Fantasy Predictions

Let's just say it right now, it will be DoggiesThruTheEndzone in the championship game v Clobberin' Time. Adam, do you concur?

Power Rangers and Risk?

This morning I was doing my usual daily ritual of catching a little Power Rangers action while eating my cereal (Wait, did I actually just say I watched Power Rangers? What I meant was, my friend who watches the show told me...). Anyway, for the split-second I was channel surfing, more like the nanosecond it took for me to scroll through the channels from ESPN (ch. 24) to Kelly Kapowski, I mean Saved By The Bell (ch. 17), I happened to go past the Family channel on ch. 18. During the action/fighting sequence I was watching, I could hear the theme music to the computer game Risk being used as background fighting music to the show.

Yoda On Drums

Have you ever wanted to see Yoda play drums? Or Obi-Wan on the bass? Well, if your answer is yes, check out MTV2's Video Mods (Yes, I hate pointing you towards MTV anything, but this is too cool). If you want to read more about video mods, check out this Wired News article. You can also read about the two different Star Wars mods on the official Star Wars website here and here. All of it's pretty cool, though the MTV site doesn't work very well. If you just want to mess around with a flash Yoda on drums, check this out.

Mid-Season Awards

Since our fantasy football regular season is 13 weeks long week 7 marks the middle of the season. Time to hand out some awards. These are different than Pro Bowl picks, this is based completely on fantasy performance.

Top QB
Carson Palmer, 254.20 pts
Pretty good for a guy that wasn't even drafted in our league. That's right, we all had a shot to pick him up. Palmer has continued the progression he started at the end of last season and is quickly becoming a top QB. Expect more from him in the future.

Surprises: Drew Bledsoe and Mark Brunell are 2 guys that seemed washed up at the end of last season. Who would have expected them to be top10 fantasy QBs at this point in the season? Daunte Culpepper has been awful this season after putting up one of the best fantasy seasons ever last year.

Top RB
LaDainian Tomlinson, 168.80 pts
He's thrown for 2 TDs, caught another, and rushed for 10. He's the top back in the game, real or fantasy.

Surprises: Thomas Jones has been a valuable fantasy back. Kevin Jones hasn't.

Top WR
Steve Smith, 119.80 pts
Smith's re-emergence might be a surprise to some of you, though I thought it was going to happen. He was the top WR in Carolina before he got hurt and Muhammad took his spot, having a fantastic season. Why couldn't the original do the same?

Surprises: Randy Moss has not been a fantasy force. The Lions' WRs have been very mediocre.

Top TE
Antonio Gates, 68.60 pts
Gates may not be producing at quite the rate he was last year, but the Chargers aren't sneaking up on people anymore.

Surprises: Fantasy-wise, Tony Gonzales is barely better than Ernie Conwell.

Top K
Kickers don't matter. Moving on.

Top DB
Terrence McGee, 111.20 pts
You might expect Rossum here, but injuries have slowed him down. McGee claims the top spot by a significant margin.

Top DL
Zach Thomas, 84.00 pts

Vagabond
L.J. Smith, PHI TE. He's on his third fantasy team this season.

Best Move
DoggiesThruTheEndzon picking up Carson Palmer on Sept. 18th. Top QB and he didn't even cost a draft pick.

Worst Move
KindaHypeThatlClrARm dropping Antonio Gates on Sept. 23rd. He sat out the first week for a suspension and then went right back to being the Top TE. Oops.

Most Surprising Team
Trade teams anyone?, 1-6. Kevin looked to have a strong team coming into the season, but it just hasn't come together. He's scored a league-low 845.80 pts.

NES Top 10

In no particular order:

• Super Mario Bros.
• Duck Hunt
• Tecmo Super Bowl
• Metroid
• Mega Man 2
• Final Fantasy
• Battletoads
• Legend of Zelda
• Contra
• Mario 3

With the exception of Mario, I only listed what I considered to be the iconic game of the series. I just couldn't leave off the killer app that moved NES consoles so many years ago, even though 3 was a superior game.

That's it, that's the list!

Here's my NES top 10 list:

10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II
9. Battletoads
8. Final Fantasy
7. Super Mario Bros. 2
6. Super Dodge Ball
5. Super C
4. Mega Man 2
3. Tecmo Super Bowl
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
1. Contra

Honorable Mention:
RBI Baseball, Duck Hunt, Kung Fu, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Double Dribble.

