NFL... What happens now?

Hopefully I'm back writing here, we'll see... Here are some notes on the NFL moving forward.

1. The New York Giants at 7-1
Obviously they are in the elite class of the NFL. But their schedule was insanely front-loaded. Their first 8 games were against teams with a combined record of 26-39, that trend totally reverses itself when you look at their second half schedule, a combined opponents' record of 36-21. They've got trips to all of their NFC East foes' homes left, plus tough-er non-divisional games against Arizona, Carolina and Baltimore. They'll make the playoffs, and may still secure homefield but it will be a tough fight.

2. Could Carolina win home-field in the NFC? What about Tampa Bay? Enough with the NFC East! We get it, the Cowboys are a mess!
I say there's a good chance. They come out of their bye week with @Oakland and home against Detroit. After those two-let's assume wins-their record would stand at 8-2. And then they need to go to Atlanta and to Green Bay. A crucial stretch. I cannot fairly give Carolina both of those games, but I'll give them one. So, going into a week 14 matchup at home against Tampa Bay, their record would be 9-3. Tampa Bay comes out of their week 10 bye to play Minnesota at Raymond James Stadium. It's not the gimme that Oakland or Detroit are, but it's a game Tampa Bay should win. Of course this is a Tampa team that needed overtime to quell Kansas City-er-let's still call it a win. And we'll give them a win the following week at Detroit, making them 8-3. Then we give Tampa Bay a home win over the disappointing Saints, and voila both teams are 9-3 headed into Week 14. A virtual tie for NFC homefield. I just can't see any team in the NFC East getting to week 14 at 9-3. They beat each other up too much, the math is against it.

3. What great parity! No one is the AFC East is particularly good!
Let's start with the Favres. They are 5-3 after an "impressive" win against suddenly mediocre Buffalo. They host St. Louis, then have to go to New England and then to Tennessee. While I think they'll be plenty motivated in the New England game, I think they go 1-2 in that stretch to be 6-5 going into a craptastic week 13 game against the Broncos. Bet the over on the Broncos' game, by the way. This is the hardest one to predict. And I'll say that makes their road to the playoffs that hardest. They can get to eight wins by beating both San Francisco and Seattle. But then they have three tough home games against Denver (Week 13), Buffalo (Week 15), and Miami (Week 17). It's really tough to say what happens there.

Onto the Pats. Wow. There's no other way to say it. They've got Buffalo, Jets, @Miami and Steelers coming up here. Do we believe Buffalo is in free-fall? Can they bounce back and pronounce themselves better than the Patriots? There is no reason the Patriots cannot go 3-1 or 4-0 in this stretch, though. These are not world-beaters (if there are any in the league this year, these aren't them anyway). I'll say they win the first two and lose the back end of this hellish stretch. Call it 7-5, then 9-5 after cupcakes against Seattle and Oakland. Then, I'll give them the 10th win hosting Arizona, which should have secured the NFC West by then, but probably won't be in the running for much else.

Has Bill Parcells done it again? This time even faster than normal? The 4-4 Dolphins should be 6-4 after hosting both Seattle and Oakland, then they could beat New England in Miami. Then they go St. Louis-and I'll assume the Cowboys "upset" and the New England scare was all the moxie the Jim Haslett switch could get out of this putrid team-suddenly the Dolphins are 8-4, the toast of the league. You think Packers' fans concerning themselves with comparing Rodgers to Favre is bad? What about New York fans clamoring for Chad over Brett? It's hard to say in the last four weeks of the season which games actually matter, but the Dolphins could lose both remaining divisional games at Buffalo and at New York, and still get to 10 wins simply by beating San Francisco and Kansas City.

As I move onto the Bills' schedule. The AFC East teams-man, this isn't even fair. Pencil the Bills in for a 3-1 stretch and sending them into a week 14 game 8-4 against Miami that would mean a ton more to Buffalo than to Miami. Again, its hard to say which games matter the last 3-4 weeks of the season but whose schedule would you rather have? Buffalo (@NYJ, DEN, @NE) or Miami (SF, @KC, @NYJ)?

I cannot believe I am saying this. Miami and New England representing the AFC East in the playoffs? The Jets and the Bills sitting at home totally shell shocked by resurgent Miami? I welcome any criticism here. But, I'm calling it now. I look at the schedules, I see a clear path for the Fish and Pats to get to ten wins. The Jets and Bills need to actually play tough games and win them.

4. Texas Tech-Texas
Let's get real: How often does an NFL game deliver on the hype like that game did? Like the 2006 Rose Bowl did? Like Boise State-Oklahoma Chip Bowl? An absolute classic. Michael Crabtree should be a special player at the next level. Texas Tech has a tough schedule the rest of the way that threatens to muddy his Heisman hopes, but I say there is no contest-he is the best player in college football. Denny Maclin or Percy Harvin are not making the play he made to win that game. And I'm not sure Tim Tebow is better than Colt McCoy-or Sam Bradford for that matter.

