Tag Archives: NFL

AFC West Stronger Than Expected E-Mail Thread

Friday’s aren’t always all that busy at work, and we had some time to break down the AFC West between a Chargers, Broncos, and Raiders fan.

Cali4Dre: So I was looking at the Chiefs schedule the rest of the way, here’s what it looks like with my assumptions highlighted (green=win, red=loss, yellow=too close to call).  My apologies to Oakland for not giving them a chance in their two games, and to Denver for calling their home game too close to call  I gave the Chargers the win at home because their loss in week one was on the road, and they still had a chance to win on the final drive of that fluky, stormy game.

I can easily see them winning at least 9 games, and if the split the yellow ones it looks more like an easy 11 win season.  Pretty scary for the Chargers and Broncos, they have to be fairly perfect clean the rest of the way to keep up cause it looks like the Chiefs will be 6-2 going into the second week of Nov…

After Sunday’s game against the Colts, the Chiefs play only two more games against teams that were in the playoffs in 2009

Chiefs’ Remaining 2010 Schedule

 

Date

Opponent
Sunday, Oct. 10 at Indianapolis
Sunday, Oct. 17 at Houston
Sunday, Oct. 24 Jacksonville
Sunday, Oct. 31 Buffalo
Sunday, Nov. 7 at Oakland
Sunday, Nov. 14 at Denver
Sunday, Nov. 21 Arizona (Changed to Win)
Sunday, Nov. 28 at Seattle
Sunday, Dec. 5 Denver
Sunday, Dec. 12 at San Diego
Sunday, Dec. 19 at St. Louis
Sunday, Dec. 26 Tennessee
Sunday, Jan. 2 Oakland

Chappy: You have them losing to AZ!?! I guess you’re a Max hall/BYU fan…

I guess of anyone, I wouldn’t mind the Chiefs taking the division, kinda like me rooting for the Rangers to take the AL West this year…

It’s funny at the beginning of the year I chalked up the Chief’s games as wins for Oakland, but now I’d question any game they play as a win.

Comstock: tough day at work, huh?

I think it’s a little premature to say this team will win 10 games, as their 3 wins have come in the MNF “fluke,” pulling out a late win vs. a not very good Cleveland team, and blowing out a grossly overrated Niners team at home.  we’ll find out a lot about how good this team really is with 2 significant road tests in a row.

BUT they should beat Arizona at home…it’s safe to say after 4 weeks that team sucks.

Cali4Dre: Sorry guys, I did mean to put the Arizona game in green… my bad.  So if that’s the case, then they will definitely finish above .500???

Comstock: I can get down with that…they may not turn out to be a playoff team, but the turnaround is definitely well under way.

Chappy: I have my doubts that they will for sure be over .500, because didn’t the Broncos start 6-0 or something like that last year?!? That didn’t turn out so well…

Cali4Dre: With all the parity this year, such as the Colts not looking so dominant and owning the South division spot, there is a definite possibility that two teams will come out of the West this year… Continue reading


Doin Lines Week 5

That football is doing some serious lines!

Looks like we both need to re-evaluate how we are making these picks. We got one right out of ten last week, setting the lowest week total of wins since I’ve started doing this. Just like New Orleans picked itself up after Hurricane Katrina, we will have to do the same. We just need to hope that this turnaround happens a little faster than the real life one. This losing streak is showing me that no matter how much you think you know going into a game, you don’t really know crap compared to those lines makers. Just like the Geek and Sammy we have proven that we are good a pickin losers so far. It can’t be this bad for the rest of the year can it!?! I doubt it, so on to the picks.

What is the writing equivalent to being so ashamed, that you can’t even show your face in public?  Would it be, being so ashamed that you wouldn’t want to let anyone read your words?  Because that is how I feel after three consecutive, embarrassing weeks of football picks.  If you fancy my words, or my humor, or perhaps lack there of, I appreciate your loyalty to me.  But please, I beg of you, please do not read my picks for … *gasp* my picks.  After going 1/5 last week, it absolutely dawned on me.  I suck at this.  I suck at this bad.  Do I give up?  No.  But I am not cruel enough to wish bad upon our readers, so I hope you all either run as far away as you can from my picks, or simply pick the opposite.  My picks should have yellow caution tape surrounding them.  With that said, here are this week’s losers …

Last Week (Chappy 0-5, By 1-4) Overall (Chappy 8-14-1, By 6-12-2)

