World Series G2 Thread (with context this time!)

So this has a leg to stand on, I've provided the game scenario in italics above the comments we are referencing to the best of my memory.

Participants:
-------------
Jesse,Alex Dombroff,Pelle

Messages:
---------
earlier in the day, we started the thread with some pre-game chatter

Jesse: Pedro vs. AJ
System message: Pelle has been invited to join.
Alex Dombroff: We need this
Jesse: Wonder what pelles doing
Alex Dombroff: Is he in chicago
Jesse: Haha. Doubtful
System message: Pelle has been invited to join.
System message: Pelle has been added to the conversation.
Jesse: We're all here
Pelle: Let's do r bar. The yanks need us!
Jesse: I guess I could do that
Pelle: Well let me know
Jesse: What you guys think about hairston over swish toniuht?
Alex Dombroff: Is that def?
Jesse: No. But he should be
Jesse: Look at the numbers
Pelle: Those don't mean any thing. Its the biggest stage. You need to
go out n perform n my main man swish is gonna be doin some damage
tonight!
Jesse: Swish is eating dick. Jerry is.370 vs Pedro
Pelle: When was the last time he saw him in action? 6 years ago?
Jesse: Just as recent as the rest of the Yankees. Swish is 0 for 2 vs. Pedro
Pelle: Put me out there. Ill lace one back up the middle off Pedro
Alex Dombroff: Can I get a WHO's YOUR DADDY
Jesse: 4 hours
Jesse: Quien es tu papa?
Pelle: Who's your daddy!!!???
Jesse: Jerry officially in Rf. Love it
Pelle: Dh posada over Godzilla. Your thoughts?
Alex Dombroff: Is that true?
Jesse: No
Jesse: Posada hasn't been great this October
Jesse: Going to grab a 12er of Americas beer to watch Americas team
Pelle: I can view any of these txts. What's going on here. Do I have a frillie?
Pelle: Cant*
Jesse: What's a frillie
Jesse: What time you comin over pelle?
Pelle: Like a virus. Like 730 for pregame. I'm gonna pick some up too
Jesse: Kk
Jesse: Hova in 20!
Pelle: En route!
Pelle: Let's get like ace frehley n get back in the new York groove tonight
Jesse: Nice!
Jesse: Dommy where you watching?
Pelle: Jesse. Save your cold ones I have a surprise

Pelle shows up at my crib with a Heineken mini keg
Alex Dombroff: Great sports bar called blondies. Bringing the yankees crowd
Jesse: Where is it?
Alex Dombroff: West side
Pelle: Alex. A prediction for this evening?
Jesse: My uncle says 7 5
Alex Dombroff: 6-2 bombers. Pedro is reminded exactly who is daddy is
Pelle: Yea I was gonna say we run it right back 6 1
Jesse: I think shootout. 9 5
Alex Dombroff: Pick a team bro
Jesse: Is that a real question
Alex Dombroff: For the gods
Jesse: Yanks babe
Pelle: Bombers
Pelle: We hit 2 in monument park tonight and drop a suck it on Pedro
Jesse: Nice

A few minutes before 8 p.m., AJ fires a strike to start the game
Jesse: This is the biggest inning of the night
Alex Dombroff: What a start aj
Alex Dombroff: That cut fastball to get victorino was gorgeoud
Jesse: That's it
Jesse: Yankees win this one big
Pelle: His stuff is movin. Let's put that Santa Domingo heat on Pedro
Jesse: Pammy fogel around?
Alex Dombroff: Jesse! Its pammy. I miss you!
Jesse: Hey girl. Ill be home for Christmas and new years
Alex Dombroff: I read her that
Alex Dombroff: She gave a "hey hey" in return
Pelle: Tell her pelle may be coming too. And he brings the ruckus

Matt Stairs rips a questionable single off A-Rod's glove for a 1-0 lead

Jesse: Matt stairs coaches hockey in Canada in the offseason
Jesse: A rod come on bro
Pelle: Don't sweat the small stuff. That run will [be] irrelevant in about
5 innings after we put up a few 3 spots

