Akron Aeros: 2009 Eastern League Champions

Congratulations to the Akron Aeros, who won their series 3-1 from the Connecticut Defenders to claim the 2009 Eastern League Title. This is the Aeros' 3rd championship in the past 7 years, as the team also prevailed in 2003 and 2005, and has appeared in 5 straight ELCS's.

Congrats to the Aeros. Hopefully this will translate into some major-league success for our Indians before long.

NFL Picks: Week 2

Am I happy about the cheap covers handed to Tennessee (Ward's fumble) and Washington (meaningless late TD) that cost me a successful week? Nope. I think I went all year without a losing week, or maybe once, and now I'm off to a 7-9 start. But there are lots of games yet to be predicted.

Last week/year to date
Andy: 7-9
Figgs: 8-8
Nick: 10-6
Nick's Money Games: 0-2
Nick's Teaser: 1-0


Sunday games

BRONCOS (-3) vs Browns
Andy: I know the point of this game isn't to pick the Browns every week, and I know I could pick their opponent in a situation where I really didn't think the Browns were going to win or cover. Nevertheless, Browns.
Figgs: I wanted to pick against the Browns each week, but this spread is just begging for me to take Cleveland. This will be one of our three wins.
Nick: Browns. We win this game outright.

FALCONS (-6.5) vs Panthers
Andy: I think I'll keep riding the Falcon express here. Bill Simmons made this case that the Panthers are going to win because...I don't know, because Jake Delhomme had two really bad games in a row. Weird argument. ATL.
Figgs: I kind of like the Panthers here, but I can't go against the ATL. I'm with ya Andy.
Nick: Panthers. This is alot of points for a team that was really good last year and runs the ball alot. I'd pick the Falcons if I had a few more points.

LIONS (+9.5) vs Vikings
Andy: If the Vikings can beat the Browns by 14 (in a game that could easily have been more of a blowout), surely they can dispatch the Lions by that amount.
Figgs: Vikes.
Nick: Ready for this? Lions. Detroit played them close in both games last season.

PACKERS (-9.5) vs Bengals
Andy: The Bengals' performance last week give me no reason to trust in them. Nevertheless, Bengals.
Figgs: Pack.
Nick: Eh, really don't like this game. Gimme the Pack, just because I have no faith in the Bengals' pass protection.

TITANS (-6.5) vs Texans
Andy: Texans. I don't know if they will win, though it's possible, but I think they'll keep this one close.
Figgs: Texans. They might win this, J-Figg upset special of the week.
Nick: Titans. Houston's just not a good road team, although it wouldn't shock me if they beat the spread.

CHIEVES (-3) vs Raiders
Andy: I'd say that only Browns-Broncos features this level of ineptitude this week, and this one might still come out on top. KC, I suppose. I feel sorry for people who have to watch this contest. Instead of blacking out games that don't sell out locally (a ridiculous policy), the NFL should look into blacking out games like this with no redeeming social value.
Figgs: I agree with Andy on everything he said, except for the pick. Raiders.
Nick: Raiders. Oakland outplayed San Diego on Monday night.

JETS (+4) vs Pats
Andy: Jets. I thought they came out strong last week and they're highly motivated to knock off their rivals here. Even if they don't, I see it being close.
Figgs: Pats by multiple touchdowns.
Nick: Jets. Wouldn't surprise me if the Jets win outright.

EAGLES (-1) vs Saints
Andy: I'm on the Saints bandwagon, that's all there is to it. OK, there's also Donovan McNabb's injury to it.
Figgs: If Garcia started it'd be close. With Kobb? Saints.
Nick: Saints. Changed this one Sunday morning because Kolb is starting.

REDSKINS (-10) vs Rams
Andy: Week 8. That's when the Rams and Lions play to see which one will pick up the W among the 32 games the two teams play this year. Oh, you want to know about this game? Well, I'm certainly not taking the Rams until I see some legitimate reason to.
Figgs: Skins.
Nick: I'll give the 10, even though the Skins are hardly an offensive juggernaut.

JAGS (-3) vs Cards
Andy: Jags. I had a brief fling with the Cards, and now they're back to their rightful place as that team who can't win on the road. It was fun, though, Arizona.
Figgs: Cards win.
Nick: Jags. I've been very forthright with my feelings that the Cards will fall back to earth.

