So Hanukkah started last night. Christmas is three days away. Kwanzza starts the day after Christmas and last until New Years day…We all know that there isn’t going to be a whole hell of a lot of production at anyones job…it would seem that in this day and age of political correctness that we have a built in excuse to take the last two weeks of the year off…I wondered how much a stunt like that could save businesses around the country…seeing how everyone would just be mailing it in anyways…turns out it would really add up. Orange County out here in California was asking its employees to take a week off unpaid….the estimated savings? As much as $20M….so double that for two weeks…mulitply that over corporate America…well you get the idea….Its wayyyy better than paying everyone to do about 25% of the work they would normally do anyways right?
So Happy Hanukkah to all of our readers…regardless of your faith….
Before I get into football I wanna start off with the hot stove…turns out I shoulda paid attention in Spanish a little better….first because I live in Califonia, and second because it looks like thats where the hot stove rumors are….
Manny Ramírez está a punto de firmar un contrato de tres años y 75 millones de dólares con los Yanquis de Nueva York
Loose translation….Yankees, Manny, Three Years, $75M….announcement today or tomorrow??
LAA withdraw offer to Teixeira? What exactly does this mean? And is Teix really worth $20M a year anyways?
This just in to Sparty and Friends…the Celtics are a very good basketball team….18 straight and counting now
Bowl season is under way…Sparty is already dominating the Pick’em…and the rest of us do not know anything about all of these fringe teams playing the early bowl games…Vijay won Tiger’s tournament…and before I get to the NFL – had to give Sparty some hope…..
I am not gonna recap the games this week – but Ill give you the link to read the recaps. I do wanna keep you in the know though…just incase you were under a rock
| NYG > CAR | BUF > DEN | SF > STL |
| WAS > PHI | CIN > CLE | NE > ARI |
| ATL > MIN | NO > DET | SD > TB |
| SEA > NYJ | TEN > PIT | BAL > DAL |
| OAK > HOU | MIA >KC | IND > JAX |
What does it all mean? Well – for Pool Challenge…it’s pretty close to a lock that we are down to four players…and maybe three after tonight…more on that later in the day…but in real life for the NFL teams who are actually affected…
NFC Playoff Locks = NYG, CAR, ATL, AZ
AFC Plyoff Locks = TEN, PIT, IND
NFC Wild Card Leaders: DAL, ATL
NFC Division TBD (North): MIN Clinches when if CHI loses tonight…If the Bears win tonight they play Houston next week which wont matter…because the Vikings have a date with the #1 seeded WCNYFBG, who will be resting their starters and will most likely lay down for the Vikes and eliminate the Bears…so heres to hoping the Packers end the drama tonight
NFC Final Wild Card Position: Dallas clinches if they beat Philly…if the Eagles win the drama builds…TB would need to lose to Oakland in Monte Kiffin’s final game as the Buc’s DC to eliminate the Cowboys….I think I know what happens…but I ask you to concur
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In the AFC…one of the final spots gets determined when Denver plays San Diego for the division title in San Diego…karma would dictate that San Diego should win this game so that the Ed Hoculi incident doesn’t matter….What do you think?
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The other two spots in the AFC arent very easy to determine…but it comes down to four teams…the way I understand it is this…Miami beats the Jets they win the division…If the Jets win and the Patriots win…NE wins the division. If the Pats lose and NYJ wins – the Jets win the division…Baltimore holds the tiebreaker over the Patriots……fun stuff….so with that muddled up for you…( I hope all of the scenarios can happen so I dont look dumb)..
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Regardless…week 17 matters this year for a lot o’ teams
Final few items….Jeff Garcia’s sexuality may be questioned from time to time…but his toughness never should…
We first knew Rob Parker as a racist….now he’s just an idiot
It was quite the party filled weekend, so I apologize for anything I may have missed…I had to pick my two older sons up from LAX tonight and got a late start….I believe that TWTWCFB should be up at some point to cover the bowls for this past weekend…and GITC will do Studs and Duds to cover the rest of the NBA action as well….Either way I am good because there are 17 more days until the Gators are BCS National Champs….
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I just hope everyone realizes that this big deal being made about Reggie Brown being just short of breaking the plane in Skins/Philly is completely ridiculous.
The ref was marking him down at the half yard line. The ref was wrong. The spot should have been at the 5 yard line.
