My Extremely Early NFL Predictions

Here's my very early NFL Predictions:

AFC
East
z-New England Patriots (14-2)
x-New York Jets (12-4)
Buffalo Bills (5-11)
Miami Dolphins (5-11)

North
y-Pittsburgh Steelers (13-3)
x-Baltimore Ravens (10-6)
Cleveland Browns (6-10)
Cincinnati Bengals (4-12)

South
y-Indianapolis Colts (10-6)
Houston Texans (9-7)
Tennessee Titans (7-9)
Jacksonville Jaguars (5-11)

West
y-San Diego Chargers (12-4)
Kansas City Chiefs (9-7)
Oakland Raiders (7-9)
Denver Broncos (4-12)

NFC
East
z-Philadelphia Eagles (13-3)
Dallas Cowboys (10-6)
New York Giants (10-6)
Washington Redskins (2-14)

North
y-Green Bay Packers (12-4)
Chicago Bears (9-7)
Minnesota Vikings (9-7)
Detroit Lions (7-9)


South
y-New Orleans Saints (13-3)
x-Atlanta Falcons (11-5)
x-Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5)
Carolina Panthers (1-15)

West
y-St. Louis Rams (9-7)
Arizona Cardinals (3-13)
San Francisco 49ers (3-13)
Seattle Seahawks (1-15)

Playoffs:
First round
New England Patriots - bye
Pittsburgh Steelers - bye
San Diego Chargers over Baltimore Ravens
New York Jets over Indianapolis Colts

Philadelphia Eagles - bye
New Orleans Saints - bye
Green Bay Packers over St. Louis Rams
Atlanta Falcons over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Quarterfinals:
New England Patriots over New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers over San Diego Chargers
Philadelphia Eagles over Atlanta Falcons
New Orleans Saints over Green Bay Packers

Semifinals:
Pittsburgh Steelers over New England Patriots
New Orleans Saints over Philadelphia Eagles

Superbowl:
New Orleans Saints over Pittsburgh Steelers

Overheard at a Burger King

Lady: Hi, what's the King deal today?
Cashier: It's the Whopper deal.
Lady: Oh okay, I'll get that. Can I have it without bread?
Cashier: ...

Check out these amazing engagement photos

http://www.weddingbee.com/2011/08/22/damn-these-kids-are-cool/

I wish I had thought of this..

Why this blog still exists

I don't know.

Andrea Bargnani

Bargnani is really good at something you don't normally need from someone at his position. He's like the girl you don't really like who knows how to perform an oil change. The only reason you keep her around is because you want to save $45 every 3-4 months.

Jonas Valanciunas

I predict that the above player will not be as big of a bust as Darko Milicic. Because he was taken 5th, not 2nd.

Career wise, I expect nothing more than a Shawn Bradley.

Do not underestimate Kemba

I know I don't post here too often anymore but I finally have something important to say. The Raptors have the 5th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, and they should select Kemba Walker.

Here is Kemba showing off his breakdancing skills:

No offense to the rest of the Connecticut team, but Kemba pretty much single-handedly won the NCAA Championship this year.

When Kemba shoots, his opponents cower in fear:

He's been labeled as a shoot-first point guard, but in highschool people thought he couldn't do anything but pass. His hard work ethic paved the way for him to become his team's leading scorer, but that doesn't mean he can't do other things when asked to.

Do. Not. Underestimate. Kemba:

People think Kemba is too short, but he's the same height as Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo, two superior NBA point guards. They worry he can't defend, but Kemba has one of the best PPR (point-guard point rating) of all the draftees. He averages 1 steal per 18 minutes in college.

Kemba has heart:

Look at that face. He's determined.

Kemba is a team player:

Look, they're practically trying to tear his clothes off!

Bryan Colangelo, you never listen to me but just do it once. Kemba Walker will be the best player from this draft. It was a gift to have fallen to 5th overall. Do the right thing.

Mobilicity

I switched over to Mobilicity thanks to their 1st anniversary deal. It was $40 per month + tax, for unlimited minutes, unlimited data, unlimited global text messages, unlimited long distance within North America, voice mail, 3 way calling, call waiting, caller ID. No contract.

I've never had data on a phone and I'm sure the novelty will wear out (foursquare is a total waste of time, but I like seeing myself "winning" amongst my friends), but that's the deal and it's a fine one.

Biggest problem with Mobilicity is their zones are a bit small.. the northern border is just 2 blocks north of me and I often find myself in "roaming" depending on where I am inside my own house. But I can't complain with that price, and I got myself my first smartphone.

A Royal Wedding

Guy at work asked me if I got up early to watch the royal wedding. I said no, although it's partially a lie.