Denver (+7) @ Baltimore Continue reading


Doin Lines Week 4

Lost in the Sunday sports shuffle I forgot fall was upon us. I was as excited about seeing the new “Eastbound and Down” series premiere as I was about the football games. There were a lot of shows just getting started, but this one was like watching the Raiders game for me. It didn’t disappoint, opening up with a messy cock fight, and ending with Kenny being left by his new Mexican homies, and returning to the mound. I’d recommend Eastbound and Down to any sportsfan, especially the ones that liked the movie Major League. Kenny Powers is basically a washed up Ricky Vaughn trying to remake himself into a star again. His mission is to convince himself, and everyone around him that he is still the best. There are classic lines every 2 minutes. Before we get to the real reason for the post, I’m wondering why didn’t I bet against every team that clinched a playoff spot yesterday, sans the Twins. They all lost, and hopefully typing this out will be a mental note to bet on those games after a team clinches a playoff spot in baseball. On to football, last week neither of us did well. I can’t get to .500, and By is going to have to have a helluva week to make up for this past one. Our results have me questioning if we can right the ship faster than the Raiders and 49ers!?! Hopefully so, or we could be in for a loooong season.

Well, I was absolutely destroyed last week.  I know I hit on 1/3 of my picks, but I don’t even want to look back at the two teams that came through for me.  Metaphorically speaking, last week was like eating a bad burrito that gave me the runs, now that it’s out of my system, I just want to forget about it.  I know it isn’t poetic, but it describes exactly how I feel.  But, as Jay-Z would say, “On To The Next One.”

Results for week 3 (Chap 3-3-0, By 2-4-0) Overall (Chap 8-9-1, By 5-8-2)

Denver @ Tennessee (-7)

By picks Tennessee (-7) Josh McDaniels was looking like a genius around this time last season, as his Broncos were undefeated and all the buzz.  Unfortunately they haven’t replicated the fast start in 2010, and heading into Week 4, things just got worse with the announcement of Knowshon Moreno missing his second straight game with a hamstring injury.  Kyle Orton has done a great job as the interim QB, but it hasn’t translated to wins.  Ultimately, Denver doesn’t have enough threats to compete with Tennessee.  For the Titans, Chris Johnson is a beast, we don’t have to get into it about him, what it all comes down to Vince Young.  If you throw away the Pittsburgh game, he’s done a good job directing the ship, and after dismantling the Giants in New York last week, I’ve seen enough from the Titans to feel confident in having them cover.

@ Pittsburgh (-1.5) vs. Baltimore Continue reading


Raiders Were Screwed Either Way…

I found myself saddened by the Bills decision to cut Trent Edwards today. It’s strangely the second pro athlete my mom has met since I left NorCal, and I was more excited to hear about her encounter with Ricky Williams, but Trent Edwards wasn’t a terrible silver medal. Edwards happens to be my mom’s neighbor’s wife’s cousin, so she has seen him a few times here and there. Anyways, the reason for this post wasn’t to be sad about Edwards getting the axe in Buffalo, but more to be happy that the Raiders couldn’t have selected a solid quarterback out of that 2007 draft when they gave their fate to arguably the biggest draft bust in the history of busts selecting Jamarcus. It might have been one of the ugliest classes in decades, unless Kolb somehow grabs the job from Vick (don’t hold your breathe for that one) it was a horrible draft for QB’s. It’s always fun to see where the top QB’s for the first 100 picks of that magical 2007 draft are today.

#1 Overall – Jamarcus Russell

I’ve said all I can say about this guy, but right now he’s probably pounding some sizznurup hoping the UFL will give him a call.

#22 Overall – Brady Quinn

He’s now hanging out in Denver behind Tim Tebow(another over drafted QB) of all people. I guess if Orton got hurt, he might see the field, but if his resume isn’t bust material I don’t know your definition of a bust is.

#32 Overall – Kevin Kolb

Can’t call him a bust yet, but can’t call him much of a success when Vick has already supplanted him as the starter in Philly after 6 quarters against bad teams. I’m not a beliver yet, but I guess there’s a chance he could be good…

#40 Overall – John Beck

Who? Took me a minute to remember who he was too. Miami didn’t like him all that much, now he’s a third stringer in Washington, not exactly a successful 2nd round pick.

#43 Overall – Drew Stanton

Another who? Is there an owl nearby or something?!? He is holding down the backup spot on Detroit right now, but when Stafford gets back on the field he’ll move down the depth chart.

#92 Overall – Trent Edwards

Just got cut, so the way I see it, if Kolb sucks the Raiders didn’t make a terrible choice in drafting Jamarcus, there was simply nothing to work with out of this QB class, so we were doomed no matter who ended up coming to Oakland.


Vincent Jackson’s Value E-mail Thread

In response to Michael Silver’s article on Chargers’ GM, AJ Smith vs. Vincent Jackson over on Yahoo Sports, the Doin Work crew sounded off on the San Diego dilemma. Should the Chargers continue to hold out for what they want for Vincent Jackson, or simply take what they can get and move on?