Jesse: He'll lead off with a basehit to atone

Pedro spending an excessive amount of time blowing in his hand
Jesse: Me and pelle just said its supposed to be below 40 if you are
blowing in your hands. Girardi needs to flip out
Pelle: Let's turn it
Jesse: Nice Jose!
Alex Dombroff: Such a big inning here, aj
Jesse: Crowd sucks

Jose Molina whips a ball to Tex who puts the tag on a sleeping Werth and the momentum is shifted

Jesse: Nice!!
Pelle: Jose
Alex Dombroff: There we go, jose

Teixeira clobbers a ball to tie the game at one run apiece
Jesse: Aj is locked in. We need to get some hits. 3 4 5
Alex Dombroff: Rod city
Pelle: Every one hits here
Jesse: Tex message!!!!
Alex Dombroff: Texxxxxxx
Jesse: Its on
Pelle: Were hittin em now.
Jesse: This crowd is TERRIBLE. Get on your feet
Jesse: That's what hairston was K,d on
Jesse: Alex you see those KGB shirts behind home plate? What a great
advertising idea
Alex Dombroff: I gotta pay better attention
Jesse: Captain jetes will get you high
Alex Dombroff: So important to throw up a 0 here, aj
Jesse: He will. Then its back to 3 4 5 who have hit him hard tonight
Jesse: Chase buttley Ryan coward and Jason werthless
Pelle: This inning decides the game. What pitcher gets out the 3 4 5 guys
Jesse: This is where we need to string some guys together
Pelle: Aj sit down w Jorge and talk so we can pinch hit for Molina
Alex Dombroff: Amen, pel
Jesse: Way to give him an out Tex
Pelle: Wtf. Quit swingin @ his bulls---
Alex Dombroff: C'monnnnn
Jesse: Be patient. Is long telling the boys anything?

After two quick strikeouts by A-Rod and Tex, Matsui calmly steps to the plate
Jesse: Godzilla smash!!!
Pelle: Godzirra
Alex Dombroff: Who's your daddy, a--hole
Pelle: Shut em down Aj for that first career playoff dub
Jesse: This is it
Jesse: Always Jacked
Pelle: I say whenever Aj pitches from now on we throw a chaw in!!
Jesse: Vayda's getting the train run on her
Jesse: Ggbg!!!
Jesse: Vayda better buckle up
Jesse: WHO'S YOUR DADDY
Pelle: Alex. Here is who's your daddy!!!
Pelle: What a bum he is. He's laughing. What a bum. He doesn't even
care. He's glad he has his money n a ring already
Alex Dombroff: We just started a who's your daddy in the bar
Jesse: Love it

Posada raps a single up the middle to give the home team a 3-1 lead still threatening
Jesse: That's that all state insurance right there
Pelle: Send em home Johnny
Jesse: Come on JD
Jesse: If aj comes out for the 8th I'm flying to nyc and killing girardi
Pelle: Start joba
Jesse: Disappointing inning. 1st and 3rd with no outs
Jesse: Huddle and make the right call
Alex Dombroff: Bs call tho
Pelle: Enter night

AJ hands the ball directly to Rivera for a six-out save attempt, Rivera lets two guys on before inducing a GIDP from Utley
Jesse: Bear down month
Jesse: Mo*
Alex Dombroff: Jesse never gets mo right
Pelle: Mo better get mo right
Jesse: It auto fills in month for some reason
Jesse: I don't know why I get worried about mo
Alex Dombroff: He's a god
Jesse: Eh make up call

Top 9, Aceves is shown stretching in the bullpen, but Mo comes out and pitches a clean inning for the save.
Jesse: Sit the f down ace
Jesse: At least a rod is due in game 3
Jesse: Bronx stand up
Pelle: Start spreadin the news!
Jesse: "Every game in the world series is a must win" big Tex
Jesse: Empire state of mind

-Jesse

NFL Picks for Week 8

I'm feeling pretty confident after a big week, so I'm going to give you five picks this week, home team in bold.

Chicago (-13.5) over Cleveland-- Cleveland is TERRIBLE. and Chicago has a big comeback game after getting embarrassed by CP9 and Co. Cleveland has been held to less than seven points four times this year and Jay 'in the' Cutler is good for at least three TDs vs. the Browns.

