Midterms

No time to write a real NFL picks column today since I have a midterm tomorrow and I haven't started studying yet. Dan said last week's column was week anyway. I liked it, but his standards are impossibly high due to his own award-winning blog Fundamentally Roundd, in which he frequently comments on the link between rye bread, sriracha sauce, and reasonably priced produce.

Last week I went 7-6 after picking exclusively based on Frisk. Sadly, this was my first week all year where I was better than .500. Home teams in bold, wish me luck:

Atlanta Falcons (-8.5) over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Buffalo Bills (+2.5) over Chicago Bears

Ryan Friskpatrick lives!

New England Patriots (-4.5) over Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions (+4.5) over New York Jets

Minnesota Vikings (-8.5) over Arizona Cardinals

New Orleans Saints (-7.5) over Carolina Panthers

Miami Dolphins (-5.5) over Baltimore Ravens

San Diego Chargers over Houston Texans (+1.5)

Seattle Seahawks (+5.5) over New York Giants

Oakland Raiders (-2.5) over Kansas City Chiefs

The aesthetics for this game are going to be awesome.

Indianapolis Colts over Philadelphia Eagles (-2.5)

Pittsburgh Steelers over Cincinatti Bengals (+4.5)

Green Bay Packers (-7.5) over Dallas Cowboys

Dallas is still getting too much love from Vegas. A 1-6 team with no secondary and no way to protect its quarterback (who is Jon Kitna, by the way) will not do well against Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews. Roy E. Williams said this week that he thinks Dallas can run the table, finish 10-6 and sneak into the playoffs. I'm just excited to have Cowher or Gruden next year. I looked at the numbers for the two coaches, and I can honestly say that I'm indifferent between the two:

Jon Gruden: 47 years old, 100-85 (career .540 win pctg), 1 Super Bowl title

Bill Cowher: 53 years old, 149-90-1 (career .623 win pctg), 1 Super Bowl title

Cowher's more accomplished, but slightly older and I think Gruden would be hungrier.

The Decisions

The rise of atdhe.net and justin.tv has changed the way we watch sports. Each site is presumably illegal, but each offers live streams of sporting events which would otherwise be either unwatchable or prohibitively expensive to order (NFL Sunday Ticket is not cheap). Watching NFL games through these websites is a fantastic way to avoid the classic Jersey trap of "Jets-Bengals at 1, Giants-Cardinals at 4" as my only viewing options. The video quality is slightly worse than standard definition, but I'm still happy to watch.

The same cannot be said of the websites' transmission of NBA games. The video feeds were glitchier and more prone to collapse. More importantly, mediocre video quality becomes a far bigger problem when watching an NBA game.

An NFL broadcast is structured in such a way that makes it robust to problems with a stream's video quality. When the ball is thrown or a running back takes the ball, the camera follows the action so the viewer's eyes are "guided" to where they are supposed to be. Individual players are easy to keep track of as well. Peyton Manning's number 18 is displayed largely and Manning can always be found a few steps behind the line of scrimmage.

The same cannot be said for basketball, which makes it difficult to enjoy a pirated stream with mediocre resolution. Once the offense crosses half court, the camera is essentially static. This means the viewer must follow the ball on his own – an effortless task in HD, but pretty annoying with grainy video. Moreover, the fluidity of basketball means that it is significantly more difficult to keep track of where the players are. Imagine the following scenario:

A camera follows Rajon Rondo, and it pans from left to right as he brings the ball up the court. The camera settles as the Celtics get into an offensive set. Rondo throws the ball to Ray Allen on the near side wing. Rondo cuts through the paint after his pass, but your eyes stay on Allen since he has the ball. With grainy video and Rondo now somewhere else on the court, can you quickly find Rondo?

Probably not. Plus, I picked a team (Boston) with multiple stars whose faces fans would recognize instantly. Replace Rondo and the Big 3 with the Milwaukee Bucks and an already difficult task becomes exponentially tougher.

Fortunately, the
NBA allows fans to purchase the ability to stream live games to their laptops for the entire regular season. The video quality is excellent, and the only restrictions are that games featuring the local market's team and games which are nationally televised are blacked out. The league offers two options: a Premium League Pass package in which every game from every team is available (for $190) or a Choice League Pass package where every game for seven teams is available ($120).

I don't have time to watch every game of every team, so I didn't think it was worth the extra $70 to watch every game. $120 is not cheap, but I love the NBA (despite Stu Jackson's best efforts) and decided to splurge. This meant I had a decision to make:

If you just spent $120 for the ability to watch every game for the rest of the year for seven teams, which seven would you choose?

I chose based on the following:

Diversification: I didn't want to pick too many teams in the same division. Since I can only pick seven teams, I didn't want to waste too many games where two of my seven would be playing each other.

Exposure: There are a handful of teams which are frequently on national TV. Since all of these games will be blacked out on League Pass, I wanted to avoid the teams with high exposure unless I could come up with a compelling reason.

Storyline: There are several teams where we pretty much know how the season is going to end. For example, it's hard to see Utah getting past the second round of the playoffs. I like Deron Williams and will watch him whenever he's on national TV, but it doesn't seem worth it to waste one of my seven spots on the Jazz because the team itself isn't going anywhere.

Potential: This criterion was initially titled "Young Talent" but that sounds really creepy. I think that watching young, hungry players for an entire regular season is more interesting than watching a polished veteran team which is saving itself for the playoffs.

