Weekend Recap

As I posted last week, winter has hit the barren wasteland and the forecasted snowfall of 3-5 inches was an underestimation. The official snowfall total was 7 inches but I think that is a conservative call to keep it close to their forecast... in my front yard, there is at least 10 inches of snow. And the forecast is for more snow starting tonight thru tomorrow for a total of 6 more inches... so that could mean no snow to a foot...

And what was the deal yesterday? For some reason I felt the need to party like a rock star... sure, I like to enjoy a beer or two on Sundays while I watch football, but for some reason I drank like a fish yesterday... don't feel too bad today with the exception of being fairly tired... I can hardly wait to go to sleep tonight!

Chargers 24 Chiefs 10, AFC West Leaders

The Chargers resembled the team that many have been waiting to see since the preseason. The Charger defense had 7 sacks and Antonio Cromartie had 2 interceptions to increase his NFL leading total to 8, Shawne Merriman had 2 sacks and a fumble recovery, LaDainian Tomlinson had 177 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns and overall, the Chargers looked good... Gates had a quiet day and Rivers did have an early interception to slightly mar the Chargers victory, but overall a good day for the Chargers.

To add to the Chargers win, the Broncos lost to the Raiders and now the Chargers have a 2 game lead in the AFC West. The Chargers have a road game against the Titans up next with the Lions, Broncos and Raiders down the stretch. The Chargers could gain some confidence and momentum with a good finish to the regular season and it that may be enough to help them in the playoffs...but I am still not convinced that the Chargers can beat a 'good' team.

Dogs And Cats Living Together...

One of my favorite expressions to adequately describe a chaotic situation or a situation that will become chaotic is to steal a line from Bill Murrey and Ghostbusters, that being "Dogs and cats living together." But to truly enjoy the line you need to first hear the line delivered by Bill himself in the movie and to my delight, I have stumbled across that clip...enjoy!

NFL Week 12.1 Review

I've missed a few weeks of my NFL reviews, but I think my opinion's on the NFL are about as good as anyone else's this year and that is not worth shit. The NFL is all over the board and with a week in between each game, that each game of every week in the NFL is under such open and intense analysis, a person can seemingly be swayed by the 'trends', something I tried not to fall into...but at the same time, even not following the 'trends' a person can still be misguided by their perceptions of the NFL...

Like the Detroit Lions. Here's a team I thought was playing well and looking good. Once 6 and 2 but after a 3 game losing streak are now 6 and 5. Sure 2 of the 3 last loses were against winning teams but the lose to Arizona may have been the clock striking midnight for the Lions. They now travel to the Metrodome to take on a Viking team that has won its last 3 out of 4 and completely embarrassed Eli Manning and the New York Giants. The murmur of 'playoff possibilities' are beginning to perculate in Vikingland because after Detroit the Vikes play San Fran, Chicago, Washington and Denver. A win versus Detroit puts them at .500 and one could think that a good team could go 3 for 4 against their remaining opponents and that would put the Vikes at 9-7 which may just be enough to eek in as a wild card in the NFC. How's that for crazy? Do I think this is likely? No...but it could be possible. Let's face it... the Vikes aren't that good...but San Francisco is awful, the Bears aren't good and the Broncos are fodder on any given Sunday. Then you even consider the Redskins, who likely will be fighting for a wild card spot as well, that game may be the ticket to the playoffs for both teams.

Indy-Jacksonville, probably the game of the week. If Indy wins they have all but secured their ticket to the playoffs. If Indy loses, they are in a dogfight for winning the AFC South with the Jags. I think Indy is pretty banged up and losing Dwight Freeney may be costly for the Colts against good opponents. The game is in Indy and that may be the intangible that the Colts need to win the game.

Of course the Green Bay-Dallas game was last night. A very entertaining game and I do have to give the Packers credit...I thought they were going to get pwned but they play very well. And after watching last night's game, I realized why the Packers are able to do so well...their offensive line. Favre and Rodgers both, for the most part, had ample time in the pocket and the Packer wide receivers are extremely athletic. Both Driver and Jennings had good catch and runs against the Cowboy D. But I also think that the 2007 Packers could very well be the 2006 Bears, that being a one-year, one-hit wonder.

