NFL Picks Week 2 2019

Last week I went:

Points: 7-8
Victory: 12-4

I already am 0-1 in both columns because I thought the Panthers would play well and beat Tampa. I was wrong. So here we go:

Colts @ Titans (-3): Is a letdown in order? I'm not sure. The Colts did hang in against the Chargers, but on the road again against a good defense? Nevertheless, I will be wary

Points: Colts
Victory: Titans

Chargers (-2.5) @ Lions: I was right about the Lions for my upset pick, and I think the Chargers will prevail here. After getting lit up by Kyler Murray in the second half, they get Phillip Rivers. Good luck

Points: Chargers
Victory: Chargers

Bills (-1.5) @ Giants: PICK'EM! The Giants defense is certainly not as good as the Jets defense the Bills faced the previous week. I think the Bills will sweep the Meadowlands

Victory: Bills

Cardinals @ Ravens (-13): This might be a case of the oddsmakers not seeing how bad Miami actually is. Cardinals rallied to tie the Lions and are probably feeling good. I know about the WC team on the EC, but that spread is too much

Points: Cardinals
Victory: Ravens

Patriots (-18.5) @ Dolphins: Speaking of big spreads, holy crap. I am really tempted to take the Patriots with the points here but the Patriots historically have problems in Miami. If this was at home I would give the points gladly. In Miami? No

Points: Dolphins
Victory: Patriots

Cowboys (-5.5) @ Redskins: This is more of a spread representing the NFC East. Redskins put up a nice fight against Philly but the Cowboys are a different kettle of fish. Cowboys will wear down the pass rush with Zeke

Points: Cowboys
Victory: Cowboys

Jaguars @ Texans (-8.5): When having to face a neophyte QB to start, teams will game plan for you better. I expect the Man with the Stache to struggle against Houston.

Points: Texans
Victory: Texans

Seahawks @ Steelers (-3.5): Steelers got their ass kicked and will want to stick it to Seattle. This spread is just the right amount to take Pittsburgh

Points: Steelers
Victory: Steelers

Niners @ Bengals (-2): This is a very tough game to call. Both teams showed well in their opening salvos. Which team is for real?  I'll just go with the Bengals because they are at home

Points: Bengals
Victory: Bengals

Vikings @ Packers (-2.5): This game to me comes down to whether we believe that the Packers defense is for real. I'm suspicious of this line, to be honest. I'm going with the Packers because I think Vegas may know something, but not fully

Points: Vikings
Victory: Packers

Chiefs (-7) @ Raiders: I think the Chiefs will roll over Oakland. That's it.

Points: Chiefs
Victory: Chiefs

Saints @ Rams (-2): Both of these teams let their opponents hang around a little bit the previous week because I think secretly they were waiting for this. Rams will play control offense to keep Brees off the field and I think they will win.

Points: Rams
Victory: Rams

Bears (-2.5) @ Broncos: UPSET PICK OF THE WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!
Vic Fangio is the ex defensive coordinator of the Bears and knows that roster and team inside and out. But beyond that, the fact that it is in Denver proves to be a problem for a Bears offense that is predicated on running the football and I think Trubisky and Cohen will have problems in that light air. Give me the Broncos to bounce back at home

Points: Broncos
Victory: Broncos

Eagles (-2) @ Falcons: The Eagles defense did not show up that much against Washington, but I thought that would be happen being a divisional game. I think the Eagles will bounce back defensively and hold down the birds

Points: Eagles
Victory: Eagles

Browns (-6) @ Jets: This spread is interesting because with Darnold out the Jets are going to try and play keepaway using Bell and short passes. The problem is that the Jets secondary is so thin and weak that it might not matter how many possessions the Browns have. They should be focused after last week.

Points: Browns
Victory: Browns

2019 NFL Picks: Week 1

It's that time again. Time to play the odds. For those who weren't here last year, I pick the point spread and who I think will win the game. The odds I use are those on this day specifically. For point spreads lower than 2 points, I call a pick'em. So with that out of the way; Let's play.

Packers @ Bears (-3): The 100th anniversary matchup provides a Packer team that will look very different vs a Bears team that will look to continue momentum from last year. The Bears being only 3 point favorites at home intrigues me. Give me the Packers on a whim. A mini upset pick IMO

Points: Packers
Victory: Packers

Falcons @ Vikings (-4): Vikings really need to come out strong after collapsing last year. But the Falcons are no spring chickens. This game I think will be closer than the experts think, but Minny will prevail

Points: Falcons
Victory: Vikings

Redskins @ Eagles (-10): LOL. What a spread. I know the Skins are very bad, but a divisional game to open up that large is a bit much. As much as I want to, I can't give those points.