Once again (did we learn nothing from last week!?!), spot of ball is the location of the ball at its most forward point when the receiver has established position on the field.
Establishing position means having possession of the ball while having two feet, one elbow, one knee, or the player’s back on the field.
The announcers completely missed this during the game by the way. There is no such thing as forward progress in mid-air. until he has two feet down, he doesn’t really have the ball. There used to be an exception to this rule for the sideline called the force-out rule. That was abolished this year to make it more simple. The rule never applied to the goal line. That is why it is illegal to literally carry someone out of the end-zone if you actually catch them in mid-air. You are however, allowed to hit the receiver out. That is what they did.
The receiver got either his second foot or elbow down as the ball was at the 5 yard line.
I feel like nobody knows the rules. guyinthecorner(Quote)
Rooted against Favre this week, rooting for him next week!
Cassel > Favre marcomarco(Quote)
after watching the press conference. that was ridiculous.
btw, $25M/ year for manny? isnt that a little too high?
i read about this post somewhere else maybe gitc can answer it?
are the jazz better with paul millsap or carlos boozer? jpmanahan(Quote)
Go Phins! GatorTrey(Quote)
jp-
It’s really a tough call. I personally favor Milsap because of the Karl Malone parallels outlined in the Jazz preview, because he’s on my fantasy team, and, of course, because Boozer is a jerk and went to Duke. Who the better player is… hard to say.
Boozer averaged 20 points in game this year whereas Milsap has only 15. He also has the rebounding edge 11.7 to 9. Milsap gives you an extra block though.
I’d say that it’s pretty close. The problem is really that they play pretty much the exact same position and there aren’t enough minutes for both. Boozer has said that he will opt out and go free agent at the end of the year. He makes 11 million this year whereas Milsap makes less than 1 million.
I would get Boozer healthy enough to demonstrate he’s himself, then trade him for a wing player they can use to help their lineup. If they can start Deron, NewGuy, AK47, Milsap, Okur with Price, Brewer, and Korver off the bench they might be better.
By the way, Boozer for Rip Hamilton straight up works on the books. You could also trade Boozer and Harpring to the Heat for Marion. Michael Redd could come to town if you want to give up C.J. Miles with Boozer. Adding Brevin Knight to Boozer could get you Vince Carter from the Nets.
Bet you didn’t expect that good of an answer. guyinthecorner(Quote)
i have a sinus infection, yea! sparty(Quote)
i know you are THE NBA guy around here. i just want to see your input. because he is playing well and it seems that he makes booz dispensible.
btw, one of my fantasy teams has booz. and it is killing me.
i just hope that the clips can play well enough to be the best amongst the dregs in the west.
(i accept the fact that we are NOT a playoff team at this point, but anything can happen.) jpmanahan(Quote)
Sparty-
What do you say to a Rip/Boozer straight up deal?
Stuckey-Iverson-Tayshaun-Boozer-Wallace sounds better than…
Stuckey-Iverson-Hamilton-Tayshaun-Wallace to me. guyinthecorner(Quote)
looks nice, but backcourt depth might be an issue.
then again, iverson will play around 40 minutes, stuck plays 35, afflalo relieves both players.
who relieves tayshaun? walter hermann? amir johnson? possibly harpring if he tags along with booz? jpmanahan(Quote)
from the jazz’s perspective:
rip takes cj miles’ starting spot. brewer moves to the 3.
rip will take advantage of a gazillion pick and roll opportunities.
he would take most of the scoring mantle that booz does. millsap will take care of everything else. okur is also there. jpmanahan(Quote)
gitc-i am getting tired of Rip’s antics lately, being a huge cry baby.
from a competitive angle, i think Boozer would be a huge upgrade over Rip. he is taking shots away from Iverson right now.
I would do it if Joe could work a new contract for Boozer. sparty(Quote)
Sparty-
Why work a new deal? Boozer will leave at season’s end… more cap room!
