JHawk

1pm: Oakland-GB and my choice of Carolina-Jacksonville and Dallas-Detroit (living between Cleveland and Youngstown rules). 4:15pm: Cleveland-Jets. Honestly, I was hoping the Browns were playing at 1pm so I could watch NE-Pit, but oh well.

Schedule change. Due to the Browns playing at 4:15pm tomorrow and me being a Browns fan, showtime is at 3pm Eastern (noon Pacific, 8pm GMT) tomorrow afternoon.

This really made me laugh. I am such a non-conformist that I'm not going to laugh about it.

PLAGIARISM! Verbatim. JHawk, you're the fucking worst. You steal from bad Fox Sports columns and sound like Neil from Family Guy. I actually stole that from a friend of mine (who doesn't post here) who didn't post a source. Eh, whatever, I figured it was so off the wall it had no chance of even comin close to being true anyway. Didn't even read the article.

I was trying to forget War Games 2000, you bastard! \

Maybe they already had a storyline planned out with the "fired" wrestler. Like wrestling promotions have never changed plans on the fly before. Notice it's also the most talented wrestler to win a briefcase that got fired. Stupid stupid stupid.

Bischoff even admitted he guessed in an interview a couple of years ago.

Apparently I'm dead. Jared Hawkins (1981-2004)

When the BCS schools refuse to play you because {insert reason here} then there's no comparison either. The current system makes it impossible for a mid-major to play for a national championship, which leaves over 60 schools with the options to scratch their asses and like it or scratch their asses and bitch about it. Why shouldn't Hawaii at least get the shot, especially when Appalachian fucking State can beat Michigan?

Not retail, but I currently work for Dish Network in the billing department and I got a kick out of this: This guy called in last night saying he was promised a $70 credit and he'd never gotten it so he wasn't going to pay his whole bill. A quick look shows that he was offered $20, turned it down and asked for a supervisor, and the supervisor offered him $50, which was given to him in September. Miscommunication on the amount. Fair enough, I think. He insisted he'd never seen the bill that showed the credit and wanted another copy. Now, when we send a second bill out, we bill $2 to the account to cover the cost of the paper. He argues with me, I inform him that we not only mailed a bill out, but his bill is available online and on his TV, and he asks for my supervisor. So my supervisor takes the call. And this guy starts saying "Since I never saw the bill and you can't prove you sent it to me, you have to send it to me for free or you're violating FCC regulations." My supervisor goes "Sir, we sent that bill on October 10, and proof goes both ways, so unless you prove to me you didn't get it, you're not getting another copy for free." He also tells him about online and the TV for seeing the bill, and he goes "I work for a congressman in Washington, D.C., and it's illegal for you to do that." My supervisor's response: "We're required to send you one copy of the bill. We mailed on to you, we provide it online, and we provide it through your TV. That's three copies. We are not obligated to walk your mailman by the hand to make sure he puts it in the right mailbox or to verify the correct post office ever received it." The guy finally hung up threatening to sue. Over two dollars.

Author's Note: I initially posted this on my MySpace and edited it a bit to TSMize it a bit. Institute a playoff in college football NOW! Seriously. The BCS is a joke. Always has been. Always will be. When Nebraska played in the National Championship Game in 1998 despite not winning their conference, it was a joke. When it was USC vs. Oklahoma a few years ago despite LSU being a better team that either one of them (and having a better record than Oklahoma), it was a joke. But this takes the case. The national championship game: LSU vs. Ohio State. Go Buckeyes. Beat the shit out of those pretenders to the top two. (And honestly, I'm an Ohio State fan, and you can make an argument they shouldn't be there either.) Because the true number one team ain't playing. The final standings (note the records): 1. Ohio State (11-1) 2. LSU (11-2) 3. Virginia Tech (11-2) 4. Oklahoma (11-2) 5. Georgia (10-2) 6. Missouri (11-2) 7. USC (10-2) 8. Kansas (11-1) 9. West Virginia (10-2) 10. Hawaii (12-0) 11. Arizona State (10-2) 12. Florida (9-3) 13. Illinois (9-3) 14. Boston College (10-3) 15. Clemson (9-3) 16. Tennessee (9-4) 17. BYU ((10-2) 18. Wisconsin (9-3) 19. Texas (9-3) 20. Virginia (9-3) 21. South Florida (9-3) 22. Cincinnati (9-3) 23. Auburn (8-4) 24. Boise State (10-2) 25. Connecticut (9-3) So, the only undefeated team in college football has no shot at the national championship. But a team with two losses, one to unranked Arkansas and the other to unranked Kentucky, does. OK, Kentucky might have been ranked at the time, I can't remember, but where are they now? I want a playoff and I want a playoff now! Hawaii is the only team in whatever the hell they call division 1-A this week to achieve its goal: Win every regular season football game. Therefore, they are the only team that there's no argument against. Oh, I can hear you people going "but what top schools did they play? Look at all those joke teams on their schedule!" Well, as one TSM poster stated, Hawaii beat all their "joke" teams. LSU didn't. And as another poster stated, playing nothing but joke teams never stopped Notre Dame in the days of the Bowl Alliance. (Random rant: Michigan refused to play Hawaii. They lost to Appalachian fucking State. I don't even know where Appalachian State is. Somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, but beyond that, who the fuck knows? Or cares outside of Appalachian State?) The BCS should be used to seed a 16-team tournament. There'd still be controversy, but at least it would be settled on the field. The way it should be. I only hear three arguments with any consistently against a playoff system: 1. But what about the money the schools will lose? It's amateur sports. It's not supposed to be about money. That why it's not called "the NFL rookie league". Christ, look at some of the bowl games that we absolutely have to play. The Poinsettia Bowl Why not the Dandelion Bowl? Or the Daisy Bowl? Or the Poison Oak Bowl? The Papajohns.com Bowl Yes, the pizza chain's website gets its own meaningless bowl game. The Texas Bowl This game is so meaningless that the NFL Network is carrying it, which means more people will be in the stadium than actually watching it on TV in the first place. The Meineke Car Care Bowl Tell me that's a rib. That has got to be a rib. I'm still waiting for a game to be played in Beijing and be called the China Bowl just to fuck with our heads. 2. A playoff system will take too long. The national championship game is scheduled for January 7. If you take next week off and play one round every week, only playing Saturday games, the playoff would start on December 15 and end on January 5...two days before the currently scheduled championship game. What exactly are we delaying here? Plus, every game would mean something, which means better TV ratings. 3. Bowl games are tradition. While I agree with this to a point, it's a flawed argument. I can't imagine New Year's Day without the Rose Bowl, but why bother when USC vs. Illinois means nothing? A compromise: Keep the bowl games by calling each playoff game a different bowl game. Use the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl as the semifinals and the Orange Bowl as the finals, use the other long-standing ones as the quarterfinals, and some of those fringe bowls that aren't totally worthless can be used for the first round. You keep your outdated tradition, and we get a legitimate national champion. Seriously, why even have a WAC school play the games if they mean nothing? Why not just use the top six conferences as the only ones eligible for the BCS at all and turn all the mid-major conferences into Division 1-AA schools if they have no shot at playing the big game? Or create a separate game for the mid-majors to determine "the best of the teams we refuse to make number 1"? Call it the Toilet Bowl, because that's where such a game would belong. I'd like to see the NFL keep the Patriots out of the Super Bowl because "they've played nothing but joke teams".

