Complete College Football Predictions

My football attention span may have been focused solely on our Fantasy Football draft last week, but today is the rebirth of my favorite sport – college football. There may have been games on Thursday, but college football doesn’t start until I see College Gameday. College students with stupid signs and Lee Corso putting on a mascot head – gotta love it. I love the analysis they bring from across the country, even though it is often small-sighted. Case in point: “It’s 87 degrees today in Pittsburgh – that’s an advantage for Pitt”. Really? They’re playing Bowling Green, which is only about 2-3 hours west. Their climates can’t be that different.

Nevertheless, I bring to you my complete predictions for college football – the best sport in the land. Last year was extremely exciting with App St over U-M and#1 and #2 changing hands week after week. Adding to my excitement today: I have no less than 6 channels to watch games on today (including the Big 10 Network) and one of the first things Stacey said this morning was “honey, do you want to go shopping for tvs tomorrow?” I love this woman. Enough talk – here’s my thoughts.

MSU Results
at Cal L
E Mich W
Fl Atl W
ND W
at Ind W
Iowa W
at NW L
OSU L
at Mich W
Wisc L
Purd W
at PSU L

MSU’s schedule will be tough. I know this sounds ridiculous with EMU and Florida Atlantic on the schedule, but the key is the stretch from NW to PSU. In that stretch, their 3 easiest games are on the road. They also play 4 of the 5 teams that they lost to during the regular season last year in a row (NW, OSU, U-M, Wisco). The highlight of the year will be defeating U-M for the first time since 2001. They don’t improve at all from last year, but they don’t take a step back and that’s important.

Big 10 Final Standings:
1. OSU
2. Wisconsin
3. Penn St
4. Illinois
5. Michigan
6. MSU
7. Purdue
8. Northwestern
9. Indiana
10. Iowa
11. Minnesota

Heisman
1. Tim Tebow, QB Florida – becomes first repeat Heisman since Archie Griffin
2. Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma – very accurate – he may not have too much buzz now, but he will by the end of the season
3. BeanieWells, RB Ohio St – best back in the country
4. Michael Crabtree, WR Texas Tech – ridiculous talent – will be a top 5 pick in next year’s draft
5. Knowshon Moreno, RB Georgia – I don’t know too much about him, but Georgia is getting all of the hype right now
(Side note: Literally, as I typed this, Beanie Wells went down with a foot injury on my tv in the background. I don’t care – I’m sticking with this list!)

BCS Conference Champions
ACC: Virginia Tech
Big 10: Ohio State
Big East: Pittsburgh
Pac 10: USC
Big 12: Oklahoma
SEC: Florida
I ranked each of the conferences from top to bottom in terms of how competitive each will be. I know Mike hates to hear it and will completely disagree, but the SEC has the most elite teams. Only 3 of the 12 teams had non-winning records last year (compared to 3 in the Big 10 and Big East; and 5 in the Big 12, ACC, and Pac-10). They had the highest percentage of winning teams last season of any BCS conference. Argue that! Sorry, I got a little excited.

Here it goes - my NCAA Championship Game prediction. Don't kill me.

National Championship Game: Ohio State over Oklahoma
I swear, I am NOT turning into a Buckeye fan and I am not being a homer by saying this. They return the most talent from last year while playing in a weaker conference. They have a solid defense and a new weapon on offense in Terrelle Pryor. This year was the year that they have been admittedly targeting for years and they will finally win the National Championship.

Breaking Down the Draft

With the draft now complete, I wanted to give my favorite picks in each round. I swear I was modest.

Round 16 - 4th and Goal - Fred Taylor - Usually underrated, a solid last round pick
Round 15 - Zoo Tycoons - Bernard Berrian - supposed to be a key in the "hot pick" offense
Round 14 - I Miss Aaron Rowand - Seattle - always have a favorable schedule
Round 13 - Cumming From Behind - Chester Taylor - if anything happens to Petersen...
Round 12 - Kevinexorable - Michael Turner - someone has to score on Atlanta's team, right?
Round 11 - Me - Laurence Maroney - if nothing else, good trade bait
Round 10 - Wicked Weasels - Santana Moss - fairly consistent from one season to another
Round 9 - I Miss Aaron Rowand - Darren McFadden - reports from training camp have been great, remember what AP did last year?
Round 8 - Zoo Tycoons - Jake Delhomme - last year was an off-year, with more weapons and the way the NFC South changes so much he could be due for a big year
Round 7 - Kevinexorable - Santonio Holmes - should continue to improve and take over as Pitt's #1 go-to guy
Round 6 - Canadian Beasters - Willie Parker - I don't think injuries will be an issue
Round 5 - Me - Matt Hasselbeck - overlooked nationally, not as flashy but consistent
Round 4 - Cumming From Behind - Brandon Marshall - despite being out for 2 weeks, he will be top 2 among the other 7 WRs drafted this round
Round 3 - Cumming From Behind - Ben Roethlisberger - not too many questions about him this year
Round 2 - Kevinexorable - Reggie Wayne - least amount of doubt compared to all other WRs drafted that round (Moss, TO, Edwards)
Round 1 - push - the round went pretty much as expected except for 1 slot

Here's how it all shakes out...
4th and Goal - 1
Wicked Weasels - 1
Canadian Beasters - 1
I Miss Aaron Rowand - 2
Zoo Tycoons - 2
Me - 2
Kevinexorable - 3
Cumming from Behind - 3

After looking at everyone's team, I have to give Kevin credit. We have turned mocking his past teams into a pasttime and I am sure it can't be fun to watch his roster turn into the injury report. I really like his wide receivers and his running backs are solid (if Gore works out for you, I'll be pissed). I have to rip you for drafting Vince Young though. He had almost TWICE as many INTs as TDs!!!

I like a lot of Mike's picks, but I think you chose a 2004 fantasy team in some cases (Warner, Holt, Driver, Williams, Shockey). You have to let me know how you got that championship belt to show up on your team helmet.

What Else

There's only 10 days until THE day - I think we're sufficiently dorky enough to know what I'm referring to. I sat down a few days ago with some buffalo wings, the Sportscenter mock draft and had 2 mock drafts of my own. It was great. I learned one things: I'm overrating Larry Johnson. I know this because I was the one to draft him in both leagues.

All of this built up to my single best draft ever. Let's take a minute and review my ridiculous team and how it came about.
QB: Tom Brady, Jeff Garcia
WR: Terrell Owens, Plaxico Burress, Jerricho Cotchery, Donald Driver, Ted Ginn Jr
RB: Jamal Lewis, Laurence Maroney, Selvin Young, Julius Jones
TE: Tony Gonzalez, Donald Lee
K: David Akers
DEF: Baltimore

...and I picked 8th.

1. By ignoring RBs, I was able to stay ahead of everyone else.
This year's RB crop is LT, 5 guys, and everyone else. If I'm picking 8th, do I really want top pick of "everyone else"? By passing on RB early, I was able to draft the first QB and 2nd WR. The next 3 RBs taken after I took TO were Larry Johnson (I resisted the urge), Brandon Jacobs, and Ryan Grant. The next 3 WRs taken after I finally took Jamal Lewis were Torry "shows up to the game" Holt, Chad Johnson, and Brandon Marshall (automatically out 3 games due to suspension).

2. Once everyone transitioned over to QB/WR, I was still able to get top tier RBs in round 3 and 5.
After I picked TO in round 2, there were only 4 RBs taken before I picked Jamal Lewis 15 picks later and only another 4 before I picked Maroney 20 picks later. Again, the talent of QBs and WRs was declining much quicker than RBs at that point.

3. I waited on TE, DEF, and K.
Gates and Witten went in round 4 while I was still trying to fill my WR and RB needs. After I took 2 RBs and WRs, I knew it was time to get a decent TE in Tony Gonzalez in round 6. Unfortunately, I couldn't take Dallas Clark because of bye week issues. The first defense was taken in round 6 (San Diego). I was the last person to draft a defense, but was able to get Baltimore in round 12. Same thing for kicker, when I drafted Akers in the last round. There just isn't enough difference between kickers.

4. I took a mix of everyone else
With my bench players, I took a mix of people who should have great years due to roster changes (Cotchery, Selvin Young, Ginn Jr.) and players with something to prove after the Favre saga (Driver, Garcia).

I can't wait until a week from Tuesday to do it all over again.

It's like Christmas Eve

In a few hours, football comes out of hibernation. I see great things this season: the Fantasy title belt returning home to me, the Lions winning 13 games, and a continuation of the Brett Favre drama.

And because it needs to be posted again...



NFC East
Dallas Cowboys
Philadelphia Eagles
NY Giants
Washington Redskins

I see the Giants having a stereotypical letdown season after winning the Super Bowl - only to 7-9, but out of the playoffs. I think the Cowboys are too talented to not win 12-13 games again this season.

NFC North
Minnesota Vikings
Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
Chicago Bears

Keep in mind these standings are under the assumption Favre goes to Minnesota. If he doesn't, it will be a toss-up between Minnesota and Green Bay for the division.

NFC South
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers
Atlanta Falcons

I REALLY like the Saints this year - you'll see how much in just a bit. I think they have a huge bounce back year.

NFC West
Arizona Cardinals
Seattle Seahawks
St Louis Rams
San Francisco 49ers

I think the surprise of the season will be the Cardinals. The Seahawks have been dominant in this division for a while, but they are starting to age - kind of like the Pistons. I have a lot of confidence that Matt Leinart will step up this year - he should with as many offensive weapons as they have.

AFC East
New England Patriots
NY Jets
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins

Patriots continue to dominate in a weak division. Next...

AFC North
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Baltimore Ravens

Everyone LOVES the Browns, but I last year was a special blip. I say they go 6-10 or 7-9 in what will once again be a competitive division with a tough schedule (they play the NFC East and the AFC South).

