ESPN's Monday Night Commercial

In my continuing quest to bitch about ESPN and what a joke of a 'sports' channel they have become, I also have noticed that their Monday Night Football game is nothing more than a commercial for something with a football game being played in the background. Last week they had Russell Crowe on pimping his rugby team. Last night they not only had Brett Favre's wife on pimping her book during the first half but then had Vince Vaughn on during the second half. And of course, while these people are being interviewed, promoting their product(s), the football game goes on and little mention of what is actually happening in the game unless a big play happens...then they will break away from the interview just long enough to mention the football game and then get right back into the interview/promotion.

It will not be long before ESPN will not even have play-by-play or commentators doing any of their events, but rather have interviews booked for the entire game and have the game as a 'backdrop' to their full-time promotion.

I truly believe that the 'Sports' in the ESPN initial should be removed and they will be more accurately referred to as the Entertainment Programming Network...with the term 'entertainment' used extremely loosely. And even better yet, they should rename themselves YRSPN, which of course stands for the Yankees and Red Sox Programming Network.

World Series Over, A-Rod Upstages BoSox?

Thank god the World Series has ended and ESPN can devote more coverage to the Yankees...and just to show you how 'Yankee-oriented' ESPN is, the 'big story' on (and according to) ESPN Monday morning wasn't really that the Red Sox won the World Series but the fact that A-Rod is opting out of his contract with the Yankees, thus upstaging the Red Sox World Series win...even though several players all came out yesterday to announce their free agency but because A-Rod is a Yankee - and I am beginning to think ESPN loves the Yankees but not A-Rod. Give me a freakin' break. If a player can 'upstage' a team's World Series victory, then it's pretty obvious that the World Series victory a team just won wasn't that big of a story. But of course ESPN will use any Yankees news as 'big news' and thus, this is why ESPN has the mentality that A-Rod upstage the Red Sox because it has forced ESPN to spend most of it's sports coverage time devoted to A-Rod and how he is a free agent rather then celebrate Boston's World Series victory.

The only good thing about the World Series ending is that means the MLB season is over and ESPN can begin it's countdown to Yankees spring training and their first regular season meeting with the Red Sox in 2008... I can hardly wait.... (Saying this as I try to keep from vomiting)

SNL 2007 Season: 3 Episodes, Watch Them Again

The only bright spot with me being a little bit busy here lately is that I haven't had to use any of my spare time to watch any new SNL's lately. Is this how network shows operate these days? Have 3 new episodes to start out the season and then repeat all three episodes again? I am almost confident we will see these same episodes at least one more time this season...seems extremely weak to me.

NFL Week 8 Review

I am very busy this week and will just have my quick recap of NFL week 8...

The big story this week has nothing to do with last week's games...most seemed fairly low-key and almost predictable outcomes...but the big story is the big Indianapolis-New England game this week. The two undefeated goliaths of the NFL will square off in Indy for what could potentially be a very big game for both teams. I don't think the loser of this game has to abandon their quest for the Super Bowl but this game could likely determine who gets home field advantage for the playoffs and that may be key.

I was pleased to watch Green Bay beat Denver on a 1 play bomb in overtime to give the Broncos the loss. The Broncos have gotten lucky in all their wins, with maybe the exception the week prior vs Pittsburgh, and almost screwed up the game last night by trying to go for the game winning touchdown on a Cutler keeper with no timeouts left and then he comes up short. But the Broncos have the 'rush the kicker on the field and snap the ball in 8 seconds' fire drill down and were lucky enough to send the game to overtime. But was that Dre Bly that got burned for the game-winning touchdown? The same Dre Bly that many sports 'experts' said would make sure no one could pass on the Broncos because Bly and Champ Bailey are the best in the business? And by all appearances, Brett Favre had no problems throwing the ball around last night.

How bad are Miami and St. Louis? They don't play each other and by the way both these teams are playing, they may both be winless this year...although St. Louis is in the weaker division and may luck out against San Fran or even any of their NFC West rivals.

Paper tigers, teams I think have a really good record right now but are nothing but fodder for good teams... NY Giants, Tennessee and Detroit. All three teams have at least 5 wins and only 2 losses but I think all three teams are very beatable if all the chips are on the line. But the first part of being successful in the playoffs is to get to the playoffs.

As I mentioned in my Chargers-Texans recap is that I will be at the Vikings-Chargers game this Sunday. One of the 'storylines' I have heard from Viking fans is how many think Adrian Pederson is the best runningback in the league and even some of their local media talkers say that Pederson is the best runningback EVER... of course the Vikes have little to cheer about right now and are pinning their hopes onto anything they can. I hope Tomlinson has a good outing and shows these Vikings' fans who the reigning, greatest NFL runningback currently is...and he isn't playing for Minnesota.

Chargers Rout Texans

This game was all but over after the first half with the Texans doing all they could to lose the game.

