Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Paying for wins?


Intriguing baseball payroll graphic. Fenway Park review coming soon.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Week 3 Power Rankings from Major League


Week 3

Team Opponent SoS Remaining Sos Thru Week 2





1 New Orleans ATL 19.8 20.5
2 Green Bay @CHI 15.1 25.0
3 Indianapolis @DEN 14.4 8.0
4 Houston DAL 14.3 11.0
5 Pittsburgh @TAM 15.8 14.5
6 New England BUF 13.7 9.5
7 San Diego @SEA 16.8 21.5
8 Miami NYJ 13.2 26.5
9 Cincinnati @CAR 14.0 8.5
10 NY Jets @MIA 13.9 8.5
11 Baltimore CLE 14.3 9.5
12 NY Giants TEN 15.7 15.5
13 Chicago GNB 15.1 22.5
14 Tennessee @NYG 11.7 16.0
15 Atlanta @NOR 16.9 17.0
16 Denver IND 16.1 20.5
17 Jacksonville PHI 15.2 11.5
18 Philadelphia @JAC 14.2 12.5
19 Washington @STL 15.4 13.0
20 San Francisco @KAN 20.5 12.5
21 Minnesota DET 14.9 4.5
22 Dallas @HOU 12.9 16.0
23 Detroit @MIN 14.9 15.5
24 Seattle SDG 19.6 18.0
25 Tampa Bay PIT 15.4 29.0
26 Kansas City SFO 17.8 18.5
27 Oakland @ARI 13.9 22.5
28 Carolina CIN 15.3 18.5
29 Arizona OAK 19.5 23.0
30 Cleveland @BAL 11.1 25.5
31 St. Louis WAS 18.5 28.0
32 Buffalo @NWE 13.0 5.0

Sunday, September 19, 2010

NFL Observations

-There are five teams named after birds (Eagles, Ravens, Falcons, Seahawks, Cardinals)
-Four teams share the common theme of cats (Panthers, Jaguars, Bengals, Lions)
-The next most popular connected nicknames are horses (Colts, Broncos), pirates (Raiders, Buccaneers) and Native Americans (Chiefs, Redskins), with two each.
-Did you know the Vikings play at Mall of America Field? Interesting sponsorship decision there. If you live in Minneapolis or thereabouts, don't you HAVE to go there to buy clothes, electronics, jewelry, etc.? It's the biggest mall in the country, I just don't get the sponsorship. Are they competing with other rinky dink town malls around the Twin Cities?
-Running Back seems like the only major position in sports where having a tandem works so effectively, to the point that almost every team employees that strategy. It wouldn't work at QB, point guard, shortstop, etc.
-Instead of charging money for checking bags, why didn't airlines just build it into the cost of airfare? We expect things to increase in price over time (food, airfare, gas, rent, etc.) so why not just increase ticket prices gradually over six or twelve months. It just creates more problems when people stop wanting to check bags, over-stuff their carry-ons, and therefore shove these huge bags in the overhead or under the chair.
-How annoying must it be for James Brown and the studio hosts to have to run over the same game update several times for each game going on? I mean I'd still take the gig, but it's got to get tired calling the same TD play back to back to back.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Major League's 2010 Opening NFL Power Rankings


Week 1

Team Opponent SoS 2009 Sos
1 Indianapolis @HOU 14.5 15.8
2 New Orleans MIN 17.5 17.9
3 NY Jets BAL 15.4 15.2
4 Baltimore @NYJ 15.4 15.1
5 San Diego @KAN 17.9 17.4
6 Green Bay @PHI 15.7 17.9
7 Minnesota @NOR 15.2 17.4
8 New England CIN 13.4 13.8
9 Dallas @WAS 14.2 16.9
10 Cincinnati @NWE 13.3 14.6
11 Houston IND 12.7 15.4
12 NY Giants CAR 15.2 16.2
13 Tennessee OAK 13.8 14.1
14 Pittsburgh ATL 14.8 15.1
15 San Francisco @SEA 19.7 18.3
16 Miami @BUF 14.4 12.6
17 Atlanta @PIT 16.4 15.2
18 Carolina @NYG 16.9 14.5
19 Denver @JAC 15.6 14.5
20 Jacksonville DEN 14.9 15.5
21 Philadelphia GNB 13.2 15.8
22 Washington DAL 14.7 16.5
23 Arizona @STL 18.1 16.9
24 Detroit @CHI 15.2 15.1
25 Chicago DET 14.4 15.8
26 Oakland @TEN 16.2 14.0
27 Kansas City SDG 17.9 16.1
28 Tampa Bay CLE 16.2 13.6
29 Seattle SFO 18.6 16.6
30 Cleveland @TAM 13.4 14.5
31 St. Louis ARI 18.9 15.6
32 Buffalo MIA 13.0 13.0