Truth is I did wake up early, but more so I could get to work on time. And I did turn on the television to find out what the weather was, only to find every channel covering the wedding. For the 3 minutes I watched, I was amused by the lack of effort put forth by attendees to pretend to look like they were actually singing along during the singing of what I assume were hymns. At least move your lips, you're on TV!

Mantracker

I watch this show occasionally, and something someone told me dawned on me recently. How hard is it to hide from this guy, when you have a camera crew following you around?

A new bag

I got a new bag last week, the Big Pod from MEC. I had been using the Sling Pod for many years, maybe 10 years now and making the switch has been pretty easy. Both bags work the same way where you just slide it upwards to get to the zipper pockets. The inside pockets are virtually the same as those in it's little brother, just a little bigger.

What's nice about this bag is that now I can put my umbrella in without stretching it, and I can still fit a bunch of other things in it. For example I can roll up a windbreaker and fit it inside, and still be able to reach other things in the bag, whereas before once the windbreaker was in there, there was no room to do anything else.

Other than size, the major difference is that the side pocket for a water bottle has been removed. Instead there's a zipper there and when unzipped, a pocket folds out, but this pocket is not deep enough to really put a bottle in there. I have no idea why they changed the design, because with a larger bag you would think they would make a pocket for a larger bottle of water at the very least.

Minor differences are the material does not seem as thick or sturdy, but I have a feeling the Sling Pod is the same way now.. I was spoiled with one of the original sturdier Sling Pods.

That's about it, not much else to say.

Chris Tomlin is back

We picked up a copy of Chris Tomlin's new album "And If Our God Is For Us". What a deal by the way, it was Black Friday when we went to Family Christian Bookstore in Cincinatti, OH. I can't remember the exact price but I think we paid around $4 for it.

Over the past couple years I'd started losing interest in Tomlin due to some weak releases such as the Christmas album, rehash albums full of re-released songs, and I didn't really like Hello Love. Well, I'm glad to say that my favorite worship leader is baaaack!

This album is chock full of worship songs you'll be singing at church for the next few years. I'd rank it right up there between Arriving and See The Morning. Go and get it!

Emmanuel

title: Emmanuel
subtitle: Josh Kauffman

I will seek You with my whole heart in the center of the storm
And remember, oh the promise of Your love.
You are near to heavy-hearted, and the broken You repair
Every moment, even sleeping, You are there, You are there.

You have laid Your hand upon me, let Your love surround me
You are Emmanuel
I was hiding in the darkest night, and then You found me
You are Emmanuel,
Emmanuel, Emmanuel

I have stumbled, I'm always falling and I am humbled by my sin
But the moment I confess them, You forgive, You forgive.

You have laid Your hand upon me, let Your love surround me
You are Emmanuel
I was hiding in the darkest night, and then You found me
You are Emmanuel,
Emmanuel, Emmanuel

Oh tell me, Where can I go, from Your Spirit, from Your presence?
Come and take me home, to Your Spirit, to Your presence, yeah
Never let me go

You have laid Your hand upon me, let Your love surround me
You are Emmanuel
I was hiding in the darkest night, and then You found me
You are Emmanuel

You have laid Your hand upon me, let Your love surround me
You are Emmanuel
I was hiding in the darkest night, and then You found me
You are Emmanuel,
Emmanuel, Emmanuel

Terrell Owens will be 37 this year

Say what you will about Terrell Owens the person, but as a football player, he's really good. Owens signed with the Cincinnati Bengals after a lackluster season with the Buffalo Bills where he tried to clean up his image as a human being. I think he's done a good job of it, but the question is, how much does he have left as professional athlete?

The tandem of Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens lining up at scrimmage is something that many football fans could only dream of. If it had happened 3 years ago when both players were in their prime, that would just absolutely crazy. But at this stage of his career, at 37 years of age, how effective will Terrell Owens (and Ochocinco) be?

The problem with T.O. is that at the age of 37, he's entering a territory that few other receivers in the NFL have been to. Not a lot of NFL wide receivers have played that effectively past the age of 35, let alone 37. Even looking at Randy Moss at age 33, he's already slowed considerably, although he's still a force to be reckoned with.

Looking at other NFL players who have played up to the age Owens is attempting, you can see a steady decline. I don't think I'm making a bold statement by saying that as you get older, you slow down, but take a look at these numbers and tell me what you think.