Here's what I came up with:

Boring teams which never had a chance to be chosen: Charlotte, Toronto, Cleveland, Indiana, Detroit, Memphis, Philadelphia, Minnesota.

The Sixers have Evan Turner and the Timberwolves have Kevin Love, but neither plays more than 27 minutes per game and their respective teams are otherwise awful.

Not getting past the second round: Atlanta, Houston, Utah, Denver

I think it's best if we're just friends: Phoenix, New Orleans

It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to Steve Nash and Alvin Gentry. I loved the 2009-10 Suns; by returning to the Seven Seconds or Less offense, Nash & Gentry nearly got the Suns to the Finals. During the offseason, last year's roster was blown up and Steve Kerr resigned due to the owner's cheapness. The Suns have started 1-3 and Nash's recent comments suggest that he might want to leave Phoenix. I'm ok with him jumping to a contender for the same reason it was fine when Gary Payton and Karl Malone (and Ray Borque, and LaDainian Tomlinson…) did it. If you're a first-ballot Hall of Famer with two years left and no hope of a title on your current team, it's ok to chase a ring with someone else. If the Suns start off 11-23 and Nash gets dealt, what's the point of watching the Suns?

I had the same rationale with the Hornets. Chris Paul is one of my favorite players, but if he gets traded or hurt, then I'm stuck watching Peja Stojakavic and pretending its 2002.

Coasting until April and always on TV: Boston, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio, Orlando.

Rajon Rondo is electric enough that I nearly went with Boston, but in the end I didn't think it was worth it. I love watching Kobe play – and rooting against him – but he's saving his legs for the playoffs. The Spurs and Magic are always on TV. I like watching Dwight Howard, but we already know what's going to happen in Orlando this year (unless they land Nash or Chris Paul): 58 wins, beat every bad team by 20 but lose in the 2^nd round to Boston or Miami.

Almost did it but changed my mind: Portland, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee, Sacramento, New York

Portland has the most depth (and, um, length) of any team in the league. Reggie Miller said that the Blazers are more likely to challenge the Lakers than the Thunder, and I think he's right. The Clippers have great young talent (Blake Griffin and Eric Bledsoe) but I realize that picking too many crappy teams with fun players would not be good decision making. The Bucks have a player who personally responded to my message on Facebook but are probably going to regress from last season. The Knicks have great uniforms and some solid young talent (Landry Fields, Toney Douglas, Danilo Gallinari) but I wasn't comfortable spending a spot on them.

One quick note: The Portland crowd disappointed me so hard yesterday. During a tense, nationally televised game last night against another elite team (the Thunder) the crowd was effectively dead. I was surprised since the conventional wisdom is that Portland has a top-5 NBA crowd. Maybe they do, but they sucked yesterday.

The Chosen: New Jersey, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Chicago, Washington, Golden State, Miami.

The Nets were my favorite team for roughly fifteen years until they finalized plans to move to Brooklyn, removed "New Jersey" from their uniforms and traded away my favorite player of all time. You might think that I should still be a Nets fan after the move due to Brooklyn's proximity to New Jersey, but I feel like the organization disrespected its current home to the extent that I am no longer a fan. People in Seattle don't root for the Thunder, you know?

I picked the Mavericks as my new favorite team once they landed Jason Kidd in 2008. I root for old guys with no rings in any sport, so I am happy to pay to watch Kidd and Nowitzki on a daily basis despite the Mavs' high exposure level. I also picked Oklahoma City as one of my League Pass teams since they have Durant and Russell Westbrook and the best home crowd in basketball.

The Thunder are a chic pick to win the West this year, but I see two major holes. First, their help defense is awful. The Blazers and Clippers both scored at will against Oklahoma City. TNT stat guys put up a graphic yesterday which said that the Thunder allow the most field goal attempts near the rim of any team in the NBA. Second, Russell Westbrook is actually more clutch than Kevin Durant right now. I love everything about Kevin Durant, especially the way he carries himself. But during last night's Portland game, it was Westbrook's combination of key jumpshots and fearless drives which saved the Thunder in the 4^th Quarter. Durant missed his last five shots from the field. If I remember correctly, the same thing happened during last year's playoff series against Los Angeles: late in games, Durant couldn't hit a shot and Westbrook would have to bail his team out. I'm not calling Durant soft or anything, and he's obviously the most important player on that team. I'm just writing what I saw.

The Bulls have great uniforms and a potential MVP in Derrick Rose. The Warriors have the most fun offense in the league, or as some might say…one of the MOST BEST OFFENSE…IN THE LEAGUE.

John Wall is amazing and I hate how he's going to be a superstar since he won't be on the Nets. Wall's quickly becoming one of my favorite players and I'm excited to watch his development this year. I realize that if he gets hurt, then I'm screwed because I'll be watching JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche for 82 games, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. Colin Cowherd blasted John Wall because…he's 19 and has fun before games.

I don't make fun of ESPN's NFL analysts (Schlereth, Hoge) anymore because it finally hit me how difficult their jobs are. It's hard to say something interesting, on live TV, when your audience is already pretty well-educated about the sport. I was being unfair to them. But Cowherd is an opinion guy, and his anti-Wall tirade was pathetic and mean-spirited.

Finally, the Heat. The Heat play on national TV a lot this season, and it's possible one of their stars gets hurt. Their home crowd sucks and they act like they've won five titles. But…come on. This is Miami's season, and I can't look away.

