Monthly Archives: September 2011

September 30, 2011

Doin Lines Week 4

By chappy81

Chappy: So far so good on the betting season. As we and Vegas learn more about the teams the lines slowly start to get tougher! I found it pretty amazing Thursday that there was less than 10% NFL talk, and EVERYONE was talking about baseball. It might be the first time in years I can remember this happening on a national scale. Maybe this will make the MLB playoffs get a little more attention. Either way I’m excited about week 4 in the NFL to see if my Raiders are for real or not. The Jets were a test, but the Patriots are the yard stick.

By:  Back to .500, woot woot!  To the lines!

Last week: Chappy (3-2) By (3-1)

Overall: Chappy (8-5-1) By (6-6)

Detroit @ Dallas (-1.5)

Chappy picks Detroit (+1.5). It seems like there’s not much to not dislike about the Lions undefeated start whether you care about them or not. Like many others I’ve been on their bandwagon so far this season picking them to win each week. Unfortunately they didn’t cover the spread in their last battle in Minnesota. Since they’re facing the Cowboys, the line is always swayed a little more their way because Texans love gambling, and are always flooding Vegas with their bets, so take the points. Also, I think Suh is going to put a pounding on Romo one way or another. They won’t even need to sell out as much on the blitz as the Redskins did because they have a great front seven. On the flip side, I have a hard time seeing the Lions not putting up a bunch of points on an overrated Dallas D.

By picks Detroit (+1).  Detroit showed me a lot last week despite not covering.  The thing that stood out most was the way they showcased their fire power in the second half to overcome a three touchdown deficit on the road to a division rival.  3-0 doesn’t guarantee you a thing in the NFL, especially when you’re a young team,  so the Lions should still be motivated to prove themselves on a week to week basis, with this week arguably being their toughest challenge yet.  I’d most likely stay away from this game had Dallas been completely healthy, but being that Miles Austin and Dez Bryant are still questionable, and Tony Romo still has a fractured rib, I’m going with the Lions in a competitive game, 28-24.  One thing’s for sure, Romo won’t be sleeping easy anytime soon as he preps for the Detroit front line.

New Orleans @ Jacksonville (+7)

Chappy picks New Orleans (-7). Do I think the Jags can seriously put up 40 points even on a Saints defense that bleeds points? Not really when they’ve scored 13 points total in their last two games. They remind me of the Raiders in the Jamarcus era. This is the easiest pick of the week in my mind. With the downward spiral that has gone down in Jacksonville, I have no idea how Del Rio still has his job. The Saints will have this spread covered by the end of the first quarter, which might make this the least watchable game on the Sunday slate.

Washington @ St. Louis (+3)

By picks Washington (-3).  Similar to why I picked Baltimore to cover against St. Louis last week, Washington still has the bitter taste of defeat in their mouths, to a division rival nonetheless, in a game which they let slip away in my opinion, so look for them to take out their frustrations on the lowly Rams.  The Redskins have looked surprisingly efficient on offense with a tamed Rex Grossman leading the charge, how long will that last is anyone’s guess, but the St. Louis secondary is always ripe for the picking, so don’t look for Grossman to revert back to his turnover prone days just yet.  For the Rams, Steven Jackson should be healthier enough to get more reps, but aside from that, I don’t see much a doing for them.  Redskins by 10.

Atlanta @ Seattle (+4.5).

Chappy picks Atlanta (-4.5). I can’t really figure out if the Falcons are underrated or overrated, but there’s one thing I do know, and that is Seattle sucks. Last year these two met in Seattle and it went 38-10 in favor of the Falcons. I see the same kind of score happening in this game as well with Matt Ryan finally having a good game from start to finish. I think Seattle is already battling Jacksonville for the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. You can count on me to parlay NO and Atlanta this weekend.

Tennessee @ Cleveland (+1)

By picks Tennessee (-1).  I’m not sold on the whole “Chris Johnson’s season is a bust” talk quite yet, so much so that I traded Michael Turner for him in my main fantasy league.  I know last week against Denver was supposed to be his break out week and it didn’t happen, but he now faces the 29th worst rushing defense in the league in Cleveland.  Mark my words, CJ will have a huge game.  The loss of Kenny Britt on the season really hampers the Titans, who because of the situation down in Indy, have now found themselves in the running for the South crown, but even with that, don’t sleep on Tennessee.  Like I’ve said in the recent past, it’s funny how quickly people forgot how good of a quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is, he’s making me look good as of late.  I know Cleveland is 2-1, but I find it difficult to read anything into their record when their wins came at the expense of Indy and Miami, two woeful teams.  Titans by 4.

