Week 14 NFL Picks

Matt 17-12

Pete 20-9

Thanks to the Dallas Cowboys I gained some ground on Mr. Prisco this week. The Cowboys exposed the Pack for what they really were, overrated. I do not know what all the hype was about, because any Bears, Lions or Vikings fan could have told you the Pack had no shot in Dallas, yet the many media heads were claiming the Packers were the second best team in football. Welcome back to reality Green Bay. So here are the rest of my picks…

San Diego at Kansas City- San Diego has been hot and cold all year. They have the talent, but can not put it all together. The Chiefs have suffered some close heartbreaking losses. I still think San Diego can get it done. I take the Bolts. Pete takes KC.

Jacksonville at Indianapolis- Indy has looked mortal lately. Due to a few missed field goals and injuries. Jacksonville has looked like a top tier NFL team. I am torn on this one, but I go with Indy at home, although it will not be easy. Pete takes Indy also.

San Francisco at Carolina- Frank Gore finally looked like Frank Gore last week. The Panthers have been a huge disappointment, getting beat soundly by New Orleans at home. I do not think San Francisco can win on the road twice in a row. Again, Pete and I agree.

Buffalo at Washington- Washington is going to be amped up. The untimely death of their teammate will have these guys putting forth a huge effort. Buffalo is going to get annihilated. It is going to be tough to have all of America rooting against you. Good luck Buffalo. Pete goes with the Redskins too.

Seattle at Philadelphia- Two years ago this would have been a marquee match up. Things change quickly in the NFL. The Eagles looked good in a loss to New England last week, and the hawks get back former MVP Shaun Alexander. I like Philly at home, where there defense thrives. Pete goes with them too.

Detroit at Minnesota- The Lions have been reeling after starting 6-2. The Vikings have won their last two and get Adrian Peterson back. The Lions have problems on the offensive line, and the Vikings defense has been playing well lately. I take the home team again, and so does Pete.

New York Jets at Miami- Dolphins are winless. Jets are pathetic. A division game. The Jets are underdogs here. How would you feel if you were the underdog to a winless team? I would be pissed. I think the Jets will come out with a huge chip on their shoulders. I take the Jets. Pete takes the Fish.

Cleveland at Arizona- I am on the Cleveland bandwagon. Outside of the Vikings, my favorite team, New England and Dallas, Cleveland is the team to watch for offense this year. The Cardinals are not bad, no longer the laughing stock of football. However, these teams are going in opposite directions, and I like the Browns. Pete likes the Cards.

Denver at Oakland- A heated rivalry. Denver lost a game they had last week due to bad coaching. Denver is fighting for their playoff lives and I see them winning a hard fought battle. This game will be good. Pete likes the Raiders.

New York Giants at Chicago- I wonder if the Giants will learn from the Broncos mistake and not kick to Devin Hester. If Chicago makes the playoffs, I think Hester’s name has to be included in the MVP talks. The Giants are in their typical second half swoon. I like Chicago, Pete like the Giants.

Tampa Bay at New Orleans- New Orleans is fighting to stay alive. Tampa Bay is what I like to call Green Bay Lite. They are not as good as their record, or the media heads indicate. I like Brees and company here. Pete goes with the Bucs.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh- The Bengals failed to meet many people’s, including my own, expectations. Pittsburgh won a tough one in the mud against Miami last week. I think Pittsburgh gets the machine oiled and starts getting hot for the playoffs. Pete takes the Steelers too.

Baltimore at New England- Leave it to ESPN to run a story showing one play that Randy Moss did not give 100 percent. I guess when I guy has over 1000 yards and 16 touchdowns with four games to go, his effort should be questioned. I am glad they found something to point their finger at. Good job Ron Jaworski. Patriots are the pick for both of us, bitter rivals to the end.

NFL Pick for Today

Green Bay at Dallas- I like the Cowboys a lot here. I think Green Bay is one of the worst one loss team I have ever seen. Dallas is going to lay it down on them….hard. Romo and Owens are too much for the Pack to handle. Pete takes Green Bay.

Twins About to Fleece the Nation or Empire

I have to tip my hat to the Minnesota Twins. In a sport that struggles to compete with the hard hitting action of the NFL or fast pace of the NBA, the sports world is seeing what I dare to call one of the most brilliant strategies I have ever seen a front office in sports employ. The Twins are about to get maximum, if not over value, for Johan Santana. Just two days ago, I wondered how the Yankees would yet again manage to get a top tier player without losing anything of value. That thinking has changed.

