In
This Issue:
Current Standings
European Invasion!
 Perhaps NFL football is more popular in Europe than we thought. Perhaps not. But one thing is certain, our Euro friends are teaching the rest of us something about how to predict NFL games. There are no fewer than 3 Europeans in the top 10 right now. Our leader, since Week 2, is Leontine Honcoop of The Netherlands. She posted back-to-back 10+ wins the first two weeks of the season but has started to crack in Week's 4 and 5. Her brother, Eric Honcoop is currently in a tie for 4th place overall after posting over-500 records for each of the first 5 weeks so far. Mark van Miltenburgh is the third, hanging arond in a tie for 7th.
Fortunately, we have two fine Americans also up at the top, making us all proud. Both are military veterans and staunch Republicans. Dave "Go Navy!" Schwade and Ron "Go Army!" Hade are currently tied for 2nd place. Ron is riding the back of his league best 10-3 record in Week 4 while Dave has shown consistency thru all 5 weeks, posting a personal worst 7-7 last week (worst for this season, believe me, Dave has done much worse than 7-7 PLENTY of times).
Rounding out the Top 5 are two more fine Americans, Mrs. Cap'n Dom and Mikey Joyce. Mikey used his league best 11-3 week 5 to vault into the spotlight, while Mrs. Dom has not had a sub-500 week yet this year.
Special mention must be made for an early candidate for Comeback Player of the Year, Ken Brown. Ken took the The Dane award for futility last season, but so far finds himself among the 7 people tied for 7th place. Ken even lead the league after Week 1. To go along with his 13-3 and 10-6 records, he has thrown a 6-10 in there too. Which way will Ken go, up or down? No one knows! That's just part of the fun here.
Taking up residence in the FBH basement right now is Jeff "Boo-urns" Burns who has yet to post a .500 or better record so far in 2008.
So far as a group, we have 30 people at or above .500 and only 19 below the magic middle line. It's still early yet, and as we average about 550-600 picks each week, that stat can go either way.
Good luck, and good picking!
Interesting Statistics
New Ways to Judge Ourselves
Because of the new way I'm collecting picks, I'm able to do some fancy sorting and calculating to come up with trends in our weekly picks. If and when I come across anything interesting, I'll include it in this section of the newsletter. For example:
Week 1:
37 people submitted picks (not counting Home Team (or other) defaulters).
The game most people got Correct: Jets -2.5 over Miami. 32 people took NYJ.
The game most people got Wrong: New England -15.5 over K.C. 24 people took New England
Next most Wrong: Indianapolis over Chicago (23 people took Indy) / Detroit over Atlanta (22), S.F. over Arizona (22)
Week 2:
42 picks (not counting Home Team (or other) defaulters).
The game most people got Correct: Green Bay over Detroit. 35 people took the Packers.
Next most Correct: Giants over St. Louis (32).
The game
most people got Wrong: Jets over New England / Pittsburgh over Cleveland. 31 people each.
Week 3:
40 picks (not counting Home Team (or other) defaulters).
Most Correct: (3-way tie) Atlanta -5.5 over KC, Phily -3.5 over Pitt., S.F. -4.5 over Detroit. 30 people each.
Most Wrong: Jets +8.5 over San Diego. 30 people took NYJ.
Week 4:
37 picks (not counting Home Team (or other) defaulters).
Most Correct: Buffalo -8.5 over St. Louis 30 took Buffalo
Most Wrong: Houston +7.5 over Jacksonville. Only 8 people took Houston
Week 5:
39 picks (not counting Home Team (or other) defaulters).
Most Correct: Indy -3.5 over Houston. 34 people took Indy.
Most Wrong: San Diego -6.5 over Miami. Only 6 people took Miami making 33 losers on this game.
Political Rhetoric
It Must Be That Time Again
Yes, it's almost time for the Presidential election. Possibly the most important election in our history, certainly the most important in most of our lifetimes, and easily the most important in the 21st Century. I don't have to tell you that the country is in quite a state right now, and whether you consider yourself Republican, Democrat, Independent, or Apathetic, unless you're European, what occurs in November will have a serious impact on your life.
