Just John

Unless they shit the bed against Cleveland tomorrow, I don't think anyone will dispute the Giants are the best team in the NFL right now, but things are so crazy, I can't confidently say anyone's a SB favorite this early. And that Orlovsky safety isn't getting enough attention. That's one of the funniest/saddest things I've seen in a professional game.

In the "random things to laugh at regarding the McCain campaign" department, here's Sarah Palin and one of her kids getting booed loudly at a Flyers game. http://www.delawareonline.com/blogs/2008/10/boo-birds.html

Mighty Ducks was an awesome team name. They never should've changed it. What about Real Salt Lake of MLS? Is that so bush league that it's funny, or just really sad?

Did anyone catch the highlights of that McCain rally today where he had to spend a considerable amount of time defending Barack Obama? The best/worst part was when one woman referred to Obama as "an Arab" and McCain was emphatically shaking his head as he quickly took the mic from her. Part of me almost felt sorry for McCain, as he seemed like felt really bad during the whole deal. Sure, you could chalk it up to politics since being seen next to someone ignorantly calling Obama an Arab doesn't make for good press, but I think there's still a decent human being deep inside John McCain and he doesn't really want any part of all this terrorist and race-baiting nonsense his campaign has thrown out recently (also why his surrogates and Palin seem to be the ones actually making the inflammatory comments).

1. I think you have to go with Eli Manning to this point. He has the best combo of stats and team success. Props to Favre for putting up good numbers, and to Big Ben (and to a lesser extent, Peyton) for hanging in there and giving their teams chances to win despite having a lot working against them. 2. Been covered. Losing a near every-year pro-bowler like Neal is huge, and LT's getting older. I think Sproles is a good backup, so I'm not sure that the Turner loss is that much of a factor, although he is better than Sproles. 3. They might need to get lucky, but the Ravens have broken down late against good teams the last the two weeks, so they'll probably give the Colts a chance too. 4. The day after their last game. No point adding anymore unnecessary drama this season for the Lions. 5. They'll get to the playoffs, but let's not start up any 2000 Ravens comparisons yet. The 2000 Ravens had a consumate pro in Dilfer at QB, whereas Kerry Collins has shown throughout his career he's not afraid to make critical game-changing mistakes. I certainly wouldn't pick them to beat the Steelers at this point.

^^^ Yes. Sorry, I probably should've worded that better. I like a decent amount of parity in sports, but the best teams in the regular season shouldn't be going down without a fight in the first round.

I'm just glad both teams with the best records in each league won't be getting swept in the first round.

I'll tell ya, that was great win for the Steelers tonight with everything they had going against them (Ben's condition, RB situation, the early pick 6, no less than 3 personal foul calls). The defense looks tremendous, and they came up with just enough big plays in the passing game to get the W. With as tough a schedule as the Steelers have, getting two wins with Willie Parker out will be a major help in looking towards a good playoff seed.

*Raises hand* Like I said, if I knew we were doing everything by voting, I never would've taken Brady. I do kind of sympathize with SP, as he has a pretty solid team, so I understand the frustration of getting beat down in the first round when you put so much thought into it. Still, out of everyone else, I think EHME's team was the most underrated. I would've liked to see our teams face off since we both bring the physical offense in addition to defense.

Yeah, I could see Tzar winning that game. Looking at his team again, I think he could've won the whole thing if he went with the 2000 Ravens style team with a couple upgrades. The defense is obviously there. He's already got Dorsett/Coates which is a net upgrade over Lewis/Sharpe. If he got a good passing QB (Aikman never got drafted) and one or two serviceable receivers that could net him 17 or so points, he's got an impossible team to beat. I give him props for trying something way different, but I wasn't convinced his offense could score anything on these defenses. And lol at Tzar's prediction. Was that pic taken after my man Aeneas Williams ended his career?

I hope there's at least another NBA one, since I didn't get in on the first one. The NFL one has left a bad taste in my mouth, but I would be interested to try again with a completely different team design strategy.

I don't know many people who like the White Sox. I'm just surprised to see any Rays hate, especially since they seemed like a popular feel-good story before and during the season.

Just out of curiosity, why do people here always look for reasons to hate these non-established playoff teams? This year it's the Rays, last year was the Rockies, and I found more Astro haters in 2005 here than anywhere else in my entire life (including living in Cardinal country at Mizzou).

I don't have too big of an objection to the name "Thunder." It's not great, but the biggest problem to me is the generic/bad logo and unis. The Heat have a flaming basketball and red unis, the Magic are in the town of Disney World and have a bunch stars and shit in their logo, and the Jazz used to have mardi gras colors and a music note in the logo. While you can easily argue against any of those concepts for a pro sports franchise, at least they have a coherent theme. I will spot you that the Jazz are really lame now that they've gone with the generic blue unis.

Those look like a rec-league version of the Knicks unis.

Since the second round, I've been saying pounding the football is the best way to avoid VX's biggest strength. No reason that wouldn't apply here with Payton and possibly the best O-line drafted. I feel kinda bad for VX for having to be the runner-up in this and the basketball draft, but I can't in good conscience vote against KR here.