Buffalo @ Cincinnati (+4)

By picks Buffalo (-4).  No one, circles the wagons, quite like the Buffalo Bills.  This game can go one of two ways.  The Bills realize in defeating the NFL’s hottest quarterback (outside of Aaron Rodgers maybe) after he started the game scorching hot, and do it in come from behind fashion on a game winning field goal as time expired, that maybe they really are that good.  Or they can go into Cincinnati and give us the biggest let down of the season.  I’m hoping it’s not the latter.  Two things that stand out in this match up, Andy Dalton is not Tom Brady, and he will not torch Buffalo’s secondary the way Brady did in the first half last week, and the Bills offense is not San Francisco’s offense, the Bengals d will have their hands full all day.  This game smells like a trap to me, but I’m going to go with Buffalo anyway in a blow out.

Denver @ Green Bay (-12.5)

Chappy picks Green Bay (-12.5). Denver hasn’t been blownout in a game, but I think they might be due for one this week when they take on Green Bay and their 9 game win streak on the road. Denver almost won in the opener against Oakland because the Raiders had 15 penalties. They beat Cincy at home, but what does that say? We are slightly better than the team that a lot of people thought was the worst in football coming into the year, yipee. They followed that up with a loss to Tennessee on the road by 3. Yup, I’d say it’s safe to think they’ll get blown out unless the Packers take them too lightly.

NY Jets @ Baltimore (-3.5).

Chappy picks Baltimore (-3.5). This one was a little tough for me, but after watching my Raiders trample the Jets for over 200 yards on the ground, I think Baltimore will be able to do the same with Ray Rice. It’s tough to pick Baltimore after their week 2 stinker out of nowhere, but I’m ready to take them again. Plus, Joe Flacco might be the best QB in the NFL through three weeks that nobody is talking about. I actually laughed when I saw someone kept him in a keeper league, but I guess he’s been doing the laughing lately.

10 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

September 28, 2011

How good was tonight for baseball?

By chappy81

I don’t even know where to start with all the wild games that just went down, so I won’t try to tell you since you’ve already probably seen the highlights by now, and if you haven’t you better flip on the TV, and check out one of the wildest last days of the season in MLB history. Everynight in baseball you can see something you’ve never seen, but I doubt I’ll ever see something that will duplicate tonight. The Rays alone could probably write Moneyball II about this season after their biggest signings in the off-season were Damon and Manny. They also lost pretty much their entire bullpen along with a handful of quality players. I’ve always liked Dan Johnson (grew up with the A’s). Mceezy and I definitely had a texting frenzy when he went deep to tie the game. The Cards were in the least exciting game of the day, but they survived tons of injuries and pushed their way into the playoffs. Are the Red Sox back to being cursed? Doubt it, but I bet we’ll hear Boston start complaining about being cursed again if this becomes a trend or maybe even if it doesn’t. I think the Braves are much more cursed of the two losers on this wild Wednesday. In the end, the Braves relied a little too much on rookies, this won’t be the last we see of them. The first thing I thought about tonight was, they better do a 30 for 30 on the two 9 game comebacks, and this crazy finale on the last day of the season. It has to be better than the Bartman crap they gave us this week (which I gave up on after 15 minutes).

Having one of the craziest days in baseball history has me more fired up for the playoffs than I thought I’d be with relatively no rooting interest. I guess I kinda like Detroit, but that’s not even set in stone. I really tuned out for a few weeks and wasn’t paying attention at all except for an A’s update or Matt Kemp’s triple crown watch, then BAM the wild card races were actually interesting last week. I guess this means we don’t need to add another wild card spot to the mix, Bud. It also shows that every game does matter. Even the game Matt Kemp won’t play because it’s not being made up after a rainout against the Nationals, could’ve been the game that got him to be a 40-40 guy. Also, Reyes is weak for leaving in the first today after he got a bunt hit. Any thoughts or comments are welcome, because I think I’m just rambling after what I just saw!

24 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Sports

September 27, 2011

Romo The Scapegoat

By mceezy

I must admit, I didn’t catch much sports this weekend. Why? If I may quote the movie Grandma’s Boy, “maybe it’s cause I was with THREE chicks!” I missed the majority of sports this weekend while road-tripping 1,000 miles through Northern California, Nevada, and Oregon. After I returned, I was able to catch the Monday Night Football matchup between the Redskins and Cowboys. Despite a Cowboys win, Tony Romo has come under fire for everything from poor decision making to yelling at teammates, from not caring to wearing his hat backwards. The Cowboys are 2-1 after wins over the 49ers and Redskins, so why is Tony Romo taking so much heat the day after? The first thing I can defend is yelling at his center after his FOURTH bad snap of the game. If Tom Brady did that, he’d be called a leader. Romo, though, is a bad teammate. If my coworkers weren’t 40 and 50-something women, I’d be doing the same thing. He also makes bad decisions. True, that’s been his MO, but THEY WON THE GAME. He doesn’t care. Well, if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t be yelling at his teammate for making crucial mental errors. Lastly, he wears his hat backwards. If I had the time and resources, I’d list every other QB who’s been spotted donning a backwards cap. Since I can’t, I’ll simply suggest that maybe he’s trying to observe the game better. After all, how can you see the entire field with a hat bill obstructing your view? I’d be the first in line to harp on the Cowboys, but what about all the other QB’s who have a sub-.500 record? Michael Vick complained that he’s being targeted and he’s catching less heat than Romo. Who’s talking about Donovan McNabb or Matt Cassell? Nobody. I’m not sure when Tony Romo became the most ridiculed QB in the NFL, but can’t we at least wait until Dallas isn’t playing well???

