it's been a while and i have no really compelling excuses, but i do have a lot that i'd love to talk about... i'm still working on newness for the main site... i'm still trying to train myself to being a morning person... i went on a Disney Cruise with the family... basketball season has begun for the littles... football season is concluding quickly (i'm still without firm Superbowl plans, by the way)... i've got a few new albums to discuss.. more books that i'm reading (Saint is turning out great so far)... but today, since it's the one year anniversary of the last inauguration, i'm going to talk a little bit about politics...

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

now playing: The Hope - Sevenglory

It was exactly a year ago that Barack Obama officially took office as the 44th President of the United States, or POTUS... back then, the celebrations were rampant and it almost seemed as if, by merely waving his hand and reciting a simple oath, this new POTUS could instantly solve all of the world's problems - including, but not limited to, the war on terrorism, the growing economic crisis, the health care debacle, and, of course, global warming...

As he stood up on the west front balcony of the US Capitol building, one hand raised in the air, the other on the Lincoln Bible, he couldn't help but take in the million or so strong sea of those in attendence to witness this moment in time... here stood a president who represented the will of the people... here had arrived hope and change and culmination of all the fantastical promises from the last few years of campaigning... here stood perhaps the most accomplished POTUS to have never accomplished anything other than getting elected... anticipation was high, expectations higher, and the world watched with bated breath...

and it is exactly a year later that Barack Obama, as he's been struggling to stay afloat in the seas of responsibility that he may have overlooked when he began his ascent to power... having taken the election results as a mandate for, i don't know, change and hope, perhaps? President Obama hasn't exactly hit the ground running... In fact, many of the aforementioned focal points, have become more oppressive than ever before...

the war on terror is still ongoing, despite a few cosmetic name changes... the economic climate has continued to spiral out of control despite several instances of "fighting fire with gasoline and more fire" stimulus packages... health care reform, which has become the biggest distraction from any other concerns - presumably because it was expected to pass easily in the Democratic House and Senate - still remains theoretical... (and with Brown's victory last night, will likely remain unpassed)... and global warming? well... it's as sore a subject as the Chicago Olympics...

I realize that a slow start isn't necessarily indicative of the entire term of office, but it does make for some talking points, am i right?... it seems to me that this administration's main accomplishment so far has been little more than pointing out and complaining about the problems that exist... in effect, if our problems were spread out in front of us like a Thanksgiving feast, our country has simply been loosening its belt and gluttonously feasting, when we should be standing up and walking away from the table...

change? not so much - at least not for the better... hope? seems to be dwindling... Mission Accomplished? let's hope not...

peace... love... bdg...

so, if we learned anything from last week's games, we learned that when a terrible team plays another terrible team it will be a GREAT game... also that when a terribly overyped but utterly woeful team plays another team of the same caliber, it will be three and a half hours that you want back from your life...

of course, the former refers to the Lions/Browns game, which was perhaps the most exhilarating game of utterly zero consequence we've seen this year... and the latter refers to the mind-numbing showdown between the Redskins and the Cowboys... also a one-point victory, but one that was marked more by disfunction than anything else...

Anyway, i went 12-4 with my predictions, bringing my totals on the season to a whopping 112 right with only 47 miscues... on the other hand, my lack of attentiveness in regards to fantasy football have left me falling and failing week in and week out... i got swept this week and have completely lost all hope in one of the leagues, but am still holding out hope in the other two... but enough about me... let's talk about some football...

TURKEY DAY CLASSICS
now playing: Jive Turkey - Theory Hazit ft. Ohmega Watts

tradition is a pretty funny thing... everyone tends to despise the notion that they may have fallen into a rut during their daily lives... everyday patterns are considered boring and irritating... traditions, however, are welcome repetitions possibly because they have some sentimental attachment to particular events... i say, tomato, tom-ah-to...

anyway, Thanksgiving is steeped in tradition... there's the feasting, the family gathering, and, of course, the football games... well this year, tradition has let us down with abismal matchups between the Lions and Packers, the Raiders and Cowboys, and the Broncos and Giants... the obvious problems in the early games are that the Lions are 2-8, the Raiders are 3-7 and the other four teams are struggling to find themselves, which isn't the best place to be in going into week 12... all of these games have the potential of being really boring... i guess what i'm really saying is that you might consider dusting off the VCR and watching Doug Flutie make Thanksgiving history leading Boston College against Miami 25 years ago...

anyway, here are my picks for Thursday's actual games...
- Packers trounce the ailing Lions 42-17
- Raiders put up quite a fight, but end up letting the Cowboys win 20-16
- Giants - see, this one's tough to pick - well, the Giants win 28-20

