Monthly Archives: December 2011

December 29, 2011 · 9:31 PM

Week 17 NFL Picks

We’ve made it to the end. The final regular season pick em column of the year. I thought I would post yesterday but thankfully there were no games Thursday night so I could delay a day.

And away we go:

Detroit (-3.5) vs @Green Bay
Both teams have playoff spots locked up. SO it will be interesting as to how many starters play. The Packers need to get their defense jump started prior to the playoffs so I’m taking the Pack at home. Plus Rodgers needs to pad his MVP stats a bit with a strong Brees coming on late.

San Francisco (-10.5) vs @St. Louis
Taking the 49ers even with the 10.5. I think they really want that bye in week one. A win will give it to them since they have the better conference record than New Orleans.

@Miami (-2.5) vs Jets
Taking the Jets even though I want the Dolphins to win so Rexy and the Jets stay hom in the playoffs.

@Minnesota (-1) vs Chicago
No Cutler, no Forte, no problem. Still think the Bears can beat Minnesota.

@New England (-11) vs Buffalo
Hate the spread. Really hate it. And Brady is questionable with a shoulder injury. I’m pretty sure he’ll play but I think they’ll get a comfortable lead and pull him. Then the backups will be ineffective allowing Buffalo to look good on the stat sheet, but the Pats win; don’t cover.

@New Orleans (-8) vs Carolina
What a great rookie year for Cam Newton. So many people said he was a fraud coming out of college but it’s not the case. He’s helped his team win six games this year. It ends at six. Brees and the Saints handle their business.

@Philadelphia (-8.5) vs Washington
Last week of the season where we get to pick against the Eagles. Hopefully they smarten up and fire their coach. He’s awful.

@Jacksonville (-3.5) vs Indianapolis
I’m taking the Colts again. Why not wrap up the season with a third win. They’re probably still the team that will draft Andrew Luck since St Louis already has a #1 pick as their QB. We shall see.

Tennessee (-3) vs @Houston
Houston, without a QB, you’re the biggest fraud team in the NFL. Have fun making the post season and getting smacked around by whichever team you face. Titans win.

@Atlanta (-12) vs Tampa Bay
I usually shy away from the double digit spread. Not this week where the Falcons are at home. They need to bounce back from the embarrassment in New Orleans. They also need to try and catch some momentum heading into the playoffs. Falcons win and cover.

Baltimore (-2) vs @Cincinnati
You want Cinci in the playoffs, you need Cinci in the playoffs. I am going to go against my gut that says take the Ravens and say Cincinatti pulls it out. The same Benglas team I wrote off as dead prior to the season. Don’t let me down Bengals.

@Cleveland vs Pittsburgh
Pick em, really? Same thing happened last week, no? Yup and the Steelers shut out the Rams. So I’m taking the Steelers.

@Denver (-3.5) vs Kansas City
There’s a small part of you rooting for lil Romeo right? I can’t be the only one. As much as I want to see nothing but good things happen to Romeo, I don’t see them happening this week. Taking Tebow and the Broncos.

@Oakland (-3) vs San Diego
Taking the Raiders. Which will make the AFC look like this:

#1 Pats
#2 Pittsburgh
#3 Houston
#4 Denver
#5 Baltimore
#6 Cincinatti

Oh some great playoff match-ups there.

@Arizona (-3) vs Seattle
Oh Arizona how you’ve toyed with me this season. No more. Taking the Seahawks.

@Giants (-3) vs Dallas
Winner goes to the playoff, loser goes home. Well, I dislike both teams, but I’m taking the Giants because I want Jerry Jones to lose after pulling his players last week.

Which means your NFC will look like this:

#1 Green Bay
#2 San Fran
#3 New Orleans
#4 Giants
#5 Atlanta
#6 Detroit

Again, some great match-ups.

Probably back Tuesday with Monday off. We’ll see how close I was.

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· 6:12 AM

Sox Snag A Closer

When I got home from work last night it was the lead story on ESPN Boston. The Sox had traded Reddick to the A’s along with two minor leaguers for Oakland closer Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney.

And all of a sudden my fourth place prediction for this club…was solidified.

