NFL Week 8 Predictions

I love NFL football on Halloween weekend.  Besides seeing all the interesting and creative costumes that the fans wear (like that guy dressed as Bill Cowher at the Steelers-Patriots game in '04), it also makes the dramatic upsets even more thrilling.  Anything can happen, no matter how freaky it might seem. 

And last week was pretty ghastly for me prediction-wise.  I went a pitiful 6-7, which puts me at 59-44 (57.3 %) on the season.  What sorts of thrills, chills, and horrors are we in for this Halloween?  (Hopefully nothing as horrifying as Clemson's performance against Georgia Tech on Saturday night.  GAAAH!) 

Giants over Dolphins

• I kinda feel bad for Tony Sparano.  It's hard to do your job when the folks who hired you basically told you that they had no confidence in you at all heading into the season.  Didn't the Raiders do sort of the same thing to Lane Kiffin back in '09?  On the other side, the Giants have been one of the more puzzling teams this season.  One week they're kicking butt; the next, they don't show up at all.  This week, though, it won't matter which Giants team we see this week, because the winless Miami Dolphins are in town.  

Texans over Jaguars

• Just when I thought Houston had packed it in after dropping two in a row, they went and dumped a family-sized carton of butt-whoop on the Titans.  No reason they won't do the same to the Jags, even without Andre Johnson.  

Titans over Colts

• Only one word can describe the Colts' 62-7 loss to New Orleans last week: ouch!  

Panthers over Vikings

• Battle of the Rookie QB's, Round Three: Cam Newton vs. Christian Ponder.  

Saints over Rams

• New Orleans gets a treat this Halloween by facing two winless teams back-to-back.  The Rams will need a lot of tricks to stop a high-powered Saints offense that scored 62 last week.  

Ravens over Cardinals

• Arizona's going to have a tough enough time fighting jet lag, let alone one of the league's best defenses. 

Lions over Broncos

• The scare that Matthew Stafford's injury last week gave Detroit was a week too early for Halloween.  Fortunately for them, Stafford looks like he'll be ready to go on Sunday, and the Lions should get back on track against Denver. 

Bills over Redskins
Steelers over Patriots

• Tom Brady has had his way with the Steelers these last few seasons.  This time, though, Pittsburgh will be prepared with the league's second-best pass defense.  Not saying New England's a pushover, though.  These next two weeks will show us exactly what kind of team the Steelers are (they've got a rematch with Baltimore next week).   Should be a good show. 

49ers over Browns
Bengals over Seahawks
Eagles over Cowboys
Chiefs over Chargers

• Looks like the Chiefs have finally found their groove, having won three in a row without two of their key players, RB Jamaal Charles and S Eric Berry.  The Chargers have yet to show that they can beat legitimate teams after falling to the Jets last week.  The momentum looks to be in KC's favor.  

Have a happy Halloween, and be safe trick-or-treating.  Oh, and for those of you readers in Clemson, especially those of y'all looking for a safe place for your kids to trick-or-treat, come to the Trunk-or-Treat at St. Andrew's Catholic Church this Sunday evening from 4 to 8.  I'll be there dressed as Troy Polamalu (my girlfriend's idea!), so stop by and say hi. 

Stay frosty, y'all!  And GO STEELERS!

B-)

NFL Week 7 Predictions

We've reached the point in the season where the contenders (and the pretenders) have started to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.  There were a couple of surprises last week, but I think I fared well for the most part, going 9-4 to put me at 53-37 (58.9 %) on the season.  There's a lot of excitement in store for this weekend, including a game in London, two Superbowl rematches, a battle for divisional supremacy, and L.T. facing his former team.  So buckle up, sports fans, 'cause heeeere we goooo! 

Dolphins over Broncos

• Denver traded away its best receiver, Brandon Lloyd, to the Rams last week.  Not exactly the vote of confidence Tim Tebow needed... 

Chargers over Jets 

• The big story here is that Jets RB LaDanian Tomlinson will be facing his former team for the first time, though I don't see him being the big-play guy that he was back in his prime.  The Jets snapped their three-game losing streak last week, but it was against the winless Dolphins, so the jury's still out on whether or not they're back to top form.  San Diego's gotten to 4-1 on the strength of its defense, which should be just enough to give them the edge.  