AFC South
Indianapolis Colts
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans

I also see the Jaguars to regress after last year. I don't think they have the offensive talent to win week after week.

AFC West
San Diego Chargers
Denver Broncos
Oakland Raiders
Kansas City Chiefs

I think this division will have improved from last year - word out of training camp is that Darren McFadden is progressing very quickly.

AFC Wild Card: Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals
NFC Wild Card: Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFC Champions: New England Patriots
NFC Champions: New Orleans Saints

Super Bowl Champions: New England Patriots

I've heard some people say that they will play all season with a chip on their shoulder because they lost the Super Bowl last year. I like that reasoning, but I like their talent even more. I think they are too stacked to not win it all this year.

Fantasy Players I Like
Well, let's not give away all of my thoughts. That would just be silly.

Game Over

I woke up this morning and began perusing the news. Then I found an article that told me that the 2008 election is over and Barack Obama just won.

The article was titled "New McCain ad calls Obama 'The One'". I was curious about this, so I checked it out on youtube.



Surely that has to be a joke. I mean, yes, Barack Obama has been too preachy and McCain supporters will completely agree with the ad, but that will be a huge turnoff to undecided voters. The poor production quality and odd looking "paid for..." at the end made me think it was fake. Plus, don't they have to say "I'm John McCain and I approve this message" at the end? I was 90% sure it was a joke until I visited johnmccain.com and saw it front and center on his website.

I feel like we're going to hear about the infamous 'The One' ad for months and that people will point to this as one of the final nails in John McCain's campaign. This is coming from someone who proudly displays a photo of himself near McCain at a 2000 rally and was upset I wasn't 12 months older so I could have voted for McCain in the primaries that year. I think that McCain is listening to too many strategists and selling himself out in search of the presidency this time around. Am I overreacting or did this ad just seal the election for Obama?

Titletown

I know it is ESPN's excuse to fill time during the summer, and thus cannot be taken too seriously, but I want to debate Title Town. I guess they decided to start this debate because nobody understands "Who's Now?" to this day. If you had something better to do at 6pm today, here's the results:

6. Gainesville, FL
5. Boston
4. Massilon, OH
3. Green Bay
2. Parkersburg, WV
1. Valdosta, GA

This was decided by fan voting. Since I have too much time on my hands, here's my criteria on how I would pick the true Titletown.

1. It has to be known for winning championships, not for being the hometown of sports stars or for hosting a lot of championships. This means Columbus doesn't get credit for Jack Nicklaus, Detroit doesn't get credit for hosting the Super Bowl, Final Four, etc. and Williamsport, PA is eliminated from contention.
2. It has to be the home of a major D1 school or a pro team. We all know how much I love crazy HS football fans. This eliminates Massilon, OH, Parkersburg, WV, and Valdosta, GA
3. The city has to have won a major championship in the past 5 years. It can't be Title town without TITLES - and I don't care what they did in the 1970s. For colleges, it needs to be football, basketball, baseball, or hockey because people don't pay to see world class cross-country. This eliminates Green Bay, Louisville, Ann Arbor, Columbus, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and New York. Los Angeles gets a pass since they won 2 titles in 2002.
4. The city cannot have one team that is infamous for being horrible. We all know which city this eliminates. The Blackhawks and Cubs take Chicago out of the running as does UNC football.

With those 4 rules, I have already taken out over half of the field, including 4 of the top 6. The rest of the cities need to be evaluated case-by-case.

Pittsburgh - While the Steelers have been consistently good and the Pirates and Penguins have won championships, they just don't have anywhere near enough. Pitt's complete lack of success brings them down as well.

Knoxville, TN - They have a Top 2 (or 1) women's basketball team, but not enough else.

Lawrence, KS - Solid basketball team, but the football team is just starting to come around. Overall, they have 0 championships and an all-time record barely above .500

Gainesville Their recent dominance in football and basketball makes them a tempting choice, but they had 0 titles before 1996.

Ironically, that leaves us with Boston vs. LA. The two teams have combined for over half of the NBA championships. Boston's recent championship dominance make a strong case - except the Patriots don't count since they don't play in Boston and belong to "New England". The fact that their most beloved team had one of the most storied championship droughts until 2004 ends the debate.

LA has been host to 9 Lakers championships, 1 Angels' and 5 Dodgers' World Series, 1 LA Raiders Superbowl victory, 7 USC football championships and Heisman winners, 11 UCLA basketball championships, 1 UCLA football championships, etc., etc. The only blemish would be the lack of a Stanley Cup, although owning the game's best player ever for 8 seasons makes up a little ground.

LA is Titletown... or at least they should've been.

I am a man...

I am a man of today's workforce. I live in a world of Expense Reports, Financial Reports, Customer Satisfaction Reports, and Performance Reports. I exist to pay health insurance companies; the federal, state, and city governments; 70 year olds on Social-Security; as well as the beer and cigar manufacturers that help me forget the bad days.

I have been on e-mail chains discussing which pencil sharpener works best. I have been questioned for purchasing the nicer toilet paper rather than the one that is $5 cheaper per box of 50. I have chosen sides in the DHL vs. UPS battle (Brown's got my back).

I have marked down people in an interview for dressing casually while wearing a casual Friday ensemble of baseball cap, tee-shirt and cargo shorts. I can match my ties to my emotional state while wishing I could wear them every day.

I have role played how to handle every conversation and learned how the sweetest sound an upset customer can make is "I want to speak to your manager". I know that *67 is the saving grace that keeps your cell phone number private from your customers.

I take it and run with it, get the ball rolling, attempt to make slam dunk sales, have faceoffs with the competition, and hope to be on the fast track to a promotion. I overuse FYI and ASAP.

I live for raises and bonuses, the experiences, the relief of job stability and security, the people I have the privilege of hiring and managing, and a good old fashioned "job well done".

I am a manager. Now go do what I tell you to.

King of the Ring

Yesterday, I spent way too much time looking at old wrestling footage on youtube. It got me thinking, who is the best wrestler of all time? My favorite wrestler growing up was the Ultimate Warrior, although he turned into a joke (much like my other childhood idol, Jose Canseco). Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold transformed wrestling while they were in their prime, but Hogan lacked wrestling skills and Stone Cold was the same thing over and over againt. The Rock left too prematurely. By far, the best wrestler stands 6'10", weighs 295, and hails from Death Valley.

The Undertaker is responsible for inaugurating the Casket Match, the Boiler Room Brawl, the Buried Alive Match, Hell in a Cell, the Inferno Match, and the Punjabi Prison Match (think Hell in a Cell with bamboo). He has survived some of the worst storylines (the American Badass biker, having his wife stalked, Ministry of Darkness). He has fought two giants (Giant Gonzales and the Great Khali), his brother, and even his fake self. He has won 1 Royal Rumble (in which he was the first winner to enter the Rumble last), 6 world titles, and all 16 Wrestlemania matches.

He also has the best entrance ever.


He can levitate.


And he locked my childhood idol in a casket.


He has dominated since the day he debuted.

Go Green

“I can't wait to see Michigan State in about three years, once Mark has a chance to recruit his kind of players." – Kirk Herbstreit in November 2006

It's not quite two years since he made that statement, but I wanted to compare Mark Dantonio's successes so far in recruiting to John L using the rankings from rivals.com. John L took the stance that we can't compete for recruits with Michigan and OSU, so we have to go further out and find "diamonds in the rough". Sometimes this worked well (SirDarean Adams, Jonal Saint Dic) and other times it didn't. He didn't develop good relationships with key High School coaches in Detroit, Flint, etc. Mark Dantonio has took the opposite strategy - get what you can from Michigan and Ohio and develop them. He has rebuilt a lot of relationships with area coaches and almost every recruit comes from the two states. Let's look at their accomplishments by year.

Year .5
John L started at MSU in late 2002 while Mark Dantonio started in late 2006. Each had a few months to try and salvage whatever they could out of their respective recruiting classes.
John L's 2003 class - Only 1 four-star player - The class did boast Kaleb Thornhill and Jehuu Caulcrick
Dantonio's 2007 class - 3 four-star players - These players are really John L's boys, including Mark Dell and Antonio Jeremiah

Year 1
This is where things start to pick up a little. The coaches had one full year to recruit these players, but we all know the true recruiting begins way before they become seniors.
John L's 2004 class - 6 four-star players - This was by far John L's best class and comes after he was awarded the Big 10 Coach of the Year award. Key players: SirDarean Adams, Kellen Davis, Domata Peko, Brian Hoyer
Dantonio's 2008 class - Only 1 four-star player - The class fills a lot of needs defensively - he only took 4 skilled position players.

Year 2
This is where things start to turn. John L's 2005 class only included 2 four-star players - the biggest names now are Jonal Saint Dic and Javon Ringer. Mark Dantonio's 2009 class won't be official until Signing Day in February, but he has already received commitments from 6 four-star players. Now, this doesn't even compare to U-M (7 four-star, 1 five-star) or OSU (16 four-star, 1 five-star), but we won't ever win recruiting battles with them. The great news is that we have the same number of 4-star player commitments as Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, Iowa and Minnesota - COMBINED! We also have twice as many as Penn State.

I know rankings only mean so much. After all, Izzo's recruiting classes are rarely top in the country, but he is so damn good at coaching the players to reach their potential. However, I believe these recrutiting classes show Dantonio is really taking the program in the right direction and I am excited to capitalize on U-M's blunders.

Ballpark Test

...or is it a puzzle? Start with, how many of the major league baseball teams can you name? It took me about 15 minutes to get all 30 - I was hung up on one. Ok, now how many of the major league ballparks can you name? I got 27. After you're done trying, check my comments for which ones gave me trouble.