This week, an email discussion involving the possible Financial Bailout (and really all things political) erupted between between both sides of this political fence. Dave "Where's Reagan when we need him?" Schwade on the Republican side, and Roy "Change" Bunting on the other.
Those interested in reading what went down can CLICK HERE. For the rest of you, we'll spare you from the discussion on this page because we're still trying to make this page all about Football. Something more important than football? Couldn't be. It has no place here, whatever it is.
A Bit About Our Teams That Punish Us
<sigh>, Mets, Jets, Rutgers, <sigh>
This was started by Bob on September 25th. I've edited out much of the detailed Mets talk that came from Roy and I in the next few emails, but the best parts are still here.
 Rutgers is 0-3. The Jets once again laid an egg on national TV. Watching the Mets in September is the equivalent of going to the dentist after experiencing pain. What did I do to deserve this? It's tough boys.
I assume you've both watched last night's debacle and Monday Night's debacle. I confess to not being the Mets fan I once was, in the sense that I peek at the score on the computer before committing to turning the channel lately. I can't bear as painful a sports memory as last September's pathetic play down the stretch. It is different this time around, but damn, it's still frustrating as hell because they can't seem to take advantage as a good team should. At least this year they improved after the all-star break. Last night my Yahoo home page tells me the Mets lead 5-1, but of course when I flip over it's already tied. OK, I can live with that. It's a "new" ball game and I didn't deserve those early runs since I watched America's Next Top Model instead. Those last three innings were rough. They finally tie it due to a walk, not a clutch hit. When Murphy tripled I was ecstatic, forgetting the way things have been and expecting the game was in the bag as it should have been. Murphy's going to get the front page of the Daily News and the NY Post tomorrow. Then, David Wright's K was like smelling salts. I suddenly realized they would somehow not win. Even Keith was speechless. How Wright would not even make contact in that situation is beyond me. It was the type of situation he'd always deliver in as a rookie. Just hit a fly ball to the outfield David! The Phillies lost. The Brewers won. We were all set-up. Then the bottom drops out.
On to Rutgers. No I don't think I will.... Actually, we had bright spots in the Navy game. Jourdan Brooks looks to be the next featured back. The Red-shirt (many RU players wear red shirts though...) freshman reminds me of Stephen Jackson. He's a bruiser. looked very good, I thought. Rutgers will get better, and as we all know in college, you're better off losing early and winning late in the year. Let's all keep the faith.
Jets. Sigh. I kept telling myself I'd rather lose a game like that one (MNF loss to San Diego) rather than the tightened-asshole approach of the Pats game. I was surprised Rivers looked so good after the start he had, and that we generated little pressure. The low point for me was when after 3 penalties, we attempted a 2-point conversion from the pube-hair line, and still lined up in a spread no-back passing formation. I think that was the dumbest thing I've seen from a Jets team. It didn't matter of course at that point, but it insulted me. It should have insulted you too. Sunday is a must win, and if we get it, we're where we'd thought we'd be after the first 4 games. Amazing what Miami did to NE. That was a coaching win. They schemed and practiced what they thought they had to do to win, and it worked. They pressured Cassel (we didn't try to. We were too afraid of getting burned by Moss on a blitz) and tried some funky things on Offense (we didn't try that either) and kicked their ass. I've never been as impressed with a Dolphin team. Looks like they have a future after all.
Mangini and Schottenheimer are not impressing me. Also, here In NY they're saying Omar Minaya is getting a 4-year extension. That doesn't impress me either. Why now? What is that based on? He's a swell guy, but I don't think he's a great evaluator of talent. They may as well burn the Castillo money. When you hear him in interviews he's all pal-sy wal-sy lots of joking and laughter, but I am not impressed with the knowledge I hear coming from him. He can recruit, but if they fell again this year I would welcome a change - not a new commitment to him. Other GM's can do a fine job with that payroll.
