85th Edition - 1/19/07

• NFL: The Final Four

Colts vs. Patriots

Indianapolis Colts - Everyone forgets that this team won 13 regular season games in a row last year, and started the season 9-0 this year. That's a pretty good run. Keep in mind, they were 9-0 inspite of their defense. Now, the defense has performed well two weeks in a row and no one is truly believing in this team. Plus, EVERYONE on the Colts thinks the only reason the defense was bad was because Bob Sanders was out. So why don't I feel good about the Colts? because they are playing the ...

New England Patriots - Tom Brady had an awful overall game last week against the Chargers, and he won. It's the first time he's had a bad playoff game. Odds are, he won't have another. Plus, the Patriots have a better road record this year (7-1), than home (5-3), so playing at Indy shouldn't be a big problem. I think the game will be close because neither team is amazing, they both have flaws, especially on defense. In all likelihood it will come down to a late 4th quarter FG ... Imagine the scenario ...

Adam Vinateri lines up for a 47- yard FG, enough to make any team nervous, but then again it's Vinateri, and he hasn't missed at home all season. The snap ... what's this!?! He's walking away from the hold?! The Patriots gang tackle the holder. Game over, Patriots win 21-20 ... And now Vinateri is ripping off his jersey! Dear god it's a Patriots shirt underneath! This must have been Belichek's plan all along. Brilliant.

Bears vs. Saints

New Orleans Saints - Only four teams have a city name and team name that ends in a "s" (can you name the other three?) and I don't like any of them to win this weekend. Drew Brees is due to throw an interception. Deuce McAllister doesn't have back-to-back monster games any more. Reggie Bush can count the number of games he has played in really cold weather just using his thumbs. "America's Team" will perform just like America, overconfident and when things don't work they will just do it more.

Chicago Bears - The early forecast of below 30 degrees and snow has to point against the domed team. It just has to. I know the Bears don't practice outside in the cold, but sports is a head game. And cold weather teams are convinced they play better when a domed team comes to town. Rex Grossman threw a perfect pass to Bernard Berrian last week. He can muster up one of those again. Turnovers will be key, and the Bears already did that last week against the Seahawks, it's out of their system. Cedric Benson will run like Brittney Spears to a camera (fast, hard, and with little regard to the people around).

The end of the game will come down to a nail-biting drive by the Saints, who are down 17-20. Everything looks good for them. Each 7-yard gain, kills me a little bit more each time. Then, Peanut Tillman -- a man that makes me WAY too nervous -- will intercept the ball and run it back for the back-breaking touchdown. 28-17, Bears.

This, of course, will set up the rematch everyone is dying to see -- Bears vs. Patriots. It's Super Bowl XX all over again.

• The Picks

If it wasn't obvious by my comments above ...
Patriots +3 over the Colts
Bears -3 over the Saints

NFL Season Standings
j : 25-24-4
Mike D: 27-24-2

NFL Playoffs
j: 3-5
Mike D: 5-3

NFL Overall
j: 28-29-4
Mike D: 32-27-2

Look for Mike D's comments later in the day.

• Michael Vick is probably stupid

I will not officially go on record as saying Michael Vick is stupid for bringing a water bottle that is probably used for smoking up with him on his Air Tran flight. And I won't talk about what a moron he is for NOT wanting to throw it out and that making airline security suspicious. I do like that a man worth more than $100 million is flying Air Tran. That's good stuff.

• More NFL

Three good artclies today:
Jason Whitlock - NFL Real Talk
David Fleming - 30-second column
and look for Bill Simmons later today - The Sports Guy

• Stuff

*"The Office" was amazing last night, and the "Scrubs" musical was pretty good. The theme for both seemed to be "guy love." Whether is was J.D. and Turk or Dwight and Michael, men loving men, in a hetrosexual way, was the message. A hunch on "The Office" -- both new people, Andy and Karen, will be gone shortly.

*Since there is nothing new worth seeing in the theater, I will be catching my final two important movies of 2006. "The Last King of Scotland" and "The Painted Veil." I've decided "The Good German" isn't necessary to see. After this I will be able to create my top ten of 2006. Did you just get goosebumps?

