Fökai

Really? Can I get a source on that? The USA Today injury report didn't mention anything, and I couldn't find anything when I Googled it. If that's true, it would make the line even better than it was already, but I haven't seen anything to suggest he's not going to play. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It was local news - I'll try to get something for you if it isn't too late. EDIT: My mistake. Brennan isn't injured, but the headline was that June Jones would play Greinke (backup), as he feels that the guy needs the experience and playing time. He regretted not putting him in last week against Fresno. So if Hawai'i falls behind early, look for things to only get worse.

DET - 17 Atlanta Carolina Chicago Baltimore Detroit Houston Kansas City San Diego Cleveland N.Y. Giants Arizona Green Bay Washington Indianapolis

Brennan is not playing, either. You couldn't get SU? I don't know if BC can make it out of there unless it's by the skin of their teeth. SportsInteraction, baby!

What technology is needed for such an endeavour exactly? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I've seen people use Skype (google it), a land-line phone chat that can record to your computer. With a mic, an audio program with an ability to splice/fade/edit audio, and a firm grasp of how you can use real audio without violating copyrights (ninety seconds for fair use, right?) you could produce a really slick podcast.

After Bowen attempts to slide under Jordan or Pippen in order to injure them, then get stabbed in retaliation by Rodman? Ginobili might be the only one able to stop Jordan, but he'd get flustered after missing shot after shot early in the game or series - if Manu loses his intensity, the Spurs are swept convincingly.

For a guy that will get ratings, get buyrates, draw ridiculous merchandise figures, is huge overseas and is one of the few workers who consistently draws a reaction for anything that has to do with him, there seems to be an absolute bias against the guy. Comparing him to Diesel? Pardon me? The reactions aren't incredible because he's being given scripted promos that are ludicrous, in addition to being given workers that are billed as heat-proof regardless of their affiliation with Angle and Michaels. Now only that, but he's in a dead-end rehashed program that no wants to see in Cena/Bischoff, a program that is being billed above his feud with Angle.

They know how he feels - hence why he was jobbed out for the past two months to anybody and everybody, instead of just sitting in limbo like every other midcarder. Is it that hard to grasp the idea that the insistence of not going through with a Cena/Christian title program killed his interests for the time being?

I'm not attempting to get into Christian's head here, but here's an educated guess. He's loyal enough to take that figure; the WWE gave him him a big break, and made him millions in the process of working with them. Not that he "owes" anything additional to them, but he probably wasn't thinking too much about the financial figure more than the company lowballing him on the contract shows that they could give a shit about their roster, regardless of their value to the company. He's allowed to go now if he wanted to. EDIT:...and while being over with the fans, he was angry that they passed on the Cena/Christian program essentially keeping him a midcarder, not because he was jobbing. He's been jobbed for a worse period of time than this past fall.

The Niners are willing to offer a third-rounder for him.

He said his interests were outside of wrestling. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You believe that kayfabe bull? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Tell me that any of that sounds kayfabed.

Are we still on Benoit's first contract? If so, we're talking about those high downside guarantees that he and Jericho got (he got paid higher than the other Radicalz). He said his interests were outside of wrestling.

Ding. Owens should call for the firing of Andy Reid if they lose this week. It'll be glorious to watch.

Benoit is a company man and a locker room leader (not just that stupid "tenureship" title either). To anyone's knowledge, he has never openly complained even to co-workers when he felt he wasn't being treated fairly. Plus, with the way that he was treated after jumping ship from WCW, he's loyal - of course, that will be seen as a weakness in the negotiating stage, since they know he'd return for less. My prediction is that he's going to get the contract he wants, mostly because his signing will be a morale boost for the rest of the roster.

Anyone have stone cold locks to share this week? I need one or two more straight-up picks - so far, I've got the Giants (at SFG), Bears (at N'Awlins), Chargers (at NYJ) and Carolina (at Tampa). I want to take the Bengals, but people have this ridiculous idea that the spread should be set at 3 against the Ravens, so I'm weary of what I do/don't know about the match-up. If you'd also like to refute any, let me know. DET/MIN and PIT/GB are off the board, by the way. And yes, I'm a web-gambling junkie.

If they have the means, they would use a combination of Shaq, Simien and Haslem to free up Antoine on the wing. Shaq being injured hurts any possibility of it being successful, though.

It could. They had to re-schedule things and extend the week-long tour of Texas to two weeks. Factors like oversaturation also could've led to that figure; the shows the week before had big, hot crowds. I just think that the excuse for the crowd is viable. Usually, they don't give out (and certainly don't redeem) as many comps as they did that night, which goes to show that people didn't know about it.

The show was moved from Mississippi because of Katrina, which was...what...three weeks before that? I don't think they had a chance to advertise that show at all, locally or nationally.

Maybe because he actually stays in shape? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Shaq put on twenty pounds of muscle over the offseason. Kobe has a body type to where he could eat a cheeseburger while driving to the basket.

The second sentence refers to the first. He didn't praise Bush, but he did say he responded to the best of his abilities.

Here's a good excuse for the show's rating: It fucking sucked. There.

Louisville Toledo Northwestern Boston College Nebraska Northern Illinois Eastern Michigan Iowa State Georgia Tech Wyoming Wisconsin Oregon Arizona State Central Florida Virginia Tech 65/200

Credit: PWtorch So it looks like Christian suffered Steven Richards' fate. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Do they not remember that John Cena and Steve Austin created their gimmicks? They didn't go "oh shit, we didn't think of the white rapper idea, and he got over with it, bury him". <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I just assumed that the Torch made this up; it has their usual spin to it. Honestly, how is any of this plausible? Even if the WWE didn't push him (which they did, since he was getting facetime with Cena, the top guy on either roster), they would've taken the credit anyway. It wasn't until they went back to the Cena/Christian confrontation at the first night of the lottery, that everyone bought him as a serious contender. For that entire month, Christian was over like hell. On a sidenote: Like you said, when guys get over on their own to a certain degree, they have no choice but to listen to the fans. In the past two years, I can name a few: Benoit, Eddie, Cena, Eugene, Batista. None of them were depushed because the writing team felt slighted by the sudden fan interest in the wrestler.

So how'd everyone fare with last night's show? I jumped from the late-teens to 7th place with the points I scored last night. The only person I got burned on was Torrie...here was my week's roster: MEN: Cena, Michaels, TBS, Eugene, Lashley and Bischoff. WOMEN: Trish, Torrie, Mickie, Victoria, Candice and Ashley. Smackdown spoiler with a look ahead:

Is this the infamous non-gimmicked guitar shot, or am I thinking of a different incident with Honky?

Fuck.