Gert T

Hey its just big time college football these days. I disagree though that a coach, cannot turn around a once great program, Bob Stoops & Pete Carroll anyone? I think whoever would have stepped in after Davies since they were technically the second chioce after the O'Reilly debacle. Sorry I meant O'Leary, must've said O'Reilly since I was watching Oz last night.

This seems a little early especially for you Eagles fans! For me with the Bengals I can at least hold out until the next loss. I thin as good as the Eagles will finish, the 1st round pick will be the old "best player available."

I am against the flex schedule for MNF, but with Dallas at Seattle and Kansas City at Tennessee on the horizon......

I would have to put Phoenix at number one right now to, they have been playing unreal basketball right now.

I can handle Seattle's. New Orleans's yellow jerseys are terrible and Golden State's alt uniforms would be great if they were a WNBA team.

Let's not get ridiculous yet.

I take a terribly boring college class on Tuesday nights, so this was what I was working on. The NFC seems an easy lock on all six plaoff teams, besides who wins the NFC North. In the AFC, The Patriots, Steelers are the locks. The last four spots with one going to the Broncos/Chargers as AFC West champs and the other going to the Jags/Colts as AFC South champs. But it looks like eight teams in the AFC may end up with a 9-7 record. First lets go to the NFC. NFC 1. Philadelphia 2. Atlanta 3. Green Bay 4. Seattle 5. Minnesota (wild card) 6. St. Louis (wild card) Now here is where the AFC gets very complicated. I'll leave the records of the eight teams left. New England Patriots 9-1, (loss at Pittsburgh) Baltimore at Cleveland Cincinnati at Miami at N.Y. Jets San Francisco Pittsburgh Steelers 9-1 (loss at Baltimore) Washington at Jacksonville N.Y. Jets at N.Y. Giants Baltimore at Buffalo Indianapolis Colts 7-3 (losses at New England, Jacksonville, at Kansas City) at Detroit Tennessee at Houston Baltimore San Diego at Denver Denver Broncos 7-3 (losses at Jacksonville, at Cincinnati, Atlanta) Oakland at San Diego Miami at Kansas City at Tennessee Indianapolis San Diego Chargers 7-3 (losses N.Y. Jets, at Denver, at Atlanta) at Kansas City Denver Tampa Bay at Cleveland at Indianapolis Kansas City Baltimore Ravens 7-3 (losses at Cleveland, Kansas City, at Philadelphia) at New England Cincinnati N.Y. Giants at Indianapolis at Pittsburgh Miami New York Jets 7-3 (losses at New England, at Buffalo, Baltimore) at Arizona Houston at Pittsburgh Seattle New England at St. Louis Jacksonville 6-4 (losses Indianapolis, at San Diego, at Houston, Tennessee) at Minnesota Pittsburgh Chicago at Green Bay Houston at Oakland Obviously, tie-breakers are going to play a HUGE part in determining the wild card teams. I like Indianapolis over the Jags in the AFC South. They will have a one game lead over the Jags, but even if they are tied, Indy will have a better division record. If Jacksonville can win one of their two tough road games (Minnesota, Green Bay) they may have a shot with Indy's tough final three games. In the AFC West, my gut is telling me not to, but I think the Chargers will win the AFC West. Of course I am basing that on them beating the Broncos next week. If Denver wins, forget about it, because I think they will win against Oakland and at Kansas City and then go 6-0 in the West. But I think San Diego beats Denver and based on the remaining games they win the West. I think Denver gets the #5 seed with 11 or 12 wins, and Baltimore and the Jets end up tied with a 10-6 record in the fight for the 6 spot. AFC Playoffs 1. New England (I think they go 15-1) 2. Pittsburgh (they could go 15-1 and get the #1 spot, but they have a lot of playoff chasers left) 3. Indianapolis 4. San Diego 5. Denver 6. Baltimore (Edwards can take a clock management class while searching for a new offensive coordinator in the off-season) NFC Playoffs 1. Philadelphia 2. Atlanta 3. Green Bay 4. Seattle 5. Minnesota 6. St. Louis

I have a question, if Auburn loses to Tennessee in the SEC Title game, could Utah still get shut out the BCS bowls? Right now the projected BCS standings would be. 1. USC 2. Oklahoma 3. Auburn 4. Cal 5. Texas 6. Utah Michigan and Tennessee would then have automatic bids and still be out of the Top 6, and I would assume Auburn would still be in the Top 6. There is still a lot of football left though.

No, I'm saying if they would have played either one of those teams they would have gotten their doors blown off. You don't know that for sure. They were the only undefeated team and the Big XII was by no means down that year. They deserved it and you can't really say they'd lose to those teams b/c it didn't happen. Everyone though FSU was going to blow them away and they kicked the shit out of them. Same could happend against the other two teams. We don't know so you're saying it like it's a fact. Not a fact. Everyone likes to diminish any accomplishment OU makes...... I think that is more of a commentary of why there needs to be a playoff in college football, but Oklahoma did what they had to do and deserve that national title.