3 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Sports

September 27, 2011

Gamechangers Series

By chappy81

I usually try to keep my posts PG-13, but I ran across these videos on funny or die just now while looking to see how funny Blake Griffin’s internship was going. Blake did have a couple videos up including this one with a creepy mini-me character in it, but the short wasn’t ultimately all that great. After watching the Blake clips, I ran across a series called “Gamechangers”, which I thought was hilarious, and for some reason had never seen them before. I figured since each one had less than a million hits, I was obligated to inform our readers of these comedic gold videos. I think any sportsfan will find each skit in this three part series as funny as I did. Unfortunately, I’m not a technical genius, and once again seem to be failing at embedding these videos into the post. Maybe funnyordie doesn’t like us using their videos or something, because it seems to be the only site I have this kind of problem with. Anyways,  episode 1 kicks off with a quality recap of the Mike Tyson baby eating rant with the writer who wrote nearly every funny athlete rant. Episode 2 (with the guy from the Kobe spoof videos) is a top college recruit talking about how scary the NFL draft can be. And then there’s episode 3 on announcer Jim Brockmire, which was my least favorite for some reason, but entertaining nonetheless…


				

				

				

					9 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , , 															| posted in Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 26, 2011					
				

				
If At First You Don’t Succeed

				

					By By				

				

					


The old adage is, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again.


Perhaps we need to apply this saying towards the Detroit Lions draft methods of the early to late 2000’s.  It wasn’t long ago when Detroit was the laughing-stock of the NFL in terms of their draft decisions.  To put a long story short, they went receiver happy.  For three consecutive years starting in 2003, the Lions used their very first pick to pluck out supposedly, the best wide out that year’s draft had to offer.  None of those pics panned out for them.


2003 Carlos Rogers #2 overall


2004 Roy Williams #7 overall


2005 Mike Williams #10 overall


To their defense, all three of these wide outs were absolute beasts in college, and would have passed any eye test by an average football fan’s standards.  And to his credit, Roy Williams had his moments with the Lions albeit a short stint with them.


After taking a year off, in which they selected a line backer in Ernie Sims with the ninth overall pick in 2006, they hopped right back on that bike after falling several times, and tried again.  This time selecting Calvin Johnson with the second overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.  Bingo.  Boy did they ever get it right.  I won’t mention Calvin Johnson’s accomplishments in the NFL, we all know he’s a monster, but when you’re given the nick name “MEGATRON“, and rightfully so, it speaks volume to the type of player you are.  When Detroit finally got it right at receiver, it allowed them to sew up the other sexy positions on the roster.  Matthew Stafford in 2009, and Ndamukong Suh in 2010.  And while Stafford and Suh get all the jersey sales and glory out in the Motor City, I can’t help but think they wouldn’t be there had it not been for Detroit finally getting the proverbial monkey off their back with the Calvin Johnson pick.


I guess the moral of the story is, we shouldn’t laugh at David Kahn and his point guard infatuation just yet … he may have a Optimus Prime in the making.

				

				

				

					8 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , , , , 															| posted in Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 25, 2011					
				

				
Raiders Off and Running Wild

				

					By chappy81				

				

					


I was cautiously optimistic coming into the season about the Raiders, but looking back, I think I have been for the last three since we dumped Jamarcus. There’s something vastly different about this team this year. Even today against the Jets they improved from the previous two weeks in big ways. Penalties was one. Seven might sound like a lot, but to the Raiders that is a good sign. They are notorious for penalties, and somehow we’ve kept them under ten for two straight games. That might be the longest streak they’ve had in four years. I’ll sum up the reason why I believe they have changed, Hue Jackson has the attention of this team. He has them actually aware of what is going on compared to many past coaches that couldn’t get the players to compose themselves in the heat of the moment. Do I dare call them a cohesive team!?! Just looking at their collapse in Buffalo yesterday’s Raiders would’ve gone into a four game losing streak spiral, but not this team, they bounced back and showed the showtime Jets some real swagger.


