Monday Musings

With work tilt setting in upon me again to begin a new week I don't have nearly as much time to write about all the things I've had swirling around my head over the weekend and the past few days. I'm going to have to settle for a kind of a mishmash of a bunch of mostly unrelated ideas. Oh well, it's Monday. Deal with it.

Of course, we begin with the regular Monday morning announcement here at the blog:



Again with the new banner from Duggles, which has to be an eye-grabber if nothing else. Dam. So come by tonight at 10pm ET on full tilt for the latest Mondays at the Hoy tournament. Password as always for my tournaments is "hammer". We love to have first-timers and newcomers to the game so come on out even if you've never played the MATH or never played the bloggers before. Pretty much everyone is terrible in these things anyways so it's a good feeding ground for you tournament sharks lurking out there. You know who you are. And we've still got that 3-way logjam atop the 2007 MATH moneyboard right now, with Bayne slightly out in front of Columbo and then myself, all three separated by like $13 total, so any cash for any of us will mean the lead as we head into the 9th month of the year of tracking the cash won from the weekly Monday night MATH event.

For me and online poker, other than my winning the Dookie (no, not the Mookie, never the Mookie) and the Riverchasers last week, the beats on full tilt just keep on coming. I am always amazed going through a bad run of variance how it really feels, when you know that card is gonna spike on the river, when you just know you're getting four-flushed even just when the draw comes out on the flop. I know you all know exactly what I mean out there, we all experience this unfortunately. But it's true. Last night I had my allin reraise on the flop called by a naked 7-high flush draw and promptly lost to the flush on the turn to get eliminated early from the token frenzy, and then in the 5050 I amassed a decent stack and ran through about 66% of the field before bluffing off a good half my stack on a great scare card that must unfortunately have actually hit my opponent to give him the hand that I was trying to represent that I had. That's never good, let me tell you. Anyways after losing half my stack, I had my allin preflop reraise with QQ called by A5, which brought the requisite Ace on the river, and then still with about 60% of the average stack I again had my allin preflop reraise with JJ called, this time by QTo and a middle stack! I could not believe my eyes. No sooner had I typed "GOOD CALL" into the chat -- which I knew I had to get in right away before the river fell -- when the river brought the requisite Queen, and the game of Pin the Reward on the Donkey was up. Good times. Eff you, full tilt. But I'll always be back, beginning with tonight for Mondays at the Hoy at 10pm ET.

OK some other things on my mind here on a dreary Monday in New York City -- starting with Britney Spears. I don't know how many of you watch things like the MTV Video Music Awards -- hopefully most of you don't because I wouldn't be caught dead with this on if not for Hammer Wife who absolutely loves this shit -- but on Sunday night the opening act was none other than Britney herself, making her first public performance that I've seen in quite some time. And let me tell you -- she looked thick. If you watched it, I know you know what I'm talking about. And don't get me wrong, she is still a hot chick there is no doubt about that. But having watched her writhing around up there with the snake and making out with madonna and shit a few years ago in this very same venue, it is kinda sad to see how time has changed Britney. I got the feeling she was kinda high or something during the show anyways, as she had a pretty blank look on her face and was definitely not performing with any kind of vigor or even interest level one would expect from the VMAs opening act making a big public appearance for her. I found the whole thing just very blase and, to tell the truth, somewhat confusing. And Britney has a good deal of toning to do if she ever expects to look anything like that hot chick from a few years ago, let me tell you. I'm still kinda perplexed about the whole performance.

And speaking of performances at the VMAs, what can you say about that Sarah Silverman! That chica has absolutel balls of steel! I'm serious. Last year she trashed hard on Paris Hilton and a few other of the hot young stars. This year she came out right after Britney left the stage, and immediately trashed the shit out of Britney just about as badly as anyone ever could. She then followed up with moving right back to Paris again, who was sitting sheepishly in the audience (again), and then moved on to Fifty Cent in what was overall seriously one of the most ballsy, funny and just generally irreverent bits I can recall seeing recently. I can't see it at work thanks to the IT dorks in my department, but you have to go find Sarah Silverman's VMAs commentary on YouTube, it is well worth it to see it.