Chappy: Sure isn’t a fan of AJ Smith. Can’t say I disagree with his point of view though…

Dyslecix: I get both sides of this…in the end though, this falls on VJ….he didn’t hold the cards to play AJ Smith heads up, and he lost. That’s just business.

Chappy: I think having his team blacked out on TV on the home opener might be making him reconsider not giving in… His business should be to fill up the seats…

Dyslecix: I can’t speak for Charger fans…but Dre and a ton of posts in the comment section sure make it seem like there happy he didn’t give in.

Chappy: That’s true, dre was pretty bitter… I guess the weather is just too good to go to football games that cost $100 for crappy seats…

Anonymous Broncos Fan: i don’t think vj has a leg to stand on in the whole situtaion, but they should’ve traded him.  2nd round picks become starters in the nfl…

Cali4Dre: I disagree with what this guy is saying, AJ Smith is not acting “misguided” here, it’s definitely the player

This isn’t the first time AJ Smith has gone head to head with someone else in the organization, and he’s fried much bigger fish than the other Vincent Jackson (See: Schottennheimer, Marty).  Football is a business, Players are assets, and the Chargers are one of the shrewdest teams in the league when it comes to trades (See #1 pick (Vick) in 2001 for picks that tuned out to be LT and Brees; see: see #1 pick (Manning) in 2004 for picks that turned out to be Rivers, Kaeding, and Merriman in 2005).  Let’s not forget the Chargers spent a #2 pick on Vj, so it’s not like they signed him as an undrafted FA or something.  They kept him on the sidelines until he was ready and in the next couple of years VJ will cash in on how the Chargers groomed him.  You’d think he would have a little bit of gratitude towards the Chargers, but instead he turns into a punk and goes out and gets a DUI not once but twice and decides he’s bigger than the teams 3.2M offer to play out his original contract.

Chappy: Since you’ve followed it every step of the way, I’ll take your word for it

MCeezy: Are we sure Vincent Jackson is really that good? You know I’m the last to admit Philip Rivers is good, but maybe VJ is just a product of having a good QB? He could easily go to another team and completely disappear. I think they should take whatever they can get for him and move on with Floyd and Nanee, or whoever else they can sign

Dyslecix:69 catches is his high total, and 8 TD’s. Mehhhh

Chappy: Slightly better than Heyward Bey

MCeezy: OH, well in that case he’s a stud!!!!  hahaha.

Cali4Dre: Point is he’s valuable to the Chargers because he knows his their system and he moves the chains.  I saw a stat that said he averaged the highest percentage of catches for a first down in the league last year, and the highest average YPC.  He’s big, fast, and can out-jump any corner in the league for a ball in the end-zone, so while he might not have racked up say 100 catches, he didn’t need to.  They have Gates who catches more balls than most TE’s, and Floyd caught his fair share.  The Chargers also spent a lot of time leading in games so they didn’t need to pass as often.

MCeezy: I agree with every bit of that. That’s why I think Jackson’s expendable. I know VORP is a baseball term, but I feel like they’re good enough offensively that they can plug in someone else and be just fine. He’s not worth the headache, or holding out for a 2nd & 3rd round pick

Anonymous Broncos Fan: obviously not THAT valuable.

Dyslecix: Expendable and not worth the money he was asking for.

Chappy: Don’t need to pass a lot!?! They were ranked 31st in rushing last year…

Dyslecix: What was there passing rank?

Chappy: 5th http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/passing/year/2009

Cali4Dre: Point will missed on rushing when leading games, I would expect that from a Raider fan. I agree he’s easily expendable, but the Chargers aren’t going to let a punk or the rest of the league strong arm them into dealing their Pro-Bowl WR for something they don’t want…

Chappy: Ranked 19th in attempts and are 32nd in YPC… I guess when your ahead 3 and outs are acceptable…




Doin Lines Week 3

This week’s lines are brought to you by the legend Kenny Powers!

I can’t quite get to .500 on the season, and By fell just below .500 for the year. It’s always funny to see the games that you weren’t worried about go completely wrong, and the ones that you questioned picking, coming through without a hitch. I guess it just shows you how good those damn odds makers are, and just how much parody there is in the NFL, but they can be beat, and that shouldn’t be an excuse! Even if I’m more indecisive than all these head coaches are with picking a starting QB, it doesn’t mean that I can’t pick a winner, right?!? Now that I’ve completely lost you, I’m going to try to make this week’s picks without bias, ie. I’m not going to pick teams that I want to win! Rule number two for the week; if you see both of us pick the same team in the same game immediately pick the opposite way. We are 0-2 in games we both picked the same team; hopefully the odds will even us out soon.