New Orleans (-10) over Atlanta-- Drew Brees can lead the Saints to score 10 points in a matter of seconds. They scored more points (36) in the second half vs. Miami than all but four teams scored in the entire game in Week 7. Monday Night, in the Dome...it's going to be madness.

Indianapolis (-12) over San Francisco-- Indy is beastly, I'm picking them to cover against just about everyone (they've done so the last five weeks). This is in Naptown, where they have played just twice through the first six games of 2009.

Houston (-3.5) over Buffalo-- The only road team I picked this week has scored just 10 points in it's last two home games (vs. NO and CLE) after putting up 33 in it's first game at Ralph Wilson against Tampa Bay. Houston is good on the road beating Cincinnati in the Jungle and Tennessee. They lost to Arizona, but made a valiant comeback attempt after digging themselves a three touchdown hole early.

Arizona (-9.5) over Carolina-- Back when they made the schedule, this looked like a big matchup. Now, it might be one of the biggest blowouts of the week. Carolina is just happy they've played two of the worst teams in the league (Tampa Bay and Washington), otherwise they might be looking for their first win this week.

Last week I was pretty good and my wallet felt the rewards:

Indianapolis (-13) over St. Louis-- RIGHT

New England (14.5) over Tampa Bay--RIGHT

Green Bay (-7) over Cleveland--RIGHT

New Orleans (-6.5) over Miami--RIGHT

Also, before the season, I picked the Bengals to go 9-7 and CP9 to have a big year, throwing for 4,000 yds and 30 TDs. Even Who Dey fans called me crazy... he's now on pace for 30 TDs and 3,700 yds. Sit on it.

-Jesse

World Series Simulation

I jumped over to WhatIfSports yesterday and simulated the Series, here's what it told me:

G1: Yankees 10, Phillies 1

-W: Sabathia, L: Lee

-HRs: Rodriguez, Matsui, Cano, Posada (2)

G2: Yankees 8, Phillies 2

-W: Burnett, L: Hamels

-HRs: Matsui, Swisher, Posada (2)...Ibanez, Ruiz

G3: Yankees 10, Phillies 2

-W: Pettitte, L:Pedro

-HRs: Jeter, Cano, Swisher (2)...Howard

G4: Phillies 22, Yankees 3

-W: Lee, L: Chamberlain

-HRs: Howard (2), Ibanez, Feliz, Ruiz...Matsui

G5: Phillies 5, Yankees 1

-W: Hamels, L: Sabathia, S: Durbin

-HRs: Damon

G6: Yankees 8, Phillies 6

-W: Hughes, L: Durbin

-HRs: Teixeira (2), Swisher, Cano

According to WhatIfSports, the New York Yankees win the 2009 World Series 4-2. But you already knew that, considering Meatballs predicted #27 a month ago. Speaking of predictions, let's check how we did in the Championship Series'.

ALCS

Prediction: Yankees over Red Sox in 5

Actual: Yankees over Angels in 6

NLCS

Prediction: Phillies over Dodgers in 6

Actual: Phillies over Dodgers in 5

Just flip the amount of games around and swap the Sawx for the Halos and I was perfect. Whatever, all that matters is I got the winning teams correct. So far, in the six series played, MITM is 5-1. We'll take that every day of the week.

