I Dislike Your Favorite Team

Every blog has a free plug-in, that delivers some stats about how many people visited the blog on any given day, how long they stayed, and most entertainingly (to me) how they got there.

One week into my new weekly video post series, and I totally forgot about it. Apologies to people who were really looking forward to the next Old School Thursday post. Here it is, the Big Daddy Kane classic, Ain't No Half-Steppin'. It is worth waiting for.

Kurt Warner is retiring. He has not died tragically. Please stop talking about him like he did.

In the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Tim Tebow is quoted saying this about the controversial Super Bowl ad that he is appearing in: "I don't think it's anything that's negative or anything like that." "It's a great opportunity to share a very happy and special story about my mom fighting for me."

US Soccer fans know that Brian McBride was ridiculously tough, and also had the misfortune to have some truly odd ailments. He played bloodied, he came back from broken cheek bones, and on the pitch, he often received elbows:

This Superbowl round promises to be a thrilling end to the 2009 season. Likewise, the IDYFT Pick'em will crown a champion with all the dignity of a Halftime Show.

Bonus Points were awarded this week. Back in the Wildcard Round, MMan and Adw called the Colts to win the AFC and then the Superbowl. That pick, if correct, would earn seven points.

Miwacar correctly identified "Elgin Baylor" with the clever use of initials. Basketball was central to my father's life, and Elgin was his favorite all-time player. When I was born, my mother prevailed. As my father wrote in his last book (soon-to-be-published), "we named him Andrew. Deep down in my heart, I knew this was not the name of a Hall of Famer."

Lefnut picked the Saints to win it all, way back in the beginning of the 2009 regular season. He'll pick up 12 points if he is correct.

Standings
1. Adw: 20 pts (+7 this week)
2. Jess: 17 pts (+10 this week)
3. MMan: 15 pts (+13 this week)
4. MWC: 11 pts (+6 this week)
Big BM: 11 pts (+10 this week)
5. Lefnut: 0 pts

Superbowl XLIV
1. Clash of the Titans +/-4
Indianapolis Colts versus New Orleans Saints

2. Final Score? (closest = +3)

Bonus Questions (+2)
3. Team with the lead at halftime?
4. Team with most total yards?
5. Team with most turnovers?
6. Team with highest average on kickoff returns?*

Trivia Questions: Regular Season IDYFT Pick'em (2009)
7. Which team was picked by contestants for the most "Shoe-ins"? +3
8. Which team was listed in the "Clash of the Titans" the most times? +3
9. Which team was on the "Underdog List" the most? +3


* an uncommon stat to be sure, but I believe that it will be a hidden stat in this Superbowl, in expectation of a high-scoring game.

The Kentucky - South Carolina tilt was great fun, and undoubtedly, tiny SC guard Devan Downey hit really big shots, and generated some serious headaches for the Kentucky press (in that it did not seem to faze him).

Paul Shirley wrote some stuff on the Haitian relief effort, wherein he suggested that giving money to aid efforts is a waste and seemed to suggest that nation-wide poverty was a lifestyle choice:

Favre throws a 4th quarter, season-ending INT?

Let's hope that induces a gag reflex on his sportsjack legions. What next for the Vikings? This team made an impressive run to get to the championship, riding Favre's arm as far as it could take them.

While he will certainly want to come back, to get the taste of that chokeball out of his throat, it is still in the Viking's best interest to get a different QB. I've got no beef with the Vikes, but I am very sick of Favre and all the sportsjacks blowing his boyishness all over themselves.

My gorge riseth. Favre ends the season doing what he does better than any QB in pro football history: chucking INTs. The flavor of that final boner is going persist longer than the birthmark of Drew Brees.

So a clap on the back for the Jets and the Vikings. Good job.

And I hereby submit: anyone who roots for the Colts against the Saints is officially an asshole.

Andy Dick arrested? What? Crazy, I know. I'm just glad to see that Andy Dick brings his unique brand of comedy/non-consensual sexual groping to places that you might not think he would. Congratulations, Huntington, West Virginia. For one day, you are just like a shitty town outside of Los Angeles.

