This post is a combination of being a mini 'State of the Forum' and some personal thoughts.
1. Crimson G is an excellent poster in the economy thread. He calmly and intelligently explains his Austrian economic views. But, literally everyone who has replied to him has taken a completely dismissive tone. The underlying message of each post is, "Here's why you're wrong, Crimson G." (Although, certainly, SuperJerk is much worse than At Home.) Conversely, it is clear that Crimson G carefully rea
"It's like the Miss TSM Tournament, but I make all the rules and do all the voting!"
This time, more than 1,000 girls from all over the world were candidates. I thoroughly vetted hundreds of them in order to narrow it down to this field of 64.
RULES:
1. Girls only. The hottest girls. For the purposes of this tournament, only their looks matter.
2. Age limit of 17+ (Still disqualified: Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez.)
3. The girls shall be famous. 'Fame' is defined as havi
I am holding my own worst poster tournament. Read that description again. Worst. Poster. Not the poster whom I hate the most. Not the poster who is the most sexist or racist. We're talking about the quality of the content of their posts: intelligence, creativity, correctness, and tone. They are judged based on all of their posts, not just the examples I offer. The eight seeds are
1. MarvinisaLunatic
2. Shooter in a Wedding Dress
3. SuperJerk
4. gary floyd
5. Matt Young
6. kkktookm
Don't worry, Miss Cromartie Tournament II will be early in 2009.
Now, the first annual Cromarties:
Best Posters of 2008:
10. Draft thread participants
9. Well-dressed posters (must wear a tie)
8. Posters who are above everything
7. Misandrists
6. Sexual incompetents
5. Barack Obama supporters
4. Funny posters
3. Elitists
2. Intellectuals
1. Posters who cite sources
Best of Love, Sex, and Dating for 2008:
10. Still being friends
9. Pornography actresses
8.
It's like the Miss TSM Tournament, but I make all the rules and do all the voting!
RULES:
1. Girls only. The hottest girls. For the purposes of this tournament, only their looks matter.
2. Age limit of 17+ (Disqualified: Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez.)
3. The girls shall be famous. 'Fame' is defined as having 5+ pictures turn up on Google Images. (Disqualified: Leena, local girls.)
4. Voting shall be based on current physical form (Disqualified: Dead porn stars.)
5. Votin
My most-trusted adviser informs me that this topic would fail in the Sports folder. Ergo, it will be relegated to the blog.
Xavier Cromartie, volleyball player
Positives
A fantastic defender... Outstanding reflexes... Gives 100% effort... Tremendously competitive... Smart player... Understands defensive positioning and angles... Good footwork... Anticipates where the ball will go... Sacrifices his body for saves... Has excellent stamina... Very fast and agile... Can get to almost any
I'm not an expert on college basketball. But, I am good at mathematical reasoning and analysis. I decided it would be a good idea to study the stats of the previous NCAA champions, going back to 2000. I noticed that all of the championship teams dominate in particular stats, and other stats don't seem to matter much. Last season, two teams exactly matched the championship model that I formulated: Florida and Kansas. So, here's how the 2008 teams fare.
Teams that exactly match the championsh
I'll make a new entry for this mock, since I doubt much will change between now and early April.
This mock is what I think will actually happen—not what I think should happen.
Last updated on 9 March 2008.
1. Miami Dolphins: DE Chris Long — Chris Long still appears to be the target, for now. I continue to doubt anyone who mentions Matt Ryan. Ellis is still possible, and Gholston is also in consideration now.
2. St. Louis Rams: DT Glenn Dorsey — I'm going back to Dorsey on this o
I proved last year that I'm the best mock drafter in the world. Here's my post-Combine, pre-Free Agency mock. It will be wrong of course. There's not enough info out there yet. But it's a fun exercise.
This mock is what I think will actually happen, not what I think should happen.
Last updated on 27 Feb.
