cabbageboy

Impact for the most part is a missable show. I think you could go in cold to a PPV and just watch it and enjoy the show without doing hardly any following of the angles beforehand. That's why I just tape it and watch OVW on Saturdays at 11:00. OVW is a much more urgent show and there's no PPVs to build to, so that's pretty much it.

Just wondering but why the talk of the Big East losing its bid? If things go as it should then WVU will simply win it and be 10-1, end the year in the top 10. U of L can go 9-2 and finish maybe in the top 15 range. Might be possible USF could crack the top 25. Dama, I think the main problem people have with the Big 12 is that since 2000 there always seems to be some overhyped Big 12 team that gets an undeserved shot at the national title. Be it Nebraska that one year after they lost to Colorado, or either time with OU in the past 2 years. Right now I can't say the same for Texas since they are unbeaten along with USC. BUT...if they should somehow lose the Big 12 title game and still go to the Rose Bowl, you'll never hear the end of the bitching. Nevermind Texas beating USC. Could they beat Penn St. or LSU? I'm not really sure they could. It doesn't matter if they simply win out, but should they stumble in the Big 12 title game, it's a fair question.

A good heel is someone I'd pay money to see get his ass kicked, but really not mind as a performer (as in I'd think the guy was a solid wrestler). I actually agree with New Jake on quite a bit of this, though I'm not as viciously anti Orton as he is. I have never found any Orton matches to be terribly memorable aside from the Foley streetfight. The Benoit matches apparently made zero impression on me because I know I saw both and am bewildered that anyone found either to be ****. Hell, I thought Benoit got more out of Kane on that Bad Blood PPV. The Orton Formula goes as thus: Decent beginning, insanely boring midsection with nothing but his boring headlocks and resting, then a flurry at the finish. This makes people think they've seen a good match, though there really isn't any "there" there.

It doesn't matter. He's still stale as shit on top and they just need to put the title on someone else. I'm all for keeping things fresh and this is not 1986 anymore where guys can hold belts ad nauseum. I said it earlier in other threads, but there has to be a catalyst for Cena to get that edge back. Right now what's his catalyst for busting out freestyle raps again, or acting heelish? He's got the belt, he's on top of the world. Something like losing the title and having fans boo him is a catalyst for going back to his old self.

One thing that might hurt Duke is that the ACC is way, way down. UNC has nobody left, Maryland is their usual post 2002 mediocre selves. Wake didn't impress anyone in losing to Florida(?!). Please Herb Sendek, save us from the evil Duke!

Dama, are you kidding me???? In the days before Huggins made Cincy the uber asshole cocksuckers of C-USA, Memphis were the scum of the earth in the old Metro days. Their coach (Dana Kirk) was put in prison over tax evasion or something like that. Their fans are for the most part total white trash, some of whom did things like throw knives at U of L players. Now they have that bastard Calipari, who does the most blatant and sickening ref baiting of any coach in the country. As my brother said "I hate Calipari even worse than John Chaney. Chaney is at least kind of a guilty pleasure nowdays...Calipari isn't even a guilty pleasure." Not to mention they also have that little bastard Darius Washington, who got a well earned comeuppance by missing the FTs in the C-USA finals last year. Sure, most people hate Cincy (or now that Huggins is gone just don't care) but a lot of people don't think as much about Memphis since they haven't been relevant in 20 years. So tonight when Duke plays Memphis no matter who loses I win.

Normally I'd laugh at the prospects of USF in the BCS, but I'm not sure how this would affect U of L's bowl standings. The Gator Bowl is practically spread eagle for us, but if fucking USF upsets WVU then it might knock WVU down to the Gator and U of L down to something truly hideous like the Meineke Car Bowl. I think USF is actually BETTER than WVU, which is why I was the first to panic about them in the BCS. WVU basically screwed U of L in that game, even the Big East admitted it. USF flat out took U of L out and threw them down a flight of stairs. 2 of USF's 3 losses have been to Miami and Penn St. If WVU played those teams they would lose as well. Hopefully it all turns out and U of L gets Miami again in the Gator. We owe those fuckers and might not get the chance next year since Miami is trying to back out of coming here.