The Broncos are giving me the vibe of something like the 03 Chiefs with their explosive offense and pourous defense. So far, they beat up a mediocre Oakland team, got lucky at home against San Diego, and won a shoot out with a similar (yet not as lucky) New Orleans team. I could see them putting up impressive regular season numbers, then being a one-and-done in the playoffs. The good thing, though, is they're fun to watch this year, which is a lot more than can be said for years past where they've gotten a disproportionately large amount of national games given their talent and excitement factor.

909 - Ground and pound attack with Earl Campbell limits the need to pass into that secondary, and in a close game if it's Montana vs. Favre... Who are you counting on to make the right plays? Kahran - The rushing attack with Payton should be enough to control the pace and avoid a shoot out against Gert's high-powered offense.

Ha, thanks. I'm glad someone really understood my team at least. Makes for good consolation after getting the boot in the first round. Like I said, though, just looking at the names in the QB spot, I knew I was in big trouble with that draw. Despite Brady and Montana having comparable numbers, most people hate Tom and his hype (some of it including the "next Montana" label) while Joe is already burned into most people's minds as the greatest QB ever (not that he doesn't make a good case for it). I'm sure I would've won a sim game in that match, but I probably should've taken a different QB in retrospect to win a popularity vote.

I can't believe I lost to a fucking coin toss. Oh well, I guess I hung in there better than I thought I would once I saw it was Montana vs. Brady. I knew that was going to be an instant decision-maker for at least a couple people. EHME Vitamin X EHME probably has the most underrated team left. Brown/Watters should be able to wear down VX's D-Line, plus McNabb's mobility is a valuable asset in buying time to get receivers open. And neither WR here will be intimidated by any secondary. There's major QB choke potential on both sides, so that's a wash. EHME has the more reliable ground game, and that's the deciding factor. CanadianChris 909 Ugh, the guy who beat me vs. the guy who voted me out via coin toss. Actually, 909's team is very good, and there's not too much shame in losing to him. CC's speed defense will get him nowhere against the power running of Campbell and Alstott. 909's O-Line will be up to the task on the pass rush, and the weakest part of his team (secondary) probably won't be exposed here. Kahran Ramsus Bored Close match, but the running game and QB situation both favor KR. TheOriginalOrangeGoblin Gert T OOG's speed defense is the best possible matchup here, but Gert's offense is easily the best in the tourney. I don't like OOG's squad to be able to put up more points than Gert, or stop him on a potential game-winning drive.

I actually liked Castlevania on the N64. Can't compare to the earlier versions, but it was fun enough as a standard early 3D RPG. I loved killing the jobber skeletons. I also really loved the Shenmue games, especially the first on Dreamcast. The voice acting left something to be desired, but it was really interactive and the fighting parts were a lot of fun.

Yeah, Tzar got a tough draw here as well. I love that defense, but I think OOG's offense is set up as well as anyone's to take it. Plus, on the other side, a speedy Tampa 2 defense matches up way too well against an offense that's heavily reliant on backfield speed. The safetys and LB's close way too quickly to get much lateral movement going (which would be difficult in several inches of snow anyway).

Hardly mutually exclusive concepts here. Something like end zone celebrations are fine since they reflect an in-game accomplishment in the heat of the moment. Some of the more elaborate ones get pretty silly (after the sharpie, it was all downhill with outside props), but I digress... Once you get players changing names so they can have something "creative" or "funny" on their jerseys, the NFL starts to look bush-league, or more like the XFL. There can be certain levels of "fun" in the NFL. The league certainly sees the how out of control the whole name-changing thing could get. I mean, if you were running a business, would you want your employees running around with ridiculous made up names? Surely you can see why the NFL doesn't want to allow this. As far as me personally, I just don't think it's funny, and I think it reflects poorly on Chad Johnson's character, but I won't lose too much sleep over it. Although if we're gonna get a crazy jersey trend going, I at least want Rod Smart to legally change his name to "He Hate Me" if he's still around.

lol @ Chad Johnson. That name-change was one of the most shameless, attention-whoring things I've ever seen. Now all he has is the same old jersey and a stupid new name. Nice job, Chad OC.

Smartly Pretty EHME I don't particularly care for either team's QB situation, but I like Donovan as a mobile QB to create more opportunities in the passing game. Plus EHME already has the clear running edge with the underrated Brown/Watters tandem and two physical blocking receivers. I like SP's defense a little more, but I think EHME has a more substantial offensive advantage. Brooklyn Zoo VX VX's secondary matches up well with BZ's receivers, and I think VX's zone blocking scheme would work against this D-Line. Marshall Faulk is the difference-maker on the offensive side of things. CanadianChris HarleyQuinn I don't think the 3-4 could contain Barry Sanders, and CC's small, fast defense makes it a lot easier to contain a run/gun offense. Bad draw for HQ on this one. Bristol Palin's Baby Daddy Kahran Ramsus Possibly the hardest call of the first round. I give Payton and KR's O-line plus Tarkenton's mobility a slight advantage here. Bored jwest27 I like Bored's passing game, and his "back 7" on defense. The LB's are a huge difference in this one. TheOriginalOrangeGoblin Tzar TOOG's O-Line is up to the task in this one, and a big bruising runner like Franco is the best response to that defense. And TOOG's defense is more than enough to contain Tzar's 11 defense-resters. Fokai Gert T By the slimmest of slim margins, I'll take the Dawson/Simpson/Thomas/Rice tandem. Should be a real shoot-out, but when it comes time for ball control, I think Gert gets the nod.