The Frisk Index, Volume 1

Rappers routinely make up sequels or prequels to mixtapes. During my senior year of high school, my friends and I put together a mixtape titled Mixtape Part III Volume 2 because it was nonsensical enough to mimic reality. Basically, what I'm saying is don't expect the next edition of these rankings to make sense.

In fact, this edition of these rankings might not make sense. The point of the Frisk Index is based on the following idea: bad NFL teams sometimes give good teams a hard time. For example, last week, Buffalo was able to take Baltimore to overtime. Some people say that this makes Buffalo a frisky team. My friends and I don't do this. Instead, we will yell "THERE IS FRISK IN BUFFALO" at each other and laugh, because that's what friends do. No joke is too bad to get bailed out.

Since I think power rankings are pointless for sports with an actual playoff system, I decided to make the Frisk Index. The Frisk Index ranks how frisky the worst teams in the league are. Plus, my picks suck, so I'd like to comb over the rest of this column and hide them wherever I can.

One quick story before jumping into the index: After the Monday night game was done, I was leading my fantasy game 94.1-94.0. A win by one yard! Since there are no games after the Monday night game, I assumed this meant I won. I signed in today to update my roster and saw that Dan's score got revised upward and he was declared the winner 96-94.1. Daggers all around.

The Index is ranked 1-10, with 10 being the friskiest:

San Diego, Dallas, Minnesota, Cincinnati: These teams have no frisk. Super Bowl contenders who lose games due to stupid mistakes do not count as frisky no matter how many games below .500 they are. As a Cowboys fan, I'm blaming this entire season on Jessica Simpson…'s continued refusal to answer my calls. She also gets a zero for friskiness. Frisk Index Score: 0

Arizona, Seattle, Chicago: Teams with winning records that are actually awful get low Frisk scores. Frisk Index Score: 1

Detroit, St. Louis: They have low Frisk Index scores because there is a certain amount of flukiness that is involved in being a frisky team, and these two teams are extremely well coached and will be above .500 next year. This makes them friskless. The Lions and Rams only have bad records because of injuries and a few bizarre endings – each is actually a wild card team disguised as a frisky squad. Steve Spagnuolo and Jim Schwartz have done a great job resurrecting their respective franchises.

I'm not sure if it's more impressive to take a crappy team and restore it to respectability or take a talented team deep into the playoffs. For example, Bill Parcells turned around horrible situations in New England, New York, Dallas and Miami but never won a title in any of those places. These teams had an average of 2.25 wins the year before Parcells arrived and each was a playoff team within two years. On the other hand, Phil Jackson takes highly talented teams and wins titles. Could Phil do the same thing in New Jersey or Minnesota? And, if Parcells is so good, why does Belichick have more rings than him? The point is, Dan's car was actually purchased from Auerbach and Sons Used Nissan Dealership in Philadelphia, which allowed me to make a million horrible jokes about the winningest Used Nissan Dealership of all time. FRIENDS MUST LAUGH AT MY JOKES OR I WILL SOB QUIETLY IN THE CORNER!!!! Frisk Index Score: 2

Carolina, San Francisco: These two teams actually had a frisk-off last week in which Carolina outfrisked San Francisco. I like John Fox and Mike Singletary as coaches, but they haven't been able to deliver like the pizza man, which I'm only mentioning because something like 85% of Drake's rap includes references to pizza. Frisk Index Score: 3

Denver, Jacksonville: These teams suck, but they are also REALLY boring. I can't imagine writing a sentence about them, let alone reading one. Frisk Index Score: 4

Oakland: I want to say a couple of nice things about ESPN. First, their TrueHoop NBA blog is fantastic, and I highly recommend it. Second, Tim Cowlishaw broke out a killer Al Davis impression on Around the Horn a few days ago. It's easy to hate on ESPN, but I don't want it to be formulaic hate. Frisk Index Score: 5

Cleveland: In order to have a high score on the Frisk Index, you need to lack talent and direction as a franchise. The Browns beat the defending champs last week because of two interception return touchdowns by a defensive lineman. The Browns deserve an award for Continued Excellence in Frisk due to the fact that they have beaten the defending Super Bowl Champion for three straight seasons. I wish I had an award for Continued Excellence in Frisk, but the ladies still won't show me love. Even with my UNICEF box! Frisk Index Score: 8.5

There is frisk in Cleveland! But there is even more frisk in…

Buffalo/Oklahoma City/Los Angeles/Anaheim/Toronto/Shelbyville: There is so much frisk in Buffalo right now. Any time Ryan Friskpatrick leads you to 34 points in Baltimore with no talent around him, or in him, and Chan Gailey as a coach, you know you're getting a high frisk score. Frisk Index Score: 10

I'm 39-66 for the season and went 4-10 again last week. Not good. Home teams in bold, and wish me luck. I'm making my picks this week based exclusively on Frisk:

Miami Dolphins over Cincinatti Bengals (-2.5)

Detroit Lions (-2.5) over Washington Redskins

Buffalo Bills over Kansas City Chiefs (-7.5)

If I were picking on a non-frisk basis, I would take the Chiefs. Kansas City has a chance to win a playoff game since they'll probably get the fourth seed in the AFC, meaning that the awesome Arrowhead crowd will be in full force in the first round. I love the Kansas City crowd, but only in a platonic way. I remain firmly opposed to dipole-dipole atomic bonding. IT'S ADAM AND EVE, NOT ADAM AND DIPOLE!!!!!

