cabbageboy

The problem with Berlyn was that the whole Bagwell/Duggan debacle killed him out of the gate. And let's be honest, when you do a major gimmick change like Wright did with Berlyn he needed to change his look more than by shaving his head. He hadn't put on any muscle and was still pasty as hell, so it's kinda hard to take a vicious nazi heel seriously when he looks like a wuss.

I'm assuming the Road Dog was talking about HBK and HHH as the "two guys 10 years ago." I'm not sure why he thought Michaels and HHH were desperate to leech off of the NAO in order to get over. In fact HBK was tossed from DX before the NAO even joined technically. If anything it was the NAO that were leeching off of DX's heat in late 1997/early 98 to get themselves over as more than a joke.

I think Benoit was given a gold watch type title reign more than anything. He wasn't shockingly over, but was a highly respected veteran. Eddie was someone actually getting massive reactions and was supposed to be the top guy on SD for a long, long time.

They'll probably just prepare as if those guys are healthy so it likely won't matter either way. And yes, I did say aside from the Bears I don't think the Pats play much of anyone down the stretch. Jacksonville is the only sorta competent team they have left, and they have been up and down.

I might on some level tolerate being screwed over in favor of the Michigan/OSU loser. Personally I think those two teams are the best in the country (U of L might have a slight shot at beating Michigan, not much of a chance vs. OSU). Florida has quite a bit of work to do as well. Yeah, FSU sucks this year but at home they might muster up a last stand in a rivalry game. And there's always the SEC title game.

Here is my quote from the Aug. 4 preseason football thread: "I don't know what U of L is going to do this year overall, but I do know we're going to FUCK UP WVU. You can write it down, and then if WVU comes here and wins that game everyone on this board can make fun of me for months. I'm serious, those assholes screwed us out of the BCS last year and it's payback time. And yes, screwed is the correct term...even the Big East office admitted it." Just wondering but what makes Florida so highly regarded by the BCS? They aren't all that high in the polls and Auburn handled them. Why are they high and someone like Arkansas isn't?

Man, I can breathe a sign of relief for now. If anyone cares to search for my comments back in the original college football thread in the preseason, go for it. That's where I flat out said U of L would beat WVU's asses for what happened last year. It's funny, but I don't feel all that elated about this win tonight. Almost as if we could have really stomped the piss out of them had we played better. Maybe that and also Rutgers looming on the horizon next week. And we better fucking be #3 in everything next week. There is no excuse not to be.

I don't think there's any way to really prove that the Michigan and OSU loser is really the #2 team. I think the national title game should be a matchup that is new and exciting. Whoever loses there is bound to drop a few spots in the polls, enough to where an unbeaten Big East team would slide in. The nightmare scenario for the BCS is if U of L beats WVU, Rutgers beats U of L, and WVU beats Rutgers. At that point I am not sure who would play Ohio St./Michigan for the title. There would be only one other likely unbeaten team out there, and that is..... Boise State.

Having read that here's the problem. First off, we're talking about 4-7 games here. Fans might be willing to travel for 1 game like the Super Bowl, but not so much a 7 game series. Aside from the NFL, which other sports have neutral sites in the title series or game? The NBA has home court throughout the playoffs where the team with the best record has home court. Ditto NHL. If anything, baseball needs something like that rather than a neutral site. Let's face it, baseball has always done bizarre things with World Series home field. It used to alternate, but what sense did it make for an 85-77 Twins team to have home field in 1987? Just make it the team with the best record overall gets home field. No need in All Star Games deciding it, just give home field to the best team. Maybe use the All Star Game as a tiebreaker if both teams have the same record, like say if the Yankees and Mets both made it this year.

Hey the last time I saw a state graphic like that was before the World Series where Missouri was the only state that picked the Cardinals to beat the Tigers. There's something bizarre about U of L having the blue though. Interesting that the team favored by oddsmakers by 1 1/2 or 2 gets only 35%.

I mostly couldn't stand the Master with the DOD though. Horrible. Still, those skits did have Kamala in them, so it can't be all bad.