Dolphins favored by a point at home against the Jets. I have Thomas Jones on my fantasy team and is a reason why my fantasy team sucks...the Jets suck are are actually underdogs in a game against a winless team...how sad is that for a team?

Chargers play in Arrowhead...Chargers suck on the road...big time. I picked up Kolby Smith on my fantasy team...the last rookie running back the Chargers faced broke the NFL single game rushing record...I'm expecting big things from Kolby.

The Patriots go to Baltimore and are favored by 20 points. I'm thinking I would take the Pats and give the points. Baltimore can't score if it tried and their defense is a shell of what it was...the Patriot defense will be battling the Patriot offense for the most scores in that game.

The only other game that even remotely interests me is the Broncos-Raiders game and of course I am pulling for the Raiders. Go Raiders!

Just In Time For Christmas: Winter

So the weather has finally broken and warmth can no longer be found on the barren wasteland. And now that it has finally been cold for a good week now, it's time to add some snow. The forecast is for 3-5 inches by tomorrow night. Of course I don't believe meteorologists are ever right in this region and like to 'over-hype' the weather, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a zero to a dusting...but of course they could be ultra-low and the next thing you know we got 16 inches of snow...either way, they probably aren't right and can't be trusted. I will believe any forecasts for cold weather because it is freakin' cold already...

TV Show Finds Mysterious Footprints

I was just skimming through the internet news when I came across this story about a television production crew, doing an 'investigative' show on the Yeti...likely trying to prove it's existence or not. And wouldn't you know it...they stumbled across some, thought to be, some Yeti footprints. The Yeti, like Bigfoot, are 2 creatures that about 12 people on the planet believe in and as a result, 1,000,000 television documentaries are made about Bigfoot, Yeti's, the Loch Ness Monster, UFO's and aliens. And what does every single television documentary have in common in it's investigation about any of the above listed fictional entities? They can present enough circumstantial, non-physical evidence to warrant another television documentary.

Footprints? Gee, I wonder where they came from and how fortunate it was for a television crew that just happens to be doing a documentary on Yeti's to stumble across them. Surely these footprints weren't fabricated by a human for publicity...that would be very deceitful and surely no one in the media would be so nefarious as to do anything as such.

Cowboys-Packers On NFL Network

Last year I mentioned how great it was to have DirecTV and the NFL Network rather than cable when I heard the whining from all the Viking and Packer fans when one of their games was on the NFL Network.

Well now you hear the pleas on a more national level because this week's Thursday night game is the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys versus the 10-1 Green Bay Packers is on the NFL Network. Apparently my local cable provider is just one of almost all cable providers that do not carry the NFL Network, which then means that anyone that does have cable television most likely does not get the NFL Network ... and of course are whining. Well, all I can say is HA HA!

Week Of Excess Concluces

Today I am back at work from essentially a week off, a week of where I was drinking too much and staying up too late almost every night. Here's a quick recap of my break...

Saturday: A friend from out of town is here, a group of us check out his brothers band and drink until 3 AM.
Sunday: Up by noon and watch NFL from noon until 11 PM ... drinking.
Monday: Worked 1/2 day, took it somewhat easy in the evening, a few beers during the Monday night game.
Tuesday: Day of rest...Took it easy.
Wednesday: Saw Zappy perform at Dempsey's Public House and then partied like rock stars until 4:30 AM.
Thursday/Thanksgiving: Grilled Turkey, played some poker at night, dead tired and passed out at 2 AM.
Friday: Stay home, drank and screwed around on the computer until 3 AM.
Saturday: Played poker and stayed up until 3 am...drinking.
Sunday: Up by noon, watched NFL all day and drank...

And now today... I am actually fatigued from my break and I didn't do anything except stay up late and drink... boy do I need a break! To make coming back to work seem even more sucky is that the weather for the past week was relatively pleasant and mild but the forecast has that all ending today with the weather beginning to turn colder and crappy.

