cabbageboy

I don't have Tuesday in Texas on my 24/7 at the moment. Is this something that will show up in December?

Yeah up until that Steelers game I stayed with the Chargers, but when Denver managed to get by Atlanta and SD coughed up another one at Pittsburgh that was basically the death knell.

That UAB/Zona finish reminds me of that Georgetown game last season where there was a foul call at the buzzer against Villanova. Wasn't intentional though. Do some of these guys think an 80 foot hail mary is a high percentage shot? As far as UK goes, let's not kid ourselves. Billy Gillispie was hired for one reason: He beat U of L in the 2nd round of the tourney at Rupp Arena while at Texas A & M. Once Billy Donovan turned them down UK was left without a real viable alternative. So instead they turn to a guy with a history of DUIs with no record of major conf. success that didn't involve Acie Law. Watching that UNC/UK game last night put it all in perspective. Carolina got Roy Williams to come back (Dean Smith disciple), while UK couldn't lure back Donovan (the Pitino disciple). UNC was fortunate that Williams never won a title at Kansas and thus looked at UNC as a step up, whereas Donovan has already won 2 at Florida so why leave?

No shock tonight with UNC beating UK down by 19. This was without Hansbrough and a couple other guys too. This seriously might be the year where UK's tourney streak comes to an end. Hard to imagine this bunch making it to the Big Dance.

I read a long while ago that Regal took the first name William to honor his father or something along those lines. What exactly does FCW do to these poor guys? Steve Lewington was a respectable British wrestler in the Bulldogs vein while in OVW. Now he's dancing around like a poor man's Alex Wright.

The period right before the Rumble in 1998 was mediocre stuff, but once they got past the formality of the Rumble to get Austin as #1 contender, then it took off. Take a look at that WM card and nearly everything on it had a really solid issue or feud.

Gotta love a guy who was buried for actually getting over. It's not even that the idea is wrong per se, that a manager shouldn't be doing a face style mic gimmick, but shouldn't that mean he should turn face at some point rather than get buried?

Eh, the Titans wouldn't be any sort of massive favorite in the Super Bowl against the Giants, so if NY beats them it would be more like "Yeah that makes sense" than a shocker. Now that I look at the Cardinals' schedule, they have 2 obvious losses left at Philly and NE. I base that mostly off of the hideous results western teams have had coming east. So if they can beat the Giants this week, they can go 11-5. If not, 10-6 is more feasible. Either way they'll win that division. I don't buy Miami, even with a schedule of losers left. The past 2 weeks they have needed a 2 pt. conversion miss from Seattle and a last minute FG to beat Oakland. Still, going from 1-15 to say 9-7 would be a tremendous improvement. This disturbs me, but the Patriots have a shot at running the table if they can beat the Dolphins this week. After that it's nothing but Oakland and Seattle on the road, those should be wins. The tough ones were are at home, against the east coast struggling Arizona and the Steelers. Buffalo in the finale may matter or might not depending the playoff scenarios.

Nitro ironically enough got some guys over for the pure reason that they were high quality filler. It was like "Go out there and wrestle for 10 mins. to take up time." Once we get to 1998 on these shows we'll truly know if they hold up or not. Because I didn't think late 1997 Raw shows were that good even at the time, though the Nitros are still solid from that period.

And now, playoff predictions: AFC: 1. Tennessee. I don't know if they will actually run the table, but the #1 seed is basically locked up at this point. 2. NY Jets. The Jets might lose 2 more games (Tenn and maybe Miami if it means nothing). This year 11-5 could get someone a bye. 3. Baltimore. Tough remaining schedule but most of it is at home. I think they can get to 11-5 or 10-6, probably won't get a bye though. 4. Denver. San Diego should be better than them, but Denver has won the close games. 9-7 may well win that division. 5. Indianapolis. They can't catch the Titans but will likely end up as a wild card team. I'm sure the Broncos will be thrilled to get Indy again in the playoffs. 6. New England Patriots. I don't buy the Dolphins, sorry. Somehow, some way the Pats will scrape by and get enough wins to somehow get in the playoffs, with a win over Pittsburgh being the tiebreaker. NFC: 1. NY Giants. Sure they have a tough remaining schedule but the only viable teams to catch them are Carolina or Tampa and they also have a tough road. 2. Tampa Bay. The Bucs are a fairly ho hum team to get a bye, but if they can just hold the losses to Atlanta and Carolina they can get to 11-5. 3. Arizona. Cardinals could get a bye with some luck, but they just don't seem quite good enough for that somehow. 4. Green Bay. Just taking a guess here, I doubt whoever comes out of that division wins one game in the playoffs. 5. Carolina. Could flip them with Tampa and I don't recall offhand how the tiebreakers work, so I'll say they go 11-5 and land here. 6. Atlanta. Fairly tough games left, but the key ones are at home. I think they can somehow win enough games to make it over Dallas.

