Week 4 NFL Picks

Last week 11-5. For the season 31-17. ESPN experts here.

Tough week this week. No gimme picks except for Dallas. Things are more likely to go ugly than great this week.

Baltimore.
Detroit.
Minnesota.
Houston.
Buffalo.
Miami.
Dallas.
San Francisco.
Carolina.
Indianapolis.
San Diego.
Pittsburgh.
Philadelphia.
New England.

Weekend Reading

Isaiah 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21. James 4 and 5.

Friday Reading

Isaiah 13, 14 and 15. James 3.

Thursday Reading

Isaiah 10, 11 and 12. James 2.

Wednesday Reading

Isaiah 7, 8 and 9. James 1.

Weekend Thoughts

This week, brought to you by...

The Russian Super-Soaker- no license or background check required, but guaranteed to make your enemies cry for mercy.

Now, on to this past weekend-

1- I'm all in for Notre Dame running the table! Go--errrrr, I mean, don't go--Irish. I must be dreaming.

2- I watched almost an entire movie without the sound on this weekend. Not by choice, but I am now glad I did. I was at someone else's house and I did not control the volume on the muted TV. So I sat and watched in silence. But it was visually stunning. I watched on an HD-TV, and I had seen the movie, Vertigo, before. So I sat mesmerized by the pictures alone, transported to a 1950s world I had never seen like this before. The cars, the streets, the city, the fashion, the interior decorating, the landscaping. Did this win a cinematography Oscar? It should have. I felt like I was in a time machine.

3- I saw another visually stunning movie recently. "Far From Heaven" was shot in the 21st Century, but again was a colorful vision of the 1950s I never saw. I didn't care for the story so much as the beautiful images on the screen.

4- Brett Somers died last week. So they had a Match Game marathon on GSN Saturday. I always liked the interaction between her and Charles. She was married to Jack Klugman. I always thought Gene Rayburn was a little weird.

5- Since the names John and Charles are so popular, why not combine them and name someone Jarles? Or Jarlie?

6- From 1996 to 2006, the Astros and Cardinals won all NL Central titles except the aberation known as 2003. They met twice in the NLCS, each winning once. Which is what made Sunday's Sunday Night baseball game so sad to watch. Two old and broken down teams on the downswing of greatness.

7- Speaking of which Craig Biggio played his last game at Busch Stadium and received a standing ovation from the crowd when he came to bat in the 8th. That was the thing about the decade long rivalry. Both teams were hard working, cut from the same cloth, and mutually respected the other. He was a worthy player of a worthy opponent.

8- When did Congress pass the law that Michigan would only play home games this year?

9- I kept hearing suprise at how Randy Moss has been a team player on the Patriots this year. Of course he is. He is selfish, which means he is a team player when it suits his purposes. An injury to a key player here and there, causing the Patriots to begin losing, will bring out the real man we all know and love.

10- Chuck "The Iceman" Lidell lost again. Is he through? I think so but hope not.

11- What a tank job by the Redskins. An awful goal line performance at the end of the game. Their quarterback Jason Campbell made terrible decisions that last drive. They had plenty of time and rushed through everything. That may be a defining moment of the season for both teams.

12- How about those Redskins uniforms? Ugly, but definitely old school in an early 1970s way.

13- The ugliest uniforms were hands down the Eagles. Those are the single worst uniforms I have ever seen in any sport at any level of skill. Mustard and sky blue don't go well together.

14- Since I miss Design Star, let me add a Design Star reference here- those Eagles uniforms were uglier than that flag room Robb designed in week 4.

15- I did like the Rams white pants, but they didn't go well with the blue and gold jersey. The gold should have been relegated to trim and then it would have rocked.

16- The Rams are definitely the best 0-3 team in the league.

17- The Bears Defense is already exhausted from being on the field too much this year. Which is sad with 13 weeks to go.

18- I have to say I appreciated Steve Young calling out Rex Grossman. This is the second time I have heard rumors of Rex being lazy in his game preparation. Remember the last regular season game last year? I can put up with someone struggling to find his way as long as he is doing the best he can. But it sounds like Young believes Grossman is a bum, in the lazy sense. If that's the case, he should be ridden out of town on the next train. His days are already numbered.

19- What is the deal with the Bears and quarterbacks? The only decent one they ever had in my lifetime was Jim McMahon, and he only played about a season and a half of injury free football. Just once you'd think they'd luck into a good quarterback.

