13th Edition - 9/22/06

• Golf (Ryder Cup)

Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk won their opening match in the Ryder Cup, the rest of the Americans didn't. Europe is currently leading 2.5 - 1.5. And if you know what that means, most impressive. I'll be watching this weekend, but it's always an odd experience to watch golfers, high-fiving, hugging and cheering each other on. Golf doesn't equal team, unless of course you are drunk out on the course with three of your friends playing best ball and trying to win crappy prizes from your company's outing.

• The MLB Bandwagon (continues)

I'll contiune to pimp my support until somebody takes it. Dear god, this has pathetic stamped all over it. Yesterday I posted this, and still haven't received any takers...

OK. The White Sox are done, and I really didn't like the idea of following and slightly cheering for them this year. I did that last year, and as a Cub fan some people feel like I spit on a grave or something. With that said, whoever wants me (and the power of this column) I'm yours. Just leave a message in the comments section and I will be a _________ fan for the playoffs. The best comment wins my support. Support = a little exicitement, a little space on the column. If wondering, yes, I'm, very nervous that NO ONE will leave a comment, proving that my time is not well spent.

• College Football

I am starting to get excited, and something always goes wrong when I start getting this excited. You see, Iowa is one week away from playing #1 THE Ohio State. All Iowa has to do is beat a pathetic Illinois team (at Ill.) and all THE has to do is beat #24 Penn State (at Ohio). Then the two teams will clash (both undefeated) in Iowa next weekend for the ABC Saturday night game. Yes, I think THE Ohio State is better than us, but Iowa is at home, where they barely lose. And, for one game, anything can happen. I just hope nothing ruins these teams meeting each other undefeated (besides the wedding I have to go to the night of the game).

• Baseball

Well, it's official. I just got excited about next year (and hopefully years) with the Cubs. Joe Girardi, the manager of the Florida Marlins who has done an amazing job with what most people considered a triple-A team, will NOT be coming back next year. That's the report from the South-Florida Sun Sentinel--a newspaper I didn't know existed, but I now love. Girardi will manage the Cubs (leap of faith). He's played for the Cubs and is a Northwestern graduate. Girardi will then teach the team: A. How to stay healthy, B: How to play defense; C: How to show you care, D: How to win... Not necessarily in that order.

• The Picks!

Don't know what a progressive parlay is? Well, that's what I am going to be betting on the combined picks of me, billy z and mike d. Oh, someone's knocking on my door, I assume it's retirement.
NCAA: season 4-2
Texas (-25) over Iowa State
Notre Dame (-3) over Michigan State
Minneasota (-3) over Purdue

NFL: season 5-1
Bears (-3) over Vikings
Jets (+5.5) over Bills
Ravens (-6.5) over Browns

As always, look for billy z to give his NCAA picks and mike d to give his NFL picks later in the day... And actually, it was somebody selling magazines at the door, not retirement. Unless I missed the signs somewhere.

• Stuff

Movies this weekend
"Jackass Number Two" = B+ (comedy)
Keep in mind, it is more. More stunts, more stupidity, more gross. But it's also hilarious, creative and at times scarey (putting a fish hook through your mouth and being bait). Ideally, they would get rid of the crap (literally). But, I'll take what I can get. And shouldn't they be able to do about two of these a year?
"All The King's Men" = B- (drama-suspense)
The film is based on the book, not the 1949 Oscar winning film. Tons of actors in this one, which is half the fun, half the problem. They are all trying on southern accents and barely any of them fit. The story seems scattered, and they depend on the technique of showing you past scenes just in case you don't understand. ALWAYS a mistake.

12th Edition - 9/21/06

• Baseball

Every team has about ten more games to go. So, with about 90 percent certainty, I can state the following ...
In the playoffs for the AL
Yankees, A's, Tigers, Twins (with the last two deciding between the division and wild card)
In the playoffs for the NL
Mets, Cardinals ... then it's still a toss up between the Dodgers, Padres and Phillies. And the Giants or Marlins still could have a chance (they are 3.5 & 4 games behind the wild card right now).
Speaking of the Marlins, Dontrelle Willis pitched into the ninth inning helping beat the Mets, but more importantly he did it with his bat. Willis hit TWO home runs, and even added an RBI single. After that, he was humble. So that's a pretty big list of things you don't normally see a MLB pitcher do.

• The Bandwagon

OK. The White Sox are done, and I really didn't like the idea of following and slightly cheering for them this year. I did that last year, and as a Cub fan some people feel like I spit on a grave or something. With that said, whoever wants me (and the power of this column) I'm yours. Just leave a message in the comments section and I will be a _________ fan for the playoffs. The best comment wins my support. Support = a little exicitement, a little space on the column. If wondering, yes, I'm, very nervous that NO ONE will leave a comment, proving that my time is not well spent.