JustJoe, the Duke/Memphis game tonight is the equivalent of a heel vs. heel matchup. To be honest I think Memphis should win that game. They are all sorts of fast and talented, but the problem they have is brainlock. If Memphis doesn't beat Duke I think IU might do it. I'm not giving Texas much of a shot at it, they impressed me little in the Guardians Classic even though they won.

Well, two games down but I'll go ahead and predict the rest of this week's games: SUN, NOV 27 Baltimore at Cincinnati: Cincy should rebound nicely and beat the piss out of the Ravens by at least 14. St. Louis at Houston: The Rams suck but surely not THIS bad...STL by 10. Carolina at Buffalo: Very torn on this, but since Buffalo is basically going nowhere I think Carolina gets their usual uninspiring win by 5. San Francisco at Tennessee: Awful game. I guess the Titans by 7 or so. New England at Kansas City: Very interesting game. NE can more or less lose here and it won't matter but KC needs it badly, so I'll take the Chiefs. Chicago at Tampa Bay: Chris Simms vs. this insane defense is comedy gold waiting to happen. Bears by 6. San Diego at Washington: Skins look done after losing to Oakland. SD by 14. Cleveland at Minnesota: I keep waiting for the Vikings to suck again but I'll have to wait a little longer. MN by 10. Miami at Oakland: As I said last week, Miami is done. Nick Saban confirmed as much. Oakland will stagger to a 7 pt. win. Jacksonville at Arizona: I think this will be a scare for the Jags since they never seem to win impressively on the road. JAX by 7 or less. NY Giants at Seattle: Great game, winner gets a leg up on home field throughout the playoffs. Seattle is a very shaky 8-2 and they're bound to lose at home sometime, so I'll take the Giants on a last sec FG. Green Bay at Philadelphia: Both teams are reeling but the Pack is truly hopeless. Philly by 3. New Orleans at NY Jets: Oh God. Jets by 6, but who cares? MON, NOV 28 Pittsburgh at Indianapolis: Roethisberger will be back and he's never lost on the road. Pittsburgh needs this one worse than Indy, but for some reason I can't really see the Colts' first loss being at home here. Colts by 7.

I do agree that Da Beast has a good look but the guy is basically an unskilled jobber on OVW. Just gets squashed by Albright or whoever. Elijah Burke is one guy who gets pushed on OVW that does jack shit for me. Even at the OVW house show I went to at my brother's old middle school...I thought Burke was just bland and not at all exciting or interesting (he also does WAY too much X-Pac offense). Aaron "The Idol" Stevens is also a guy Heyman is pimping on OVW that strikes me as the drizzling shits.

Oh duh, how could I forget UK over WVU since I watched that game last night. Somehow WVU has never seemed "Big East" to me. Not like Cuse or UConn, St. John's, etc. Note though that the SEC's wins have been by the two decent teams in the conf. I mean put WVU against some jobber like Ole Miss and they'd obviously win. As far as Gonzaga goes, I'm not getting my hopes up on them. I've been burned too many times of late by picking Gonzaga in my bracket. I don't particularly think Mark Few is a great coach, or at least he's not when he has to go against masters like Bob Knight or Lute Olsen in a tourney game. I might put them in my bracket to go far again but wouldn't be shocked if they get beat down by Wyoming or Nevada again.

Well, Raw mainly became the top brand again in 2004 because Smackdown went around doing horribly stupid shit like putting the belt on Bradshaw and having Kurt Angle as GM. Raw was not anything real special, it was just the lesser of two evils.

Well I know Florida beat Cuse but what's the other win for the SEC over the Big East?

When I saw that Bucknell game on Syracuse's schedule I thought "There's an upset." If you're going to schedule a jobber, schedule a JOBBER. Thus far the Big East hasn't really looked so macho. WVU finished last in the Guardians thing among the 4 real teams in it. Cuse has lost to FL and Bucknell already. U of L can barely beat Division 2 teams. UConn and Nova should run away with the conf.