Another big reason for my optimism this year was that they actually have some playmakers. Everyone knows, and in most cases rips on Al Davis for picking guys on two criteria, athletic ability, and speed. It took seven drafts drought to finally start picking some of the “right guys”, but it looks like Al hasn’t completely lost his touch that made the Raiders great in years past. Sure, some picks were probably easier than others like selecting McFadden (the best back in the NFL right now) in 2008 looks like a no brainier, but the last three years they took their best three receivers/playmakers in the 4th or 5th round. Guess what the pundits said about the picks at the time? Meh, Crazy Al picking the fastest guy in the draft again…


Who were those picks? 2009 4th round pick, Louis Murphy. 2010 5th round pick, Jacoby Ford. 2011 4th round pick, Denarius Moore. I had low expectations for nearly all of them, but at different points they’ve all looked like big time players. Denarius shined for a second straight week. Last week he caught 5 balls for 164 yards and a TD. Today he had an amazing reverse, and broke a few Jets arm tackles for a TD. Jacoby Ford hasn’t even taken the field yet this year, and he is our best receiver imo. I’m not saying any of these guys will be 1,000 yard recievers this year, but everytime any of them touch the ball they have a shot at breaking it into a big play. Hell, even Heyward-Bey has the speed to break a big one, if he can actually hang onto the ball. This team is a run first team, but with many weapons on the outside, it’s become the reason the Raiders are actually consistently putting up 30+ points with a less than exciting Jason Campbell leading the way. Another thing Al never gets credit for is building this offensive line paving the way for McFadden and Bush, three of those linemen were drafted in the last three years as well. This whole rant feels a little strange, because I haven’t defended Al Davis like this in a LONG time.


There is one main concern on defense for the Raiders, and it’s the secondary. I think Mceezy and I have both agreed that the Raiders front four might be the best in all of football. They pretty much hit the QB on nearly every passing play, and do well bottling up RB’s not named Fred Jackson without much help from blitz schemes. They already have 10 sacks on the year. Their glaring weakness is the young Asomugha-less secondary. They seem to account for half the teams penalties called on them for holding or pass interference. They just need to learn to keep their head up, because the front four are putting plenty of pressure on QB’s, so they don’t really need to hold the recievers.

				

				

				

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						September 23, 2011					
				

				
Doin Lines Week 3

				

					By chappy81				

				

					


Chappy: Last week wasn’t bad, but not that great either. If it weren’t for a few scores late in games to keep them closer I could’ve gone undefeated this weekend. Unfortunately the Vegas betting gods weren’t on my side, and I ended the week at 2-3. It seems like the oddsmakers are making it tougher on the betting crowd, because this week is tougher than the first two combined in my opinion.


By:  I told Chappy prior to last week’s picks that the lines were one of the toughest I’ve ever seen.  The result, brutal.  My first donut ever.  More so than the tough picks, I feel that all the bragging I did after going 3-1 during opening week came back to bite me.  If karma’s a b**ch, make sure that b**ch is beautiful.  Mine was hideous.  To the lines ~


Note:  My picks are off parlay cards, so the spread might be different.


Overall [Chappy (5-3-1) By (3-5)]


Houston @ New Orleans (-4)


Chappy picks New Orleans (-4). The Saints offense is rolling. They put up 30 on the Bears who are supposed to be underrated, then overrated, then back to underrated again. Looking up and down the Saints roster, it seems like Sproles might have been their best signing this offseason! The one thing I’m positive on, is that the Texans defense isn’t nearly as good as the Bears or Packers D. Yes the Texans rebuilt their secondary, but this will be the first time they truly have their hands full with a great QB. I see a lot of scoring in this one, but the Saints will pull away like they usually do in front of their home crowd.


Miami @ Cleveland (-2.5)


By picks Miami (+2.5)  I like what the Browns got going with Colt McCoy, he’s shown me a lot these first two weeks of the 2011 season.  But he did play against the Bengals and Colts, two teams who will not be contending for a playoff spot, so I can’t read too much into that.  Across the way, Chad Henne has done some nice things against two division favorites, and so despite a bagel in the win column, I’m still slightly more impressed with Henne.  There’s a big question mark in the Dolphins back field, but overall Miami has more weapons than Cleveland, and win by at least six points.  Plus how can you root against a guy who wears shades every single minute of the day like Tony Sparano?


Detroit (-3.5) @ Minnesota


Chappy picks Detroit (-3.5). Detroit has given me two straight ATS wins in two weeks. I can’t remember the last any time I’ve been able to say that. They pulled out an impressive road win over the Bucs in week 1, which gives me the confidence to pick them to beat a division foe this week on the road. McNabb looked slightly better last weekend, but we still know the one thing the Lions really need to worry about, AP. If they bottle up AP, there’s noway the Vikings win. Minnesota also has a weak secondary, so expect a big day from Stafford and Megatron.


By picks Detroit (-6)  In my main fantasy league, I told my friends I wouldn’t draft a quarterback in the first five rounds because the position was deep this year.  I took Matthew Stafford in the sixth and told them all I just got a second round pick with the selection.  They all laughed, mainly because that’s what we do when anyone of us makes any pick, but still, who’s laughing now.  Offensively, Detroit is a handful for any team let alone the lowly Vikings.  Megatron, Jahvid Best and even the underrated Nate Burleson and Tony Scheffler present several match up problems in which the Vikes won’t have answers for.  But it’s Ndamukong Suh and the defensive line that automatically covers the spread.  McNabb has clearly devolved into a mediocre quarterback and AP can’t carry this team alone.  This game might be close early, but slowly but surely, the Lions impose their will on Minnesota.