After the Chargers take a 7-0 lead on a TD reception by Antonio Gates the Texans then perform the classic blunder of the long-snapper snapping the ball over their punter's head, the punter fails to kick the ball out of the end zone, in a laughable attempt, the Chargers cover the ball and get a gift touchdown and the rout is beginning. After another Gates touchdown, Antonio Cromartie, who recovered the botched punt for his first career touchdown, intercepts Matt Schaub and returns it 70 yards for a score and the rout is on. 35-3 was the halftime score and the Chargers essentially run the clock out to win 35-10 over the Texans.

Up next the Chargers go to Minnesota in a game that I will be attending...I hope to have some pictures to post and hopefully it is a good trip...I still haven't secured tickets but with it being the opening weekend of deer hunting in Minnesota and the Vikings sucking right now, the likelihood of getting tickets should be good.

Game On! Chargers-Texans

Wow, what does a few extra days do to save a game at Quallcomm? There was some word that an announcement about this week's game between Houston and San Diego would be moved to a different location or possibly played on Monday and that decision was to have been announced yesterday, but obviously was not. But today the announcement came that the game will go on as scheduled at Qualcomm in San Diego. I think the team will be relieved to know that they will be playing in their 'home stadium' rather than having a 'home' game in some other city or stadium.

Just Great - Red Sox and Yankees

ESPN Radio morning headlines today and every day until maybe opening day of next year unless the Rockies can win the series...

Lead Story: Red Sox World Series....blah, blah, blah
Next Story: Yankees manager blah, blah, blah

If the Rockies would happen to win the World Series then they will flip their stories and lead with the Yankees and have a story about the Red Sox next. God am I tired of the Red Sox and the Yankees and I don't even watch or listen to ESPN much at all...but the brief periods I am exposed to it, that is all I ever hear... I had no idea no other teams in any other sport have absolutely no relevance at all anymore...

Chargers vs Texans: Game Likely Moving

With the fires in southern California wreaking havoc it is becoming more likely that the Charger home game against the Texans this Sunday will be moved. The article is stating that the Cowboys have a bye week and would probably be the best place for the game. The team has been practicing in Arizona all week and the Cardinals have a bye week as well...but apparently the financial loss to the Chargers would be less if it is played in Dallas rather than Phoenix...seems odd to me that would be the case... I would think there would be a fair amount of Charger ticket holders that would have made the trip from San Diego to Phoenix to see the game their and less likely to do so if the game is in Dallas...but what ever... it sure does suck that the Chargers will probably lose a home game regardless.

Chargers Practice In Arizona: Game May Be Moved

Fires in Southern California are so bad that Qualcomm Stadium is being used as an evacuation shelter for those being displaced by the fires and the Chargers have had to move their practices to Arizona for the week and their upcoming home game may also have to be played in Arizona.

Several Charger players have also had to evacuate their homes, including LaDainian Tomlinson.

It was 4 years ago to the week that the Chargers had to play in Phoenix because of fires then as well. If my memory serves me corretly, it was against the Dolphins and their freshly acquired Junior Seau...the game was boring, Chargers lost and the stadium was filled with nobody but drunken hooligans.

NFL Week 7 Review

A look back at week 7 in the NFL...

Indy and New England continue to win games with seemingly little effort. Likewise, St. Louis and Miami continue to lose games with seemingly little effort. Of course New England was playing Miami and you could see the difference between the best team in the NFL and the worst in the NFL. AFC East teams have a total of 10 wins, 7 of them are New England's and if Buffalo hadn't won this past week New England was the only team with more than 1 win in the division. New England could have their division clinched by Thanksgiving...unbelievable.

Steelers and Ravens both lost ... two teams that are seeking some credibility both lose to sub-500 teams. Not ready to be elite yet.

The Titans had no business winning against the Texans ... and of course I end up playing the guy who had Bironas on his team in fantasy football... I lose. Titans and Jacksonville are both paper tigers at 4-2. Likely little obstacles for a good team. Matt Schaub gets hurt and that may end any serious run the Texans had planned.

I gave no credit to the Giants early in the year but in their soft part of the schedule they continue to roll... they got Miami next before their bye and then a game against Dallas where they can even up the yearly series if they can win that game at home.

Speaking of the Cowboys, how were the Minnesota Vikings even in that game? The Vikings have little offense and as long as you don't beat yourself it should have been little work to take on and beat the Vikes.

With the exception of the AFC East and South all other divisions are very tightly contested...but as what is being seen in the NFL, there are a couple elite teams and the rest of the NFL teams are just mediocre and even having an impressive record at this point is little proof of how good a team may or may not be.

Cleveland Chokes - Crowe On MNF

Just a couple quick tid-bits from this past weekend...

First, thanks to the Cleveland Indians we now have to tolerate the Boston Red Sox media storm for at least another week and if the Red Sox win the World Series (god forbid), ESPN will have some fill in for a break in the non-stop, minute-by-minute Yankee's manager search and offseason. I really wanted only teams from the 'small markets' so that the major sports media would ignore the world series all-together...but now that the Red Sox are in, the Sox will get all they hype.... Go Rockies!