Like Vernon Davis, I fell flat on my face on the guarantee to win ’em all.  I finished a dismal 1-2-2 last week, but honestly, I thought I came out better than that.  Philly was up big, and Oakland had St. Louis at home.  Those two should have been a lock to cover, but I check the final scores, and both teams let me down.  So this week I’m stepping my game up, not only more focused on spotting the winning lines, but I’m picking a career high six games!  So I’m giving you the quantity for sure, and perhaps … the … quality?  I guess we’ll find out come Sunday.  On to the picks!

Week 2 Results (Chap 3-3, By 1-2-2) Overall Results (Chap 5-6-1, By 4-4-1) Continue reading


Karma’s Bite

I am a strong believer in karma, and the majority of the time, karma works against me, but in the case of the first two weeks of the NFL season, it actually works in my favor.

Why you ask?  Because the Minnesota Vikings are 0-2.

Brett Favre has never been bitten in the butt, he’s never gotten what he deserved for the circus-like soap opera of a show he puts on every single off-season.  I’m going to retire.  I’m not.  This is it for me.  I love the game too much.  And on and on and on.  It’s disgusting.  Finally the football gods have had enough, and they’ve inflicted karma onto the divo.  The Vikings are 0-2, and yes they can talk about how they won the division two years ago after dropping their first two, but it ain’t happening again.  Not with Favre and the Scarlett Letter “K” he has sewn on to his jersey.  What I’m loving the most out of Favre, is the fact that he’s absolutely not having fun right now.  The media, NFL commentators, and all of his groupies always mention how he is a grown man kid, whose love for the game is similar to a child who loves his Legos.  Like he’s some innocent, wide-eyed infant.  You name me a kid who holds an entire organization and it’s fan base, in fact an entire league hostage.  Kid my ass.  Well watching Favre this season, it doesn’t look like he’s having fun at all.  Which means I’m having crazy fun!

I had high hopes for my San Francisco 49ers, and since they’re going nowhere fast, watching Brett Favre perform like a worn out pair of Wranglers jeans is a great consolation prize.  The thread is going to rip at any moment.

If Favre wins the gold medal in receiving karma, than Reggie Bush gets the silver.  I like Reggie Bush the player.  He lucked into a great situation because Sean Payton has done a brilliant job utilizing Bush in different formations to get him out in the open field.  Bush will never be the USC Bush in the NFL, but he’s definitely a weapon now.  But while at USC, he cheated, plain and simple.  And when the eligibility of his Heisman trophy was put into question, he returned the award, yet stated it was not an admission of guilt.  Seriously Bush?  Well he broke his leg in Monday Night’s win over the 49ers, it’s not career ending or anything, but he will miss a significant amount of time this season.  Karma strikes again.

So although I’m not karma’s bff or anything, as I’ve had my fair share of “getting my just desserts” … I’m glad to see that karma isn’t prejudice, and anyone can fall victim to its bite.


Only 8 Undefeated Teams Left…

With the win over the Pats yesterday, the Jets celebrated like they won the Super Bowl IN week 2. WTF!?!

Now that we have two weeks in the books, there are some undefeated teams that look for real, and some that seem lucky to have two wins two weeks into the season. Surprisingly we are already down to only 8 teams that haven’t lost, and if the shocker of the weekend doesn’t happen with the 49ers taking down the Saints, it should stay that way. KC, Tampa, and Chicago are all shockers in my book, considering most people didn’t have them penciled in for their 2nd win before their respective bye weeks. Here’s my rankings for the top 8, with New Orleans in last, because the MNF game is still in progress, and they aren’t undefeated yet.

#1 Green Bay – The pack didn’t do anything to make me think that they aren’t a contender to make the Super Bowl this past weekend. By far the best all around team on the list. I think I’ll be picking them all year long no matter what the spread is. Remember that epic Patriots team that put up huge numbers every week like a video game in 2007? This team is looking like them, good all over the field.

#2 Pittsburgh – I’m not sure how they beat Tennessee and Atlanta, oh wait no, I do know why, their defense! They are 100-0 with Polamalu, and his $1M hair in the lineup. He is the X-factor much more than Big Ben is. The Steelers never have more than one down year, so this success is no fluke.

#3 Houston – Their win over the Colts was HUGE for their mentality going into the rest of the year. I picked them the last two years to make the playoffs, and now that I didn’t pick them, they are tearing it up, go figure…

#4 Chicago – There’s noway I thought the Bears would be good this year. Cutler hadn’t shown much of anything since the trade, but it looks like he finally found a couple of guys to throw to, and actually has the best passer rating in the league, no, that stat is not a typo. Enjoy the undefeated season while it last Bears fans, your next opponent is the Packers.

#5 Miami – Brandon Marshall is exactly what they needed. A receiver that teams will have to double team, and maybe open up a couple more running lanes! Their defense is actually better than I expected it to be too. Maybe all those young players are better than advertised. We will see exactly how good this Dolphins team is when they line up against the Jets this weekend.