Chargers Manhandle Ravens

The Chargers looked as sharp as they have all year and pounded the Ravens 32-14. Shawne Merriman, who must have seen the numerous replays of Maurice Jones-Drew laying him out last week, came to play. The Ravens forced Phillip Rivers to beat them and Rivers did just that...Gates had 2 touchdowns and Chambers had one as both were essentially wide open for all touchdown receptions. Rivers had no turnovers, probably a huge reason the score was so lop-sided. LaDainian Tomlinson had 77 yards but did finally crack 10,000 yards for his career. The Charger defense looked good...something that can't be said for most games this season.

The Bears beat the Broncos and the Chiefs lost to the Raiders so the Chargers have sole possession of first place in the AFC West. The Chargers play in Kansas City this week and is a big game for both teams. The Chargers can all but eliminate the Chiefs with a win whereas the Chiefs can get back into the playoff hunt with a win.

Thanksgiving Break Starts Early...For Me :)

I had originally planned on taking Wednesday thru Sunday off for the Thanksgiving holiday, but my son became ill and I was needed to stay home with him starting today... I know, it's a tough assignment, but the upside is that I had an extra day off from work prior to the Thanksgiving day holiday...which is always nice.

Posting will be light during this time...

But I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving holiday...

Chargers Lose To Jags: No Longer Even 'Good'

The Chargers have fully descended to being a mediocre to a poor team. The Chargers have shown that they can not win on the road against any team and that any team can beat the Chargers, regardless of the location.

The Jaguars didn't have to punt at all in the first half and had the ball almost twice as long as the Chargers. The 2nd half, the Chargers had multiple opportunities to come back in this game and even a chance to tie the game at the end...but Rivers, who was playing fairly well, ended up throwing an interception with well over a minute left on the clock and a timeout left.

There is absolutely no game left on the Chargers schedule that a person can look at and say that it is a guaranteed win for the Chargers...the Chargers are really that bad. A person doesn't have to look too hard to begin blaming certain people, and I have stated numerous times, it is Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell. It seems that the entire team is never playing well, Phillip Rivers has looked downright awful at times this year, the offensive line is disgusting, Tomlinson, to this point, has had his worst NFL season, Shawne Merriman is becoming more vocal about his discontent with the team but that may be because a 5 foot 2 inch, 1/2 the size of Merriman, Maurice Jones-Drew absolutely planted Merriman on one of the Jags touchdown scores and that very play will likely be on many highlight shows so Merriman will be the subject of much criticism and the entire defense is a joke - thanks Ted Cottrell.

There isn't many 'secrets' any more as to how to beat the Chargers... Phillip Rivers can't throw on the run or under any sort of pressure, the Charger defense is full of holes and you can attack them either with the run or the pass and the offensive line is very easy to over power and the defense can dictate the game rather than the Charger offense.

Being a Charger fan in an area where I am oftentimes the only Charger fan a person may see, I have grown tired of the question asked to me by strangers every week...that being, "What's the deal with the Chargers?" because I get asked that at least 5 times every Sunday as I watch the Chargers lose. I need get a card printed up that says "Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell have ruined the Chargers" so that I can simply hand out those cards because I have literally grown tired of answering that very question multiple times every Sunday and throughout the week...

The Chargers host the Ravens next week... I really don't know how the Chargers can win this game because the Raven defense won't even have to break a sweat against the 3 and out Charger offense and on the flip side of the coin, the Charger defense has shown that inept offenses can still be effective... this game will likely be a boring game to watch filled with plenty of punting and field goal attempts.

Bonds Tested Positive In 2000

So I read the indictment against Bonds and the prosecution has a failed drug test taken by Bonds in November 2000 which is even earlier then when Bonds admits to taking 'flaxseed oil' and using a cream in 2002. And the use of the flaxseed oil and cream was to help him cope with his father's bout with cancer, so that he could sleep. Yeah, that's the ticket... Even if I knowingly was cheating, the reason was to help me cope with my father's fight with cancer, yeah that's it...and after he passed away, I still needed the 'recovery' items to help me with the pain...yeah that's it...so even if it is cheating, which it isn't, it wasn't because I knowingly wanted to cheat it was because of external circumstances...Why can't you understand this?

Bonds Indicted

Well, well, well...

