Newsflash

Ohhhhhh, so that is the team website. It really does exist!!!

Oops

I've added EMU to the links list. I don't know how I forgot an athletic program that has the pride and history of Eastern's. My mistake.

No Dap for EMU

You have to be kidding me. I look over at the links for teams and no EMU love. The Chips? Is Bader paying you to keep that on the webpage?

Come on A.D. Bill Martin, send another (frightening) email to the students

I can only say it tongue in cheek as to how "proud" I am of the Michigan student section and how "successful" they were at trying to prove...well, that they were pissed and the officals were going to the replay (because they are allowed to) to get the call right. I completely forgot to mention that part in the previous post. The officals got the calls right. It was quite obvious to see. Hats off to the stripes for being 2-0 on replays. I also forgot to mention tongue in cheek how "good" of a job they did making the T.V. announcers shout louder so we all couldn't hear the infamous "bulls**t...bulls**t...bulls**t chant from the students. However, I've never joined in to such tomfoolery (dang, I should have used the term monkey business instead). I simply saw a loose marshmallow under my seat, bent over, picked it up, and threw it into the wind and it miraculously hit the zebra. The box score would read: 1 throw, 1 hit (1-1), 1.000.

Late for Class

I would like to thank Haag for freely admitting that Michigan fans are a bunch of shaved orangutans who can only be expected to fling their own crap when upset. The vaunted wolverine superiority, attaining new heights, striving for excellence. At this rate we will soon be able to teach them sign language and finger painting. I can only assume that Haag believes that officials should not try to make the right call so they don't upset the delicate sensibilities of smashed frat-boys.

"Class" certainly was in session

For anyone who didn't see trash coming on the field before they uttered the word "replay" has either been naive about drunk college students or has never watched Michigan on T.V. at home. The fact the play was in the middle of the student section was enough to know what was going to happen...both times. Classless, yup. Expected, absolutely! Remember, this is coming from a guy who once hit a sideline judge (standing on the goal line) in the back with a marshmallow against MSU on Oct. 14, 2000. Memo to Big Ten officials: Do not call for a reply when in the corner of the student section at the Big "Quiet" House. I mean come on, you can't get into the student section without a bag of marshmallows errr a student I.D.

Class

Yesterday, two examples of not having class really stood out. First, a large number of Michigan fans at the Big House. Your team chokes every time it gets in the red zone and fails to score. What's your response? Throw garbage onto the field. Waaah! That'll show those refs for going to replay and making the right call.

The second is Reagan Mauia of Hawaii. With nine minutes left in the game, he drills his helmet into Drew Stanton's thigh for a late hit, obviously trying to injure him. He then gets up and celebrates with his teammates, tapping heads with them, after the flag has been thrown. He also runs around the field and antagonizes the crowd, flapping his arms. June Jones doesn't take him out of the game. On the next play he gets flagged for a personal foul for ripping of Spartan guard Kyle Cook's helmet. He finally gets sat down. That's the kind of team Hawaii is. MSU should cancel their 2007 date with them, and no one else should play Hawaii if it can be avoided.

Good Prediction

You know, it's nearly impossible to predict the exact score of a football game. The New York Times tried it for a couple of years, and I'm pretty sure they didn't a score exactly right once. So how'd I do in my first try?


Predicted Score: 31-20 Patriots
Actual Score: 30-20 Patriots
Predicted Stats: Moss 1 TD, Dillon 2 TDs
Actual Stats: Moss 5 rec, 130 yds, 1 TD; Dillon 23 car, 63 yds, 2 TDs

One blocked PAT away from having every prediction right! Now you see why it's so hard. Maybe I'll make more predictions later.

Chinese Bamboo Tree

In the Lions '05 Preview, writer Nicholas J. Cotsonika relates the follwing story told my Coach Steve Mariucci at the Lions' kickoff luncheon:

It went something like this: A man planted a seed for a Chinese bamboo tree, and he watered and fertilized it every day. After a year, he had nothing. Undaunted, he kept watering and fertilizing. After two years, he still had nothing. Three years passed. Four years passed. Still nothing.

But the fifth year, he was rewarded with a Chinese bamboo tree, 90 feet tall.

"That's a story about us," Mariucci said. "We are like a Chinese bamboo tree. The Chinese bamboo tree is going to grow 90 feet, and it's going to grow this year."