The Twins are the ones playing hardball now, and here is why. Many fans complain that the lack of salary cap makes the sport unfair, that is unbalanced. Maybe that is true, maybe not. That is a debate for another time. What is going on now though, is unlike the organizations and fans that simply bitch about the perceived problem, the Twins are taking advantage of it.  They are making suckers out of the Red Sox and Yankees.

When Johan Santana hit the trade market, very few teams had the prospects and finances to make a deal for him. The big player in this was the New York Yankees. Being the big, bad Yankees, Hank Steinbrenner puffed his chest and decreed that certain players were untouchable. Players like Joba Chamberlain. Hank was on the verge of a deal, several sources reported, giving up as little as Melky Cabrera and Phil Hughes. Score for the Yankees.

Wrong.

The Red Sox panicked and sent the Twins a better offer. Jon Lester, Coco Crisp, and a prospect. A sports writer in Minnesota is claiming the deal is all but done for the Sox. Think again. The Yankees will sweeten their deal, make no doubt about it. Then the Sox will counter offer. Minnesota is using the fear these clubs have of the other retaining the services of Santana that they are going to get maximum value. Each team fears the other landing this superstar that they will up the ante, back and forth, until not only are they giving up guys that they said they would not, they are giving up more then they should.

The buzz was that Minnesota was going to get low value. 60 cents on the dollar. When this is all done, I would not be surprised if Minnesota ends up with a package deal of Hughes/Chamberlain/Cabrera or Bucholz/Lester/Elsbury. The moves would be foolish on either side, but the war has begun, the fear has set in, and each team will do it’s damn best to out do the other. In a strange way I almost feel the winner of the Santana sweepstakes will end up the loser in the long run.

The tally so far…

So far Pete has me by a few games in the NFL picks. Hopefully I make up some ground this week, because before we know it, football season will be over.

Matt Hamel , Behind the Green Monster 16-12

Pete Prisco, CBS Sportsline  20-8

It’s worse then I thought! If Pete beats me, can I still consider myself a “smarter” fan? This is not good. Not good at all.

Empire Strikes Back?

It looks like the New York Yankees are going to land Johan Santana. While he will not solve all of the Yankees “problems”, he is going to make them very difficult to beat come October. While New York again had a great season and making the playoffs, they failed again to advance out of the first round. It does not take a baseball genius to figure out what was wrong with them. Starting pitching.

While A-Rod’s struggles in the post season have become legendary, the fact of the matter is year in and year out, the Yankees are bringing one of the worst starting rotations into the playoffs. Look at the A.L. this year. Boston had Beckett. Cleveland had Sabathia. The Angels featured Lackey. The Yankees opened up with Wang. Now, Beckett and Sabathia are in a class of their own. Lackey is right beneath them. Wang, clearly, is not the pitcher any of these guys are. While Wang has won 19 games two years in a row, how many do you think Sabathia or Lackey would win behind that lineup?

Well, we are about two find out how the best pitcher in the league will do. Santana is my worst nightmare as a Red Sox fan. He will neutralize the advantage Beckett gives the Sox. That would then move Wang to the number 2 spot, against a Curt Schilling. Advantage, Yankees. Now if they bring back Andy Pettite, as a number 3 starter, real problems for Red Sox nation.  Not to mention a year of Chamberlain as the setup guy, and the still dangerous Rivera as the closer.

Having a bona fide number one starter will make the Yankees tough to beat when the games matter most. Although the trade has not gone down yet, it is a done deal in my mind. What the Yankees want, the Yankees get. And if Santana is acquired for anything less then Hughes/Chamberlain AND Cano AND Cabrera, the rest of the American League is going to be in for a rough time.

Media Rears It’s Ugly Head

Sean Taylor’s death is a tragedy. The man was murdered in his home, in the middle of the night. He leaves behind a daughter, a family and countless friends. There has been a lot of coverage on this, as there should be. Sports seem a little less important and a little more trivial when a tragedy like this strikes. It is sad that instead of coverage dedicated to Sean as a father, son, friend and teammate, there is a saturation of various talking heads giving their take as yo why this happened.