-Jesse

Meatballs + Alex BBM chat thread from ALCS Game 6

Participants:
-------------
Jesse,Pelle,Alex Dombroff

Messages:
---------
Pelle: Alex @ the game?
Jesse: He just called
Jesse: Not yet
Jesse: You invite him to this bbm?
Pelle: I don't know how to do that
Alex Dombroff: I'm here boys
Jesse: Nice
Pelle: On the subway
Alex Dombroff: In a cab on the way to the stadium... Parents are
sitting one place, I'm in another, so until I can sneak down to where
they are, I will be active in this chat
Jesse: Good
Jesse: Maddie has on her nyy bandana
Pelle: I'm so f*** jealous. Of Alex not maddie
Alex Dombroff: Nothing to be jealous about until we win this thing
Pelle: Very true. Glad were throwing pettite?
Pelle: I am
Alex Dombroff: Me too
Alex Dombroff: This is when he does work
Jesse: No doubt
Pelle: I don't like how people are saying that girardi is lookin ahead
by not starting cc
Alex Dombroff: He's looking at history
Alex Dombroff: Pettite gets the job done in october
Jesse: Pelle said he'll admit anal bead use with vayda if we win
Alex Dombroff: its about time
Alex Dombroff: Then I wanna know what happened once they really got going
Jesse: Fins. Pissed away leads of 24 3 early and 34 24 in the 4th
Pelle: Feeling anything in the air tonight Alex?
Alex Dombroff: The deegan is about 10x more packed than I've ever seen
it on a game day
Alex Dombroff: I don't know what means but the crowd should be strong
Pelle: Nice!!
Jesse: Eta?
Alex Dombroff: Just got here - all lots full. Haven't seen one douchey
californian yet
Jesse: Nice. Weather?
Alex Dombroff: Cool but not bad
Alex Dombroff: Feels like october
Jesse: Wind?
Alex Dombroff: Light
Alex Dombroff: The new girl looks grand tonight
Jesse: New girl?
Alex Dombroff: The stadium
Jesse: Love it
Pelle: Ahhh let's go yanks!
Jesse: Let's do it
Alex Dombroff: Dealin'
Jesse: Looks great
Pelle: Its the first inning
Alex Dombroff: You can't start a fire without a spark, pelle
Jesse: Boom
Pelle: I know I'm just saying
Jesse: Tex!
Pelle: He's hitting the ball from the right side btr
Jesse: Swish!!
Pelle: What was Vladimir doing?
Jesse: Please don't let that bum Mathis look like an allstar us again
Pelle: Walks. Ugh
Jesse: Terrible fake NY [by] jorgie there haha
Alex Dombroff: Time to start piling on the runs
Pelle: Let's bat around
Alex Dombroff: Robbie, no pressure situation
Pelle: Buck just said cano looked incredible in batting practice
Alex Dombroff: Good start
Alex Dombroff: Set up
Jesse: Here we go cap
Alex Dombroff: Jete owns this guy
Jesse: Come on Jd
Alex Dombroff: Ugh
Alex Dombroff: Break through!!
Jesse: Are you kidding me
Pelle: What?
Pelle: This kid is a f**
Jesse: Thanks for explaining that the bottom third of the order is the
7 8 9 hitters
Jesse: I had no idea before Joe buck told me
Pelle: Big time k!
Jesse: Ughhhh
Pelle: I said they would score first
Jesse: 345 let's go
Pelle: I'd like to answer that lead off double with Tex
Pelle: Saunders not looking very comfortable
Jesse: Laboring
Jesse: You swicth seats yet Al?
Pelle: Green light?
Alex Dombroff: Naw. None down there. My old roommate is in the
upperdeck. Might downgrade and go up there if he has an empty
Jesse: Not a bad idea
Jesse: Send a rod
Alex Dombroff: Plus there will be some legit noise upstairs
Jesse: Ahhh
Jesse: Gotta quit leaving ducks on the pond
Pelle: We're ok. As long as we get the next guy in who gets on second
Jesse: Let's give Andy some support now