It's a great sentiment. But is it realistic? The NFC North shouldn't be a tough division this year: the Vikings will likely be very good, but the Packers are a team on its way down, and the Bears are starting a rookie QB and are weak on offense. It shouldn't be that difficult to secure 2nd place in the division. After that, who knows? Anyone with a little knowledge of football can see that the Lions have all the pieces they need to make a playoff run if they come together, or be a failure if they don't. So, take your pick: optimism or pessimism.

The Detroit News also has their preview up. It's a similar mix of "Gosh, the team seems like they should be good, and it's about time, but..." They also have a cool depth chart picture, reproduced here:


Only Sunday will provide the answers.

Thursday Night Prediction

Tonight the Patriots and Raiders kick-off the 2005 NFL season. The game starts at 9pm, don't be fooled by ABC telling you 8 for all that celebration crap. I mean, go ahead and watch Kanye West if you really want, but I'm ready for some football. For analysis of the game you can check out John Clayton's take or you can see what John Madden has to say (Boom, maybe?). My analysis: the Raiders have a great offense on paper, and likely will struggle on defense. The Pats can really score when they want, but their defense has some question marks starting the season. However, Belichick has had lots of time to scheme against the Raiders. Moss gets a TD, but Dillon gets two.

FINAL SCORE: Patriots 31, Raiders 20

For some reason I keep trying to type "Patritos". Maybe I should call the Pats that all season?

In other NFL news (sort of), ESPN has a poll on its front page about who will win Super Bowl XL. The choices: Panthers, Colts, Eagles, Patritos, and Other. At the time I'm writing this, Other is leading with 35.8% of 21,370 votes. I find that surprising, as those choices encompass almost every pick I've seen for Super Bowl champ.

Fight the Flood

I've seen lots of ways to donate money for hurricane relief efforts, but this might be the most notable: Bungie has made a t-shirt, the design of which you can see below, and all profits will be donated. It's cool to see the gaming community jump in to help, but a little strange to see the Master Chief involved.

ESPN Power Rankings

ESPN has released their Week 1 NFL Power Rankings. These are always fun, especially to check out at about week 10 or so and compare. You can also see their offseason rankings here. The Week 1 rankings look like this:

1. Patriots


2. Colts


3. Eagles


4. Vikings


5. Steelers


6. Falcons


7. Chargers


8. Ravens


9. Jets


10. Panthers


11. Broncos


12. Rams


13. Chiefs


14. Bills


15. Seahawks


16. Jaguars


17. Packers


18. Bengals


19. Cowboys


20. Saints


21. Cardinals


22. Texans


23. Raiders


24. Lions


25. Giants


26. Redskins


27. Titans


28. Buccaneers


29. Bears


30. Dolphins


31. Browns


32. 49ers

More Predictions

More NFL 2005 predictions, this time from Don Banks of SI. I'll skip to the good part:

• MVP: Daunte Culpepper, Minnesota, quarterback.
• Offensive player of the year: LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego, running back.
• Defense player of the year: Julius Peppers, Carolina, defensive end.
• Offensive rookie of the year: Matt Jones, Jacksonville, receiver.
• Defensive rookie of the year: Demarcus Ware, Dallas, defensive end.
• Coach of the year: John Fox, Carolina.
• Comeback player of the year: Steve Smith, Carolina, receiver.

Crystal Ball Time

ESPN has unveiled its expert picks for the 2005 NFL season. This is notable mostly for being able to point at them in January and say: "Boy, those guys are idiots." The Super Bowl favorites seem to be the Patriots, Colts, and Eagles. No love for the Lions in the NFC North; the Vikings are the unanimous pick to win the division. Just for kicks, I'll throw out my own fearless predictions, guaranteed or your money back:

AFC East: Patriots
AFC North: Ravens (The Steelers won't be good this year.)
AFC South: Colts
AFC West: Chiefs
AFC Wild Cards: Chargers, Jaguars

NFC East: Eagles
NFC North: Vikings (Sorry.)
NFC South: Panthers
NFC West: Seahawks (Better not burn me again.)
NFC Wild Cards: Rams, Lions (Heck, gotta have some optimism.)

AFC Champ: Colts
NFC Champ: Panthers

Super Bowl Champ: Colts (That's right, 2nd straight year.)