The Great American Ballpark was pretty cool. (Oops.. there's a freebie stadium). It's set up like a poor man's Pittsburgh ballpark (you only get one freebie). Except instead of the bright yellow Roberto Clemente Bridge linking it to downtown Pittsburgh, you get a normal suspension bridge linking it to Kentucky. Like I said - it's a poor man's stadium. I have heard really good things about it since it was built in 2003, but much of the concourse seems very plain. The big feature of the park are two riverboat smokestacks in centerfield that shoot fireworks after a Reds home run (which we unfortunately didn't get to see). However, they built them much too short. The scoreboard is very expansive, but lacks the kind of LED screens that other stadiums have. The stadium is very round, however, unlike any other stadium I can think of visiting. When the crowd started doing the wave, you could tell there was great potential for having a crazy loud stadium as a result of the design. In the end, I would rank it above Cleveland and Philly, but below Baltimore. Here's a photo from our seats.

Mid Season Changes

I would like to start by taking a little credit for my preseason predictions. I called the 2008 Tampa Bay Devil Rays (go ahead and fine me) the "2011 All Star Lineup". I knew this team had a lot of potential talent. I'm done praising myself, let's look at my other picks with their current standings:

AL East: Boston Red Sox 3 GB
AL Central: Cleveland Indians 12 GB (ouch)
AL West: LA Angels Leading by 4.5 games
AL Wild Card: Detroit Tigers 7.5 GB
AL Pennant Winner: Boston Red Sox

NL East: NY Mets 5.5 GB
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers 4.5 GB
NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks Leading by 1 game
NL Wild Card: Chicago Cubs Leading division by 3.5 games
NL Pennant Winner: Arizona Diamondbacks

I am fairly confident about most of my picks. I really believe the Brewers will go on a 2nd half. They are 12-6 in their last 18 and 47 of their remaining games are against the Reds (41-47), Padres(33-53), Rockies (35-51), Astros (40-47), Giants (38-49), Pirates (40-45), and Nationals (34-54). Here are my updated picks:

AL East: Red Sox
AL Central: Tigers!! (yes, I gave up on them a month ago and now I'm drinking the kool-aid again)
AL West: Angels
AL Wild Card: RAYS!! I'm getting on the bandwagon!
AL Pennant: Red Sox

NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Brewers
NL West: Diamondbacks
NL Wild Card: Cubs
NL Pennant: Diamondbacks

Take Me Out For The 9th Time

In honor of my purchase of Reds tickets this morning, I have come up with some good baseball statistics.

San Francisco has the 6th best road record, which is an even .500 at 20-20. They have the 5th worst record overall, however.

Despite being 8 games below .500, the Indians have scored 11 more runs than their opponents. On the contrary, the Angels are 17 games over .500 with only 18 more runs than their opponents.

The Tigers, thankfully, now rank 18th overall in record. They are 15-8 so far in the month of June. It took 35 games for them to achieve their 15th win this season.
Fernando Rodney’s ERA currently is 33.75, although he has only 1.1 IP.

The Atlanta Braves are an anomaly. They are a wretched 4-20 in one run games with an overall record of 39-41. Bill James, the father of baseball stats, uses the following formula to predict a team’s record:
Runs scored [squared] / (Runs scored [squared] + runs allowed [squared]).
According to this formula, their record should be 45-35.

Great American Ballpark will be my 9th ballpark - not bad for someone who only really began to be a baseball fan in 2000. Two of those stadiums, Fenway and Skydome, I visited without seeing a game. In the seven stadiums that I will have visited, I have seen 13 MLB teams, including the Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, White Sox, Twins, Indians, Tigers, Athletics, Rangers, Phillies, Nationals, Pirates, and Reds. I have not seen an NL West team play in person.

Opera Man 2

There's another guy who sang opera on America's Got Talent. I don't think he is as good as the British guy and he kinda over did it with the drama.

Hmm...

Did anyone else know Guster was at Woodstock 99?

The Following Takes Place Between 9pm and 10pm

T minus 24 hours and counting.

I Wasted 2 Minutes Watching the Belmont Stakes

Google Earth is my new friend. I know I am about 2-3 years behind on this one, but I spent about an hour today locating various places. I found my apartment, my parents house, Knob Hill, etc. The best part is finding baseball and football stadiums. I even toured Iraq and Afghanistan a little. I think it is remarkable, and a little scary, that you can focus so closely on different parts of the world.

At some point after Big Brown lost the Belmont Stakes today, one of the announcers claimed "...and that's why the Triple Crown is the most difficult achievement in sports". Fist of all, many would argue that horse racing is not a sport. I'm going to argue that it is not the most difficult achievement.

Achieving the title has got to be ruled out, because someone will win it every year. Looking at it statistically, each of the 30 teams in MLB have a 3.3% chance of winning the title in any given year, assuming the winner is randomly chosen.

Compare those odds to horse racing. There are usually around 20 horses in the Kentucky Derby, but that field thins out by the Belmont to only around 10 - let's say the average for the 3 is 15 horses in each race. If the winner was randomly selected, you've got a .0296% chance of picking the same horse to win the three races (assuming I've remembered enough of my statistics course). There have been 11 Triple Crown winners over the 100 plus years of the racing trifecta, which shows the winners aren't random.

Here's my list of in rank of difficulty. Keep in mind, you have to ignore anything superhuman, like kicking a 70+ yard field goal.
8. Unassisted Triple Play - this is more based on circumstance and luck than skill. Just because it is extremely rare, doesn't mean it is difficult. Between 1927 and 1992, there has only been one. Since then, there have been 5, including Asdrubal Cabrera's play this year for the Indians.
7. Bowling 300
6. Hitting a hole in one - I was tempted to move this higher, but it takes one lucky shot. The other feats must be repeated over time.
5. Triple Crown of horseracing - It may be difficult, but it's not the most difficult.
4. Grand Slam of golf - with such a huge pool of participants, almost any of them can have a good weekend and steal one. Nobody's done it, not even Tiger. (yet)
3. Pitching a perfect game - I love the romanticism that is associated with a no-hitter or a perfect game. It's unlike any other experience in sports because the team game suddenly becomes focused on just one player. Part of the beauty is that it comes unexpectedly - it could happen at any moment.
2. Batting .400+ in a season - Sorry Chipper, it's not going to happen.
1. Triple crown of baseball - It requires you to be the best power hitter and the best contact hitter - for 140 or so games.

I will leave you with this: the Tigers currently have the 26th worst record in baseball.

By The Way

...is it ok if I invite my friend Roger to go golfing with us? He's about the same level as us and I'd like to see him, but I don't want to just take off.

Game 5.5

Things uttered by me last night during the Redwings game:

"They really can't afford to go down by two goals. It's over if they do."
-A few mins after the Penguins scored their first.

"The Penguins have absolutely given up on this game. They're playing like they're down 3 goals with a minute left."
-8 mins left in the game

"Crap, the Penguins all of a sudden are playing hard again. They (Redwings) have gotta keep the puck out of their zone."
-1 min left in the game

Various combinations of profanity
-30 sec left in the game

"The Wings need to stop shooting the puck from the sideboards so much. They need to get in front of the net and cause some disruption. That's what the Penguins are doing and they should've scored one of these by now."
-2nd OT

"I know the refs want to 'let them play' but they have got to start calling penalties. That's the only thing that is going to end this thing."
-3rd OT, 12 min left.

That was an extremely disappointing game. The Penguins quit on the game, so the Redwings were lulled into a false sense of security. One they started playing tough again late in the 3rd, the Wings didn't match their urgency. The silver lining is that they still have 2 chances to win.

NBC needs to learn from the way the NBA does playoffs. I would love to see the player intros rather than two people I don't know preview the game. If the NHL wants to grow its fanbase, you need to introduce them to the players. I know a lot of teams do exciting things with their intros (Oiler's oil derrick, the giant Shark head, etc.) - lets see them! Two things they have added that have improved the broadcast are more camera angles from behind the net and the mid-ice broadcaster.

ESPN's reluctance to show anything more than highlights of the playoffs is ridiculous. On the morning of what could be the championship game and the following morning after an exciting 3 OT game, what are Mike and Mike discussing? The NBA Finals, which doesn't even start for 3 days! But of course, those games are on ABC. What does the "family of networks" expect us to watch - two hours of the Bachelorette and College Softball??

Conspiracy!!!

The 1985 "Patrick Ewing" Draft Lottery, Michael Jordan's secret suspension/MiLB year, the 2003 "LeBron James to Cleveland" Draft Lottery, the no call on Derek Fisher vs. the Spurs this year, the mysterious injuries to Rip and Chauncey, Sheed's fantom fouls.... THE LAKERS/CELTICS FINAL IS ANOTHER NBA CONSPIRACY!!







Just kidding... they sucked and I watched a total of 10 mins of the entire playoffs. GO WINGS!!!

Bad Things Happen When I'm Left Home Alone for 3 Days

Since Stacey's weekend is Wednesdays and Thursdays, I was home alone for most of Memorial Day weekend. It was pretty boring, but getting paid to sit around my apartment is much better than getting paid to go to work. Here's what I've come up with in my 3 days to myself.

On Lost, one of the characters is on parole. As part of her sentence, she is not allowed to leave the state of California. What are people on parole in the state of Delaware supposed to do? I've been there - there's not much. I know all about Upper and Slower Delaware (my aunt and uncle live in Slower). The state is only 30 mi (at it's largest length) by 96 mi. That's like a large jail cell.

While Stacey was painting her toenails, I let her paint two of mine (pink polish if you needed to know). I was in a weird mood and thought what the heck. This wasn't a problem until I went to Papa Johns and decided to be lazy and put on my sandals. As I sat there waiting for my pizza to be made (they had their printer turned off and so my online order didn't go through - that's another story) I noticed my mistake and quietly curled up my feet.

