2012 College Football Picks. Week One

I pick football games.

Texas San Antonio +6.5 South Alabama(win)
Stanford -25.5 San Jose St.(loss)
BC +1 Miami (loss)

1-2

The Best 100 ROH Matches of All Time

I've watched a Ring of Honor show or two.  Here is my ranking of the 100 greatest matches in ROH history.

 1.       Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuinness 5stars (24:30) 6/07

2.       Bryan Danielson v. Low Ki 5stars (32 min) 3/02

3.       Kenta v. Bryan Danielson 5stars (33 min) 9/06

4.       Davey Richards v. Tyler Black 5stars (35 min) 6/10

5.       Davey Richards v. Michael Elgin 5stars (26:30) 3/12

6.   Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuinness 4 3/4 stars (26 min) 8/06

7.       Kenta v. Low Ki 4 ¾stars (25 min) 12/05

8.       Kenta/Ibushi v. Nakajima/Marufuji 4 ¾stars 9/08

9.       CIMA/Dragon Kid/Saito v. Yoshino/Doi/Horiguchi 4 ¾stars (25:30) 3/08

10.   CIMA/Doi/Yoshino v. Saito/DKid/Horiguchi 4 3/4stars  (20:30) 3/06

11. FTR v Briscoes 4 3/4 (43:30) 7/22

12.   Davey Richards v. Eddie Edwards 4 ¾stars (36min) 6/11

13.   Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuinness4 ¾stars (28:30) 9/09

14.   Briscoes v. Steen/Generico 4 ¾stars (22:30) 8/07

15.  FTR v. Briscoes 4 3/4 (22:25) 12/22

16.  FTR v. Briscoes 4 3/4 (27:30) 4/22

17. Young Bucks v. Addiction v. MCMG 4 3/4 stars 10/16

18.   Samoa Joe v. Kenta Kobashi 4 3/4 stars (22 min) 10/05

19.   Nigel McGuinness v Austin Aries 4 3/4 (24:30) 3/08

20.   Davey Richards v. Roderick Strong 4 ¾stars (27 min) 4/11

21.   American Wolves v. Haas/Benjamin 4 ¾stars (23 min) 4/11

22.   Austin Aries/Roderick Strong v. Briscoes 4 ¾stars (24 min) 8/06

23.   Davey Richards v. Christopher Daniels 4 ¾stars (22min) 3/11

24.   Richards/O’Reilly v. Edwards/Cole 4 ¾stars 3/12

25.   Davey Richards v. Tyler Black 4 ¾stars (27:30) 8/10

26.   Samoa Joe v. CM Punk 4 3/4 stars (60min)10/04

27. FTR/Mark Briscoe v. Blackpool Combat Club 4 3/4 (29:30) 12/23

28.   Bryan Danielson v. Morishima 4 1/2 (18:30) 12/08

29.   CIMA/Shingo/Yokasuka v. Dragon Kid/Saito/Mochizuki  4 ½stars (27 min) 3/07

30.   Kenta v. Davey Richards 4 ½stars (18 min) 4/09

31.   Bryan Danielson v. Davey Richards 4 ½stars (36 min) 9/09

32. Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuinness 4 1/2 (31:30) 2/08