And Harpring doesn’t come along in that deal. That’s a straight up. The Jazz would be starting Deron-Rip-AK47-Milsap-Okur. Sounds like a deal both sides should do now that I think about it… guyinthecorner(Quote)
gitc-then are the pistons just throwing away 2009? sparty(Quote)
i think in the east, there might be a chance. but it will be better for them to face lebron than the celtics (especially with how they right now with that 18-game streak).
as long as they can seal a 3rd seed with that team, they have a chance.
i am not knocking on lebron, but with how things are, it will be better for them to face the cavs than the C’s.
it is as if the best of both worlds: being competitve while at the same time keeping an eye for 2009.
any chance of a marion deal after securing booz? jpmanahan(Quote)
jp-
You mean can the Piston’s get Marion and Boozer? guyinthecorner(Quote)
gitc: yes. is it theoretically possible? jpmanahan(Quote)
Mangenius!
Cassel > Pennington > Edwards > Favre john(Quote)
Who are the Pistons willing to trade to get Marion? In this scenario they have…
Iverson
Boozer
Tayshaun
Rasheed
Kwame
Amir
Herrmann
Maxiell guyinthecorner(Quote)
package deal with any of the bigs.
the heat might have an interest with amir. maybe sheed. probably a pick. jpmanahan(Quote)
I’d find it really funny if Lebron resigned with the Lebrons this summer and screwed up all these teams that have cleared cap space to try to get him. john(Quote)
it may be the summer of lebron, but there a lot of plan B’s cluttering around.
but definitely all eyes of lebron.
as with the nike ad: we are all witnesses. jpmanahan(Quote)
Rasheed and Kwame for Marion works. They could add picks if needed. That would leave the Pistons with…
Stuckey-Iverson-Tayshaun-Marion-Boozer guyinthecorner(Quote)
I have to say as a Patriots Fan it is going to be really tough to root for the Jets next weekend but I have to.
GO JETS!!!!!!
J-E-T-S – JETS JETS JETS!!!! cmfost(Quote)
stuck sets the table.
iverson scores.
marion and boozer take care of the paint.
tayshaun does everything else. jpmanahan(Quote)
As a fantasy owner of Tayshaun I am against the Marion and Boozer trades. He would never crack double digits in points or rebounds againt if those moves happened. john(Quote)
makes you think are the young kids ready in detroit.
that means afflalo, johnson, maxiell can they handle it? jpmanahan(Quote)
As a fantasy owner of Boozer, I don’t care where he goes as long as the damn guy gets back on the court. rekcalsa(Quote)
+1 for rek jpmanahan(Quote)
rek-
As a fantasy owner of Milsap, I don’t care where he goes as long as it is somewhere far away from my Milsap. guyinthecorner(Quote)
Boozer has had like 5 MRIs already and missed 17 games I think….obviously something ain’t right. rekcalsa(Quote)
GITC should have added a missed games category for FBB. That would have been a pretty competitive stat between everyone. john(Quote)
yeah. i wonder which has a worse injury
boozer’s or brand’s jpmanahan(Quote)
in my non-S&F fantasy league we have no IR slot but I was able to waive Brand and pick up Milsap…yeah, one of those fun leagues where it appears no one is actually playing
and for those paying attention, there’s a 35 game cap this week (not the usual 40) due to Christmas sae(Quote)
I have both Brand and Boozer…Boozer’s just been DTD the whole time…Brand is guaranteed out for a month and could very well dislocate his shoulder again when he comes back which would require surgery…hard to say which is really worse since one is lingering and one could put the guy out for the entire season. rekcalsa(Quote)
sae–I thought it was 34…wasn’t saying anything though…was hoping people wouldn’t realize. rekcalsa(Quote)
considering most people don’t seem to hit 35 in a typical week, didn’t think it would actually matter that much sae(Quote)
Where do you find the game cap info? john(Quote)
This week there was mostly blowouts in the league…only one semi-close matchup…trey didn’t seem to heed mikey’s advice and didn’t even play a game on Sunday. rekcalsa(Quote)
i usually just look at the top of the weekly matchup box score sae(Quote)
I was beating D, 8-0 on Wednesday, 7-1 on Friday, 6-2 on Saturday and I ended up losing 3-5. What. The. Hell. john(Quote)
FBB Weekly Game Limits
It’s also in the weekly box score along with how far along you are in the week. rekcalsa(Quote)
I went back and forth with trey until Saturday night when I guaranteed at least a 6-2 victory…couldn’t get a good enough FG% on Sunday to eke that one out too….if he just played more games, he probably would’ve outscored me too. rekcalsa(Quote)
i just lost FG% to mikey yesterday, i even lost two games of granger to strep, but mikey only played 35 games sae(Quote)
I’m matched up with you this week sae…damn. rekcalsa(Quote)
bleh… sparty(Quote)
Are those your thoughts on the Yankees giving Manny a 3/$75 mil deal Sparty? john(Quote)
sinus infection sucks, huh? sae(Quote)
Buster Olney confirms to ESPN that the offer in the Dominican paper is completely false. guyinthecorner(Quote)
if the red sox get tex. the yankees will get manny. book it. jpmanahan(Quote)
I’m not sure I doubt that. But apparently they haven’t made the offer yet. I’d expect 2 years 50 million though. guyinthecorner(Quote)
anyway, with the angels getting out of the tex sweepstakes, who are they trotting at 1st base? jpmanahan(Quote)
Don’t they have Morales to play first? john(Quote)
See, I hate that. If Hoculi gets that call right, the Chargers would already have won the division and this game would mean nothing. Big D(Quote)
I’m 50/50 on the prospect of Mankee (that’s manny + yankee)
Great drama, and i’d like to see the train wreck that would certainly turn into.