Stuff like the Dudleys turning on RVD just blurs together...as an old ECW fan them being on the same side is more bizarre than the Dudleys attacking him. As far as Rey/RVD goes, I think the progression would have actually been RVD to turn on Rey, or just break up amicably. Can't imagine Rey as the asshole heel going against RVD, when RVD is easily better in the cocky heel dickhead role.

In fairness though much of WCW in 1999 was god awful bad...during the Nash era most of the midcard guys were ignored or just jobbed out. It was only during the Russo "Powers That Be" angle that everyone was doing SOMETHING, even if it was stupid.

Yeah that has to be an early contender for Game of the Year. Probably about ****3/4 if one is open to doing ratings for games. Can't really go the full ***** since it was a game that has no real importance in the grand scheme of things. That's an interesting topic. What are some ***** games in college hoops? In the regional finals last year I'd say all 4 games were easily at ****, but if I had to rank them I'd go like this: Louisville vs. West Virginia: *****. Yes, I'm a mega U of L fan but this was one of the greatest games I've ever seen, even looking at it a few weeks later in a calmer perspective. Amazing trick shots, both teams playing at an insane level, guys coming in off the bench and making key plays, a thrilling comeback (that wasn't really WVU choking...it took place over most of the last 30 mins). UNC vs. Wisconsin: ****. This was a very good game and Wisconsin brought it way more than I thought they would (losing 88-82), but really I don't think at any point there was a legit threat UNC could lose here. Michigan St. vs. Kentucky: ****1/2. Incredible double OT thriller with a jaw dropping finale to regulation in Sparks' 3. UK had their chances to finish it in OT but screwed up, and MSU kinda screwed up at the end of regulation anyway, so I can't go ***** on this one. And though Crimson would disagree, the wrong team won. Illinois vs. Arizona: ****1/2. This was another amazing game but given your point of view either Zona choked horribly the last 5 mins. of regulation or the refs blatantly refused to call ANY type of foul on Illinois as they were stealing the ball at will. Either way it leaves just enough of a sour taste that I'd drop it from *****. Anyone else got some game ratings? I mean there are some obvious ***** games like Duke/UK from 1992, but any others?

Crap, double post.

What is supposed to be accomplished in the grand scheme of this Raw/Smackdown feud though? I mean by definition they can't have one side just destroy the other or else it would kill all interest in that particular show. So one side wins a few, the other side wins a couple, etc. Oddly enough, though Raw touts their superiority so much I think Smackdown actually would hold the head to head advantage. I also thought about the Bret blading. Unlike Flair or HHH Bret would blade very sparingly (or have blood in his matches), only using it occasionally when the situation might call for it. Like vs. Piper at WM 8, or Bulldog at the 1995 IYH PPV (which was near Philly I think, heart of ECW territory, hence the blood), and of course the heated Austin match.

Well, at least they didn't put the title on Orton. At least for now.

TNA desperately needs 2 hours. The show feels too frantic and rushed as it is. I'm just getting into it and then bam it's all over. OVW is a show that seems much better paced for a 1 hour show, possibly because they have a smaller roster.

If I ever meet Stephanie McMahon I am going to ask her about that. Inquiring minds want to know!

Carlito could use being on the juice actually, the dude has zero physique. What makes you think Ken Kennedy is 100% clean while Paul Burchill (similar size) is on the juice? Stevie Richards is also a lot bigger now than he was in ECW.

I already thought of Lashley just kicking the shit out of Carlito (we can all agree he has to be the first elimination I hope). I'm torn on Lashley in this thing. I almost thought he could be a survivor if the Smackdown team wins to really put him over. Certainly can't see him eating a pin this early, so if he is eliminated it'd be him fighting Kane or TBS on the outside and be counted out. Also thought of the Masterlock spot too. Finally a big mofo who can break out of that lame full nelson. I even had the initial thought that Batista could tap out to the Masterlock since he's injured (provided he can even get into it with his injury) and then Lashley can break the move, making him look even better.

It will end up similar to major league baseball, where you'll get a few no name guys, maybe some guys down in OVW, and maybe one major star a year like Palmeiro. The "major" guy will be someone like Chris Masters.