Remember when I talked, at length, about the American Needle case? Dave Zirin is weighing in, too.

Let me preface this post with this undeniable truth: It's a topsy-turvy upside-down world when I agree with Drew Brees. But we will get to that. Today we learned that this Supreme Court is all kinds of wacky, and willing to overthrow 60+ years of precedents and ignore things that are just obviously true (in the name of precedent). If the Supreme Court can say, "Sure, corporations deserve every single bit of First Amendment, if you define the First Amendment as pouring money into campaigns with no limits whatsoever)", then who can say for sure how they will rule on any other case?

This popped into my head, and I figure why not and make a tradition of it? Ladies and Gentlemen, the first of a series hopefully. Old School Thursday!

There are few things that make me happier as a college basketball fan that grew up in Northern Virginia than seeing both Georgetown beat a ranked opponent, and UNC losing to an unranked one. What a fantastic evening. Potential extra bonus: Duke is down to NC State as I type. What a super special evening.

I was getting ready to write about the injuries piling up for the USA Men's team, and in particular, the fact that Clint Dempsey, possible starting striker and the Rappin' Rodney of futbol, went down in a Premiership League game over the weekend with what looked like a pretty bad knee injury.

I love the Missouri Valley Conference, and how they are essentially just a step below the power conferences most years, and often right with one of them any given year. (You think the PAC-10 would want to play a conference-wide challenge against them this year?)

It's a question of character. The NY Jets have it. Nerfneck Turner does not, and his team reflects it. Kick another challenge flag, boners! That was awesome.

Here we are at the conference championships. There are only two games left. Consider this: in just a few weeks, we will once again be without football for seven months. So suck every drop of pleasure from these three upcoming games.

No, I am not including the Pro Bowl. Lost in the debate about when to have it is the fact: no one gives a crap about the Pro Bowl. Not the fans, not the players. Do the owners really make enough money to subject us to this? They should still select the teams, maybe donate some $ in their name to some charity. But drop the game already. Have them play a Madden football tournament instead.

But I digress.

Standings
1. Adw: 13 pts (this week +8)
2. Jess: 7 pts (this week +7)
3. MWC: 5 pts (this week +5)
4. MMan: 2 pts (this week +2)
5. Pakmstr: 1 pt (this week +1)
Big BM: 1 pt (this week +1)

Conference Championships

1. New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts?

2. Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints?

Bonus Questions
3. Your shoe-in?
4. Most total points?
5. Closest game?

Trivia Question
6. Instead of "Andrew", my father wanted to name me after a Hall of Fame basketball player and DC native. If he had prevailed, what would have been my first name?

I'm pretty sure you are doing it wrong:

Lots of you punk kids have never heard of Buddy Hackett. He was a drunken fucked-up comedian, and managed to stay "in character" for about 50 years.

Coming up shortly-- 3 am EST--The Family Feud on the Game Show Network. No Peterman, No Richard Karn. Not even poor, tragic Ray Combs. The man, the original...DAWSON'S FEUD.

Oh for fuck's sake. The freaky janitor isn't done scraping "Zorn" off the glass, and the Washington Generals have already unplugged their bowels all over themselves.

The postseason has another month of football. Couldn't this have waited a bit longer?

The Washington Generals have hired Albino-American Jim Haslett to coordinate the defense.

I mean ... fuck. Really? Fuck.

The 2009 defense certainly had its problems (chiefly, spending too much time on the field and no ability to close), but it was easily the best of the Washington Generals' three units. The defense was ranked in the top ten for the third year in a row, which made it a top ten defense for eight of the last ten years. It's been the only the thing the Washington Generals have had, lo these many dark years.

So we're going to blow it the fuck up. The entire coaching staff, the scheme, the whole enchilada: prepare to scrape the 2010 Washington Generals off the inside of your microwave.

