HarleyQuinn

Lt. Daniel Kaffee

Agreed and I'm continually amazed at not only the level of coaching (obviously) but the importance of depth at positions as well. That's also why pointing out that "Team X has suffered a lot of injuries" means little to me when a team like the Patriots can still win 10-11 games despite losing so many players. I'll also admit that I love seeing the Patriots "run up" the score (i.e. score 40+ in most cases) because it really shows how dangerous the offense can be when running on all cylinders even with a backup QB and a RBBC featuring castoffs (Sammy Morris, Lamont Jordan) and a 3rd down back (Kevin Faulk).

Astro Jetson

Gotta love that the AFC East is crazy dependent on several factors here and in RL... go Pats in both of course

Dr. William Weir from Event Horizon

Just looking at the stats, I feel bad for Aaron Rodgers considering how well he's played this year (Team win wise)... Rodgers: 296/466 for 3,470 and 23 TD vs. 12 INT. 214 rushing and 4 TD. B. Favre: 323/482 for 3,239 and 21 TD vs. 19 INT. 43 rushing and 1 TD (Stats updated through yesterday). Hey VX, are there still Green Bay fans wondering what the season'd be like if Favre stayed or have they accepted that Aaron's a really good QB playing on a team with a poor run game and poor defense?

Lost this week... again. I've gone like 0-3 the last three weeks and I'm just choking this season away

I was bored and here are the only bowl games that featuring 2 teams with 10 or more wins... Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State (12-0) vs. TCU (10-2) Rose Bowl: USC (11-1) vs. Penn State (11-1) Sugar Bowl: Utah (12-0) vs. Alabama (12-1) Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State (10-2) vs. Texas (11-1) GMAC Bowl: Tulsa (10-3) vs. Ball State (12-1) BCS Championship Game: Florida (12-1) vs. Oklahoma (12-1) I was surprised there were only 6 games and even more surprised that two are "low" level tier bowls (Poinsettia & GMAC). I guess it's kind of fitting now that the GMAC is right before the BCS Championship though. As for the 6-6 issue, I think it's made to be more dramatic than usual in part because some of the usual solid teams finished at 6-6 and made bowls (Notre Dame, Kentucky, Vanderbilt). There are only 8 teams who finished at 6-6 and made Bowl Games out of 68 or whatever total teams. Note: NC State made it and had the 10th best record in the ACC of 6-6. Note: Northern Illinois are 6-6 but went 5-3 in their conference to push them ahead of Bowling Green (4-4 IC, 6-6 total). Note: Notre Dame at 6-6 made it because of sheer name value. Note: Vanderbilt and Kentucky made it at 6-6 from the SEC but co-owned the 7th best total record. Kentucky went 2-6 IC... Note: Florida Atlantic made it in at 6-6 largely because they beat UL Lafayette (6-6 but 5-2 IC). If you went with the 7-5 benchmark here's the # of teams that would've made it. ACC: 9 Big 12: 7 Big East: 6 Big 10: 7 CUSA: 4 Independent: 1 MAC: 4 MWC: 5 Pac-10: 5 SEC: 6 Sun Belt: 1 WAC: 4 So that'd be 59 totals teams (So you'd have to hand select a 6-6 team to fill out the 30th bowl or shaft a 7-5 team to fill out 29) and you'd have to cut down the 34 Bowls to 30 or 29. What if you finish with too few teams at 7-5 to fill out those slots? Then you run into the same situation where you select "undeserving" 6-6 teams and this hoopla gets raised all over again.

I'd take Colston and Breaston... As for QB: Cassel (It's snowy and windy and cold but Belichick will still throw the short WR screens/HB screen passes) and has built this offense around the pass, much like Bill Walsh.

Shego - Needed a snarky female ass kicker

Speaking of coaching moves... Illinois State hired DC Brock Spack (Purdue) as their new Head Coach. North Carolina A&T hired George Ragsdale as their new Head Coach. He served as their RB Coach.

AIG Bailout Bowl Differing Picks - 11 Games Indiana - Troy/Notre Dame/California/Northern Illinois/Rutgers/Rice/Houston/Iowa/Nebraska/Cincinnati/Kentucky Boston College - Southern Miss/Hawaii/Miami/Louisiana Tech/NC State/Western Michigan/Air Force/South Carolina/Clemson/Virginia Tech/East Carolina

Alonzo from Training Day

- What's the reasoning behind the myriad of boxing titles out there? Is it largely due to the different weight classes/boxing commissions? - Will there ever be a singular governing boxing body to decide who's champion of say 3-4 titles maximum?

Whoo for the non-PM as usual... In continuing my theme for a Sin City/Noir film... Atticus Finch to play the eventual court room lawyer.

Bear in mind that I would have said even worse of Heath Ledger. (Did you see A Knight's Tale?) I actually thought Ledger would do fairly well after seeing his turn in Brokeback Mountain and seeing him in Candy (An indie drug movie. He was great as usual). I haven't seen that same acting ability out of Weisz to make me think she could do really well if given a lot of screen time.

I remember once I was running away from the pack in the AFC East... what a tragic downfall my season may turn out to be.

Rocko

Huh, just found this link... http://andrewsstarspage.com/NHL-Business/average-salary.htm The 2007 average salaries for the big 4 Sports... NBA Salary: $4.1 Million (4,177,266) MLB Salary: $2.9 Million (2,944,556) NHL Salary: $1.9 Million (1,906,793) NFL Salary: $1.2 Million (1,191,514) I'm curious how the economy impacts the salaries of the big 4 sports and in particular, the NBA, which featured the highest average salary for 2007 (and most likely 2008). What's more amazing is that in the early 1980's players were making an average of anywhere from $70,000 - $90,000.

Since 1995, Montana has gone 2-3 in FCS Title Games. Their most recent loss was 2004 to James Madison but their last win was 2001 over Furman. This is Richmond's first Championship Game Appearance. Richmond made the playoffs before this year in 1984, 2000 (Quarterfinal Loss to Montana), 2005 (Quarterfinal Loss to Furman), and 2007 (Semifinal Loss to Appalachian State). For Interest: The first ever FCS Champion was Florida A&M over UMass in 1978 35-28.

So I lost 'cause I picked the wrong team Thursday.... lame

A little intrigued by Weisz... didn't like her very much in The Mummy series run and thought she was adequate enough in Constantine. Not sure if she could carry a movie but could definitely be a solid enough part-time on screen role.

Slade from Teen Titans. So bad ass that he has Robin obsessing over him, forces Terra into betrayal to the point that she dies and takes him with her, and then returns to mind rape Raven for the fun of it while working out a deal with her father.

Wait... acted too soon, whoops. *Pokes Youth N' Asia*

Atlanta would be a much scarier team if they could play defense at all and limit the time the puck is spent in their own zone... Bruins are up 4-1 right now but the Thrashers seem (at least in this game) like they have the potential to be good offensively. They can hit the opposing blue line well and take enough shots to challenge the goalie. It's a lot like watching a 1980's defense... just without the offense scoring 4-5 goals a game so they can lose 7-5 and 6-4 night after night.