I'll separate this into 2 posts, one with Week 12 predictions and then a 2nd with the playoff predictions. Thurs: CIN @ PIT: I know the Bengals are coming off their epic tie with the Eagles, but the Steelers can't remotely afford to lose to Cincy with some tough games left. Pittsburgh by 12. Sunday: 1:00 PHI @ BAL: Okay, after that hideous outing against the Bengals I can't in good conscience pick the Eagles to win at Baltimore. Ravens by 5. NYJ @ TEN: Really looking forward to this game. Favre will get close to pulling this one off, but against the Titans D he's probably going to throw a key INT that costs the Jets. Titans keep the awesome undefeated vs. winless scenario alive for Thanksgiving. Tennessee by 7. TB @ DET: Ah, speaking of Thanksgiving....Tampa has to beat down the Lions to keep that matchup alive. This could be closer than expected however, since Tampa sucks on the road. Bucs by 6. MIN @ JAC: Battle of underachievers. I've never been a big fan of the Jags, just find their style of play boring. Minnesota is just what they are, an adequate team that wins some and loses some but could be better than they are if they had a star QB. Regardless, the Jags could be done after the Titans took their manhood, so I'll take the Vikings by 3. BUF @ KC: I keep expecting the Chiefs to finally pull off a win, so Zetterberg this pick is for you. Buffalo looks done right now, Chiefs have to win one at home at some point, so I'll take KC by 4. CHI @ STL: The Bears got waxed badly at Lambeau, but playing the Rams is a good way to get back on track. Steven Jackson is still hurt, so the Bears should cruise here. Chicago by 14. NE @ MIA: This is by far the hardest game to call of the week. On one hand Miami is winning but look really mediocre in doing so, beating Seattle and Oakland by 2 points each. Pats always struggle in Miami, but will Cassel? This just seems like a scenario where Belichick finds a way to steal one on the road, so I'll take NE by 3. SF @ DAL: Niners are starting to play better under Singletary but this is another game that Dallas can't afford to lose if they want to get to the playoffs. I think it will be tougher than expected though. Dallas by 7. HOU @ CLE: Houston puzzles me, since they play the Colts like their lives depend on it but suck against most everyone else. When in doubt, take the home team in a game like this. Browns by 8. 4:00 OAK @ DEN: Still not remotely buying Denver, and the way things would go now they would get the Colts in another first round beating. That said, it's at Mile High, so they will take care of the Raiders yet again. Broncos by 10. CAR @ ATL: All right Panthers, the crappy part of the schedule is over. Falcons desperately need a win after letting the Denver game slip away, so I think ATL bears down and somehow escapes with a win. Carolina hasn't proven much on the road thus far anyway. Falcons by 4. NYG @ ARI: Cardinals are actually favored to win this game, but has Vegas watched their last 2 games? They barely escaped SF, and almost coughed up a game to Seattle. Even with Bradon Jacobs banged up the Giants should punish Kurt Warner and get the win here. NYG by 9. WAS @ SEA: Okay, this is the upset pick of the week. Seattle is still reasonably tough at home and the Redskins are coming back down to earth after a hot start. Seattle by 2. Sunday Night Football IND @ SD: Colts never quite seem to catch the Chargers at the right time, since SD desperately needs to win this game while Indy can lose maybe 2 more and still be in the playoffs. Yet if the Colts can't beat the Chargers now, when will they ever do it? I'm torn. When in doubt, take the more desperate team. SD by 1, though I hope I'm wrong. Monday Night Football GB @ NO: This should be an entertaining game. Packers look tremendous at times but baffling in some games, Saints are quite the same. In another battle of 5-5 teams, I'll take the team at home. Saints by 5 in a wild, high scoring affair.

Add me to those pondering Buffalo's play calling on that last possession. They seemed to think a 45 yarder into the wind was a sure thing. Are they that afraid of Edwards throwing in that situation?

It's wild to think about that but Jericho actually is a 5 time world champion now. He had the one blip on the radar WCW run in Oct. 2001, then won it back from The Rock at that Vengeance show, then unified it with the WWF title vs. Austin later that night. Then he won it this year, then regained from Batista. It's funny because I only think of him as a 2 time champ, with that Undisputed run and this current run. Jericho can keep the world title as long as he likes, given the other options on Raw.