1. Miami Dolphins: DE Chris Long — Realistically, it's between Long and Sedrick Ellis. I think they'll go with the more talented and versatile player rather than try to force the
AFC
3. San Diego def. 6. Tennessee 17-7
5. Jacksonville def. 4. Pittsburgh 20-13
1. New England def. 5. Jacksonville 31-24
2. Indianapolis def. 3. San Diego 30-10
1. New England def. 2. Indianapolis 21-20
NFC
3. Seattle def. 6. Washington 19-13
4. Tampa Bay def. 5. NY Giants 27-9
1. Dallas def. 4. Tampa Bay 16-13
2. Green Bay def. 3. Seattle 23-13
2. Green Bay def. 1. Dallas 38-24
SUPER BOWL XLII
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 42
GREEN BAY PACKERS 21
So, despite that horrible 3-week stretch of 5-13, I finished 34-26, or 56.7%. I'll try it again next football season.
Week #10 (5-1)
NFL
SWERVE! I hereby resign the office of NFL handicapper. I'm picking the bowl games.
NCAAF
1. Navy +8.5 at Utah. (Utah 35, Navy 32.) Anchors aweigh! My beloved Navy THREW a 58-yard pass in the last minute in order to cover the spread, and then they almost pulled off a marvelous comeback. Good effort, gents. Also, Utah fumbled that ball fo
Every Christmas, I like to give myself a particular present: a fantasy football championship. I play in only two leagues, and so this gift is not easy to get.
A 1-4 start. 48 points in week 5. Time to give up on this league and focus on the other one. Not! Never give up until the very end.
A solid 6-win streak puts me back in contention. But then I lost two more times. Fortunately, the tiebreaker worked out so that all I needed to do in week 14 was win. And I won big, because I a
In this exercise, I'll play the role of an NFL GM. I'll think about the order in which I'd pick positions, and I'll rank the top 5 players I'd take (no old guys).
I. OT
1. Joe Thomas (CLE)
2. Marcus McNeill (SD)
3. Bryant McKinnie (MIN)
4. Matt Light (NE)
5. Jamaal Brown (NO)
II. QB
1. Peyton Manning (IND)
2. Tom Brady (NE)
3. Tony Romo (DAL)
4. Marc Bulger (STL)
5. Carson Palmer (CIN)
III. DT
1. Albert Haynesworth (TEN)
2. Kevin Williams (MIN)
3. Haloti
In early August, before preseason started, I nominated a fantasy sleeper (or two) for each team. Let's take a look back and see how I did.
Kansas City Chiefs: Priest Holmes. Well, he's playing now. And he'll probably start this week, but he'll share with Kolby Smith. The correct sleeper pick would have been Dwayne Bowe.
Buffalo Bills: Paul Posluszny. He won the MLB job and played well until he went on IR. Without the injury, this pick would be correct. Otherwise, I guess you'd have to
Just checked out ESPN's power rankings (written on 17 May 2007). Every team, except for the 49ers and Cardinals, is within 5 spots of where they finished last year. They had 8 people get together to make these rankings. And they agreed that the NFL will play out almost exactly as it did last year. Steelers: 13th last year, 13th this year. Rams: 18th last year, 18th this year. Raiders: 32nd last year, 32nd this year. Atrocious. I will attempt a radical approach: I will look at what the teams have
I've played ESPN's Draft Forecast game for a few years. In this game, you predict the first 15 draft picks. I usually do very well. In 2005, I was 141st out of 46,000 people. But, only 1st place wins the prize:
Grand Prize: 2007 HUMMER H3 and a Trip for Two (winner plus one guest) to the ESPN Studios in Bristol, CT.
Trip includes a VIP Experience in Bristol CT for winner and (1) guest consisting of round trip coach air transportation from major U.S. gateway airport nearest winner's primar
I have other things to do on Thursday/Friday, and so here's my final mock draft.
