48th Edition - 11/13/06

• Bear with me: It's a play on words

Bears 38, Giants 20
I was convinced Rex Grossman was one interception away from being benched last night for Brian Griese. But thanks to a draw play with 2:00 left on 3rd and VERY long, the Bears went from looking horrendous, to dominating the Giants. At the 2:00 mark it was 3-13, with the Bears only having 50 yards of offense.
Also - Devin Hester returned a FG 108 yards. He even played it up like he was going to down the missed FG in the end zone. Hester is a train wreck, you have to watch, and it will be ugly. We just never know if it will be ugly for the Bears or their opponents.

• NFL

Chargers 49, Bengals 41
Steelers 38, Saints 31
There was scoring in the NFL, let's see how that affected the best.

The Best
QB
Carson Palmer: 440 yards, 3TD
Drew Brees: 398 yards, 1TD
Steve McNair: 373 yards, 3TD, 2INT
RB
Willie Parker: 213 yards, 2TD
Frank Gore: 159 yards, 1TD
Tiki Barber: 141 yards
WR
Chad Johnson: 260 yards, 2TD
Donald Driver: 191 yards, 1TD
Marques Colston: 169 yards

• Hawkeyes: don't look, I'm hideous

The Hawks lost to Wisconsin. They are 2-5 in the Big Ten, 6-5 overall. I might be wrong, please correct me if I am, but the Hawks must beat Minnesota to be bowl eligible. You need six wins and the Hawks only have five since one was against Northern Illinois, not a Division I school.

• NCAA Football: Real Quick

Here are the latest BCS rankings. Doesn't matter much right now, since USC still has three games to play. I find it very annoying that Big Ten teams have one game left and others still have three to play. Can't a schedule be made that has everyone wrap up at the same time? Also, it would help if AP and Coaches polls didn't start until week 5. That way people wouldn't have to explain the reason Rutgers isn't No. 3 right now--because no one thought they would be good.

• The Picks: revisited

j NCAA: 2-1 (19-9-1)
billy z NCAA: 3-0 (19-8-2)
It's insane how good billy and I are.
j NFL: 1-2 (12-17-3)
mike d NFL: 1-1 (13-16-2) he has the Bucs +9.5 tonight
It's insane how bad mike and I are.

• SNL: We have a winner

Funniest Saturday Night Live in years.
The show had Christina Aquilera, Martin Short, Steve Martin, Tony Bennent and Paul McCartney ... not to mention Alec Baldwin hosted.
The funniest sketch was Baldwin and Kristen Wiig as new carpool partners.

So, for the season -- SNL: 3-2
Funny: Alec Baldwin, John C. Reily, Hugh Laurie
Not Funny: Dane Cook, Kate Hudson

*I'll talk about the Cubs (Ramirez and Woods signing) tomorrow.

47th Edition - 11/10/07

• NCAA Football: Rutgers sucks ... Rutgers is AWESOME!

Rutgers was losing to the Louisville Cardinals 25-7. That's a wide margin, especially when Louisville has an offense that won't quit ... that was until the 2nd half of the game when Rutgers held them to 52 yards, and came back to win 28-25. They got two chances to make a late FG thanks to an offsides call, but Rutgers now joins Michigan, Ohio State and Boise State as the only unbeatends in college football.

• The Hawkeyes

*Iowa is getting 1.5 points against Wisconsin. Keep in mind Iowa has recently lost to Indiana and Northwestern (at home). There is a strong possibility the Hawks lose out and don't make a bowl game this year.

*The Iowa Basketball team will enter the 2006-07 season with 18 straight wins in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a streak that ranks first in the Big Ten Conference and third in the nation behind only Gonzaga (40 games) and Connecticut (19) ... Too bad the Hawks are expected to finish 9th out of the 11 Big Ten teams.

• Plaxico Burress is a moron. This is one of the reasons:

"I don't think they're the best corners I've played against or we've played against this year. By far, no," Burress told the Newark Star-Ledger. "Those guys make plays [on] the balls that are thrown straight to them, but they're not just covering guys straight up and just shutting them down. I haven't seen any of that.
"They're very beatable."

Thank you Plaxico, sometimes NFL players need to feel "disrespected" to get motivated. I am liking the Bears chances against the Giants on Sunday night a little more.

• The Bull (2-3)

Bulls 94, Cavs 113
LeBron James only scored 19 points = good. James getting 12 assists = bad. The Cavs went on an 11-2 run and put the game out of reach in the 4th. I'll look forward to the day when they aren't under .500 anymore for the rest of the season. Hopefully that's in two games.

• NBA: That was quick

The undefeateds: none
The defeateds: Nuggets at 0-3. Though some teams have already played 6 games.