We'll see if Dama agrees with this, but I think OU beats TX Tech this weekend. Tech has had most of the tough ones at home and barely got by Texas. OU can put up some crazy numbers of their own and at home should take this thing and give us the fiasco of 3 one loss teams in the Big 12 south. As far as Utah vs. BYU goes, who knows. BYU seems like the better team, but then I thought TCU seemed like the better team against Utah too. Just have a funny feeling by hook or crook Utah will find a way to end up winning by 1. If not, then the Mt. West ends up in chaos as well with 3 one loss teams tied for first.

One thing: If Quantum is to be taken seriously as a villainous group they need some better guys. Bond villains typically aren't such realistic sorts. Where's a Blofeld, Goldfinger, or Dr. No? Or even Rosa Klebb? There's nothing especially notable about Dominic Greene....he's just a Eurotrash heel that could be in XXX. Ditto Mr. White. After seeing Get Smart I wouldn't mind seeing Khali as a Bond henchman villain. He could be the next Jaws if they play their cards right.

Yeah in some ways this feud reminds me of the Four Horsemen if they were only feuding with Magnum TA, with guys like Sam Houston and Denny Brown to go along with Magnum. Right now these TNA Original guys just aren't credible. I'm sorry but as talented as guys like Lethal and Creed may be I can't buy them beating Scott Steiner or Kevin Nash. Also, shouldn't the MEM have someone who can go after the tag titles and maybe X Division belt as well? As in why should Beer Money care about any of this? They aren't affected. If the MEM put Nash and Steiner for instance together as a team and went for the belts then it creates more intrigue.

I always kinda liked Monsoon for getting on Bret for not hooking a leg, since that was always a problem I had with Bret's matches (only big one really). Wouldn't the Excellence of Execution know that he needed to hook the leg? Gorilla never usually did that sort of thing on a match that actually mattered though.

I'm actually a bit surprised a Bond movie hasn't had much beyond a 40-50 million opening until now. Guess that is due to it not really being a new series. Still, for a series that has been around 45+ years the staying power is unreal. Can anyone imagine another Star Wars movie in 2022? Or Harry Potter in 2046?

And now let's see how I did with the picks: NY Jets at New England: This is insanely tough to call. For whatever reason though I can't see the Jets getting swept by the Patriots this year. NYJ by 4. (Got this almost to the spread. 1 for 1) Early Denver at Atlanta: Denver looks like bullshit quite honestly, leading the AFC West with a -27 differential. Matt Ryan will have a field day on that D. Falcons by 14. (Okay, Denver impressed me here, I didn't think they could win this one. 1 for 2) Houston at Indianapolis: Colts are still in must win mode and I expect them to beat the Texans a bit easier this time. Colts by 8. (It was a must win and the Colts yet again barely survive. 2 for 3) Tennessee at Jacksonville: Who knows with Jacksonville. They have the ability to hand the Titans their first loss, but until the Titans show otherwise I'll pick them. Titans by 7. (Jacksonville started strong, Titans finished strong. These guys are scary. 3 for 4) Oakland at Miami: Miami staggered to a win over Seattle last week and I think the Raiders will keep it semi close. Dolphins by 6. (Bleh, another lethargic win for the Dolphins. Not sure if they can beat the Pats again playing like this. 4 for 5) Baltimore at NY Giants: Ravens are playing great right now but so are the Giants and since it's at NYG I'll take the G-Men by 10. (Wasn't even close, Ravens aren't ready to play the upper echelon. 5 for 6) Detroit at Carolina: Oakland? Detroit? Carolina is getting a beneficial schedule here. Delhomme will play better this week though. Carolina by 17. (Carolina is sneaking past the dregs of the league....it will get tougher from here. 6 for 7) Philadelphia at Cincinnati: The Eagles are a puzzling team but surely they can stomp the Bengals even in Cincy. Philly by 13. (Eagles yet again prove to be puzzling. No idea how to call this. 6 for 8 I guess since it was a tie) Chicago at Green Bay: Not sure if Orton or Grossman will be starting but either way the Packers simply can't afford to lose this one at home. Green Bay by 3. (Packers finally put it all together for an absolute rout. Rematch will be closer though I would imagine. 7 for 9) New Orleans at Kansas City: The Chiefs are getting closer and closer to winning and I think this is the week they finally get it done against a struggling Saints team. KC by 2. (Okay, I was wrong about the Chiefs....they suck. 7 for 10) Minnesota at Tampa Bay: For whatever reason I am just not buying the Vikings. Tampa will limit Peterson a bit and Frerotte will panic and start throwing INTs. Tampa by 8. (Bucs did limit Peterson just enough to win. 8 for 11) Late St. Louis at San Francisco: Niners got insanely close to winning at Arizona and this is a good time to get Singletary that first win. SF by 10. (Wow, the Rams are back to sucking really hard without Steven Jackson. 9 for 12) Arizona at Seattle: The Cardinals flat out need to win this game given the hard ones they have left. Warner will go for another 300 yards and 3 TDs. Arizona by 12. (Seahawks closed the gap late but it wasn't enough. Warner is still on fire. 10 for 13) San Diego at Pittsburgh: This one looked better on paper at the beginning of the season. Chargers don't seem to fare all that well on the road this year, so I'll take the Steelers to figure out a way to win here by 7. (Would have nailed this exactly if that last bizarre TD had counted. 11-10 game on the same day as a tie, what a strange day in the NFL. 11 for 14) SNF Dallas at Washington: Toughest game of the week to call, since who knows what Romo will be like coming back from injury. Dallas is in flat out must win territory and to be honest the Redskins just seem vaguely fradulent to me. Cowboys by 3. (Cowboys were in must win mode and they somehow snuck out with the win. 12 for 15)