Pelle: Were gettin 2 across here
Jesse: Here it is
Jesse: Morales afraid of the wall there. Very abreu-ish
Pelle: Come on jetes
Jesse: Mcgwire to be cards hitting coach
Pelle: So he's the pharmacist
Jesse: He's a what, .270 hitter?
Jesse: Damon!!!
Pelle: 3 4 5 keep it going!
Alex Dombroff: Rod time
Jesse: A rod is terryifying here
Alex Dombroff: Rodtober
Jesse: Kate Hudson is sitting down that's wack
Pelle: Missed call
Jesse: That was an iffy call but ill take it
Alex Dombroff: Saved them from taking him yard on 3-2
Jesse: True
Pelle: We have em down but we need to go for jugular right here.
Jesse: They're bringing in their best setup hit in the 4th. KISS THE BABY
Alex Dombroff: Time for someone to put a KTB stamp on this game
Jesse: Hahaha
Pelle: Only out was a sac
Pelle: O Jesus please bring in Santana
Pelle: You f*** posada
Pelle: That's 9 lob
Pelle: Need to keep stackin runs though on their pen
Pelle: Let's turn 2
Jesse: Nice!
Pelle: There it is. Robbie looks like he's btr than everyone tonight.
He's gonna start off the inning here as well
Pelle: Omg were gonna let Oliver shut us down
Jesse: New girl attendance record tonight
Jesse: What's there to talk about. Go and get him
Jesse: How did he hit that pitch
Alex Dombroff: Its ok, andy october will take care of kendry
Jesse: Big
Jesse: We need some insurance
Jesse: I like Hughes and mo for 2
Jesse: Mathis will hit this to jersey I'm sure
Alex Dombroff: Wait an overation for andy october
Alex Dombroff: What
Jesse: I want a gidp
Jesse: Cano has been off the hook
Jesse: Joba rules
Jesse: Send rod here. 2-0
Alex Dombroff: Vayda is 6 outs from giving influenza headies tonight
Jesse: Hahaha. Love it
Jesse: Teixeira should come out with his own tom emanski series
Jesse: CANO!
Jesse: Whoops!
Alex Dombroff: Nice, vlad
Jesse: UghhhhhhH
Alex Dombroff: Mo!
Alex Dombroff: Still 4 outs to go..
Jesse: Maybe we shoulda let Vlad take that walk
Pelle: I could go for some insurance
Jesse: Swisher sweet
Jesse: Sac?
Pelle: I would
Pelle: Now I make him throw a strike
Jesse: Wowwwww
Pelle: Sac melky
Jesse: Clearly
Jesse: Holy crap
Jesse: Knoblauch pitching?
Pelle: Were trying to get out n they still can't do it
Alex Dombroff: Jeter with the ktb moment here
Jesse: Ktb
Pelle: That is career suicide for kazmir. He's done. I hope he invested
Jesse: Haha. Wow
Jesse: His career can ktb?
Jesse: Fly ball
Pelle: That would be ideal
Pelle: Cut them deep!
Jesse: Its still kiss the baby
Alex Dombroff: Wow.
Alex Dombroff: That had ktb written all over it
Jesse: But it was about to be kiss a whole hospital full of babies for a second
Pelle: He's leavin that up to pay rod
Pelle: Intentional unintentional
Jesse: On base 5 times tonight!
Jesse: Jorgie at the plate tonight has created 7 of the 24 outs
Jesse: Left at least 5 on base
Pelle: What an awful game for him. He looks terrible
Pelle: He's left them juiced twice
Pelle: 2 double plays
Jesse: Two to go
Pelle: Mccarver is an absolute bum
Jesse: One mo for mo!
Jesse: Saw his bat
Pelle: Petitte the all time wins leader in the post season. 16 n counting!
Jesse: Get on your feet new York
Pelle: Bump city!
Pelle: K him looking
Jesse: Yeahhhhhhhhh
Pelle: Yes sir!!!!!!
Jesse: 4 to go
Alex Dombroff: Its up to you NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Jesse: Hahaha. Jeter just clowned ken rosenthal
Alex Dombroff: Mission october is on
Alex Dombroff: Can we archive this bbm
Jesse: Yeah. Ill email it to you guys in the morning