Points: Redskins
Victory: Eagles

Bills @ Jets (-3): The Jets secondary is a major concern for them, but I don't believe Josh Allen is the right QB to exploit it to perfection. The Bills defense is tough, but I think Darnold grinds it out.

Points: Jets
Victory: Jets

Ravens (-6.5)@ Dolphins: This is the opposite to me of the Eagles spread.. The Dolphins are basically jumping into the tank feet first. And the Ravens will take them to the cleaners

Points: Ravens
Victory: Ravens

Chiefs (-3.5) @ Jaguars: Interesting matchup. The "It" team of the AFC vs the previous "It" team of the AFC. Jags will try and run the ball to keep Mahomes off the field so it will be close but Mahomes is too good. Chiefs cover but not by much

Points: Chiefs
Victory: Chiefs

Titans @ Browns (-5.5): The Browns are looking to live up to the hype of being the sexy pick. The Titans are anything but sexy. And yet, I have a feeling the Browns will get a scare put into them...

Points: Titans
Victory: Browns

Rams (-2)@Panthers: Another interesting spread. Rams coming off a run to the Super Bowl visiting Carolina, where Cam Newton needs to prove he's healthy. Panthers will fight hard, but succumb to talent.

Points: Rams
Victory: Rams

Bengals @ Seahawks (-9.5): The Bengals are not as bad as Miami. but they are close and AJ Green being out will hurt them. And in that noise box....Good luck.

Points: Seahawks
Victory: Seahawks

Colts @ Chargers (-6.5): Speaking of "luck", boy this matchup has certainly been turned on its ear hasn't it? The Colts have to go into an opposing stadium without their leader and with Brissett trying to establish he is one. This spread is close. I think Chargers cover it, but barely. No Gordon will hurt them.

Points: Chargers
Victory: Chargers

Niners @ Buccaneers (-1): PICK'EM!!!!!!!! This is a tough one. This might be Winston's last chance to catch on with Tampa, while San Fran has to figure out what Jimmy G is. I'm going to go with Tampa on the Bruce Arians factor.

Points: Bucs
Victory: Bucs

Lions (-2.5) @ Cardinals: UPSET PICK OF THE WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!!!
I remember last year when the Lions opened up at home against a rookie QB and a team that was thought to be bad (and were eventually). They got taken to the woodshed by the Jets. The Cardinals are at home, they are going to have some new tricks up their sleeve. This might be one of a few wins for them, but I do think they win.

Points: Cardinals
Victory: Cardinals

Giants @ Cowboys (-7): This is a little better spread for a divisional game. With Zeke in tow Cowboys will win, I believe. But the Giants will keep it close enough

Points: Giants
Victory: Cowboys

Steelers @ Patriots (-5.5): Pats ownage of the Steelers vs. early season Pats troubles. Give me a combo.

Points: Steelers
Victory: Patriots

Texans @ Saints (-7): This matchup is sexy. Two good QBs with two good teams. But in the Superdome, the young Saints defense will rise to the occasion I think, and keep the Texans at bay. No Lamar Miller for the Texans will hurt too.

Points: Saints
Victory: Saints

Broncos (-2) @ Raiders: Ah the Raiders, the drama queens of the NFL. Their infighting with AB is going to cost Derek Carr a nice weapon and one less worry for a Broncos defense that is ready to hit Carr. Give me the Broncos easy.

Points: Broncos
Victory: Broncos

British Politick

Over the last few years, I have had a growing fascination with British politics of the past, specifically elections. Usually, I hate politics because I have always believed that politics, down in its core, is arguing over minutia for the most part. Also that common sense and logic have basically gone out the window. But British politics fascinates me for two main reasons.

The first reason is that Great Britain is, in many ways, much smaller than the United States, The population is more concentrated in a small space. That leads to more face to face drama between differing factions. You can't get away from opponents and you have to stand your ground. This type of closeness is most observed in the House of Commons where MPs (equatable to US. representatives) are squeezed together in a small space. Winston Churchill once said that the reason for that was to create tension and lack of comfort. And he's right. If you ever go onto YouTube and see funny Parliament moments, you will know what I mean.

The second reason is basically that Britain is still at its heart an old fashioned country. They still use paper ballots for their elections instead of voting machines. They have lords from each constituency (equatable in a way to US districts) read out the result to the public. There is mudslinging but it seems to have a veneer of primness about it that seems to raise it above the rest, even though it must be said that most people believe that the UK tabloid press is much more biting and caustic than the US tabloid press. Nevertheless, there seems to be a veneer about it. It is also treated more like a game in Britain or so it seems to me. And also it is very uniform and statistical.