Last night if you were watching Monday Night Football on ESPN you saw Russell Crowe join the 'boys in the booth' for a while in the third quarter. Right when I heard that Russell Crowe was going to sit in for a bit, I figured he must have a new movie or television show that Disney/ABC/ESPN is trying to shamelessly shill, but no. Crowe, who was given plenty of time to schlep his 'goods', was schlepping his rugby team. So my question is this then, what stake does Disney/ABC/ESPN have in Crowe's rugby team? Is Disney a part owner of the league? What is the deal? Or was Crowe merely 'cashing in a favor'? Someone in a high position within the Disney empire had to owed Crowe some free pub ... because unless the Disney empire has a stake in rugby now, I can't imagine the amount of time Crowe was allowed to pimp his team was insane. In fact, the interview was going on as Indianapolis was sacking the Jags for a safety and the game was still in the balance ... yet, the viewer was treated with Crowe talking about rugby during a football game...

NDSU Beats Minnesota

The "Super Bowl" for North Dakota football fans happened over the weekend... North Dakota State beat the University of Minnesota in what is likely the biggest win for NDSU ever. NDSU has won Division 2 championships in the past and were even a perennial division 2 powerhouse. But that and a nickel won't even get you cup of coffee. Beating a Big Ten team, Minnesota, in the Metrodome on the national stage is likely a bigger win than any division 2 championship game for NDSU.

The aftermath of the game says a lot too... the NDSU Bison were suppose to be 'chumps' and an easy win for the mighty Gophers. The twin city sports media had the Gophers winning this game with little after-thought. The Gopher head coach, Tim Brewster, came out and said how this is likely the last time Minnesota will play NDSU because he sees no advantage in playing the Bison - even though the Gophers will likely have only 1 sell out game every year, when they play the Bison.

The Bison dominated the entire game. Tyler Roehl ran for over 200 yards and the Gophers seemed too scared to get in his way. If Roehl hadn't fumbled after a long run the game would have been way more lop-sided than the 27-21 final. The Gophers are an undisciplined, poor tackling team. The Gophers had a running into the kicker penalty that nullified them getting the ball for what would have been their final drive to win the game.

Super Bowl In London: Goodell Ruining The NFL

Why does Roger Goodell want to ruin the NFL? He, for some reason, wants to see the NFL go international, and why wouldn't he? With the World League Of America football all folded up the European market is just itching to see some American football...oh yeah, the World League was subsidized by the NFL and the only success the World League saw was in cities that had large American military bases and was primarily attended by Americans, and even then the word 'attended' is used loosely...but don't let that stop your grand vision. So first, you schedule a regular season game in London, which promptly sells out in minutes - all tickets likely purchased by displaced Americans. Then you come out today with the great idea of potentially playing a Super Bowl outside of the American borders. I mean what a great idea to take the greatest event that Americans have right now... a guaranteed, mega-sold out event that has always been played in America and ship that overseas to any country that couldn't give two-shits about American football. That idea sounds great! I mean what city in America wouldn't be pleased to find out that it lost it's Super Bowl bid to Barcelona, Spain that will be the opening act for some soccer match. The only thing that could make this idea even more stupid is to play the game at 3:00 AM in the morning in America because of the time change and I am sure Roger is counting on that.

How many 'experiments' need to be done with the NFL before someone finally gets it? Americans love the NFL the rest of the world loves soccer... I say let the rest of the world have soccer and leave the NFL alone. I think it is retarded to play any regular season (or playoff) game outside of America and is robbing some city a home game and when they only get 8 guaranteed home games to start with, to take one away seems downright vindictive towards that city and their fans.

I think Goodell is trying to build his legacy and he is hoping it is one that is expanding the NFL across the American borders...unfortunately he is willing to rob fans of their NFL teams of games in America to try and attempt it and that is disgusting, in my opinion. The reason the NFL is as successful as it is, is because the fans of America are so passionate towards the sport and their teams...now Goodell is forcibly ejecting some teams overseas with absolutely no regards to the fans of the sport in America, thinking that an overseas fan base is better than the one it has now... well I say fuck you Goodell! You are treating fans of the NFL in America as if we are 2nd class citizens. You want to take away our home games and our Super Bowl and why? It can't be for the money because the NFL makes a trillion dollars a year (or more). The only reason is for his own selfish reasons ... so he can have a legacy. No other major sport would even consider doing something so foolish as to deprive it's hardcore fans of access to the biggest game of the year, the championship. But for some reason this man, who has barely even got the commissioner's seat warm, seems it is fit to do so. It will be a sad day if owners of the NFL agree to this insane and idiotic idea.

Chargers Acquire Chris Chambers

Big news to start out the bye week for the Chargers... it is being reported that Chris Chambers has been traded to the Chargers for a 2nd round pick. Chambers could give the Chargers a legitimate receiver on their roster. Vincent Jackson has been nothing but a disappointment and rookie Buster Davis hasn't done much either. Chambers seems like a player that could be a 'big play' option and at receiver would be a huge acquisition for the Chargers. Although my expectations are a bit tempered because the rumor and 'word' on why the Dolphins let Chambers go in the first place is because he was dropping balls for the Dolphins...all that means to Charger fans right now is that he was at least open to get a pass thrown to him to drop...the Charger receivers are rarely even heard from this season.