BUFFALOES (-4.5) vs Bucs
Andy: No way would I bet this one in real life. But, since Buffalo is home and played a strong game against a good team on the road last week, whereas Tampa Bay is visiting and got mauled by Dallas at home, I'm taking the Buffaloes.
Figgs: Ballsy call Burns in the suicide, but I'm also taking the Bills.
Nick: Buffalo. Considered taking the Bills in a teaser here, and I'm trying to make a sneaky pick this week with the Bills in my suicide pool.

49ERS (-1) vs Seahawks
Andy: Can San Francisco win this division? Quite possibly. I think they're going to start the year 2-0 in the NFC West. A better question: can a 6-win team win the NFC West?
Figgs: This division blows. I guess Seattle.
Nick: Tough one. I'll go Niners because they're a pretty good home team and Seattle is worse on the road. They're also worse when they don't play the Rams.

BEARS (+3) vs Steelers
Andy: Jay Cutler throws 4 INTs against Green Bay and I'm supposed to back him against Pittsburgh? No thanks. As much as my dislike for the Steelers is swelling, I don't envision them dropping this one.
Figgs: I didn't want to take shitsburgh all year, but the reason in me has to here.
Nick: I had a paragraph written up talking myself into the Bears and deleted it. Steelers, although I'll gladly sacrifice a loss here if it costs the Steelers a game.

CHARGERS (-3) vs Ravens
Andy: I'm simply frightened by this Raven team. What will we be getting from them next week? 13? I think they establish themselves as a top AFC contender with a W here, as I establish myself as someone who just threw up in his mouth.
Figgs: San Diego, super Chargers.
Nick: Love the Ravens getting three here. Like Andy said, they look pretty tough.

COWBOYS (-3) vs Giants
Andy: What's the over/under on punts hitting the scoreboard? This is a tough one to pick - does Dallas' new ballpark give them an edge here? Nah, I'll take the points.
Figgs: I'm with Nick, Giants for sure.
Nick: Giants. If I were setting the lines, I would flip it over to Giants -3.


Monday Game

DOLPHINS (+3) vs Colts
Andy: Colts, for sure. Miami seems like a team without a plan, and I'm a person who knows teams without plans.
Figgs: Colts.
Nick: I'm all about second-guessing myself this week, and I'm going to do it one more time and take the Fish here. Home teams usually come to play on Monday night, and it seems like the public money is coming in overwhelmingly on the Colts.

Nick's Teaser: Titans (-0.5) and Giants (+9)

A week of sports disappointment

That sucked.

By "that," I mean this entire past week in sports, beginning with Hines Ward's fumble in Pittsburgh's Thursday night 13-10 opening-game victory and ending with...well, it hasn't ended yet.

Thursday
Why that particular moment for the beginning? Because it epitomized the pain that the Steelers have caused me over the years, though it stabbed me in the back instead of the front, like usual. See, when Ward was headed towards the end zone, I was mad because I knew Pittsburgh would win, but at least my pick (Steelers -6) would have been right. Nick points out that Ward wouldn't have scored, fine, but they would've on the next play. They always do. Nevertheless, I was elated when he coughed it up - I'm happy to be wrong if it means the Steelers lose! Plus, I loved watching Ward walk dejectedly off the field. Loved it. I was feeling good.

Then they won 13-10 in overtime. They win, I don't cover - it's like two losses. Urgh.


Friday
Watched some Indians baseball tonight, a 2-1 defeat in 12 innings to the mighty KC Royals. This one featured the game-winning run thrown out at home trying to score from second on a Jhonny Peralta single in two separate innings. The second time (11th inning, Brantley running, 2 outs) was a reasonable decision; the first one (9th inning, Cabrera running, 1 out, DeJesus had the ball before he even hit 3rd) was just horrible.

However, I just discovered that, in high school football, New Phila won 58-7 and Dover lost a double-overtime heartbreaker, 22-21. Hey, things aren't all bad! I guess I shoulda gone home for the weekend and shut off the TV, huh?


Saturday
But back to the bad times.

First, I had to watch Michigan come from behind to stun Notre Dame in a game during which I penned an article about how much I hate Michigan. I simply cannot stand watching them win, even when nominally it's in my best interest. This was mildly deflating.