Bonds was just indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. There is a glimmer of hope that justice might yet be served. I think the most telling line of the article is this:

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes,"

Which has me to believe that the prosecutors have to have the goods on Bonds...and if they have anything but the 'smoking gun' it will probably, unfortunately give Bonds supporters one last gasp. Not sure if Greg Anderson is finally going to roll on Bonds and provide first hand knowledge of shooting Bonds up and get an accurate description of how much and how frequently Bonds was shooting up during his home run chases...

Of course Selig will follow the case and takes this very seriously... serious enough to erase all of Bonds' records?

SNL: Brian Williams

Yes, I know I am behind in reviewing the Brian Wiliams SNL episode...but with last week's episode being a rerun with Bon Jovi and the writer's strike in full swing, odds are we will be seeing plenty of reruns for a while...also, because local programming went long and my DVR stopped recording at midnight, I did miss the last 15, 20 minutes of the show...

But, overall, I think the Brian Williams show has likely been the best SNL of the season so far... none of the sketches were insanely funny, but they also weren't just stupid, which is what many sketches are.

Of course the show started with an Amy Poehler as Hillary Halloween sketch. Pretty unfunny and to insure it not ever being funny, ended with Barack Obama getting to say "Live From New York..." to kick the show off.

Williams monologue was alright, as he mocked his appearance of being a news man reading words off a teleprompter, they show you that he is a news man reading words off a teleprompter...

Maybelline for men...a fake commercial that is trying to increase makeups demographic by 50% by appealing to men. The commercials this season have all been not very good, including this one.

I was actually somewhat impressed at Williams' performance...playing the fireman character during Bronx Beat wasn't too bad and it seemed almost natural for Williams. I think I've mentioned this before, but does Amy Poehler have to be in every sketch? Bronx Beat has been done before... in fact, I enjoyed it better when it involved Adam Sandler and Jay Mohr and part of the show was a give away (like free dinner at a steakhouse) if you gave the fink of the week (or something like that) 'a beating'.

Next up was a Publisher's Clearing House prize give-away sketch where the entire sketch is Kristen Wiig providing the humor as Brian Williams is an excitable, mult-million dollar winner. The sketch seemed a little too long and after a while, it just seemed as if Wiig was a little over-exaggerating to the point of not being funny...there is a fine line between just the right amount of physical comedy for a sketch and over-the-top. Wiig was precariously close to over-the top.

The SNL Digital Short was a look at a 'typical' day for Brian Williams. Although many of the gags in the short seemed predictable - like Williams leaving an encouraging message to someone but is actually left for himself to listen to at the conclusion of the day - but was still pretty good. Having Williams throwing pennies out of his window at Matt Lauer and Al Roker was likely the highpoint of the sketch.

The Weekend Update was fairly unmemorable... Armison did have a somehwhat funny bit about the writer's strike... we producers make $20 million and the writers make $200,000, we are not sure if they can find anywhere in the middle... I admit that I am not fully informed as to the exact numbers involved in the writer's dispute, but this sketch did seem to best simplify the situation...the writers are getting screwed and want to get some residual money from continued profits from their created content...seems fair to me...

There was a quick iPhone spoof which wasn't too bad and the last sketch I got to see was a democratic debate sketch that didn't have Hillary or Obama featured in it, but essentially all the 'losers' sitting around talking about how they were going to attack Hillary. Overall a pretty weak sketch.

According to the episode recap, I missed one sketch and the musical act Feist...which means I probably didn't miss much but will have to wait for the rerun in a week or two to catch the final minutes.

As a final comment on Brian Williams' performance, I had read that he would do his nightly news each night and then work with the SNL crew almost all night for the week leading up to his show. I think he really wanted to put forth his best effort and I think he did really well.

NBC is no longer posting clips of their shows on YouTube, so to get videos of the episodes is a little tougher and rumor is that NBC is going to provide the clips again but using their own site rather than YouTube. But I did find a couple of clips, enjoy them while you can...