PS: Why are commissioners hated so much by the fans? I guess I can create reasons why the Celtics' fans booed David Stern when he presented the team with the trophy in June, and why Philly fans booed Bud Seilg on Wednesday. Is this a time-honored tradition now? Did I miss the boat? I'm Gary Bettman gets booed in every REAL hockey town anyway, and I would suspect the Super Bowl crowd to be to blase/non-partisan to boo Goodell.

NFL Week 4, College Week 5

Elimination Picks:
NCAAF: Oklahoma over TCU
NFL: Bills over Rams

NFL Picks:
Redskins (+11) at Cowboys
Eagles (-3) at Bears
Chargers (-7.5) at Raiders
49ers at Saints (-5)

NCAAF Picks:
Alabama at Georgia (-6.5)
TCU (+18.5) at Oklahoma
South Florida at NC State (+9.5)
Troy (+17) at Oklahoma State

NFL Week 3/CFB Week 4

Elimination Picks:
I'll do these first, since I outright forgot last week.
NFL: New York Football Giants over Cincinnati
NCAAF: The Ohio State University over Troy

NFL Picks:
6-2 on the year
Cleveland (+.5) at Baltimore
Pittsburgh (+3.5) at Philadelphia
Houston (+5.5) at Tennessee
Carolina (+3.5) at Minnesota

NCAAF Picks:
5-7 on the year
LSU (-2.5) at Auburn
Virginia Tech at North Carolina (-3)
Iowa (-1) at Pittsburgh
Wake Forest at Florida St. (-5)

Elimination Pool Picks

I neglected to do the elimination pool picks in NFL and NCAAF in my last post.

NCAAF: Illinois over Louisiana-Lafayette
NFL: Seattle over San Francisco

The Picks... CFB Week 3, NFL Week 2

Hello All... Let's get the picks in quick here. Another weekend with too many lackluster games in the College world. And the NFL lines seem predicated on Vegas overreacting to Week 1 blowouts.

NFL Picks:
Oak at KC (-4.5)
SF (+8.5) at SEA
NE (+1.5) at NYJ
TEN (+1.5) at CIN

NCAAF Picks:
Kansas (+3.5) at South Florida
Ohio State at USC (-11.5)
Michigan (-2) at Notre Dame
Georgia Tech (+6.5) at Virginia Tech

Gregorian Calendar Remains Unchanged, Still Only One October

Major League Baseball's promotions department needs to get a clue. Has anyone else seen/become instantly enraged by this "October Gonzo" thing they're doing? It's all over MLB.com, alongside a line of constantly-airing commercials, ensuring loyal viewers a level of mild-to-severe insanity, just in time for the start of the post-season. Yes, this is another one of those times when we discover MLB's glaring cluelessness in appealing to the diehard (or even casual) fan. "Hey, we're in touch with blogging! Blogging is hip, right?" If I may, allow me to get down to brass tacks: This shit is stupid.

So, they've hired some young actor (who I've seen before, in movies like "Old School" and "War of the Worlds") to pretend he's writing a blog about post-season baseball (a blog that NO ONE has ANY interest in actually reading, because IT'S A FAKE BLOG). Then they shoot a bunch of commercials and promotional footage, that airs incessantly while you try to enjoy actual baseball, or while you fight your way through what's become of SportsCenter. This chipper young fella', intending to appeal to a youthful audience, sits at a desk pretending to type, while raving about how there's only ONE October (just like there's only ONE of every month, last time I checked). But as if that wasn't bad enough, the folks at MLB.com sat down at a conference table and made the executive decision to name this character... "October Gonzo"... Are you serious? Is this someone at MLB's idea of a subtle nod to Gonzo journalism? Or are they actually trying to convince me that this dude's name IS INDEED October Gonzo?

YES, another wasteful campaign that fosters zero additional interest from real baseball fans, and no NEW interest from non-sports-fans. Thanks, baseball. And more importantly, thank you for the commercials that force me to momentarily change the channel, so as to avoid dunking my head into a blender running on 'ice crush' mode. Sure, I'm way interested in this 20-something's blog, as he harkens back to historic moments he's not even old enough to remember. And while we're on the topic of age, as a Yankee fan, I'll be experiencing October without my team for the first time since 4th grade. I was 8. Consequently, this campaign arrives with worse timing than a colon cancer diagnosis on Christmas eve.

Yet, what's most disturbing is, I can't determine if this is more or less annoying than Dane Cook faking enthusiasm about the Red Sox and Rockies.

College Football Week 2/NFL Week 1

Remember kiddos, my picks are in bold... This is what bold looks like.

Here are the four college games for this week, I went 2-2 last week in the first week, that's my record for the season so far.

West Virginia (-7.5) at East Carolina
Minnesota at Bowling Green (-5.5)
Buffalo at Pittsburgh (-13.5)
Mississippi at Wake Forest (-7.5)

I will also pick four NFL games every week... Here are the week one picks...
Bengals at Ravens (+2)
Texans at Steelers (-6.5)
Rams at Eagles (-7.5)
Seahawks (+1) at Bills

As per my post last week, Texas over UTEP, at UTEP is the NCAAF elimination pick for the second week there.

I tried to do the whole year in the NFL elimination pool in advance, I couldn't do it. The Eagles over the Rams in Philly is my elimination pool this week.