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY (AND MONDAY)...
now playing: Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2

moving on to Sunday, after sleeping off the big feast.. we've got a cornucopia of games to pick and early on, the most interesting stop is the rematch between the 10-0 Colts and the hobbling Texans... it would be easy to pick the Colts in a blowout since the Texans have really had some rough outings and plenty of problems over the past couple weeks, but then again, they are the Texans... and they've got a top wide receiver, i mean, quarterback, i mean, running back, i mean all three... there's always the potential of a high-scoring game... then again, they are playing the Colts... and no matter how many points the Texans score, i'm pretty sure that one Mr. Manning can score at least one more... Colts: 38-23

the rest...
- Bills over Fins (i know, shut up) 27-25
- Bengals over Browns (i should hope so) 40-19
- Panthers over Jets (J-E-S-T, er) 21-7
- Falcons over Bucs (like a weather balloon over Denver) 29-17
- Eagles over Redskins (please not like last week) 22-13
- Seahawks over Rams (the Rams still stink, right?) 14-10

at the later hour, the key matchup has to be the Cardinals and the Titans... both teams have a bad case of trying to prove that they are who they... were last year... and crucial to the outcome may be whether or not Kurt Warner is able or allowed to play, given the concussion "like" symptoms he experienced last week... not sure that Leinart can really rally the team, less sure that the Cards can contain Chris Johnson, not looking good for the Cards... i wouldn't normally, but i've gotta go with Tennessee 35-23

more "middle" games...
- Chargers over the Chiefs (that's the resurging Chiefs to you) 27-21
- Jags over the 49ers (maybe next year 5-0) 20-10
- Vikings over Bears (doesn't Adrian Peterson play for the Vikings?) 31-15

Sunday Night... the prime time spot goes to the Ravens and the Steelers... and it may be Batch vs Flacco... wait, scratch Batch... Dennis Dixon... Big Ben has that concussion thing going on, but, i'd bet he plays anyway, i mean, Dixon has a perfect completion percentage (1-1 for 3 yards), but no one wants to see him against the Ravens... the Steelers are reeling from a weird loss last week and the Ravens are just reeling in general... i see the Steelers coming out of this one with a 28-9 victory...

Monday Night... could be the second biggest game of the year... (up until the 17-0 Colts meet the 17-0 Saints in the Superbowl)... anyway, the Patriots have more reason than any other team to stop the Saints from a perfect season... and the bitterness that fuels them perhaps will be their undoing... i think this will be a great game and will end up as a 45-42 shootout tilted towards the 11-0 (after this week) Saints...

okay everybody... that's all from me for now... have a super spectacular Thanksgiving... i'm going to try to rest up and get some long overdue work done during my brief, but highly anticipated break...

peace... love... bdg...

Well, i did it... i broke 100 last week - two weeks earlier than i did last year... and since i got it right for a second straight Thursday, i'm already on the path to crush last year's numbers... though, with the large amount of teams that are just plain terrible this year, i suppose it's somewhat of a shallow victory... but i'll still take it... this week, besides picks, i have a few things to talk about that are related... and we'll see where this all goes...

WOE BILLS, I MEAN GO BILLS...
now playing: Streams of Woe at Acheron - Falling Up

Well, the Bills really outdid themselves last week... they turned a respectable game into a blow out in the blink of an eye... two fourth quarter pick-sixes - one from each QB and suddenly they've lost by 24 points... and then... and then... Dick Jauron gets fired and Perry Fewell takes over... and then... and then... before Fewell even cuts his teeth as a head coach, the Bills contact Mike Shanahan and possibly Bill Cowher... seems like an odd method of leadership, quite honestly...

Fewell has done a great job with the defense this year and it makes perfect sense to give him the chance to step up, but it almost feels like he's being immediately distracted by a need to find a job for next year... the pursuit of a new coach make it clear that Wilson doesn't expect this to be a long-term promotion... and we all know that when a new head coach/GM of any known caliber comes on board, the entire coaching staff gets a reboot... thus not only will Fewell be out at the head spot, but very likely at defensive coordinator as well...

this dynamic appears to be playing out at the quarterback position... Fitzpatrick has been named the starter for this week, perhaps giving him the opportunity to step out of the back-up role he's played to Trent Edwards... and this is deserved since he did pretty well during Trent's injury... however, before the first snap, the Bills have brought in a new QB in Brian Brohm, effectively communicating a distrust in both QBs... (not that it's unwarranted)...