Jacksonville @ Carolina (-3.5)


Chappy picks Carolina (-3.5). I don’t think Cam is the greatest thing since sliced bread like many seem to think, but I do believe in him more than the newly named QB of the Jaguars, Blaine Gabbert. He’s also better than I think nearly everyone expected. Hopefully he learned a few things against the defending champs last weekend. My rule of picking against rookies starting their first game applies to this one. Will Cam throw for 400 yards again? I’d say yes because this Jaguars secondary doesn’t exactly scare teams from throwing against them. If Carolina doesn’t win this game, they might be 0-6 before you know it!


By picks Carolina (-5). Camolina and company will finally get their first win under the Newton regime.  Again I admit, I did not think Cam Newton would be even remotely as effective as what he’s shown his first two games, but I am now eating my words.  He did throw three picks last week which was costly in an otherwise close game against the defending champs, but Newton’s been more than impressive nonetheless.  I feel the Jags are making the right move in starting fellow rookie Blaine Gabbert, but ultimately there’s some growing pains he’ll have to go through.  Not everyone is Cam Newton.  MoJo Drew will have his work cut out for him, but similar to the situation in Minnesota with AP, not one guy can carry his team solo.  The Panthers win, and win big at the end.


Atlanta (-1.5) @ Tampa Bay


Chappy picks Atlanta (-1.5). If Sunday’s late game didn’t convince you the Falcons are pretty good, then I don’t know what to tell you. Tampa Bay has a tough time stopping Michael Turner, I think he had a 200 yard 2 TD game against them last year (He was on my fantasy team). I like the Bucs, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to bet on them. I don’t even think having the Sportschump screaming his drunk ass off will help them overcome Matty Ice. Speaking of Ryan, it seems like he didn’t really get a lot of credit for leading his team to a comeback win, so big ups Matty.


Green Bay (-3.5) @ Chicago


Chappy picks Green Bay (-3.5). GB beat the Saints, the Saints destroyed Chicago = Packers winning by more than 4. I’m not sure why, but I kinda feel bad for Cutler. Did you see how many times he was laying on his back last week? Maybe the Bears need to do what Carolina is doing with Cam, and leave eight guys in to protect him. Usually these two teams play close games, but this feels a little different this year. The Bears are piling on injuries mixed with a little giving up on Martz and old age, which isn’t a good sign in week 3. I have a hard time seeing the Pack letting this game be as close as last weeks against Carolina.


Baltimore (-6) @ St. Louis


By picks Baltimore (-6). Similar to what happened last week when Pittsburgh hosted Seattle a week after being embarrassed by Baltimore, the Ravens will take out their frustrations from a disappointing loss on another NFC West team.  Baltimore definitely had a opening week hangover in week two.  The way they played against the Titans, is not the way you want to follow up a statement win.  I look for the Ravens to be angry as hell for their match up against the Rams, and with St. Louis possibly without Steven Jackson again, and leading pass catcher Danny Amendola, this game might get ugly quick.  I’m thinking 30-9, Ravens.

				

				

				

					10 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , , , 															| posted in Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 22, 2011					
				

				
MLB’s Meanest Players

				

					By chappy81				

				

					
Last week Sports Illustrated released this list of baseball’s meanest players voted on, by 215 of the players. Some guy decided to make a spoof of it, so I thought I’d share since it was mildly funny, and I couldn’t think of anything to write about when I sat down to write a post today. My favorite was probably the Jason Kendall impression. I was highly disappointed we didn’t get to see an impression on the #3 meanest player, Milton Bradley, it seems like he’d be one of the easiest guys to make fun of!


				

				

				

					10 Comments					  |  tags: , , , 															| posted in Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 21, 2011					
				

				
Rugby Rules!!

				

					By chappy81				

				

					
I’ve never cared about or played Rugby, but at least the next time I watch I’ll know what’s going on thanks to these lovely ladies…


				

				

				

					4 Comments					  |  tags: , , 															| posted in Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 20, 2011					
				

				
Blake’s Internship

				

					By chappy81				

				

					


First and foremost I'd like to apologize to BG for saying he'd never be my mancrush because he was way to robotic in interviews. I guess he was figuring out the whole being in the NBA thing so much that he probably wasn't too worried about what people like me thought of his interviews. He turned me when he was on the Norm McDonald show, and I couldn't stop laughing at the skit. Shortly after the lockout he said he was going to do an internship with funny or die, so naturally I expected the type of gold we were given on the Norm McDonald show, but since his announcement of his internship he hasn't appeared on one sketch in over a month, until today. It's not my favorite video, but the ending gave me a smile, and had a mild spoof of HBO's 24/7 boxing series.

For some reason this video is impossible to embed into the post today, so here's the link... 