33.   Bryan Danielson v. Takeshi Morishima 4 1/2  (20 min) 8/07

34. El Generico v. Kevin Steen 4 1/2 (31min) 12/10

35. American Wolves v. Steen/Generico 4 1/2 (24min) 9/09

36.   Bryan Danielson v. Paul London 4 1/2 (41 min) 4/03

37.   Naomichi Marufuji v Nigel McGuinness4 ½stars (18min)12/08

38.   Bryan Danielson v. Samoa Joe v. Kenta 4 ½stars (20:30) 6/06

39.   Bryan Danielson v. AJ Styles 4 ½ (22:30) 11/02

40.   Bryan Danielson v Low Ki v Chris Daniels 4 ½stars (20 min) 2/02 

41.   Bryan Danielson v. Go Shiozaki 4 ½stars (26:30) 7/07

42. Vikingo v. Komander 4 1/2 stars (16 min) 3/23

43. Will Ospreay v. Jay White 4 1/2 stars (13 min) 5/17

44. Morishima/Marufuji/Shiozaki v. Roderick Strong/Davey Richards/Rocky Romero 4 1/2 (27:30) 5/08

45.   Kenta Kobashi/Homicide v. Samoa Joe/Low Ki 4 ½stars (24:30) 10/05

46. AJ Styles/Young Bucks v. Matt Sydal/ACH/Cedric Alexander 4 1/2 (21 min) 2/14

47.   Bryan Danielson v. Austin Aries v. Samoa Joe v. Mark Briscoe v. Homicide v. Colt Cabana 4 1/2 stars (42:30) 6/04

48.   Low Ki v. Brian Kendrick v. Chris Daniels v. Doug Williams 4 ½ (60 min) 7/02

49.   Bryan Danielson v. AJ Styles 4 ½ (24 min)11/03

50.   Bryan Danielson v. AJ Styles 4 ½ (31:30) 1/06

51. Austin Aries v. Davey Richards 4 1/2 (45:00) 11/09

52.   Briscoes v. Doi/Shingo 4 ½ (22:30) 3/07

53. Yoshino/Doi/CIMA v. Evans/Strong/Aries 4 1/2 stars (16min) 3/06

54.   Bryan Danielson v. Jamie Noble 4 ½ (32:30) 9/05

55.   Davey Richards v. Roderick Strong 4 ½ (30:30)12/10

56.   Low Ki v. Joe v. Danielson v. Corino 4 ½ (45 min) 12/02

57.   Paul London v. AJ Styles 4 ½ (24:30) 5/03

58.   Low Ki v. Styles 4 ½ (20 min) 8/02

59.   Nigel McGuinness v. Austin Aries 4 ½ (22min)12/07

60.   Austin Aries v. Tyler Black 4 ½ (22 min) 2/10

61.   Kings of Wrestling v. Briscoes 4 ½ (18min) 6/10

62. Kings of Wrestling v. Briscoes 4 1/2 30:30 4/10

63.   Eddie Edwards v. Roderick Strong 4 ½ (44min) 9/11

64.   Kevin Steen v. El Generico 4 ½ (23min) 3/12

65.   Naomichi Marufuji v Nigel McGuinness4 ½stars (18min)12/08

66.   Bryan Danielson v. Austin Aries 4 ½stars (17:30) 11/07

67. Jimmy Jacobs v. BJ Whitmer 4 1/2 (24:30) 3/07

68.       Briscoes v. American Wolves 4 1/2 stars (23min) 12/09

69.   Marufuji/Briscoes v. Marvin/Sydal/Aoki 4 1/2 stars (22:30)7/07

70.   Generico/Shingo/DKid v. Yoshino/Doi/Hulk 4 ½stars (22:30) 8/08

71. Bryan Danielson v. Roderick Strong 4 1/2 (56 min) 3/06

72.   Edwards v. Daniels 4 ½ 2/11

73.   Kenta/Marufuji v. Bryan Danielson/Samoa Joe 4 1/2 (33:30) 3/06

74.   Bryan Danielson v. Austin Aries 4 ½ (30:30) 5/05

75.   Takeshi Morishima v Nigel McGuinness 4 ½ (20min)7/07

76.   Samoa Joe v. Takeshi Morishima 4 ½ (18 min) 2/07

77.   Naomichi Marufuji v. Nigel McGuinness 4 ½stars (22:30) 9/06

78. Nigel McGuinness v. Tyler Black 4 1/2 stars (22min) 5/08

79.   Nigel v. Black v. Danielson v. Claudio 4 ½ (30:30) 8/08

80.   Samoa Joe v. CM Punk 4 ½stars (31:30) 12/04

81. Briscoes v. Bucks v. So Cal 4 1/2 (22:30) 12/18

82. Bucks/Omega v. Kushida/ACH/Sydal 2/16  4 1/2

83. Lethal/Strong v. Cole/MJackson v. Okada/Ishii (16 min) 5/16

84. Bryan Danielson v. Austin Aries (73 min) 4 1/2   8/04

85.   Eddie Edwards v. Chris Daniels 4 ½ (30 min) 4/11

86.   Samoa Joe v. CM Punk 4 ½ (60 min) 6/04

87.   El Generico v. Kota Ibushi 4 ½ (16 min) 4/08

88.   Eddie Edwards v. Roderick Strong 4 ½ (25:30) 3/11

89.   Samoa Joe/Adam Pearce/BJ Whitmer v. Super Dragon/ Chris Hero/Necro Butcher 4 ½ (25:30) 4/06

90.   Go v. Marufuji 4 1/2 (23 min) 8/08

91.   Kenta v. Nigel McGuinness 4 ½stars (25:30) 3/09

92. Tyler Black/Kenta v. Austin Aries/Katsuhiko Nakajima (22min) 4 1/2 4/09

93. Briscoes d. Bucks (17 min) 6/18  4  1/2

94. Claudio d. Kingston (20:15) 3/23 4 1/2

95. Omega/Bucks v. Romero/Trent/Taylor 4 1/2  12/17

96. Briscoes v. American Wolves (26:30) 4 1/2 3/10

97. Styles v. O'Reilly (22 min) 4 1/2 8/14

98. Young Bucks v. Fish/O'Reilly (13 min) 4 1/2 5/14

99. Bucks v. Briscoes (15:30) 4 1/2   12/16

100. Claudio v. Takeshita (20 min) 4 1/2 10/22

Athlete of the Month - August, 2012

July is here.