1. Oakland Raiders - JaMarcus Russell (QB, Louisiana State)
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (trade) - Calvin Johnson (WR, Georgia Tech)
3. Cleveland Browns - Adrian Peterson (RB, Oklahoma)
4. Detroit Lions (trade) - Gaines Adams (DE, Clemson)
5. Arizona Cardinals - Joe Thomas (OT, Wisconsin)
6. Washington Redskins - Amobi Okoye (DT, Louisville)
7. Minnesota Vikings - Brady Quinn (QB, Notre Dame)
8. Atlant
My first mock draft became obsolete about 5 minutes after I finished it. This one accounts for Combine results. The next one will be the day before the draft. And it will probably look a lot different.
1. Oakland Raiders - JaMarcus Russell (QB, Louisiana State)
2. Detroit Lions - Joe Thomas (OT, Wisconsin)
3. Cleveland Browns - Adrian Peterson (RB, Oklahoma)
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Calvin Johnson (WR, Georgia Tech)
5. Arizona Cardinals - Gaines Adams (DE, Clemson)
6. Washington
I want to do a pre-Combine mock draft and then do another one on April 27 (the day before the draft).
1. Oakland Raiders - JaMarcus Russell (QB, Louisiana State)
2. Detroit Lions - Brady Quinn (QB, Notre Dame)
3. Cleveland Browns - Joe Thomas (OT, Wisconsin)
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Calvin Johnson (WR, Georgia Tech)
5. Arizona Cardinals - Gaines Adams (DE, Clemson)
6. Washington Redskins - Alan Branch (DT, Michigan)
7. Minnesota Vikings - Jamaal Anderson (DE, Arkansas)
8. Hou
Everyone has played 8 games now. Let's see whether much has changed in the last 3 weeks.
32. Oakland Raiders (2-6). Previously: 31.
Ok, I'll finally say that they're the worst. Even though it doesn't make sense. They have a legitimately good pass defense and running game (if they ever bother to use RB-Jordan correctly). The run defense isn't great, but it's not as terrible as people think. But they are, by far, the worst pass blocking team in the league. They should be running the ball
Hello, this entry is a normal blog instead of a Recliner of Rage. I'm in the mood to make these rankings, and this blog seems like the best place.
32. Houston Texans (1-4).
Negatives: Can't run. Can't stop the run. Can't stop the pass. Best player (RB-D. Davis) is on IR.
Positives: QB-D. Carr, WR-A. Johnson, and MLB-D. Ryans are long-term answers at those positions.
31. Oakland Raiders (0-5).
Negatives: Utterly disorganized. Awful pass blocking. Bad run defense. No depth a
Hi there Ortonsault, are you comfortable and angry?
Comfortable and furious, TSM.
Then go ahead and speak for America, Ortonsault.
Ok, here it goes.
Anglesault, who inspired my username, is banned.
The_Amazing_Rando, legendary GTG mutant, is banned.
Carnival doesn't post much nowadays and ignores me on MySpace. ¿Por qué?
And Queen Leena, my bestest friend on TSM, where have you gone?
Bottom line, America? Here are some of the people who have the potential
[Today's entry is not from the Recliner of Rage; it is from the Recliner of Rejoicing.]
Hi there Ortonsault, are you comfortable and happy?
Comfortable and gay*, TSM.
Then go ahead and speak for America, Ortonsault.
Ok, here it goes. I've played the last 3 seasons of wwe.com's WWE Fantasy game. Last season, I had the fourth highest overall score in week 5. Therefore, I won a WWE SHOP t-shirt. But, the t-shirt would be chosen by WWE, not me. I doubted whether it would ever arr
Hi there Ortonsault, are you comfortable and angry?
Comfortable and furious, TSM.
Then go ahead and speak for America, Ortonsault.
Ok, here it goes. Yesterday I watched a second-season (1994) episode of Boy Meets World. In this episode, Cory's mom tells him to be more polite. At school, Cory accidentally bumps into an attractive but 'rebellious' girl, causing her to drop her book. Cory politely picks it up for her.
The girl—'T.K.' (played by Danielle Harris)—is impressed by C