I am torn on these rulings. Are they excessive? Yes, but really this so far from any other further cases I don't think the Vernon Maxwell argument is valid. Artest: I don't think his will be reduced, Stern and the NBA will probably want to fight the appeal of this one more than the others. It may not be fair, but it was Artest's choice to go into the stands ultimately. Jackson: 30 games. Probably excessive, but I don't mind see his still in the 20+ range. O'Neal: 25 games. If his gets bumped down to 15 that would seem all right to me. He did not go into the stands, but I think Stern is trying to send the message that you cannot just go around hitting people, even if on the court. I totally agree fans should not be on the floor, but the situation was not 2 on 1. I believe Anthony Johnson was the one who tackled the first fan on the floor, after Artest hit him. There were at least 2 Pacers players/coaches beside Artest and unnamed fat fan, so let's not give O'Neal the congressional medal of honor for his actions (although as mentioned before I may have done the same). Wallace: 6 games. Perhaps excessive but obviously Stern wants to set a tone for the violence in general. Wallace may have gotten more for throwing the towel at Artest. While they may seem excessive, Stern is the head of this company. He is trying to insure that his product will never be associated with anything like this again. I agree with you Alf, the Pacers will rally around this and wouldn't we love to see a 2 vs 7 matchup in the first round?

I believe Anthony Johnson was in street clothes and was fighting with somebody, maybe tackled one of the two fans.

For reference sake the Pacers play 15 games between now and the Christmas day game with the Pistons, and Detroit plays 16 games before then.

I have a question because I thought I only saw this once, when Artest first laid on the table, when Ben threw that towel did Artest get up for a second and then laid back down? And did Wallace throw the towel when he saw Artest put the headset on?

Hopefully we can keep this discussion civilized rather than have people who don't really care about it or ramifications trying to agitate people. I loved how Bill Walton say "the refs need to figure out a way to end this game right before Artest got hit with the cup."

Thanks, I was throwing clothes into the dryer, and all I heard was "Kirilenko can't believe it". Damn shame that one got away from the Jazz.

Were those 6 guys all punching Artest or trying to restrain him? I guess that is the gray area for the league and the police. I have no problem disagreeing on Jackson's role, but I am unanimous with everybody else that the fat man who went after Freddie Jones needs to go to jail. Freddie looked like the calmest person in the crowd.

ALF: what was the raping you speak of in the Jazz game? I haven't seen the highlights

Hey I'm not saying it was assault, and in that situation I probably do react the same way, but the fact that Jackson was ready to fight any Piston does not help his case in my opinion that he was just trying to help Artest.

Gotta disagree, especially about Stephen Jackson, he ran right by Artest to punch someone. Watch it again. A fan throws a drink RIGHT into the face of Artest, THEN Jackson starts swinging. Remember, I'm being forced to watch this tonight. Over and over and over again. I've watched on repeat for the last...god how knows long now. And Rant, I gotta disagree. The rules should not be there to punish the players for defending against assault. Artest did nothing but subdue the guy, that is all he does. I cannot believe he is going to be punished for basically arresting his attacker. Obviously he will be because it is a rule, but that rule should not be there in a situation like this. If Jackson hit someone who was not directly invovled, is that not also assault? I also love John Saunders, but he is being a little too preachy for me.

Gotta disagree, especially about Stephen Jackson, he ran right by Artest to punch someone.

I thought O'Neal hurt himself from the fall he took after the punch. I think the cop was going after the assistant coach who run at Artest, he didn't spray him, so him pulling it out didn't bother me so much, considering how many people were on the court at the time. BTW Scot Pollard was looking stylish, and it seems like his suit would not allow any garbage to hit him.

I agree I am a Jazz fan and have almost forgot how they blew tonight's game in Miami!

Hey as long as we agree, I'll give you credit for your thoughts. Because we all have to agree on everything here at TSM!!!

Too bad, this has been a great game, but part of me is watching solely for the updates.

I agree with both sides on the educational issue. I pay 374 bucks per year for my teacher's union, and what has it got me, one day per quarter that the kids get out 2 hours early so we have planning time. Waste of my money. Mike, the money is easily going to school administration. The problem is, the new positions created are "_______ supervisor", this person just oversees, but does not work with the students who need the extra help to be able to pass these tests. In Ohio now only 1% of your district's student body are excempt from taking these tests, including students with disabilities. Now the evaluation comes after a 3 year window so technically 3% is exempt from the testing, but still there is not enough personnel actually working with kids to get them to pass these tests. And sadly I've seen this first-hand, but we are now mostly teaching kids how to pass tests and not necessarily teaching them the cirriculum so they remember it and can benefit from it later. No Child Left Behind is a good idea, but has many holes. Bush has to take some of the blame for that, BUT like it has been mentioned before it passed through the legislative brnaches, so W. should not be villified by educators across America.