Saw this guy's video a few months back. It is very fascinating and worth a look if you've never seen it.
The evidence this guy presents is pretty compelling. Not being an astronomer, I have no idea whether he is right or wrong. Perhaps it is easily discounted by someone more knowledgable, but I know of no one so far who has.
Whether it is the way things happened or not is not ultimately important, as one's faith does not hang on one man's research.
But if it is really true all I can say is...
"Awesome! Totally awesome!"
Last week's 7-8 record was the disaster I didn't need. My overall record this year is now 144-79. ESPN Experts here. I'm in third place, but I'm now 4 games behind first place with only 2 weeks to go. Doesn't look good.
Kansas City.
Tennessee.
New England.
Cincinnati.
Denver.
Pittsburgh.
Jets.
Washington.
Carolina.
Baltimore.
Detroit.
Philadelphia.
San Francisco.
Green Bay- Sunday Night.
New Orleans- Monday Night.
Houston.
So tempted to pick Indy, though.
Last week's 11-5 showing gave me a 137-71 record entering this week's games. And I missed out on a win last night. I knew there were Saturday games in December, but forgot about it in the end. Too bad, the Cowboys would have been an easy win.
Anyway, I'm still in contention, although now 3 games behind Schlereth and 1 behind Wickersham, in 3rd place among the ESPN Experts who are human.
The Bears surprised me last week in almost winning against the Broncos. That's how sad the season has become, I'm satisfied with the result of almost-winning. I'm just anxious for the season to end now.
It's even worse than that. I'm just happy to see the Bears put points put on the board. Which is why I can't pick them today, either, even though almost everyone else is.
Fourteen games today. At last we have good Sunday Night and Monday Night games. There are a lot of coin flip games late.
This week could be great or ugly. My rank in the final NFL Picks standings will likely be decided today.
Houston.
Giants.
Buffalo.
Seattle.
New Orleans.
Cincinnati.
Tennessee.
Green Bay.
Oakland.
New England.
Jets.
Arizona.
Baltimore.
San Francisco- Monday Night.
I limped into a 10-6 record last week. For a while I thought it would be the worst week of the season but managed to pull out all but one of the late games. I am 126-66 for the year. ESPN Expert records here. I'm alone in 2nd place, still two games behind the first place human Schlereth, although the computer is now 7 games in front.
It's safe to say the Bears are out of it. I would not be surprised if they lost the rest of their games. What little remains of their offense will struggle against Denver today. It will be interesting to see if they just give up, but I doubt it.
It's funny how Houston has also been riddled with injuries but continued to win.
San Diego could still win the AFC West.
I think we're going to have a team go undefeated and another go winless in the same year.
Giants-Dallas should be a good late game. Not a lot of thrilling match-ups today otherwise.
And another dud Monday Night game.
Jets.
Tampa Bay.
New England.
Atlanta.
Baltimore.
Miami.
Detroit.
New Orleans.
Cincinnati.
Denver.
San Francisco.
San Diego.
Green Bay.
Dallas.
Seattle- Monday Night.
I don't agree that baseball is a business, just as I don't agree that it's a game.
Then what is it exactly? The answer, like most things, is "it depends".
What we all saw last October was clearly that baseball is a game. To be enjoyed. And there is no better example of this than the 2011 World Series.
But now, this time of year, baseball is a business. So the parties involved in the business have to do what's in their best interests.
Which is the beauty of the Albert Pujols signing this week by the Angels. I think all the principal actors in it won. At least for awhile.
Albert won the second biggest contract in MLB history. No doubt it would have been the biggest ever if the Yankees and Red Sox had not already had 1st basemen.
This signing fits perfectly for Pujols, who will undoubtedly benefit from being a DH later in his career.
But the biggest reason this is good for Pujols is, of course, "the money". (I'm overlooking the fact, for the moment, that on numerous occasions Pujols said it wasn't about "the money" and that he already had plenty of it. That's fodder for another post).
The Angels won, at least for the immediate future, in that they get the best hitter in the game. Ask me again in 5 or 6 years if they are still "winners" on this point and I might have a different opinion. I've watched Albert Pujols closely these last 11 years, and the Albert Pujols of today is definitely not the Albert Pujols of 5 years ago. I don't see any reason why this trend will not continue. (If I may paraphrase Toby Keith, "he ain't as good as he once was, but he's as good once as he ever was." Nowhere was this more evident than in the World Series, where he had 1 game where he was the best ever, but really did not do a lot in the other 6).
Which brings me exactly to the reason why the Cardinals also won in this deal. They are not going to be handcuffed by an expensive contract to an aging player when he is past his prime, allowing them much more flexibility in an uncertain economic era.
They have Molina, Wainwright, Freese and Craig to take care of in the future. No way that was happening with a huge Albert contract.
A lot of people think the Cardinals should take the money they were trying to come up with for Pujols and get 2 or 3 other players. But I don't. For it is the spending of the money they supposedly don't really have, whether to Pujols or others, that is the the handcuffing factor. Mid-season deals are easier to make if one remains flexible.
And the Cardinals farm system is loaded right now. With or without Albert, the Cardinals can still contend.
In the business sense, everyone wins right now. As a fan, I'm disappointed it happened like this. I would rather have Albert than not have him. But at this time of year baseball is a business, and it doesn't operate in the realms of hope and sentimentality.
Fortunately, it won't stay this way. I'm already looking forward to spring training, when all that game stuff will start again.
Last week's 11-5 puts me at 116-60 on the year. I'm in fourth place amongst humans heading into the week but only two games out of first. This whole thing is up for grabs this year. And Thursday night's win helped my cause.
The Bears offense looked bad again last week. If they have any playoff hopes remaining they've got to beat Kansas City today.
I can't believe how many people are picking the Giants over the Packers. There should be, like, zero.
That's really the only interesting matchup in games starting after noon today. And Monday's game is one of the biggest duds in years.
And, yes, I'm riding the Tebow wagon until it crashes again.
Tampa Bay.
Pittsburgh.
Atlanta.
Jets.
New England.
Oakland.
Denver.
Buffalo.
Chicago.
Baltimore.
Dallas.
Green Bay.
San Francisco.
New Orleans.
San Diego- Monday Night.