Among the absolute crap I watched this weekend, the worst was the 15 mins of Herbie Fully Loaded that was on the Disney channel. There is a long sad list of actors in it - Michael Keaton, Justin Long, Breckin Meyer (the main guy in Road Trip), Matt Dillon, and of course pre-rehab Lindsay Lohan. I'm sure they were all "just wanted to make a movie for their kids to see" - code word for "I needed the money". This is the part where I would rip apart how dumb the ending was, but I think that would make me look even worse.

"You should get a hobby" - Stacey. Yes, yes I should.

I Love Math

[{(12,000/20) – (12,000/30)} x 3.6] / 285 = 2.5

Why does this matter? It's the number of car payments that are negligible because of my increased gas mileage. I love math, but I love my new car even more.

Breaking Points

I feel like I am a pretty flexible person. Living in Knob Hill made me realize I am not the most flexible person – Kevin is. You’re indifferent on almost everything. However, I feel like I’ve reached the breaking point on a few issues lately. Here’s the numbers on exactly what are my breaking points.

5/14/08 – The End of the Democratic Primaries – After John Edwards (the senator, not the douche who pretends he speaks to dead people) endorsed Obama, I lost faith that Hillary Clinton, my candidate of choice, no longer has a chance to win. I am still furious that the elections in Michigan and Florida didn’t count. She was most likely going to win both states. I know that she still wouldn’t have won now even if she had won those states, but you can’t ignore what kind of effect that victory could’ve had if she had won them at the time they were scheduled. I remember the Democratic race in 2004 was fairly even until Kerry won the first few states. Those first victories gave him huge leads in the next few contests and it quickly turned into a landslide. It’s not fair that the votes in two states don’t count because of something the citizens had no control over. This is why I lost interest in politics after the 2000 election.

16-25 – Giving Up on the Tigers – After the Tigers lose to the Royals 13-6 over a three game series, I no longer believe the Tigers will turn it around this season. They’re 0-6 against the Royals. Jim Leyland’s locker room speeches aren’t having the same effect that they used to. Nobody on our team can pitch. Meanwhile, the Indians are starting to realize their potential and have seized the lead of the AL Central. While the Tigers were 16-25, the Indians had gone 8-2 in their last 10 and C.C. is starting to pitch again. I realize we’re still only 6 games out and a great June could turn that all around, but I’m not convinced it is going to happen.

$3.95 – Gas is Ridiculous – I feel I was much more patient about gas prices than others. I know that with years of turmoil in the Middle East, rapid industrial expansion in China, etc. we are going to see huge increases. I know that this was necessary for changes in the market – demand for more efficient vehicles would increase. But when gas hit $3.95, I got pissed. I knew gas would reach $4/gallon this summer, but I didn’t expect it would happen this quickly. I no longer think this is a natural increase – I think the oil market and oil companies are just screwing us over now.

Baseball

With six weeks completed in the season, the Tigers are in last place in the division, but are still only 3.5 GB. Many people are blaming the poor start on too many moves in the offseason. I wanted to see how the players they lost are performing, so here's a quick recap.

Cameron Maybin (Double A) .242 BA, 4 HR, 10 RBI
Mike Rabelo (Marlins) .239 BA, 1 HR, 6 RBI
Andrew Miller (Marlins) 3-2, 6.52 ERA
Omar Infante (Braves) .571 BA (7 AB)
Jair Jurrjens (Braves) 4-2, 2.84 ERA
Gorkys Hernandez (Single A) .309 BA, 2 HR, 11 RBI
Craig Monroe (Twins) .281 BA, 3 HR, 12 RBI

Out of those, Monroe and Jurrjens hurt the most. We could definitely use Miller in the bullpen. Oh well. MLB All Star Voting just started, so here's my first ballot:

AL
1B Kevin Youkilis
2B Dustin Pedroia
SS Derek Jeter
3B Miguel Cabrera
C Joe Mauer
OF Magglio Ordonez
OF Manny Ramirez
OF Josh Hamilton
DH Hideki Matsui

NL
1B Lance Berkman
2B Chase Utley
SS Hanley Ramirez
3B Chipper Jones
C Yadier Molina
OF Fukudome!
OF Matt Holliday
OF Xavier Nady

Around the Sports World

I no longer own a Pontiac Grand Prix (finally). Since my dad doesn't trust the estimate I got, we took it into a GM dealership to get an estimate (the 3rd one). Surprise! It was the same. He ended up selling it to one of the service guys at the dealership. I'm happy for him because he said he got a divorce and wasn't proud of the car he had. He said he's going to get it fixed up himself so he can get some ass. I'm glad I could help him out.

I just read the Tigers cut Jacque Jones, which I would be sad about if we had the 2002 Jacque Jones. The interesting thing is the quote from Leyland -
"Jacque Jones is not the reason we're four games under .500. Had he gotten off to a bad start? Yes, he had. It was totally unfair. He's been a class act the whole time."
I think that he is kinda out of line on that one. He needs to stand by the decision they make. This makes me worried that there is too much dissention in the Tigers.

I am extremely excited about the NHL playoffs - a Penguins/Flyers East Final is excellent and a Penguins/Redwings Final will be exactly what the NHL needs (I realize I said a Rangers/Wings final would be best, but Crosby needs to be in those Finals since he is the star of the league). But WHY are they taking a 3 day layoff between games and a 4 day layoff for the Eastern Conference?! That's one thing the NBA Playoffs definitely do right.

"As training camp gets close, something's bound to happen" - Brett Favre on Letterman. Just joking or serious? I side with serious. If NFL were WWE, he'd show up for Green Bay's first game, against the heated rival Vikings, in full Packer gear. "Oh my god, that's Brett Favre's music!!!" Then he tears off his jersey to reveal a Vikings jersey, runs over to hug Adrian Peterson, and hits Donald Driver with a chair. I'm drafting Favre with my 15th round fantasy pick.

In preparation for hockey, which I should be starting on Sunday, I have started to run every day. I hate running. I am very out of shape. At least I won't have to run during hockey.

MLB Update

My picks for divisional winners and their current standings:

AL East: Boston Red Sox 1st
AL Central: Cleveland Indians 3rd - 1.5 GB
AL West: LA Angels 1st
AL Wild Card: Detroit Tigers 7th in WC - 3.5 GB
AL Pennant Winner: Boston Red Sox
AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia 1-5, 7.51 ERA (103rd overall) - ouch
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera .268 BA, 6 HR - ouch

NL East: NY Mets 2nd - .5 GB
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers 3rd 2.5 GB
NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks 1st
NL Wild Card: Chicago Cubs 1st in WC
NL Pennant Winner: Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb 7-0, 2.49 ERA (11th overall) - yay!
NL MVP: Prince Fielder .250 BA, 4 HR - ouch

I'm pretty happy with my picks so far except for C-Bath, Cabrera, and Fielder. Four of my teams are currently in first in their respective division/wild card race. The Tigers are the furthest back, but that's only 3.5 games. I don't think that the AL Central will get the AL Wild Card, though, because they are all going to beat up on each other.

Draft Follow-Up

I am a little sick of hearing the links people are making between Barry Sanders and Kevin Smith over the college rushing records and the fact that they will both play for the Lions. Barry Sanders was 1st overall; Kevin Smith was 1st overall of the 3rd round.

I wanted to wrap up the draft talk by reviewing how the Lions could have won the Super Bowl by now with a few draft adjustments.

2002 was a horrible year for QBs. David Carr, Harrington, and Patrick Ramsey were the 3 QBs taken in the first round. If they took a WR that year, such as Stallworth or Javon Walker, and lost a few more games, they would have been all set to take Carson Palmer in 03 with the first overall pick. They could've gone defense that year and had their pick of Quentin Jammer, Roy Williams (the good one), Dwight Freeny, Albert Haynesworth, Ed Reed, etc.

Their 2004 draft was good on paper - I remember being excited about Roy Williams, Kevin Jones, and Teddy Lehman. I can't fault them that Jones didn't turn out and Williams is a primadonna. 2005, however, was a complete defensive draft - they missed out on Shawne Merriman, Derrick Johnson, and a number of other defensive stars.

I heard a lot of sportswriters slam the ridiculous system of handing out draft grades - their argument was that drafts need to be evaluated 3 years after the fact. I agree, but who out there was analyzing the 2005 draft results? Ok, so I was because I am lame and spent way too much time on the draft this weekend. Dallas (DeMarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, Marion Barber) and San Diego (Shawne Merriman, Luis Castillo, Vincent Jackson, Darren Sproles) had the best - and look at their performances now. Lions deserve an D- (Mike Williams, Shaun Cody, Stanley Wilson, Dan Orlovsky).

I'm done trying to think I am smart by evaluating things in hindsight.

Blue and Crap

I am very intrigued by the complete downfall of U-M's football program. Granted, they did win the Citrus Bowl and next season is months away, but the program is headed downhill. Case in point: a walk-on from Saline is competing for the starting QB job and has a very good chance to at least split time. He also didn't start until his senior season and didn't start much that year due to injury.

In Buckeye land, the spring game is an annual tradition; over 70,000 people bought tickets for the Scarlet and Gray game. The Blue and Gold game usually has less fanfare. This year, the game was a closed scrimmage played on the good ole' SHS field (due to construction at the Big House).

As much as I hate the Buckeyes, I have to respect what Jim Tressel has done for the program. Two National Championship games in two years? Check. 23-1 in non-National Championship games over the past two years? (thanks Illinois!) Check. Top recruiting class each year? Check. Heisman trophy winner? Check. The Big 10 is OSU and everyone else. I think I need to move out of Columbus soon before it's too late.

Now onto that Honolulu Blue...

