin Johnson, but even with him, they're still bad.

The 49ers defense took it to Peyton Manning, holding him without a touchdown this year. In fact, if it wasn't for a halfback option play by Joseph Addai, the Colts lose that game at home. Four trips to the red zone and all the Colts could muster were field goals. Not a good sign if you're Indianapolis.

How impressive was Ted Ginn in the third quarter? Two returns for at least 100 yards in the third quarter were a first in NFL history, and he went quickly from the doghouse to the penthouse for the Dolphins. And how bad can the New York Jets be to hold the Dolphins to as few yards as they did, but still lose the game that badly. Overrated? I think so.

I would like to congratulate the Houston Texans for having their best start in team history, going 5-3 over the first half of the season. It's nice to see them finally taking a big step forward after consecutive 8-8 seasons.

Oh yeah, and Brett Favre had a successful return to Green Bay. That is all I am going to say about Favre unless he's MVP. And he won't be.

My NFL Top Five:

1. New Orleans (7-0)

2. Indianapolis (7-0)

3. Minnesota (7-1)

4. Denver (6-1)

5. New England (5-2)

I am thoroughly enjoying this college football season. I'm enjoying it because it is allowing me to make a mockery of the Bull Crap System known as the Bowl Championship Series. I love the fact that we could have SIX undefeated teams going into bowl season. Yes, that's right. I'm calling for SIX of the seven current undefeated teams to stay that way (the only reason being the SEC championship game will eliminate one of Florida or Alabama). Should Florida/Alabama and Texas remain undefeated, those two teams definitely deserve to be in the BCS Championship game. However, the call for a playoff will run rampant because there will still be Iowa, Cincinnati, TCU, and Boise State undefeated. Oh, and the fact that TCU or Boise State won't even get the chance to even be IN the BCS is a joke. Both teams deserve to be there. The NCAA and the BCS need to their hands off of each other's units and stop counting the cash to see how much of a joke their system is. The only thing that is good is that the voters are still keeping Boise State ahead of Oregon. If Oregon jumps them, that will be a joke.

Speaking of jokes, the Florida Gators are a joke. Their "suspension" of Brandon Spikes is a joke. Tim Tebow's justification of Spikes' actions against Georgia is a joke. And Brandon Spikes' apology is a joke. If LaGarrett Blount got suspended for the year for Oregon, Spikes should be gone as well. The SEC once again has proven themselves to be a joke by accepting Florida's handling of the situation. F*ck the SEC. They are a classless organization from top to bottom.

My Heisman top five:

1. Jimmy Claussen

2. Mark Ingram

3. Tim Tebow

4. Case Keenum

5. Colt McCoy

Sunday NFL Quick Hits

This is gonna be a short but sweet entry with my quick NFL picks. No word on the farm for today. I'll save that for my weekend wrap-up after the Monday night game.

Houston at Buffalo

Matt Schaub is having an MVP caliber campaign this year. Buffalo is sucking eggs. Houston moves to 5-3 for the first time in team history, winning 35-14.

Cleveland at Chicago

The Bears are coming off a humiliating loss to Cincinnati last week, when Cedric Benson ran roughshod all over them. Cleveland is putrid. Bears take out their frustrations on Cleveland, 34-3.

Seattle at Dallas

Seattle has been inconsistent both offensively and defensively. Miles Austin has become Tony Romo's new play toy. Nothing changes this week. Dallas 24, Seattle 13.

St. Louis at Detroit

This could be the Rams' only shot at a win this year. However, Matthew Stafford has practiced all week for the Lions. Not a good sign for the Rams to say the least. Detroit wins a nail biter, 17-13.

San Francisco at Indianapolis

San Francisco has named former #1 pick Alex Smith as the starter for this game. Not a good sign for a team facing the Colts. Colts run away with this one, 42-16.

Miami at New York Jets

Mark Sanchez has been inconsistent the past four weeks. Everyone has been inconsistent in defending the Wildcat offense. I like Miami to win on the road, 27-21.

New York Giants at Philadelphia

The first of two huge games to be contested in Philly this week (if you don't know the other one, get the hell off my blog. Seriously.), Philadelphia needs a win to close the gap with the recently struggling New York Giants. I'd like to pick a tie, but since I can't, Philadelphia wins by a field goal at the end, 27-24.

Denver at Baltimore

Baltimore needs to right the ship and fast before Cincinnati and Pittsburgh completely run away from the division. (Who saw that coming???) Denver remains the class of the AFC West, but this is the first of three straight tests. Baltimore rights the ship, and Denver becomes the latest team to lose. Baltimore 23, Denver 21

Jacksonville at Tennessee

Vince Young has been given the reins by Jeff Fisher in Tennessee. I'm still not sure what to make of the Jaguars this year. Something tells me that Tennessee wins a sloppy game, 14-10.

Oakland at San Diego

Oakland, while they have two wins, are still the laughingstock of the NFL right now. San Diego needs a turn around game if they have ANY chance of catching Denver. San Diego wins a laugher, 31-13.

Minnesota at Green Bay

Brett Favre returns. The fans boo. The Packers win. The fans cheer. Packers 27, Vikings 20.

Carolina at Arizona

The Panthers are sticking with Jake Delhomme at quarterback. Big mistake. Arizona blows out the Panthers, 33-7.

Atlanta at New Orleans (Monday night)

Drew Brees is the MVP of the league so far. Anyone that says it's Peyton Manning needs to get their lips off his ass. New Orleans and Indianapolis remain the only undefeated teams, as the Saints win 28-21.