I Pick Every NFL Game 2010 - Week 3

Last week's picks are here. 

ATS: 16-12-4
SU: 21-11

Atlanta +4 NO (Saints win game) (win/loss)
Niners -2.5 Chiefs (loss/loss)
Detroit +10.5 Vikes (Vikes win game) (loss/win)
Texans -3 Cowboys (loss/loss)
NYG -3 Titans (loss/loss)
Bills +14 NE (Patriots win game) (NE is my suicide pick) (win/win)
Browns +10.5 Ravens (Balt wins game) (win/win)
Steelers -2.5 Bucs (win/win)
Bengals -3 Panthers (win/win)
Redskins -3.5 Rams (loss/loss)
Eagles -3 Jags (win/win)
Colts -6 Broncos (win/win)
SD -5.5 Seattle (loss/loss)
Raiders +4 Arizona (Cards win) (win/win)
Miami -1.5 NYJ (loss/loss)
GB -3 Chi (loss/loss)

ATS 24-20-4
SU 29-19

12 Left. Half a game up.

Our Schedule:
3 in Chicago.
3 in Colorado.
Travel day Monday, that's when the Rox and Padres play and we don't as they both have 13 left.
Home for 3 against Arizona.
Home for 3 against the Padres.  Season ends the 3rd. 

Padres Schedule:
3 in LA
Home for 3 against Reds
Home for 4 against Cubs
3 in SF

Rox Schedule
3 in Arizona
Home for 3 against us
Home for 3 against LA
4 in StLouis

The forecast - we win it by a game over both of them. 

Phils
Reds
Us
Braves

Which would mean a first round matchup against the Phillies.  Which is less than ideal.  Ideally, we pass the Reds, giving us a first round series against the Braves, which is winnable.

In Chicago - Cain v. Zambrano, Sanchez v. Wells, Bumgarner v. Dempster

-Burrell's hit okay against Zambrano, has 2 homers against Wells, and a really high OBP against Dempster
-Guillen's 0-9 against Dempster, maybe he sits Thursday.
-Huff hasn't hit against any of them, and is 3-19 against Dempster.
-Who has hit is Renteria, 8-24 against Dempster, 13-34 against Zambrano
-Nothing from Ross or Rowand
-Sanchez has hit Dempster well 6-17
-Sandoval's good in small samples against Dempster 4-9, and Wells 3-5, bad against Zambrano 1-7.
-Uribe's 4-25 against Zambrano, which is enough that he can sit tonight.

-DeWitt (5-15 with 3 walks) and Nady (3-8) have hit Cain; he's had good success against everyone else.
-They haven't had enough at bats against Sanchez or Bumgarner, save for Baker, 4-11 with 3 walks against Sanchez.

We're 84-66, our pythag is a little better 86-64, that gives us a chance at a 93 pythag season which would tie this team for the fifth best SFG team ever. 

1st and Five - The Weekly Tendown, a Halfdown Edition September 12-18 2010

Dear Internet:

Have I been hating the wrong football team?

Last Sunday, here was Randy Moss at the Patriots' post game press conference:

Two years ago, here was Tom Brady courtside at a Celtics playoff game:

I'm sorry for all the times I rooted against the Patriots. 

I was going to law school in Ohio in September of 1993, and when I'm going to law school in Ohio in September of 1993, in the pre-internet world, the number of people who are living with me through the torture that was seeing the best San Francisco Giants team of my lifetime in a daily (losing) battle for a playoff spot was very, very small.  Small enough that, one day, when I saw a young black child at a shopping mall in a Giants t-shirt, I pointed and said "yeah!  yeah!  Billy Swift going today!  Hell yeah!"  Given the way his mother looked at me, I was fortunate that Megan's Law did not exist then, or I may still be introducing myself to new neighbors as per court order.  The woman I was dating at the time suggested that we lived in Ohio in 1993 and that maybe pointing at young black children and yelling "Hell Yeah!" might not be well taken by the boy's family. 

That young boy - turned out to be LeBron James.

True story.

Okay - the tag is not true, LeBron's a couple/three years too old - but it would be good.

