I Hate the Heat.

So the Heat are raising the championship banner and putting their rings on as they get ready to roll through the weak Eastern Conference this year. Yay.  I simply hate this team.    
Used to love Dwyane Wade. Hate him now.  
 Didn't care about Chris Bosh before. Hate him now.
Hated LeBron before. Really hate him now.
. My Miami Heat hate is 100 times stronger than my New England Patriots hate. And that's saying something. LeBron seems like many athletes and like most of us at home,.....namely, he has some positive and some negative personal traits. He's not Terrell Owens, Barry Bonds, Jeff George, Alex Rodriguez, or Tony Stewart. In other words LeBron's not a dick most of the time. I still can't stand him.
It's not logical or rational. It's hate.

NFL Picks: Week 8

• Vikings over the Bucs.  
  Unfortunately I was still buying into the Vikings (at least at home) when I picked this game
  . 
• Bears over the Panthers.
  My fantasy team would love to see Cam Newton have a great day. I'm not holding my breath.
  
• Chargers over the Browns.
   Cleveland's first win was nice and they want another. Phillip Rivers and Norv Turner might just be accommodating enough. However, my guess is the bi-polar Chargers might show up this week.
  
• Seahawks over the Lions.
  The Seattle pass-rush should give Stafford fits. He'll need to get rid of it quick and locate Calvin Johnson. But lets be real here; the Lions are a mess. I'm convinced they are badly coached and will be better if/when Schwartz is gone.
  
• Patriots over the Rams.
  So a football game again in London. American football that is. Bloody brilliant.   The Brits have it right that their game is properly named football and our game is the most mis-named sport in history. Of course the name is rooted in the murky origins of the game and its links to British rugby.....which was originally linked to British football (soccer).  If only our gridiron forbearers could have thought up a name that was cool enough and distinct enough so that it didn't confuse the hell out of foreign sports brothers. Then again, should we care what the Brits and others think? This game is uniquely American and I don't think we will ever export the interest in it in any great numbers.  Still I'm curious as to the level of interest (however small) that the Brits (or Europeans in general) have in our game.  If they're smart, our English cousins will bet on the Pats for this game.
  
• Jets over the Dolphins
  I would love to see Reggie Bush run on the Jets Defense. Interesting that the Jets are upset with him for running his mouth. Pot, meet kettle.
  
• Eagles over the Falcons
  Crazy, right? I don't know if Michael Vick has any magic left. He might be a "has been" at this point but the Falcons will lose at some point this season and it would be a little weird if Vick was the one that helped hand them that loss.
  
• Steelers over the Redskins. 
   The Steelers need this game and perhaps desperation will breed good play. Rothlisberger will need to shake off a few guys like he has been known to do a time or two. The Steelers will need to control Griffin better than the Giants did last week. I like the accuracy of Griffin and he is quickly becoming an automatic record on my dvr. Not too many guys get that spot if they're on a team I don't like. But like Vick in the mid 2000s, Griffin does amazing things with his legs and arm.  However, Griffin is more accurate and has some touch. Vick, even at his best, always had the arm but lacked the touch that could keep drives going. Comparing Vick and Griffin is less about comparing black QBs and more about comparing mobile QBs with strong arms. Comparing guys based on skin color is lazy. If Aaron Rodgers ran more (which he could if he wanted to) we could throw him into the conversation with Griffin, Vick and Cam Newton. Andrew Luck is showing some athletic ability as well.  However, Vick, Newton and Griffin are the only QBs with over 200 rushing yards this season. It's not about race, it's about stats. Anyway, Griffin has the wow factor so he'll be on the record list for awhile.
  
• Packers over the Jaguars
  Jags are without Jones-Drew as well as their QB Gabbert and added to that is the fact that Rodgers is looking more like his 2011 self.  Shouldn't be close.
  
• Colts over the Titans
  Titans run game has woken up. Chris Johnson is alive!  Still, I don't trust him yet. I like the Colts in this game though even though I think they'll give up some rushing yards.
  
• Chiefs over the Raiders. 
  Always an interesting game between these two old rivals. But probably a bit hard to watch. This game is not on my to-do list on Sunday.
  
• Giants over the Cowboys. 
  There are no guarantees with this game no matter how much better one team is compared to the other. And make no mistake, the Giants are a much better team here despite the early season loss they took against the Cowboys.
  
• Saints over the Broncos
  I'm thinking shootout. The Broncos defense is better but the Saints are still playing for their lives. I don't think they'll have 9 lives but maybe they get lucky a couple more times.
  
• 49ers over the Cardinals. 
  Alex Smith has a had a couple of sub-par offensive games and everybody's ready to throw him under the bus again. He's not turning into Aaron Rodgers (ever) but with a good defense and a good running game he's still  a valuable QB. I don't know if he can be a championship QB but San Fran is still ok and it's not time to start burning Smith in effigy.  Actually it's never time to do that. I mean they only do that kind of thing at Raider games right? 

NFL Picks: Week 7

49ers over the Seahawks:  
Great work by Seattle to take down New England last week. I was mildly shocked. I'm not sure how sold I am on Wilson at QB but that defense has been beastly so far and you have to give the Seattle brass and coaching staff some credit for assembling the parts. Bobby Wagner, from my alma mater Utah State, has been awesome so far at linebacker. Alex Smith should keep his head on a swivel on Thursday night.

Bills over the Titans.
 Inconsistency is the word to describe these two teams.

Giants over the Redskins
a marquee matchup with Griffin coming to NY. Can the Giant's defensive line keep him contained? They have a better shot at accomplishing the feat than most.