       

Usain Bolt.  Runners-up:  Gabby Douglas, Michael Phelps, Felix Hernandez

8 months down.  4 to go in the race for Athlete of the Year.  

January-Courtney Upshaw
February-Eli Manning
March-Kevin Love
April-Brittney Griner 
May-Josh Hamilton
June-LeBron James
July-Mike Trout
August - Usain Bolt

Is This The Single Dumbest Thing An American Political Figure has Ever Said?

Todd Akin.  Running for US Senate

Senate Candidate and Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) told a local television station on Sunday that “legitimate rape” rarely produces pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Akin cited conversations with unnamed doctors for the bizarre claim.

For years I've said that an acceptance of the truth of evolution should be the threshold to be taken seriously - but this...this ability to abandon even the veneer of truth for the sake of maintaining a religiously motivated worldview legitimately surprised me.  The layers of wrong covering the right wing in the United States multiply at an alarming rate.  

The Occasional Tendown: August 5-18 2012

Dear Internet:

If I'm only going to do this every other week, it's fair of you to expect I return with something special.

That's Hitler wine.  They're selling Hitler wine in Italy.

And I thought Kobe would never pitch again after Colorado. Whomever is doing the perception management for Hitler should expect a call from Rance Priebus, cause I don't think even a low knowledge voter like the US electorate is going to get conned into thinking that Paul Ryan is here to save Medicare from the Democrats. Hitler's selling wine in 2012.  That's real gangster.

137 is here. This is Tendown 138.

1. The Pussy Riot


The reaction to the Russian punk band Pussy Riot's getting two years in jail for protesting has been that it's a totalitarian crackdown on expression.

Which it is.

But it's a totalitarian crackdown on a specific type of expression - opposition to the Christian power structure.

The judge also described the defendants as "openly displaying disrespect" to Christians and said the defendants "deliberately placed themselves against Orthodox believers." In case it wasn't clear that this is just a 21st-century version of the same old witch trials where an unseen God is invoked to control and punish unruly women, one of the accusations flung at the band during trial was the practice of Satanism.

It is unclear to me that a culture where we are advancing more legislation to stop birth control than to curtail catastrophic man made climate change has a lot of room to criticize Christian theocracy in other places.  The first question of the first Presidential debate needs to be "do you accept the unimpeachable scientific view that human life evolved over millions of years". And the idea that this:



...somehow should be viewed as having the same moral status as your mother while we (me too) are complicit in killing billions of pigs in a manner that suggests they are of less moral significance than that blastocyst is beneath serious intellectual inquiry.

We allow fairy tales to guide our lives no differently than people living 1500 years ago sacrificing citizens to the gods as part of the dedication of a newly built bridge.  Except we should know better.

The same day as the Pussy Riot sentence came this prison sentence:

A former North Texas high school teacher was convicted Friday and sentenced to five years in prison for having sex with five 18-year-old students at her home.

Should a high school teacher have sex with students, even if they are adults?

No.  There are all sorts of reasons why that's a bad idea.  She should be fired and have her license revoked.  

Should anyone be jailed for five years for consensual sex with other adults?  What is it we are saying as a society when we make that decision?

Had the judge expressed the view that the woman, in having sex with five dudes, was "openly disrespecting Christianity" would you have been surprised that anyone in a position of power felt that way or just that anyone said it?  

The death of every gay kid who kills himself instead of getting tortured in high school another day is proximately caused by the same mindset that locked up that punk band in Russia.  The vile right wing smirks over their chick fil a sandwiches, able to couch their bigotry under the cover of free speech and the left can turn its anger toward Eastern Europe - but establishing make believe over reality continues worldwide and makes the lives of real people a little bit worse every single day.  

2. Paul Ryan's Budget is Of the Rich, For the Rich.
Who says it?

Reagan's budget director David Stockman:

The Ryan Plan boils down to a fetish for cutting the top marginal income-tax rate for “job creators” — i.e. the superwealthy — to 25 percent and paying for it with an as-yet-undisclosed plan to broaden the tax base. Of the $1 trillion in so-called tax expenditures that the plan would attack, the vast majority would come from slashing popular tax breaks for employer-provided health insurance, mortgage interest, 401(k) accounts, state and local taxes, charitable giving and the like, not to mention low rates on capital gains and dividends.

…In short, Mr. Ryan’s plan is devoid of credible math or hard policy choices.And it couldn’t pass even if Republicans were to take the presidency and both houses of Congress. Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan have no plan to take on Wall Street, the Fed, the military-industrial complex, social insurance or the nation’s fiscal calamity and no plan to revive capitalist prosperity — just empty sermons.