Here's Jerry Rice at ages 35-37:
At 35: 7 recs, 78 yards, 1 td (injured)
At 36: 82 recs, 1157 yards, 9 td
At 37: 67 recs, 830 yards, 5 td

Tim Brown at 35-37:
35: 91 recs, 1165 yards, 9 td
36: 81 recs, 930 yards, 2 td
37: 52 recs, 567 yards, 2 td

Cris Carter:
35: 96 recs, 1274 yards, 9 td
36: 73 recs, 871 yards, 6 td
37: 8 recs, 66 yards, 1 td (injured)

Keenan McCardell:
35: 70 recs, 917, yards, 9 td
36: 36 recs 437 yards, 0 td
37: 22 recs, 256 yards, 1 td

Joey Galloway:
35: 62 recs, 1057 yards, 7 td
36: 57 recs 1014 yards, 6 td
37: 13 recs, 138 yards, 0 td

Terrell Owens
At 35: 69 recs, 1052 yards, 10 td
At 36: 55 recs, 829 yards, 5 td
At 37: ?

(To be fair to Jerry Rice -the greatest receiver in the history of the NFL-, the guy put up two more 1000+ yard seasons at 39 and 40, so the possibility is certainly there for Terrell Owens.)

These were names off the top of my head that I plugged into p-f-r.com. I'm sure there are more but you get the idea. At 37, every one of these guys put up some pretty not-so-great seasons. So where does that put Terrell Owens?

There's some talk that Owens could supplant Ochocinco as the #1 WR for the Bengals. I can't see that happening. For one thing, Chad's been there for 7 years and over the past 5-6 years, he's developed a strong qb-wr relationship with Carson Palmer. That kind of chemistry is not just going to disappear overnight. If this had been a 31 year old Owens, then maybe, but at this point there's just no way.

I see Owens putting up solid #2 WR numbers. From a fantasy perspective, it puts him at your WR3, so if you start 3 WR, feel confident putting him in that 3rd receiver spot. I'm projecting around 60 receptions, 750 yards and 7 td. That would put him right there with Jerry Rice at 37. As for Chad Ochocinco, I figure he'll get around 75 receptions, 1150 yards and 8 td. That's good enough for a strong WR2 in your fantasy league.

Painful surgery joke

The pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express praise for answered prayers. Suzie Smith stood and walked to the podium. She said, "I have a praise. Two months ago, my husband, Tom, had a terrible bicycle wreck and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating and the doctors didn’t know if they could help him."

You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagine the pain that poor Tom must have experienced. "Tom was unable to hold me or the children," she went on, "and every move caused him terrible pain." We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Tom’s scrotum, and wrap wire around it to hold it in place."

Again, the men in the congregation cringed and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Tom. "Now," she announced in a quivering voice, "thank the Lord, Tom is out of the hospital and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely."

All the men sighed with unified relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say. A man stood up and walked slowly to the podium.

He said, "I'm Tom Smith." The entire congregation held its breath. "I just want to tell my wife the word is sternum."

All of Creation

Verse 1:
Separated
Until the veil was torn
The moment that hope was born
And guilt was pardoned once and for all

Verse 2:
Captivated
But no longer bound by chains
Left at an empty grave
The sinner and the sacred resolved

Chorus:
And all of creation
Sing with me now
Lift up your voice
And lay your burden down

And all of creation
Sing with me now
Fill up the heavens
Let His glory resound

Verse 2:
Time is fading
And we see Him face to face
Every doubt erased
Forever we will worship the King

Chorus

Bridge 1:
The reason we breathe
Is to sing of His glory
And for all He has done
Praise the Father
Praise the Son
And the Spirit in one

Chorus x 2

Outro:
And every knee with bow
And every tongue
Praise the Father
Praise the Son
And the Spirit in one

Wins Produced

I found this through reading a recent RR post, but here's a link to the Wins Produced site, which does a breakdown by player and team of how many wins each player produced. I can't really explain how this is calculated nor how accurate it is. The totals for Toronto is 36 wins (when you add all the players up), and we won 40 games so I have no idea were those other games went.

http://www.permanent-sketch.com/WinsPro ... ml#/Season

Chris Bosh produced 11.84 wins last year, so it's to be expected that there will be a significant drop-off in record this season. What's impressive though, is that Amir Johnson was #2 last year at 7.63.

If you want to look at the stats, look at the page. What I've done is taken a 3 year average for each player:

Jose Calderon: +11.14 (all 3 years in Toronto)
Chris Bosh: +9.88 (all 3 years in Toronto)
Amir Johnson: +5.75 (Toronto, 2 years in Detroit)
Jarret Jack: +5.31 (Toronto, Indiana, Portland)
Reggie Evans: +4.12 (Toronto, 2 years in Philly)
Hedo Turkoglu: +3.23 (Toronto, 2 years in Orlando)
Rasho Nesterovic: +0.9 (Toronto, Indiana, Toronto)
DeMar DeRozan: +0.8 (Toronto)
Sonny Weems: +0.79 (Toronto, Denver)
Marcus Banks: +0.27 (Toronto, Toronto/Miami, Miami)
Pops Mensa-Bonsu: +0.22 (Toronto/Houston, San Antonio)
Patrick O'Bryant: -0.14 (Toronto, Toronto, didn't register in Boston)
Marco Belinelli: -0.7 (Toronto, 2 years in Golden State)
Andrea Bargnani: -1.57 (all 3 years in Toronto)
Antoine Wright: -1.61 (Toronto, Dallas, New Jersey)