Well, buckle in for this weekend. Can we possibly endure the Mets failing to make it, while losing the last game ever at Shea with it all on the line? Yikes. Something tells me they pull it out and we don't have to experience it. [They didn't.] Will the Jets fall to the Cardnials, with Favre getting hurt, and then be going in to the bye week at 1-3? Will Rutgers be uspet by Morgan State of all teams?
Thank God we have fantasy, and Ralph and I are the kings of football, if only for six days. [We're both 5-0 in our league, face each other this weekend.]
 I almost feel like Ralph and I should charge you for a therapy session…
Yes, it’s chaotic…the entire world is chaotic right now because we’re on the brink of a glorious resolution…and a large mother of a resolution…
I watched the Mets last night (didn’t peek) and we just didn’t get the clutch hit. The Cubs DO have the best record in the NL, so give them some credit. Pinella made a shrewd move pitching to Wright who has been a bit off lately, then around Los Carloses and to Church and Castro, and Howry delivered. I thought a squeeze with Wright might have been the play but that would have been a tough call early in the count as it looked like they were pitching around David. Before the 3-2 pitch to Wright, Keith said, “If this ball’s a strike, the game is over.” Wright swung and missed ball four.
I'm not angry with the Mets, just flustered. Cubs have clinched already. You could say that perhaps they are measuring us out for the possible series to come, but still. We have to need it more than they do, whether they're good or not. We should be thrilled that they are biding their time instead of needing these games. Gotta admit, it was incredible they didn't win last night. Bad sign.
We still control our own destiny. All we can do is win tonight. We’re doing what we can and it’s tough without a closer. How many runs are we scoring in these losses? Usually a lot.
I think we are better off when someone else drives the car. We haven't controlled our destiny very well the past two years.
Football may be a total loss this year for me. With Rutgers on one horizon, The Jets on another, my Brady-less fantasy team on another, and Rock Band on the fourth, my heart’s not in it. At best, I’m a detached observer. Dallas holds my interest somewhat but not in the same way Gang Green does. Hopefully we’ll get a spark going somewhere and it will make things more interesting.
What? At least the football season is still early, unlike Los Mets. The Buntman I know gets past Brady's injury. I have Brady on a team that requires 2 QB's, so there are less FA's to choose from. Last week I added Jason Campbell and JT O'Brien (or whatever) as FA's and kicked my opponents ass! (Just kidding. I was lucky.) Make me an offer for Rivers...
Bob may be onto something on Mangini. We overhauled our entire team (Vilma) and spent like drunken sailors in free agency to fit his style and what have we got?
I question how they've adapted to things. Not ready to condemn Mangini, but Mangenius was a premature call on Tony's part. Let's hope Jenkins' back is OK. He's been great and the game turned when he left Monday. Also, I am being very patient with Vernon, but to have just one tackle in four games... wow! You'd get that just by being tripped over. What's he doing out there? My dismay thus far is with the O-Line. How good is Faneca? Are we running behind him? D'Brick looks like D'Bust. Favre faced way more pressure than Rivers Monday night. How about the punter fiasco last week? What are they doing? They had to release Marcus Henry (6'5" WR from the draft, who I liked) to have roster space for Ben's return. Boo. 4 QB's and 4 kickers on our roster. No other team can claim that one! 8 out of 49 are kickers.
Jets…puzzling. Maybe we should get Matt Millen.
Gentlemen, allow me to address these points one at a time…
Bob, you’re a loser.
Roy, you’re an ass.
Now... I was fortunate enough to tune into last night’s game just in time to see the Cubs hit a bloop single in the 10th to go up 1, then hit a 2 run HR to put it away. Although from what I heard, the Cubs put it away in the 9th after the Mets had a lead-off Triple. Where’s the damn black cat when we need it?
Perhaps the most disheartening part of this whole Met mess is the stench of failure that will permiate Shea forever, even in rubble. Fitting, some might say. At least the stench of cigar smoke and urine will be overshadowed.