It is interesting that this is going on, seeming how the investigation has just begun. The police have already stated that an investigation like this takes time, a lot of time. Despite the fact the police need time, various reporters seem to have already solved the crime. Having investigated the matter thoroughly, having grilled eyewitnesses and relying on their experience solving past crimes, it has been said, and agreed by many, that this was Sean Taylor’s past catching up to him.

Reporters have said that Sean Taylor was a troubled man, and ran with the wrong crowd. Even if he had “cleaned up his act”, this was something from his past then. This possibly was a contracted murder even. This point of view is absurd.

First of all, this is strangely reminiscent of the Duke Lacrosse scandal. Without any facts to go on, the men involved in that were portrayed as privileged, arrogant rich white kids. They raped a low income black women and were portrayed as evil incarnate. Now the media machine is labeling Taylor as at best a reformed thug, if not still somewhat involved in questionable activities.

This is wrong in so many ways, and a slap in the face to the family and friends of this man. Sean Taylor has had run ins with the law. Some rather serious ones at that. People forget that Taylor was in the league at 20 years old, in my mind still basically a kid. He made a mistake. People do that. It makes Taylor human. It seems that in today society if you are caught making a mistake, you become that mistake your entire life. Because Taylor had a firearms charge, he is a thug. Bullshit.

Taylor was robbed and he went to get his stuff back, one way or another. He did not call the police. Well, I do not think in my younger day I would have called them either. Does that make me a thug, or a criminal?

Another thing to look at here are two things. First of all, Taylor was at home, in bed. He was not out and about. He was not raising hell. He was in his bed. In his home. Another thing I think of is if Taylor was a “thug”, where the hell was his gun? Not only that, if he was wrapped up in shady business and knew people were after him, would he not arm himself a little better then with a machete? Even if in some part of his plea arrangement from his past case he could not own a firearm, would he really care if it was illegal to have a gun if someone was coming after him?

Then there is the actual gunshot wound itself. It was a leg wound, which sadly was fatal. Now, if someone was there with the intent to kill Taylor, why would they shoot him in the league. I think the head or chest is usually the target when the goal is murder.

So the real question here is why is this happening to Taylor’s image. The man was murdered in his home, yet people are saying, in a sense, it was his fault. The answer is simply, but sad. It is more interesting, and demands more coverage if Taylor was a “thug”. More coverage, more viewers, more advertising dollars. A tragedy is not good enough for ESPN. It must be bigger. It can not be a burglary gone horribly wrong. It is part of a bigger thing, more crime, maybe even drug related!

ESPN can not allow Delaware to not play Delaware State due to disparity in talent, instead it has to be racism. They also can not allow Sean Taylor’s tragedy to become nothing less then a frenzy of prejudgments and conclusions drawn to simply make it more sensational. And in the middle of all this someone lost a father, son and friend.

Week 12 NFL Picks

Well, it is that time again. Pete got the better of me last week, hopefully I can make up some ground this week. Let’s take a look at the action for Sunday.

Washington at Tampa Bay- I am not sold yet on Tampa Bay. I do not think I ever will be. Washington had a strong effort playing at Dallas last week, taking the best team in the NFC down to the wire. My pick here is Washington. Pete takes Tampa.

Seattle at St. Louis- The NFC West is a horrible division. Many people picked the Rams as a dark horse contender, but this team was decimated by injury. Seattle seems to be hitting it’s groove lately, relying on the arm of Matt Hasselback to win games. The Rams are always tough at home though, so I like St. Louis. Pete takes them too.

Minnesota at New York Giants- Minnesota looked good last week, unfortunately you do not get to play the Raiders every week at home. The Giants are fighting for their playoff lives. It also helps the can throw the ball, something Minnesota can not do. Giants in a blowout. Pete goes with New York as well.

Oakland at Kansas City- Oakland has serious issues this year. They need to put their young quarterback in, like Miami has. Kansas City is already rebuilding, with Brody Croyle at the helm. Kansas City is my pick here…same with Pete.

Buffalo at Jacksonville- Jacksonville looks strong this year. David Garrard looks like he is the real deal. The Bills have been overachieving, and they will suffer their second consecutive loss this week as Jacksonville puts pressure on Indianapolis for the AFC South crown. Pete goes with the Jags as well.

Houston at Cleveland- Both of these offenses are explosive. That statement would have been laughable before the season starts. I expect a lot of points in this one. Cleveland has been on a roll lately, and Houston gets back the best wideout no one talks about in Andre Johnson. I’ll take the Browns and the over. Pete goes with the dogs as well.