Titans over Texans

• The Texans seem to have taken their foot off the gas lately.  The Titans rebound from their blowout loss to Pittsburgh to take this game and the AFC South lead.  

Lions over Falcons

• They're no longer undefeated, but the Lions - and Jim Schwarz - will be fired up enough to beat Atlanta.  

Panthers over Redskins

• After a couple of good weeks, Rex Grossman is back to his under-achieving self, and it's now John Beck's turn at the helm.  Meanwhile, the Panthers are looking pretty comfortable with Cam Newton.  

Buccaneers over Bears

• In medieval times, bear-baiting was a popular form of entertainment in London.  The surging Bucs should give modern-day London a similar show this weekend.  

Browns over Seahawks
Steelers over Cardinals

• I've lost count of how many former Steelers players / personnel are now working in Arizona - Ken Whisenhunt, Russ Grimm, Joey Porter, and Clark Haggans, just to name a few.  I'm still picking Pittsburgh to win this rematch of Superbowl XLIII, but after their underwhelming second-half performance against Jacksonville last week, I gotta say that I've got a bad feeling about this.  At least they won't need Santonio Holmes to win the game for them, because Mike Wallace is also capable of making those diving touchdown catches, like this one against the Packers.

Raiders over Chiefs

• Al Davis may have passed on, but for the Raiders, his message lives on: "Just win, baby!"  And win the Raiders - led by new quarterback Carson Palmer - will against the hapless Chiefs.  

Packers over Vikings
Cowboys over Rams

• For once, you can't blame last week's loss on Tony Romo.  Interestingly enough, the World Series will also feature a St. Louis team coming to Arlington on Sunday.  

Saints over Colts

• This one's going to look nothing like Superbowl XLIV without Peyton Manning. 

Ravens over Jaguars

• Blaine Gabbert is certainly getting a trial by fire, having to face three of the league's best defenses in three straight weeks.  Baltimore will be less than sympathetic. 

NFL Week 6 Predictions

After doing pretty well with my picks the last few weeks, I took a step back last week, going 7-6 (44-33, 57.1% on the season).  Several of the games I got wrong were ones that I'd originally predicted the other way but changed my mind about.  Guess I need to stop second-guessing myself, and maybe I should just not read too closely into all the stats. 

I'm running late on this week's picks because I've been spending all week preparing for the Math GRE, and I've also been battling a cold.  (I'm not even in school anymore, and I'm still getting sick around midterm break, like clockwork!)  Ergo, I have neither the time nor the energy to write an analysis for each game, so this week, I'm just going to list my predictions: 

Falcons over Panthers
Bengals over Colts
Lions over 49ers
Packers over Rams
Bills over Giants
Steelers over Jaguars
Redskins over Eagles
Ravens over Texans
Raiders over Browns
Patriots over Cowboys
Saints over Buccaneers
Bears over Vikings
Jets over Dolphins

Stay frosty, y'all! 

B-)

NFL Week 5 Predictions

It's been kind of a rough week for me.  Last weekend started out all right, with the Rays shutting out the Rangers 9-0 in Game 1 of the ALDS and Clemson walloping Virginia Tech to move up to # 8 in the BCS rankings (which won't mean much, anyway, unless we actually get to play for the national title).  But then it all went downhill from there, with the Steelers choking against the Texans, and the Rays suddenly deciding that they were done playing baseball after Game 1.  So much for a magical season...

Predictions-wise, I fared a little better.  Got off to a rough start with the first set of games, but somehow I ended up going 10-6, which puts me at 37-27 (57.8 %) on the season.  I've got a little more time this week, and hopefully a little more energy, and a few less picks to make since the bye weeks are starting this week, so here goes: 

Titans over Steelers

• Tennessee's defense has been lights-out so far this season, and RB Chris Johnson is starting to look like his old self again.  That's bad news for a Steelers team that gave up over 150 yards to Arian Foster last week and is now without LB James Harrison.  There's still hope for the people of Pittsburgh, though, because hockey season is finally here, and the Penguins got off to a good start Thursday night.  