				

				

				

					4 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , 															| posted in Comedy, Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 19, 2011					
				

				
Moneyball Movie Premiere Recap

				

					By mceezy				

				

					


Unfortunately my invitation got lost in the mail somewhere, surely, so I wasn’t in attendance for the movie premiere of “Moneyball” in Oakland tonight. Therefore, I couldn’t really recap it any better than the San Francisco Chronicle. Here’s some highlights…


Brad Pitt, Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman and Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin were among those on the red carpet at the Paramount Theater in Oakland on Monday evening as “Moneyball,” the movie based on A’s general manager Billy Beane and the 2002 Oakland team, made its national premiere.


“It’s very cool,” Pitt said as he paused on the carpet to speak to two Bay Area papers. “We’ve been gearing up for this viewing for a long time. This is a special screening for us.


“The people of Oakland gave such a great response. They stayed up with us for hours on end to tape the baseball scenes and never lost energy. We see a lot of fans from the ’02 season. It’s just special.”


Having played Beane in a movie, Pitt disclosed that he now follows Oakland, and he said, “I feel a bit romantic about the A’s.”


Another of the major actors, Chris Pratt, has a less than storied baseball background. Pratt, who plays first baseman Scott Hatteberg, said he has not hit a home run at any level, including T-ball, and in the movie, Pratt, a right-handed hitter, must bat lefty. Through the magic of cinema, his homer gives the A’s their record 20th consecutive victory.


Pratt nails Hatteberg’s preparations at the plate, and he accurately captures Hatteberg’s joyous trip around the bases on the game-winning homer.


“None of it was spontaneous,” Pratt said. “That was the one physicality that I really spent a ton of time trying to mimic exactly.”


High-powered baseball agent Scott Boras walked the red carpet, and though he’s called a bad name in “Moneyball,” he described the movie as “great for baseball.”


*Other observations from the Moneyball premiere: Jonah Hill is HELLA skinny. Philip Seymour Hoffman looks like Sandy Lyle again.

				

				

				

					5 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , 															| posted in Movies, Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 19, 2011					
				

				
Why I Hate the NFL

				

					By chappy81				

				

					

This weekend I was treated to an amazingly competitive game Sunday morning between my Raiders and the Bills. I was proud to see the Raiders show some life after playing late Monday and flying across the country. I was at home watching the battle, and don’t own the NFL package because I’ve refused to give them any of my hard earned money when it could be better spent at a bar on a couple beers when my team isn’t on. Anyways, with the game on the line with :27 seconds left and the Bills facing a 3rd and 10 from the 15 yard line down by 4, what does CBS do? Oh lets switch to our contract obligation and show the SD-NE game instead of showing the last :27 seconds of this one. In hindsight, maybe I’m somewhat glad I didn’t see the winning score, but it pretty much ruined my Sunday either way. I had to go online and hit refresh 200 times to find out they scored, pathetic I know…


First off, when they switched from the game, the viewers were given three full minutes of straight commercials. What followed you may ask? Oh, just some player intros and some lame commentary about Phillip Rivers and Tom Brady. About five minutes of rambling about the two teams went on before they actually got to kickoff. How much longer did the Raider game last? Less than that first commercial break would be the correct answer. Is this the NFL I was so sad to see go?  The money hungry idiots pulling the plug on the game right before the most meaningful two plays of the game must be one of the biggest blunders I’ve seen in awhile. It’s a known fact that LA is Raiders country even with the team not playing here since 94′, and to switch from the game to a commercial is almost as bad as switching to Heidi in the middle of a game (Oh wait they already pulled that one on us Raiders fans). I was mildly surprised there weren’t some riots. How about this time instead of Heidi, we switch you viewers to watch your hated rival the San Diego Chargers instead? Either the guy on the switchboard hates Raiders fans, or he/she didn’t understand the magnitude of the moment, and actually followed the contractual agreement. At least give us the end of the third down play for Christ sake! It felt like I watched a movie for three hours, and the movie theatre all of a sudden decided that the next movie should start instead of finishing the action thriller I was watching. Maybe I will hit up a Raiders game this year, so I can actually see the ending…


Signed,


One Pissed Fan

				

				

				

					13 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , 															| posted in Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 16, 2011					
				

				
Doin Lines Week 2

				

					By chappy81				

				

					


Chappy: Off to a terrific start to the gambling season, I mean NFL season, and I’m already feeling better than I did last year. I think we all learned more about teams in week 1’s 16 games than we did in all 60 preseason games combined. It seems like a thousand things happened in only one week of football, but that’s probably because we over analyze everything. Let’s keep all this good mojo we got going, and get on to the picks for week 2!


