cabbageboy

Here are some predictions: CHI@CAR: Hard to know what to make of this. Somehow the Panthers survived without Smith in Week 1, but I dunno about this one. Bears in a mild upset by 3. TEN@CIN: Carson Palmer wrecked my fantasy team with a career worst outing in Week 1. Tenn has a good D too, but with Young likely out I'll say the Bengals with no real conviction. Cincy by 4. GB@DET: The Lions looked really bad and I can't see this going too much better. GB by 10. BUF@JAX: Bills looked really strong in the first game and I am just not into the Jags. Buffalo with a good road win by 7. OAK@KC: What did the world do to deserve this? I'll take the Chiefs since it's in KC by 6, like 13-7. IND@MIN: Both teams need a win here but I wonder if this is just not the Colts' year. Minn by 7. NYG@STL: Rams looked utterly hopeless and the Giants should manhandle them as well. NY by 10. NO@WSH: Could the Saints be back on track? Not sure yet, but the Redskins look dubious. Saints by 6. SF@SEA: Wow, I have no real idea here. Seattle looked DOA at Buffalo, but they are a good home team so I'll take them by 3. ATL@TB: Tampa had a tough loss but looked pretty decent. Can't see a young Matt Ryan winning his first road game. TB by 9. MIA@ARZ: Could the Cardinals be the class of the crappy NFC West? AZ by 12. SD@DEN: Chargers had a really puzzling home loss to begin the year and the Broncos looked awesome against a lousy Raiders team. Denver wins at home by 8. BAL@HOU: Ravens won but didn't look all that good, while Houston was trounced. In a matchup of two mediocre teams, I'll take the home team. Houston by 4. NE@NYJ: This lost a lot of luster with Brady's injury. I'll go with the Jets winning by 7. PIT@CLE: Steelers could well be the best team in the AFC. Let's see if they beat down the Browns worse than the Cowboys did. Pittsburgh by 14. PHI@DAL: I'm not 100% sold on the Eagles, though this is certainly the game of the week. Dallas by 3, but Philly likely takes the rematch.

The Wicker Man with Cage is seriously one of the worst movies ever made. It's even worse once you actually watch the original. Another amusing moment in that one was Cage's bizarre dream and then waking up to say "GOD DAMMIT!"

This show started out pretty well with the fun DDP/Badd match and some other stuff, but that Luger/Sting stuff was so boring. For all the talk about Booker and Harlem Heat, they quite frankly were a crap tag team. I can't think of a single good HH match. And after the Road Warriors ran in to screw the Heat, why did they not return the favor later and screw the LOD? It was pretty funny watching that US title match. One Man Gang treated Konnan like a jobber in that match, picked him up at 2, then allowed a weak looking pin and no sold it afterwards. Is it any wonder OMG vanished soon after?

To back up a bit, Too Cool was a fun faction for a while. But I agree 100% with Noah on the notion of Brian Christopher being the guy who truly carried the group. In between Scotty doing the Worm and Rikishi doing the Stinkface, someone had to actually work a match. And that was where Too Sexy came into play. Take him away and you have a couple of goofs doing comedy wrestling.

It's only a matter of time before they realize Manu and Umaga really should be a tag team. It would bolster the tag ranks on either show, preferrably SD.

Most over guy in 1997? I suppose so, but it was a bogus sort of overness. I too have been watching these old Nitro shows on 24/7 and am baffled as to what the appeal of Sting was in this gimmick. The guy acted like a bitch, watched his friends get beat down by the NWO, let Hogan call him out and did nothing for weeks on end, and refused to wrestle guys to get to Hogan. Needless to say I don't think this angle holds up at all with time. As far as beating Hogan at Starrcade....so what? Do you think Hogan wouldn't have gotten the belt back in 1998 anyway? The goofy finish at Starrcade was one of those ominous moments for WCW, but it didn't really hurt them much at the time. In terms of being like the Rock or Austin, it wasn't going to happen for Sting. Let's face it, the guy got hugely over by never speaking and never wrestling. Pro wrestlers kinda need to do those things to stay popular long term. It didn't help that Sting lost a lot of his in ring skill during that huge 1997 layoff. I can't hardly name a good WCW Sting match from Starrcade 1997 onward.