The Redskins have always run a 4-3. They (Shanahan? Snyder? Allen?) have hired Jim Haslett to take over the defense. Two things make this as hard for me to swallow as an iron ball.

1) Haslett runs a 3-4, creating immediate problems in personnel, continuity and philosophy. Perversely, Shanahan exclusively ran a 4-3 in Denver until he switched in 2008 ... and was fired.

2) Haslett's last gig, coaching the Saints, was a bitter disappointment due to its terrible, sloppy, crappy, porous defense.

I could go on, but I won't. Maybe this will look better in the morning.

In the meantime, go JETS! Scorch the Nerfneck!

Charles Pierce, a great writer and curmudgeon, has recently joined the land of the blog. I couldn't be happier about that.

The results of the Wildcard Round were surprising to some of our contestants. Competition grows much more serious in the Divisional Round. Now that losing scrotums like the Eagles, Packers, Bengals and Pats are out, we can expect more competitive games.

With so few games, there are limited scoring opportunities. I'll be tweaking some details in an effort to allow everybody to score a little more: it's crowded in the basement. For ease and amusement, I've included your Superbowl Picks below.

Standings
1. Adw: 5 pts (this week+5) {Colts + Vikes = Colts}
2. MMMan: 0 pts (this week -6) {Colts + Vikes = Colts}
Leftnut: 0 pts (this week -5) {Chargers + Saints = Saints}
Miwacar: 0 pts (this week -1) {Chargers + Vikes = Vikes}
Barnyard: 0 pts (this week -6) {Packers + Chargers = Packers}

Divisional Round
Clashes of these Titans: +/- 2
1. Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints
2. Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts
3. Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings
4. New York Jets at San Diego Chargers

Bonus Questions
5. Big Shoe-in? +2
6. Little Shoe-in? +1
7. Highest Scoring Game? +1
8. Lowest Scoring Game? +1
9. Blowout? +1
10. Closest Game? +1

The lads from SoccerPro saw fit to give us some more stuff to test-drive. They very kindly didn't flood our box (that's what she said) with crap we didn't want. They let us choose our shit. And because we were living in a dream world in which winter doesn't come to Minnesota, we picked soccer shirts.

Nor should he be allowed to vote. On anything, ever again.

Goodbye forever, Awkward & Ugly!

Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer is in his 3rd year, and if this year isn't exactly a breakout year for him, there are signs that suggest he will be a benefit to whatever team he ends up with, and those signs make me want him to stay a Timberwolf.

ESPN, in hyping the game between Duke and Iowa State, for some reason, showed some childhood photos of Coach Krzyzewski. I thought they said he was going back to his childhood stomping grounds, but it appears that Coach K grew mainly in Western Pennsylvania. It hardly matters, because they provided the previously mentioned childhood photos of Coach K. And let me tell you, if I had sat down and imagined what that little axe-weasel face would have looked like as a child, and what kind of photos he would have taken, I could not have imagined it any better. That kid was a total dillweed. Thank you, ESPN!

The Drunken Savages got a new coach, and there is obviously all sorts of buzz regarding the hire (in part, as this NY Times analysis points out--there just isn't going to be a whole of new hires this offseason).

Huzzah and cheers!

This is week one of the 2009 NFL Playoff Pick'em here at IDYFT. First (and only) prize will be one To The Last Drop t-shirt. This prize is so awesome that I keep giving it away!All readers of IDYFT are welcome to join the competition. Everybody starts out with zero points; whoever has the most points at the end will win this competition. Enter your weekly picks in the comments section. And good luck to you!

Wildcard Round
1. NY Jets at Cincy Bengals? +/-2
2. Philly Eagles at Dallas Cowboys? +/-2
3. Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots? +/-2
4. GB Packers at AZ Cardinals? +/-2
5. Your Shoe-in? +1/-2

Bonus Questions
6. Biggest Point Differential? +1
7. Closest Game? +1
8. Your Superbowl matchup? +3/+3
9. Your Superbowl winner? +7