3. As You Move to November..

Here are 12 things you need to know about Paul Ryan.

3. Ryan wants to end Medicare, replace it with a voucher system. Ryan’s latest budget transforms the existing version of Medicare, in which government provides seniors with a guaranteed benefit, into a “premium support” system. All future retirees would receive a government contribution to purchase insurance from an exchange of private plans or traditional fee-for-service Medicare. But since the premium support voucher does not keep up with increasing health care costs, the Congressional Budget Offices estimates that new beneficiaries could pay up to $1,200 more by 2030 and more than $5,900 more by 2050. A recent study also found that had the plan been implemented in 2009, 24 million beneficiares enrolled in the program would have paid higher premiums to maintain their choice of plan and doctors. Ryan would also raise Medicare’s age of eligibility to 67.

4. Ryan thinks Social Security is a “ponzi scheme.” In September of 2011, Ryan agreed with Rick Perry’s characterization of Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” and since 2005 has advocated for privatizing the retirement benefit and investing it in stocks and bonds. Conservatives claim that this would “outperform the current formula based on wages earned and overall wage appreciation,” but the economic crisis of 2008 should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers who seek to hinge Americans’ retirement on the stock market. In fact, “a person with a private Social Security account similar to what President George W. Bush proposed in 2005″ would havelost much of their retirement savings.

4. Do You Have A Post Graduate Degree?

Then you're probably pro-choice.

5. And You Probably Think Cindy Jacobs...

...is a scumbag.

6. The hottest month ever...

July, 2012.

7. Remember, It's  Not About Race.

Here was Joe Walsh talking about The President of the United States.

“There’s something different on the ground, and I think it’s going to overtake us all again, think it’s going to overtake the political class. I think it’s going to respectfully pick this president up and pat him on the head and say, son, son, son, Mr. President, you were never ready to be president, now go home and work for somebody and find out how the real world works.”

8. I See Four Star Wrestling Matches

Ibushi v Hino DDT June 4 stars

Fujita Jr Hayato v Kenou June Mich Pro 4 1/4 stars

Devitt v PAC NJPW June 4 1/2stars

Cole v O Reilly 4 stars July ROH

9. And I Get A Side Gig

It's here.

10. And I Get my Second DUI of the Year!

 On that last one, I may be confusing me with Randy Travis

[O]fficers received a call at 11:18 PM from a person who stated there was a man lying in the roadway. When cops arrived to the scene, they noticed Travis' 1998 Pontiac Trans Am had driven off the road and slammed into several barricades in a construction zone ... once he was inside the cop car, officials say the singer threatened to "shoot and kill the Troopers working the case" ... Randy has been released from custody after posting $21,500 bail."

We start with Hitler wine - end with a naked Randy Travis crashing his '98 Trans Am and threatening to kill a bunch of cops.  

Was it worth waiting a week?

That's all for this time. I'll be back next time...if there is a next time...

Your pal,

Jim.

SummerSlam 2012 is Sunday

The Wrestlemania 28 preview was here.

I’m 41.

Don’t turn 41.  Wait a little bit and turn 500 months.  Blast it out and never celebrate a birthday again. 

I’m 503 months; meaning if you look at my actuarial table I should be a lapsed wrestling fan.

I’m not.  I’m an unrepentant wrestling fan; I keep lists, I give matches qualitative ratings, I have an auxiliary hard drive filled with hundreds of hours of puroresu (that’s Japanese wrestling – you know any movie snobs?  I don’t mean people who dislike movies with the words Fast and or Furious in the titles, I mean people who read the new Sight & Sound ranking of the greatest movies of all time and railed about Au hasard Balthazar being ranked ahead of The 400 Blows?  I’m that dude – except with wrestling.  I’ll accept your judgment) and I watch every WWE PPV.

I even preview some of them.  That is this. 

SummerSlam is Sunday from Los Angeles.  Here’s the card.

1                     Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman)       

-When last we left young Brock he dropped the WWF Title to Eddy Guerrero at the PPV between the Rumble and Wrestlemania XX in early 2004 – somewhat forgotten (because its largely been edited from subsequent DVDs) is that match included a Bill Goldberg babyface run in that helped cost Lesnar the strap.  Steve Austin was shoehorned into the storyline as a second Lesnar antagonist and when the MSG crowd turned on both Goldberg and Brock (both leaving the promotion) more recall Austin’s stunning both men than who won that Wrestlemania match (it was Goldberg).

8 years later, Brock returned to WWE to an enormous babyface reaction when he destroyed the top star in the promotion, John Cena.  In the interim Brock became one of the biggest stars in all of combat sports, arguably the second most popular fighter of any type in the US behind Floyd Mayweather, and coming off the heels of a financially successful return run by the Rock, Lesnar looked like a license to print money.  Granted, that would be money that could then be funneled into another losing US Senate campaign, but Vince is a “genius” after all.