You know, while watching part 3 of this Best of Raw deal I noticed how nothing good on the show from that 1998-99 period had anything to do with wrestling. It was all goofy skits and angles. With the first couple of years they at least could put together a decent compilation in terms of quality matches. The only match on part 3 was Foley/Rock.

Slightly off topic but relating to WM IV...why on earth was the initial plan DiBiase winning the title? Can anyone explain to me how it would be good booking at all to have a heel win the finals of a tourney on the longest friggin PPV ever? The whole point of DiBiase trying to buy the belt from Hogan and all of his antics was that he likely couldn't beat Hogan or Savage in a match for the title.

Didn't Nebraska sneak into a title game a few years ago without even playing in the Big 12 title game? No way would they ever allow something like that to happen again. Missouri hasn't been that great this year though, so I can't really see them beating TX Tech, OU, or Texas. The one thing we do know is that barring something really bizarre happening the winner of Florida vs. Alabama will go to the title game. Unless Florida loses to FSU or Bama loses to Auburn, then all bets are off and it's BCS apocalypse. I wonder what would happen to Alabama if they lost to Auburn but then beat Florida? The game I'm most interested in next week: BYU vs. Utah. If Utah wins, they are a cinch for the BCS and a longshot for the title game. If BYU wins, the Mt. West likely gets no BCS bid and there's a chaotic Big 12 South situation with BYU, Utah, and TCU all having 1 conf. loss.

I'll use some spoilers here since I'm going to go into some detail. Overall I'd say this is a *** movie, a solid Bond outing but I had some problems with it.

Yay, U of L blows yet another winnable game by not making plays down the stretch. Running the ball on a 3rd and 23 to set up a 45 yard FG? Ugh. Guess now that Cincy/Pitt winner next week has the inside track for the BCS, though WVU might still have a chance too. Anyway, as far as Utah in 2004 goes, under the current BCS system obviously they would never get a shot since their SOS and conf. aren't powerful enough to beat out undefeated teams from the Big 12 and Pac 10 (or SEC). But even with a lesser schedule that team was so incredibly dominant that year, closest game was a 2 TD win. Boise St. in 2006 at least had a couple of tough games against Wyoming (17-10) and San Jose St. (23-20). I mentioned USC vs. Utah as a fascinating game in 2004 because Auburn just wouldn't have enough offense to match USC. Utah could put up an insane amount of points to match the Trojans. And while USC was a dominant national champion in 2004, they did have several close calls besides that Cal game. They had a 29-24 win over a 6-6 UCLA team. A 31-28 win over a 4-7 Stanford team. A 28-20 win over a 7-5 Oregon State team (was this the fog game?).

That Fatu gimmick could have gotten over if the WWF had been aware that it was 1995 and not 1988. It was ultra cheesy with all the neon colors in Fatu's wardrobe, rather than this hard edged street gimmick. Paul Heyman could have booked that angle in his sleep. Manu is basically DOA as a character now, playing lackey to Rhodes and DiBiase. Why not just put him with Umaga as a tag team once Umaga returns?