Tennessee at Cincinnati-  I was high on the Titans last week, then their big weakness was exposed. Their receivers can not catch the ball.  They face a Bengals team that has  failed to meet high expectations this yea. I like Vince Young and the Titans to bounce back with a big win here. Pete takes the Bungles.

New Orleans at Carolina- Another case of two teams that were supposed to make noise this year, that have not. The Saints started bad, rebounded, and reverted back to their losing ways. The Panthers have a starting quarter back that should be collecting social security checks. I’ll take the Saints against grandpa and the Panthers. Pete takes Carolina.

San Francisco at Arizona- I will take anyone over San Fran. Even the Panthers and their old man quarterback. Pete takes the Cardinals also.

Denver at Chicago- Denver has looked good lately, Chicago lost a huge game to Seattle. Cedric Benson looked good last week, and I expect the Bears to attack the Broncos weak run defense and control the clock for the win. Pete is with me on this one.

Baltimore at San Diego- Baltimore lost a heart breaker last week. San Diego got worked by the Jaguars. Both these teams are in a tailspin, so I will go with the team that is at home, San Diego. Pete and I agree on this one.

Philadelphia at New England- In the same sense I will always pick the 49ers to lose, I will always pick New England to win. They have the best offense the NFL has ever seen. I do not expect the A.J. Feeley led Eagles to pose a threat.  And, no surprise here, Pete agrees.

Miami at Pittsburgh- The Dolphins are the polar opposite of the Patriots. New England has a legitimate shot to go 16-0, Miami could easily go 0-16. Pittsburgh will be out for blood because of what happened in New York. Steelers big, Pete agrees.

This should be an entertaining week in football as the playoff picture begins to take shape.  This has been a great season so far, and I imagine the home stretch will be no less entertaining. Hopefully I can beat Pete this week, but luckily I do not find myself in a “must win” situation as many NFL franchises find themselves going into week 12.

Delaware plays Delaware State

For the past few weeks, ESPN had been running stories on the football programs of Delaware and Delaware State. Both teams were involved in a story on the show Outside the Lines. The show is supposed to look at sports from a “other then just stats” view point. The show has had it’s moments, other times it has been a joke. The show came up short on this one.

The sports world has had a lot of interesting things going on lately. Things that you do not hear too much about. The Green Bay Packers putting bounties on opposing players, super agent Scott Boras losing clients or not even being allowed to negotiate for his clients. It is playoff push time in football, and free agency has begun in baseball.  With all these things going on ESPN decided to run a show on Delaware and Delaware State. The results of that show disgust me. Here is why.

Delaware does not play Delaware State. Delaware State is a school that is predominately black. So the only reason that they do not play is Delaware is a racist school. At least that is the angle thee show seemed to take. The race question was asked on the show. The show was then played over and over again. Racism became an issue here. Delaware decided to play Delaware State as soon as possible to salvage their image. The game is going on as I write this.

The third quarter is about to end and the score is 44-0, Delaware. The game is unfolding as experts predicted it would, yet their opinion was not featured on the show, except in a fleeting way. Delaware is crushing Delaware State. That is what the experts said would happen, and was a reason they said Delaware did not want to play them. They lack talent to compete, and it shows. That was not mentioned on the show, except for as an afterthought at the very end. Right before the credits rolled. Instead the race card was played, by ESPN.

The strange thing is I see black players playing for Delaware. I also see black coaches on the sidelines for Delaware. Is it safe to assume that there are black students enrolled? ESPN never ceases to amaze me. I wonder if now, they will run the story and say that the Delaware is simply a much better team, and that is why they did not want to play. My guess is that they will drop it completely. They were flat out wrong.

The shameful thing about this is ESPN in a sense forced Delaware to play this game by flexing the media muscles. ESPN could do good things for sports if it focused on issues that mattered. Issues other then the race card. Instead, they choose to harp on race, race and more race. Any time a black athlete or coach has a problem, ESPN plays the race card, which in turn produces racism, because two things happen.

The first thing is that it becomes an actual out for the black athlete or coach. If you make a mistake, do not get a job, get into trouble or anything else, you can fall back on racism being the cause. Why wouldn’t you? If you can do almost anything you want,or say anything you want, with all you have to do is claim racism when you get into trouble for it, would you not? I would. It is an easy out, and you have people and organizations like ESPN that will back you up. When Mike Vick was found guilty, people claimed, as well as ESPN reported, racism is involved. I thought the reason Vick was going to prison was because he did something illegal? I did not realize that there were no white people in prison.