St Louis Rams (-3.5) over Carolina Panthers

New York Jets (-6.5) over Green Bay Packers

Denver Broncos over San Francisco 49ers (-.5)

San Diego Chargers (-3.5) over Tennessee Titans

Arizona Cardinals (-3.5) over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

New England Patriots (-5.5) over Minnesota Vikings

Oakland Raiders (-2.5) over Seattle Seahawks

Pittsburgh Steelers over New Orleans Saints (-.5)

Houston Texans over Indianapolis Colts (-5.5)

Jacksonville Jaguars over Dallas Cowboys (-6.5)

With Michigan and Dallas both collapsing, the only thing I have left in my life is my friends, family, health and the New Jersey Nets. If the Nets beat the Heat tonight, the road to the Finals comes through Newark.

Last Week: 4-10
Season: 39-66

Waiting for Udoh

Note: I wrote the majority of this before yesterday's Dallas-New York game on Monday Night Football. Nothing about Romo in this column, though I'm shell-shocked and can't remember an NFL season ever being as cruel and hopeless as this one. As usual, the next NFL column will be posted at some point before Sunday at 1 pm.

During the height of SAT stress in high school, I noticed a certain class of people who would walk around with thick SAT prep books all day. They obviously weren't doing any studying, but they wanted you to know that THEY WERE CONSTANTLY TRYING TO IMPROVE. JUST GOTTA KEEP WORKIN'!!!. THIS IS A PICTURE OF GLEN DAVIS'S FACE, WHICH IS THE EMBODIMENT OF HARD WORK AND SOLID EXECUTION:

When these people graduated high school, they apparently all got subscriptions to The Economist, which they also carry around all day. This semester, I've seen a few people per class using an iPad to read similar high end magazines.

I was thinking of getting an iPad since I have some money saved up. My main motivation is to have a collection of impressive looking apps - WSJ, NYT, The New Yorker, etc. - and fool people into thinking I'm literate. I don't mean well-read. I mean literate. The ladies love literacy, which is why I frequently walk around with a UNICEF box just so I have a way to start conversations with them. Oh you didn't hear? Puppies were the new toddlers, but now UNICEF boxes are the new puppies. #hipster

Speaking of Adam Morrison, I need to give him credit for winning two titles despite being born with an ironic moustache. Oh you didn't hear? Street clothes are the new double-double.

I don't even know if I'd get an iPad if I chose to buy a tablet. Several other tech companies, including Research in Motion, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, are debuting tablets as well and some of them seem to have nicer features than the iPad. The Lenovo U1 Tablet claims to have an 11.6 inch screen, but come on, that's obviously made up. Nobody has an 11.6 inch screen.

Anyway, the biggest upside of getting a tablet would be NBA Game Time, which is an app which allows you to watch every game. I had the same application on my laptop last year, but that's weak. The ladies don't want to watch simultaneous action from 12 NBA games on a laptop. Gotta step my game up.

The NBA season starts tomorrow, which means I'll finally have something to distract me from this awful Cowboys season. I became a Mavericks fan once the Nets decided to stomp all over New Jersey (and, obviously, my childhood team is leaving the state meaning I no longer have any reason to support them).

Two years ago I started watching Thunder games regularly. I didn't switch allegiances to them by any means, but it was fun to watch a young team with a budding superstar play in front of an electric crowd every night. And by "budding superstar", I do not mean Josh Howard.

Last year, the Thunder won over fifty games – or, as I call it, selling out and going mainstream. I couldn’t keep the Thunder as my mistress anymore. I know it seems like I’m mixing metaphors by first comparing the Thunder to an indie band and then to an illicit girlfriend, but in reality I’m actually referring to the indie band known as Mistress. You probably haven’t heard of them.

Kevin Durant is the best player in the league and he wasn’t even able to get in to bars two years ago, though he could probably get into this one bar on campus named Cavanaugh’s which is like the National Honor Society in the sense that everybody is allowed in. The Oklahoma City crowd is so good that I barely whine about Seattle anymore, even though the Sonics leaving is almost as cruel as when the Houston Euhlers backwardly recursed their way to Tennessee in 1997. I imagine the Oklahoma City crowd yells folksy things like “Thatta Boy!” after their team displays solid fundamentals on the court (nothing flashy, hun!). Little known fact: the phrase “thatta boy” is actually derived from Thaddeus A. Boy, a 19^th century general store owner from Appalachia known for boxing out and crisp outlet passes.

So, I switched over to the Sacramento Kings for the 2009-10 season. The Kings had the nostalgia factor going for them because of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Plus, I met Jason Thompson last year and he’s a really nice guy. The Kings aren’t going to win fifty games this year, but I would like to jump over to a different team nonetheless.

This year, I’m going with the Golden State Warriors. Led by Ekpe Udoh, the Warriors fit my criteria for a fun mistress team since they will have a great offense but lose 55 games. Perfect. David Lee’s defense was horrible in New York, but combining him with Monta Ellis and Steph Curry should make for a fun season.

