September, 2015 Athlete of the Month

August is here.

Jake Arrieta

Runners-up:  Novak Djokovic, Marcus Mariota, Leonard Fournette

3 months left..

January - Marshawn Lynch
February - Malcolm Butler
March - Breanna Stewart
April - Steph Curry
May - Floyd Mayweather
June - American Pharoah
July - Serena Williams
August- Ronda Rousey
September - Jake Arrieta

Tendown. September 27, 2015

192 is here.  This is Tendown 193.

1.

2. Hollywood's 100 Favorite Shows.

3. Niners in One Chart.

4. 50 Greatest Esquire Covers.

5. Coates.

6. Fiorina

7. Every week Until He Stops - Vote for Bernie Sanders

8. What?

9. Sure are a lot of right answers here.

10. Ben Carson.

And finally...

No Whammies.

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

Your pal,

Jim

2015 NFL Supercontest Picks, Week 3

Week 2 is here.

I'm 6-4 through two weeks.

San Francisco +6.5 Arizona loss
San Diego +2.5 Minn loss
StL +1.5 Pitt loss
Phil +2.5 NYJ win
Detroit +3 Den loss

1-4
7-8

I also offer some additional games, just to do. I don't keep a running count of these games.
Tenn +3 Indy
Mia -3 Buff

Tendown. September 20, 2015

191 is here. This is Tendown 192.

1. 

2. The Challenge.

3. Jeb's Going to Be the Nominee. He Wants a Massive Tax Cut for Rich People.

4. Every Week Until he Stops - Vote for Bernie Sanders

5. Remember the military takeover of Texas?

6. Guess what % of Republicans Could Support a Military Coup?

7. Even the good conservatives have never been that good.

8. We'll get 'em next year.

9.

10. In case you forgot who Reagan was.

And one more...

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

Your pal,

Jim

2015 NFL Supercontest Picks, Week Two (And Eliminator, as long as I'm alive)

Week 1 is here. I went 2-3.

Chi +1.5 Ariz loss
Cle +1 Tenn win
Wash +3.5 StL win
Jax +6 Mia win
Oak +5.5 Balt win

4-1
6-4

I also offer some additional games, just to do. I don't keep a running count of these games.
TB +9.5 NO
SF +5.5 Pit
SD +3 Cin

And the suicide pool this week - New Orleans

2015 Emmy Award Predictions

I watch TV.

Comedy Series
Will Win - Veep
Should Win - Veep

I saw every episode of all 7 nominated shows, Veep's the best comedy on television.

Comedy Actress
Will Win - Julia Louis Dreyfus
Should Win - Julia Louis Dreyfus

JLD is the greatest actor in the history of TV comedy.

Comedy Actor
Will Win - Jeffrey Tambor
Should Win - Jeffrey Tambor

Biggest lock of the night.  Mortgage your house.

Comedy Supporting Actress
Win Win - Allison Janney
Should Win - Anna Chlumsky

Mom is not worth watching; this is a two person race.

Comedy Supporting Actor
Will Win - Tony Hale
Should Win - Tituss Burgess

I'm an Arrested Development die hard, so it's hard to say that Buster doesn't deserve this Emmy, but this is the award that Kimmy Schmidt most deserves.  I'd also love to see Andre Braugher win here. If Hale wins its perfectly acceptable; a Janney win would irritate me because the show is bad.

Drama Series
Will Win - Game of Thrones
Should Win - Mad Men.

If Mad Men had a JV team it should win; a shadow series featuring what happened to Paul Kinsey should win over any other drama.

Drama Actress
Will Win - Viola Davis
Should Win - Elisabeth Moss

Elisabeth Moss's outtakes should win over anyone else.

Drama Actor
Will Win - Jon Hamm
Should Win - Jon Hamm

-He took the sad guy's story about feeling like he's on a shelf in a fridge - AND TURNED IT INTO A COKE COMMERCIAL.

Drama Supporting Actress
Will Win - Christina Hendricks
Should Win - Christina Hendricks

-I don't know who is winning this award.  I'm riding with Joan.

Drama Supporting Actor
Will Win - Jonathan Banks
Should Win - Jonathan Banks

-This is also pretty clear.

Limited Series
Will Win - Olive Kitteridge
Should Win - Olive Kitteridge

Actress
Will Win - Frances McDormand
Should Win - Frances McDormand

Actor
Will Win - David Oyelowo
Should Win - Richard Jenkins

Supporting Actress
Will Win - Sarah Paulson
Should Win - Zoe Kazan

Supporting Actor
Will Win - Bill Murray
Should Win - Bill Murray

Reality Comp
Will Win - The Voice
Should Win - The Amazing Race

Variety Talk
Will Win - Colbert Report
Should Win - Last Week Tonight

Variety Sketch
Will Win - Inside Amy Schumer
Should Win - Inside Amy Schumer

Every 5 Star Wrestling Match...Ever...