For more opinions check out 1UP.com's Top 15 NES games and Hidden Gems.

My Eyes!

Hard on the eyes: Va. Tech's home uniforms. Are these the worst football uniforms ever? That's saying a lot, just look at the Bengals, but I don't think these work at all. One orange shoulder? A crime against all respectable football uniforms.

Easy on the eyes: Erin Andrews. Is there a more attractive sideline reporter working right now? I'm just sayin'. Plus, she does both football and baseball. What more could you ask for?

Haag's Top 10 NES Games

1. Tecmo Super Bowl
2. Contra
3. Super Mario Brothers
4. Super Mario Brothers 3
5. R.B.I. Baseball (I don't know which one, just whichever was at Adam's cottage.)
6. Super Contra
7. Tecmo Bowl
8. Little League Baseball
9. Sky Shark
10. I don't know, as you can tell. I don't own many games and once I found Tecmo Super Bowl, no need to play any other games nor buy any.

Lions Talk & Blogging

Check out this blog post from blogger "Uncle Miltie". It was on Scout.com and pretty well sums up a lot of my feelings about Sunday's Lions game. It should be noted I didn't actually see any of the game.

In other news, Haag's gone blogging crazy. Awesome. To add to the TSB stories, I'll note that the last time I played I became so frustrated that I threw the controller (careful, it's an antique!) on the floor so hard it caused the Nintendo to freeze. Yikes. Also, I'm not sure TSB is better than Contra. One of the top 5 games on the NES certainly, but better than Mad Dog and Scorpion? That's it, poll time: top 10 NES games. Discuss.

Score one for the good guys

Yes, I realize I'm going blog-posting-nuts with a gazillion blogs posted in a 1 hour time span, but I might as well while things are rolling. I'm even incorporating links and pics! But, back to the title of the post. Last Wednesday I was traveling to...a friends house around the Marlette area and a cat just so happened to run in front of my 60 mph, 22 inch rims, 14-inch treads with my dash oaked out, my twin 20's in the trunk, rollin' down the street goin' thump, thump, thump. Hey, I didn't swirve or speed up to hit the kitty cat, I just didn't swirve to miss or slow down either. Oops. Remember, have your cats squashed or vaporized. Chalk one up for the good guys.

This goes out to the Tecmo clones

I hope all the fans of Tecmo Super Bowl can appreciate this...

A few weeks ago I decided to get back into playing the best Nintendo game ever made, even better than the Contras. This is the original Nintendo gaming system. Well, last week I had one of those rare games...a close game with the computer. Side note, a few days before I played this game, I challenged a 9-year old to a game of Tecmo. I let him pick my team. He was the Giants, I was the 2nd player with the Jets. Short story, it was a bunch of crap and I lost 10-7. So, I had to play a rematch. Same teams, this time I won, 17-14. Yahoo! I beat a 9-year old!!!

September 19, 2005:
NFC Championship Game
Phoenix Cardinals v San Fransisco 49ers

We'll pick things up at halftime with the score 3-21 in favor of the bad guys. Side note, I threw an INT to Ronnie Lott (on a blitzed play) who returned it 50 yards to the house for a TD. I don't think that has ever happened to me in my illustrious Tecmo career. Bunch of crap.

3rd QT: I received the kickoff to start the second half. After driving downfield, I fumbled on the 49er 40-yd line. I forced the 49ers to punt and drove to score a quick TD. 10-21 with 1:00 remaining in 3rd quarter. After stopping the 49ers on 3 straight plays, I forced a punt just 3 seconds before the quarter ended and returned the punt to the 49er 45-yd line.