SNL: Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi hosted this last week's SNL and I was surprised to hear/see that the Foo Fighters were booked as the musical guest...so that means only one thing...lots of music and fewer sketches than normal because Bon Jovi was sure to perform at least once, if not more, along with the Foo Fighters.

The show starts out with, guess what, an Amy Poehler sketch. It is a 'flashback' sketch to the 1980's and Amy dreaming about Bon Jovi and John magically appearing in her bedroom to give her words of advice about the future. Isn't this just a rehash of the Seth Rogan monologue except now it is an actual sketch? The writers of this show are lazy and lazier.

John comes out for his monologue, which as anyone could have guessed, which was just a transparent intro to Bon Jovi playing a song...must have new album out, huh? Richie Sambora fucked up his one line...Bon Jovi did cover it well. What is ironic about this monologue is that it begins with Bon Jovi stating how he was only on the show for the comic/acting part and not for any musical portion, yet in less than 2 minutes they are performing a tune.

Then was what is becoming a SNL staple, an unfunny, mock gameshow. I'll give this one credit, it wasn't as unfunny as other recent mock game shows, but still, not funny.

Then was Darrell Hammond as Al Gore in Gore's 'trophy room'. This sketch was really lame and got old quick. It begins with Al showing all his awards he received from his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth" and goes on to show all the awards that Al won that didn't involve the movie...which were immunization records, a participation award for punt, pass and kick as well as O.J. Simpson's Heisman Trophy that he bought. Overall, pretty boring... I have really tired of SNL's attempts at mocking politicians.

Andy Samberg's digital short "People Getting Punched Just Before Eating" was probably the best item in this last week's SNL, even though the ending was pretty lame. And I continue to say that this is Samberg's best stuff and they should just relugate Samberg to his digital shorts just as it seems as if the only time you see Seth Meyers now is on Weekend Update.



The Vinny Vedecci sketch, which was on last season and not funny, makes an appearance in this episode and still lame. It is just a sketch where they can allow the host who is pimping a new album, movie or show be 'themselves' and Vinny (Bill Hader) speaks Italian and lack of comedy ensues.

Weekend Update was nothing spectacular. Maya Rudolph had a part as a 'immigrant' that was to become a new writer due to an impending strike. If there is indeed a writer's strike on SNL, I doubt it could get worse with any fill-in writers.

Iconoclasts sketch seemed like it would have a funny premise and I actually liked Kristen Wiig as Bjork but Keneen Thompson in any sketch is almost a buzzkill right there, and it just didn't pan out. Again, Wiig as Bjork was mildly entertaining and then after her setup, Thompson's line would kill any momentum the sketch had.

I did enjoy Jason Sudekis as Dane Cook mocking the MLB Playoff promos. Just short and ridiculous enough to make you laugh...and maybe short enough is the key here! Sudekis is probably the funniest guy on the show that gets any consistent airtime.

The final sketch of the night was almost as obvious as it gets...making fun of how the band named itself Bon Jovi. Again, fairly unfunny and seemed as if the show was just trying to fill time in between Bon Jovi songs and Weekend Update.

The show then concludes with, yes, a Bon Jovi song. The Foo Fighters got to play one song and Bon Jovi had 2 songs...why even book a musical act unless your intention is to give the writers a week off.

NFL Week 6 Review

Week 6 in the NFL has came and gone... what have we learned this week?

Well, Chicago and Cincinnati - can these two teams really be that bad? I think yes. Chicago's run last year was a one-year fluke...add the fact that Bob Babich steps in as the new defensive coordinator and the Bears defense, all of a sudden, matches it's inept offense. The Bears are likely to win another game or two but as far as being a factor in the NFL this year...forget about it. Chicago had it's chance to make a move in the NFC North and instead have all but surrendered it's title as NFC North champs.

Then there's Cincinnati, which internally deemed this week as the week they were the most focused and prepared to play in a game they also deemed as a 'must win' for themselves, then promptly go out and get beat by Kansas City - a team I continue to think isn't that good. Cincinnati's problems start with their defense but are compounded by their offense. The Bengal offense has all the hype of a high-powered offense but has yet to even resemble a competent offense. Ocho-Cinco, or whatever Chad Johnson is calling himself this week, is no where to be found and Carson Palmer is turning the ball over more than throwing touchdowns because they have no running game.

What can a person say about the Patriots? Their cheating scandal seems to have fueled the Patriots' machine and they had little problems with what appears to be the NFC's elite team in Dallas. Tom Brady is likely to be the next, great quarterback after Joe Montana. The Dolphins may be the worst team in the NFL but will have 2 chances to stop New England from going undefeated and save their '72 undefeated record...I think the 2nd time around may be their opportunity but I'm not holding my breath.

I look at the NFC West and see the Arizona Cardinals tied for the lead with Seattle, who were New Orleans' first win of the season. Boy, I thought the AFC West was filled with shitty teams but the NFC West is trying it's best to be shittier.