#6 Tampa Bay – What!?! Freeman is leading the Bucs to a 2-0 start!?! I still can’t believe they curb stomped the Panthers this weekend, but low and behold this is a new Bucs team, and Freeman is much better than I thought well, his non-five interception game against Carolina made him look good. They need to beat a good team before I buy anything they are selling.

#7 Kansas City – Anyone can beat the Browns, but they beat the Chargers, and made them look bad for good portions of that game. They’ve been lacking a direction for years, and it looks like they might have found one on defense and special teams. Does that win you the AFC West? Maybe, but they will need something from the passing game…

#8 New Orleans – They are up 9-0 in the first quarter, but I can’t call that a win, because there’s a ton of time left. The Saints look like they should win if it keeps going the way it has so far though. A win would probably launch them into the top three knocking Houston down a spot, but we will see what kind of fight the Niners have in them for the final three quarters.


Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

The life of an elite NFL feature back is getting shorter and shorter. I don’t mean that they’re dying at a young age, just that a guy can be the man on his team for just a handful of years, and that lifeline seems to be getting shorter. It seems like just a few decades ago, it’d be the same handful of guys racking up 1,000 yard season for years on end. Now a guy is likely to have one or two, and then be replaced by the next young, healthy back. It’s evident this season when you watch guys like Ladanian Tomlinson and Marion Barber no longer getting the bulk of their teams’ carries. It seems like just yesterday guys like these were dominant on the field, and now are relegated to sharing duties with younger guys. In other sports, you could look at league leaders from five years ago and the majority of those guys are still putting up numbers. I took the top ten rushers from 2006, and it looks like all ten of those guys would be lucky to total 1,000 yards combined this year…

SHAUN ALEXANDER, SEA. 1,880 yds: 2005 was Alexander’s 5th and final 1000 yard season. He donned the cover of Madden 07, but failed to tally as many yards as he did in 05 over the next three seasons, his last in the NFL. He totaled 1612 yards over his next two years in Seattle, before adding 24 more in 2008 on the Redskins. That was his final season.

TIKI BARBER, NYG. 1860 yds: Barber totaled 6 1000 yd seasons over a span of 7 years, and though you could argue he retired still in his prime, it was clear that Barber’s days were numbered, which probably prompted his retirement somewhat. Barber’s last season was 2006, but he knew Brandon Jacobs was the back of the team’s future.

Continue reading


Doin Lines Week 2

Week one didn’t go bad, but it didn’t go all that well either. I went a less than impressive (2-3-1), while By kept it mediocre with a 2-2 start. Now that we’ve seen a whole week of football action, we are experts and shouldn’t miss another pick for the rest of the year, right!?! I’m still shocked that By called that Texans game. I actually could see the Colts winning the next nine games without anyone noticing. I don’t buy TMQ’s argument that this is Armageddon because the Texans won, but do agree it would be hilarious if Houston ended up playing in the Super Bowl in Jerry Jones billion dollar stadium. Anyways, this should be another fun week, and I’m excited to win the money back that I lost in week one, so here are our picks for week 2!

What a roller coaster opening week for me.  I hit the ground running like a Chris Johnson breakaway, after my prediction of the Texans upsetting the Colts came true.  I began imagining myself hoisting up the “I Told You So” trophy after that one.  Unfortunately that image shattered immediately, as the Houston/Indy game didn’t equate to the biggest upset of the day.  The biggest upset of the day went to me.  Because I was so damn upset at my 49ers!  What a waste of one and a half hours of a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  As you can guess, I stopped watching midway through.  Anyway, to brighten up my mediocre week, let me just say, “How about ‘dem Cowboys, huh!?” I wanted to stay away from the Jets/Ravens game, but ultimately couldn’t resist.  I originally wanted to take KC over SD, but couldn’t pull the trigger on another significant upset.  Lesson learned, always go with the gut.  But like Chappy said, we learned everything I needed to know about all the teams after the first week, and ala Vernon Davis, I predict we win on all of our picks the rest of the way! Continue reading


Nothing Has Changed in the Bay Area…

I was too disappointed to post something yesterday, plus my computer crapped out with some Trojan virus on Friday. I’m the one to blame for that since I didn’t ever buy one of those virus protectors…. Anyways, now that I’m a little bit more calm and collected, and at work with a working computer, I can actually assess what happened to the bay area teams. This was supposed to be the year of hope for both franchises, since their divisions suck, and they both made solid offseason moves, but in week one, they were huge disappointments having everyone in the bay saying nothing has changed. Neither team was in their game at the end of the half, which was very disturbing to see both of them give up on both sides of the ball when the game was out of hand. Usually you like to get a couple positives going for the next game during garbage time, but there wasn’t even much of that to draw any hope from. A grade of an F- for both of these franchises to start the season. Actually, I’ll give them an incomplete to start the year since they didn’t even finish all their assignments for week 1.