I’m not saying that dumping Reddick will hurt the club. I think that Kalish is the better of the two prospects. I don’t think that taking Sweeney back in the trade is anything great. The team is already lefty heavy so that part doesn’t really excite me.

Obviously the whole trade centered around the Sox getting an All-Star closer in former Rookie of the Year (2009) in Bailey. But Oakland fans will tell you, don’t get excited. And looking at that photo above, I have to agree with them. This guy looks like the same build as Bobby Jenks who was snorting whole chickens last season while Beckett, Lester, and Lackey were feeding their faces.

So another fat, bloated pitcher that has an injury history. He also saw his ERA more than double from last year to this past year. That’s while playing in a very weak AL West. How will he fair in a much tougher AL East? Exactly.

The bottom line, the Sox traded instead of just paying for Madsen who is way overpriced at 4 years $40 million that Boras is seeking for his client.

The Sox still have a hole in the back of their rotation and a question mark in right even after acquiring Sweeney. Not to mention they have no idea what they’ll get from Buchholz coming back from injury, Beckett and his friend chicken and beer fueled 2011, not to mention Crawford trying to bounce back from an abysmal first season with the Sox. Oh and they team is bringing back Ortiz who I still think was on HGH this past season.

My fourth place prediction stands true as of December 29th. Let’s see if Puppet Ben can change my mind between now and Spring Training.

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December 28, 2011 · 7:29 AM

Did You See This?

So we could recap the 0-2 Celtics loss to the Heat last night. Sure they rallied late but ultimately they came up short. Here’s to them continuing losing so they can get into the lottery and maybe steal the #1 overall pick. I haven’t been watching any college basketball so I don’t even know if there’s a player they’d want, but without a #1 overall pick, this team is doomed for the next decade.

But that’s not where the headline came from. Nope. It comes from a highlight on Saturday that I had not posted because of the Christmas break.

The Bengals’ Jerome Simpson had what I will call, the play of the year on Saturday. Here it is:

I haven’t mailed in a column in a while, but this video was too amazing to not show it. Back tomorrow with my final regular season NFL picks.

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December 27, 2011 · 2:24 AM

Almost Famous (Again)

As you have to have figured out by now, I’m a pretty big fan of 98.5 The Sports Hub. Whether it’s Toucher and Rich in the morning, Felger and Mazz on my ride home, or a late night ride home listening to DA, the station is a constant in my car. I’ve abandoned WEEI with the rare night I’m looking for a Sox game.

My devotion has extended to the web as well. I surfed over to their web site on one of those nights where I woke up at 1:30AM and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I recharged my Sports Hub points and entered a few give away contests. The I saw an ad box for “Ask the Coach” presented by Dunkin.

It’s that segment on the pregame broadcast where Gino interviews Belichick about this week’s opponent. I hear it most weeks. Most questions suck but once in a while you’ll get a decent question. Like I heard him answer the difference between a cover 2 and a Tampa 2 defense once.

So I type in the entry form basically asking something like “It seems since the departure of Willie McGinest the team has been searching for that DE/OLB pass rusher. Do you think you have that in Mark Anderson? This was after Carter was injured for the season and Anderson had two sacks against Tebow and the Broncox.

Well, I didn’t think anything of it and was fighting a pretty good hangover on Saturday morning so I didn’t even tune in to the radio broadcast as I’m lying in bed watching TV. Then my Facebook starting getting hits.

My buddy Ian was the first to chime in, the my friend Stew, and then one of the OB brothers. My question was chosen as the question of the week. And I missed it. We’ve confirmed that the coach didn’t really answer the question instead opting for one of his canned responses of “It’s a group effort…”.

So now I’m trying to track down a copy of the audio. I’ve reached out to my Facebook “friends” that work at the Sports Hub in the hopes someone can snag me a copy of the audio. If you know anyone that works there and you could reach out, the help would be appreciated.

So although I’m just a random blogger and I don’t have a seat at the press conferences, my question went all the way to the top. So like the headline says, Almost Famous (Again).

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December 23, 2011 · 6:36 AM

Happy Festivus

Bruins play Florida tonight, Pats play Miami tomorrow, the Celtics back in action Sunday, but today is December 23rd. Which means that today is Festivas. So Happy Festivus one and all.

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