OK so the NFL season was back this weekend, finally at long last, and as usual the league action totally kicked ass and outdid all reasonable expectations among football fans everywhere. The NFL truly has the best product of the four major sports in the U.S., and they only seem to get better every year. And the best part is, teams from New York and LA can't just dominate the NFL like they do in baseball and the other sports to some extent. And as a big fantasy football guy who is playing in four leagues this year, I can tell you there are some players whose fantasy owners are asking themselves a whole lot of questions this morning, while other guys' owners are flying high as the smoke is almost cleared on Week 1 of the 2007-08 NFL.

For example, if you like me own Eli Manning and/or Plexico Burress this morning, you are feeling good. Granted the Cowboys appeared to play utterly no defense whatsoever on Sunday night, but dam did the Giants offense look good. I drafted those guys because Eli Manning looked really good in the preseason this year -- being in New York I got to watch every single snap the man took in the preseason games, and I estimated that, albeit in preseason, Eli looked a good 40-50% more comfortable, more poised and just all-around more aware than he had last year. So to those of you who took a little bit of a chance with a high pick on Burress, and certainly those who picked Eli Manning and were probably (like me) roundly laughed at during your fantasy drafts for doing so, this Bud's for you.

Similarly, if you snagged Randy Moss with a decently high draft pick within the past few weeks, this morning you are styling aren't you? Dam did that guy look good on Sunday in the Patriots' crushing of the Jets which I also got to watch every snap of. Moss looked like his old self at times, not even appearing to expend a ton of effort in catching I think 9 passes for like 180 yards and a score. Moss was everywhere, and the Pats fans out there have got to be salivating at another shot at dual Red Sox - Patriots glory in 2007-08. Honorable mention out to Torry Holt owners, many of whom stayed away this year despite the guy being one of the most solid stone cold lock wideouts in fantasy league in each of the past several years. With another week with a touchdown catch under his belt to start 2007, hopefully that will quiet some of the Holt haters this year, at least for a little bit.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Week 1 of the NFL season was chock full of fantasy players on whom owners doubtlessly spent valuable low-round picks but whose lives are now full of question marks as the first week's games are almost over with. Let's start with Larry Johnson. Just about anyone who has this guy had to use a top-5 fantasy pick to get him, and dam yesterday did the Chiefs suck. Their offense was nonexistent, their defense stunk it up against historically one of the NFL's worst teams, and LJ didn't do shizznot. You cannot be anything but miserable on Monday morning if you drafted that guy in your league, period.

I feel similarly about a guy like Steven Jackson this morning, who was basically held totally in check by a stingy Carolina defense to start the 2007 NFL campaign on Sunday. Jackson, even moreso than LJ, was a top-2 pick in basically any fantasy league where the people knew what they were doing, and this weekend he did ok but was basically unimpressive from a fantasy perspective. Any good fantasy player knows what you need from your top guys, really from all your starters, is touchdowns above all else. Yes I need them to hold on to the ball, yes I need them to pile up the yards, but you need 'em to get in the end zone or none of this other stuff really ends up mattering much in most weeks, and this weekend Jackson was not nearly as active I had been hoping and certainly didn't get the job done in the touchdown department. You just never know about that St. Louis team these days.

Cedric Benson of the Bears also disappointed, with me having expended a first-couple-rounds pick on him in two of my four league thanks to shitey-ass draft placement near the middle-end of the first round in 3 of my 4 leagues. RNG my ass, right? Benson barely stood out with rookie Adrian Peterson picking up so many carries in competition with Benson (despite fumbling in a key spot for the Bears early on in the game), so who knows what I do with that spot on my team in those leagues in future weeks. Along the same lines, my own Eagles' Donovan McNabb went fairly high in most drafts despite the fact that everyone knows he can't possibly play more than 8, 9 games this season without being out due to injury, and this weekend against the crap Packers defense, McNabb did not get the job done. Reggie Brown, 1 catch. Only one McNabb touchdown to an unknown player, and otherwise very little to speak of from the quarterback of what is supposed to be one of the best offenses in the NFL.