The Raiders had everything going for them coming into the game, even their “Taking it to them” t-shirts they wore all of training camp. The temperature was mild (77 degrees), and it was surprisingly un-humid in Tennessee. If it was humid, I can only imagine what the score could’ve been. The Raiders had a chance to pull within 14 at the end of the half, and chose to only be down by twenty after kicking a field goal instead. With the ball at the 15, and a yard to go on fourth down we really needed a touchdown. Cable’s fat ass called in the kicking unit, and it felt like we were mailing it in before the half. If we really wanted to be in this game, we don’t go for a field goal when the offense is struggling, and actually has the ball in the redzone for once. Three points wasn’t going give us that boost of confidence we needed going into the locker room. I would’ve been much happier seeing them go for it, and not get the first down, even if that meant we scored zero points on that possession. The most worrisome part of the day was easily the o-line. We couldn’t figure out the no name Tennessee defense. They knocked Campbell down every time he dropped back, and made me hesitantly think, maybe Jamarcus wasn’t completely the problem. Campbell’s line looked familiar for Raiders starting QB’s over the past few years two fumbles, one pick, and one garbage time TD. I might finally be jumping on the fire Cable bandwagon. He seems to have the respect of the players, but what the hell is wrong with our o-line. Isn’t that your specialty Tom!?! If you can’t get your team to be good at what you are supposed to be good at (former o-line coach), then how are you helping this team improve!?! He already gave up the offensive play calling to Hue Jackson, so shouldn’t he be more responsible for other things like coaching the offensive line. The one silver lining is that they played a Tennessee team that is supposed to be pretty good, and a team that was on fire to end last season. If they can’t show up against the Rams, I’m going to be very worried about this team. There was one part of the game that I found entertaining, the Titans mascot ate a cheerleader!

The 49ers had an even worse day than the Raiders. They couldn’t even get a touchdown, and looked terrible in every facet of the game against a team that both By and I predicted to having a good shot at that #1 pick next year in our Doin Lines picks. Coach Singletary thought it was a good “wake up” call for the team, and hopefully he’s right for their sake. If losing to the Seahawks isn’t a wake up call, then I don’t know what this team expects to do this year. Maybe their players were partying in the Castro District a little too much over the offseason and that made them soft, or maybe Vernon Davis is taking to curling more than football… Ok, ok, Vernon was one of the few guys that played well. Seattle played off their 12th man, and somehow looked like the 2007 Seahawks that were perennial playoff contenders. They do have a great home crowd, but the 49ers should’ve made this one at least a little close. It’s sad that they can’t even pin this all on Alex Smith, because every part of their game plan was executed poorly. The scariest part for the Niners is that this isn’t a good team, and preseason this was one of the games I had inked in a W. At least the Raiders got beat down by someone that has playoff aspirations. It’s only one game, but both of these teams have a lot to work on before they are considered anything near a playoff caliber team.


Doin 2010 NFL Over Under Predictions

We always end up being a little slow on getting these predictions up, and with one game in the books it makes all of these predictions so much easier right!?! No, not really… We took a look at the Vegas over under wins and losses for each team and picked if we thought that team would win more or less than that. Skip around to the teams you care about it’s in alphabetical order, if you can’t make it through the whole thing (very understandable).

Arizona Cardinals regular season wins 7 ½

Chappy: Under, even though I think Derek Anderson is going to do better than people think, he still won’t get them to where old man Warner had them.

Dre: Under, no way that offense is the same without Warner and Boldin.  Will end up on the wrong side of some low scoring games.

Dyslecix: I’ll take the over, 8 wins in a terrible division is very possible. However, I don’t see them winning 9 games, so this will be close.

Atlanta Falcons regular season wins 8½

Chappy: Over, I really like this Falcons team. Turner didn’t get overworked last year because he was hurt, so he should be good for another 300+ carry season like his first year in Atlanta. Their defense is questionable, but the offense will make up for it.

Dre: Under, division will be tough this year.  Even the Saints will struggle to 10 wins, and the Falcons will settle in at 8.