Then I got about 5 kg of salt poured into the wound by Ohio State's 18-15 crushing defeat to USC. A good night at the bar, including some serious Lobster Zone action and a guy complaining loudly about the Indians having traded "two Cy Young muthafuckas," was spoiled rotten by that one.

If you look through the archives or have talked to me about sports, you know that I'm very reluctant to blame coaches for teams' success or failure. Well, this time, I think Jim Tressel was seriously outcoached by Pete Carroll, in terms of play-calling, clock management, and field position decisions.

This does not, however, mean that I'm calling for Tressel's ouster or anything. He has my full support, though I see areas where he may be able to improve. I've read with some sadness about all the critical e-mails and such he's been receiving - can't we step back for a minute and reflect on all the success the eight-year Tressel era has brought to the program? 7-1 against Michigan, 6 BCS appearances, 1 title? I don't think he managed this game well, but geez, let's relax. I liked the way Tressel addressed his more vocal critics:

"When I read some of them I feel terrible for them because there's no way they're happy. They've got to be some of the most unhappy people in the world, and I feel bad because we just made them less happy, and I hate to be a part of making someone less happy. I mean, they're already miserable."

Admittedly, I was pretty stung after the loss, but I never even thought about criticizing Tressel personally for it! After a viewing of Anchorman and a night's sleep, I was pretty much over it.


Sunday
This was, clearly, an equilibrium that the Browns could not and would not leave alone. As with the steeler, Tribe, wolferine, and Buckeye games, I got the rug pulled out from under me again today, and this time got some sunburn to go with it.

Around 2:30, things were looking good in Francisland. I'd had a fine morning of tailgating with two of my crews, and was in perfect game shape. The sun was shining, the air was electric, the beer line was short, and the Browns led 13-10 at half.

Around 4:00, Francisland became a wasteland. The Browns nosedived and ended up absorbing a 34-20 pasting. I had a mild incident with the beer lady. Someone I know ended up being (unnecessarily) arrested, a situation that ended up costing me a few hours because I am, at times, a responsible invididual. Not a fun end to the day.

The beer lady incident was annoying. It's worth pointing out here that I was being very responsible today and was in very good control of myself. When I made my second trip to the stand, I had no shirt and was joking with her about carding me a second time. The other guy behind the counter made a crack about how they card everyone with no shirt, which I thought was funny. She mentioned "we do accept tips," which I find incredibly patronizing, but I did tip her for their friendliness. The next time back, I get carded again, now for the 3rd time. Come on. I said, "really, don't you remember last time, when we were joking about this?" and still got ID'd. The guy said you never know when someone might be watching, but didn't listen when I pointed out that I was way over 21 and that it would be fairly easy to explain to anyone that I'd already been there and built a rapport with them. Nope. Then she has the nerve to remind me again, "we do accept tips." I told her, "I know, you told me last time." Bye.

Anyway, that game was lousy.


Monday
I'd heard rumors that the Indians were still playing baseball, and that they'd gone 1-1 since Friday's debacle. I tuned in this evening to watch the Indians bullpen turn a 3-0 lead into a 6-3 loss.

Tuesday
I'd heard rumors that the Indians were still playing baseball, so I tuned in this evening to watch the Indians turn a 3-1 lead into a 5-4 loss.

Wednesday
I'd heard rumors that the Indians were still playing baseball, so I checked the Major League Baseball scoreboard and saw they'd incurred a 7-3 loss.

Buckeyes Drop Nail-Biter to SC

You know how when John does an Indian series recap and complains because he doesn't feel like doing it because the Tribe blows? Now I know exactly how he feels. Forgive me if I don't put a lot of effort into this one.

The frustration continues to mount for Buckeye and Big Ten fans in general as they cannot get that "can't win the big game" monkey off of their back after Ohio St was defeated by USC last Saturday 18-15. Let's make no mistake about it, Ohio St had this game won and blew it. You simply cannot completely dominate a great team in the first half and only end up tied. Ugh, let's just get this over with.

Game Recap

Terrelle Pryor started the game the worst way possible with an interception that was returned to the Buckeye 3 yard line. Three plays later Stafon Johnson ran it in for the Trojans to put them up 7-0 three minutes into the game. I think Buckeye fans around the nation joined me in thinking, "Here we go again." That was not the case, however, as SC didn't do much else for the rest of the half. Ohio St responded by riding Dan Herron six times on an eight-play drive, the big play coming on a Pryor to Dane Sanzenbacher 56 yard completion. Boom scored from two yards out to tie the game. Two USC three-and-outs later, Pryor led another good drive down to the 1 yard line, but after the drive stalled Tressel decided to kick the short field goal instead of going for the throat as Aaron Pettrey made it 10-7 Bucks.