And really, the NFL is like 3 leagues, the top-tier which is exclusively New England and Indianapolis right now, the middle tier, which is every team with at least 3 wins and then the shit-tier which is teams with 2 wins or less. I think any team could move from the middle to the lowest or vice-versa but that won't win you shit. Unless New England or Indy fall from the top the rest of the league, right now, are just pretenders.

Chargers Handle Raiders

LaDainian Tomlinson has had a slow start to the season but quickly erased any doubts some may have had as to whether or not he has 'peaked' yet or not. Tomlinson rushed for 198 yards and all 4 Chargers touchdowns.

The Charger defense looked much better and it may seem that Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell may have 'clued up' and are using the Charger personnel that better utilizes their strengths. Namely the linebackers Shaun Phillips and Shawne Merriman. Both had good games and were pressuring Culpepper all day. Previously it seemed as if Phillips and Merriman were either in pass coverage(???) or on the sideline when their talent is rushing the quarterback.

I still have little to no faith in either coach... I think Turner and Cottrell are not smart enough to have this team beat anyone good. The Chargers are on their bye week this week and the schedule looks to be a little easier - at the moment - which lends me to think that the Chargers should post a semi-respectable record, look like a team that could do something in the playoffs but will fall short...but of course, first they need to make the playoffs and I still think Turner and Cottrell will make sure the Chargers lose a few games they should have won on coaching alone. But for at least one week it was good to see the Chargers play well and are currently tied for the AFC West lead.

Gore Wins Nobel Price

Al Gore was named a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize today. Are you f'n kidding me? A person doesn't have to search too hard to find that Al Gore is a total hypocrite about most everything including environmental issues. I dug up these findings without too much effort:

From M.I.T.'s newspaper:

During the 1992 election campaign, for example, a Nashville television station obtained footage proving the existence of a dump filled with aluminum cans, old tires, and filters of waste oil - a dump Gore insisted did not exist - on property owned by Gore's father. The close proximity of the dump to a river suggested that it was an environmental hazard. More recently, in March 1996, the Denver Water Department released an extra 96 million gallons of water - enough for 300 families for a year - to improve the backdrop for a campaign photo-op for Gore in front of the South Platte River. Finally, even though he has supposedly long been a foe of logging the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, shortly after being sworn in as Vice President, Gore added a verandah made of old-growth redwood and Douglas fir to the Vice President's mansion. Clearly, Gore should learn to listen more closely to the rhetoric that his speech writers have given him.

From GNN:

During Clinton’s campaign for president in 1992 Gore promised a group of supporters that Clinton’s EPA would never approve a hazardous waste incinerator located near an elementary school in Liverpool, Ohio, which was operated by WTI. Only three months into Clinton’s tenure the EPA issued an operating permit for the toxic burner. Gore raised no qualms. Not surprisingly, most of the money behind WTI came from the bulging pockets of Jackson Stephens, who just happened to be one of the Clinton/Gore’s top campaign contributors.

From Texas Rainmaker:

Gore is the same guy that warned us that global warming was more dangerous than terrorism, while simultaneously maintaining a toxic waste dump on his own property.

At Sierra Club meetings, he advises Americans to conserve, then promptly leaves in a gas-guzzling Cadillac Escalade.

And while he “lectures Americans on excessive consumption,” he lives “in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.)… none of which use “green energy” offered by the local utility companies.

Many more examples of Gore's hypocrisy can be found without much effort... it's too bad the Nobel Prize committee didn't bother to do any research about Gore prior to handing him an award for nothing more than being a glorified hypocrite.

Landis' Last Stand

In the story that won't end, Floyd Landis is using his 'last resort' and appealing his guilty verdict to the Court of Appeals for Sport (CAS). Of course the basis of Landis' case is that the French lab used flawed techniques that caused a false positive result for Landis. The problem here, though, is that the testing procedures and subsequent results are calculated from such complex science, I think it is very plausible that an athlete with enough resources can attempt to refute the results by merely submitting their own 'math' and procedures that may seem just as accurate as anyone else's. Even if Landis is exonerated and given back his 2006 Tour de France victory, I think most will only remember him as the guy who cheated to win the Tour de France...especially since by the time this entire case is fully resolved, most of us have already forgotten about it and the Tour de France long ago.

NFL Week 5 Review

Week 5 in the NFL has concluded and what do we know this week?

Well, the Cowboys sucked out last night and win against Buffalo...a game they had no business winning. Tony Romo had 1,000 interceptions yet the Bills were unable to capitalize on many of them...the Bills even had a kickoff return for a touchdown yet and stopped a Dallas 2-point conversion that would have tied the game up late...but fail to recover an onside kick and Dallas wins with a field goal to steal the game. Dallas may have a little bit of 'over-ratedness' in them, but good teams find a way to win and win games like Dallas did last night... I will give them that.

Miami and the Rams are both the only 2 teams that have yet to post a win and both teams may not do so anytime soon. The Trent Green for the Dolphins got his 300th concussion this past weekend and I would think that his days are now numbered, if not over, for being in this league. The Rams just seem to be getting worse and no luck...Bulger - out, Stephen Jackson - out, their entire defense - worthless. Sure both these teams may get a win or two sometime this season and it will feel like the Super Bowl for them.