---

I'm sure that has no interest to anyone but Yankee fans.

-Jesse

Closing

Had a conversation with a friend on gChat today when we were discussing if you can use the term 'closed' if you just made out with a girl. It was pretty funny and rather accurate so I decided to share.

He came up with five stages of closing in adulthood:

"Stage one is getting the date

Stage two make out

Stage 3 spend the night

Stage 4 oral

Stage five make babies"

...Which is clearly different than in college:

"stage one making babies

stage 2 day hang out

stage three meet friends

stage 4 date"

Silly college kids with their beer and loose morals.

Video of the week for Miami alums and anyone else who is celebrating Homecoming this weekend. Go Hawks.

-Jesse

Week 7 Power Rankings, brought to you by the Lube Tube

	Power rankings	SoS	Rem SoS	Last Week
IND	1	19.6	16.9	1
NOL	2	17.2	17.2	4
MIN	3	19.5	16.0	3
DEN	4	19.7	16.7	5
ATL	5	12.6	16.2	8
NE	6	14.8	14.9	16
PIT	7	22.5	15.9	10
ARI	8	15.0	20.1	13
SF	9	14.2	17.6	11
NYG	10	22.8	15.0	2
MIA	11	12.4	17.1	21
GB	12	18.4	17.7	15
BAL	13	16.3	12.8	12
CIN	14	13.3	18.9	7
NYJ	15	14.7	16.2	9
PHI	16	21.4	15.1	6
HOU	17	20.3	17.1	20
CAR	18	19.8	11.1	18
CHI	19	14.2	13.7	14
SD	20	12.8	20.9	17
BUF	21	15.2	17.3	26
DAL	22	18.0	16.9	25
SEA	23	15.7	17.4	22
DET	24	11.5	15.7	19
JAC	25	18.7	15.4	24
WAS	26	23.7	14.0	23
CLE	27	10.3	18.4	27
KC	28	19.3	18.6	29
OAK	29	15.8	18.1	30
TB	30	18.8	10.4	31
TEN	31	11.8	16.0	28
STL	32	16.3	14.8	32

Lube Tube Breakdown:

1. Indianapolis - Peyton is hands down the MVP right now.

2. New Orleans - Proof that this offense can hum against a good defense, and shows how valuable home field in the playoffs is to the Saints.

3. Minnesota - I didn't think that Favre would make them this good. He has. And don't expect a late season breakdown like last year. They're keeping him on a pitch count, and he gets to play in a nice warm dome for most of the winter.

4. Denver - WTF. I didn't think they'd have four wins on the season, let alone six before their bye week. People may start to realize that having a rocket arm (Cutler) doesn't make you a better QB.

5. Atlanta - Two quality victories in a row. Chicago is overrated, but this Atlanta team will make some noise come January.

6. New England - If I were anything like them, I'd be running up my word count on this column for no reason. Karma punishes coaches that needlessly throw with their starters, ahead by 52. Ye be warned.

7. Pittsburgh - Since I hate Pittsburgh, I'll only say that they will win the AFC North.

8. Arizona - Everyone wrote them off after San Fran started out well. Last time I checked, they were tied.

9. San Francisco - I wished they hadn’t signed Crabtree. Something just doesn't feel right about this team, but Gore is back. So be happy with that 49er fans.

10. New York Giants - Congrats, you beat five terrible teams. Welcome to the "doing what you're supposed to" club. This week against Arizona will be a big test.

11. Miami - The wildcat is fun, and Ronnie Brown can run it. Stop putting Pat White behind center. It's pointless.

12. Green Bay - Beating an injured Detroit squad doesn't do much for your cred. Shutting out that team, however, builds some much needed confidence for that defense.

13. Baltimore - I have no idea what this team is. Contender? Middle of the Pack? Do they fold? Do they rebound? Bye week helps them answer some of those questions.

14. Cincinnati - After an emotional win last week, this was almost inevitable. As a Bengal fan though, you would have liked to see a little more fight though.

15. New York Jets – Thomas Jones runs for 200 and you lose? That loss hangs on Sanchez and the offensive coordinator. Maybe after pick #3 you should have gone a little more conservative. You were playing the Bills, remember?

16. Philadelphia – Any team that loses to the Raiders doesn’t deserve to make the playoffs. Man law.

17. Houston – Completely dominated the Bengals. Since everyone thinks they are good again, they’ll lay an egg against the 49ers.

18. Carolina - They aren't good. Beating bad teams doesn't change that. Wesley’s hit deserved more than a one-game suspension. He should be the tackling dummy in Tampa’s practices this week.

19. Chicago - See Carolina. Also, Jay Cutler is 20 - 22 as a starter. Just throwing that out there.

20. San Diego - Only bright side is Tomlinson looks like he has a little left in the tank.

21. Buffalo - Who cares.

22. Dallas - NFC East teams are given too much credit. This is a six win team with fantasy value. Period.

23. Seattle - Screw you Housh! Hope you enjoy that awful team.

24. Detroit - I feel bad for them. Offense starts building a bright future, then Stafford and Megatron go down. Luckily, its not too serious.

25. Jacksonville - Get more than 40,000 people in your stadium, and I'll write something about you.

26. Washington - ROFL. Dan Snyder is the Dan Snyder of football.

27. Cleveland - Death threats against Braylon Edwards? I understand, I really do.

28. Kansas City - They deserve to be better. I think they'll get there, but it's without Cassel.

29. Oakland - Jamarcus Russell is a turd. Wins don't cover that crap up.

30. Tampa Bay - Terrible. Take a lap.

31. Tennessee – See above.

32. St. Louis – See Above above.

---

Jesse's thoughts:

-I love that my fins skyrocketed when they didn't even play.