USC moved the ball much better than OSU in the second quarter but made some critical mistakes. Ross Homan picked off a Matt Barkley pass in OSU territory and Trojan kicker Jordan Congdan ended another drive by missing a 44 yard FG. OSU promptly went three-and-out and Congdon tied the game as time expired in the first half.

Punting from their own end zone at the beginning of the third quarter, USC snapped the ball over the punter's head, resulting in a safety that put OSU back on top 12-10. Brandon Saine caught two big passes on the ensuing drive that led to another Pettrey FG, making it 15-10 Buckeyes. Neither offense moved the ball after that until SC took over from their own 14 with 7:30 to play in the game. Barkley led a drive "that will forever go down in Southern California lore" (gimme a fucking break). The true freshman, who did absolutely nothing the entire game, took the Trojans 86 yards in just over six minutes as Stafon Johnson scored for the second time giving USC the lead. After completing the two-point conversion, OSU trailed 18-15 with 1:05 to go. This is Pryor's chance to prove himself, right? He's going to go down and win the game, right? TP was called for intentional grounding on the first play and threw an incompletion on 4th and 10 to end the game. It was a 4 play, 0 yard drive that lasted 37 seconds. Epic comeback, Pryor. Ohio St loses (again), 18-15.


Game Notes

Game Ball
The game ball was set on fire immediately after the game because no one deserved it. Neither QB threw for 200 yards, and the highest RB total was a staggering 60 yards. Ew.

Thieves
Some SoCal bastard snuck into Jim Tressel's office and ripped out the option play and any play involving Brandon Saine out of the playbook. That seems to be the only explanation of why OSU didn't use them. Saine had 1 carry for 2 yards. ONE CARRY!! Unbelievable.

Pryor Needs To Grow Up
That is all.

Play Calling
A lot of people are livid about Tressel's decision to go for three in the first half when OSU had it 4th and goal from the one. While I would have gone for it, this is Tressel ball. That's what he does, live with it.

I don't care to write anymore because I'm gonna throw up if I keep thinking about this game.


Next Game: vs. Toledo @ Cleveland Browns Stadium, 12:00, ESPN360
ESPN360? Are you kidding me? This game apparently doesn't even deserve the Big Ten Network, and I will have to miss my first Ohio St game in I don't even know how long as it will not be televised. We'll see how Ohio St bounces back against a Toledo team that put up 54 in an upset over Colorado last week.
Prediction: Ohio St 33 Toledo 19


GET EM

Ten Points: Browns/Vikings

1. Rough day for Brady Quinn.
Sunday's game felt like the true start of the Brady Quinn era, and it didn't play out as most of us had hoped. There's no need to sugarcoat it: Brady Quinn had a rough outing. Quinn struggled to find a rhythm and was often erratic, although he didn't get very good protection and suffered from some questionable play calling.

Quinn finally got the Browns into the end zone on a late scoring drive when he hooked up with Robert Royal. Braylon Edwards had what appeared to be a touchdown catch in the second quarter, but the replay revealed that he went out of bounds and didn't re-establish himself in bounds, negating the catch. Quinn's pass to Edwards on the deep sideline pattern was under-thrown.

In addition to his lone touchdown pass, Quinn threw one interception, along with several passes that were strong candidates to be picked off. In fairness, Quinn's interception was the result of miscommunication with Edwards, whom Quinn thought was going to break outside. When Edwards broke inside, Minnesota's Cedric Griffin had an easy pick. There's no way to know whether it was Quinn or Edwards who was wrong, but either way there's no excuse for that kind of discrepancy during the regular season. Quinn's timing and communication problems can probably be partially attributed to splitting first team reps with Derek Anderson, and that's the risk you run with such a lengthy quarterback competition.

2. What about Brian (Daboll)?
It was just one game, but his play calling didn't do much to win me over. The early game plan seemed designed to keep pressure off of Brady Quinn, but it probably kept the Browns from building an early lead, so one could argue that it actually put more pressure on Quinn during the following quarters.