Last season, I was able to distance myself emotionally from the collapse, and I’m trying to maintain that again this season. It’s a lesser of two evils, really. Fail to make the post-season and be done with it, or get their asses kicked in the first round against whoever they face. Score all the runs you want, it won’t matter. A bullpen can make or break a team and we know which direction this one took us. What is it, 30 blown saves now? Cut that in half and they clinch the East two weeks ago. Sprinkle in the lack of abilty to get clutch hits after the 4th inning and it’s amazing they are even in the position they are. They’d be in 4th place in the AL East.
The Omar extension timing is questionable. I can see if this was his last year and they wanted to keep him, sure. But he wasn’t going anywhere. Is “four more years” really what we want here? But really, if Matt Millen can last as long as he did, is this really such a surprise?
The Jets situation is a different story for me. I still think they can make something of this season. Hell, 8-8 is twice the improvement over last season and that’s certainly do-able. Faver will get into a groove and stop throwing into open spaces, and it would help if the Jets could actually run the ball. I must say, the mere presence of Faver makes this team more interesting to watch than it ever was with Chad back there. With Chad , down 7 or 10 points, all we could hope for was a sustained 12 play drive to, maybe, kick a FG. With Brett, they could score on any play. Even down by 21 on MNF, I watched with interest whenever Faver took the field. Granted, I slept thru most of the 4th quarter, woke up during the post-game blather and didn’t feel compelled to rewind and watch the 4th again. But San Diego needed a win bad and they would have kicked anyone’s asses that night. How the Jets do at home against Arizona this Sunday will show us whether to have any hope for the rest of ’08. I’m praying for some type of success this year in order to get Brett to come back for another season next year.
It sure seems the “ManGenius” tab was placed on him way too soon. Very questionable play-calling all over the place. It was such a relief to see Faver throwing into the end zone their first trip inside the 5 on MNF. And why not, he leads the world in TD passes from inside the 5. I would have thought Prick Marino held that record.
Rutgers wouldn’t be such a dissappointment if they didn’t suddenly get good a couple years ago. With Teal still at QB, and the talent they have at WR, they should be much better. Maybe the threat and ability of Ray Rice was understated the last 2 years? This is a different team without him back there. Did you see Teal punch a teammate after an INT last week? Morgan State week 4? Isn’t that a Home Opener cakewalk type of match-up reserved for starting the season with a win? Odd.
Chin up, Bob. It’s only Sports. At least the economy is fundementally strong and we’ll soon have a Hockey Mom who’s one last dying breath away from ruining (um, I mean running) the country. “Four more years” might be all the time we have left. Let’s enjoy it.
[A few days later, the Mets season crashed and burned on the final day of the season and Shea Stadium, while the Jets were scoring 56 points on Arizona.]
I guess there’s not much to say about the end of the season this year apart from being disappointed. We have had championship aspirations for this ballclub for the past three seasons now. The theme seems the same: not putting it away given the opportunity. In 2006, we let the Cards (who did play well) hang around until they barely beat us in game 7. In 2007, Willie warned of losing those seemingly insignificant games in July and it came back to bite us and other teams surged. This season, we lost our closer and just didn’t find a way to get it done enough times down the stretch.
Meanwhile, the Phils win the NL East again with an inferior team while we can’t beat Florida at home for our playoff lives. Frustrating…
Seems crazy, but I at least felt good for the Brewers. They deserved to finally get in after the year they had. Aside from the loss of another season, it's just so frustrating to miss the opportunity of sending off Shea on a high note. To collapse like that again in front of not only many of the same fans who sat there in stunned silence last year, but also in front of all the special guests gathered for the send off. Ugh. It would have been great here in NY to have all of the baseball attention with the Yanks out. Big opportunity lost there too.
Ralph's right about the Mets/Jets thing. I was glad that I was at the Jets game watching TD's galore in my end-zone. So sad. So very sad indeed.