-I'm confused as to how the Titans cannot be deemed the worst team in football right now.

-The top four teams have separated themselves from the pack, much like the bottom six have, but there are close to a dozen teams you could fill in the 5-10 spots. Hopefully the next couple weeks will shake things out a bit.

-Normally, if I were to tell you, the game you got to watch was an OT contest between division rivals, you'd be pumped right? Me, too. That idea sounds great on paper and in theory, but then you have the Jets/Bills vomit fest of last Sunday and you are not as excited as you used to be.

-What is going on in Jacksonville? Mojo goes crazy on the radio the week before, then goes nuts on the field and you need OT to beat one of the worst teams of the decade?

-I don't get how he has B-more over the Queen City when the Bengals won head-to-head.

I'll leave you with a fun Sporcle...Sports teams who do not have the city they play in their name.

-Jesse

Early Picks this Week

Not too shabby last week, but you can see what I was saying about not being too sure about any of the lines.

Last week:

New England (-9) over Tennessee-- RIGHT

New Orleans (-3) over New York Giants-- RIGHT

Philadelphia (-14) over Oakland-- WRONG

Chicago (+3) over Atlanta-- WRONG

This week I feel a lot better about and I'll probably throw a three team parlay together with the first three of these picks. So confident that I'm picking four road teams. Home team in bold.

Indianapolis (-13) over St. Louis-- How is this line not higher? This game has FREE MONEY written all over it. The only teams St. Louis has competed with all year are the offensively offensive Redskins and the identity-ess Jaguars.

New England (14.5) over Tampa Bay-- Tampa has lost by two scores in four of six games this season and I honestly couldn't name more than two starters on offense for the team (actually three- Kellen Winslow). Tom Brady is feeling great after putting up a monster game last week. By the way TB, thanks for tossing that SIXTH tuddy in the second half, if you weren't so greedy I would have won my fantasy matchup.

Green Bay (-7) over Cleveland-- I love just about any team covering over Cleveland, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Detroit, Tennessee and Oakland.

New Orleans (-6.5) over Miami-- I liked this a lot more when it was -6 and it breaks my heart to pick against the Fish, but NO is beasting everyone right now.

NEW BLOG

Please check out my other blog, (MLB Deadbeats) where a few baseball fanatic friends and I cover the Astros, Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Mariners, Marlins, Pirates, Rangers, Rays, Red Sox, Twins and Yankees.

-Jesse

Should you draft a QB in the 1st round of the NFL Draft?

These have nothing to do with the article below, but I'm too pumped not to put them up here.

Of the 32 starting quarterbacks during Weeks 5 and 6 (had to include both due to byes), exactly half of them were 1st round picks. Less than one third of the starters (10/32) were top 10 picks. You have just as good a shot in finding a starter in rounds 2-7 as you do in the first round. Not all QBs are the same, clearly and of the top 10 picks, you have an all time great (Peyton Manning), several pro bowlers, (Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, Donovan McNabb, PHILLIP RIVERSSSS!!!!), a few young guys with promise (Matt Ryan), two rookies (Mark Sanchez and Matt Stafford), and oldie on the way out (Kerry Collins) and one young guy who looks awful (Russell).

The numbers for starters break down like so:

1st Round top 10: 10 (mentioned above)

1st Round 11-32: 6 (Ben Roethlisberger, Jay Cutler, Jason Campbell, Joe Flacco, Kyle Boller, Aaron Rodgers)

2nd Round: 3 (Drew Brees, Chad Henne, Brett Favre)

3rd Round: 2 (Matt Schaub, Trent Edwards)

4th Round: 2 (Kyle Orton, David Garrard)

5th Round: 1 (Josh Johnson)

6th Round: 2 (Tom Brady, Matt Hasselback)

7th Round: 1 (Matt Cassel)

There have been 30 QBs drafted in the 1st round since 1998 with 16 teams taking one, seven teams taking two (Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore, San Diego and Washington) and nine teams staying away from the QB Russian roulette (Carolina, Dallas, Kansas City, Miami, New England, New Orleans, Seattle). Almost one third of the teams drafting a QB in the first round are unable to make it work and have had to draft another guy within a decade, sometimes even sooner. Thirteen of the slingers in this group are starters, 11 are back-ups and six are bagging groceries or waiting tables.