20- Grossman is just lobbing the ball around the field. Never with any zip. And how come he only throws 15 to 20 yard passes or screens? No imagination.

21- Somebody call Nintendo and find out why there are no farming themed video games. There must be a market out there, right?

It Was 37 Years Ago Today...

Unbeknownst to many, that was the original opening line to Sgt. Pepper. But Paul thought it a little awkward.

Now, to make us all feel really old.


It debuted on September 25, 1970. It wasn't quite as popular as the Brady Bunch. But it was much funnier. Even though I like the Brady's, they weren't these guys.

I always looked at the Brady's as the The Beatles, and the Partridges as the Rolling Stones.

The clincher as to why I like them better- it gave us this guy until the end of time.

Monday And Tuesday Reading

Forgot to post yesterday. Isaiah 1, 2 and 3. Hebrews 12.

Today Isaiah 4, 5 and 6. Hebrews 13.

Three months until Christmas.

Weekend Readings

Song Of Songs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Hebrews 10 and 11.

NFL Picks Week 3

So far I've had identical 10-6 records the first two weeks. ESPN experts are here.

Baltimore.
New England.
Detroit.
Indianapolis.
Jets.
Kansas City.
Green Bay.
Pittsburgh.
Tampa Bay.
Seattle.
Oakland.
Denver.
Carolina.
Washington.
Chicago.
New Orleans.

Friday's Reading

Song Of Songs 1 and 2. Hebrews 9.

Thursday's Reading

Ecclesiastes 10, 11 and 12. Hebrews 8.

Wednesday's Reading

Ecclesiastes 7, 8 and 9. Hebrews 7.

Sorry, I Couldn't Resist Using This Again

Anytime I can, I go for it.

Look who's stopped by.


It's former NFL coach, Jim Mora.

Let's ask him a question.

Hey, Jim, some diehard Cardinals fans say, it ain't over until it's over, despite last night's disgusting performance. They are still hopeful of making the playoffs. What do you say to that?

Tuesday's Reading

Ecclesiastes 4, 5 and 6. Hebrews 6.

Weekend Thoughts

A packed weekend, so let's get started.

- Design Star is over. The triumph of Kim really shocked me. I do think she did a fine job, especially the last two weeks, but her overall body of work is undistinguished compared to Todd. He nailed it much more than Kim. There is only one possible explanation for this. The "flake" factor, as I was concerned about early on in the program. Todd is too "5th gear full throttle" for most people to get with. A shame, because he could have had a great TV show next year. I wonder how the voting went.

- Now what am I going to do with my Sunday nights? This was too much fun.

- Check out this college football photo, courtesy of Peripetia.

- Who else can't wait to see the first episode of "Kid Nation" this week?

- My two least favorite teams of all time, Michigan and Notre Dame, squared off this weekend. There was only one reason to watch- this one had a heavy carnage factor, and I was glad to see Michigan come out on top. My only question- who put that Notre Dame team together? That's ugly. Could Notre Dame get more totally irrelevant? Gotta love it.

- You'll never see a finer scene in all of sports than the one in Lincoln, Nebraska Saturday night. The crowd, the color, the beautiful field, the home team jumping and bumping at the gate as they readied to rush the field, the excitement in anticipation- it was enough to give one goose bumps. Then they had to go and ruin it by playing that game beyond the 1st quarter.

- Cincinnati has no defense at all, but a great offense. We haven't seen a team like this since the days of the 1970s Denver Nuggets in the NBA.

- Is there anyone funner, or funnier, to watch than Ocho Cinco? He's reason enough by himself to watch football.

- Congrats to the Browns.

- The most ridiculous item of the weekend was those helmets the Steelers wore. They looked like those Lemon Tootsie Pops you would occasionally find mixed in your bag of suckers.

- Tennessee could have such a great uniform if they got rid of the flaming thumb tack helmet and also went back to the original Oilers colors.

- Soldier Field is in ridiculously bad shape again, thanks to soccer. Thanks, soccer.

- The Pack and 49ers are definitely back.

- Houston is quite a nice surprise- they have a nice look to their uniforms. Oh, and the team ain't bad either.

- The Saints sure aren't all they were hyped to be. But they do have nice unis.

Monday Reading

Ecclesiastes 1, 2 and 3. Hebrews 5.

Week 2 NFL Picks

Jacksonville
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Green Bay
Carolina
Indianapolis
New Orleans
St. Louis
Dallas
Detroit
Seattle
Chicago
Baltimore
Denver
New England
Philadelphia

Weekend Reading

Proverbs 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31. Hebrews 3 and 4.