The basic way to describe how a British election works is to compare Britain to Texas, or any other state. Each constituency sends a representative (MP) to Parliament. The party that has the majority of MPs in the House of Commons gets power and the leader of said party becomes Prime Minister.

I don't wish to go into the many details of the subject, so I will just leave you with the theme that the BBC, for a long time, used for their election broadcasts (which go on for hours into the night and next morning) It is called "Arthur" by Rick Wakeman and it illustrates the drama which the British seem to treat politics.

No Crying in Baseball (Warning: Cursing)

I have gotten to the point in my sports existence where I understand that teams do lose games. However,last night, the New York Yankees lost a game that made me react in a way that I haven't in a very long time.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of it, you can look those up. But, it brought out rage in me that I haven't really felt in a long time. I was angry at anything and everything at once. Usually, the losses don't bother me but the reaction to the losses by other fans does. This loss bothered me. Like no loss has bothered me in at least a few years. I actually cried (more like teared up). At a fucking baseball game. I ranted and raved, and people said I was nuts (and I probably am). That it's one game and it doesn't affect my life, just like my parents and my psychologist said.

But it did this time. And that in itself, bothers me.

In fact it made my mood so dour, that I had to stop my workout after a half hour because I was in such a dour mood. I wasn't mean to my trainer and I'm going back tomorrow for a half hour to make it up.

But it got to me. Not just in the mind, not just in my mood, but in what I do with my time. It affected my life. And that makes it even worse. So I've decided to come to you about this and tell you about it, so that maybe you guys can understand and help me understand.

When I was in high school, I was very introverted socially. I could not interact with people socially because I didn't know much about music, movies, pop culture etc. (I've gotten better at that in time). But I did start to become knowledgeable about sports. And that is what sports in general has meant to me. It has been my social lifeline, my link to the outside. Along with that notion comes my belief (wrongly, but it is innerly in there), that the sports team you root for is your representation. It represents you. I've read some reports on sports fan psychology and this is not unusual. A lot of sports fans believe that their team is an extension of themselves. So essentially, through a transitive property, if the team is doing well, you are doing well. If the team sucks, you suck. I know it sounds stupid and illogical, but in my subconscious and emotions, it seems to take root. That is point #1.

Point #2 is that in this day and age of social media, Twitter and sports talk radio becomes an echo chamber of negativity. So that if said sports team is not doing well, there is an echo chamber effect where people are talking about it. So to go along with point #1, in these echo chambers, there are a bunch of voices that are basically saying "You suck." through point #1. I've mentioned my problems with fanbases in an earlier post. This is an extension of said problem.

I should add that Point #1 has an addendum that sports is essentially my hobby and pastime so it takes up a lot of time in my life and space in my mind in general.

Now to Point #3. And this is something ethereal. I described my pain last night as having been "violated" Now that is not, in relative terms, close to what happened. But in my mind, it seems to feel that way and let me explain why. In looking at Point #1, along with a team representing you, it kind of represents your faith. You put faith in something, you expect it to come to fruition. But when it doesn't, you feel cheated and somewhat have your trust violated. Now putting your faith/trust into a group of overpaid men who are hitting a ball for fun and making gobs of money seems on the surface, stupid. But once again, it goes back to Point #1. And if they fail, particularly in the way that they did last night, you feel violated and angry. That is the way I felt last night.


It's a huge jumble of thoughts. but it seems to extensively come down to this. I believe that the New York Yankees represent me and so if they fail, I fail. Not only do I fail, my faith fails, which makes me question the whole point of faith to begin with. And because of the echo chamber of life now, this feeling get intensified and repeated. And it comes to the point where I feel violated and it does affect my life.

As I said before I am a very insular person and when the one extension that I have seems to go wrong, it affects me a lot. And if  I'm not going to blame the extension itself, it seems I lash out at the people on the other side.

And in terms of suppressing it, it takes up such a big chunk of my time and my mind that I don't know where to find a replacement that is currently at my fingertips, or a mental thing to replace it with that is readily available, cheap, and big enough to take it down.

So I am stuck in this cycle, which reminds me of a drug addiction. And I dont think there is something big enough and cheap enough that can get me out of it. And if there is, I hope somebody can tell me please. Thank you.

Rutbreaker: The Curious Case of "Run With Us"

Take a look at this video. It's of a mid 80s song called "Run With Us" and it looks pretty straightforward for the time. The singer, Lisa Lougheed, has the big hair and all and it is full with synthesizers and guitar riffs.

What makes this song unique is it's origin. If you notice in the title, it has in parentheses (The Raccoons). Obviously the Raccoons was the band who originally sung the song and this is a cover right?

Wrong.