I rate wrestling matches, as one does.  I've rated 50+ matches at 5 stars.  If you don't see a match here that you believe to be 5 stars, there are three possibilities.

1. I haven't seen it.
2. I've seen it.  It's a 5 star match.  I've just forgotten to put it here.
3. It's not a five star match.

3 is most likely; there aren't too many super elite matches I just haven't seen.  It's probable that I've scored it below 5 stars. My non WWF/WCW record keeping is not complete for sub 5 star matches, so were you to say "what did you give to X" I wouldn't necessarily know, but if there are queries I'd give it a shot.  Ain't nothing wrong with a 4 3/4 star match.  That's not a slight.  Someone says "hey, do you want to watch this 4 3/4 star match, I'm gonna say yes, yes, yes, I would like to watch that match, yes."  It's just not quite 5.  I give fewer five star matches than do most people, admittedly.  I try to limit the grade inflation.

1983
Dynamite Kid v. Tiger Mask (Apr-NJPW)

1984
Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (Mar-NWA)

1988
Nobuhiko Takada v. Akira Maeda (Nov-UWF)

1989
Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (Feb-WCW)
Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (Apr-WCW)
Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat (May-WCW)

1990
Jushin Thunder Liger v. Naoki Sano (Jan-NJPW)

1991
Akira Taue Jumbo Tsuruta Masanobu Fuchi v. Kenta Kobashi Toshiaki Kawada Mitsuharu Misawa (Apr-AJPW)

1992
Jushin Thunder Liger v. El Samurai (Apr-NJPW)

1993
Kenta Kobashi v. Toshiaki Kawada (Apr-AJPW)
Manami Toyota/Toshiyo Yamada v. Dynamite Kansai/Mayumi Ozaki (Apr-AJPW)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi v. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (Dec-AJPW)

1994
Owen Hart v. Bret Hart (Mar - WWF)
Shawn Michaels v. Razor Ramon (Mar-WWF)
Kenta Kobashi v. Dr. Death Steve Williams (Apr-AJPW)
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Toshiaki Kawada (June - AJPW)

1995
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi v. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (June-AJPW)

1996
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (Mar - AJPW)
Great Sasuke/Shiryu/Tiger Mask IV v. Taka Michinoku/Super Delfin/Naniwa (Mar-Mich Pro)
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo/Shriyu/Mens Teioh/Sho Funaki v. Super Delfin/Tiger Mask IV/Gran Hamada/Naniwa/Yakushiji (Oct-Mich Pro)

1997
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (June-AJPW)

1998
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (Oct - AJPW)

1999
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (June-AJPW)

2000
Kenta Kobashi v. Jun Akiyama (December NOAH)


2001
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Jun Akiyama (July - NOAH)

2002
Bryan Danielson v. Low Ki (March - ROH) 

2003
Chris Benoit  v. Kurt Angle (Jan - WWF)
Mitsuharu Misawa v. Kenta Kobashi (March - NOAH)
Kenta/Naomichi Marufuji v. Jushin Liger/Takehiro Murahama (July - NOAH)
Kenta Kobashi v. Yuji Nagata (Sept - NOAH)

2004
Kenta Kobashi v. Jun Akiyama (July - NOAH)
Kenta Kobashi v. Akira Taue (Sept - NOAH)
CIMA v. Susumu Yokosuka (Sept - Dragon Gate)

2005
Kenta Kobashi v. Kensuke Sasaki (July - NOAH)

2006
Kenta v. Bryan Danielson (Sept - ROH)

2007
Kotaro Suzuki/Ricky Marvin v. Taiji Ishimori/Rocky Romero (Feb - NOAH)
Briscoes v. Roderick Strong/PAC (May - PWG)
Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuinness (Sept - ROH)
Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo v. Kota Ibushi/Madoka (Dec - KDojo)

2008

Masato Tanaka/Shinjiro Otani v. Yuji Nagata/Manabu Nakanishi (May - Zero 1)

2009
Kenta v. Katsuhiko Nakajima (Feb - NOAH)
Kenta v. Jun Akiyama (May - NOAH)

2010

Tyler Black v. Davey Richards (June - ROH) 

Takashi Sugiura v. Takeshi Morishima (Dec - NOAH)

2011

Katsuhiko Nakajima v. Kotaro Suzuki (March - NOAH)

Go Shiozaki v. Takashi Sugiura (July - NOAH )

2012

Davey Richards v. Michael Elgin (March - ROH) 

Kota Ibushi v. Kenny Omega (August - DDT) 

2013

Kenta v. Takashi Sugiura (May-NOAH)

2014

Kenny Omega v. Harashima v. Isami Kodaka (Aug - DDT)

2015

Kota Ibushi v. Shinsuke Nakamura (Jan- NJPW)

Kota Ibushi v. Harashima (Feb - DDT)

Tomohiro Ishii v. Tomoaki Honma (Feb-NJPW) 

Kyle O'Reilly v. Yujiro Kushida (June-NJPW)

2017
Kenny Omega v. Kazuchika Okada (Jan-NJPW)

Kazuchika Okada v. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW, Apr) 
Kenny Omega v. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW, Aug) 

Yujiro Kushida v. Will Ospreay (NJPW, June) 

10 Best Television Shows of 2015 (July-September)

April-June was here.