Then there is consequence number two. It creates animosity towards blacks from whites. When the race card is shoved in my face by ESPN constantly, it is like slap in the face every day. ESPN in some form or another, manages at least a few times a week, to convey the message that the only reason a black person gets into trouble, fails at something, etc is because, I, the white man, am racist. Why is ESPN not running constant coverage of the Duke Lacrosse players now that they have been found innocent, the accuser lied, and the prosecutor withheld evidence?

Because it does not make a good story for ESPN.

The ironic thing is ESPN itself has become one of the most racist institution’s in America by the method of reporting it practices. It does not take the real issues the people are facing in their careers or lives. If a black athlete has a problem, ESPN claims racism, and never finds out the real story. That is prejudged based on your race, which ironically, is racism.

Big Moves in Baseball

Several teams wasted no time in improving themselves so far this off season in Major League Baseball. The Boston Red Sox resigned Mike Lowell, the World Series MVP. TheNew York Yankees resigned the American League MVP Alex Rodriguez, and the Chicago White Sox and Anaheim Angels completed a trade sending pitcher Jon Garland to the Angels, with the White Sox getting Orlando Cabrerra in return.

These are great moves for all the teams involved. The Red Sox keep their team leader in RBI’s, a great defensive third baseman, and a good clubhouse guy. In a team with a lot of big bats, Lowell came through time after time, with clutch hits at the plate, and great plays at the hot corner. Leading a team in RBI’s on a roster that include David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez is an impressive feat. By resigning Lowell, the Red Sox also are able to keep Kevin Youkilis at first base, where he was the recent winner of a Gold Glove.

The Yankees ultimately kept the guy who single handedly thrust them into the post season. Critics point to the lack of post season production by A-Rod, but the fact of the matter is without him, New York stays him during the post season. He lead the AL in home runs, RBI’s, and runs scored. The guy is a three time MVP winner and is on pace to shatter the home run record. A-Rod’s deal pretty much assures him of retiring a Yankee. If the Yankees can get a solid pitching rotation to compliment their bats, they will be impressive.

The Angels acquired a proven, veteran arm in Jon Garland. They lose a great shortstop in Orlando Cabrera, but ultimately it is pitching that wins games, and with Garland the Angels make a strong rotation even better. Garland will get much better run support in Anaheim, so look for him to bounce back from a sub-par year. The Angels will be dangerous, as always.

Lastly, the White Sox acquired short-stop Orlando Cabrera. He has one the Gold Glove, and had a great year offensively. The White Sox could afford to lose Garland, because they are deep with pitching talent, and Cabrera is a serious upgrade from Juan Uribe, both offensively and defensively. Unfortunately, they play in the AL Central, the toughest division in baseball, and they still have a long way to go.

Green Bay Packers = Classless

Several news sources reported yesterday that during the Packers-Vikings game two weeks ago, a “bounty” was placed on Minnesota rookie running back Adrian Peterson. The Packers defensive backs offered every defensive lineman five hundred dollars if they held him to under 100 yards rushing. They succeeded. They stopped him by injuring him. Peterson took a low hit to the knees, from his blind side, tearing a ligament in the process. He missed last weeks game, will miss this weeks game, and could be shut down for the season. This happened while Peterson was on attempting to rush for the most yards in a single season in the history of the NFL. While being a rookie.

I await for the response to this by the media. I wonder if the same media that has been all over the Patriots for “spygate” will attack the Packers organization like they did New England. I wonder if the ESPN talking heads will debate the severity of this action, like the used to debate how Randy Moss should be out of the league for comments he made to the media. Same for Terrell Owens.  The actions of this so called bounty  directly resulted in a Peterson’s  season being placed in jeopardy. If the Vikings were to have placed a “bounty” on Brett Favre, and in that game he suffered serious injury, do you know what type of repercussions there would be for not only the players, but for the organization?

Severe ones.

They took a first round draft pick and issued to severe fines because New England broke the rules. Video taping the coaches signals is illegal in the NFL. The Packers also broke the rules, except their actions led to serious injuries.It is illegal for a team, coaches or players to offer “bounties” on opposing players or groups

Let us see what the NFL does about this.

Let us see the double standard in action.