How the Lions could have an excellent draft:
Round 1. Drafting an OT like Chris Williams or Ryan Clady - it's our biggest need
Round 2. Drafting Jonathan Stewart, RB Oregon - the knock on him is a toe injury - and Adrian Peterson had a bum leg

How the Lions will ruin their draft:
1. Drafting Rashard Mendenhall in the first round
2. Drafting Chad Henne in the second or trading up to take him in the first (the current rumor going around)
3. Drafting ANY WR before the 4th round

Reality TV Corollary

I have a corollary, that everyone knows someone who has been on television. It's more like a theory, but I like the word corollary better. With all of the obscure reality TV shows and gameshows, I think we've hit that point where enough people have been on TV that each person in America, on average, knows someone who has. I'm not talking about that time-you-had-Darren-McCarty-sign-your-jersey type of knowing someone, Stacey! I'm talking about a closer connection.

Mike and I, for example, played on the tennis team with a guy who was on Wheel of Fortune. I was in the saxophone section in high school marching band (which, of course means we were best friends) with a girl who was sort of on the last Road Rules. I say sort of because they did some stupid online voting thing to see who would be on the show each week and she was sadly never picked. My corollary was strengthened today when I watched the new season of the Real World (apparently MTV does a LOT of casting in Michigan). I realized one of the guys lived in my dorm with me and was a contestant or winner on the fake Singled Out competition I organized for hall government. That means, Kevin, even if you don't know someone who has been on TV, my 3 take care of you and Stacey.

Now, if you excuse me, I have to finish my audition tape for Made... I want to be Made into Homecoming King or a dancer, because those are apparently the only two options. Tomorrow I have my interview for A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I was talking with one of my instructors and he said his dad taught him that great experiences are much better than great possessions. As a result, he is well traveled (he lived and taught English in Japan for 2 years) and goes to a lot of sporting events. I agreed with him, but I enjoy a few of my possessions specifically because I feel like they are a part of me and represent something about me. That probably makes me sound really vain, but it's not like that so stop judging me. So here's my power ranking of my favorite things:

My Detroit Tigers hat - it has quickly overtaken my Red Sox hat as my favorite.
My new car - I used to not care about cars, but I'm proud of my car. It makes me feel grown up and successful.
My stadium picture frames - This is more of a memorabilia of some of my favorite experiences
My ties - I don't wear them because I already dress up more than anyone else in the office
My hockey gear - I really feel this represents a big change. When I was younger, I gave up on sports so quickly because I wasn't any good and grew frustrated quickly. I feel like picking up hockey now makes up for quitting in the past. Speaking of which, I am proud to say I FINALLY signed up for a hockey league. It starts in early May, so I better get back in shape.

So I don't sound too vain, here are a few of my favorite experiences in no order:
1. Surprise Eminem concert after 8-Mile
2. Spending a week doing "Castaways" in the dorms and planning it the next year
3. The first time I got drunk at my sister's place and almost blacked out (I'd be embarrassed if I knew how little alcohol that took)
4. The first vacation with Stacey in Mackinac Island (sidenote: I think it says a lot about you whether you end Mackinac with a "c" or a "w")
5. Hockey all-nighter at the Ice Cube during boy scouts... my love was born that night
6. Being at the U-M game in 01 when we won on the last second TD.
7. Singing my senior song during my last Varsity Blues show... probably the saddest moment of my life that didn't involve something tragic.

4 Burning Questions

Is this year's Final Four the best ever?
Yes. And it's not just because there are 4 #1 seeds. It's because three of the teams are among the top 5 programs in the country and combine for 31 National Championships. It's also because there are so many future stars playing in these games. This is a product of the NBA Draft Eligibility rule that forces players to go to college for at least a year. The quality in the NBA and the NCAA has gone up as a result. By the way, I'm changing my pick to Memphis beating UCLA. I still like UNC winning it all.

Are the Tigers done after starting 0-4?
No. I am convinced this is actually going to help them in the long run. A lot of analysts selected them to win the AL Central and many picked them to win the World Series. They have many new pieces that they are trying to fit together (Cabrera, Renteria, Jones, Clete Thomas) some position changes (Guillen to 1st, Inge filling in at 3rd and CF) and some injuries (Granderson and now Sheffield). Trust me, it's going to get worse. After their current home series against the White Sox, they are at Boston, at CWS, Minnesota, at Cleveland, and at Toronto. On April 21, I predict they will be 8-12. They will take over in the month of May.

How good will the Redwings be in the playoffs?
Mediocre. Newsflash: the NHL regular season ends this weekend. The Redwings wrapped up the President's Trophy the other night for the 4th time in 6 seasons. They have been so up and down this season (good in Oct, Dec, Jan, and Mar; average in Nov; horrible in Feb). They were 13-9 vs. the 6 worst teams in the NHL and 5-3 vs. their most likely 1st round opponent, Nashville. I think they will lose in the 2nd round.

Should the NBA change its playoff format?
Yes. When you have a team that will miss the playoffs in the West, but would rank 4th in the East, it's time to do something. What is the goal of any kind of playoff seeding? To provide the teams that performed best during the regular season a reward early in the tournament and to have the best two teams play at the end. By record, the best two teams are the Pistons and Celtics. Of course, this current format benefits the Pistons, who have easy matchups the first few rounds while the teams in the West are fighting it out.

The answer isn't realigning the conferences; they have a logical geographic division between East and West. I think the answer is throwing conferences out the window come playoff time and seeding teams like the NCAA tournament. That would allow all teams who performed better during the regular season an easier opponent in the first round. To show how significant of a difference this would make consider that if the playoffs began right now, the 52-24 Lakers would play Cleveland (42-34) rather than Houston (51-25). Besides Golden State's surprising run last year, the NBA playoffs have been pretty boring over the past few years. Mixed seeding seems more necessary and would add an interesting twist to the format.

MLB Preview

AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Cleveland Indians
AL West: LA Angels
AL Wild Card: Detroit Tigers
AL Pennant Winner: Boston Red Sox
AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera

NL East: NY Mets
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers
NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Wild Card: Chicago Cubs
NL Pennant Winner: Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb
NL MVP: Prince Fielder

Best name that sounds like Maxim's Top 25: Evan Longoria
Best name that would make a horrible ballpark name: Kosuke Fukudome
Best Star Wars character: Jobba Chamberlain
2011 All Star Lineup: 2008 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Worst team with the best ballpark: Pittsburgh Pirates
Who's my Tiger: Curtis Granderson
Who's my new Tiger: Edgar Renteria



World Series Champ: Red Sox

Blah

I’m in a very weird mood right now. Let me paint a better picture. I’m supposed to be working on a project that is due today. Instead, I am sitting here facebook-stalking with a wine glass of champagne. Stacey and I were celebrating my recent raise and we dirtied the two champagne glasses we had, so I’m making due. I felt completely on top of my job until this week. My numbers for the year were really good, but nose-dived at the beginning of the week. Luckily, this didn’t affect my raise. It did kick me in the balls and bring me down a notch on the ego scale. This apathy is really going to hurt because I have a LOT to do this weekend. Taxes, cleaning the Grand Prix so I can drive it off a cliff, paying my car bill, etc. I think part of the reason why I’m in a weird mood is because I fell asleep on the couch last night and was awoken by some drunk asshole trying to open our door at 3am. Did I yell at him that this wasn’t his apartment and he should go away? No, I just watched him through the peephole like a scared little bitch and then stayed awake for 2 hours to watch Pros vs. Joes, Hogan Knows Best, Leno re-runs, the X-Effect (completely scripted piece of trash), and Girls Gone Wild infomercials. That lineup would lead you to go in for work on a sick day if it were on during the day, but is a masterpiece of entertainment at 3am.

I am crazy excited for the game tonight because I think MSU is going to win. Even though that probably means they won’t, it still is exciting. The hockey team starts their NCAA title defense at 10 as well, but you only get to see it if you are one of the 16 people in the country with ESPNU. Did I mention my mom is in the 99th percentile on ESPN right now? She has all of her Elite 8 teams alive.

Oh well… better force myself to get that project done…

Madness Eve

For the past 3 nights I have toiled with many decisions. I have moved teams back and forth, but finally my bracket is done. Not so much because I am happy with my selections, but more so because I want to go to bed. Sadly, I haven't been worried about any of my work in the past 6 months as much as I have worried about my picks. Now that I am done, here's how I know already I messed up.
-I overrated the Big East
-I underrated the Big 10
-I didn't pick a team ranked lower than 4th to lose in the first round
-I overrated the 2 seeds
-I overrated the Pac 10

I am proud to say I stuck to one bracket this year. Who knows which teams I picked.

Good luck to MSU. Let's hope I am wrong about my South bracket past the first round.

March 1st

Even though it has already half over, does anyone else feel like March is just beginning? Besides the Shamrock Shakes, what else is there to March? This afternoon I was taking a look at teams trying to decide which bubble teams I would put into the tournament. After removing the 28 automatic bids and the 28 locks, I was left with 9 teams. I chose: Akron, Texas A&M, VCU, Kansas St, Villanova, Arkansas, Arizona St, Ohio State, and random lower conference team. I was only half right (plus Southern Alabama ended up taking that 9th spot). I do not understand how Arizona gets the bid over Arizona St; they had one more conference loss and two more overall losses. Arizona St won both head-to-head matchups, destroyed Xavier, and split their matchup with Stanford (which Arizona failed to do). They have slightly more to complain about than Ohio State, who played the toughest schedule this year. They should have made it over Kentucky.

Let's move past that and look at the brackets. The most appealing first round matchup without a doubt is Kansas St/USC, which could feature the top 2 draft picks of this year. The Miami Heat already have their flight booked for the game that is, of course, on Friday at 7pm.