Dear God, I saw that goofy package with them on the beach. In all honesty I didn't think it was all THAT bad. Maybe I just kind of put a filter on it with my mind and it became tolerable. It's certainly nowhere near the lameness of those Dungeon of Doom skits.

Well, if you are Rutgers would you really schedule insane OOC games? It's not like Rutgers has been good for a long time. They probably wanted feasible OOC games against major conf. opponents that they might have a chance of beating. Now WVU? They need to schedule maybe 1 more quality OOC opponent.

I guess my point comparing the schedules is that Cincy and Philly are still better than most of the gimps that NE plays down the stretch (Bears aside). As far as the Colts' run D goes, it might be so bad that the Patriots may bust a few long runs and thus not eat up as much time as they want.

I don't think it's possible for the Cowboys to beat someone worse than they did Buffalo. I'm perplexed as to why so many ESPN pundits think the Colts will have home field locked up so easily. The Patriots have both Indy and Chicago at home and check out the rest of their schedule: Jets, at Green Bay, Detroit, at Miami, Houston, at Jacksonville, at Tennessee. You gotta be kidding me. Of those teams only Jacksonville has any hope in hell of winning. The Colts have the Cowboys on the road, Jacksonville in a rematch, Cincy, Philly.

I can't see the Pats squashing the Colts. Manning will put up numbers on them, at least he has in the past few meetings in the regular season. The reason I say they get wildy lucky is that the Colts seemingly find ways to lose vs. NE. Like the season opener 2 years ago, where James fumbled twice in the redzone, Manning gets sacked late, Vanderjagt misses a game tying FG, etc. I'm thinking it'll be a high scoring game, something like this past week's Denver/Indy game.

Yeah I can't believe people are stupid enough to vote for the Coach over seeing a WWE champ vs. World champ match or WWE vs. ECW champ match. Who gives a shit if the Coach gets beat down? This same logic will probably lead to Cena having to defend his belt at the PPV, despite the logic of voting for him being a punishment for the lone face in the match. I'd think Booker should have to defend really, if the voting made sense. As far as the tag match, what are we supposed to want to see there? There are 3 heel choices out to screw DX. I voted for Bischoff, but shouldn't there be one choice that is impartial?

Well, U of L has to hold them to 28 points. I don't see WVU scoring less than that. Talk about WVU not having a totally dominant offensive effort, what about the Cards? Bush's injury has started to really show in the past few weeks as it's been tougher to run the ball (especially with Cantwell at QB, and now a somewhat rusty Brohm). U of L has been solid against the rush this season, but yet to really go against an option style QB. Believe me, if there's one thing U of L has never and will never defend it is any sort of option attack. After all, last year Slaton wasn't really killing us until the 1st string QB Bednarik got hurt. Hopefully Petrino has had time to figure something out.