More Omniscience?

I hate to say I told you so...ah, what the heck, you know that's not true!

Anyway, TO THE ARCHIVES- I told you so!

Reading For Friday

Proverbs 25 and 26. Hebrews 2.

There Oughta Be A Law

This is pathetic. If Mr. Scarecrow Selig had a brain, he'd contract MLB by taking the Florida Marlins out to pasture and shooting them.

They've won two World Series. That's two more than the Cubs in the past 99 years. And still, nobody cares.

They should play the rest of their games at a local high school so we never have to be subjected to seeing this again:

Yep

Feels like 1983 alright. Am I omniscient, or am I omniscient?

We're toast. The Great Pretenders. {Sniff}

It's just a matter of time until the World Champions photo will have to come down. The only excitement left is to see if we can knock out the Cubs.

Reading For Thursday

Proverbs 23 and 24. Hebrews 1.

Reading For Wednesday

Proverbs 21 and 22. Philemon.

Reading For Tuesday

Proverbs 19 and 20. Titus 3.

Weekend Thoughts

1- I'm blown away by Kim's final two performances on Design Star. Way to step up to the plate when the pressure was on. She had shown nothing at all the entire series, basically surviving by staying in the background. I even think she has a good shot at winning now, but I still believe Todd will carry the day.

2- The Patriots look awesome.

3- I loved the Pepsi Max commercial featuring Tony Romo and the Cowboys. Hilarious.

4- Even funnier was the Bud Light commercial with the guys at the opera.

5- Tennessee didn't surprise me, and I sure wish I'd picked them now.

6- The Bears are in sole possession of last place. But last won't last.

7- For probably the first time since I've been alive, the Detroit Lions have a better record than Michigan.

8- What happened to Bob Costas' hair color? If it were wood, I'd call it cherry.

9- What was with that Football Night In America set? If you want to separate the players from the professional broadcast journalists, how about just setting them together at the opposite ends of a table? Do the players really need to be in an enclosed glass cage in practically another zip code across the studio?

10- Seeing Bob Costas with Keith Olbermann is dangerous for me. Because as much as I love and respect Bob Costas, I loathe and disdain Keith Olbermann. I'm afraid if Costas and Olberman touch on screen in my presence, the Scottius Maximus you've grown to love will cease to exist. It's kind of like matter and anti-matter.

11- I lost two games in the final seconds.

12- Way to show up, Kansas City Chiefs. Or should we resurrect the term "Chefs".

13- Idiots are back!

Reading For Monday

Proverbs 17 and 18. Titus 2.

Week 1 NFL Picks

It's hard to believe it, but with Indianapolis' win on Thursday I'm undefeated for the season so far. The odds are against me, but I'm going for the perfect season.

Here are the rest of my picks for week 1. Compare me against the NFL Experts at ESPN here.
Minnesota.
St. Louis.
Buffalo.
Kansas City.
Washington.
New England.
Philadelphia.
Pittsburgh.
Jacksonville.
Chicago.
Detroit.
Seattle.
Dallas.
Cincinnati.
San Francisco.

Weekend Reading Assignment

Proverbs 13, 14, 15 and 16. 2 Timothy 4. Titus 1.

Friday Reading Assignment

Proverbs 11 and 12. 2 Timothy 3.

By the way, in yesterday's reading, who picked up on the blog title of one of our favorite blogs?

Yay!

Until after 2007 ends, we'll have no more weekends without NFL games!

I feel my prognostication powers are reaching peak omnisciency as we speak. Which means once again I'll humiliate myself with my weekly NFL picks.

Straight up picks only. No points given or taken. Who else is in?

I've got Indianapolis tonight. Any takers for the Saints?

Thursday Reading Assignment

Proverbs 9 and 10. 2 Timothy 2.

Feels Like 1983

After floundering most of the year, the 1983 St. Louis Cardinals, coming off a World Series victory the year before, swept a Labor Day doubleheader against the Pirates on 9/5/83. Twenty four years ago today. This left them only 1/2 game in back of the first place Expos and Pirates and tied with the Phillies.

Sound familiar?

They then stunk it up the rest of the year and finished 11 games behind the Phillies with a record of 79-83.

I'm not a big rerun fan, so I hope this year will bring some original programming.

Wednesday Reading Assignment

Proverbs 7 and 8. 2 Timothy 1.

Tuesday Reading Assignment

Proverbs 5 and 6. 1 Timothy 6.