I found it amusing that Flair/Magnum was the main event of that AWA show. What does that say about Gagne's faith in his own top guys like Martel and Hansen? Though to be fair that match has an inconclusive finish, and was a fun brawl while it lasted.

I mentioned RVD coming back from an injury to almost beat UT on Raw in 2002, but how about something more recent? What about last year when Orton kept doing the Kick of Doom to him on a weekly basis, yet Van Dam managed to show up at the PPV and WIN the match? Seriously, try telling a friend who didn't see the PPV what happened on this show. Tell someone "Yeah, Orton kicked Punk in the head and he wasn't able to wrestle, but Jericho took his spot after having the crap beat out of him for 25 minutes....and won the title."

Is Manu some sort of reference to the basketball player Manu Ginobili from the Spurs? Anyway aside from the goofy main event this was a fun show tonight. Rey/Bourne vs. Miz/Morrison was a really good TV match and hopefully could propel Bourne to stardom if they follow up with it. I have to admit I'm a little hazy as to where Jericho is going with the belt right now. As in who is his next feud going to be? Batista has been flat out done to death in these lame duck main events, Punk is getting his shot on free TV, and HBK is off doing whatever.

This makes me harken back to a Raw in 2002, the one where RVD seemingly beat The Undertaker for the undisputed title. I forget exactly how but RVD was beat down earlier in the show and may have had a concussion. But when the time came, he actually wrestled and almost won the belt (this was the match Flair restarted). My point is any sort of viable babyface competes and guts it out. Punk's title run was certainly a bizarre one though, wasn't it? He didn't really win the belt in an actual match, just attacked Edge and cashed in MITB. Then he lost by not even competing in a crazy gimmick match.

Let's have a look at how I did in predictions: WAS @ NYG 7:00 PM: I know the Giants have a ton of injuries and sucked at home last year. But the Redskins don't do much for me either way. NYG by 13. (Not quite as much, but a solid win. 1 for 1) Sun, Sep 07 Time (ET) 1:00 DET @ ATL: Oh geez, who knows what to expect. Detroit's crappy D is a decent first opponent for Matt Ryan, so I'll say he does well enough for the Falcons to win. ATL by 4. (Wow, I had the win correct but actually underestimated the Falcons. 2 for 2) SEA @ BUF: I've never been thrilled with the Seahawks, and while I doubt the Bills as well I do think they can hold serve at home. Buffalo by 7. (Another beatdown, Bills look pretty good thus far. 3 for 3) NYJ @ MIA: I know the Dolphins may well be improved, but until they win a few I can't really pick them to do much. I'll take Favre and Co. by 10. (Was 6 instead of 10, decent win. 4 for 4) KC @ NE: Regardless of whether Brady is hurt or whatever this should be a beatdown. Pats by 17+. (Wow. With Brady hurt the Pats are going to struggle this year. Didn't really cover here, but 5 for 5 in W/L) TB @ NO: Hard to know the status of this one with the hurricane and all. I'll take Tampa by 6. (Bah, should have taken the Saints at home. 5 for 6) STL @ PHI: The Rams can't be as awful as they were last year, can they? That said, I'll buy into the moderate Eagles hype at least for this week. Philly by 9. (Ugh, just a beating. 6 for 7) HOU @ PIT: I actually kinda like the Texans and if they stay healthy feel they could be a surprise team in the AFC. So I'll go with the upset here, Texans by 3. (Okay that was a batshit crazy pick. Steelers look really good. 6 for 8) JAC @ TEN: Jacksonville is a team that just doesn't astound me, while the Titans tend to look ugly but somehow win in the end. Vince Young makes just enough plays for TN to win like 13-10. (Nailed this one. 7 for 9) CIN @ BAL: I have no idea who the Ravens are even starting at QB. Bengals are a dubious team but I'll reluctantly say Cincy by 6. (Gee, and Palmer is my fantasy QB. Thanks! 7 for 10) 4:15 DAL @ CLE: The Browns may well come back down to earth this year and the Cowboys need to make some semblance of an opening week statement. Dallas by 14. (Beatdown. 8 for 11) CAR @ SD: Isn't Steve Smith suspended? Even with a solid running attack I can't see it happening for Carolina here, even with Merriman banged up. SD by 12. (Surprise of the weekend. Really good win for the Smith-less Panthers. 8 for 12) ARI @ SF: Kurt Warner will produce decent results as long as he can stay upright. Who knows how long that will be though. Who knows what this O'Sullivan guy will do....all of these games have question marks it seems like. Arizona by 10. (Got this one exactly right. 9 for 13) 8:15 CHI @ IND: Manning should be back, might be rusty for a quarter or so, and then the beatdown will commence. Colts by 17. (Wow the Colts looked bad and rusty, Bears looked really solid. 9 for 14)