There were two early calls on 3rd-and-long (a shovel pass and a running back draw, both to James Davis) that were absolutely gutless. I understand wanting to put Brady Quinn in positive situations, but that's not always how things go in the NFL. You have to test a young quarterback to see how he handles adversity, too. Third-and-long isn't a bizarre occurrence. It's one thing if you're playing noodle-armed Ken Dorsey back there, but Quinn is a capable player, and Mangini must think so because he chose him to start. Give the guy a shot!

The running game didn't seem particularly creative; we saw lots of mundane dives into the line, and Jamal Lewis is still too tentative looking for seams. Daboll needs to mix up the running plays and show more runs to the outside to keep the defense honest. And after seeing screen after screen in the pre-season, they seemed oddly rare in the opener.

One final comment on the offensive play-calling: Josh Cribbs needs to throw the ball. If Cribbs only runs the ball when he's on the field for the Wildcat, defenses are going to get wise and stuff the box. There at least needs to be some shadow of a threat that Cribbs will throw, or he's going become less and less effective running out of the backfield.

3. Thanks for showing up, Braylon.
Once again, calling Braylon Edwards "uninspired" might be putting it lightly. Edwards only had one catch (to be fair, he had that touchdown called back), and wasn't exactly giving maximum effort on his blocks or on plays when he was less likely to get the ball. Particularly annoying were his two inexcusable penalties; a false start and a block in the back.

In Braylon's defense, he was seeing plenty of double coverage, but that doesn't explain the lackluster effort. All summer I kept harping on the fact that Edwards would kick things up a notch when the season rolled around and he was playing for his contract, but maybe I was wrong. Get it together Braylon! "It's go time!"

4. Rob Ryan's a keeper.
It looks like we finally have a defensive coordinator who's willing to bring some heat on opposing quarterbacks! Ryan wasn't afraid to get creative with his blitzes, including several blitzes from the safety position. The blitzes weren't always effective, but that's the risk you run when you don't have great personnel.

Even with that in mind, I love the concept. Beating a good quarterback without pressure is almost impossible. It's difficult to cover for more than five or six seconds when you're dealing with good DBs, but when you have a dicey group like those on the Browns, you have to get creative finding ways to pressure the quarterback. Romeo Crennel's defenses drove me nuts with the way they just sat back and let quarterbacks pick them apart. As far as I'm concerned, Rob Ryan can be our DC as long as he wants the job.

5. The defense: a pleasant surprise.
Like I mentioned earlier, the Browns were able to get some pressure on Brett Favre with various aggressive blitz packages, and they managed to record four sacks. If you just looked at the box score, you'd think the Browns' defense was thrashed, but that really wasn't the case.

The defense hung tough for more than a half, until they eventually wore down and Adrian Peterson had his way with them. The end result is hardly satisfactory, but there were some good things to take away from the defense's performance, first and foremost the tackling. We saw better tackling than we've seen from a Browns team in years. That's not to say that guys didn't get beat every now and then, but even when they did we saw a little bit of extra effort to grab the ball carrier's leg and trip him up, or at least make him change direction and slow down so another defender could grab him.

After just one week, at least we know how well this defense is capable of playing. Now it's just a matter of doing it for a full game. The offense can help the defense out by keeping them off the field for awhile, too. The Browns lost the time of possession battle by almost seven minutes, and the defense was definitely sucking wind in the second half, contributing to their collapse.

6. Big Baby, ready to roll.
Apparently Shaun Rogers wasn't feeling the effects of any rust or lingering effects of his mysterious pre-season injury (read: he was never really hurt in the first place), because he made four tackles and recorded a sack. As we've come to expect, Rogers made life tough for Minnesota's interior line.

Considering the drama Rogers tried to concoct with Mangini over the winter (I, among others, called it), this is a great sign. It's nice to get one right now and then.

7. Abram Elam, playmaker.
Abram Elam didn't look very good in the pre-season, and in fact he was burned a couple of times. But Eric Mangini must have felt a little vindicated by Elam's excellent play on Sunday.

Elam made a very heads up play to grab the opening kickoff when Minnesota attempted a goofy squib/onside kick. He also added a sack on one of the aforementioned safety blitzes, and led the team in tackles with seven. It is less than ideal to see a safety lead your team in tackles, but at least Elam had a good game. Given the way the Browns crashed and burned in the second half, I'll take it.