• The Picks

j NCAA: 17-8-1
billy z NCAA: 16-8-2
j NFL: 11-15-3
mike d NFL: 12-15-2

It's insane how close I am to these two guys. This is the weekend where I create a gap. Then after that, I shall widen that gap.

j NCAA
Wisconsin -1.5 over Iowa
Temple +36.5 over Penn State
Notre Dame -11.5 over Air Force

j NFL
Cheifs over Dolphins (no points)
Chargers -1.5 over Bengals
Saints +4.5 over Steelers

• Stuff

Quick Movie Reviews

Stranger Than Fiction: Will Ferrell is great as Harold Crick. I needed the reserved, toned down Ferrell and I am a sucker for any film that attempts something new. Having Harold hear the voice of a narrator (Emma Thompson) might be too much for some people, but the film is very nice. And it's good to see Dustin Hoffman steal the show as a literary professor trying to help Harold discover if he's in a comedy or tragedy. B+

A Good Year: Just not worth seeing. Russell Crowe doesn't fit as the lead, and the film actually comes off as a failed physical comedy. The best part of the film should be the wine but even that gets overlooked for most of the film. There is no heart, just a businessman releasing there might me more to life. And we've seen that before. D+

Come Early Morning: Simple. And it works. Ashely Judd gives a great performance about a woman from a small town in Arkansas struggling. The most powerful, uncomfortable scene is when Judd's character tries to have sex without being drunk. The film is written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams, who I happened to interview (click here to read). B

Studio 60 has been picked up for a full season (click here to read)

Do you like Johnny Cash? Well, maybe you like these people more - Kanye West, Johnny Depp, Justin Timberlake, Sheryl Crow, Chris Martin, Keith Richards, Kate Moss, Chris Rock, Iggy Pop, Bono. They all appear in Cash's new video "God's Gonna Cut You Down."
click here to watch

46th Edition - 11/9/06

• NBA

A couple of game winning shots went up last night. Perhaps the best coming from the rainbow Chris Bosh sent up giving the Raptors the victory over the 76ers.

If you are ever looking for a daily wrap-up of the NBA - check out ESPN's the Daily Dime.

The undefeateds: Hornets
The defeateds: Mavs, Nuggets

Biggest Point Differential: Bulls (+12.8), Wizards (+6.8)
Worst Point Differential: Mavs (-14.5), Heat (-10.5)

Larry Brown got $18.5 million for being fired by the Knicks.

• NCAA on Thursday (it rhymes, but then again it would rhyme with any day of the week)

#3 Louisville at #15 Rutgers (both teams are undefeated)
Everyone is talking about how Louisville might get into the BCS Championship Game with a win tonight. I think it would be more interesting if either team wins and DOESN'T play in the Championship.
Imagine this scenario for the bowl games - Ohio State/Michigan (undefeated) plays USC (one loss) and USC win. Meanwhile, Louisville plays a team with one loss and wins - thus giving Louisville the only perfect season in college football. You would HAVE to give them the Championship after that, correct?

Once again, give me a six to eight team playoff. Six teams would give the top two seeds a first-round bye. Eventually, the tournament would expand to 16 teams, but it would probably take 10 years for that to happen.

• Stuff

A new episode of "The Office" is on tonight. Here's a Youtube tribute to Dwight and Michael.

45th Edition - 11/8/06

• The Weekly Bull

After four games the Chicago Bulls sit at 2-2. Not good, not great. When they have won, they've dominated. They simply look faster than their opponents. Considering the deep bench, this can only help them down the line. The rookie worth talking about is Thabo Sefolosha, not Tyrus Thomas ...
Some Numbers
Ben Wallace: 9.8 rpg
Bulls offense: 100.0 ppg
Bulls defense: 87.3 ppg
Ben Gordon: 18.0 ppg
Luol Deng: 17.5 ppg

• NBA

The undefeateds: 76ers, Hornets, Jazz (nope, no typos, these teams haven't lost yet)
The defeateds: Mavs, Nuggets, Celtics

One team will be last on this list, just like the Colts were the last undefeated/defeated team in the NFL. My guess ... the Celtics.

• Stuff

A watering hole in Africa. The screen is small, but you should be able to switch to full-screen mode. This morning I saw monkeys. click here

Hopefully you voted yesterday, though the campaign ads probably made you not want to. Click here for NPR's link to the worst attack ads.

If you didn't watch the Midterm Midtaculor - you can watch the whole thing (at work) at comedycentral.com - and yes, that is Dan Rather sharing the spotlight with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Here's a quiz to see if you know your logos. My score - 1:35 - in other words, I don't.

44th Edition - 11/7/06

• I have recovered

Things I have recovered from:
*The devistating loss the Hawkeyes suffered at home to Northwestern.
*Consuming way too many beers over the course of 36 hours in Iowa City.
*The embarrassing loss the Bears suffered at home to the Dolphins.

All in all, just not a good sports weekend, but I managed to have the best time possible under the circumstances. The Hawkeyes are in jeapordy of not making a bowl game with two tough games left (Wisconsin and Minnesota), it's not looking good.

The Bears have beaten one team with a winning record (Seahawks). Once Grossman begins to have a bad game, it just gets worse. I wish the Bears would consider running the ball ALOT more and, when Grossman is hopping around and throwing off his back foot they should put Griese in. It's fine if Grossman starts every game, but the rookie (plays like one) needs to be benched every once in a while. A loss to the 6-2 Giants in NY will be easier to stomach than the Dolphins game.

• The Picks (revisited)

j NCAA: 2-1 (17-8-1)
billy z NCAA: 5-3 (16-8-2)

j NFL: 1-2 (11-15-3)
mike d NFL: 1-7 (12-15-2)

• SNL

It was "The Best of Darrell Hammond" this weekend. He's good, very solid ... and forever the man who just isn't Phil Hartman.