Texans over Raiders

• Houston's victory over the Steelers last week came at a price: WR Andre Johnson injured his hamstring and is expected to be out for at least a few weeks.  But there's no reason for them to hit the panic button just yet, as they'll be playing the Nnamdi-less Jokeland defense this week.   I'm not knocking the Raiders' offense, though, as they've been putting up some pretty good numbers this season.  

Colts over Chiefs

• Give Indy credit - they're trying; they just don't have much to work with without Peyton Manning.  Kansas City should give them as good of an opportunity as any to finally get a win.  

Bengals over Jaguars

• Don't look now, but the Bengals haven't been doing half-bad this season.  They've now got the number one defense in the league, which doesn't bode well for a lackluster Jacksonville offense.  

Giants over Seahawks

• I'll be honest - I was a bit worried about the Giants a couple weeks ago.  They've certainly proven me wrong!  

Cardinals over Vikings 

• Donovan McNabb is not the answer at quarterback for the Vikes.  Maybe it's time to give Christian Ponder a ponder (James Lipton beard on).  

Saints over Panthers

• Expect another big performance from Cam Newton in this shootout, but don't expect Carolina to come away with the win.  

Bills over Eagles

• Tough loss for Buffalo last week, but they should rebound against a struggling Eagles defense.  At least the folks in Philly also have hockey season to look forward to.  

49ers over Buccaneers

• A game that looked like a snoozer just a few weeks ago has now gotten interesting with both teams at 3-1 and leading their respective divisions.  This one's a tough call, but my gut tells me the Niners will surprise once again.  

Jets over Patriots

• I originally had this one picked to go the other way, given the Jets' struggles in their last two games, and 'cause it's Tom Brady and everything.  But New England's defense is just plain awful, and the return of Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold should help the Jets keep Mark Sanchez from getting too banged up.  

Chargers over Broncos

• Denver's another place where there's been calls for a change at QB.  Meanwhile, San Diego's managed to get things done even without TE Antonio Gates.  Then again, they've had to deal with injuries to LaDanian Tomlinson the last few years and still looked hardly any worse for wear, so why am I not surprised?  

Packers over Falcons

• Yet another playoff rematch for the Packers, who show no signs of slowing down.  Atlanta will make it a game, but they've still got a long way to go after it took them nearly everything they had just to come out of Seattle with a win last week.  

Lions over Bears

• No lead is safe against Detroit, who overcame yet another 20+-point deficit to beat the Cowboys last week.  These Lions are for real.  This game should be a good test for them.  Plus, we'll get our first look at what DT Nick Fairley, the Lions' first-round pick this year, can do.  Can you believe Detroit hasn't played a Monday Night game in over ten years? 

NFL Week 4 Predictions

I'm a little later than usual with my predictions this week, because I just couldn't help but revel in the moment after my Rays pulled off the greatest comeback in baseball history on Wednesday night.  I turned the game off in the sixth when they were down 7-0, thinking the season was as good as gone, and went on CBS's website to get caught up on Hawaii Five-O.  I went back on the Rays' site afterward to see the final score, and to my surprise, it's tied 7-7 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, and Dan Johnson - of all people! - has just hit a game-tying home run.  So I'm flipping back and forth on Gameday between the Rays-Yankees and Red Sox-Orioles games, and I see Baltimore come back from a 3-2 deficit in the bottom of the ninth with two outs to win it 4-3, thanks to a bobbled catch by none other than former Rays outfielder Carl Crawford (karma's a bitch, ain't it?)  And then, a few minutes later, Evan Longoria hits his second home run of the night to win the game for Tampa in the 12th, capping off the Rays' unprecedented comeback from nine games back at the start of September to knock off Boston for the AL Wild Card.  I couldn't really celebrate the moment exactly when it happened, because I was on the phone with my girlfriend, who had called me just a minute earlier, but when she asked me how my day was going, I was able to tell her, "It just got a lot better!"  Needless to say, I was too numb with euphoria to write anything, so I had to put off Part 2 of my Twitter rant for another day, so that's why I'm running behind with my picks this week.

Whew!  Didn't intend to ramble for that long.  Onto my predictions.  Last week I went 9-7, which puts me at 27-21 (56.3 %) on the season. 

Bills over Bengals

• After seeing them come back from a 21-point deficit to beat the Patriots, I'm officially impressed with the job Buffalo has done so far.  It's easy to see the change in this team's attitude - they never quit, even when the game gets tough.  