So far – tough to call this a big success.  Brock lost to Cena in his only PPV appearance to date, and then settled into a feud with Hunter (in his role as Stephanie’s Husband, heir to the family throne, holder of the booking pencil) over dueling interpretations of the statute of frauds. 

Paul Heyman, also gone from professional wrestling for several years, returned in a panto of his real life role as Lesnar’s advisor to serve as mouthpiece; in the go home RAW Lesnar broke Shawn Michaels’s arm (HBK remains retired, but popped up in the past couple of weeks as Hunter’s best friend who would be in his corner against Brock) because, you know, he’s a bad man.  A bad man who wants a small number of guaranteed dates and the bottled water in the green room to be tepid.  Tepid, goddammit. 

Lesnar/Cena was super; better, in my view, than HHH/Undertaker from Mania (but neither were as good as Punk v. Bryan from whatever PPV that was) I’d expect this match also to be very good, Lesnar beating Hunter so badly we don’t see him even one time between now and Mania is the only result that makes any sense at all.  I don’t have any idea if they will do it that way.    (3 1/2 stars, the best match of the night, Brock going over hard with a clean submission win)

2                     WWE Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Big Show vs. John Cena

-There are two World singles champions in WWE; this belt is the lineal WWF Heavy        weight Title, Bruno and Hogan and Bret and Austin – it’s that belt. 

Punk’s on a historically significant title run; he took the strap last summer during the brief stretch when he caught fire with the sports culture at large and then regained it from Alberto del Rio in a Survivor Series 3 way.  This is still that run – the longest since Cena’s from ’06-07 – if he can make it to the end of the year, it’s the longest WWE Title reign since Hogan’s first, almost 30 years ago.  Were Cena to survive at SummerSlam, that’s all he should be talking about, every match should be his doing whatever he could possibly do to make it to the Rumble as Champ (where, incidentally, the Rock will be taking on whomever holds the belt).

It’s a winner, right?  It wins for me, at least; you can see the clip package where Punk discusses his superiority to every champ for the past three decades – and given that Punk is now a bad guy or at least evolving toward bad guy status, that gives him an easy weasel character and puts over the value of the title belt, which, since the Rock will now be in play for it, is probably an emphasis they want to make. Of course, given that I think the best booked show on television is Jerseylicious (particularly a season ago when Olivia kicked Tracy in the head and shouted throughout the club “This is a shoot!  It’s a damn shoot!”)

So we’ll say Punk keeps in a not particularly good match; Cena (who I like less than does anyone with the possible exception of his ex-wife) runs in place until his eventual rematch win over the Rock and the Show remains Big, Big. (Didn't make it to 3 stars and those are the only matches worth thinking about once they're over; Punk kept)

3.          World Heavyweight Championship: Sheamus (c) vs. Alberto del Rio (with Ricardo)

             -The other World Title in WWE is really the promotion’s secondary title; think of it as similar in scope to the old Intercontinental Title (that is now the tertiary belt with the US singles title being something they fight over on YouTube) WWE used to have a more pronounced roster split between RAW and Smackdown, and this title belt was created to reflect that (and to give some recognition to the old WCW line of champions which gave some recognition to the old NWA line of champions).  Now it primarily serves as an anchor for the B house shows.    

Sheamus has been Champ since Mania, getting as big a babyface push as anyone in North America in 2012; he’s fine.  Not “girl, that Sheamus is fine” but, he’s fine – I like him enough as a middle card guy, which essentially is how this title holder is positioned.  I’m uncertain I see him as a potential number two babyface in the promotion type, and given his relationship with Stephanie’s Husband there’s potential for a multi-year overpush, but in 2012 there’s not much reason to complain about Sheamus.  I don’t know who wins; one assumes Randy Orton, who just returned from getting Melkied (new term for a drug suspension, let’s see if we can get some traction on it) will quickly be put into this mix, probably as a babyface for a little while longer given the Punk turn.  This should be a good enough match to watch. (3 stars even with a screwy finish with Sheamus keeping)

4.       Kane vs. Daniel Bryan 

-Bryan Danielson’s my favorite ever wrestler who didn’t kill his entire family, so his getting over as bearded solipsistic heel is my favorite element of 2012 WWE.  Kane’s just a placeholder in this program which is really the tail of Bryan’s relationship with former valet and now RAW figurehead authority figure AJ (it’s unclear in storyline terms what made her qualified for the job, had Vince said “she has the best ass for any GM candidate since Mike Adamle” it would at least provide a pretense.  This was presumably supposed to be the Charlie Sheen spot, serving in some way as Danielson’s antagonist.  I’d assume there was some type of #It’sYourOwnFaultforTryingToWorkWithCharlieSheen type of negotiating issue.  If anyone could get a PPV match worth watching out of Kane…(Bryan won)

5          Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) vs. Chris Jericho

-Here’s the match I’m most looking forward to on the card.