I watched the [Shea Stadium] closing ceremonies live but didn’t get choked up. I spent much of it on the phone with Bob and the combined emotions of them just losing like they did and the Jets having just kicked major ass was probably why.
But I taped it, and later that night I went back and watched it all thru and I will admit I lost it as Seaver stepped on the plate and then threw out the last pitch to Piazza.
As much as the Mets colapse sucks and all, I can’t help but feel that this was a better way for Shea to go out than any other scenario had the Mets made the post-season. They would have had the ceremony, but it would NOT have been the last game. The last game could be Game 3 or 4 of the NLDS or NLCS or even the WS and maybe the Mets win? They could then go lose in Chicago or Philly and we wouldn’t know that was the last game until days afterward. They could lose at Shea and be eliminated in the play-offs and the last pitch would be from some other team’s reliever! F that. At least we know THIS was the end. And the fans who attended this last game were real fans, not corporate assholes paying $200 a ticket for a post-season game. And they sent the place out with a fitting tribute. End of story.
It’s just weird. The franchise isn’t going away. The team isn’t moving more than 20 feet away from Shea. But somehow it’s still so very sad. I have a thousand memories of that place for the hundred(?), two hundred(?) times I’d been there. I walked on the field 3 times. I got hit in the head by a goal post on that field. I urinated on the magic hat and outfield wall. Gary Carter almost drove me over in the driveway leaving the players parking lot. I went to Opening Day less than 3 weeks after double hernia surgery. I went to a game on crutches 2 weeks after being run over by a forklift. It’s the only stadium I’ve ever been thrown out of. I could go on and on…
I’ve wondered for the last 3 years or so how I would feel the day they close Shea. Now I know. Only the Mets could make me cry on a day the Jets score 56 points.
P on the PP
Five Weeks of PPP to Discuss!
WEEK 1
 Dios Mio, Ocho Cinco! By now you would think that I would have formed a definite opinion on Chad Johnson and all his crazy antics. Part of me wants to hate him and wish he'd just go away, but the other side of me thinks some of his antics are pretty darn funny and really, what's the harm in trying to bring a little fun back into the NFL (No Fun League)? Players who know him say he's a really good guy and is just looking to have some laughs. I can't fault him for that. It's easy to lump him in with many of these "Look at me, aren't I wonderful?" types of players. Terrell Owens and his "I love me some me" attitude, on the other hand, is just plain obnoxious to me. While Chad is just trying to make us laugh, T.O. is trying to get us to notice and acknowledge his self-proclaimed greatness. For me, there's a big difference between these two, even though a thin line separates them. Is that contradictory? Oh well. Call me a contradick.
So we asked the question of Chad's name change decision; Is he a nut? Or a marketing genius? If you focus on the fact that "Ocho Cinco" literally says "Eight Five" in Spanish, not "Eighty-Five" ("Ochenta y cinco"), then yes, he's completely nuts. If you consider that all those morons out there with a Chad "Johnson" jersey will have to go get an "Ocho Cinco" jersey, then yes, he's a marketing genius. However, it is proving that he is actually a marketing moron. Read this article that I found on-line this week:
There have been no concrete developments in the ongoing saga of Chad Ochocinco since the NFL stepped in on Sunday and prevented the receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson from wearing a jersey sporting his new legal surname.
The issue is the NFL’s contractual commitment to Reebok, and whether Johnson will pay the production costs for the unsold inventory of “C. Johnson” jerseys.
Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com suggests that, for a player of Johnson’s stature, the number will be in range of $500,000.
In 2007, Raiders receiver Jerry Porter was told that he couldn’t change his number from 84 to 81 without forking over $210,000 to cover the costs of unsold jerseys. Last week, rookie linebacker Keith Rivers bought the unsold inventory of jerseys with his prior number (58) so that he could change to his desired number, 55.
We’re still amazed by the fact that the NFL has allowed one of its partners to contractually foist these expenses onto the league and its players. Then again, since the ultimate bill is paid by the players, maybe the league didn’t really care.