I will be hating on the Miami Heat as I’ve hated on no team since the Yankees during the heyday of C. Montgomery Steinbrenner. Still, I hope their three stars stay healthy for the entire season. I think the 2008 NFL season should have an asterisk because Tom Brady didn’t play, and I’d hate to say the same about the 2010-11 NBA season. I don’t really like writing (or talking) about race or politics, and like most people I thought LeBron’s comments on race to CNN were misguided. Apparently, I was wrong.

A poll conducted by ESPN found that LeBron was viewed favorably post-Decision by something like 33% of whites and 65% of blacks. It would be interesting to see what the breakdown was before The Decision, but LeBron’s point remains unfortunately valid. Obviously, people aren’t racist for disliking James. But that wasn’t the King’s point. He just said that race appears to be a factor, and the data seem to support him in the sense that his approval ratings vary by race. The root of my distrust for race-based arguments is my cousin, who is convinced the New York Times crossword puzzle is racist.

LeBron’s newest Nike commercial premiered yesterday and it has already gone viral. I loved it for all the reasons I hated The Decision. It combined a critique of societal expectations of athletes with self-depreciative humor and made me question why I wanted him to stay in Cleveland so badly. I still wish he had stayed, but the commercial made those of us who rode high horses in the cavalry against LeBron look pretty stupid. LeBron’s going to destroy the league this year with a comeback reminiscent of the album T.I. vs T.I.P, which I assume was a comeback from the awful album T.I. vs TI-89 in which the infamous rapper questions the credibility of calculators.

One final thought about the Heat: My friend Dan made fun of the dynamic among James, Wade and Bosh in such a hilarious way a week ago that I feel compelled to pass it on. Dan noticed that whenever there’s an interview with all three of them, James and Wade will be talking about winning championships and being committed to team-first basketball, whereas Bosh will only talk about being committed to each other. Seriously, it’s completely creepy and suggests that Bosh is a little too excited to be playing in Miami. Dan’s impression of an interview with the Big Three:

Wade: I’m not too worried about putting up great numbers. Our main goal is to win a title.

LeBron: I agree entirely. Winning is the ultimate goal here, not chasing individual accomplishments.

Bosh: NOTHING WILL EVER TEAR US APART!!!!!!

I’m not going to make any predictions for the coming season. The NBA, unlike the NFL, doesn’t have much parity at the top. This means that we’re pretty much guaranteed that the last four teams will be Boston, Miami, L.A. and Oklahoma City unless Portland or Orlando pulls an upset. I have no problem making outlandish predictions in the NFL because in a one-game playoff system, anything is possible. This isn’t true for the NBA, which means that the only deviation from my picks and actual experts’ picks will be the lower playoff seeds. Hardly worth writing about.

Instead, I’ll close with a quick story about my new favorite basketball player, Chris Douglas-Roberts. CDR was an honorable mention All-American at Memphis and played two seasons in New Jersey. He’s now a member of the Bucks and writes one of the wittiest Twitter feeds I’ve seen. I friended him on Facebook and sent him a message (he has no wall) which said the following:

Me: Hey, I’m a huge Nets fan but I just wanted to wish you luck next season. Good luck. Best, Satya.

Two weeks later, I got a response:

Chris Douglas-Roberts: Hey man, thanks for the wishes. I know us athletes are nothing without our fans.

I was stunned that an actual professional athlete had taken the time to respond to my idiotic Facebook message. It was amazing. Or, in the parlance of snarky blogs everywhere…

/where amazing happens’d.

America’s Game of the Week

Three important events happened in the last five days:

1. Mark Schlereth delivered a devastating takedown of Roger Goodell's hypocrisy on SportsCenter on Tuesday. I frequently make fun of Schlereth, but I dislike when blogs become snarky or sarcastic as part of a schtick and refuse to admit when they were wrong. I am not a fan of Schlereth's analysis of football games but credit must be given where due. The league's refusal to pay for players' healthcare costs after March and its insistence on an 18 game schedule contradict its newfound desire to mitigate the effects of concussions. Kudos to Schlereth. At least he wasn't like Dennis Miller, who during his time as a Monday Night Football broadcaster was unable to comment on a football game without a joke involving the connection between socialism, Jean-Paul Sartre and short yardage situations.
   
2. Bill Simmons used a hilarious Jon Gruden impression in his column, which means I have to retire mine.
   
3. My roommate Neil decided to alter his diet so that it matches his girlfriend's. As far as I can tell, she eats nothing but allergens. Our cabinets are now filled with peanut butter, grass clippings, rag weed, and pollen.
   

Here are some more points which follow numbers, because it is lazy writing:

1. Halloween is coming up next week. I was thinking of going as Waldo, but I realized that he's one of the dirtiest hipsters in all of child literature. Waldo wears skinny jeans, a horizontal striped shirt, thick glasses and a goofy hat. He also has a cane. Plus, like all hipsters, he's always trying to be seen without being seen. You know, the whole "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME…can't believe you're looking at me" mentality. I saw Waldo at a Hanson concert last week, which he presumably attended due to the irony.
   
2. I have a friend who is dressing as Lara Croft, Tomb Raider for Halloween. I guess that's all right except it ruins my plans to dress as Lara Croftman, D.D.S. – one of the most badass yet sexy dentists of all time.
   