As a Browns fan it's going to be out of character for me to say this, but... While that was a bullshit call, the Browns also got a TD they shouldn't have when they didn't overturn the 67-yard Braylon Edwards reception where they didn't rule him down by contact. But at least before the review that's one you can see them missing. How two guys can make contact with a receiver, one driving him backwards full-force with a shoulder, and you not see it when you're standing three feet away from it boggles my mind.

Holy fuck, I was joking and almost called it!

So here's how the Browns-Cards game will end. With the game tied at 56, Rackers will attempt a 64-yard field goal with one second left on the clock. The ball will carom off the roof of the stadium, bounce off the crossbar, and land in the hands of Josh Cribbs. Cribbs will run 108-yards for an apparent touchdown, but will fumble through the back of the endzone. The ball will hit the back pylon and land in the hands of Cardinals cornerback Antrell Rolle, who will run 110 yards for a touchdown, then perform a triple lutz in the end zone. The referees will spend 20 minutes debating about whether they are allowed to debate about the play, declare a tie, then go out for beers.

Bah. Got called out of town and have to cancel today's show. Normal time next week.

Not going to be available. Might promo if I get a chance, but please don't book me for a match.

Bruno wasn't the greatest guy for Kowalski to work with. I have a match with Kowalski and Buddy Rogers from 1961 on tape and it's a high energy 11-minute brawl. Kowalski was also nearing the end of his career at that point.

He lost on the PPV on the Sunday and was forced to retire. He showed up the next night by turning heel on Buff Bagwell and having his unofficial pinfall over Buff counted by one of the Harris brothers, and sided with The Powers That Be, who had forced him into the whole deal to begin with. The next week he was back wrestling like nothing had happened. Russo at his finest. If Kennedy could squash Spanky in 30 seconds, why couldn't Jericho, who is in the main event of the upcoming PPV, do the same to Santino? Because Spanky's a tag team wrestler so he's twice as easy for a straight singles wrestler to beat. /end WWE logic

House show promo guy. He also hosts the free 24/7 preview for people too cheap to actually purchase the service.

Not sure yet. Will have to get back to you.

The copyright material thing depends on the cable system and the cable box, I think. When I had a cable company that carried 24/7 I got the same message for DVD recording, and it even distorted the picture on VHS recordings. Something to do with the DVR receiver from what I was gathering.

Boot Camp Match: Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Iron Sheik If you've never seen it, click NOW!

Wanted to bump this to remind you of The Maestro's appearance tonight. To join in the conversation, call (646) 478-5863, and make sure to listen in live at www.blogtalkradio.com/smartmarkradio Smart Mark Radio airs every Sunday night at 6pm Eastern/3pm Pacific as part of the Blog Talk Radio network (www.blogtalkradio.com)

Join me at 6pm Eastern this Sunday for Smart Mark Radio, exclusively at www.blogtalkradio.com/smartmarkradio. This week, we'll take a look back at Cyber Sunday, but the bulk of the focus will be on a tribute to old school wrestling. Listen in at www.blogtalkradio.com/smartmarkradio and call (646) 478-5863 to join in the conversation.

Since I notice Toxx and Landon each have like four matches to mark each, if there's a marker who feels they have too much on their plate I'm available to mark this show. Something lower on the card since it'd be the first time I've ever marked, but knowing Landon's weekends it might help.