Dyslecix: Under, never been a believer of the Falcons. In a tough division getting to even 8 games might be a feat. Continue reading


Doin Lines Week 1

I’ve been impressed with the revival of Entourage this season. For the last couple of seasons, I thought the show was heading downhill, but this year they got Vinny on a drug binge, making bad choices, and dating a porn star. Excellent twist to what was getting to be a repetitive series. Speaking of things reviving themselves, and the true reason for this post, the NFL is bizzniizzzizzaacckk! This means that every team has hope again (including my Raiders and the overly optimistic prediction I made about them making it to the AFC Championship), but this also marks the beginning of gambling season, and the return of Doin Lines! Even if you aren’t betting on spreads, lets face it, there’s plenty of $10 bets thrown down on games amongst friends. I found myself enjoying keeping track of how I did against the spread last year, and ended the season doing surprisingly well considering I was way below .500 for awhile there, and had pondered giving up posting my picks out of sheer embarrassment. My comeback was strong, and ending 49-45-3 on the season, which made me want to see how I could do in my second year of keeping track. At points during the season, I was much more into making these picks correctly than keeping track of my fantasy teams. Not to say that I didn’t care about fantasy, but of all the fantasy seasons, football is the least attractive to me. It’s too much of a crapshoot, and everyone talks endlessly about their “squad”, which is more of a turnoff than a girl with a butterface. Instead of picking ALL of the games, we decided to each pick the top six or so games that we believe are either mortal locks, or very watchable. I did say “we” right!?! Well, this season, By has decided to join me on the adventure of posting picks, so I don’t feel like such an addict doing all these lines by myself! By also had a couple quick thoughts before we get started.

Before I reveal my picks, I must say I’m excited to hear that Entourage is back on the radar in terms of “must see” programs.  There was a point in my life where I looked forward to watching Entourage as much as I looked forward to watching a football game on Sunday, but then it slipped.  But from what Chappy just wrote, and from what friends have mentioned, Vinny addicted to hard drugs, Sasha Grey,  plus the return of Carla Gugino (who is one fine woman) equals the return of Entourage!  I have catching up to do …

Now, on to business … Continue reading


Labor Day Ramblings

Three day weekends are never a bad thing. You everything you want to in the first two days, and have an extra day to come back to the reality of knowing that tomorrow you will be heading back to work. I pretty much missed all of the first college football Saturday of the year, but fortunately the game of the week is on tonight. The Sportschump broke it down what the teams looked like, so that helped. In an attempt to get myself ready for the upcoming NFL line predictions, I figured I’d start my ramblings with my pick for the college game of the week.

Virginia Tech (+2) Over Boise State

I’m going to be rooting full force for Boise State, but in the end, I have a tough time seeing them coming out the winner. I’m not basing this pick off the players, the coaching strategies, or even team strengths. I’m mostly picking Virginia Tech because they are at home, and the underdog. Since Boise State has to travel to the other side of the country, it’s going to be an even tougher task for them than just playing a great team. I think this is one of the biggest factors that’s overlooked in a game. Teams don’t do well traveling from the westcoast (sort of) to the eastcoast in the NFL, so why should they in college?!? Hopefully this game lives up to the hype, and we get a close one. Anytime you can take the home team with points in a game that you aren’t sure who’s going to win, you do it. The Hokies win unfortunately win tonight!

Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis finally ended his holdout agreeing to a contract worth $46M for four years, with $32M of that guaranteed. He held out to get paid as much as Asomugha, but didn’t really get close to his numbers, and isn’t even the second highest paid cornerback in the league (making less than Asomugha and Champ Bailey this season). I’m not sure I understand why he incurred half a million in fines only to sign this four year contract when it sounded like the Jets offered him that wacky ten year $120M deal. I’m on my own island when it comes to understanding contracts, so maybe that offer had a lot of incentives, and the guaranteed money wasn’t where he wanted it to be. To me, it’s like watching a porno for the dude “actors”, it doesn’t make a ton of sense, but $32M guaranteed > $1M this season… Who knows, I just hope Hard Knocks will clear that up for me on Wednesday night, and now maybe Rex Ryan’s #2’s will play a lot better now that Revis pushed one of the #1’s down to a #2. Are the Jets the favorite to win the Super Bowl now? Maybe, but it all still comes down to how well the Sanchize does, and it’s sounding like the experts have less and less confidence in him. If you somehow didn’t know that Revis was an amazing cornerback, our buddy Weller broke it down like only he can.

Floyd Mayweather apologizes?!? He made this racist rant challenging everything he could conjure up about Manny Pacquiao towards the end of last week. Not surprisingly, it ended up making him look foolish.

Floyd likes chicken so much he's becoming one!

He apologized after the video hit the newswires, but I’m not sure why he was calling him out in the first place. It seemed like a month ago, the fight was going to happen, and Pacquiao conceded to some things in the contract to get this fight going more on Mayweather’s terms. Once again pretty boy Floyd backed down. I’m actually shocked that he apologized. I didn’t really know that this guy even had the word sorry in his vocabulary. Maybe he finally realized that he was the idiot ducking the fight that could save or  revive boxing. I’m not sure how these guys can’t agree on a $100M+ fight. It’s just ludicrous that they are holding this sport hostage, and denying us a chance of seeing rematches as the two slowly grow out of their primes. Mayweather has never been short on confidence, but you have to believe he’s scared at this point, since we’ve never really seen him apologize about anything. If he’s truly the best, he needs to prove it, and I don’t think he is even drinking his own Kool-Aid anymore.