of course, this all began at the beginning of the season when Wilson hamstrung the offense by axing offensive coordinator Turk Schonert the week before the season began... Alex Van Pelt hardly had a chance to really plan or prepare to run the entire offense... and i should mention that if the Bills bring on Cowher, we will officially be at an impasse... don't get me wrong, the Bills are still my team, but that would be... ugh...

anyway... looking forward... Ralph Wilson promises to overhaul the team and that sounds good... definitely need some work there and they're probably not going to be able to bring back Flutie, which is always my solution... Jauron certainly needed to go - as nice a guy as he may be, he coaches a legacy of losing and that's clearly not changing anytime soon... TO probably won't be back - maybe they'll trade him to the Patriots, Dolphins, or Jets so that he can have a great season crushing them... coupled with the drama of the Redskins, it's just a rough year for the teams i pay attention to most...

THE OWNER'S BOX...
now playing: Man Watcha Doin? - FM Static

well, i went a little long in the first section there... and i kind of touched on some of the points i was going to touch on here, only as they apply to the Redskins... and since, i had also planned this as a tease to a larger writing effort, i'll simply say that the NFL owners have provided a number of wonderful examples of bad leadership this season... and i'll have more on that at a later date...

YOU CAN'T PICK YOUR FRIEND'S NOSE...
now playing: Pick Up Sticks - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

i'm going to go ahead and say that this is a must win week for every team... the number of elite teams has dwindled to four (Colts, Saints, Vikings, and Bengals) and, there's still about eight absolutely terrible teams, but what's left is a big mish-mosh of teams hoping to still make the cut... and so, we're actually seeing some good matchups... as such, i'm going to pretty much do straight picks this week... my time is limited and i have so many non-football things to write and do... anyway... off we go...

early games...
- Steelers over Chiefs
- 49ers over Packers
- Lions over Browns
- Colts over Ravens
- Vikings over Seahawks
- Cowboys over Redskins
- Bills over Jags
- Giants over Falcons
- Saints over Bucs

middle games...
- Cards over Rams
- Pats over Jets
- Bengals over Raiders
- Chargers over Broncos

Sunday Night...
- Eagles over Bears

Monday Night...
- Titans over Texans

and i'm on my way...

peace... love... bdg...

sorry... had some technical issues with last week's football picks and couldn't get them posted here... i had them posted in time over at theTRu...

week eleven picks coming shortly...

peace... love... bdg...

well i feel like i got CRUSHED last week and in fantasy, i did, thanks to both of my running back earning negative points and only Payton Manning earning double digits for me... also there were a couple of upsets which helped spoil my picks... in fact, i was only 7-6 this week, my worst outing yet this year... and since i'm tired and still a little bitter, i'm going to be quick about my picks this week too... off we go...

WHO'S GONNA WIN

now playing: Mad Season - Matchbox 20

for the early games, there may be a few good matchups... starting with the Ravens, who remembered how to play last week, meeting up with the Bengals, who remember how to play at the beginning of the year... powerful defenses, powerful offenses, deodorant, and fireworks aplenty... Bengals win, 31-28...

- The Colts should beat the Texans regardless of who they have running the ball... Payton is on fire this year and has managed to have everyone saying Marvin Who?...
- Packers obliterate the Bucs...
- a win for the Bears just isn't in the Cards...
- the Jags stick it to the rebuilding Chiefs, even with their new wideout...
- Patriots will beat the Dolphins who will learn early on that the wildcat won't work, and that they have nothing else to offer...
- and the Redskins will draw a blank against the Falcons...

The late games have the Giants and Chargers matchup as the highlight of the afternoon... and that could go either way as both teams seem to struggle when they're actually challenged... i think this one goes to the Chargers though, by about ten points...
- Saints continue to roll, Panthers return to rolling over...
- Seahawks get a breather and should beat the Lions... (if the Rams can beat them, anyone can)...
- and the 49ers should break out of this lull, bouncing back against the Vince Young Titans...

Sunday Night brings us the NFC EAST MATCHUP of the Cowboys and the Eagles... yeah, well, the NFC East has really become a bunch of kittens this year... the Eagles, though, could turn it out something fierce if they are feeling right... and i think they'll fly pretty high this week... (and beat the Cowpokes... er, Cowboys)...

which brings us to the Monday Night game and the best home field advantage in the league?... the Steelers come into face the Broncos with a blueprint for success (assuming they watched the Ravens tear the Broncos to shreds last week)... despite the Broncos playing at home and the altitude adjustment needed for the Steelers, i give this one to the Steelers... and i hate the Steelers, so i'm certainly not playing favorites here...

AND THAT'S IT...

goodbye.

peace... love... bdg...