4th QT: 10-21. With good field position and plenty of game time, I unfortunately threw an INT. San Fran used the turnover for a quick TD. 10-28 with 3:55 remaining in the 4th quarter. After receiving the kickoff, I scored a quick TD on an 80-yd bomb to Ernie Jones. (I don't know who he is either.) 17-28 with 2:50 left in 4th. Forced with a decision to kick deep into the endzone and play defense for another punt or kick an onside kick and hope to recover, I chose to kick on-side and recoved the ball. I immediately scored on the next play to Ricky Proehl for a 45-yd TD pass. 24-28 with 2:12 to go. Looking like a goner, trailing 10-28, now I have new life. After a deep kickoff into the enzone to play defense, I gave up a long TD run by Roger Craig. 24-35 with 0:55 in the game remaining. Looks like I'm a goner. After a deep 49er kickoff on the 10-yd line, I threw a 90-yd TD bomb to whoelse?...Ernie Jones as the final 25 seconds expired. I lost.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Cardinals 3 0 7 21 31
49ers 7 14 0 14 35

So what did I do? Well, like any sore loser...I reset the game and kicked their butt the next time.

Update: I'm now playing a season with the Colts and I lost my second game. Dang you Jeff George. But I'm 4-1.

So Billy, what did you do this summer?

I played with fire.

In case you forgot

This is what New York used to look like.

The Day We've All Been Waiting For

For those that missed it, tonight was the WNBA lottery draw. If any of you oddsmakers were in Vegas for the weekend to get in on the action to see who would get the highly coveted #1 pick in the 2006 WNBA draft, the Minnesota Lynx won the fifth annual WNBA Draft Lottery. Click here for a complete recap of the Lottery. Make sure you are a subscriber to "Insider" so you can get all the inside scoops of your favorite WNBA teams...Dang, I didn't realize my tongue was so pointy and might punch a hole through my cheek.

Room for one more?

Looking at your list of blogs on the left side of page, how could you leave out Dave Bossick's blog? I mean, where else would I go for my complete MHSAA football playoffs bracket to fill out?

By the way Dave, stop in and see me sometime.

Sincerely,

A dentist

"This day keeps gettin' better 'n better."

The Lions won on the field today, but lost a chunk of their roster. Kevin Johnson sustained an Achilles injury that will end his season. They also lost Shaun "Big Baby" Rogers to an MCL injury and Dre Bly to a dislocated wrist. Both of them will surely miss significant time. Ouch.

.500

The Lions, with Jeff Garcia at QB, beat Cleveland 13-10 this afternoon. Is this the start of a turnaround? Well, Garcia had a solid game, didn't turn the ball over, rushed for a TD, and managed to find rookie WR Mike Williams. However, despite 3 Cleveland turnovers, the Lions only managed 1 TD. Not the most encouraging signs for the Lions. Not to mention the questions about what to do next at QB; at 35 Garcia isn't a long-term solution. Fun times ahead.

Re: Sparty Jones

Looks like it's dog food time. Somebody get my gun.

Sparty Jones

On College Gameday they just compared the competition for the Big Ten title to a horse race. An apt analogy after looking at the standings. Just one thought: if Sparty Jones doesn't pick up the pace today, he's dog food.

Quote of the Week

A little background, if you haven't heard, Athletic Director Nathan Haag is cleaning house in the coaching department at Owen-Gage. We have an opening in Baseball, Softball, Varsity Volleyball, JV Volleyball, and JV Boys Basketball. Well, there was an interested individual who called me on the celly yesterday seeking more info on the positions:

Caller (Male): Hi, I'm calling about the volleyball positions.

AD: Yup, we have two positions open.

Caller: Yes, I was wondering what you are looking for, as experience.

AD: Preferrably someone who has coached something before, especially volleyball.

Caller: Well, I don't have any experience in coaching anything, but I have driven the bus for the volleyball team and watched all their games.

AD: Well, I've been to a lot of Michigan football games, but I don't think I could replace Lloyd Carr.

Tune in to my next post about an Instant Classic Tecmo Super Bowl game between the Phoenix Cardinals (yes, Ricky Proehl is on that team) v the 49ers for the NFC Championship.

What to do about Joey?

Is there any hope left for Joey Harrington? It seems the coaching staff has given up him, though not officially yet. Garcia is getting closer to coming back, and it's hard to believe Mariucci won't bench Joey when Jeff's ready to go. How bad is Harrington right now? Look at the NFL qualified leader passer stats here. Look at QB rating. Don't see Joey's name? Scroll down. Keep going. That's it. Almost there. At the bottom? Bingo. League-worst at 55.6. Lower than Kyle Orton or J.P. Losman. If you go by all players, it's not much better. So, is there a chance of a Brees-esque turnaround? Or is Joey Harrington the next Charlie Batch? Maybe it's a good thing he's a concert-level pianist, because he may need the work.