First off, I do agree with the hypothesis of Jericho being champion since he's been the most over guy on Raw. Hopefully this run will be better than his undisputed title reign. I wouldn't even mind the Orton/Punk angle if they had booked it a bit different. I would have had Jericho in the Scramble match and held off on the HBK match for another PPV. Second, Punk could show up beaten all to hell and thus Jericho could steal the pin at the end. But to have Punk not even compete was complete crap. It's a bait and switch and also makes Punk look like a, well, punk since he didn't wrestle and a much more banged up Jericho did instead.

Well, really how many times has UT vs. Show been a serious feud? It's been done before but all of those times it never really had any heat since Show was never on the Taker's level. It might work better this time as long as they don't have Show become Vickie's new boyfriend. I'm very torn on the main event. Once Punk was attacked I was in utter horror at the initial thought that Orton would be the replacement. Hard to stomach that if it had been the case, since that would be rewarding Orton for hurting Punk. I am glad to see Jericho get the belt, but it was truly bizarre that he of all people would be a replacement since he went through a 20+ min. beatdown from Michaels earlier in the show. I couldn't help but think "Okay wait up, Jericho is able to wrestle after a brutal match but Punk isn't after one lame kick to the head?" It might be a way of protecting Punk by not having him job, but in this case if he was losing he almost needed to come out with a head bandage and get beat. Really good PPV though, nothing all that bad on it. The SD match continued Jeff Hardy's string of blunders and not wrestling a smart match (unlike his brother, who didn't take chances and kept everything in front of him and won). Why Jeff didn't just break up HHH's final pin instead of insanely covering Shelton I have no idea. There's taking crazy chances and then there's looking like a complete idiot.

ECU is a nice team but at some point in conf. play someone will get up for them and that will be that. UCF gave USF a good game, so maybe they will take out ECU. Or the always tough So. Miss, though I don't know how good they are this year.

The Crockett area enjoyed the angle of rubbing a guy's face against the ground, didn't they? That 1982 Piper angle and of course the 1986 Horsemen attack on Ricky Morton. From watching that show it was quite amusing that even as far back as 1982 Flair ranted about Dusty in interviews. Although I guess in this case he was still gloating about beating him for the title.

Can TNA exactly sell the PPV based on Foley though? I thought next week's show was already in the can. Might be better to hold off and do his first big show at BFG in October, maybe run some vignettes on TV.

Yeah that Raw was a really excellent show with the notable Austin/Vince angle and of course the fun Cactus/HHH match that holds up well with time. Plenty of UT/HBK on it as well. Though I have to admit still wincing at Michaels beating Bulldog in England for the European belt. That was so wrong on so many levels. Would it have killed them to book a massive run in schmozz there, then have HHH beat a hurting Bulldog back in the States? It keeps all the heat on Shawn and Hunter, and doesn't bury Davey Boy in his homeland. Not to mention the whole proto Fingerpoke angle they did with DX and the Euro title anyway. One thing occurred to me while watching that Raw: The Montreal Screwjob had to happen. Watching the Vince/Austin segment I was almost entirely with Vince, since his demands seemed quite reasonable then. It's almost like if they wanted to do a Vince/Austin feud then Vince had to do something to truly seem reprehensible and screwing Bret was the ideal thing. It was also obvious from this Raw that Bret did need to go, since he was the one guy who seemed like he was blatantly phoning it in at that point.

Yeah but are any of these matches any good at all? I mean it's Giant Baba. There was a Race vs. Von Erich (David?) title match shown on 24/7 a while ago, though it was a countout. Regardless I can see them showing the 1983 Flair match since it was from a major show and the angle was awesome even if the match had too much of Gene Kiniski butting in.