Fucking Philadelphia. The Eagles lost to a hideorrendous Packers team that can't even get over .500 for the past few years, with Favre throwing the ball all over the place, launching 'em up off his back foot, while falling over on his side, trying hard to throw picks. But the Eagles still found a way to lose, fumbling a punt into the end zone for Green Bay's first (and only) touchdown of the day, and then fumbling another punt deep in their own territory with under a minute to go in a 13-13 game and allowing the Packers to kick the miracle last-second field goal for the victory in front of the hometown fans, who believe me are fucking starved for some success up in Green Bay after years of ineptitude, even at home in the once impenetrable frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. What a sick, shitass way to begin the 2007 season for the Eagles, whose Philadelphia fans are already cursed with the specter of the Phillies giving back another season and falling just short of the playoffs once again. I'm beside myself thinking about how my Eagles could lose that game against one of the worst teams in the NFL. Dammit.

Anyways, so I start of the NFL season going 1-0 in my picks against the spread, as I ended up avoiding picking all the Sunday games and instead gave you the Colts -6 last Thursday in the opener against the Saints, who looked even worse than I thought on their way to failing to score even one offensive touchdown against the reigning Superbowl champions. I will be making more picks at the season goes on, which you can look for right here on the blog on a weekly basis around the end of the week every week for the next several months. As far as fantasy goes, although a lot is of course riding on Monday night's games (I have Chad Johnson, the Baltimore defense, SF tight end Vernon Davis and Frank Gore in some combination in each of my four leagues), I have already won one of my games, and I am in good shape to win 2 of the other 3 unless something recockulous happens and I get nailed by the proverbial two-outer at the river on Monday evening. I think I mentioned this above, but after Plex Burress's explosion on Sunday night football, my score this week fortunately vaulted ahead of everyone else but one team in the blogger fantasy league. Unfortunately, Schaubs (sorry for the incorrect link there earlier!) was the one guy who still luckmonkeyed the Steelers' defense into the most points of the week, and he also happens to be my opponent for week 1. Great way to start things off, with the 2nd most fantasy points in the league, but still losing to the guy with the most points in the league in week 1. I'm lovin' it.

Which brings me to my last item for today: my NFL Pick'em league. I mentioned this around the middle of last week, but to reiterate for anyone who missed it, I did a Pick'em league that I announced here on the blog last season and it seemed to go over well, and this is something that I have done myself with friends for the past several years. This year will work the same as in past seasons, where we will pick every NFL game every week straight-up (not against the spread), and we will assign a confidence rating (1-16 in full weeks, 1-14 in weeks with teams with byes) to each game each week depending on how confident you are that the team you've picked to win will actually win that particular game. It's a good system and by the end of the season we should have a very good idea of who is the best at picking the NFL winners based on overall Pick'em performance.

I would love to have as many of you as are interested join in my Pickem league this year. For the first time, I am not going to start tracking picks until Week 2, to give everyone a chance to get a look at every team one time via their Week 1 games before we start making our picks, so the deadline to join the league will be this coming Sunday morning, September 16, just before the Week 2 games officially begin.

Here is the information for you to register for my free Yahoo! NFL Pick'em league:

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In order to join the group, just go to Pro Football Pick'em, click the "Sign Up" button (or "Create or Join Group" if you are a returning user). From there, follow the path to join an existing private group and when prompted, enter the following information...

Group ID#: 33287
Password: eagles

Yahoo! will send you a confirmation with further details once you have completed the registration process.

Yahoo! Pro Football Pick'em
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/pickem

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So come out and join my league for some good old-fashioned fun times and trash talk. If you like the NFL then you should love playing NFL Pick'em with the Big Boys!

Btw, nice job to Michigan and Miami this weekend in getting blown out in historic fashion. My how the mighty have fallen. I mean, Notre Dame always sucks nowadays, they're barely even worth a mention anymore for their suckitude, but Miami got lambasted by the Sooners this weekend by 40-some points, and the Michigan blowout by Oregon, this one also at home in the Big House just like last week's shocking loss to Appalaichian State, has got to be one of the funniest and lamest things I've ever seen in college football. If Lloyd Carr isn't careful he is going to find himself out of a job, replaced by some interim coach or something for the remainder of this year while that program tries to pick itself back up by its bootstraps. Holy shit what has happened to Michigan football guys. Dayummm.

OK that's it for today's "short" post, gotta get back to work before the boss figures out what I'm really doing here in my office. See you all tonight for Mondays at the Hoy on full tilt!