Hull Retires

Brett Hull announced his retirement yesterday, ending a 19-year career in which he scored 741 goals, third best all-time. Only Wayne Gretzky (894) and Gordie Howe (801) scored more than Hull. He lead the league in scoring 3 times and won two Stanley Cups, one with Dallas in '99 and, of course, with the Wings in '02. Hull said: "I am very proud of what I have accomplished in my career, but at 41, I felt that it was time to move on." I wonder if being coached by Gretzky made 41 feel older than it did before?

Ruminations on Saturday

Some thoughts on the college football action from yesterday:

1. Earlier in the season, a commentator said during one of MSU's games that State had a different attitude this season because Drew Stanton's attitude had effected the entire team. After the Michigan and Ohio State games we can be sure that was nonsense. They're still the same old mentally weak Spartans. OSU did not deserve to win that game, yet MSU still goes home with a loss. The coaches and the players can do better. Don't even get me started on that field goal.

2. Stanton is the Big Ten's best quarterback.

3. How awful was Penn State's defense on the last play of the game? You think you'd want to cover the WRs on an obvious pass play.

4. I don't know how it can be true, but Penn State is for real.

5. Going back to our discussion about polls, they're just about worthless. Penn State was ranked #8, yet was still and underdog to unranked Michigan. That was an accurate assessment doesn't matter, if you really believe a team is #8 they shouldn't be underdogs to an unranked team. If they are, don't put them at #8. It's not really that complicated.

6. How gutsy is Matt Leinart? Wow.

7. Notre Dame is for real. See #4 above.

Classic Uniforms

Adding to what was posted earlier, I'm going to list some of my favorite classic college football uniforms. I'm leaving out Big Ten teams, since with the exception of Northwestern they all wear classic unis. I'll admit Michigan deserves some special recognition for being recognizable, even if they didn't invent the helmet pattern.

No particular order:

1. USC: Like the colors, the name, and the pattern.
2. Texas: Always liked that color, Longhorns is a great monkier.
3. Notre Dame: It doesn't get much more classic than ND, unless you're...
4. Navy: ND's uniforms were originally Navy castoffs. How strange is that?

Unfavorite classics:
1. Nebraska: Hate that N.
2. LSU: Ugly letters, ugly cat.

Rise of the Robots?

In a 132-mile race across the Mojave Desert sponsored by DARPA(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), four robots managed to cross the finish line. This is especially impressive since last year when the race was run, none of the robots made it more than a few miles before being thwarted by the desert landscape. The winner gets a $2 million prize which will be used for further research. The goal: autonomous military ground vehicles. So, how far are we away from war-fighting robots? And are we prepared for their inevitable revolt?

Best Uniforms

Who has the best uniforms in college football? This question came to mind last night when, during the Syracuse vs. Connecticut game, Rece Davis said the Connecticut uniforms were awful. I happen to like them a lot, possibly because they use the same font as one of my favorite movies. Anyway, here's a look:


So what are the top 10, 20, or whatever uniforms in college football? Old or new school, classic or modern. I'll probably post more later, but I think Connecticut has one of my favorite modern uniforms.

Quotes

I can't think of anything interesting to write, and I'm bored, so I'm going to post quotes from random sources as I see fit. To start with, quotes from the TV show Firefly:

Serenity, Part 1 & 2
1. Mal: "We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so...very...pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

2. Wash: "Everything looks good from here... (beat...playing with plastic dinosaurs over his console) Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive."
(as Stegosaurus) "We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... 'This Land'."
(as T-Rex) "I think we should call it...your grave!"
(Stegosaurus) "Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
(T-Rex) "Ha ha HA! Mine is an evil laugh...now die!"

3. Mal: "I'm in a tricky position, I guess you know. Got me a boatload of terribly strange folk making my life a little more interesting than I generally like, chief among them an Alliance mole. Likes to shoot at girls when he's nervous. Now I got to know how close the Alliance is, exactly how much you told them before Wash scrambled your call. So... I've given Jayne here the job of finding out."
Jayne: "He was non-specific as to how."
Mal: "Now you only gotta scare him."
Jayne: "Pain is scary..."
Mal: "Just do it right."