Jericho’s leaving again, to go sing and write a book and host some godawful reality show and preserve his body and more guys should take his career approach and periodically cycle away from wrestling as they age.  He’s made a soft babyface turn in recent weeks and finds himself in a hotshot program against criminally underpushed Ziggler, who is a cocky, Hennig-like heel.

(Tyson Kidd’s exception to my referring to a guy actually booked for the show as underpushed is noted for the record.)

It’s a good, simple program.  Ziggler says Jericho’s washed up.  Jericho disagrees.  They fight. 

Oddly enough, there is no clamor for a discussion of the finer points of subrogation or similar such contract law doctrine.  Wrestling booking ain’t that hard. 

Ziggler’s really the only example in WWE of an undercard worker who generally attempts to do something that steals the show – that’s my favorite mindset for a wrestler and the type of show I’m most likely to buy – where each wrestler looks to have the best possible match as opposed to sublimating their abilities so as to not show up the staring contest in the main event. 

This match probably gets 8 minutes.  But 6 of them will be good.(3 1/2 stars, it got more time than I expected and was as good as I expected, Jericho won and then lost the next night, leaving the promotion again)

6          Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (c) vs. Rey Mysterio

-Two recent returnees match up here; The Miz just got back from shooting the latest WWE film that you’ll never see, presumably an extended conversation between Miz and Wally Shawn reminiscing about Polish theatre while Gymnopedie No. 1 plays in the background.  He took Christian’s IC and probably keeps here against Rey, one of the ten greatest wrestlers who ever lived.  Reys’s back from his latest catastrophic knee injury and the clock’s ticking fast on his ability to keep doing this at a high level. (3 stars, Miz keeping)

             

7          Tag Team Championship : R-Truth and Kofi Kingston (c) vs. The Primetime Players (Titus O'Neil and Darren Young)

The champs are the good guys; the challengers the bad guys; no one involved will make a Kobe Bryant rape joke. (Champs kept.)

There’s also a pre-show match with the former Claudio Castagnoli probably winning the US Title; maybe they add a women’s match or a Brodus Clay or a Ryback or even a Cody Rhodes v. Sin Cara.

So – it’s a show worth watching, I think; although not one superlikely to produce a match that cracks this list: (Nothing was close to making this list.)

The Ten Best Matches in SummerSlam History

1. Bret Hart d. Owen Hart (‘94)

2. Davey Boy Smith d. Bret Hart (‘92)

3. Edge/Christian d. Hardys/Dudleys  (‘00)

4. Shawn Michaels d. Razor Ramon (‘95)

5. CM Punk d. Jeff Hardy (‘09)

6. Bret Hart d. Mr. Perfect (‘91)

7. Christian v. Randy Orton (’11)

8. Undertaker d. Edge  (‘08)

9. CM Punk v. John Cena (’11)

10. Brainbusters d. Hart Foundation  (89)

Enjoy the show.           

With 47 Games Remaining...

I was going to wait until the 120 or maybe even the 130 game mark to do one last snapshot of the MLB season before heading down the stretch, but I couldn't wait.

We're 115 games in, almost 3/4 of the way through the season, using the combination of B-Ref+Davenport, here are the best players in baseball followed by the most likely playoff scenario.

C
AL: CSantana
NL: BPosey

1B
AL: APujols
NL: JVotto

2B
AL: RCano
NL: NWalker

SS
AL: EAndrus
NL: SCastro

3B
AL: MCabrera
NL: DWright

LF
AL: JHamilton
NL: MCabrera

CF
AL: MTrout MVP
NL: AMcCutcheon MVP

RF
AL: ARios
NL: JHeyward

DH
AL: DOrtiz

SP
AL: J.Verlander Cy
NL: JCueto Cy

RP:
AL: FRodney
NL: AChapman


AL East: NYY (94)
AL Central Detroit (88)
AL West Texas (96)
WC1: CWS (87)
WC2: TB (86)

NL East: Wash (95)
NL Central: Cin (95)
NL West: SFG (88)
WC1: Atl (91)
WC2: StL (89)

The 100 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All Time

I'm considering two factors when putting this together (1) workrate (2) everything else.

For me, as I've mentioned at greater length on more than one occasion, workrate is by far my most important consideration when evaluating a wrestler - I want to see athleticism or crispness or brutality or some combination thereof.  Famous guys staring at each other regardless of crowd reaction is not as interesting to me as a high angle suplex.  

But the list can't just be workrate, otherwise Katsuhiko Nakajima would rank ahead of Bruno Sammartino.