*News on Fountains of Wayne's new album - click here

*Age-O-Matic. Now you can see what you will look like 50 years from now. If you do this, I hope you will send the link our direction. click here

84th Edition - 1/18/07

• Special Guest: Casual Ultimate
  

Casual Ultimate is two ladies known as Miss Casual and Ms. Ultimate. They are casual about ultimate frisbee. If you are thinking ultimate frisbee is the sport that uses frisbees to golf with ... I hate you. I truly do. I know the ladies through friends of the sport. I am semi-retired ... but will be coming out of retirement once again to play with other Iowa Hawkeye alum's in a tournament in Las Vegas at the end of the month, but enough about me ... Ladies, the space is yours.

Sports by the letters CU

We at casual ultimate are not sports experts. We do enjoy cycling and ultimate. Miss Casual even watches a bit of basketball but we can’t claim to be up on the current happenings in ball golf (as our disc-golfing friends call it) or pointy soccer (as Ms. Ultimate refers to football) or even regular soccer or baseball.

What we do know, however, is the sport of post Christmas shopping. The sales of the year occur during the weeks following the winter solstice and we make those sales our bitch.

Merino wool v-necks in three colors? Done.
Patterned tights? Of course.
New years dresses and big earrings? Come on now… look who you’re asking.

This time of year is not for the weak-willed however and there are a few moves you’re gonna need to navigate the carnival of spending and saving that is post holiday shopping. Luckily we are here to help you.

Ms. Ultimate always gets a triple double. That is, the triple play of talking on the phone, drinking coffee (which you need to keep your momentum up), and making a purchase, while getting a double digit discount.

Last Saturday, Miss Casual was almost the victim of a hat trick. Yours truly was being coerced into purchasing an absurdly pricey piece of headwear by Flattery from the hat’s ACTUAL designer who was in from New York. Who can resist such temptation? Eugenia Kim in person telling you the hat looks smashing? Thankfully we’re no amateurs so we made it out of there minus the hat in question.

The coup de gras, however, is the flagrant foul of throwing an elbow while securing the last cashmere sweater in teal in your size. This move is difficult to execute properly but upon mastery of a move like this, you move into the big leagues. Here’s Miss Casual getting owned by Tye.

Even with all of these MVP moves you’re gonna need constant hydration (coffee followed by lots of water), parallel parking skills, and loads of stamina to be able to make a lap through all the stores that intrigue you before you settle on your purchases. One can’t be too hasty. Patience is the key to assuring that you have better stuff than the other people you know. Remember that one cardinal rule and you can’t go wrong.

It takes skill, determination, and triumph of will to bring your A-game to these shopping days but we are available for further coaching at very reasonable rates. With that I’ll leave you to your strategizing. GO TEAM!

83rd Edition - 1/17/07

• The Weekly Bull (22-17)

With Chris Duhon suspended one game for oversleeping, and Ben Wallace out for the second straight game due to his back, the Bulls still managed to beat the Spurs 99 - 87 on Monday. This was a win they needed, now winners of two straight after losing five of their last six.

The Bulls are two games behind Cleveland for the Central Division (1.5 behind Detroit). They are destroying their division right now, sitting at 6-1, Indiana is second best at 5-3.

This week: Wed @ Bucks, Sat vs. Jazz, Mon @ Pacers, Tues vs Hawks.

Some team numbers:
+5.4 = point differential (5th best is league)
43.97 = opponents FG percentage (3rd best in the league)
37 = percentage made for 3-pointers (tied for 4th in league)
22.6 = assists per game (7th in league)
5.3 = blocks per game (9th in league)

• Cubs: Zambrano ... the beginning

Carlos Zambrano will want to get paid. After all, you give Ted Lilly $10 million a year, you have to give Zambrano about twice as much ... but luckily he won't be a free agent until next year. This year the Cubs have to deal with arbitration. Zambrano got paid $6 million last year. He is asking for $15 million this year. The Cubs are offering $11 million. The arbitrator will take care of it. Mark Prior is asking for $3.8 million, the Cubs are offering $3.4 million.

In former Cub news, Sammy Sosa is close to a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers. I don't know how this is going to play out. By the end of his run with the Orioles, he didn't have any bat-speed. How does a year off help that?

• Stuff

*Will Ferrell and Josh Hederer in "Blades of Glory"

*There are rumors that Tom Brady and Gisle Bundchen are in a relationship.

*Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has their new album available for streaming on their myspace page. http://myspace.com/clapyourhandssayyeah

*Gwyneth Paltrow is joining the cast of "Iron Man."

82nd Edition - 1/16/07

• Bears: Sigh of relief

Bears 27, Seahawks 24
The Bears decided to win on Sunday, mainly because the Seahawks didn't want to. The Seahawks had many opportunities to get into FG range late in the 4th quarter and in OT as well, but they could never get the job done. So finally, Rex Grossman hit Rashied Davis for a big gain and then it was up to Robbie Gould's foot. He connected on his record-tying 49-yard FG.

I was thinking the Seahawks would win when the Bears were sitting on a 4-point lead for most of the 2nd half. Perhaps that is because I am a Bears/Cubs fan and I expect the worst. Or maybe it has more to do with me, but it just didn't look like the Bears would win. It was their defense that was letting them down for most of the day, but luckily it came up big when it needed to.

Grossman had his amazing moments (both good and bad) all in the same game, which is rare to see.

I'm excited that the Bears are one game away. Even if they have to beat "America's Team."

• NFL: The rest of them

The Saints beat the Eagles 27-24 in the only game I didn't watch this weekend. I had a friend in town and didn't call my fiancee to attempt to set up the tivo to record the game. Turns out, I missed a great game. Looks like the Bears will have their hands full. I have no idea how they stop the Saints offense.

As for this "America's Team" label they have been given ... how? How was this determined? I never remember a poll being taken about which team you like now compared to who you cheered for last year. I under New Orleans has been through a lot, but does that mean football fans have given up on their team to root for New Orleans? I doubt it. I think it's "nice" that the Saints are winning, and I always like it when a team turns around losing ways, but "America's Team" has been given that label by the media because it makes for a good story. We have no idea if America truly loves the Saints, or has just been told that they do.

The Colts beat the Ravens 15-6. Peyton Manning has been awful in the playoffs. It doesn't seem to matter.

The Patriots beat the Chargers 24-21. Tom Brady had an awful game, except when it counted. The end of the first half, and second half he played perfectly. That gave the Patriots all the points they needed to beat LDT and then dance like Shawne Merriman after the game, which unfortunately became more of a story than the game.

• The Picks (revisited)

NFL Season Standings
j : 25-24-4
Mike D: 27-24-2

NFL Playoffs
j: 3-5
Mike D: 5-3

NFL Overall
j: 28-29-4
Mike D: 32-27-2

So at this point, I can't win the overall standing. But then again, I can't remember any NFL team bragging about winning the regular season and losing the playoffs. And there is still a slight chance that I could win the playoffs. So, I'm clinging to that for now.

• NBA: annoyed

I hate that the NBA player contracts are guaranteed. It just doesn't make sense, because they Chris Webber can make an insane amount of money, not be good, and then quit trying until his team gets sick of him, get bought out of his contract, and then join the Pistons for a feel-good reunion (he played his college ball in Michigan).

• Stuff

**Jake Gyllenhaal worked his ass off on Saturday Night Live. Plus they brought back laser cats. So it was a win, win. With Gyllenhaal doing the best opening monologue since Steve Martin tried to kill Alec Baldwin.

Here's the season to date: 6-4
Funny: John C. Reily, Hugh Laurie, Alec Baldwin, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Justin Timberlake, Jake Gyllenhaal

Not Funny: Dane Cook, Jaime Pressly, Matthew Fox, Annette Bening

**Golden Globes
Yawn. That is how I would describe the show. It was great seeing Sacha Baron Cohen give a speech as himself (winning for "Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical" for "Borat"), but overall the speeches weren't that good. And the presenters had to deal with a crowd that was never sitting down. Every time they came back from commercial, people were moving around and talking ... and wouldn't that have been more enjoyable to watch?

Good Speeches:
Alec Baldin
Hugh Laurie
Sacha Baron Cohen
Meryl Streep
Jennifer Hudson

"The Departed" didn't win enough.

There were plenty of awkward moments though ...
Warren Beatty not practicing his speech enough.
America Ferrera of ABC's "Ugly Betty" waiting to be interviewed by the sideline reporter.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's cruches.
Helen Miren's speeches.
Eddie Murphy barely being excited, suddenly I realized I need to stop feeling sorry for Eddie Murphy and his string of sell-outs.