Every team in the AFC West has 2 wins, with Oakland having a bye last week lead by 1/2 game. Clearly that division will be up for grabs amongst the 4 crappy teams in that division.

Right when I think the Redskins and Giants are 2 crappy teams they both win. The Lions don't look to be a good road team and the Jets did everything they could to help the Giants win. Eli Manning wasn't impressive in any way and yet the Jets lose the game. Pennington, who I thought would begin to play better, had interceptions that were key for the Giants win.

New England just keeps destroying their opponents and the Colts win every week, now without Marvin Harrison. Dallas Clark seems to be Peyton's go-to guy with Harrison injured.

The Packers' bubble finally burst. A weak Bears team played the Packers tough and come out with a win. Reading some fan reaction on that game, it seemed as if refereeing may have assisted the Bears in that game, but I did not watch the game but have read that comment on a few fan forums.

Jake Delhomme is out for the season...great, my starting fantasy QB who was having a great year is now out for the rest of the year...that's my team...I'm sure the Panthers are more distressed than I am.

The Buccaneers lost another running back for at least a month or two (and coincidentally on my fantasy team as well) Micheal Pittman.

With the Seahawks losing to Pittsburgh and the Cardinals beating the Rams, the Seahawks and Cards are tied for the NFC West lead right now... wow, both the NFC West and AFC West titles are going to be won by a team that probably won't win their first playoff game...talk about 2 crappy divisions...

MLB Playoffs: 3 Out Of 4

Something I wanted to do prior to the MLB playoffs starting, but wasn't able to do because of time constraints was to publicly post who I would be pulling for in the MLB playoffs. Anyone that knows me or frequents my blog probably already knows that I would cheer against the big market teams, especially the Red Sox and Yankees. Well, last night was the first step in a all small market team world series when Cleveland eliminated the Yanks. I was happy to see the Cubs and Phillies both lose and now if the Red Sox would lose it would all but guarantee a low-rating World Series because the sports media doesn't care about any teams other than the Yankees or Red Sox. In fact, the headline today wasn't that Cleveland beat the Yankees it was that the Yankees lost. I happened to be listening to the Cleveland-Yankees game on Sunday night for a brief period with Jon Miller on ESPN doing the call ... I didn't realize that a play-by-play announcer could literally not say a team's name for so long... very rarely did you hear the words Cleveland Indians, instead it was Yankees, Yankees and Yankees. When I first got into my car I thought the game was all but over because Miller was saying "And the Yankees look to be in fine shape tonight as they look to be forcing a game 4 here tomorrow." But then followed up with "At the end of 1 it's 0-0." I mean does anything affiliated with ESPN have to mean it is instantly the Yankees Radio network?

SNL, Seth Rogan

This season's second SNL seemed a bit better than it's premiere...maybe because it didn't have any carry-over sketches and had an actor as the host...but still nothing too hilarious happened this week either.

The show started off with Andy Samberg as K-Fed...as one could have almost guessed. I don't particularly like Samberg overall but do give him credit when he plays a wigger-like character such as K-Fed.


Rogan's monologue wasn't anything special...him reading a monologue he composed when he was 13 because he knew he would one day be hosting SNL...


The 'commercial' this week was about a 3D Ultra-sound which played on the idea where a man needs to view content on state-of-the-art display with high-def, 3d and picture-in-picture. The spot was mildly amusing but I wouldn't say side-splitting funny.


Next up was the 2007 Douchebag Championships which was a sketch that's sole purpose was to highlight Amy Poehler as Sharon Osbourne, Fred Arminson as Gene Simmons and Andy Samberg as the reigning Douchebag champion. Each of the characters was mildly amusing because of the characters each of the actors/actresses played was over the top.

There were several "MacGruber' spots placed throughout the show and I have to admit that I liked the previous MacGruber spots when MacGruber and his team's demise came because they would squabble over an item that MacGruber needed to defuse the detonator...this week, it was MacGruber trying to over-come a mid-life crisis in each episode that prevented the team from reaching safety... not quite as funny, but for being a short, quick to the point sketch, they are mildly entertaining.


Seth Rogan and Kristin Wiig played dorky twins in the next sketch...apparently the 'funny' part of this sketch was Kristin say "I said we!" I thought this sketch was lame and lamer...


Darrell Hammond then had a solo bit playing Fred Thompson. I've kind of grown bored with these type of sketches...the premiere had Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton and now Fred Thompson...making fun of politicians is easy, but to merely write up a comical monologue that seems to reiterate the same jokes throughout doesn't seem that funny to me anymore.

Weekend Update was next and it was up and down...a cameo by Chevy Chase had him doing a bit on politics and his shtick doesn't seem as witty or good as it was, oh let's say, 30 years ago. Of course he got a tremendous ovation from the crowd but what he did after that ovation surely didn't warrant the thunderous applause. I do enjoy the Really?!? With Seth And Amy portion of the Weekend Update, the interview with Mets manager and GM was lame...


