Sunday Reflections

Some random thought on Sunday's NFL action:

- I doubt it signals a turnaround, but how great was it to see Harrington throw and Roy Williams catch 3 TDs? Now if only we could get Chuck in the endzone and off drugs, I might actually feel bad about missing so much Lions' action.

- 40-mph sustained winds at Chicago on Sunday. How cool is that? The long-snapper couldn't even get the ball to the punter in those winds. Field goals were ending up out of play, except, of course, for the one Nathan Vasher caught and took 108 yds for a record-breaking score. Why a 52-yd field goal was being attempted when the wind is gusting to 47-mph I can't even begin to explain.

- The craptacular NFC North posted 4 wins in 4 games on Sunday. Go figure.

- Did I just hear someone mention Jake Plummer for MVP?

- Shaun Alexander now has 17 TDs. He has 79 TDs in his 89-game career. Not bad.

- The Seahawks look good, but I'm not yet convinced they're better than the Panthers. Definitely not better than the Colts.

- As good as the Colts are, don't expect to see 16-0.

Old School Fantasy

If fantasy football was as popular when Barry Sanders played as it is now, how quickly would Barry be taken in the draft? #1? Top 5? Late first round? He was a guarantee to pick up 1500 yards rushing per season, but when it came to situations near the goal line, he didn't pick up those touchdowns, nor was he known to have great hands for receiving. If he was in our fantasy league, I think he'd probably be #7

I'm Sorry

So says T.O. in a statement read today. I don't think it makes a difference, but I'll give him some credit. I don't remember Keyshawn issuing an apology when he was Keyshawned (I like that phrase). Has he actually learned something? Probably not, but at least he's saying the right things.

The Lions Suck

So do the Spartans. There's not really much else to say.

Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude: to take pleasure from someone else's misfortune. I'm really feeling it now that T.O. went and got himself Keyshawned. Yes, according to Sportscenter, Keyshawn is now a verb. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy. The Eagles should have done this much sooner, like the preseason, but a least they've gotten around to making the tough decision. Owens will play again, but maybe, just maybe teams will be more aware next time. Unfortunately, this means we're sure to be exposed to Drew Rosenhaus in the coming weeks. Get out your Hazmat suits.

Why You Should Keep A Gun

Have you heard this story yet? A deer breaks into a house and the man kills the deer by breaking its neck with his bare hands. Granted, that's pretty cool, but it did take 40 minutes. A firearm would be much quicker. Or maybe a sword, though that's still messy. If you're into bludgeoning, you could go with a baseball bat. Or maybe just lock the deer in the room?

The Colts suck...in TSB

That's right, the C.O.L.T.S. (Count On Losing This Sunday) are terrible in TSB. I know, a real newsflash. I did however manage to win the Super Bowl. My final record was 14-2. I lost in week 2 to Miami and then week 16 to Buffalo, 0-34. I would have to say that was probably the worst loss ever in my career. Just to give you an example of how slow the defense is, there were a few occasions the opponent would score on the FIRST play of the game, usually a run. In fact, I gave up numerous TD runs of 80+ yards. But this is the biggest kick to the nuts: No matter what team I play with, by the end of the season, I've managed to return a kickoff for a TD. Especially if I have a team with a weak defense that will give up lots of scores allowing me more opportunities at a kickoff return. I was close, but got tackled at the 1-yd line. But that isn't the blow to the ego. It's the fact my players are so slow, I not only gave up 1 kickoff return for a TD, but 2!!! Mel Gray for the Lions and some Martin player for the freakin' New Endland-ugly uniformed-Patriots. If memory serves correct, I may have only given up one other kickoff return for a TD in my career. Now I gave up 2 in one season. Am I getting rusty?

Other fun facts on the never-ending-Colts-season:

Total Defense: 1st
Pass Defense: 1st
Rush Defense: Last

I also had a game where time was running out in the 2nd quarter and the opponent set up for a FG. I blocked the FG and the opponent recovered the ball. Since that was only 3rd down, the computer tried to set up for another FG but the clock expired as it scrolled to the "Field Goal" option.

In other non-Tecmo news, I played my dad in Chess last night and put him in Check after my second move. I don't play chess all that often, but I thinks that kinda fast.

Fantasy Football news:

In my other league (12 team league), the first place team (6-1) lost to the last place team (0-7). In that same week, my team was projected to get 56 points. My opponent was projected 92. A nice, projected, butt kicking. It turns out, I scored 84 and he scored 62. How do you like them apples?

Is it a good thing when your fantasy team only has 1 player still on the roster out of your first 10 picks?

More Yoda

Had your fill of Yoda on drums? How about Yoda dancing instead? Not as musically enjoyable as the last post, but there's much more of the little green dude.

RE: Fantasy Predictions

If I put on my commissioner hat and act as an impartial observer, I would have to say that Clobberin' Time, HorribleSpaceMonkies, and DoggiesThruTheEndzon are likely to be the last teams standing. I suspect one of the other teams in the league will make a late season/playoff run, probably The Sunday Suckas. The playoffs are tricky, you can rule a league all season, but one (or two) bad weeks can end it all. See the fantasy baseball league for a good example. This means I don't think I have any better than a 50/50 chance to win it all, despite already clinching a playoff berth. Anyway, the 4 teams I mentioned seem to me to have the best rosters; it's all a question of which guys have big games which weeks.

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.