4. Simon: "I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can... How do I know you won't kill me in my sleep?"
Mal: "You don't know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed."
Simon: "Are you always this sentimental?"
Mal: "Had a good day."

The Train Job
1. Mal: "Well, they tell ya: never hit a man with a closed fist. But, it is on occasion hilarious."

2. Inara: (pissed) "What did I say to you about barging into my shuttle?"
Mal: "That it was manly and impulsive?"
Inara: "Yes, precisely. Only the exact phrase I used was 'don't'."

3. Mal: "Well, you're holding my mechanic in thrall. And Kaylee, what the hell's goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?"

4. Jayne: "Time for some thrillin' heroics."

Bushwhacked
1. Zoe: "Proximity alert. Must be coming up on something."
Wash: (alarmed) "Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!?" (deadpan) "Oh right, that would be me. Back to work."

2. Jayne: "Tell you what I think. I think that fellow we ran into did everyone on board, killed them all, then decided to take a swim through space, see how fast his blood would boil out of his ears."
Wash: "You're a very 'up' person."

3. Simon: "Oh yes, he's a real beast. It's a wonder you're still alive."
Jayne: "Looked bigger when I couldn't see him."

Notre Dame, Yankees, Lakers, Cowboys, Duke, etc...they're all the same

Adam, I hear ya on that unrelated note. Not only that, but I think Sportscenters Sunday night edition (yesterday) was at least the 3rd time I've seen Sportscenter dedicate a segment of the show about how Coach Weiss made the play call in the endzone for the dying kid with cancer. It's a great story. I get that. I don't need to see it every weekend. I get it. He's dying. He has cancer. You could have thrown an INT or been sacked. I get it. You've already showed us the story, the play, the interview with the coach...last weekend! Great. Awesome. I don't need to keep hearing it. This has nothing to do with the kid. It's tragic what the boy is going through and I know that play call dedicated to him probably kept him mentally alive for a little longer. But Memo to ESPN: Stop giving blowjobs on Sportscenter to the Cowboys, Lakers, Duke, Yankees, and Notre Dame.

Trivia

Here's a "Did You Know?" for you: when was the last time brothers threw for over 250 yds and 4 TDs each on the same day? Has it ever happened before today? Peyton Manning went 20/27 for 264 and 4 TDs, Eli managed 19/35 for 296 and 4 TDs. That's unreal. Good genes.

Hail to the Victors

Okay, I have to give UM recognition for winning in OT again, 34-31. Did anyone else get the feeling no one wanted to win this game? UM gives the game away, then State gives it right back. Ugh. Michigan was much improved from the last few weeks, but I think Henne still has major question marks. He had an atrocius second half. And that was still against an MSU secondary that, frankly, sucks. Hart also ran well; UM loses the game if State doesn't give up those two long runs.

That said, MSU should have had this game. They had more opportunities to win, and they blew it. Dishing out blame:

1. Coaching staff: Poor play-calls in the 2nd half, especially near the goal line. MSU started playing conservative, and they weren't even up at that point. You're a passing team first. PASS. Play to win. Far too often this coaching staff pulls back, and the team always suffers for it. Also, the team came out tight which lead to 2 UM scores. Think maybe that made a difference? Hard to play in a 2 TD hole. Finally, if you put your kicker in a difficult position and he misses, don't blame him. And if you do and pull him, don't put him back in for OT. You've already fried his brainpan, of course he's going to miss.

2. Secondary: These guys just aren't very good. Opponents have seen how to beat MSU and they're going to be picked on constantly. Time to step it up.

3. Kicker: I put blame on the coaching staff, but you step on the field, you make the kick. No excuses (Granted, Goss isn't making any).

Coach Smith said: "It hurts real bad, and it should hurt. I hope the players feel it and I hope they don't forget the feeling." They better not forget, it just might teach them something.

On an unrelated note, is it just me or is EVERY Notre Dame game on national TV?

Free Pass

On college Gameday, Chris Fowler just said he wasn't sure the Spartans would let Kirk Herbstreit jump on the MSU bandwagon. Kirk responded by saying he had the Spartans ranked #6. Now, I'm sure Kirk has a multitude of sins in the past, not the least being a Buckeye QB, but I'll stick my hand out and pull him up on the bandwagon. He's got a free pass in my book.