Colts Lose To Chargers

The Chargers should be the laughingstock of the NFL for 2 consecutive weeks but can thank Adam Vinateria for finally missing a chip-shot, game winning field goal. The Chargers picked off Peyton Manning 6 times, ran a kickoff return and a punt return for a touchdown...saying that, one would think the Chargers would have crushed the Colts... but no, because Norv Turner is a moron the Charger offense has yet to take the field since before the bye week and the Chargers only score a win against the Colts because the Colts lost the game and the Chargers had nothing to do with winning the game.

Charger optimists point quickly to the Chargers 5-4 record and first place in the AFC West... but Charger realists, such as myself, see the Chargers as an inept team that, if they should luck out and make the playoffs will be a non-factor at all this season.

NFL Week 9 Review

It's taking me a while to get back after still being shell-shocked from witnessing the Charger debacle that was last week....but we must move on...

The line for the Colts at San Diego is the Colts at -3 1/2... are you kidding me? I have just put every cent I have on that game and of course my money is on the Chargers covering... ha ha... of course not... The Colts should absolutely destroy the pathetic Charger defense. The Charger offense hasn't had a good game since prior to the bye week...

The Steelers are having a season that reminds me of other years when the Steelers are just laying in the weeds and are kind of forgotten until the next thing you know they are in the Super Bowl.

Dallas plays Green Bay in it's second consecutive Thursday night game a week after Thanksgiving. That game may be the NFC's version of the Colts-Patriots game of last week with the top 2 teams in the conference hooking up for a regular season game.

I think Detroit isn't necessarily a good team, but I think they are proving that they are not a bad team... and a lot of times bad teams beat themselves, and by just being competent, they are better than several NFL teams. They got Arizona this week and then the Giants and Packers... if the Lions are going to try and be contenders they need to take care of the Cards and prove their mettle against the Giants and Packers.

Cowboys-Giants, a big NFC East showdown. I haven't given any credit to the Giants because I think they aren't that good...but I do think they are better than they were when the season started. The game is in the Meadowlands and could very likely be the game of the week...

Finally, we will get a little break from the non-stop story of the Patriots being the greatest team of all-time ... at least until they get beat... but only because the Pats are on a bye before they resume kicking every other team in the NFL asses.

Witnessed: Vikes' Peterson Runs Over Chargers

What a great game this was going to be. My friend that we were staying with scored us some awesome seats for the San Diego - Minnesota game. Visitor sideline, very close to the visitor tunnel, right on the 20, 15 rows up. Have to give Chad some mad props for that score. And I was really excited to get to see the San Diego Chargers live...something that is very hard to do living the Barren Wasteland that I do.

So me and the 'crew' (4 of us total) get to the Metrodome about an hour before kickoff, we get to watch the teams warmup (I do enjoy watching the warmups...you never know what you'll see). But after the warmups the San Diego Chargers couldn't be found. The offensive and defensive lines were horrible. Rivers was pressured all game, Tomlinson had but 50 yards, Gates had 1 catch for 10 yards and Vincent Jackson dropped an easy long pass. Shawne Merriman was a total non-factor.

On the flip-side of the coin, the Vikings had to run but one play...handoff to Adrian Peterson. Peterson would barely be brushed at the line and then would run the rest of the field untouched and did so 3 times for touchdowns and set a single game rushing record of 296 yards.

What this proves more than anything is that Ted Cottrell is incapable of adjusting his defense. Once the Vikings found the 'magic play' (handoff to Peterson) they run it multiple times and the Chargers looked hapless every time. It was noted after the Kansas City game how once the Chargers were exposed on slant patterns Kansas City just kept running slants.

Did I mention how both the offensive and defensive lines were absolutely horrible for the Chargers? The Chargers are now in the history books as being the single-worst rushing defense in a game...Congratulations and I got to witness that LIVE!

Cromartie's 109 yard field goal attempt-runback to end the first half was fun but even at that point the Chargers had done nothing. There was absolutely no Charger offense for the entire game.

This game wasn't really which team was better but more of which coach is dumber because Viking's fans aren't pleased with their coach right now but it is fairly evident that Childress is probably an upgrade from Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell.

Anyways, I still had a good time... I took a ton of pictures with this pair of binoculars that is also a digital camera...well, the quality wasn't as good as I would like so it is probably the last time I use them with the purpose of taking pictures...but they still worked pretty good as a small set of binoculars.