One group about which no one seems to care are the folks who bought the jerseys that become worthless. Though Reebok got its money back for the Keith Rivers jerseys bearing a number that he’s no longer wearing, that kid in Georgetown who used his paper route money to buy a “Rivers 58″is now screwed.
In Johnson’s case, the irony is that his offseason antics surely prompted sales of his jersey to drop, meaning that there are more of the unsold items in stock than there would have been if he’d not launched a relentless campaign to be traded.
So now the question is whether the notoriously cheap Chad Johnson will fork over the money necessary to become Chad Ocho Cinco. Meanwhile, we doubt that the supply of jerseys bearing his former name will be shrinking.
This revelation is shocking to me. That the league forces players who change their numbers to pay for the remaining unsold jersey's bearing their old numbers. That's ludicrous! What about players who get traded? What about all the left-over Packers #4 jersey's? Is Brett paying for all those? How stupid is this? As a fan, you buy a jersey of a player and hope he doesn't get traded, retire, change his number, or have his team pull a uniform change within a year or two and then you've wasted $100 on a worthless jersey. If any of those things happen, your screwed, oh well. Can we then sell those out-dated jersey's back to Reebok or Nike or whoever? Of course not, so why should the player be responsible for the short-sightedness of the manufacturer and/or the fan? (As long as we're on the subject, ever wonder how a team can have "World Champions" t-shirts 2 minutes after they win? Obviously they are printed up before the game for both teams. Does the losing team have to pay for the one's that aren't used? Of course not. Most of the time, those unused shirts get donated to third-world countries.)
Now that I've gone completely off topic, let's get back to the results of the poll, and your Opening Week comments...
25 people said: He's Nuts!
12 people said: He's a Marketing Genius!
Roy: Ocho-Cinco is genius but not for marketing - he's just a free spirit and I appreciate that. Heck, I wrote a song about the guy (ask Ken D.). Sorry to everyone who took Buffalo this week. I originally had Seattle and changed my pick which is a sure sign of bad luck. Yeah Favre! Yeah Jets!
Jeff Vanek: Hello everybody, nice to be back in the easy chair, with some cold beverages, and football happenings. As for Chad Johnson, send up here to Detroit so somebody can shoot his @ss.
Wouter: The guy is a complete fool, but still fun to watch!!
Angelo: The change has nothing to do with dementia or money! He finally met his long lost father who happens to be Latino.
Tom Schwade: Of course eighty-five is "ochenta y cinco" not "ocho cinco". But he is playing to the latin market.
Bob Shupp: Welcome to the season everybody! Tropical Storm Hannah barreled through the northeast last night, leaving nothing than the bluest skies you'll ever see with plenty of sunshine today - perfect weather for staying in to watch NFL football!
I have to admit I am worried with the Jets match up today against our former leader who the Jets kicked to the curb and had to join the enemy. It's a perfect situation for him to exact revenge. Favre is a Jet (go figure) and today is his debut - could it be more exciting? Pray for a Jets win. We've got New England next week, followed by a trip to SD. WE HAVE TO WIN.
Thanks again to Roy and Ralph for putting this thing together for so many of us to enjoy. Modest goal this year: Break even. Cheers!
Pete Blasevick: Fellow pickers, In order to return to my championship form of 2006, I have assembled a small but powerful group of Far Eastern mystics in addition to one ancient Mayan shaman in order to aid me in my pigskin prophesying. The mystics are rather quiet and so far tend to keep to themselves, but the shaman's name is Woolworth Gladhand IX, and, let me assure you, he has already proved to be nothing less than the life of the party. Gramps
Mike Cianculli: This year, I suck no more ... probably suck just about the same as last year.
Danny Andren: good luck!!! good to be back
Beth Wong: I'm sooo ready for some football!
Dave Schwade: "Some meeeeellionaire dropped the ball!" What a spectacular line. I know far less about football this season than at any other time in my life. Which is saying a lot. So, I expect to be absolutely mediocre this year and loving it.