vs.
Another dirty money grubbing player to join the ranks of Clemens, Boggs and Damon. God I hate the yankees. I’d rather see him rot in Kansas City for 25m per year.
or better yet, go into April unsigned, ala Bonds. marcomarco(Quote)
Can someone explain to me why the Pats would lose a tiebreaker to the Dolphins and/or the Ravens?
Pats/Fins split 1-1… same conference record, same ‘common games’ record. Fins beat SD and pats lost to SD, but the Pats Beat the Cards, and fins lost to em.
/Confuse’d marcomarco(Quote)
Good question Marco I have no idea.
Actually Big D I think the situation would still be the Same. except SD would be 8-7 and Denver would be 7-8 with the winner this sunday winning the division cmfost(Quote)
Marco here is the tiebreaking procedure and it has me even more confused.
Two Clubs
1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).
The split the 2 game
2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
Both team win they would be 4-2
3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.
Miami – 9-3 in common game (1-1 vs NYJ, 2 Wins over Buf, Wins vs Sd,Den,Sea,Stl,SF and KC, loses vs az and oak)
NE – 10-2 in common games (1-1 vs nyj, 2-0 vs buff, wins vs az,den,sea,oak,stl,sf and KC, loses to SD)
4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
5. Strength of victory.
6. Strength of schedule.
7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
9. Best net points in common games.
10. Best net points in all games.
11. Best net touchdowns in all games.
12. Coin toss cmfost(Quote)
figured it out.
Pats lose tiebreakers to Baltimore AND Miami because of AFC record. Miami loses a tiebreaker to Balty because of a head-to-head loss.
Jets own tiebreakers over Pats because of Conference record
Jets own a tiebreaker over Miami because of head-to-head (1-0, would have to be 2-0 for a tie to happen)
AFC records
Jets 7-4, losses to NE, Oak, Den, SD
Balt 7-4, losses to Pittx2, Indy, Tenn
Fins 7-4, losses to Jets, NE, Houston, Balty
Pats 6-5, losses to Pitt, Indy, Jets, Miami, SD marcomarco(Quote)
Marco but that is the 4th tiebreaker after record against common opponents according to NFL.com cmfost(Quote)
It is interesting how the NFL has:
The Patriots playing at 1 and Jets/Dolphins and Ravens/Jags at 4:00. To make sure that the Jets/Dolphins Game mean something.
Since if the Ravens and Patriots both played and won before the Jets/Dolphins game was played the only team playing for something in that game would be Miami. cmfost(Quote)
Right, because the Pats/Miami are identical in the first three tiebreakers. marcomarco(Quote)
Go Dolphins and Ravens! knightwhosaysni(Quote)
marco unless I missed a game the Pats have a better record against common opponents. cmfost(Quote)
Nope, the Dolphins and Patriots have the exact same record against common opponents. They both lost their 2 non-common games. Pats lost to Colts and Steelers. Dolphins lost to Texans and Ravens. knightwhosaysni(Quote)
What a flipping idiot.
“The subject jumped over the wall and proceeded to tackle Junior Seau,” said Foxborough Police Deputy Chief John Chandler. marcomarco(Quote)