Just John

Outside of Chicago, the NFC is just a big pile of mediocrity. Hopefully Dallas or New Orleans stay hot for the rest of the season to give the NFC another credible playoff team.

Unfortunately I won't get to see most of this show, but it sounds pretty good. If Lashley were still on SD, I'd say Batista wins without a doubt, but now that the most logical program is gone, it's more up in the air. They could still do the Batista win, then do Kennedy as a somewhat surprising Rumble winner which could really elevate Kennedy if done right. I have no idea what they'd do at Armageddon and NWO. They might bust out Batista/Taker to pop a buyrate for one of those throwaway shows. I think Booker still has some viable programs left (Benoit being the big one), plus WWE loves the face chase storylines. Problem is Booker doesn't really have enough credibility to get a new face over.

Man, I hate the start of college basketball season. I would've loved to see the Sacramento/Utah game in the late spot. What an insane comeback by the Jazz. Hell, even the Warriors/Nuggets game wouldn't have been bad. Instead we get a piss-poor Heat/Spurs squash that literally put me to sleep. Miami needs to be stripped of all their national games until Shaq is healthy. At least the Rockets won and they only had mildly bad 4th quarter.

The general rule is if the match is only based around one object (cage, HIAC, ladder, stretcher, something on a pole), other foreign objects will count. If it's an open-ended no DQ kind of match, they won't. I'm pretty sure WWE's "Fantasy Board" is just one random overworked cubicle filler employee at Titan Towers who arbitrarily makes the rules up as he sees fit on a day-to-day basis.

Team Cena vs. Team Show: This one could go either way. Either ends with Umaga or Cena as the sole survivor. You can't bet against Cena at the big events, so I think they'll go with some cheap DQ or CO to get rid of Umaga. Other random predcitons of mine include: MVP gets eliminated within seconds, Finlay comes out looking strong, and Show eliminates Lashley by cheating. King Booker vs. Batista (World title): Another tough call here. Rumor has it Batista wants to hold off his title win until Mania, and with Lashley off the show he just lost his best program. I say Booker retains very cheaply, because there is simply nowhere to go with Batista as champ right now. And I want a Booker/Benoit World title program. Team DX vs. Team Rated RKO: The heel team has to win one elimination match, and I think this will be the one. Maybe they can have Michaels almost heroically overcome a 3 on 1 situation before losing to Orton. Edge comes back and cheats to help Orton eliminate a DX member, either way, then DX costs Rated RKO the tag titles the next night against Cryme Tyme. Other predictions include: Matt Hardy will eliminate Edge, Helms will get a cheap pin on Matt to keep that feud going, and Orton will eliminate Punk clean with the RKO. Ken Kennedy vs. The Undertaker (First blood): This a heat-protector type match, so I think Kennedy will get the win. They seem to be pushing him hard, so I'd say he goes over in cheap fashion, despite getting his ass kicked most of the match and probably afterwards as well. The important thing is he'll be able to claim victory later. Chris Benoit vs. Chavo Guerrero (US title): Benoit is similar to Jericho or RVD in terms of status. A failsafe option to throw a midcard title on at any time, but it hardly ever means anything, and he'll lose it to the next flavor of the month. Following the I Quit match with Rey, the flavor is Chavo. JBL will play up how Vickie = Success or whatever as Chavo lies, cheats, and steals his way to victory. Team Social Security vs. The Spirit Squad: Faarooq's return is mildly interesting, but nothing else about this match is worth a DAMN. Geriatrics in a sweep. Mickie James vs. Lita (Women's title): Hopefully no stupid gimmicks here. Lita should go all out in her last match, but unlike with Trish, no one cares about Lita so the result will be less than spectacular. Match should be better than most people expect, but certainly won't be a Trish/Mickie level of workrate or a Trish/Lita level of emotion. It'll be decent, and Mickie will win.

I wouldn't be too quick to rule out the possibility of Pittsburgh running the table to really screw things up. They are not anywhere near as bad as their record shows. The Baltimore games will be hard as hell, though. If KC gets the job back from Denver on Thanksgiving, then can beat SD who they always play tough, they have a good shot at getting the division. They already have one win over SD, so they could wind up with the head-to-head which will be huge in a division this tight.

Kornheiser's the worst football announcer I've ever heard. Guy doesn't seem like he knows anything about football. It's amazing how he can make Theismann seem smart on occasion. It's like watching a sporting event with your mom or grandma who doesn't follow sports and having them make commentary throughout. Another thing that bothered me recently was how some douches were trying to create a QB controversy in KC when Herm Edwards repeatedly stated that there was no question Trent Green was the #1 guy. I mean, they'd show a clip of Herm saying that, then try to argue. That breif clip of Sports Center reminded me why I never watch it.

The Rockets need to hold a team meeting and inform the players that, per NBA rules, there are FOUR (4) quarters in a regulation game, not THREE (3) like many of the players seem to think.

That Wargames match is from 1996, not 97.

What was the deal with Hogan/Russo? I've heard varying accounts of the incident and I have it on tape, but I can't figure it out. Was this confirmed as a 100% work?

Thanks. I just bought a Lebron jersey.

I saw a game a few years back, I think it was Lakers vs. Spurs. Kobe took 3 steps and jumped without getting rid of the ball. Of course, afterwards, he jumped again for a layup and nothing was called.

Good lord. As bad as these commercials are, at least they haven't run one with this part.