America's First Colonists was the next sketch which basically was a sketch about how a colony in early America vanished because their founder Jack Stone (I do believe) met with the Indians and was introduced to pot...so the whole sketch was about the colony all becoming a bunch of stoners and thus, not having enough food for the winter. Pot-humor can be done better.

Then was maybe the best sketch of the night...maybe not the funniest, but I think the best... Seth Rogan played Rawlf the dog and Andy Samberg played the Swedish Chef, both of Muppet fame. I don't know if I have ever seen a parody of the Muppets done with actors/actresses but this was done real well. They did a song together, complete with Animal on drums (Bill Hader) and the saxophone and hippie chick.


The show wrapped up with sketch about the old-time southerners where Seth Rogan is Mad Joe and Maya Rudolph is a southern bell... the whole sketch was Rogan's character talking about how he cools off his balls... nothing extremely hilarious here...

The musical act was Spoon, who I knew nothing about. They weren't too bad but really didn't do anything that made me want to listen to them more.

Chargers Destroy Broncos

The Chargers thoroughly destroyed the Denver Broncos in Denver this past Sunday. A game the Chargers needed to win to keep hope alive for the season and hopefully use as a springboard to better play for the rest of the season. The Broncos were almost all but out of the game early on. The Charger defense, for the first time this year, looked like it was capable of stopping an opponent. The offense had a good mix of running and passing plays, not allowing the Broncos to merely load the box and blitz full-bore as other teams had been doing. With this win the Chargers at 2-3 are still in the mix for the AFC West, playing the Raiders this weekend the winner will have the early 'inside track' to winning the division. It will be interesting to see if the Charger 'game plan' this weekend resembles what we saw this past game or if this was just a fluke.

As I said to my friends that I was watching the game with, if the Chargers go 2-14 every year I wouldn't really be too sad if the 2 wins were against the Broncos.

SNL Season Premiere, 2007-08 Season

Something I mentioned at the end of last year's season, I think a regular feature on my blog will be critiquing Saturday Night Live. What are my credentials for this? Well, I've seen every episode of SNL... starting in 1980 I would either watch live (or taped) each and every week and in the early 80's (I think it was WGN) the early years of SNL were reran nightly which I watched religiously as well. There is no question that SNL has had it's ups and downs with it primarily being a down time right now... But let's get on with it...

The season premiere of SNL featured LeBron James as host and Kanye West as the musical guest. SNL has often had athletes and other non-acting/comedians as their hosts and for the most part, these episodes are forgettable and this was no exception. The show has to try and fit the non-funny, non-actor into their sketches which a person can tell that the sketch was written to work around the host. The opening sketch was Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton stating how she will be elected president next year... I didn't find it too funny but more a statement about what New Yorkers and network television have already determined to be fact...so it was more making fun of the popular sentiment of this country... Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton was the only part that was mildly humorous.


LeBron then comes out to do his monologue which was not-funny and went to a pre-taped segment to give LeBron a short time in front of the cameras alone.


Angry Dog Food was the first of this year's mock commercials, which are oftentimes the best part of the show...this one was mildly amusing when showing the rabid dogs, especially the smaller dogs, but overall, not funny.

Then a came Kristin Wiigs 'lying' character. This sketch just reminds of the John Lovitz character/sketch where he would lie...'Yeah, that's the ticket and I'm married to Morgan Fairchild!" In the '80's and I was in my teens I thought it was funny...now 20 years later I think this sketch is lame and weak. They had this character on several episodes last year and I thought all were extremely lame...the show seems to try and work more of Kristin Wiig into the show, like her Target checkout lady as well but both these characters are not even amusing to me...just the same joke over and over and over and over and over again...boring.


A promo for High School Musical 3 was SNL's next offering. Not even memorable... I don't think I found any part of that sketch even remotely funny.


Then came Andy Samberg's pet project, the SNL digital short of him singing a song about his affection towards the Iranian president (I am too lazy to look up how to spell his name). The SNL digital shorts with Samberg are hit and miss and I think Samberg should just be relegated to that portion of the show because most of his characters within the sketches are lame. But this SNL short was a miss for me... the lyrics seemed to repeat far too often and the entire song seemed too long. Half way through the video I was saying...Ok, I get it, what's next?

Then came the Lyle Kane sketch which is a dorky white guy (Will Forte) hosting a lame talk show on BET. If this sketch was just to make LeBron look like a dork, it succeeded. If it was trying to be funny...it failed.

Weekend Update, again another segment that oftentimes can make the episode at least worthy of watching because Seth Meyers is in it, was really forgettable. I was surprised to see that Amy Poehler cut her hair, the first sign of a woman thinking to herself that she wants to be respected for her mind rather than her body...not sure if that was totally the case there Amy. Keneen Thompson as O.J. - not funny and a total waste of time as was the 'interview' with the Iranian president (again, too lazy).