Here's a few of our recent acquisitions:

Leandro Barbosa: +2.14 (all 3 years in Phoenix)
Dwayne Jones - 0.00
Joey Dorsey - 0.10 (Miami)
David Andersen: -0.89 (Houston)
Linas Kleiza: +1.15 (Denver 2 years starting 3 years ago)

Some notes:
-Amir Johnson has always contributed wins towards his team. Not just as a Raptor but even as a Piston for two years. He's a positive contributor regardless of the minutes he's getting and I'm impressed by this stat.
-Same thing for Jarret Jack.
-Jose Calderon was a killer in wins produced for two years prior to last season. If he can even find middle ground between those two ground breaking years and last year, he will be a valuable player to us once again.
-DeRozan will be a big difference maker depending on his progress this season.
-Hedo's numbers in Orlando actually proves why he was overrated to begin with. Take a look at the site and see how little he contributed despite his reputation in Orlando.
-Barbosa has never been a big contributor to wins according to these stats. Even in the year he won 6th man of the year.
-Same for Kleiza, minus the 6th man award.
-I thought Antoine Wright was better than this.. I guess this proves that just being a solid defender with no offensive prowess is pretty much useless.
-Or perhaps pure defending isn't good enough, as opposed to rebounding and defense in Reggie Evans, where he's put up decent numbers throughout his career.
-Marco Belinelli is useless.
-As for Bargnani, this is not surprising when you consider what a starting C is expected to do in the NBA. Unfortunately despite being a decent but untraditional scoring big man, what he gives up at his position is likely what puts him at this horrible wins produced score. Rebound, block shots, clog the lane, score in the post. Andrea does none of these.

As our current roster stands, we have the following players:

Jose Calderon: +11.14
Amir Johnson: +5.75
Jarret Jack: +5.31
Reggie Evans: +4.12
Leandro Barbosa: +2.14
Linas Kleiza: +1.15
DeMar DeRozan: +0.8
Sonny Weems: +0.79
Marcus Banks: +0.27
Joey Dorsey: +0.10
Marco Belinelli: -0.7
David Andersen: -0.89
Andrea Bargnani: -1.57
Ed Davis
Solomon Alabi

Ultimate Frisbee: Other sports need to fight back!

I'm sure there is a valid reason for naming sport where you throw a frisbee at your teammates and move along the field and try to score at the other end "Ultimate Frisbee". However, isn't it all a little too convenient?

What's worse is that now a lot of this sports' participants are simply using "Ultimate to describe the sport. Come on now -- ultimate? Really?

Imagine this scenario in the school yard:

Johnny: "Hey guys, let's play soccer!"
Tommy: "Huh? No way, we're playing ULTIMATE!"
Chris: "COOOOL! Yea, let's go play ULTIMATE!!"
Stevie: "Johnny, you're so lame. LET'S GO PLAY ULTIMATE!!"
Katie: "Sorry Johnny, I'm breaking up with you because you're so lame."

Poor Johnny is going to be left in the dust.

But what if instead of "soccer", it was instead called "AWESOMEST SPORT EVER"?

The school yard scene would change drastically.

Tommy: "Johnny, what are you doing here?"
Stevie: "I bet he's here to try to convince us to play that lame sport soccer!"
Chris: "LAME! Whaddya want, Lamer?"
Johnny: "Oh, well, I just wanted to know if you wanted to play the AWESOMEST SPORT EVER?"
Chris: "Whoaa.. why didn't you say so? That sounds like a great idea!"
Tommy: "Woot! I love AWESOMEST SPORT EVER!"
Stevie: "Sorry Johnny, I had no idea you were so cool. AWESOMEST SPORT EVER, here I come!"
Katie: "Oh Johnny, I should never have doubted you. Let's make out!"

See how everything changes with the name?

Here are a few other suggestions to level the playing field:

Basketball: THE BOMB-DIGGITY
Football: THE MOTHER OF ALL SPORTS
Hockey: SUPER DUPER SPORTS EXTRAVAGANZA
Baseball: THE SHIZZLE, YO!
Golf: WHAT ALL THE COOL PEOPLE DO

Inception (2010)

If you haven't seen this movie yet, you should go do it right away, as soon as possible.

Update

I haven't blogged in a long time. And there's a perfectly logical explanation for this. Look above to see the answer.

(Hint: It's before the date and after the *poof*.)