By: A quick blurb.  It’s week two, and I still feel so grateful that we are even watching football, maybe the effects of it won’t wear off at all this year.  People don’t realize how much they appreciate watching a game until it’s almost taken away from them.  Perhaps that’s the reason why Chappy and I were on fire during opening week, look at that winning percentage right there!  We got a good thing back with football, and we weren’t blowing picks on just any game.  We were focused.  We were determined.  We still are.  Although I must apologize ahead of time to Chaps, I think I just jinxed us for the rest of the season there … I guess we’ll find out soon enough.  On to the lines!


Last Week: Chappy (3-1-1) By (3-1)


Kansas City @ Detroit (-8.5)


Chappy picks Detroit (-8.5). Under normal conditions I’d never take the Lions to beat any team by more than a touchdown. I don’t think the Chiefs offense will be nearly as bad as they were against Buffalo as Bowe and Charles are bound to have better games, but their defense is awful. How do you let Ryan Fitzpatrick rip you a new one. I mean the Chiefs didn’t land at #32 in our power rankings for no reason! I don’t see the Chiefs having any answers for Megatron as he’ll knock the cornerbacks off him like nats without Eric Berry roaming the secondary. I see a close first half and a dominating second half for the Lions.


Arizona @ Washington (-4)


By picks Washington (-4). Am I really going with a team that has Rex Grossman running the show?  You bet your bottom dollar I am!  It’s not that I’m high on Grossman, but Arizona didn’t exactly impress me squeaking by Carolina at home last week.  Yes, Cam Newton went off, but what many are neglecting to ask is, how much of that was due to bad defense?  Cam Newton can’t really be that good, can he?  While not blown away by Washington’s opening performance, I did take notice.  Ultimately, my prediction is Grossman puts together a string of solid games to start the season, then returns to his “Hyde” form shortly after, throwing plenty of picks, and throwing away chances at wins along the way.  But for the time being, the Redskins ride their high all the way to their second consecutive home victory by at least 10 points.  Keep your eye on Tim Hightower as well, he’ll have a bit of a chip on his shoulder facing his old team.


Oakland @ Buffalo (-3.5)


Chappy picks Oakland (+3.5). I’m never a big fan of picking my team especially when they are travelling to the eastcoast to play an early game when they just played a Monday night game, but I can’t help myself. I actually have hope they can win outside the division this year, and hopefully it will start this week. A lot has changed since their last match up three years ago. Jamarcus was our starting QB, Buffalo still believed in Marshawn. Now both these teams look somewhat competent coming out of the gates. I love the way the Raiders are trying to be the bullies they were back in their glory days. In the MNF game they tried to give Denver chances to win with many ugly penalties, but maybe they learned something (probably not). I see them at least covering the spread.


Tampa Bay @ Minnesota (-3)


By picks Minnesota (-3). The Vikings did everything in their power to lose their season opening game at San Diego.  They begged Philip Rivers to bring the Chargers back, and that’s exactly what he did.  The Chargers are also said to be contenders in the opinions of many.  Conversely, Tampa Bay, last season’s surprise, got flat out beat by Detroit at home.  This makes the Vikings loss the more impressive of the two, or the lesser between two evils.  To Tampa’s credit, a lot is expected from the Lions this season, but I said in last week’s predictions, that I felt Tampa would use this season as an opportunity to take two steps back from last season’s success, and nothing that happened in week one has me thinking otherwise.  It should be a close game late, until Tampa subjects to some growing pains, making some crucial mistakes, while AP goes nuts.  I have a strange feeling AP goes over 200 in this game.  Vikings by 6.


Baltimore @ Tennessee (+6)


Chappy picks Baltimore (-6). The Ravens were easily the most impressive team last weekend while destroying their division foes, but like Terell Suggs said “You’re only as good as your next game”. That kind of attitude has me believing in this team more than I thought I would. There’s nothing not to like about Ray Rice right now, He was snatched up just before my first pick in both my fantasy drafts. I see their defense being able to contain CJ and possibly making Rice the best running back in the game right now. If they can stay healthy, they are going to be tough for any team to beat. Hasselbeck had a decent game for Tennessee last week, but he’s always one play away from being out for the year. Baltimore can deliver those kinds of blows, and will rattle the veteran at some point during the game into a turnover or two.


Cincinnati @ Denver (-5)


By picks Denver (-5). Listen, I’m probably more pro Tebow than anyone outside of Jesus, but even I know Tebow isn’t Denver’s best option at quarterback yet.  The Broncos ran into a highly motivated, and talented Raiders team, that ran wild on them.  That’s not really Kyle Orton’s fault.  I don’t believe the Broncos are a playoff contender, but I do believe they have more to offer than what was shown last Monday.  It’s the fans in Denver that are making them seem worse than what they really are.  The Bengals won their first game by fluke, and when pitted against a team that would like nothing more than to shut their own fans up, Kyle Orton goes ape shit and adds another 400 yard game to the calendar, while the Bengals reveal their true stripes.  Denver by 14.