The Padres lost their 10th consecutive game. They are scratching for answers anywhere they can find one, but just flat out aren’t playing well. I was one of the semi-doubters, but was still rooting for them more than against them. I understood how they were getting it done for most of the season, yet I still couldn’t really understand, if that makes any sense! This bump in the road might be showing that they don’t have enough offense, and their pitching might just be too young. The NL West is starting to heat up with the Rockies, Giants, and Padres all in contention now. Two weeks ago, I thought the Padres were going to walk into the playoffs, now they might have to use Latos more than they originally wanted to, and are finding it’s never easy to close out a division title. In contrast to the Padres sudden demise, is the big rise of the White Label Hot Rockies, who seem to come out of nowhere at the end of each season. They’ve won 11 of their last 15, and have a former A’s player, Carlos Gonzalez, who is putting up some MVP type numbers. Too bad for C-Gon, that he has to compete with guys like Pujols and Votto are pushing for a triple crown. This might be the most interesting race in baseball down the stretch, so stay tuned!


Upgrading The Man Cave

The football season is upon us, though it looks like someone forgot to tell the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since the Raiders aren’t in last place yet, I’m pretty excited for the season right now. Chappy and I did some shopping online for some essentials to enhance our Sunday afternoons, and here’s some exciting products that will help you cheer on your team….

Wildon Home Foxton Bar

I’ve produced and seen some pretty impressive spreads at Super Bowl parties and such, but always felt like a dining table didn’t quite suffice. Sure, the food looks nice and all, but you still had to get your beers from the fridge. You know what I always felt was missing? A BAR. I just assumed one would have to own a house that had one, but that is not the case! Apparently you can purchase a stand alone bar, at a pretty decent cost. This one was the best one I found, but there are surprisingly a good handful of options for right around $500. This one, and others, can be found at http://www.diningroomsdirect.com/

Wincraft Keg-a-Que

I’ll admit, this caught my eye because I thought it was a keg. It turns out it’s a portable BBQ, but that might even be better! At least I’d probably be likely to use it more. Most people already have a grill for home use, but what about tailgating AT the game? I had a pretty trusty portable bbq for years, but it was red and black. How am I supposed to feel good about myself using that in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum when the Chiefs, Cardinals, or 49ers are in town? Well, here’s the solution. These steel, keg-shaped portable grills come in propane and charcoal models, and are available in all teams at http://www.nflshop.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=2415724&ab=Tailgating_BSpot_Grilling_072210

Panasonic 3D Active Shutter Eyewear

The ESPN 3D era is here, and I’ve got to believe Monday Night Football is going to be the centerpiece of their offerings. There’s been good (Avatar) and bad (Alice in Wonderland) in terms of 3D thus far, but I don’t see ESPN bothering with this if they weren’t going to make football games amazing. Let’s hope they have cameras in the end zone seats so those Lambeau Leaps will come right into your living room. I’m also looking forward to coaches’ gatorade showers and those wire cams figure to play a key role. Granted, you’re going to need a new TV and cable box, but start with the glasses, because you can at least rock them in public in the meantime. These badass shades can be found at http://www.rcwilley.com/Electronics/TV-Video/Video-Accessories/TY-EW3D10U/2361744/Panasonic-3D-Active-Shutter-Eyewear-View.jsp

Tailgate/Ping Pong/Beer Pong Table

They call this a tailgate table on the site, but it’s pretty much essential in my book for any mancave. Besides being easy to store, it has a plethora of other uses. Whether you’re playing beer pong in the mancave because your team is behind by 28, and you no longer care about the game, or you’re tailgating right before the game with the Wincraft Keg-A-Que it will be perfect for any football sunday. Apparently you can also turn this into a ping pong table, but looking at the dimensions, I’m not so sure you’d want to play doubles. This is already making me want to get a beer pong game going right now… I wish it didn’t take a week to get here! Check it out here http://www.csnstores.com/Tailgate-Toss-TPN-D-122-TAI1440.html

GAME FACE

I’m far from the most intimidating guy in the world, and sometimes random Charger friends end up stopping by to rain on the Raiders party, which hasn’t been that hard recently. This year I’m going to be prepared for them with my game face! Just to make sure the new people don’t think us Raiders fans are soft. This new look will surely garner some respect. I’m not sure I can hang wearing vinyl for three hours, but sometimes it takes that kind of dedication from a fan.  http://www.csnstores.com/Franklin-Sports-6991F22-FKS1289.html