Coach: T. Dungy
MVP: P. Manning (If the Colts win, he has to be.)
Def. POY: J. Peppers (Curse you for taking him Haag!)
Off. POY: P. Manning (See above.)
Def. rookie: D. Ware
Off. rookie: C. Williams
Comeback POY: S. Smith

There you have it. Sure to be fun to look back and laugh at. UPDATE: Added Comeback Player of the Year, changed NFC Champion pick (backpedaling already!).

Links!

There are now links in the sidebar. It took some poking around in Blogger help, but they had all the info I needed. I've divided the links up into categories; hopefully they will be useful. If you have any suggestions for new categories or links, let me know.

Shooting The Moon

I am experimenting with a strategy that is, to my knowledge, unprecedented in fantasy football. Instead of spreading my bye weeks out so I would only have one or two players out in a week, I lined up the byes of the majority of my starters. By sacrificing one week, I have my best players in every other week. The off week happens to be in week 8, so Adam gets an easy win as I get clobbered. Obviously the success/failure of this season is still dependent largely on individual player performance, which is nigh impossible to predict. Should be an interesting season regardless. If it works though, I will declare myself ruler of all fantasy football. You are warned.

And yes, Bader does still and always will suck.

Lions News

See that guy in the picture? That's Kevin Johnson, Lions WR. That's also Kevin Johnson, Lions 3rd-string QB. Apparently, the Lions have decided to forego signing a QB while Garcia is out. As much as some fans malign Harrington, if he goes out, the Lions are finished. But there is some good news, Jeff Garcia's broken leg won't require surgery. That doesn't mean it will necessarily heal much faster, though.

Also, Bob Wojnowski at the Detroit News writes today about the possibility of Mariucci being in hot water if the Lions aren't successful this season. While I think a poor year from the Lions would have a lot to do with Mooch if it happens, would they really fire him? Who would they hire? The latest college flavor of the month coach? Maybe call up Marty Mornhinweg, see if he wants his old job back? Ooh, I'll bet you could convince Bobby Williams to leave Saban at Miami and come coach the Lions (shudder)!

Why Rebuild?

Andy and I have been talking about whether it is a good idea to rebuild New Orleans after all the damage that was done last week. Today, an article in the Washington Post by Klaus Jacob ask the same thing: "But should we rebuild New Orleans, 10 feet below sea level, just so it can be wiped out again?" Jacobs explores this question and some possible answers. Interesting reading.

Fantasy Draft Analysis

Well, the CCM 2005 Fantasy Football Draft has been completed. After a night to sleep on it, how do you feel about your team? My overall impression: everyone has got a pretty good team. I don't know that there is a clear cut favorite yet, the teams are balanced well. Having at least 7 out of 8 owners present made a big difference, and those that missed some picks had the autopick choose well for them. Some more thoughts:

Best Pick: Kevin got it started by denying Fritz a back-to-back Manning playoff run. If he's as good as he was last year, this might be the best pick. But, really, no pick stands out to me as being especially great. My favorite pick of my own? Lamont Jordan in round 10. If he performs well, he's a steal that late, if not, I've got good depth at the RB position.

Worst Pick: Excluding all the defensive players that are inactive or nobodies, I'd have to say Schott's pick of Hanson in round 5. The next kicker didn't come off the board until round 8. Definitely should have waited.

Surprises: The number of QBs that came off the board in rounds 3 & 4. That people didn't draft many kick and punt returning WRs, besides me. That Andy was somehow looking over my shoulder at my defensive player cheat sheet. Barrigar picking Vick in round 6 after selecting Bulger in round 4. That there are no clearly bad or really good teams.

Well, what do you guys think?

Greatest Of All-Time

Jerry Rice retired yesterday, ending a 20 year career that leaves him a sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer and possibly the greatest receiver to ever play in the NFL. He was also one of the few Tecmo Super Bowl players still active in the NFL. Rice decided to retire after Broncos coach Mike Shanahan informed him that he would not be the team's 3rd WR, relegating him to the bench or even special teams duty. Rice didn't want to play a 21st season on the bench. The 42-year-old Rice was a 1st round draft pick in 1985 from Mississippi Valley State. To quote the AP, Rice "leaves the field with 38 NFL records, including the most career receptions (1,549), yards receiving (22,895) and touchdowns receiving (197)." Sportscenter's "Did You Know" said yesterday that only 24 WRs have stats that match or are greater than the gap between Rice and second place. Rice has 3 Super Bowl rings and played in 13 Pro Bowls. You can read analysis from NFL.com, Gene Wojciechowski, and John Clayton at their respective links. Good luck to Rice in his future endeavours.