• Golf (The Ryder Cup is coming)

Don't make Tiger angry, you won't like him when he's angry....
"My wife, yes, she has been a model prior, and she did do some bikini photos," Tiger Woods said. "But to link her to porn Web sites and such is unacceptable, and I do not accept that at all. Neither does our team."
The AP reported the above quote. If you haven't heard, an Irish tabloid linked photos of his wife to various porn sites. They have apologized and didn't think anyone would take them seriously. Once again, Americans overreacting to porn. It's amazing Woods is this upset about the whole thing, and that fact that he says his team is upset as well is just icing. Is this going to be their motivation? It's already hard to believe Woods is on a team that is considered an underdog. It just seems like a tough rallying cry, "We'll kill foreigners in golf because their tabloids are ogling our trophy wives (in golf, they're called trophy wives because you only see them if her man wins the tournament)!!" Couldn't we just go back to hating the Soviet Union and communism? That was so much easier.

• The Tease

Friday is coming which means very quick movie reviews ("Jackass Number Two" and "All The King's Men") and as always PICKS. Remember we (me, billy z, mike d) are 19-4-1 on the season. Which means if you would have bet $1000 on each game, you'd be up $354,000 so far on the season, drinking margarita's by the pool ... or something like that.

11th Edition - 9/19/06

• MNF

Is a 9-0 Jaguars victory over the Steelers exciting? No. Moving on.

• Football

Without a doubt, Maurice Clarett broke the law. Robbery and concealed weapons charges were brought against him and Clarett plea bargained for 3.5 years in jail. Let me be the first to say, I am guaranteeing Clarett with lead the NFL in rushing yards during the 2011 season. Most running backs peak in their late 20s and Clarett will be no different. In fact, he will be better. What else is there for him to do but lift and defend his backside? Plus, in prison I'm sure he will get the guidance, discipline, education and leadership skills to excel in the real world. Isn't that what prison is all about?.. Just seeing if you are awake this morning. He's done.

• Baseball

As the White Sox continues to drift out of the playoff race, the NL West is doing whatever it can to get noticed. The Dodgers and Padres played last night in perhaps the greatest game of the season (if you are a Dodgers fan). The Dodgers were down 5-9 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Seven pitches later it was 9-9. Four solo home runs pushed the game into extra innings, were the Padres then took a 10-9 lead. With one on, bottom of the 10th NOMAR hit a two-run homer. Game Over. The Dodgers now have a one-game lead over the Padres and the Padres have a 1.5 game lead over the Phillies for the Wild Card.

• Stuff

I watched the first episode of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." It is now in my top three for Tivo'd Season Pass (behind "Lost" and "Grey's Anatomy"). And it's not because I have been watching SNL for 20 years, and it's not because Aaron Sorkin's previous shows "Sports Night" is one of my all-time favorites, and it's not because Amanda Peet is dead sexy ... Oh wait, yes, it's all those reasons. Matthew Perry and his odd looking chin is on the show as well. Watch it. You can click here to watch the full episode or a two-minute recap.

10th Edition - 9/18/06

• NFL

The best Sunday
QB
Peyton Manning: 400 yards, 3TD
Eli Manning: 371 yards, 3TD, 1INT
RB
Rudi Johnson: 145 yards, 2TD
Michael Turner: 138 yards - Since the Chargers were cruising, this back-up messed around.
WR
Joey Galloway: 161 yards
Donald Driver: 153 yards

*The Eagles handed the Giants the game late, they had a 17 point lead going into the 4th quarter.
*It appears the Bears will be playing the Falcons in the NFC title game, and the Ravens will challenge the Colts in the AFC. Take it to the bank, after all they've already played two games, nothing more to figure out.
*For a split second I actually starting thinking about adding Rex Grossman to my fantasy roster. But someone else beat me to it, which means now I have to continue to cheer for the Bears but hope that they score all of their touchdowns running the ball. Yes, this is just a typical day in the life of an idiot male fantasy football player.

• College

You have to love halftime headlines that read "Ohio St. Stunner" when they are losing to Cincinnati 7-6. And then they change it to "Ohio St. Rolls" when THE Ohio State Buckeyes end up winning 37-7. By the way, the spread had been 30 points all week, and on Friday it changed to 29.5 which mean the Buckeyes covered.

• Baseball

The Mets are still on the magic number 1. This is because they got swept by the Pirates. Pedro Martinez held back tears after his awful performance on Friday. If you are a Mets fan, how do you deal with this news? Do you immediately distance yourself from him because there is no crying in baseball? Or do you try and believe this is the new improved kind of athlete who is more in touch with his feeling? I would love to know your thoughts.

The Cubs Derrek Lee had tears for a much better reason, he could miss the rest of the season after an emotional admission to his Chicago Cubs teammates that his 3-year-old daughter Jada has "lost some vision" in one eye. "Until it's cleared up, I won't be with the team," said Lee.

• The Picks (revisited)

j NCAA 2-1, Season: 4-2
billy z NCAA 4-1-1, Season: 4-1-1
j NFL 2-1, Season: 5-1
mike d NFL 3-0, Season: 6-0

Do you people realize how insanely good all of this is? Between the three of us, 19-4-1 AGAINST THE SPREAD. No one does this, which means reality is going to come knocking on the door any second. But until it does, I will continue to ride this streak just like I road horses in my youth--nervous, hopeful, and hurting the whole time.