Most likely...
1-16 upset: Kansas/Portland St... ha!
2-15 upset: Texas/Austin Peay
3-14 upset: Stanford/Cornell
4-13 upset: Washington St/Winthrop (sorry for picking on all of the Pac 10 schools)
5-12 upset: Clemson/Villanova
6-11 upset: Oklahoma/St Joe's
7-10 upset: Gonzaga/Davidson
8-9 upset??: Arkansas/Indiana - they've lost everything

Biggest tournament slight - Conference: Big 10 - Wisconsin, Indiana, and Purdue were all seeded one spot lower than they should have been and OSU was left out. We were slotted one spot too high.

Biggest tournament slight - Team: Butler - How do they go 29-3, finish as the #10 team in the country and wind up with a #7 seed?

Best...
1st Round Game: Gonzaga/Davidson or Notre Dame/George Mason - I think they'll both be close and pretty exciting at the end.
Possible 2nd Round Game: Butler/Tennessee or MSU/Pitt
Possible 3rd Round Game: Wisconsin/Georgetown
Possible 4th Round Game: UNC/Tennesee

Favorite Sleeper: Georgia - you've gotta love the SEC Tournament story plus Xavier/Purdue/Baylor aren't the strongest first 2 round opponents.

The Weekend Nobody Was Supposed to Visit

We once discussed, if you remember, the possibility of everyone coming to Columbus for the MSU/OSU basketball game. More recently, Stacey's friend from Saginaw told us she was planning on visiting this weekend, but didn't because my parents were already scheduled to make their first trip down since we moved in. That, of course, didn't happen because we received a blizzard - the biggest snowfall Columbus has seen since the 1910s. The largest reported snowfall was at the airport, which received 20 inches of snow. This comes to the worst snow removal city in the U.S. (it's a fact). So here's my recap of the weekend nobody was supposed to visit.

The weekend starting with me having to cancel our classes from home. I didn't want any of my students to know my cellphone number, so I discovered a neat trick. Dial *67 and then the phone number you want to call and press send. You will show up on their caller ID as a restricted #. It's GREAT!

I watched America's Best Dance Crew on MTV (Mike, ask Grace - I am sure she's probably watched it before. Kevin, it's like American Idol for breakdancing, so you can just skip to the next paragraph, which I'm sure have already done). There's two groups I really like: one called Jabbawockeez, who wear white masks, and the other called Break Sk8. They breakdance on skates - real creative title, huh? Anyway, here's a sample (skip ahead to the 1:10 mark)


After getting cabin fever from being locked up all day, I made a break for it last night and walked to Kroeger. It kinda felt like a ghost town after the apocalypse. I bought only the most important things, since I had to carry everything back to the apartment. That included a new toothbrush, Gatorade, ice cream, and goldfish crackers.

As I write this, I am watching MSU throw the game away via ESPN's Gamecast. I still hate it when you live 3 miles away from the arena and can't watch the game or listen to it on your computer. I'm not going to go off on a super rant again, but I really think the Big 10 is the worst conference at exploiting their fans in favor of money. Now onto the MSU/OSU game...

After considering the last 3 games, MSU is the most ready they'll be for the tournament. Naymick was incredible against Illinois and Suton is playing well also. Raymar shook off his flu and put up 19 points today. Chris Allen made a lot of noise early in the game with his three 3's. I can forgive losing the game late to OSU, since they are at home and are playing for their tournament lives. The only piece about MSU that isn't ready is Neitzel. His season long regression will doom MSU in the Sweet 16. 2 for 10 today? You can't argue that teams have started to key on him or that they've now figured him out. He's been one of our best players since his Sophomore year. I hope he will excel against new teams; he averaged 14.5 against non-conference and 12.6 against Big 10 teams this season.

UPDATE:
Here's the photo of our balcony yesterday. It snowed for a few more hours after this.

The weird thing is today it was very sunny and all of the snow is melting quickly. They're worried about flooding possibilities.

Random Thoughts

I noticed today the Atlanta Falcons cut both Joey Harrington and Byron Leftwich leaving themselves with just Chris Redman, DJ Shockley, and the QB to be named that they will obviously draft with the #3 pick. These cuts are in addition to Warrick Dunn and Alge Crumpler. Seriously, who will be playing for this team next year??? I really feel bad for their owner, Arthur Blank. He loses the franchise with Michael Vick, then Petrino jumps ship in the most despicable manner that any coach has in the past year. I don't blame them for starting COMPLETELY over again. Interesting fact discovered from searching their website: Roddy White is a WR for the Falcons as well as their Director of Event Marketing and Client Services. I guarantee you that guy used to go by "Rod" or "Rodney" before the real Roddy showed up.

In the wake of Brett Madden-Favre's retirement, I am curious where Aaron Rogers ranks in fantasy football next year. For starters, you have to throw out the completely obvious ones - 1) Brady 2) Peyton 3) Roethlisberger 4) Romo 5) Palmer and 6) Brees. I am somewhat skeptical about 7) Derek Anderson's repeat performance, but Donte' Stallworth really improves his chances. I don't like 8) Hasselbeck, but I would take him over Rogers. I am always hesitant to get the same QB from one year to the next, but I wouldn't pass on 9) Rivers, 10) McNabb, or 12) Garrard. So that takes us well out of everyone's #1 QBs. I would probably take 11) Eli and 13) Cutler over him as well, but I'd be comfortable taking him over anyone else. Both Warner and Kitna are old and are in jeopardy for the whole season. I'm not a Jeff Garcia fan and Vince Young is a bad fantasy pick (sorry Kevin).

Now some Deep Random Thoughts...

I am still really happy with my new car. That's all I have to say in this paragraph - I love it.

Everyone else as happy as I am to get rid of Shaun Rogers?

I am actually more excited for Dontrell Willis than Miguel Cabrera.

I have noticed a lot of people who have never had an interest in politics become enthralled by the Barack Obama campaign. I'm all for civic engagement, but I really think it's just a fad. Don't get me wrong - he is a great speaker and I am really excited about the idea of him running for the presidency in the future. I just don't get the feeling he has any concrete plans or the ability to get much done at this point in his career. He needs another few years of experience.

My team to win the NCAA tournament since the beginning of the season is Tennessee, but I should've announced that before. I guess I'm announcing it now then.

I found a place to semi-replace the hole left in my heart for Jersey Giant. The place is called Jersey Mike's - they slice the meat when you order, put it on a really long sub, and wrap it in the same paper. I really felt like I was back at J.G. when I ate there.

I am making a bigger deal out of changing my license plate and driver's license over than I should. I kinda feel like it's the last thing that ties me to Michigan. It literally identifies me as being from Michigan. Oh well...

New Car - Round 2

The nice thing about the Ford dealership was they were willing to pick me up for a test drive. I drove the Focus back to the dealership where everything went downhill. The first thing I noticed was that the back seat is TINY. Now, I know 1) I will hardly ever have someone ride back there and B) Screw them as long as I have enough room. The problem was that I was looking for the Focus to come in around $30 less than the Sentra. It initially came in around $20 more. After some long negotiations, they finally matched the Sentra. The sales guy was really nice and laid back, which I appreciate. When he saw the deal wasn't going to happen, he used some very basic sales techniques to try and save it. He brought in some douche to tag team me - this is meant to have someone to play off of and put a little pressure on me. They proceeded to take the conversation away from the car by talking to Stacey about working in the zoo. Wrong move. Everyone knows I'm a little egotistical and that I like talking about myself. In the end, we differed on how valuable the Focus was.

Today I picked up my new Nissan Sentra. :)

My New Car - Round 1

I have noticed lately that almost every banner ad I see online is for a car. I have been visiting a lot of car websites and I swear that my internet is adapting my banner ads based on my website history. Does anyone know if this really happens?

So tonight I test drove my first car, the Nissan Sentra. The car handles very well - it has some revolutionary transmission so you can't feel it shift. I love the look of the Sentra - especially in black. The woman who was selling me the car couldn't have been too much older than me, if she even was. She wasn't the strongest salesperson, but I am relieved she wasn't the "I'm your buddy! You're awesome!" type. In the end, the numbers looked really good. I was looking for $275/mo and I can have that with a few hundred down. I would DEFINITELY love to have the car for that price. BUT, the Ford Fuckus (haha Mike) is tempting. I have seen really good deals for that as well and I can't pass up a cheaper offer if I end up liking it.t

So tomorrow is Round 2 - my chance to get behind the new Ford Focus. I feel really grown up - getting my first car. My goal is to have it done by Friday or Saturday.

Pontiac Grand Prix, 1998 - 2008 RIP

My car officially died yesterday, the sermon was held this morning at the Tuffy Auto Center. Donations can be made in its name to me.

Scratch that - it didn't actually die. It started yesterday morning on my way to work. I noticed it smoked under the hood a little at intersections. On the way home, it continued. Not the kind of thing you can easily ignore. When I took it in this morning, the death sentence was read: broken gasket, cost to replace: $650. So it's last two rides will be back to my apartment and to wherever I take it.

Of course, after I announce I am getting a new car, the current one decides to give out. Why couldn't it last two more weeks?? I feel really bad, but I am going to have to rely on rides from my boss and Stacey for this week and next.

Basketball

The Indiana game forced me to make up my mind about this MSU team. Besides Kalin Lucas, they have not developed one bit from the first game of the season. If anything, some players (Goran Suton, Travis Walton, and Raymar Morgan) are starting to regress.

I celebrated my mother's birthday on Saturday night and watched the game on TiVo when we were done. A few minutes into the second half, I turned the game off because I knew they lost. Even though Indiana was only up 13, with their best player out of the game, and Drew Neitzel playing decently well, how did I know they lost? They stink at road games (lost 9 of last 11 Big 10 road games - including Penn State and the stinker at Purdue) and because this team doesn't respond when it gets down. Granted, they pulled to within 1 against Purdue after a horrendous first half, but they didn't close it out.