3. I participated in an info session recently in which upperclassmen answer questions that freshmen and sophomores have about the internship application process. One panelist commented that during her performance review last summer her manager kept telling her to "be proactive", so I made a joke about acne when she was done speaking. She has clear skin so it wasn't mean. Still, I got nothing but crickets. Another awful joke:
   
4. My friend Vadim and I were making plans to throw around a football a few days ago, but his text said he had to "get his landry first". I immediately pounced on his typo with this response: "LaRon? Yeah he can come too. (groan)" I groaned at my own joke because I knew it sucked, but if I didn't make it then it would have fermented inside of me and became a joke that was 100x worse. Probably something about socialism, Jean-Paul Sartre and short yardage situations.
   

The Dallas Cowboys and I did not fare well last week. I fell to last place in my league after going 4-10, and Dallas's season appears to be over. I'm putting myself on the hot seat and I'm probably going to fire myself after the season. True story – I actually forgot to click one of the games when I submitted my picks. I was trying to think of a metaphor for my sloppiness, but I can't stop thinking of Sasha Vuijaicic.

Home teams in bold. Wish me luck:

Cincinatti Bengals over Atlanta Falcons (-3.5)

Washington Redskins over Chicago Bears (-2.5)

The Falcons and Bears are bad teams with records which are inflated due to unlikely wins. The Bengals' helmets look like bad combovers, but still.

Tennessee Titans (-3.5) over Philadelphia Eagles

It's a shame that this game is in Tennessee because then the game would be on CBS in the Philly area. As you know, Fox covers NFC games and CBS provides low quality video which presumably contains AFC game footage embedded somewhere in it. Anyway, in the case of interconference games, the road team's network gets to carry the game. I kind of like when this happens because it's like taking a vacation from reality (like growing a moustache or becoming unstuck in space-time).

Kansas City Chiefs (-5.5) over Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins (+3.5) over Pittsburgh Steelers

Miami's going to make Pittsburgh wear its black uniforms in South Florida heat, which I imagine will make the vaunted Steelers mildly uncomfortable. I am basing my pick solely on this observation. Did I mention I'm in last place in my picks league?

New Orleans Saints (-13.5) over Cleveland Browns

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-2.5) over St. Louis Rams

This matchup was Patriots-Colts before Patriots-Colts was Patriots-Colts. Expect Jacquez Green to have a breakout game.

San Francisco 49ers at Carolina Panthers (+3.5)

John Fox is having the worst contract year since King John in 1215. That's right, a Magna Carta joke! Dennis Miller lives, baby!!!!!!!!

Baltimore Ravens (-13.5) over Oklahoma City Bills

I feel horrible for Buffalo fans and the team's owner, Ralph Wilson. Wilson is 92 years old and recently said something to the effect of "I may not be around by the time we start winning again".

Arizona Cardinals over Seattle Seahawks (-5.5)

Fox always puts the best NFC matchup of the week at 4 pm. Last week, they debuted the title "America's Game of the Week" for the marquee game. I wasn't against it since the title made sense – Dallas at Minnesota was a big game. This week, Arizona at Seattle is the 4 pm game…and Fox has hilariously refused to promote it as America's Game of the Week. My guess is that they put this game together at the last minute before it was due and forgot to include the title page.

San Diego Chargers (-2.5) over New England Patriots

I will continue to hate on the Pats due to my loyalty to Randy Moss. Moss changed his number back to 84 since rejoining the Vikings, and I always wondered why players pick certain numbers. I always root for convoluted stories like "Well, I chose the number 7 due to its representation of pH neutrality, which is also in line with my Swiss ancestry."

Denver Broncos (-6.5) over Oakland Raiders

Minnesota Vikings over Green Bay Packers (-2.5)

Two great rivalries with great aesthetics. That's pretty much all I ask for in sports.

Dallas Cowboys (-2.5) over New York Giants

I can't believe that Vegas keeps giving the Cowboys love even though we suck. I am looking forward to Week 17, when the 1-14 Cowboys are 10.5 point favorites over the Eagles in the season finale.

Last Week: 4-10

Overall: 35-53 (but I really am a huge NFL fan, I swear. Vegas is just better than me.)

Just Gotta Execute

My relationship with Twitter has evolved considerably over the last year. At first, I did nothing but go to twitter.com/sportsguy33 500 times per day to see if Bill Simmons had tweeted anything. I didn't even have my own screen name. Eventually, I signed up for one and began following dozens of celebrities and athletes. This was the great appeal of Twitter – the ability to have people like P. Diddy communicate directly with me. I soon abandoned the site because watching Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian tweet at each other all day was mind bogglingly boring.

I assumed I would never go back to Twitter, but this past semester my friend Jason revamped his Twitter so that he was only following journalists and news sources. I copied him, and the change was incredible. The ability to have Adam Schefter and Marc Stein constantly updating me on the sports world via the Twitter app on my BlackBerry was fantastic. Having a Twitter app feels like having tabbed browsing on a phone, and I can't get enough of it.

Still, Twitter remains hilarious due to the prevalence of hashtags. Hashtags are a way to categorize tweets. People make lame Twitter jokes with fake hashtags all the time #ThingsIDoandAmNowBeingHypocritical. My friends and I sometimes come up with fake hashtags to make each other laugh.

This morning, I was late for a meeting at the credit union I work for and tweeted the following: "Showed up late for my own meeting, bouta fine myself #teamdiscipline #joshmcdaniels." My friend Jason and I realized that #teamdiscipline is pretty funny and we ran with it. The following are the highlights from our conversation (with Twitter screen names I made up for privacy's sake). For those not familiar with Twitter, the first screename which follows @ is the person who is tweeting, the second one is the person for whom the tweet is intended. You have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy these. Remember that adding a hashtag to something is supposed to give it gravitas and depth,.