And my favorite comment of the week...
Mike Carothers: Ocho Homo
WEEK 2
Excuse me if I shed no tears for their loss, but now that New England has
lost Tom Brady for the season,
just how successful will they be this season?
14 said "No Play-offs"
25 said "Lose in Play-offs"
00 said "Super Bowl bound"
A few games into the non-Tom Brady season of 2008 have proven that the Patriots can still win games. But it's also shown that this is NOT the same team without Brady. They squeaked past the Jets, got completely out-coached by the Dolphins, and after a bye week, managed to get past San Francisco in a close game. We still have a long way to go before we know who is right and who is wrong on this prediction, but one thing is certain; no one of us think they will make it to the Super Bowl this year.
WEEK 3
Time to get serious.
I'm considering NOT posting spreads until Saturday, for two reasons:
1) to avoid any confusion on what the point spreads are.
2) it makes things easier on me when collecting the picks.
I know there are many of you who submit picks prior to the weekend, would this change hurt you?
33 said "No, it doesn't matter to me"
7 said "Yes, please post the games before Saturday"
As you may realize by now, after much thought and discussion, we've decided to start making Thursday the official spread posting day. This basically solves every issue I have with the official posting day. Thursday night gives everyone who likes to make picks on Friday the opportunity to do that. It also removes the concept of some people picking with one spread and others with another. A Wednesday posting day is too early in the week because of injuries and at least two teams playing on Monday night and the spread for those teams' next game(s) relies on what occurs on Monday night. By Thursday, Vegas usually has a good handle on the spreads for each game. Of course, come November, we will have a Thursday night game every single week which will screw up my method of collecting picks if some people just pick that game, while some pick every game (I still have to figure a way around that one). So from here on, I'm going to post spreads once on Thursday (or Friday if I'm lazy) and that will be it. No changes. I think that will satisfy everyone.
Comments:
Ken Davis: Ralph, this is a no-brainer. Post the picks on Wednesday and don't change them!! Quit moving the spreads, I talked to you about this before. Nobody moves spreads after posting them.
We've been at odds with Ken on this topic for years now, and he's right when he suggests the spreads be written in stone when posted and not changed. We compromised on your idea and went with a Thursday cut-off instead of Wednesday. Cool? :-)
Mikey Joyce: Ralph, as always, thank you for your great work to keep FBH going! I prefer the games posted before Saturday (I sometimes like to pick on Fridays before a busy weekend), but I can live with the postings on Saturday. Don't inconvenience yourself over this. Besides, it is maddening when a spread swings and you lose on a pick you thought was a winner on an early spread (I think this happened to one of my picks this last weekend). Again, thanks to you and Roy for your work on FBH. It sure makes my Fall Sundays more enjoyable. -Mikey (THE Bob Shupp of the Midwest)
As if we needed further confirmation on the two main issues at hand here, Mikey says it all. It's nice to be able to make picks before the weekend, and it sucks when the spread moves on you when you weren't looking. Both problems solved.
Dave Schwade: I need the early spreads because I use a complex formula of the differential between early and final spreads multiplied by the number of FBH weekly pickers divided by the standard deviation of the mean root square of the average time to pick to determine which hand I use to flip the coin Sunday morning for each pick.
Pete Blasevick: I would actually RATHER you not post spreads until Saturday... seems neater. Unless of course there are Thursday games, then post them on Wed/Thu and update on Sat.
Beth Wong: Just post the spreads when they are available and don't update them. You are picking based on the spread -- so the actual value doesn't matter as long as you know what it is. It's worse when you change the spread and folks have made picks based on the original number posted.
Roy Bunting: As long as whatever is posted is tentative until we make it official, it shouldn't be an issue.
Alas, Roy has now learned that it IS an issue, and agreed with me on our compromise solution.
WEEK 4
When will the Raiders fire Head Coach Lane Kiffin?
How many games does he have left?