So the other category is everything else, some combination of titles earned or importance or overall recognition.  My ballot for Meltzer's Wrestler of the Year Award is essentially this idea; my calculation rates workrate as solidly more important than would most, but some combination of actual in ring ability + other stuff is that award.  

In the rankings, I offer some alternatives for each spot, probably through the first 25, maybe 50 - people who are similar, for some reason, but who didn't make this cut.  

Is it a good list?  Eh.  Absent metrics I don't know how useful it is - but I hadn't done it before, so there you go.  With that...

100 - Rob Van Dam - not here are Shane Douglas, the Sheik, 2 Cold Scorpio

99. Red Bastien - neither of the Kangaroos, none of the Grahams made this list

98. Shinsuke Nakamura - Goto isn't here, neither is Kojima, Makabe or Shiozaki

97.     Maurice Vachon - here instead of rival Dick the Bruiser and future brawlers like Mark Lewin and Raven

96. The Destroyer - here for historical importance for launch of Japanese boom, not here is a figure of significance in lucha history - Canek.

95. Don Leo Jonathan - not here are Bad News Allen, Owen Hart and Edge and Christian

94. Riki Choshu - not here is a Japanese pioneer like Atsushi Onita.

93. Carlos Colon - here instead of Miguel Perez or Dusty Rhodes

92. Abdullah the Butcher - here instead of John Tolos or Masato Tanaka

91. Ultimo Dragon - who didn't make the list?  There's no one from Mich Pro or Dragon's Gate.

90. Kensuke Sasaki - no Steiners or Road Warriors, no Chono, no Tenzan

89. Jimmy Snuka - high flyers not here - Jeff Hardy, Prince Devitt

88. John Pesek - Pat Patterson, Ted DiBiase, Minoru Suzuki, none of them are here

87. Dean Malenko - here for the workrate; not here - Osamu Nishimura, Curt Hennig

86. Samoa Joe - not here, Austin Aries, Low Ki, Chris Daniels, Nigel McGuinness

85. Bill Longson - Frank Sexton isn't on this list

84. The Crusher - Larry Hennig didn't make the list

83. Orville Brown - Neither George Hackenschmidt or Bronko Nagurski made the list.

82. Danny McShain - Takayama didn't make this list, neither did Terry Gordy

81. Ray Stevens - Not on the list: Jose Lothario, Angelo Poffo, Bill Miller, Ernie Ladd

80. Freddie Blassie - Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis, not on the list

79. Steven Regal - not here, Robbie Brookside, Bill Dundee, Bobby Eaton, Fit Finlay

78. CM Punk - not here, Steve Corino, Chris Hero

77. AJ Styles - no Jeff Jarrett

76. Jun Akiyama - not here, Taue. Dr. Death, Sugiura, Kea

75. Gorgeous George 

74. John Cena


73. Andre the Giant

72. Giant Baba

71. Antonio Inoki

70. Bob Backlund

69. Ricky Morton

68. Sting

67. Triple H

66. Sabu

65. Dory Funk, Jr.

64. Bobo Brazil

63. Antonino Rocca

62. Eduoard Carpentier

61. Yvon Robert

60. Pat O'Connor

59. Yuji Nagata

58. Shinya Hashimoto

57. Genichiro Tenryu

56. Buddy Rogers

55. Killer Kowalski

54. Billy Watson

53. Chris Jericho

52. Hiroshi Tanahashi

51. The Undertaker

And here's the Top 50 Greatest Wrestlers of all Time:

50. Jerry Lawler

49. Verne Gagne

48. Roddy Piper

47. Bruiser Brody

46. Danny Hodge

45. Billy Robinson

44. Naomichi Marufuji

43. Tiger Mask

42. Tatsumi Fujinami

41. El Hijo del Santo

40. Mick Foley

39. Johnny Valentine

38. Blue Demon

37. The Great Muta

36. Bryan Danielson

35. The Dynamite Kid

34. Kenta

33. Mil Mascaras

32. Jack Brisco

31. Nick Bockwinkel

30. Stan Hansen

29. Vader

28. The Rock

27. Frank Gotch

26. Joe Stecher

25. Gene Kiniski

24. Harley Race

23. Strangler Lewis

22. Hulk Hogan

21. Rikidozan

20. El Santo

19. Eddy Guerrero

18. Ricky Steamboat

17. Randy Savage

16. Terry Funk

15. Steve Austin

14. Jim Londos

13. Shawn Michaels

12. Kurt Angle

11. Toshiaki Kawada

And now - the Ten Greatest Wrestlers of all Time....