Things I am sure we're all sick of seeing: horrible alley-oops, our centers outmuscled near the boards, Raymar Morgan's weak fouls, getting out hustled down the floor, bad shot selection early in the play clock, Marquise Gray not showing up, and the nights Drew Neitzel decides not to lead. I agree with Mike that this team on paper should be able to accomplish more. The last two games have made my mind up; they're not going to accomplish anything better than a Sweet 16 appearance. Their record is a product of their schedule. Before this week, they hadn't played at Purdue or at Ohio State and they hadn't played Wisconsin or Indiana. After this week, they will lose to Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio State. The Illinois game is a toss up. Why am I so aggravated and pessimistic? Because this team should be so much better. It's Neitzel's senior year, Raymar Morgan was starting to make a name for himself in the national spotlight, and our freshman were supposed to bring us great depth to compliment the depth we were supposed to have at center/forward.

One last thing I wanted to add about basketball. Dwight Howard should've won the Slam Dunk competition, BUT his "Superman" dunk was highly overrated. Jamario Moon did the same dunk first, except he made the mistake of setting the bar too high with his tape mark. Less showmanship, same dunk (except Moon didn't have to throw the ball in, he DUNKED his ball). Best dunk of the night: Howard's behind the backboard dunk or Green's birthday cupcake dunk.

Weirdest phrase actually heard last night: "The Atlanta Hawks keep their playoff drive alive by trading for Mike Bibby". They are in a playoff drive?! I checked on that today to see what that was about and realized, even though they are 7 games under .500, they still play in the Eastern Conference.

Miserable

Forbes 10 Most Miserable Cities:

1. Detroit
2. Stockton, CA
3. Flint
4. NYC
5. Philadelphia
6. Chicago
7. LA
8. Modesto, CA
9. Charlotte, NC
10. Providence, RI

I would disagree with the order. Flint is by far the worst city. I went there once. It makes its neighbor Saginaw look classy. I don't understand why being a big city makes it miserable (Philly, NYC, LA, Chicago). Sadly enough, Stacey has lived within 20 miles of 3 of the 10. I also am relieved Columbus isn't on there. Columbus really is a decent city, besides the whole Buckeye craze.

I Stink at Bleeding

Stacey got me started with donating blood last summer and it makes me feel good. Yesterday, I donated for the fourth time. Only 5% of the US population donates every year and only 30% of first time donators come back a second time. Plus someone needs blood every 3 seconds - a one pint donation can help 3 people. The one statistic I hate: 24 minutes. The length of time it took me yesterday to donate. The average is less than 10. When I was halfway through, they started another guy - it looked like he had his bag 1/2 full in 10 seconds. Guess who finished first. They couldn't get the needle into my vain properly, so they were moving it around. Guess how much fun that felt. Last night I felt really tired. I like doing something good, like donating, but I don't like discomfort.

I am very close to getting a new car. Actually I am going to lease one. I really want an Altima, but I am probably going to get the Altima's cheaper friend, the Sentra. I know I want a black car - I think they're so classy. Although any sporty car has to be red. I feel bad for totally copying off of my sister (who has a black Sentra). The plan is to get the car when my parents come to visit, which hopefully will be in March.

Did anyone else see Illinois fans riding Eric Gordon during their game vs. Indiana? I loved that they booed him EVERY time he held the ball.

I have had this song in my head for two days. I am trying to combat it by listening to this over and over again. Watch it and answer me this, how old is Alice supposed to be?



Apparently, the answer is 7 years old. I don't see it.

Predictions

I could say Patriots 31 Giants 20 (my official score prediction) but that would be boring. So here are my official oddball preditions. All bets begin after opening kickoff.

Number of aircraft to fly over the stadium during pre-game ceremonies: 5
First player to be interviewed on camera: Ex-Giants player
Which Manning family member will appear first on the Fox broadcast, Peyton or Archie (doesn't have to be live): Peyton Manning
First commercial to be shown: a Budweiser/Bud Light commercial
Number of songs Tom Petty plays at Halftime: 4
First Tom Petty song played: Running Down a Dream
First Fox Series celebrity shown will be from: K-Ville
Which will be mentioned first during broadcast, Spygate or Arizona Senator John McCain: John McCain
Result of opening coin toss: Tails
Winner of the opening coin toss: New England Patriots
Which hand will Pam Oliver be holding the microphone in when she first appears on the broadcast: Right

I checked out a story on CNN's website and it led me to TMZ.com. TMZ, which stands for "thirty mile zone" (referring to a Hollywood rule for shooting movies/shows within the city) is basically operated by the paparazzi. Their website boasts that they were "Named one of the year's 50 coolest websites by Time magazine".

Now follow me: TMZ is owned by AOL, which in turn is owned by Time Warner. Time Warner, of course, owns Time Magazine and CNN. So basically, one division of the company is honoring another part. Kids, that's what we call "cross promotion". I used to view CNN as the most reputable news source. As they have grown and combined with other companies, they have relied more on sourcing their news from other places. To use TMZ as their source for entertainment news violates the basic principles these people should have learned from journalism class.

The news that broke this week about Heath Ledger is tragic and the media should have been careful about the facts they report until the details are clear. The Chris Benoit situation is a good example what goes wrong when you report on sketchy details; the WWE had serious PR damage as a result of their actions. TMZ's website today published a number of "facts" about the situation that they later retracted. Among them: his apartment was owned by Mary Kate Olsen, sleeping pills were "strewn" about the room, and that he was found naked on the floor in an awkward position. These reports were repeated through other media outlets.

While these details may seem trivial compared to the bigger picture, it is just one recent example. I remember during the 2000 election, Al Gore was originally named the winner of Florida. When I went to bed that night, they reversed that announcement and named George Bush our next president. Thanks to the internet and 24 hour news channels, news today travels in seconds. The media has got to do a better job of checking the facts and filtering out things that aren't news (i.e. anything Britney Spears does).

Now that I'm done with my rant, I want to move on to something more fun. The previously mentioned George Bush is pushing a $600 tax rebate check for all individuals to boost the economy. I will gladly accept the money and came up with a list of things I could do with the $600. I passed my finance course in college, so I am sure each of these would only cost $600.

1. Buy the Florida Marlins and the Minnesota Twins and turn them into the Tigers and the Red Sox respective AAA teams. This is more of an official name change than anything else.
2. Buy a dolphin, parrot, tucan, rhino, gorilla, zebra, and sea otter for Stacey. That should keep her happy.
3. Pay off all of the fans at every single MSU away game to cheer for State. Turning every away game is the only legal thing I can think of to help them win a national championship.
4. Buy Keifer Sutherland a full-time driver so I can watch 24 in the future.
5. Buyout the networks so I personally can cancel American Idol, Big Brother, any show that involving someone else’s wife or a nanny tell you that your family sucks, Deal or No Deal, any show with Drew Carey as the host, any show that deals with investigators who communicate with dead people, any and all CSIs, and Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
6. Contract the NHL to 20 teams, none further south than the Mason-Dixon Line.
7. End the damn writers strike!

Friday!

I really love Fridays. I half ass work on Fridays, as I am sure many Americans do, just to get out of the office unharmed. I bet on Fridays, Mike's students learn little more than his football picks and Kevin's orders are lucky to be correct (kidding!) This weekend will be another sports blowout (sorry Stacey!) with the AFC/NFC Championships and the back-to-back MSU/OSU hockey games. Let's get this shit started!

I think everyone is surprised but in agreement that the NFC Championship Game is more exciting than the AFC. (Sad fact: when I wrote that last sentence, I spelled out ACT instead of AFC. Job habit, I guess) As for the Patriots/Chargers - boo, haven't we already seen this before? Last year's playoffs, week 2, and the AFC Championship game? Does anyone care about Rivers and Tomlinson (or is it Volek and Turner)? Does anyone think the Chargers will win? Patriots win 34 - 20.

I realize the Packers and Giants played in week 2 as well, but both of these teams are very different teams now. Growing up on wrestling, I love storylines in sports. It brings the importance of the game to a whole new level. I really want to see Brett Favre make one final go at the championship and retire. But that's not likely - I bet we'll see him again next year. (Sorry Aaron Rodgers) Packers win 24-17

Can anyone else explain to me why the Conference Championship games are both on Sunday? When did this happen?

I am really excited to see THE National Championship Spartan Hockey team tonight. Prediction for the weekend - win tonight, tie tomorrow. Thank you OSU fans for not giving two shits about hockey so I can get 4th row center ice tickets!

**Update**
They were actually 2nd row center ice tickets (I love when row "d" means 2nd row). It was a great feeling being heckled by stupid Ohioans knowing that my team was the better team. MSU came out and put 2 goals up early - they were clearly bigger and better than OSU. The Buckeyes finally put one on the board before the end of the first period. At the intermission, the band came out and formed "script Ohio" on the ice; nobody fell, so it was a disappointment. OSU came out strong at the beginning of the 2nd and had much more energy. They had a lot of chances, but MSU squashed their spirit by scoring another goal. In the end, they scored an empty netter as well to bring the final Score to 4-1. I stand by my prediction for a tie tonight. I am guessing it will be 2-2.

**Update 2**
I was correct about the number of goals scored on Saturday, but wrong about the final score. They won 4-0 with an impressive shutout from Lerg. Keep in mind he's 5'6" - he does this funny thing when he gets bored before the game and during breaks where he puts his arms on the crossbar and swings back and forth in the air. During player intros, they called out "Rich Comley" which pissed me off. There were about 9,000 people on Friday, which I later found out was more than twice their previous high attendance this season. Their student spirit section is about 15 people, which has to be the lamest type of student - "lower sport crazy fan" - they do all of the cheers and dances. It is cool if you're a part of a large section, but it just looks forced when you are doing it with your row and the row behind you.

