cabbageboy

Here is some reality about the Patriots: Yes, their division blows. Buffalo though is at least managing to scrape to 7-6. But other than getting the jobber connection of NYJ and Miami twice they have also played Indy, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and also the Browns (8-5) and San Diego (8-5). Their SOS is listed as #14 at www.realtimerpi.com. Seattle? They have one fucking win over a team with a winning record and that was over Tampa Bay in the opener. Their SOS is dead last at #32.

Hasn't Jarrett been largely absent from TNA's creative of late? Or was that just after his wife's death and he's back full time now? Let's just be honest about this: Russo is booking. When you do _______ on a poll matches, mystery partner matches every week, 15 things happening at once, tweeners running wild.....that's Russo. Even if it IS Jarrett and Mantel mostly booking they are doing Russo style stuff.

I know he's Mr. Monday Night but what exactly is there to do for him on Raw? There's already HHH, HBK, Orton, Jericho, Kennedy, Flair, Lashley (when he returns), Cena (when he returns), and so on. SD is much more dire need of top talent since they have maybe 3 guys on that roster who can believably main event.

I don't know, why would they bring back RVD and bury him again if they were impressed with his pop and want him back? They would probably send him back to ECW and put that belt back on him at some point, maybe have him cross back onto SD like the other ECW guys.

I think if such a thing will happen it will be either Strahan or Umenyiora that takes Brady out in the last game. Thus they could lose the perfect record AND Brady would be lost for the playoffs.

Here is one thing I don't get about Smackdown. How is Vicki now the GM with Teddy Long as the assistant? Wasn't she just filling in while he was sick?

It is now time for the predictions! Thursday DEN @ HOU 8:00: Denver is a puzzling mystery wrapped in an enigma. Houston is pretty solid at home so I'll take them by 6. Saturday CIN @ SF 8:00: I still insist the Niners are the worst team in the league. Miami has had 6 losses by like 3 points. SF is HORRID. Bengals by 14. Sunday, 1:00 NYJ @ NE: Assrape, thy name is Mangini. Patriots by 35. JAC @ PIT: Probably the best game of the week. That said, JAX is often more bark than bite, so I'll take the Steelers to come back from the loss. Steelers by 4. SEA @ CAR: Some people will think Seattle is a playoff threat or something, but whatever. They have had the easiest schedule known to man. Seahawks by 10. BAL @ MIA: I know the Ravens suck but I refuse to believe a team that nearly beat NE could lose to the winless Dolphins. Ravens by (what else) 3. GB @ STL: Favre has had some nightmares in STL but not as bad as Dallas. Isn't Brock Berlin starting here? Packers by 17. ARI @ NO: De facto playoff here. Both teams are so baffling it's hard to know, but I'll take the Saints at home by 7. TEN @ KC: Titans absolutely must get this win if they want to do anything. Titans by 6. BUF @ CLE: I don't remotely buy the Bills as a threat to anyone with their horrid differential. Browns are at home and win by 8. ATL @ TB: Bucs need to get back on track and the hopeless Falcons are just the team. Tampa by 10. 4:00 IND @ OAK: Assrape Part II, though it is in Oakland so not as bad as NE/NYJ. Indy by 21. PHI @ DAL: The Eagles are all but done but they will probably make some futile, unwanted stand in Dallas. That said, no way are they winning here. Dallas by 3. DET @ SD: Not sure what to think with SD's various injuries. Still, Tomlinson is playing and the Lions are basically screwed anyway. SD by 5. Been waitin' all day for Sunday Night! WAS @ NYG: The Redskins are practically done at this point and the Giants will see to it. NYG by 7, thus becoming one of the least impressive 10-4 teams in recent history. Monday night massacre CHI @ MIN: The Vikings are on a JTTS roll right now (as opposed to a Jobber Roll). The Bears are down to Kyle Orton at QB. This might be ugly. Minn. by 14.

One of Jericho's main problems is that he has never really had the aura of a serious wrestler. I have no idea if Van Dam is going to come back full time in the near future, but his bit tonight was handled better than anything with Jericho's comeback thus far. For one it was an actual surprise that wasn't blatantly telegraphed for a month. As noted they both wrestled Santino and RVD simply squashed him in 30 seconds, where Jericho struggled to beat a guy who is a comedy jobber. But then I'm probably one of the few who prefers RVD's 2001 WWF debut to Jericho's 1999 debut.

Loved the show tonight, though at times I think it burnt out the crowd. Bischoff's long winded tirade I think is what sorta sent the crowd into apathy, and really I expected more out of Jericho's rebuttal. He just mentioned the kayfabe 2005 firing angle, but I really wanted him to badmouth Bischoff for not pushing him in WCW. I had no idea that RVD was going to show up tonight so his appearance was the only real surprise. It was hilarious, he shows up, squashes Santino and leaves. It was amusing to juxtapose that with Jericho struggling for about 10 mins. with Santino in his first match back.

Well, I think we all expected the Ravens to have nothing left for tonight after the Patriots game. It seems like a lot of these NBC games have been snoozers this year. At this point I hope the Patriots do go 16-0, cause the pressure will be so unbelievable on them in the playoffs that they will blow it. I'm one of those people who thinks a loss helps a team in this sort of situation. A 16-0 team will have to keep winning to stay alive and maintain perfection, whereas a 15-1 team can relax and play football.