This is the Raccoons that are being mentioned:

It's a cartoon and "Run With Us" is its end credits theme. 

   

Now 80s cartoons had some rockin' music to go along with all the guns and aliens and great characters (all of which in no way could and would be exploited for the toy market; no siree). But even then, the main themes of these cartoons were the star. This was the end credits theme, a theme that usually is a remix or instrumental of the intro theme. For these creators to create not only an original song for the end credits but a song that is supercharged with more angst and worry perhaps than the usual 80s cartoon song is interesting and quite frankly commendable. If they are willing to put that much effort into a cartoon when they could have easily slapdashed it, then they were truly devoted to the project and to making it work.

"Run With Us" was made into a single and didn't do all that much on the Canadian charts. That's right, Canadian. Now some things make sense.

Anyway, it got me thinking, in my ADD way, to arguably the most successful song that could have ever come out of a cartoon. Two come to mind.

- The theme of Bob The Builder hit the top of the charts in the UK in 2000. It not only was a #1, it was the highest selling single OF THE YEAR in the UK. I'm not going to post it due to potentially scaring away people, but I think most people know it and it is on YouTube.

- A song that was just put in as an insert in the cartoon The Archies and it ended up becoming a classic. I speak of course of "Sugar Sugar"

The difference between the two is that while the BTB theme was a hit in the UK, it did not make a peep in the US. "Sugar Sugar" was a hit everywhere and still remains a classic song fondly remembered in that era.

What about you guys? What cartoon songs do you think could have made a blip musically. Please comment or get me on Facebook. Thanks.

The Renaissance WILL be Televised

           Over the past few years  Robert Mills, the Vice President of Alternative Series at ABC, has brought classic game shows back to life. It has almost become a science with them. It all began with Celebrity Family Feud with Steve Harvey (who arguably has been the center of this game show renaissance along with Mills). Then To Tell The Truth, which has aired in every single decade since the 1950s (TPiR has too although the format had changed while TTTT's fundamentally hasn't.) Then, Match Game with Alec Baldwin, followed by The $100,000 Pyramid with Michael Strahan.

          This year, they have added 2 more to that stable: Press Your Luck with Elizabeth Banks, an interesting get for a game show; and Card Sharks with Joel McHale. Both, through 2 weeks, have proven to be ratings winners in demographics and overall. But why are game shows going through a second renaissance?

          In my opinion, it comes down to one simple thing. Game shows are positive programming. In this turbulent time, most of what is thrown at us on the TV screen is negative. The news is negative, late night talk shows are shading politics, dramas have well, drama. Even sitcoms can be more serious and take on a strong tone. Game shows, inherently are positive; They involve rooting for ordinary people to win thousands of dollars in cash and prizes for playing a game that people can play along with at home

         So why use these classic formats instead of creating new ones? Well, Mills put it very succinctly in an interview with Vulture. He said:

"The old games themselves are good. I would love to try new games, but the stuff that [past producers] did — they were geniuses. These games are incredibly well-built machines. They’re time-tested. You know that they work. The nostalgia helps, and that’s another selling point."

The geniuses he mentions here are Bill Carruthers (PYL) who formerly worked with Chuck Barris, Bob Stewart (100k) who studied under the guiding wing of Mark Goodson (all the others). These guys knew what they were doing when they were creating these formats. And they are inherently known to the public. People are familiar with them and comfortable with them. Heck, classic game show reruns can be seen all the time on Buzzr and GSN. So there is less risk when choosing to watch them. And what ABC has done really well is meld modern technology and pacing into these classic formats while not mutilating the formats. So viewers get the best updated.

So to close off. kudos to ABC and Robert Mills bring this new game show renaissance about and hoping that it continues for a long time to come

Only in America...would you find a boulder dealer

From time to time I see things that just make me think "Only in America...."

So, I'm on my way to work yesterday, traveling on I-80 West, and my eyes turn to a billboard; one of those electronic ones that changes ads in different intervals. The ad had just changed and on the billboard now appeared the following words:

BOULDERS FOR SALE.

Yes, they were selling boulders or big rocks.

Why would you sell rocks? THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! All you need to do is go into the wilderness and find them. You need to hire a truck to collect them or maybe a crane to pick it up but still, why would you go to a rock dealer to buy a boulder?

Are there used boulder dealers? Do people wander around a yard with different boulders lined up and they are inspecting the quality of each boulder?

"Yessiree, this boulder only has 2000 years on it and was crafted through the finest sediment and shale in the Northeast Territory!"

I understand the concept of a stone mason or even a smith of rocks, but still selling boulders freelance seems like something very out there.

"Well Johnny, what do your parents do for a living?"

"My Mommy is a teacher and my Daddy sells boulders."

Right.