10. Jumbo Tsuruta

9. Bruno Sammartino

8. Rey Mysterio

7. Bret Hart

6. Jushin Thunder Liger

5. Chris Benoit

4. Lou Thesz

3. Ric Flair

2. Mitsuharu Misawa

1. Kenta Kobashi

2012-13 College Football Pre Season Top 25

 Tomorrow's headlines today.

 1. LSU

2.       Alabama

3.       Oklahoma

4.       Oklahoma St (consider a small over the 8.5 win total)

5.       Oregon 

6.       USC

7.       South Carolina

8.       Florida St.

9.       Stanford (play over the 8)

10.   Georgia 

11.   Wisconsin

12.   Michigan

13.   Notre Dame

14.   Arkansas

15.   TCU (a small play over 7.5)

16.   Texas

17.   Michigan St.

18.   West Virginia

19.   Boise St.

20.   Texas A&M

21.   Virginia Tech

22.   Florida

23.   Ohio St. (a tick over the 8.5)

24.   Missouri

25.   Clemson

2012 NFL Fantasy Draft Board

I play in CBS Fantasy $ leagues, so I calibrate my rankings accordingly.  This board is prior to the first full slate of pre season games, personally, I don't like to draft until after preseason week 3, so take that into consideration.  I'm unlikely to change this post, but my personal board will change as the preseason moves on.

Tier One: RRice RB, AFoster RB

T2: LMcCoy RB, TBrady QB

T3: DBrees QB, ARodgers QB

T4: MJD RB CJohnson WR

T5: RMathews RB LFitzgerald WR

T6: CJohnson RB CNewton QB

T7: RGronkowski TE RWhite WR WWelker WR DMcFadden RB

T8: GJennings WR JGraham TE

T9: MLynch RB, TRichardson RB, VCruz WR

T10: DMurray RB FJackson RB SJackson RB MRyan QB (can wait on Ryan)

T11: MWallace WR AJ Green WR APeterson RB MColston WR (can wait) DBowe WR (can wait)

T12: MForte RB AJohnson WR (he’s gone) SSmith WR JCharles RB BMarshall WR SGreene (can wait)

(That’s 36 picks, Rnds 1-3)

T13: MVick QB MTurner RB JJones WR

T14: HNicks WR RBush RB JMaclin WR AHernandez TE (can wait)

T15: MStafford QB (cant get) EManning QB JNelson WR DJackson WR (can wait) ABrown WR (can wait)

T16: DMartin RB (can wait) JStewart RB DThomas RB SRidley RB RHelu RB  PHarvin WR SJohnson WR MAustin WR

T17: FGore RB (wont get) AGates TE VJackson WR JWitten TE DMoore WR (can wait) JStarks RB (can wait)

 T18: BLloyd WR (wont get) DSproles RB (wont get) PManning QB EDecker WR BRoethlisburger QB DWilliams RB ABradshaw RB DWilson RB (can wait) DBrown RB (can wait) SVereen RB (can wait)

(That’s 72 picks, Rnds 4-6)

T19: KBritt WR VDavis TE JFinley TE RFitzpatrick QB TSmith WR

T20: TRomo QB (wont get) DBryant WR (wont get) MIngram RB PThomas RB PGarcon WR SRice WR RG3 QB BPettigrew TE (can wait) DHeyward Bay WR (can wait) DThomas RB (can wait)

T21: PRivers QB (wont get) WMcGahee RB (wont get) BGreen Ellis (wont get) MSchaub QB JBest RB PHillis RB RWilliams RB (can wait) Jets D (can wait)

T22 TGonzalez TE RWayne WR IRedman RB (won’t get) CJ Spiller RB (wont get) SHolmes WR (wont get) A Dalton QB JCutler QB JFreeman QB MCassel QB FDavis TE KRudolph TE MWilliams WR GLittleWR

(That’s 108 picks, Rnds 7-9)

T23  Bears D Bills D Steelers D MaFloyd WR ABoldin WR LMoore WR MBush RB BCelek TE JFlacco QB MCrabtree WR JRodgers RB RMeachem WR

T24  RGould K MCrosby K SGostkowski K JHanson K Packers D JBaldwin WR MLeshore RB CPalmer QB DKeller CFleener TE Patriots D JGresham TE

T25 ODaniels TE Ravens D Falcons D Giants D TYoung WR CPonder QB LKendricks TE MBryant K SJanikowski K JCook TE DBess WR JBlackmonWR

(That’s 144 picks, Rnds 10-12)

T26: BHartlineWR BTate RB Seahawks D DJones WR MLewis TE GOlson TE BWells RB TGerhart RB RBironas K HMiller TE RSuccup K KKolb QB LBlount RB DBaldwin WR RLindell K LTynes K JTamme TE Lions D DAkers K Niners D SSuisham K BQuick WR ACaldwell WR KWalter WR

That’s 168 picks.  14 rounds of a 12 team draft.