Titans over Browns

• Playing against Cleveland's defense just might be the shot in the arm that Chris Johnson needs.  Then again, the Titans haven't done too badly without him so far.  

Texans over Steelers

• Pittsburgh's running game looked pretty lackluster last week, and its defense struggled to contain Joseph Addai.  Can they really expect to fare any better against Arian Foster? 

Lions over Cowboys

• We all expected the Lions to have a breakout season, but few of us expected them to be undefeated so far.  The Cowboys, though, look like they're just barely hanging on. 

Eagles over 49ers

• I think it's time to stop calling Philly's defense the "Dream Team."  Luckily for them, their opponent this week doesn't have much on offense to challenge them.  

Panthers over Bears

• Cam Newton's stats were a lot more down to earth against the Jags last week, but more importantly, his team finally got the win.  Chicago's defense hasn't looked too good these last few weeks, and their offensive line took a big hit with rookie Gabe Carimi's injury, leaving them pretty vulnerable to a Panthers team that's starting to look pretty hungry. 

Rams over Redskins

• All the stats tell me to pick Washington, in spite of their struggles against Dallas on Monday night.  Call me crazy, but I think St. Louis just might be hungry enough to finally get a win this Sunday. 

Saints over Jaguars
Vikings over Chiefs
Giants over Cardinals

• Big Blue surprised me last week with a win over Philadelphia.  Guess they're not as banged up as I thought they were... 

Seahawks over Falcons

• Atlanta just hasn't been playing like it's capable of playing, and struggles on the road.  Not a good sign when you're going into one of the toughest stadiums in the league to play in.  

Packers over Broncos
Patriots over Raiders
Chargers over Dolphins
Ravens over Jets
Buccaneers over Colts

If You Can't Tweet 'Em... (Part 2)

In my last post, I hypothesized that Facebook is slowly turning into Twitter, but I never really explained why, other than ranting about people putting hashtags in their Facebook statuses.  It's much more than just that, especially given all the changes that Facebook has made recently.

First, there's the new feature where Facebook users can "subscribe" to other users, which basically means they can see what said users are posting without having to be friends with them.  You can subscribe to your friends, coworkers, celebrities, or even random strangers you've never met before, and follow along with everything that goes on in their lives.  Hel-LOOO?  Isn't this exactly what Twitter is for?

The other big change they've made is the ticker in the upper-right corner of the News Feed.  With this little doohickey, every little thing that each of your friends does on Facebook is displayed in real time for you to see.  Every status they write, every person they friend, every page they like, and every comment they write - even to someone who isn't one of your friends.  That's right.  Every.  Freakin'.  Thing.  This is the part of the new Facebook that bothers me the most.  If I really wanted to know everything each one of my 800+ "friends" was doing, I'd get a Twitter account.  Not to mention that the scroll bar on the ticker is way too impossibly narrow for one with even the most steady of hands and 20/10 vision to manipulate using a standard computer mouse, let alone the touchpad or TrackPoint on a laptop. 

But what really rolls my twelve-sided dice about these new changes to Facebook is that I no longer have any control whatsoever over who sees my every move and what they can or can't see.  That means that every time I write a comment on someone else's status or photo, all of my "friends" can not only read what I wrote, but they can also see the original post by said someone.  And the worst part is, where I once could limit the visibility of my posts to just my friends, or restrict it even further than that, I no longer have control over these privacy settings.  Instead, I have to cross my fingers and hope that each of my "friends" will take 10-15 seconds of their precious time to scroll down to my name, hover over it with their mouse, wait for the info box to appear, hover over the "Subscribed" button, wait for the menu to pop up, and uncheck "Comments and Likes."  Yeah, it's only 10-15 seconds, but when you consider that I have, as I mentioned earlier, over 800 "friends" on Facebook - which is actually kinda low compared to a lot of my colleagues - that means it would take, if my calculations are correct, well over two hours to do this for my entire friend list, which robs me of all motivation to even start such a herculean task with even a few of my "friends."  And if I lack the will to do that for my "friends," what makes me so sure they'd be willing to do the same for me without me having to twist their arm a little?  Statistics is not my strong suit as a mathematician (that job falls to my good friends and fellow bloggers Jonathon and Jonathan), but I can tell y'all for sure that I don't like those odds. 