Saints over the Bucs
With no defense, the question for New Orleans is can their offense be powerful enough to outscore the other guys? So far it's been "iffy" but I'll roll the dice one more time with them. And one thought on the Bounty scandal that has helped de-rail the Saint's season so far:  own up to your mistakes and move on! I'm tired of Saints players using the classic strategy of creating another story so their own guilt is not the story. They are using the incompetence of how Goodell has handled the situation to move the focus away from what they did. Vilma and others on the team contributed to a culture and climate of removing players from the field through injury. Period. Watch the playoff game with the Vikings when Favre was QB. I was not even rooting for the Vikes that day and I was shocked at how often they were targeting him after he threw the ball. It was completely ridiculous but not all that shocking. Other teams may have been doing this for years as well. But we know the Saints did. Stop with the whining about Roger Goodell. You did it. Take your medicine

Panthers over the Cowboys.  
Dallas is as much of a soap opera as the tv show by the same name that was famous for years.  So is Tony Romo Bobby Ewing? Jerry Jones reminds me of JR Ewing in the creepy department.
 Dez Bryant got ripped last week for missing a catch on a two point conversion but he actually had a pretty decent day. He's in no-win territory right now. He can never do enough to justify the headache he is for the team.

Ravens over the Texans. 
Now that their defense has taken a few key injuries (Webb, Lewis, etc.) Baltimore is going to go into the "no one believes in us" mode and perhaps this will provide a mild upset with the Texans who are at home.

Colts over the Browns. 
This one is close though I think. Despite one of the worst QB games ever played in his first NFL start, Brandon Wheedon has been respectable since then and the Browns have been competitive.

Packers over the Rams.
It was fun to watch Green Bay last week. The Packers, when "on" offensively, cannot be beat.

Vikings over the Cardinals. 
No idea what to think of these guys. Are they good or not?

Patriots over the Jets
This used to be a scary game for the Patriots. Not anymore. The Pats hurry up offense should destroy the Jets defense. Don't let the 3 losses fool you. This is still quite possibly the best team in the AFC.

Raiders over the Jags.
Most disappointing player this season to date might be Darren McFadden. He's healthy and yet he's 24th in the league in rushing yards (271), and 41st in yards per attempt (3.2). I did not see that coming. Is it his offensive line? Or is he just that bad this season? A victory here is probably going to depend on their defense and Carson Palmer.

Steelers over the Bengals.
I think these guys are pretty evenly matched but the desperation factor might be more of an incentive for the Steelers who at 2-3 need to win to give them any hope in their division.

Bears over the Lions
The Chicago D has their swagger back and if Jay Cutler doesn't implode they should be able to take down Detroit  (who even with a victory last week, have been their own worst enemy).


Last Week: 7-6
Overall: 46-43

NFL Picks: Week 6

No time for thoughts on these games. Here's the picks for the week

Steelers over the Titans
Falcons over the Raiders
Bengals over the Browns
Dolphins over the Rams
Colts over the Jets
Lions over the Eagles
Buccaneers over the Chiefs
Ravens over the Cowboys
Patriots over the Seahawks
Cardinals over the Bills
49ers over the Giants
Redskins over the Vikings
Packers over the Texans

Last week:8-6
Overall: 39-37

NFL Picks: Week 5

Some good games on tap for the weekend:


Cardinals over the Rams (Thurs).  St. Louis surprised me. Maybe they'll be better than I thought. I'm not holding my breath. though.  I did pick up the rookie Ram kicker for my fantasy league. Kid's got a leg.

Bengals over the Dolphins. I've been overlooking the Bengals for several years now.  Consider yourself respected Cincy.

Packers over the Colts.  Even without Greg Jennings, G.B has enough WR talent that Rodgers shouldn't have to look hard to find a receiver open.

Ravens over the Chiefs. I finally watched the Ray Lewis doc "a Football Life" on the NFL channel. Watching it, you get a sense of how he's still playing quality LB in the NFL at his age and how he has dominated for so long. He's obsessed. Most of the great ones are. They don't let up. Ever. Outside of football, Ray Lewis would drive me nuts.

Redskins over the Falcons. A mild upset watch. Rookie QB and rookie RB...and both are good. Morris is a seriously under the radar quality RB this season. If he keeps it up we'll be hearing more about him. .and soon.

Giants over the Browns.  Browns are scrappy this year but they don't have enough talent.

Steelers over the Eagles. Philly can't sustain the success if they don't play better offensively.

Panthers over the Seahawks. Time for Cam "baby" Newton to grow up and play up to the talent level he has.

Bears over the Jags. This Chicago defense devours QBs. Shouldn't be pretty for Blaine Gabbert.

Titans over the Vikings. I'm not sold on Minnesota.  Meanwhile, the Titan's Matt Hasselbeck has something left doesn't he?   I mean, hair... no. But his arm is still solid. Right.?  Perhaps I should  rethink this.

Patriots over the Broncos. This smells like a blowout. Belichick has to be looking at the weak arm of Manning and planning all kinds of ways to jump those routs. Pick Six could be a theme.

49ers over the Bills.  Despite the loss on their resume already, San Fran is still a top team. Shockingly, Buffalo is not.

Saints over the Chargers. Make the bleeding stop Drew Brees. Please.

Texans over the Jets.   Sanchez, Tebow, Sanchez, Tebow. Enie, menie, miny, moe, please don't pick mr. Tebow.  ...Wow that sucked. I promise to never do that again.

Last week: 9-6
Overall: 31-31 (50%)