*Brief guitar riff* I CAN STAND... *Mute* Happens at least 3 times a game, and even more than that when there isn't a game on another channel. Was also a regular occurence during the MLB playoffs. And it's not just the annoying song, the visuals are terrible too. It's such a redneck ad, but they try not to alienate the non-hicks by flashing pics of Vietnam protesters and MLK Jr. And, as has been pointed out, the guy pointing right on cue with "East Coast" is a total headshaker. I'll make sure to never by a Chevy of any kind.

I'm pretty sure NKAG has a friend on the writing staff. He had like the perfect team this week. Hardy, Rated RKO, DX, Mickie, Masters... Who picks Masters and both DX members in the same week? Ridiculous. Of course, I'm just a bitter #13 with no hope of accomplishing anything this season. Edit: After looking at the overall leaderboard, it's obvious everyone just read spoilers. How lame.

It's too bad they're not continually looking to replace Lawler. I think a JR/Booker announce team would be pure gold.

Great game tonight by the Rockets. They played ugly ball through 3 quarters, which is something they're quite good at and usually messes the other team up. Then in the 4th, they found their shooting touch and ran the Heat off the floor. Yao was dominant again. If they can stay healthy and T-Mac gets in shooting rhythm, the Rockets will be a dangerous team.

I never understood why "wrestling genius" Vince McMahon can't get his head around the idea of wrestling fans liking wrestling. I assume he just doesn't realize all the 1998 bandwagon jumpers quit watching by 2002 and there's no hope of capturing that magic again. Attitude worked in 98 because it was different, but trying it now just makes wrestling look pathetic.

Joey Harrington ended the Bears' streak last week, so don't rule anything out yet.

Nice to see SD doing well in the numbers despite the awful timeslot. I guess when you put out almost a year's worth of quality shows, people will catch on. Vince encouraging the writers to make Raw more edgy cannot end well.

I was starting to worry since the last two SD's were pretty bad, but this week has restored my faith. Great show all around. Only complaints are the writers found a way to put Eddie in the Benoit/Chavo feud and the Boogeyman is still on the show. Booker and Lashley had their usual solid outing. The Hardy/Yang vs. Helms/Sylvan match was decent, though it could've used more time. I'm looking forward to Matt's role at Survivor series as well. Re-uniting with Jeff and hopefully more hate-fighting with Edge. I love it when Benoit beats people up. KC James appears to have some potential, but this week he was just a good punching bag. The Batista/Finlay match was very good, definitely Batista's best since he returned. The interference spots didn't hurt the match, and both guys got to look good. I think Batista's been watching some TNA tapes, as he used the Muscle Buster and the Black Hole Slam tonight. I'm glad he's adding some new moves to his arsenal, which has been pretty lacking lately. Finlay did his usual great work, both on offense and selling. I liked how Batista kept selling the leg and didn't do lots of running during his face comeback. The finish was simple and effective. Possibly a top 5 tv MOTY right here.

The funny thing about Cena now is that while he's of higher status than he's ever been before, he more closely resembles his colorful tights babyface character than his edgy rap character that got him over. I remember from like within his first couple months with the company, he did a backstage segment with Rico, calling him "wolfman" or something. It was terrible skit that I remember bashing at the time, but all of his promos nowadays are very similar to that one. Only difference is he's just a million times more over so he still gets crowd reactions for his awful promos (which, to be fair to Cena, I'm sure are entirely scripted by a lame Raw writer).

Falcons 27, Lions 10: Detroit's not good enough to win this one. Of all the weeks ATL shouldn't suck, they choose to shit the bed here. 0/1 Bills 16, Packers 13: Neither team is good. I'll go with the home team in an ugly mess. Pretty much right on. 1/2 Giants 31, Texans 17: Hopefully the Texans will keep improving, but it won't matter here. Much lower scoring than expected, but the right team still won. 2/3 Bears 27, Miami 0: Can history repeat itself? No, no it can't. Chicago will find a better team to lose to in the regular season. Well, at least everyone else got this wrong too. 2/4 Ravens 30, Bengals 21: I'll go with the Ravens at home, even if Cincy badly needs this win. Just about right. 3/5 Redskins 24, Cowboys 17: Both teams are wildly inconsistent. Could go either way, but I'll pick the home team. Crazy game here, both teams at their inconsistent best. 4/6 Jaguars 19, Titans 7: Typical Jags performance. The very good Jags team showed up to dominate the Titans. 5/7 Chiefs 41, Rams 38: Offensive explosion here. I think the Chiefs are playoff material, though, just off to a slower start. The Rams really didn't hold up their end of the explosion. 6/8 Saints 21, Bucs 17: NO always gives Tampa trouble, and they're actually a better team this year. Don't write the Saints off yet. 7/9 49ers 28, Vikings 25: San Fran's due for a surprise performance, and the Vikes are finally playing like they should. Much lower scoring than expected, but the analysis was dead on. 8/10 Steelers 24, Broncos 21: I'm going to hold out optimism for another solid Big Ben performance to silence the critics. Denver's no easy task, though. I really shouldn't be a homer. 8/11 Chargers 27, Browns 17: The Browns have the heart, but not enough talent to win this game. Another good call. 9/12 Patriots 31, Colts 24: Bellicheck's usually got the Colts' number, and he has a healthy team this year. A little backwards here. 9/13 Seahawks 23, Raiders 10: No way Oakland takes their winning act on the road. Without the stars, Seattle wins in less than impressive fashion. Above .500! Yes! 10/14

Someone needs to make .gif of HHH's dancing when the stripper came out. Let's see... Good things about Raw tonight. - The Umaga/Maria match graphic - Random FU on Grisham - Piper kept his shirt on Um, yeah. Terrible show.

It'll still lead to DX embarrassing them tonight in some way.