The most impressive thing from the game was holding OSU to 0-7 on the powerplay (and going 2-5 themselves). I saw something I've never seen before - they were shorthanded and had a rocket of a shot that sounded like it went off the crossbar - no goal was called and play continued. At the next whistle, they had the Dance cam or something so everyone was being loud. They announced that the play was under review and I knew they were going to call it a goal. Nobody in the crowd noticed and about 2 mins later the ref signaled the 4th goal of the night (which still went unnoticed). They put back the correct time on the scoreboard and kept playing.

Overall, the team is a very finesse team - excellent passing, good vision, good speed, and clear the puck defensively. They do tend to have 5 min. lapses and aren't very physical. Lerg makes some great saves, but I think the more impressive thing is that other teams don't seem to get good bounces because he doesn't give up bad goals. U-M and Miami are at the top of the league - they play U-M in a home-and-home series next weekend.

It was so much fun to go to the games because seeing my team live made me feel closer to home. The best feeling was the pride I felt in knowing that they were going to win so I could be as boastful as I wanted around the OSU fans.

Post Potpurri

I'm excited for today's post - it is a combination of posts I've been writing for the past week.

Quarterbacks
Peter King wrote an article for SI.com today that mirrored other arguments I've heard on the radio - that this weekend's playoff games featured 3 of the top 6-10 QBs in football history (Peyton, Brady, and Favre). I agree that they are all great quarterbacks, but consider Bill Simmons' argument that the NFL is filled with tons of QB vacancies right now and that the overall level of QB talent right now is poor. You can't deny that there is a QB drought given the demand for Vinny Testaverde, Kerry and Todd Collins, etc. So my question is whether Peyton, Brady, and Favre really are top 10 all time QBs or if their peers' mediocrity boosts their value. And that is a question that I haven't heard posed on any of the talk shows. Favre's career numbers are the best - but given his health and tenure, should we expect them to be any less? I wanted to sort this out, so I did the only thing I know how - crunch the numbers and compare. I was REALLY surprised by what I found out. In my opinion, the two most important things are TD-INT ratio, since it shows the ability to score vs. errors, and completion percentage, because it proves accuracy. Using these two stats levels the playing field as well because it evens the comparison between someone who played for 7 seasons and someone who played for 14. Here's where Favre lands...

Player TD-INT Ratio, Completion Percentage
Steve Young 2.17 to 1, 64.3%
Joe Montana 1.98 to 1, 63.2%
Dan Marino 1.66 to 1, 59.4%
Brett Favre 1.53 to 1, 61.4%
John Elway 1.33 to 1, 56.9%
Fran Tarkenton 1.29 to 1, 57.0%
Troy Aikman 1.17 to 1, 61.5%
Johnny Unitas 1.15 to 1, 54.6%
Terry Bradshaw 1.01 to 1, 51.9%
Joe Namath .786 to 1, 50.1%

My first surprise was how strong the correlation was; besides Aikman, the two categories go hand in hand very well. He threw the numbers off because he never threw that many more TDs than INTs (his best differential was +9 for a few seasons, but in '93 he completed 69%). My second surprise was how well he really did stack up. My third surprise was how much Joe Namath sucked. He proves that personality can get you into the Hall of Fame.

So here's the real test of where Brady and Manning's places are amongst the best. How do they stack up in those categories?

Tom Brady 2.29 to 1, 63%
Peyton Manning 2 to 1, 64.2%

You really can't argue with the results. The three of them really are among the top 6-7 QBs of all time.

My New Love for Netflix
One of the principles of successful business strategy is identify a market weakness and market your product accordingly. For example, my family used to have 7 videotapes, one for each day of the week, to record their favorite tv shows (yes, they watch a lot of tv... not surprising if you know me.) This was inefficient because they would frequently forget to tape a certain show, the VCR was unreliable, and the tape quality was poor after a few uses. TiVo was the obvious gift for my parents two Christmases ago. They love the ability to set a "season pass", organize the shows they love, skip the commercials quickly, and pause live tv. It's perfect for them.

The second most successful entertainment innovation of the past 5 years is Netflix, which last February delivered its billionth disc. It has been a few months since I've rented a movie, which is probably shocking until you figure in the number of movies we watch at the dollar theater. The other night was Stacey's birthday, so we rented a movie to cap the night off. I forgot Blockbuster now charges around $4.50 to rent a movie, only $2 less than it normally costs us to see a new movie. How in the hell do they think they can compete with Netflix, which charges $9 for unlimited rentals per month? If you didn't guess already, I signed up for the "one at a time" Netflix plan. I figure this will help me get through the writer's strike.

I started my two week free trial by renting the first season of the Mole, the best reality tv show ever. Kevin, I am convinced that you would actually enjoy this show - just forget the word that precedes "tv show". The whole show involves a lot of intrigue, mystery, and deception. The competitions are usually pretty enjoyable and it doesn't focus on the lives of the contestants. The discs take 1 day to ship, so the entire day yesterday I was looking forward to coming home to the first disc. Of course I watched the whole thing and shipped it back today. Waiting two-three days to get the next one is hard, so I instantly upgraded to the "two at a time" plan. Their website is really well designed and it makes it very easy for you to upgrade. I love to see a really good marketing strategy such as this.

My New Love for my Crockpot
We really put our crockpot to work this weekend. We started with a dessert because Stacey and I have the biggest sweet teeth. It was really simple - a layer of chocolate pudding on the bottom with a layer of prepared chocolate fudge cake mix on top. It mixes a little into a chocolate lava dessert. It is incredibly rich, so I can only eat a few bites before I feel like throwing up. I'd rate it 4.5/5 - it loses a point only because it made me feel sick both times I ate it, but it was sooo good.

Next up was a soft taco casserole. It was had layers of cheese, beans and a ground turkey/salsa mix separated by tortillas. The tortillas ended up getting soggy (which I assume was supposed to happen) so they had the consistency of cooked pasta noodles. The whole dish tasted more like lasagna than mexican. 2/5

Tonight was the premier dish - beef brisket sandwiches on french bread. I didn't know what to expect when I ordered brisket; luckily the guy at the deli counter only asked me how many pounds. It turns out brisket is just a big slab of marbled beef. I think it comes from the undercarriage. (How fun is that word, "undercarriage"?) I bought the 10,000 spices that the marinade requires (among them was "all spice" - by definition, shouldn't that alone have done the trick?) and marinated it overnight. This morning, I threw it in with a bottle of beer and 2 cups of apple cider and set it cook for 10 hours. This is the exact reason why I was excited to have a crockpot - the ability to come home to real cooking that is already done. The meat was very flavorful, but it ended up tasting pretty similar to a pot roast. Still, the sandwiches were good and leaving it all day didn't burn our apartment down. 4/5

Overrated

Because I miss Shannon Brown...


After the close wins over Minnesota and Purdue, I was really nervous about their first road game. Izzo warned everyone that this team was overrated; that they weren't really the 6th best team in the country and that they still had a lot of glaring weaknesses they needed to improve upon. Since nobody gets the Big 10 Network, I only have the box score to interpret. The most glaring weakness, besides the fact that they scored 36 points, is the free throw differential. Don't misinterpret me, because this loss is inexcusable and MSU lost the game themselves. But it is inconceivable to me that a game could be called fairly when one team could get 4 free throws while the other gets 29. The other thing that sticks out to me is that 5 players (Naymick, Walton, Lucas, Dahlman, and Gray) combined for 83 minutes of playing time - a complete game for two players - and managed to score 0 points. Lucas was the worst of the bunch, going 0-8. They had more turnovers (18) than field goals (16). This is not Izzo's fault. Neitzel must step up and lead this team, the freshman need to start maturing, and they all need to play with more pride. Playing Ohio State at home gives them a great bounce back game, so I am really looking forward to Tuesday.

Taking a quick look at my bowl pick standings, I am 18-11 right now. I am obviously most surprised about Florida's inability to stop the offensive juggernaught that was Michigan. It's funny - every OSU fan I talk to admitted they were glad to see U-M win. They claimed different things: wanting Lloyd to win his last game, Big 10 solidarity, etc. But I think they were secretly excited because of what this means to their chances against LSU. Speaking of which, I am officially changing my pick for that game to OSU defeating LSU. I really feel the stars are aligned for OSU to win. Nobody is giving them a chance - similar to the way they came out in 2002 against Miami. While their QB is shaky, they have a consistent running game and a smothering defense. My official prediction: OSU 24 LSU 20

I watched a little bit of the Tila Tequila show (watch out Kevin, this paragraph is about reality tv... you might want to just skip to the next one) and she really didn't seem to care for any of the people. Sure, she was making out with them, but that doesn't mean shit. I came across an article that proved she was doing the show just to boost her own celebrity. She claimed that the guy she picked couldn't handle her hectic schedule and broke up with her. In actuality, she never called him after the reunion episode and MTV wouldn't give him her phone number. Apparently, before the finale, there were casting notices going around on the internet for the second season. She is the epitome of talentless celebrity.

As you both should remember, I love the show Lost. Part of each episode involves a flashback to their life before the island and the other part is the storyline on the island. At the end of last season, they made contact with a boat near the island, but were warned by the people who inhabited the island that the people on the boat would kill all of them. Nevertheless, they contacted the boat and are about to be possibly rescued. The last episode of the season was great because the "flashback" we saw was really a "flashforward" that showed one of the main characters (Jack) gets off the island, has a horrible life, and wants to go back to the island. What I love most about the show is that involves a lot of mystery and is leading up to the end (which is set to happen after 3 more seasons). Kev, I really think you would like the show and I think Mike might like it as well. Anyway, they got 8 episodes of the next season done before the writer's strike, which will begin on the 31st. By now, you probably have seen this preview, but I can't stop watching it because I am so excited.