And in case I forgot, both the offensive and defensive lines for the Chargers were awful! Shawne Merriman had a great non-tackle that Peterson brushed off with little effort as he then ran for one of his long touchdown runs.

Bonds Boycotting The HOF?

Could Barry Bonds actually do something I would love to see happen? That is, he says he would boycott the MLB Hall Of Fame if they displayed his record setting homerun ball branded with an asterisk. If I was the Hall Of Fame I would begin construction of an entire addition that would simply display the asterisk-branded ball, complete with asterisk laden wallpaper, carpet and, if possible, lighting. That would hopefully insure that Bonds will never be inducted into the hall of fame.

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.

It's Official: The Chargers Suck

Well, I was hoping to be proven wrong in my assertion that Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell couldn't possibly totally destroy the Chargers...but unfortunately I was correct in that assumption.

The Chiefs are an inept football team and the Chargers couldn't beat them at home, primarily because Norv refuses to hand the ball off to the reigning NFL MVP, LaDainian Tomlinson on a consistence basis and Ted Cottrell has all but destroyed any defense the Chargers once had.

Watching the Chargers this year has been like a flashback of the late-90's... poor tackling, no pass coverage and never able to finish a game. This year's theme for the Chargers will be like the good old days... having the lead in the 4th quarter and losing the game... getting blown out and losing the game... and turning the ball over on a consistent basis to make sure the other team stays within striking range to eventually win a game...and by 'striking range' I mean that if a team is within 24 points in the 4th quarter, the Chargers are likely to lose as long as the other team does not try to run the ball...

Today was the day that the 'faithful' Charger fans got the cold splash of reality... Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell are quite possibly the 2 worst coaches this team could have hired...which is what I have stated all along.

The only 'upside' with the Chargers sucking right now is that there will be little mention of them after this week on the national media. At the start of the season they were ranked a top 5 team in the NFL, I doubt they will be ranked in the top 20 any more. Dead last in the AFC West and with a game in Denver next week with little hope of winning that game should all but extinguish any talk of the Chargers being a factor in the regular season let alone the post season.

It Shall Be Branded

In what seems like some sort of justice at this time, the ball that was hit for Bonds' record-breaking homerun number 756, was purchased for $750,000. The owner, Marc Ecko, then started a web site and had fans vote for the fate of the baseball and now the verdict is in...

The ball was voted to be branded with an asterisk and then given to the baseball hall of fame.

I did vote and I voted for the winning outcome, the asterisk placed on the ball. To have it launched into out space (banish it from the planet) would mean that future generations of baseball fans wouldn't know the truth about Bonds and steroids. A permanent asterisk branded on the ball will not leave any doubt for future generations to know what most fans of baseball think about Bonds' record.

NFL Week 3 Review

Week 3 may be the week of injuries... Deuce McAllister will be out for the rest of the season which isn't good news for Saints fans, especially when you are 0-3 right now. Shaun Alexander will continue to play despite have a broken bone in his left hand. Stephen Jackson will miss at least this week's game against Dallas...possibly longer. With plenty of other players on the injury report...

I've seen some forum posts beginning to state that the Patriots will go undefeated this year... if the continue to play as well as they are now, it could be possible. But the odds are still against them, I think, even good teams will lose a game or two. The Patriots have almost clinched the AFC East...only the Jets have a win (one) other than the Patriots in that division, with the Pats being 3-0.

The Steelers are making their hay against poor teams...but good teams don't lose to bad teams and the Steelers appear to be solid on both sides of the ball, at least against the inferior teams so far.

Week 3 brought some consistency back to Phillip Rivers and Donovan McNabb...after a lack-luster start for both of these qb's, they had respectable outings last week.

The Bears, like the Chargers, are not resembling their dominating performance of last year's regular season... in fact both teams are not playing well at all. In Chictown there is talk that Grossman may finally get the hook as the starting qb.

How long can the Packers continue to ride high? I'm guessing at least one more week when they go into Minnesota to play the Vikes. The Pack has to have all the confidence in the world and the Vikes are coming to the realization that it is going to be a long year.