Ernest Miller was a guy who had phony charisma and couldn't really work and was a bad fit for WWE. I think Smiley could have gotten over. He wouldn't have been a main eventer by any means, but at least over in a Too Cool and Rikishi sort of way.

I watched quite a bit of WVU/ECU and that was flat out not the WVU team that we've seen for the past 3 years. That was a team that was completely out of rhythm on offense and just looked awful. I can't help but wonder if others are now studying the defense used by USF to corral Pat White and the RBs. WVU may well be like U of L was last year, a top 10 preseason team with a new coach that turns out to be mega disappointing. Speaking of the Big East, I think we may have the winner here for worst major conference. I guess if the BE plays the ACC in the Orange Bowl we'll know for sure. South Florida vs. Wake Forest...smell the money. At this point I'm resigned to the notion of USF dominating the Big East for years to come, since they are the one program in the conf. with a coach that isn't a slimeball (Leavitt), they're in a big market, and can recruit that FL talent base. U of L and WVU have had coaching changes that have basically wrecked one program and in the process of doing it to another, Rutgers was a flash in the pan, Pitt is crap under Wannstedt, and no one else is too special. It's USF's league to win or lose.

From the map it looks like I'm getting Bengals/Ravens, joy. Palmer is my fantasy QB though so I might be slightly interested. I'd actually much rather see Jets/Dolphins than that one.

That Bret/Sasso stuff was just a cheesy TV thing for a couple weeks and had no real importance. Ignore for your own sanity. Now that I think about it I have zero recollection of how the Steiners got back together or why Bagwell went face. That entire angle from 1998 was so horrid that I tried to wipe it from memory. I think eventually Bagwell just turned face and Rick Steiner simply made up with his brother....was there more to it than that?

I have always been baffled as to WWE's lack of love for Norman Smiley. I loved the guy's WCW work. He can wrestle, he has charisma, has a fun schtick with the Big Wiggle. If anyone ever seemed like a good fit for WWE, it is him. Yet until now they never gave him a look.

Scroby, what do you mean? In storyline Vickie booked UT into the TLC match with Edge with the stip that if he lost he was fired. She threatened to fire Big Show or suspend him last night, so why not fire Taker? I'm not quite sure what to think of R-Truth so far. I want to like the guy, but his happy rapper gimmick is completely at odds with the serious minded vignettes about being from the hood.

I am amazed at the lack of Ride the High Country love here. I would even say it's Peckinpah's best film. For all the talk about Wild Bunch, it actually really drags during the midsection where people aren't being blown to bits. The only truly interesting character in Wild Bunch was Robert Ryan's. Maybe it takes seeing a bunch of Randolph Scott westerns directed by Budd Boetticher to get RTHC? Usually in those movies Scott is the lawman/bounty hunter and there's some morally dubious guy that is his reluctant partner (who has his own designs on money, women, whatever). The brilliance of RTHC is that it casts Scott against type as the morally ambiguous character potentially up to no good, and Joel McCrea is the honest lawman. Unforgiven is Eastwood's best film in my opinion. It improves on each viewing and there are some real gray areas in it that come to light the more you see it. I do enjoy the spaghetti westerns on their own level but in some ways I think the hype for them is almost out of hand. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a fun movie, but it's still entirely too long for a film that is much ado about nothing. But any of these being the "best western ever?" The cheesy dubbing alone prevents that. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a personal favorite of mine. If someone said The Searchers is a better film I wouldn't argue it. But Yellow Ribbon is something I'd much rather watch and enjoy. I do think the Eastwood/Bronson movies made High Noon look like a relic though. Try watching High Noon sometime after watching a bunch of modern westerns. I always think "Why doesn't he just shoot these guys at the station?" That and quite honestly High Noon has a really lame villain. They spend an hour building up Frank Miller as this lethal badass and you expect Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef (who is IN the film as a lackey), or Richard Boone to get off that train. Instead it's just....some no name guy. Tombstone is also a ton of fun, though for whatever reason I can't quite bring myself to call it an all time classic. Maybe it was the initial jarring viewing where the OK Corral happened about halfway through and it baffled me.