@guybuddy: @friendguy protect your gaps #teamdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy been in the film room since 5 am #teamdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy just got to the team bus at noon, we're supposed to leave at 6 pm. Not taking chances #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy heading to the locker room for the team dinner #teamdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy chillin wit players who play the game the right way discussing #teamdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy Jason varitek wes welker and david Epstein speaking to the guys this morning about #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy making sure not to tweet during the game #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy put the playbook under my pillow #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy making sure not to jump the snap #teamdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy not leading with my helmet #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy can't be distracted by the cheerleaders #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy making sure not to step out of bounds before I get thrown to #teamdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy going straight to the locker room and ignoring reporters, gotta get a head start on prep for next week #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy reestablishing my feet after entering the end zone to establish #fieldposition #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy winning one for the gipper #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy giving turkeys away outta this truck to give back to the community #nflcares #teamdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy making sure to listen to the cadences properly #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy can't hit the guy in the red jersey in practice #teamdiscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy making sure all the text in my playbook is Helvetica #fontdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy bouta put on this goofy mask and stab some teams #screamdiscipline

@friendguy: @guybuddy bouta watch that rickroll video again #memediscipline

@guybuddy: @friendguy radio killa killa killa #DREAMdiscipline

…I am easily amused.

Rain , Sleet, Snow, Hail

Last week I decided it would be cool to do an entire column where I respond to reader mail. The problem is, my readership is zero. It used to be much wider but thanks to audience fragmentation, cable television and the blogosphere, my blog is currently read by maybe ten people. Double digits though!

I asked the ten people who read this blog to come up with questions and ask me them. Pathetic? Yes. But still, I've never responded to mail before and it seems fun. Since Fundamentally Soundd is a family-friendly blog, I screened questions for content and was forced to delete several questions plus a few pictures Dan texted me. Here's the best of what they came up with:

When do you think people on ESPN will stop acting surprised when the Cowboys keep losing?

I hate my friends.

I am an avid reader of your blog and have been betting large sums of money in Las Vegas based upon your NFL predictions and am now almost broke. What gives?

I am never asking my friends for suggestions ever again.

Most underrated historical figure that was a gunslinger?

It's been a long time since I've written about gunslinging. The most underrated historical gunslinger is the caveman who decided to drink milk from a different animal. Jerry Seinfeld had a great bit about this – "Was this guy looking at these udders thinking…'I can't wait to get a hit of that!'" I'd love to see Mark Schlereth and the gang break down Unknown Caveman's ability to milksling "just like a little kid out there".

Mark: "guys, if you want protein in your diet in this era…YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO TAKE SHOTS DOWN THE FIELD."

The NFL Network was running one if its awesome "America's Game" documentaries, and I recently watched one which chronicled the 1998 Denver Broncos. They showed a few clips of Terrell Davis and asked Mark Schlereth to describe his teammate. Mark said, in all seriousness, "THAT GUY…was a FOOTBALL PLAYER. [stares into camera]".

Should Brett Favre switch to maybe a smaller number…?

This question is funnier than any joke I can possibly make about it. Sometimes, you just have to know when not to remix a classic. I almost wrote "when to not remix a classic", but I'm all about not splitting infinitives now. Splitting infinitives used to be cool, but now I can only enjoy it ironically.

The new name for the Nets?

I remember reading "Brooklyn Bridges" somewhere, which I'm a huge fan of for several reasons. First, it's a name which is unique to the area. The Brooklyn Bridge is iconic. I hate when a team tries to be "fierce" with its nickname – it's the ugly sibling of being "sleek" with its uniform. Second, it hints at the potential international appeal of the team now that Mikhail Prokharov is in charge.

NFL Fever on XBOX was a lot of fun because it melded the best elements of Blitz and Madden. NFL Herpes on XBOX was way less fun, and I can see why Microsoft pulled the plug on its line of football games. Anyway, in that game (I think) you were able to play as a team dressed in suits and ties called the Lawyers or something. Similarly, my friend Steve and I had the idea to start a football team in Williamsburg named the Brooklyn Hipsters. Our home uniforms would be cutoff jhorts and undersized Christian Laettner Dream Team jerseys. Dov Charney Memorial Stadium would be packed for two weeks, but then people would stop showing up because we were too popular. Then, in five seasons, people would be fans of the franchise again because we were vintage.

The concession stands would sell nothing but moonshine and beef jerky. We'd play songs from Rocky on the P.A. system because we're not from Philadelphia (this is actually something that real franchises do that I cannot stand. Rocky was not from San Antonio, Mr. Spurs Audio Guy).

Segway President dies falling off a cliff on a Segway? What is the most ironic death ever?

This was actually a bit sad. The man, Jimi Heselden, was a billionaire philanthropist who apparently did a lot of great things for his hometown. He smoothly transitioned into being the president of Segway from being the president of something unrelated in a way which did not seem forced.

Best fantasy team name you've heard?

This is very, very difficult. I'm reminded of the classic Simpsons quote in the episode where Homer joins a barbershop quartet. He and his three friends are looking for a band name, and they agree that it has to be something "which is clever at first, but gets progressively less clever every time you hear it." All fantasy names are like that, even the best ones.