Green Bay @ Carolina (+9.5)


Chappy picks Green Bay (-9.5). Cam was spectacular in his debut. I’ll be honest, I didn’t see it coming. I thought he’d be okay this year, as in, better than Tebow, but not 422 yards good. While it was a nice story for week 1, he still lost, and the Packers are going to roll out a lot of defensive schemes that will make him look like the rookie he is. If AZ can put up 28 on Carolina’d D, there’s no reason to think the Packers can’t put up 50 without breaking a sweat. I wouldn’t be shocked to see this line jump to 10 before the weekend (I wrote this on Wednesday, and low and behold the line is 10!). Too many people betting on Green Bay I see, they still look plenty attractive with the adjusted half point to the line!


San Diego @ New England (-6.5)


Chappy: San Diego (+6.5). Whoa, four picks for the road teams this week. Hopefully this works out. It seems like everyone has the Chargers somewhere between 5-8 in their power rankings, yet the Patriots are a touchdown favorite for this game?!? It feels like this line should be more in the 4 range, because the last three times they’ve hooked up the games have been decided by 4 or less points. Granted the Patriots looked amazing in their opener, while the Chargers looked a little rusty, but both over matched their opponent throughout their respective games. One thing I think we can all agree on is that both these offenses are great. Another thing we can probably agree on is that the Chargers have the better defense, and a few recievers as big as Brandon Marshall with a better QB than Chad Henne throwing to them. I hope SD loses by six or less!


Philadelphia @ Atlanta (+3)


By picks Philadelphia


You didn’t think I was only going to pick teams with home games this week, did you?  You didn’t think I was going to turn my back on the Eagles, did you?  If you said no to those questions, you thought right!  Although if there’s one team that could steal away a vote from me towards Philly in a match up, it would be the Falcons.  Matty Ice, Roddy Roddy Piper White, Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez and Burner Turner.  That’s a lot of weapons, and despite being held in check out in Chicago last week, no one expects this high octane offense to stall any further.  With that said, Mike Vick has been amazing since last season, and the balance on Philly’s offense, as well as the ability for the Eagles to hit a home run on any given play gives them the edge here.  I think the Eagles win by 6 in a barn burner, 40-34 in what will easily be the game of the week.  Vick returns to Atlanta too, drama …

				

				

				

					7 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , , , , , , 															| posted in Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 15, 2011					
				

				
Be Careful What You Wish For, Broncos Fans

				

					By mceezy				

				

					


I really don’t get the Coup d’eTebow going on out in Denver. Well, I do, but I don’t get how some fans can be so disillusioned to think that replacing Kyle Orton with Tim Tebow would turn the Broncos around. I wasn’t going to chime in when the fans were already chanting Te-bow in the season opener, but now I hear some wealthier fans are actually taking up billboards.  I don’t think the Broncos front office is trying to keep Tebow off the field. All the chatter at the beginning of training camp was that he would be the starter. Then he fell to number 2, then to 2B, next to Brady Quinn. Clearly Tebow played his way off the field. Surely the front office would LOVE to put their most marketable player out their on the field. Shoot, if he played even with Kyle Orton, they’d probably give him the nod. Obviously, playing Tebow is simply not a good football decision. It’d be like out here in Sacramento, if the NBA season ever starts, and the Kings weren’t playing Jimmer Fredette (which won’t happen). Fans would react the same, EXCEPT, they’d be smart enough NOT to call for him to play over Tyreke Evans. Fortunately in basketball it’s different and they can play together.


I got quite a heavy dose of Kyle Orton this past week, since the Broncos were opening the season against the Oakland Raiders. True, he can leave a little to be desired at times, but what I kept thinking to myself – especially in the second half, when the Te-Bow chants ridiculously started chiming on from the Mile High Crowd – was, would Tebow be making the plays that Orton isn’t? Not once did I say yes. The bad throws by Orton, I couldn’t see Tebow threading the needle any better. And even though Orton was sacked five times, Tebow, despite his well-documented scrambling skills, would not have evaded ANY of them. It’s not as though Orton was dancing around in the pocket getting chased down by 300 pounders. The Raiders defensive line (which I’m going to start calling the best in the NFL pretty soon) was simply bullrushing through the Broncos’ offensive line. Orton didn’t even have time to SEE them. What’s Tebow going to do in that situation?! I guess Denver fans want to find out. One day they probably will, and that’ll be the day the Tebow billboards will come down. Let’s just hope there’s a good-humored fan out there who’ll have the cash to replace it with a “IN with Quinn” billboard.

				

				

				

					12 Comments					  |  tags: , , , , 															| posted in Sports														

				

			

						

				

					
						September 15, 2011					
				

				
Weird Contest

				

					By chappy81				

				

					

Ummm, I was sent this video today in G-chat, and have no idea how this became an event. This might be less athletic than competitive eating, but it seems like these guys are into it. I did enjoy some of the pregame prep work the guys were doing and moving their snot from nostril to nostril probably getting ready to launch those lugeemisters into their buckets…

				

				

				

					6 Comments					  |  tags: , , 															| posted in Random