Okay I saw the movie today and in a lot of was what I expected. Namely 100 mins. of coolness followed by a last 20 minutest that pretty much sucked. After the final Tommy Lee speech and it fades to black I swear about a dozen people were audibly saying "What the fuck was THAT?" or maybe "Man, that was so good until that ending..." This wasn't one or two people, but a lot of pissed off people. Here's some thoughts: I have to pose the question. For anyone who hadn't read the book, is THIS really the way you thought it was going to end?

Well, it was okay to do Austin vs. UT since Bret was selling the injury (or was he actually hurt?), Michaels was doing jack shit and wasn't "healthy" or whatever. Besides, the way it went down just furthered the Austin vs. Harts feud, didn't hurt Austin at all and didn't prevent him from drawing huge vs. UT a year later.

God, U of L lost again today to Dayton 70-65. I think we're in big, big trouble right now. If U of L is reliant on a gimpy David Padgett to come back and save the day then this is a long season.

I think all of these are good points, but when I think of a good card I think of the following: --A big time main event for a world title. --A hot secondary title feud over the IC or US title. --A tag title match with two of the best teams in the company. --A wild hardcore brawl. --Something with high flying in it or wild spots. --A technical showcase for guys just under the main event. I don't totally subscribe to the notion of cooling the crowd down, since I don't think filler should be intentionally on a card. A good example is WM 3 with Killer Bees vs. Sheik/Volkoff, that was a nice solid match that was better than pillow fight or lame filler, but would hardly burn the crowd out for Hogan/Andre. On the other hand you can't just burn the crowd out. Most ECW PPVs have this problem, even their best shows like Heatwave 98. After over 2 hours of constant violence and mayhem you can't help but be a little exhausted by the time the main event comes. One of the most unorthodox great shows to me is SummerSlam 1992. It goes against almost all the rules....the secondary title main events the show, hardly anything is really blown off and there are plenty of DQs or countouts (Macho/Warrior, UT/Kamala, Michaels/Martel). The heated tag match of LOD/Money Inc. wasn't for the belts. One of the top workers doesn't actually wrestle (Flair). Yet I still love that PPV.

I do agree that Cena vs. Lashley was a very good match. Hell I'd take it over either of the two wildly overrated Michaels matches with Cena. I'd take it over the Orton/Cena matches as well, since Lashley at least doesn't spend half the match doing a fucking headlock. The funny thing is that I can't really think of anyone who ever had any momentum entering TNA from WWE. Christian was mostly a jobber when he got traded to Smackdown and was doing nothing. Booker's King gimmick had run its course and he was struggling to beat Lawler for crying out loud, before HHH buried him for good in WWE (not to mention his failed drug tests). People will point to Angle but then forget that Angle was also sorta buried in being sent to the new ECW and then jobbing on that show. Angle jobbed to Orton for no apparent reason during a time when Orton was getting buried himself for his outlandish behavior, not to mention Angle losing clean to RVD very early in his ECW run.

Cool, didn't realize you were from Louisville either, Coffin. Allow me to share your nostalgia for the old Showcase on Bardstown Rd. I heard it is going to reopen as a center run by some crooked evangelist or something. It's funny but I don't know of anyone who doesn't think Stonybrook sucks. What sucks is that for the past decade the Showcase people have pushed that theater like it is the main theater in town (which frankly led to the demise of the beloved old Showcase). Now they are screwing the Preston Hwy. Showcase over in favor of Stonybrook. I go to Baxter Ave. occasionally but it has to be some sort of rare revival showing. Like King Kong, Casablanca, Big Sleep. At any rate I see that No Country For Old Men is now on at the Showcase 16, which is much closer. So I'll be back with thoughts on it probably Sunday.

See, I really disliked Austin circa 1997. Watching these old Raws on 24/7 is compelling stuff, but I have no idea who anyone was supposed to cheer in the Austin/Harts feud. Note that when they shifted Austin from bitter, sociopathic redneck alcoholic to beer drinking, hard working redneck everyman (with some redeeming qualities) that's when the WWF started truly drawing money.

I saw that Foley promo recently on 24/7 on one of the ECW shows. It was pretty shocking stuff, never had seen it before. Not even on The Best of Cactus Jack in ECW DVD.

Oh geez. HBK vs. Cena in that 1 hour snoozer is supposed to be the best match ever on Raw? How come Eddie vs. RVD (Ladder match, IC title) isn't on the list? I mean Benoit vs. Angle in the cage? That match is barely memorable to me.

And of course she was also in Scooby Doo. In fact I thought she was way hotter in that than Sarah Michelle Gellar, which given their roles I don't think should be the case.

I'll bitch then about the lack of Bret vs. Hakushi from July 1995. And no IC battle royal (Razor/Martel finals) either, though that is on Raw Prime Cuts already.

It's disturbing to me just how much of these top Raw moments have nothing to do with an actual match or anything. Just wondering but why is this show being done next week? It isn't the 15th anniversary yet. That would be about a month from now, more like Jan. 10.

The Redskins win baby. Know why? They were inspired.

I have to say that is one dispiriting top 25. An unwanted Duke revival, all sorts of boring as fuck slow down teams stinking up the rankings (UCLA, Pitt, Wash St., Wisconsin, even G'Town to some degree). Teams I flat out detest with a passion like Memphis and Marquette are highly ranked. And U of L's once promising season is already sliding into crap with the Padgett and Palacios injuries. Aside from U of L the only teams I like in the top 25 are Butler and IU. And Kelvin Sampson is making it tougher to like IU by the day.

You know, The Thing was a remake of the 1951 Thing itself. Anyway as far as Carpenter goes, he has one actual flat out classic in Halloween and his 1980s work is mostly fun stuff (if not classic).