1. Halt and Catch Fire (AMC)
2. Review (Comedy Central)
3. Wet Hot American Summer (Netflix)
4. Catastrophe (Amazon)
5. Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
6. The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
7. The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)
8. Unreal (Lifetime)
9. Difficult People (Hulu)
10. Big Brother (CBS)

I haven't seen Mr. Robot; my working plan is to catch it in its next life, wherever that might be.  I'll endeavor to get it on the next quarter's list.

I didn't dislike Halt as much as did others in its first season, but this was a clear jump and you could position it in the upper echelon of the post Mad Men landscape with The Americans and Better Call Saul.  Review/Amy Schumer/Broad City are Comedy Central's best shows; Wet Hot hit their return squarely, it was better than had I anticipated.  Catastrophe was the surprise of the summer. Orange has probably seen its best days and has settled into a middle tier of quality television.  Jon Stewart's closing run is here; if Chris Hayes doesn't have the best news show than Maddow does. Lifetime makes an appearance with its pulpy behind the scenes imagining of The Bachelor franchise.  Difficult People isn't really as deviant as reviews would suggest, but hits on enough jokes to make this list; Big Brother is a great game and often a not very good show, this has been a particularly well made installment.

That's 30 down - there are 3 months left in the year, let's see how we close it out.

Tendown Sep 13, 2015

190 is here. This is Tendown 191.

1. The Patriots, of course.


2.  Colbert's got balls.


3. Every week until he stops - vote for Bernie Sanders.

4. Nick Saban is an employee of the state of Alabama.



5. Ranking Talk Show Hosts.

6. Abortion isn't as legal as it was the last time you checked.

7. Guess the last name of the candidate who wants an enormous tax cut for the rich?

8. Want Children to Flourish - Live Where the Unions Are.

9.

10. But aren't there actors who wouldn't do this? And aren't they competitively disadvantaged? And what about the children? Where are the congressional hearings to talk about the children?

And finally...

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

Your pal,

Jim

2015 NFL Supercontest Picks, Week One (And Eliminator, as long as I'm alive)

Using the Westgate Supercontest lines and rules, I'll pick 5 games a week.  In addition, if there are other games I like, I'll note them, but they won't go into my running totals, they're just for your use.   Finally, as long as I'm alive in the suicide pool, I'll include it as well.  Theoretically, since I'm not picking the Thursday game, I might change some of this before the weekend. I just wanted to get this in before the season's official start.

Supercontest Picks
Chi +7 GB loss
StL +4 Sea win
Wash +3.5 Mia loss
NYG +6.5 Dall win
Jags + 3 Panthers loss

2-3

Additional games
Raiders + 3 Bengals
Atl +3 Phi

Eliminator Winner: Dallas

2015 NFL Predictions

I make picks. I may tweak on Thursday prior to the first kick.  I'm going to go with the Stanford (Luck) v. Cal (Rodgers) Super Bowl in the first game in the Bay Area in three decades+.  A Luck/Frank Gore Colts team would be pretty popular to a bunch of locals.

AFC East
1. New England 11-5
2. Miami 9-7 WC2
3. NYJ 8-8
4. Buffalo 7-9

AFC North
1. Baltimore 10-6
2. Cincinnati 9-7 WC1
3. Pittsburgh 8-8
4. Cleveland 5-11

AFC South
1. Indianapolis 12-4
2. Houston 7-9
3. Tennessee 5-11
4. Jacksonville 4-12

AFC West
1. Denver 11-5
2. Kansas City 8-8
3. San Diego 8-8
4. Oakland 5-11

AFC Champion - Colts

NFC East
1. Philadelphia 11-5
2. Dallas 9-7 WC1
3. NYG 9-7
4. Washington 5-11

NFC North
1. Green Bay 12-4
2. Detroit 9-7 WC2
3. Minnesota 8-8
4. Chicago 6-10

NFC South
1. Atlanta 9-7
2. New Orleans 8-8
3. Carolina 7-9
4. Tampa 5-11

NFC West
1. Seattle 12-4
2. Arizona 7-9
3. St Louis 7-9
4. San Francisco 5-11

NFC Champion - Packers

Tendown September 6, 2015

189 is here. This is Tendown 190.

1. They want to go back to the Gilded Age.
2.

3. Why we have an Establishment Clause.

And here.

4. Lincecum.

5. Every Week Until He Stops - Vote for Bernie Sanders.

6. Fox Goes After Black Lives Matter

7.  Kelly Clarkson!

8. Fixing pickup hoops

9. Is Trump a Failure?

10. This is the one that gets the right wing right.

and one more...

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

Your pal,

Jim