Here's the lineup for this coming week in the NFL followed by predictions. Sunday 1:00: Atlanta (4-2) at Cincinnati (4-2): Tough game to call here since both teams need a win. When in doubt in a tossup game like this, go with the home team. Bengals by 6. Houston (2-4) at Tennessee (1-5): Jobber matchup here, though both teams have shown signs of life. Since the Titans have had 2 decent games in a row to Houston's 1, I'll take the Titans by 7. San Francisco (2-4) at Chicago (6-0): Can't see the Bears having two mediocre efforts in a row, so they should squash the Niners by at least 14. Arizona (1-6) at Green Bay (2-4): Stick a fork in the Cardinals, they are done. The Packers aren't all that much but they should be able to win this one at home. Packers by 10. Seattle (4-2) at Kansas City (3-3): Chiefs are a curious team, up and down. Seattle won't have Hasselbeck and maybe not Alexander so they Chiefs should get a home win by about 7. Baltimore (4-2) at New Orleans (5-1): Will the Saints' magic run continue? The Ravens really need a win right now, so it won't be easy. I think the Saints will manage to edge the Ravens at home though, something like 20-17. Tampa Bay (2-4) at NY Giants (4-2): Giants can't afford a home slip up against the Bucs, so they should win this one in tougher than expected fashion. Giants by 7. Jacksonville (3-3) at Philadelphia (4-3): Okay, here are two teams who both desperately need a win. McNabb should rebound though, so I'll take the Eagles 28-21. 4:00 games: St. Louis (4-2) at San Diego (4-2): This should be a fun, high scoring game. Can't see the Chargers losing two in a row, but I can see the Rams losing 2 in a row. Chargers by 7, maybe 35-28. Pittsburgh (2-4) at Oakland (1-5): The Raiders finally got a win, but let's not push it here. Steelers should beat the crap out of them even with Batch. Pittsburgh by 14. Indianapolis (6-0) at Denver (5-1): Okay, the Broncos actually have to play someone who can (gasp) score. Even though the Broncos usually have the Colts' number in the regular season (only to get stomped in the playoffs) I'll say the Colts edge them 21-17. NY Jets (4-3) at Cleveland (1-5): Ugh, what a boring game. The Jets should be able to get a road win here, but likely in a low scoring affair. Jets 16-10. 8:15: Dallas (3-3) at Carolina (4-3): Doesn't matter if it is Bledsoe or Romo, the Panthers should be able to win this one at home. Carolina by 7. Monday 8:30: New England (5-1) at Minnesota (4-2): This should be a good matchup. Wonder if the Vikings will try to goon Brady a la Hasselbeck? Since this one is in Minnesota I will take the Vikings to win here in a close game, 23-20.

Oh man, this is the week. If U of L can win this one vs. WVU then it's on to Rutgers and a possible unbeaten season. With a loss though? Bye bye Big East title and likely the BCS. I wrote a lot of smack early on about how I thought U of L would smoke WVU in this game out of revenge for last year. It still might happen, but with Bush out and U of L not exactly firing on all cylinders lately I'd say WVU is likely the better team right now. I'm hoping emotion and home field will play a part.

The goofy thing is that they have to put the belt on RVD again for nothing else if just to pay off the current angle. If Vince hates RVD then job him at WM and have it be a changing of the ECW guard. Cause just keeping him from the title only makes fans want RVD to finally win it, since people don't know the inner workings and just see a storyline of "RVD is chasing the ECW title and Heyman is screwing him."

Yeah, RVD screwed up in July. But good grief, was his getting caught with some weed such a serious offense that he has to be punished for years? Cause in this case it's not just punishing him, it's also killing the ECW brand. I'm telling you, when that Chamber match comes down to RVD and Test and Heyman's thugs hit the ring or they pull a Montreal screwjob on RVD, don't say I didn't warn everyone.

I wouldn't mind them putting it on Punk at some point, but right now the timing is off. Punk should be going after RVD and the title. That should be ECW's next big rivalry. What they need to realize is that a lot of people go out of their way to watch ECW. It's that 3rd show of the week, and it's on at 10:00. They better give me an incentive to watch. If they just job out my favorite wrestlers like RVD and Sabu, refuse to put the belt back on Van Dam, then why the fuck should I go out of my way for it?

Humongous, thing is why on earth would it not be a regular 1 on 1 title match if they were simply going to give RVD the title? The Chamber is set up specifically to screw him. I'm telling you, if they do something insanely stupid like ECW Champion Test or Bob Holly then it's just a matter of time before they're drawing jack shit on Sci Fi and the show is canceled. Best case scenario is that someone, anyone talks sense to Vince and they put the belt back on RVD either at this PPV or at WM.

Yeah but we all know they'll try to push Khali again. I'm already dreading hearing "ECW World Champion: The Great Khali." After hearing of this Elimination Chamber I really don't care about ECW anymore. I know they'll fuck RVD out of the title again there and I've mainly been watching through this tedious Big Show title run because I assumed they'd simply job him 1 on 1 to RVD for the title. I read somewhere (prowrestling.com, not sure of their source) that Vince is still pissed at RVD and also refuses to put the belt back on him because he's "not a draw." Hell, if RVD isn't a draw in ECW I would like to know who on that roster is! My money is on Test for new champion. If that happens they'll be below a 1.0 within weeks.