:
7 said "1 or 2"
6 said "3 or 4"
7 said "More than 4 but not all 16"
10 said "He'll last the entire season"
As we now know, the correct answer was "1 or 2". Lane Kiffin was fired from the Raiders a day or so after this question arose. His firing spurred a most entertaining 45 minutes of Al Davis using the last existing "overhead projector" during his long-winded press conference, in which he called Lane Kiffin a "liar" about a dozen times. (One reporter said he heard Al afterward ask a colleague, "...did I call him a liar often enough?")
The Raiders organization is a complete joke. Why Al Davis hired this 32-year old kid (yes, I can call him a "kid") in the first place is beyond me. For weeks, Kiffin has talked about how he has no contact with Davis, how Davis and the Defensive Coordinator handle the Defense and that Kiffin is not even allowed in Defensive meetings, making the whole thing seem very strange. But now Davis says all that is bullsh*t and that Kiffin is a complete liar. Who to believe? My money is on Kiffin.
The Raiders have a record of, like, 20-80 since losing the Super Bowl to former head coach Jon Gruden who fled to Tampa the year before. Their best fans are pathetic, costume-wearing halloween wannabe's who seem more interested in getting on TV than actually watching the games. They were once a team who welcomed the type of players no other team would want, but even Randy Moss fled the minute his contract was up. And recently, Warren Sapp has come out and said that Al Davis used to try to call plays from the press box and even tried to change a defensive game plan in mid-game. Sapp tells anyone asking his opinion to avoid playing for Oakland at all costs. Seems like good advice.
Al Davis gets a lot of credit for helping to shape what is now the NFL. As an AFL owner, he was a major force in the NFL agreeing to the merge in the late 60's. His Raiders were among the league's elite teams in the late 60's thru the 70's. But he has also single-handedly destroyed what was once a great franchise. Sadly, only his passing will allow them to become great again.
Comments:
Wouter van Zutphen: Al Davis is the biggest idiot who should be fired!!
Dave Schwade: Who is Lane Kiffin and why should I care? But, I still think he'll last the year.
Ron Hade: Who cares about Lane Kiffin?
Name Not Given: Who?
WEEK 5
Who will be the last team to remain undefeated?
8 said "Buffalo Bills (4-0)"
12 said "Tennessee Titans (4-0)"
13 said "N.Y. Giants (3-0)"
Well, the Bills lost to Arizona, a team the Jets scored 56 points on a week ago. So Buffalo is now 4-1. Tennessee and the Giants both won their games Sunday, so at 5-0 and 4-0 they are the last of the unbeaten's. How ironic if this year the Giants go 18-0 and lose in the Super Bowl! (Side note: it was nice to see Seattle finally get their asses kicked at The Meadowlands on Sunday. Lord know the Jets could never do it.)
Comments:
Roy Bunting: Giants have three [should be] wins coming up then a tough stretch. If Buffalo gets past SD in week 7, they could keep the streak going for a while.
Wouter van Zutphen: NY can have a good run till week 8 and 9 ,they then play the steelers and dallas
Dave Schwade: How could I be in second place? I know far less about football now than I did when I was the perennial Dane winner. Wait for the fall.
Eric Honcoop: [Titans] 16-0 !!! [Note: We know Mark van Miltenburg is a Titans fan, can we assume the same of Eric?]
Extra
Points
Fastest 3 minutes in Football Happenings
In the "You know you have serious issues when..." department: News surfaced today that oft-suspended defensive back for the Cowboys, Pacman Jones, has caused some trouble again. He's got a history of getting involved in fights in nightclubs and such, and so the Cowboys assigned a 24-hour bodyguard for the WBC-wannabe to keep him from fighting strangers.
So what happens? He gets into a fight with his bodyguard! You can't make this stuff up. Of course, since the bodyguard is an employee of the team, he won't press charges and the Cowboys will be busy keeping this story quiet in an effort to avoid another suspension for the Pac-man. Next stop for the Cowboys, Chris Henry. Too bad Lawrence Phillips finally got convicted of something and is sitting in prison.
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