Were it not for the fact that being able to post on Facebook helps me keep in touch with my friends a lot more easily and has gotten me out of a few minor jams (like finding people to help me move stuff into my new apartment, or helping me recover a paycheck that fell out of my coat pocket on the way home), I would seriously consider deactivating my Facebook account.  I don't know about everyone else, but I for one am getting sick and tired of all these changes that Facebook keeps making, when all we wanted in the first place was a "Dislike" button.  The way I see it, Mark Zuckerberg (I'm resisting the temptation to make an obscene rhyming pun on his last name here) just realized how much competition he's getting from Twitter, so he decided to turn Facebook into a fancier version of Twitter to appease all the Twitterites.  In other words, to repeat the old adage that I concluded my last post with, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. 

But seriously, Zuck, grow a friggin' spine and stop selling out to The Man.  Or at least have the courtesy to give us a little more advance notice before you start messing with our accounts.  I mean, you don't just randomly overhaul someone's car, computer, or house without telling them first and convincing them that what you're doing will actually make things better for them.  So why would you do the same thing to the Facebook accounts of millions of people you don't even know? 

Okay, I'm done ranting... at least until the next major overhaul of Facebook happens.  As a final note, I humbly ask everyone who reads this and is friends with me on Facebook to please do me a favor and take just 15 seconds to unsubscribe from my "Comments and Likes."  (I outlined the steps a few paragraphs earlier.)  I'll do the same for all of you, even if it's only a few friends at a time. 

Stay frosty, y'all! 

B-)

If You Can't Tweet 'Em... (Part 1)

Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who's completely pissed off about this new look that Facebook has.  Just when I'm finally getting used to the last big change they made, they go and revamp it completely, just to mess with me.  And last night, I saw on MSNBC.com that they're gonna make yet another big change pretty soon, turning the Wall into something called a Timeline or some other shitake mushroom like that.  It hasn't happened to my profile yet, but from what I saw from the preview, I'm not too impressed.

The harsh reality is, Facebook is slowly turning into Twitter, and I don't like it one bit.  I do not have a Twitter, and I never will, because I really don't need to know what Katy Perry ate for breakfast this morning or every other little insignificant thing that's going on in everyone's life, and I already waste enough time on Facebook as it is.  It was already annoying enough when Twitter crept into my Facebook news feed.  I was okay with people linking their Twitter posts to their Facebooks, but then it evolved (or should I say degenerated?) to the point where people were typing their Facebook statuses in Twitter format, plaguing my eyes with hashtags throughout their posts.  Every time I see one of those random phrases with a # in front of it - especially in the middle of a sentence - it makes me want to reach through my wireless router and beat the offending poster about the head and torso, all the while screaming, "THIS AIN'T F**KIN' TWITTER, YOU F**KIN' MORON!"  People who put hashtags in their statuses should be crucified on a cross that's shaped like one of those #'s.  (*Bonus points to anyone who knows what the grammatical name for the pound sign is.) 

Okay, so maybe I'm being a little overdramaculous (in the words of Dubya).  But still, it makes it hard to read when you have a #randompunctuationmark with a #bunchofwordsstrungtogether in the middle of a sentence like that.  #andthoserandomwordstringsafterwardlikethisarealsoannoying.  See what I mean?  That's why, a few weeks ago, I decided to strike back at the Tweeters (Twitterers?  Not sure what they're called...) who constantly pollute my Facebook by inserting random hashtags throughout my Facebook status.  The next level will be to hashtag random, insignificant words like "#the", "#and", "#etc".  I'm not sure if it'll actually set anything off on Twitter, but I'm pretty sure at the very least it'll annoy the hell out of those hashtagging bastards.  It almost sounds like I'm caving in, but I see it as more like striking back at them with their own weapons.  Like they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I've barely even scratched the surface of my main argument - that Facebook is slowly turning into Twitter - but I don't feel like writing a really long post that I might not finish tonight (my attention span has been getting shorter and shorter these days), and I should give all of y'all out there in Reader Land some time to digest this first rant.  I promise, I'll finish things up soon, if not tonight or tomorrow.  Till then, #stayfrostyyall!

B-)