What's a better system: a regular season where individual games are essentially meaningless and only the playoffs matter (the team has to get hot at the right time) or one in which EVERY game counts (EPL, college football) and your season can end if you mess up in the first game of the season? I think that the former system is more in line with the American spirit of the underdog always has a shot, otherwise we would still remember the 2007 Pats as the greatest ever. What do you think?

Interesting question. I love the life-or-death nature of college football but it's tough to top NFL playoff weekends. The MLB regular season is horrible, but I love how baseball only allows four teams into its postseason every year. MLB postseason membership is pretty elitist. Most of the teams only got in because their respective dads went there. I WAS PRESIDENT OF THE PAN-ASIAN ROTARY COMMUNITY SERVICE RED CROSS CLUB AND I DIDN'T GET INTO THE MLB POSTSEASON!!!!!!

…..

I really enjoyed the questions, so thanks to my friends for coming up with them. Keep them coming. In my picks league, I had another terrible week and went 6-8. Dan is two picks ahead of Vadim for the top spot, and I'm eight behind Dan. I won the championship last year and my title defense continues to suck, though I've always been a fan of the phrase "Super Bowl Hangover" because I can pretend that Sean Payton was blackout drunk during the title game. Hopefully I start to get hot in Week 6. Home teams are in bold, wish me luck:

Chicago Bears (-6.5) over Seattle Seahawks

Can't trust an NFC West team on the road.

Baltimore Ravens over New England Patriots (-2.5)

Justin Bieber actually made fun of Tom Brady's hair this week. The rap lyrics in which he did it were completely nonsensical – the line to set up the Brady diss was "Sacked like a sacker." Believing in the Patriots right now is similar to liking Nutella or MGMT; defensibly quirky, but not really bold.

New York Giants (-10.5) over Detroit Lions

The Giants' running game and defense has been so impressive recently that Manning threw three picks last week, on the road against a great offense, and the team still won by 24 points. I assume The Book of Eli was mostly just Denzel wandering around in the desert and throwing interceptions.

Philadelphia Eagles (-1.5) over Atlanta Falcons

The Eagles are the best team in the NFC right now, and the Falcons are a complete fraud. This team could easily be 2-3 if it weren't for two plays: Nate Clements pulling a Marlon McCree and Garrett Hartley missing a 29 yard field goal.

Pittsburgh Steelers (-13.5) over Cleveland Browns

Colt McCoy is an awesome name for a gunslinging quarterback, but sadly Colt McCoy was apparently born without bones in his right shoulder. I think he'll be injured by halftime, then Josh Cribbs will come in and play admirably in a losing effort. I would love this situation because it reminds of the few times per year when a random utility infielder has to be a relief pitcher in baseball because the manager already used the other pitchers.

Green Bay Packers (-1.5) over Miami Dolphins

Big statement game for the Packers. I feel like too many people have hopped off the Green Bay bandwagon. This team is good enough to make the Super Bowl and lose by twenty to Pittsburgh. I live with a Steelers fan and he's gonna be walkin' around here like Scuba Steve braggin' about how much action he got once the Steelers win the title.

San Diego Chargers over St. Louis Rams (+8.5)

The Chargers are the anti-Falcons in the sense that they should be 4-1 if it wasn't for special teams debacles in Seattle and Oakland. I believe in "football efficiency", in that whichever team won a given game was the better team and deserved to win. Is this contradictory? Yes, and doublethink is doubleplusungood.

Tampa Bay Bucs (+5.5) over New Orleans Saints

Kansas City Chiefs over Houston Texans (-4.5)

I'm all over the Chiefs bandwagon. Great uniforms too – simple, classic, elegant.

San Francisco 49ers (-6.5) over Oakland Raiders

David Carr, Jesse Palmer, Jim Sorgi, Jared Lorenzen, Danny Kannell, Kent Graham, Dave Brown, Kurt Warner, Kerry Collins. Random Giants backups from over the years.

New York Jets over Denver Broncos (+3.5)

In 2008, Brett Favre led the Jets to a win over the previously undefeated Titans to get the Jets to 8-4 and everyone thought the Jets were on their way to winning the AFC. The next week, they got slaughtered by the Broncos in the Meadowlands and the season soon fell apart. Last week, the Jets had a similarly huge win and people like me think that they're the second best team in the league. I don't think they're gonna blow it this time. Jets win big.

In fact, the league hierarchy looks so different than it did for the last decade. Basically, each year, the Colts and Pats were the top two teams in the regular season and it surprising when one of them didn't win the title. Here's how the league looks now:

Tier One: Steelers, Jets, Ravens (in order)
Tier Two: Colts, Patriots
Tier Three: Chiefs, Texans, Saints, Chargers, Titans Packers, Eagles, Giants, Falcons (not in order)
Tier Four: Bucs, Redskins, Vikings, Bears

Surprising, but the gap between Tier One and the rest of the league is huge.

Indianapolis Colts over Washington Redskins (+3.5)

Jacksonville Jaguars (+3.5) over Tennessee Titans

And the game of the week:

Dallas Cowboys (-1.5) over Minnesota Vikings

I'm only picking the Cowboys because they're my favorite team. I fully expect Randy Moss to single-handedly eviscerate Dallas the way he has done since 1998, and I expect Bill Cowher to be the Cowboys' coach by halftime.

Last Week: 6-8
Season: 31-43