Indy – I mean, they win about 95% of their regular season games for the last 5 years (if you exclude the games they play 2nd string). Since this isn’t the playoffs, they are the #1.

New Orleans – Playing Tampa and Carolina 4x a year must be nice. Madden curse alert.

Jets – This is inflated because Rex Ryan’s speeches unfortunately can’t be their own team. I need a GD snack.

Baltimore – On paper, they’re good. I want to see how 3 possession receivers do though before we have Denny Green crown them.

San Diego – Uhh, why do people think V Jackson is that big of a deal? They have more than enough to hide his absence.

Green Bay – Everyone is talking about Aaron Rogers, but I’d just like to thank Ryan Grant for helping me win my work fantasy football league last year

Minnesota – They rank this high now, but I’m guessing they are in the teens after week 4. Expect the IR to start filling up.

New England – Tom Brady’s hair is just the worst. It looks like Justin Beiber grew up, went to the hair stylist, and asked for the McGuyver.

Dallas – They’ll be good early, and suck late. Which btw, great summary of a date.

Cincinnati – I love me my Bengals. However, I’d like to see Palmer not overthrow too many people before I trust him some more.

Houston – 8-8 seems to be their motto. I expect Andre Johnson to regress a little this year.

NY Giants – Sneaky good this year. All they have to do is retire Brandon Jacobs jersey. Maybe he’ll take the hint.

Tennessee – Say what you want about Vince Young, but he wins. And throws punches.

Pittsburgh – You think Ben’s pocket vision works at these bars where he can find the unsuspecting girl to ruffie?

San Francisco – They are the best team in the worst division ever. Congrats?

Miami – Until your defense can stop anyone, I don’t want to hear about how good that offense is.

Atlanta – Matt Ryan is okay. At best. They’ll be better this year, and maybe even make the wild card, but it will take a few weeks to shake the rust off.

Carolina – No Jake Delhomme = A good thing.

Denver – Who is their primary receiver? No really. I don’t know.

Jacksonville – 35,000 fans are very nervous about MJD’s injury status. Only half of those fans have season tickets.

Philly – Too much turnover to be good right out of the gate. But on offense at least, they have the talent.

Washington – McNabb and Portis are a deadly Combo. In 2004.

Arizona – Not a good sign that starter wasn’t good enough for the Browns! And Delhomme is better!

Detroit – Jahvid Best is a great name. Not as good as Kareem Huggins, but still.

Chicago – This turkey is done cooking. Cubs suck. So do the bears.

Oakland – Jamarcus Russell was a worse decision than MTV execs not having Jersey Shore cast mates in a Real World Challenge yet.

Kansas City – Thomas Jones adds a valuable piece to this team. Experience in winning. That’s 1 of 53 for those keeping track at home.

Tampa Bay- This team looks like somebody took a crap or dump in the printer.

Seattle – God hates Seattle. A lot. I think they’ll be fighting for 2 wins.

Cleveland – God hates Cleveland. Maybe even more. Howeva, I think they win 5 or 6 games this year, but unfortunately, it’ll come after they’re out of contention.

St Louis. – Terrible. Take a lap.

Buffalo – A real chance of going 0-16. CJ Spiller can’t run when there’s 9 guys in the box. Trust me

Thursday, September 2, 2010

College Football Bets Week 1

I like these picks, but hate having to pick against the mighty RedHawks.

Northern Illinois (+5) at Iowa State
Arizona (-15.5) at Toledo
Miami University (+36.5) at Florida
Illinois (+12) at Missouri
Purdue (+11) at Notre Dame

Also, on our next Meatball feature, I'm going to take a look at the 2nd best city in America. Early nominees include Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Trenton NJ, DC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Mansfield OH, Nashville, Memphis, Owensboro KY, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle.
Couple jokes in there, get it?