Number one overall picks (there have been eight) have a 50% chance of starting over this time period which sounds good until you consider that 25% of them are out of the league. This seems like a small sample size of just eight QBs, but it's not that tiny when you consider there have been only 25 QBs drafted at the top in the history of the NFL. In this same group of 30 QBs, 14 have been picked in the top three slots. Six of them are starters today, but three are backups and FIVE are out of the league (Alex Smith, Akili Smith, Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf, Joey Harrington). You have a lower percentage chance at finding a hit in the lower rounds, but it is incredibly less risky and you draft a few guys over four to six years in the lower rounds, chances are you'll find something good and get spend the higher picks on safer players/positions.

Sidenote: I'm sick of announcers saying that a guy 'knows how to win.' Everyone knows how to win, score more points/goals/runs than the other team. Douches.

-Jesse

Guest Post NFL Power Rankings and This Week's Picks

Frequent contributor and friend of the blog, The Lube Tube has compiled Power Rankings for all 30 NFL teams (plus St. Louis and Oakland). The first column is the team, followed by their power ranking, strength of schedule through week 5, then the team's remaining strength of schedule. Very scientific.

	PR	SoS	RSoS
IND-1		21.6	17.7
NYG-2		27.6	12.5
MIN-3		20.8	14.4
NO-4		15.0	18.6
DEN-5		21.0	14.7
PHI-6		20.5	14.5
CIN-7		13.8	18.1
ATL-8		16.5	14.7
NYJ-9		17.8	20.1
PIT-10		17.0	16.7
SF-11		15.6	16.2
BAL-12		19.2	11.1
ARI-13		14.0	18.5
CHI-14		16.5	12.5
GB-15		14.0	17.5
NE-16		12.0	18.3
SD-17		18.3	17.5
CAR-18		15.5	14.9
DET-19		10.8	15.7
HOU-20		20.8	17.3
MIA-21		12.2	19.2
SEA-22		16.4	18.2
WAS-23		20.4	14.4
JAC-24		16.8	19.3
DAL-25		17.0	15.0
BUF-26		19.8	18.2
CLE-27		10.6	16.3
TEN-28		12.8	18.1
KC-29		15.0	18.6
OAK-30		14.6	15.8
TB-31		16.4	13.5
STL-32		14.8	15.8

I don't feel very confident in any of these picks, but here are my three 'If you have to put money on someone this week, put it on these games' selections. I'm going to give you four instead of three because I don't feel great about any of them, so maybe this will leave me 2-2. How on earth are the Jags -9.5 over ANYONE. Did you see what happened to them last week? I don't care if St. Louis is as awful as they are, a team that got housed like that doesn't deserve more than being one score favorites.

Chicago (+3) over Atlanta-- The Bears look better each week and the Falcons looked unstoppable vs. the 49ers on Sunday, this would be the matchup of the week if not for NO/NYG. I like Chicago to win outright on the road in this game and assert themselves as a force in the NFC along with Minny and the winner of the New York/New Orleans game.

Philadelphia (-14) over Oakland-- McNabb was merciless in his mauling of the men of Tampa Bay in his return from a rib injury. He went 16/21 for 264 yds and 3 TDs resulting to a near perfect 157.2 QB rating. He gets to lead an attack against another awful assortment of athletes in Almaeda County Stadium this Sunday and will put on a show.

New England (-9) over Tennessee-- Tennessee is terrible, unlike the other 2008 division winners who started slow and have rebounded (Miami and Pittsburgh), they chose to stay with the ones who started slow and stayed slow (Arizona, Carolina). New England should easily win this game at home.

New Orleans (-3) over New York Giants-- Dommy's going to hate me for this one, but I'm giving the Saints the win over the G-Men. If both teams play up to snuff, this should be the best game of the week and one of the best of the year. Eli and Brees could put on a show as each team is averaging over 30 points per game.

-Jesse