I don't have any group identity with my country - to the contrary, most people who identify themselves as patriots would label me anti-American.  I don't have a religion or any particular ethnicity; what I have is sports - the Niners had enough success that their bandwagon was once too full with which to identify and while I went to USC for a minute and a half when I was 18:

I just wasn't there long enough to feel a kinship with those possessing SC degrees. 
But for me - if you're a Giants fan; it crosses all barriers.  Giants fan+Sarah Palin supporter = you and I are cool.  Something has to take priority; for me its not race or class or level of demonstrable brain activity (because to be a Sarah Palin supporter, I mean - come on - she doesn't believe in evolution; I get if you don't understand Keynesian economics or the idea of a living Constitution - but you just can't hop on someone's train who thinks the earth's 6,000 years old) it's mutual support of the San Francisco Giants.

So - go Pats!  Go Brady!  Go Moss! Go Danny Glover and Robin Williams! I am prepared to read your newsletter and will share with you my foodstuffs. 

After the jump - the rest of Tendown 44

I Pick College Football Games - Week 3 2010-2011

I'm pretty far in the hole.  Only picking 8 games.

Kansas +5.5 Southern Miss (loss)
Miami OH -7.5 Colorado St. (win)
Missouri -14 SD St. (loss)
Navy -3 LA Tech (win)
Oklahoma St. v. Tulsa Under 69 (loss)
Wake +17 Stanford (loss)
VA Tech v. ECarolina Under 60 (loss)
W Mich -3 Toledo (loss)

Wow, I'm off to a brutally bad start.
5-16-2

The 100 Greatest Players in Professional Football History 80-71

Part 2 of my list is here.

NFL Network is revealing Part 3 of its list tonight, so I'll get the jump this morning.  I'll edit in their choices after I see the show.

80.Bobby Layne QB 48-62 Lions/Steelers
-Beats out Boomer and Bradshaw, his top comps. I'm guessing Bradshaw makes the NFL list and Layne doesn't. (They picked Aikman here)

79.Gene Hickerson OL 58-73 Browns
-The Browns could run the football. With Jim Brown – after Jim Brown – the Browns could run the football. Hickerson gets the credit here. (Emlen Tunnell, not on my list)

78.Chuck Howley LB 58-73 Cowboys
(They picked Bruce Matthews, who is on this list, but not yet.)

77.Michael Irvin WR 88-99 Cowboys
-Top comp is Reggie Wayne; it’s all about the U. I’ve grown to really enjoy Irvin as a TV personality; it’s less that I find myself agreeing with him and more just that he’s very likeable. Funny how things work out. (NFL picked Dorsett; apparently they knew it was Cowboy time.)

76.Ed Jones DL 74-89 Cowboys
-Top comp is Lyle Alzado, and he’s underrated – his notoriety diminishing his accomplishment.  You think I'm done with the Cowboy run?  (Art Shell, who didn't make my list)

75.Roger Staubach QB 69-79 Cowboys
- 4 straight Cowboys!  Staubach was great; I’m a Cowboy hater, but he was great – a short career is why he’s low, and if anything I’m ranking him high given the short career, but he was considerably Bradshaw’s superior, for example. If you're looking for Aikman on the list, you'll be unhappy.  (Darrell Green - who is still to come on my list.)

74.Willie Wood DB 60-71 Packers
-Most similar players – Herb Adderly, Mike Haynes, both still to come, Ronde Barber didn’t make it. (Marion Motley - not on my list).

73.Will Shields OL 93-06 Chiefs
-The best in the Mack/Wisniewski/Allen line of interior linemen. Bruce Armstrong/Lomas Brown have similarly good cases.  (Ozzie Newsome; my second TE is still to come, and he's in the top 50)

72.Carl Eller DL 64-79 Vikings
-The best, I’d argue, in the Youngblood/Strahan/Robustelli line of ends – if you tell me he and Doleman should flip, I wouldn’t be adverse. (Jonathan Ogden - entirely fair, didn't make my list - but entirely fair - that run of recent vintage tackles - Ogden, Jones, Roaf - they didn't make my list but they'd all be in the next 50).

71.Ladainian Tomlinson RB 01- Chargers
-88+ yards rushing per game; just a tremendous run of production by the guy who earned his nickname LT2 in contrast to the way that Andy Roddick never should have been called A-Rod. (Paul Warfield)


30 down, 70 to go.  I'll update the NFL picks after the show airs, and then 70-61 on my list will be posted just before their next show.