The Best Of Solid Gold was a mock commercial that featured the Solid Gold Dancers... I give it the same critique as the Lyle Kane show...that if the objective of this sketch was to make LeBron look like a dork and now like a fag, they succeeded. I did smile when LeBron had a huge cape that he would open to reveal the rest of the Solid Gold Dancers and then close again around them after they concluded a song...but that didn't make up for the rest of the sketch.

The Ambiguously Gay Duo was the Saturday TV Funhouse episode and these typically have been my favorite TV Funhouse characters but like the rest of this show, it failed to deliver. Usually there is more innuendo involving Ace and Gary being gay whereas this episode had them only playing charades and wagging their asses at each other...not really funny at all.

106 & Park was just a vehicle for Kanye West to 'seriously' answer questions about him pouting at various award shows and then to make fun of himself... The set for this sketch looked extremely close to the set that Deephouse Dish took place on and hopefully, since Deephouse Dish didn't happen it is the last we've seen of Deephouse Dish.


And somewhere in here is the PSA sketch featuring LeBron and Jason Sudekis as a crew member for the PSA that 'played high school ball' and after doing his best to try and sabatoge LeBron's performance by throwing the basketball at LeBron's head, he and LeBron go one-on-one with LeBron giving Jason a fore-arm shiver. If any sketch had any potential out of the show it was this one...why? Because LeBron seemed relax, didn't have to play character and Sudekis' character is funny.

The show wraps up with Jason Sudekis being a guidance counselor for LeBron James as a high schooler. I thought Sudekis was good, and LeBron had few lines. The sketch was pretty obvious, LeBron was seeing his guidance counselor about whether or not he should go to college or enter the NBA draft. Sudekis proceeds to tell LeBron that if he wanted a diploma he sell his to him.

Sudekis, Hammond and Meyers are the best actors on SNL and seem to get the least amount of airtime. Amy Poehler, who last season seemed to be in every freakin' sketch, only was in a few this first episode. She has some good characters but none in this episode. She did play Dakota Fanning in the 106 & Park sketch, but that was a bit part.

Kanye West, I couldn't give 2 shits about so I fast-forwarded over much of his two performances on the show.

Overall this episode is unfortunately carrying on the trend from last season...that is almost totally sucking. There really wasn't one part of the show that I felt was humorous and SNL shows have usually had at lest one sketch or element that was worth viewing. But, possibly on the bright side, with this first show being a total bomb, imo, they can't get too much worse...can they?

NFL Week 4 Review

Week four may have been the wildest week and maybe also the most telling week of what this season has in store for us...but of course, it is still early and even a slow or bad start now doesn't necessarily mean a team is destined to win it all or that a team has been eliminated from the playoffs, saying that...

I'll start out with my team, the Chargers... as some Charger forum poster made light of earlier this week, the San Diego Chargers in 1994 started out 0-4 and went to the Super Bowl that year so to give up hope on the team right now may be a bit premature. I recall the '94 season but I do not recall my thoughts on the 0-4 start... I just remember beating Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game and being on top of the world for one day. What I have seen so far from the Chargers has been a very poor football team that reminds more of the post '94 team. A team that opponents systematically pick apart with their passing game. After the Kansas City game the Chiefs QB, Damon Huard, say that they watched film of the Chargers against Green Bay and New England and noted that short, slant patterns are a very effective way to move the ball against the Chargers because the secondary is a very poor tackling secondary and then went on to say that they ran the same play multiple times during the game against the Chargers and it was successful each time. Head coach Norv Turner and defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell have got to be totally clueless if a teams weakness is exposed, like this, and they are not doing anything to correct it. I don't think the Chargers have much of a chance of making the playoffs because their coaching isn't able to adapt and LaDainian Tomlinson is barely used when situations have called for it.

Can the Patriots be beaten? As things look right now...no. But they do have Indianapolis on the regular season schedule so it won't be a total cake-walk for them.

Tampa Bay has sneaked up a 3-1 record so far this season. With the Saints, imitating the Chargers and Bears, having a less than stellar start after such a successful 2006 season and the Falcons with their issues, Delhomme for the Panthers may have to have surgery on his shoulder that would end his season, the timing might just be right for the Bucs to make their move and win that division.

The Packers may be 4-0 but I don't have faith in them at all. They have no running game and once they face a team with a secondary their pipe dream should end. I like the Lions in the NFC North because they seem more balanced and with a win over the defending NFC North champions has got to only boost their confidence.

The Cowboys and Colts are both 4-0 in divisions with other teams that are already beginning to fade. If both teams hit the half-way point with 6 or more wins, the second half of the season may be just to fine tune things for the playoffs.

Steelers lost to Arizona and their old offensive coordinator ... Arizona also had Kurt Warner in for Matt Leinert, I have yet to see a Cards game this year but what I had seen of Leinert I liked. For him to get the hook this early seemed a little premature...but of course Warner will get hurt here soon and Leinert will be back in ... the question will then be if he will be able to perform.

So who's the best in the NFL right now? Got to be the Patriots, Colts and Cowboys, although I don't think the Cowboys have played anyone to prove their mettle but that doesn't mean they are bad...good teams don't lose to bad teams.