8. "You know that I could USE somebody!"
My group and I heard that Kings of Leon song approximately 27 times between tailgating and driving home, and it became a running joke. The Browns could use somebody too, namely a number two receiver.

I wasn't very complimentary of Braylon Edwards, but even when he's not on his game his mere presence is a threat that the defense has to respect. But when there's nobody on the other side of Edwards, he's going to see too many double teams to have a productive game, and that's what happened in the opener. Josh Cribbs and Mike Furrey combined for 6 catches for 38 yards. That's fine if you're platooning those two as the slot option, but the Browns need to put somebody opposite Edwards who's a legitimate threat, and who (hopefully) can take some of the heat off Edwards. (Mo Massaquoi, I'm talking to you.)

9. We need some perspective.
Considering how the Browns crashed and burned in the second half, we naturally left this game feeling pretty down. That said, the Browns are not as lousy as they played in the second half. The flip side is that they probably aren't as good as the first half score would indicate, either.

Minnesota has a strong club again this season, and their strengths (running game, defensive line) matched up well against the Browns' weak run defense, questionable offensive line, and inexperienced quarterback. Full disclosure: I had myself psyched up that the Browns could win this game based mostly on the "any given Sunday" concept that's often true in the NFL. But if I had been an objective outsider, I would have bet heavily against the Browns, due to the way the Vikings' strengths took advantage of their weaknesses, and because the Vikings are simply a much more talented team this season.

10. Up Next: at Denver Broncos, 4:15
There aren't going to be lots of games this year when the Browns are equal to or superior to their opponents, talent-wise. In my estimation, this is one of those weeks, and the Browns need to take full advantage.

I expect to see a heavy dose of Jamal Lewis this week, as Lewis was quietly effective against the Vikings. If James Davis has totally recovered from his head injury (car crash), he should look better this time out. Champ Bailey will provide a serious challenge for Brady Quinn and Braylon Edwards, and it will be interesting to see if one of the other receivers will step up and make an impact.

Because week three pits the Browns against the Ravens (in Baltimore), this game becomes crucial to maintain fan and player morale. If they win this game, then there's a pretty solid chance that the Browns could open 2-2, as they have the Bengals (home) in week 4. But lose to the Donks, and you're staring down the barrel of 0-3 with tons of pressure to win that fourth game against the 'Nati.

Three words have me picking the underdog Browns for the win: Kyle freaking Orton.

Prediction: Browns 20, Broncos 16

NFL Picks: Week 1

We're back!

2008 Regular Season
Andy: 136-111-8
Figgs: 109-125-8
Nick: 125-122-8

(Nick: That won't happen again, I assure you.)

2008 Playoffs
Andy: 6-5
Figgs: 4-7
Nick: 6-5


Thursday game

STEELERS (-6) vs Titans
Andy: Home game, defending champs, NFL opener, night game. I can't see the Titans covering this. I can't wait to pick against Pittsburgh (-10) in week 6, but not today.
Figgs: Titans. There's no way I can pick Pittsburgh this early in the year.
Nick: Titans. This is too many points for a team that put the smackdown on the Steelers late last season. That said, I threw $20 on it and immediately regretted it. The Steelers will find a way to hose me.


Sunday games

FALCONS (-4) vs Dolphins
Andy: Figgs and I cashed in by riding the ATL all of last season, and I think I'll keep doing so here.
Figgs: ATL
Nick: Falcons. The Dolphins are bitches.

PANTHERS (+1) vs Eagles
Andy: The Eagles seem too trendy in this game, so I'm taking the Cats.
Figgs: Eagles
Nick: Eagles. Jake Delhomme is a total nancy.

BROWNS (+4) vs Vikings
Andy: I WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN THIS GAME. BROWNS!
Figgs: Browns
Nick: Browns. "In any fight, it's the guy who's willing to die, who's gonna win that inch!"

COLTS (-7) vs Jags
Andy: The most predictable line of the week, and in fact exactly what I think will happen. Jax was so lame towards the end last year that I can't take them here.
Figgs: Colts
Nick: Jags. Gimme points, these game are always close.

BUCS (-5.5) vs Cowboys
Andy: I can't tell you one single thing about the Buccaneers team this year. 'Boys.
Figgs: Cowboys
Nick: Cowboys, mostly because Letwich throws from the full windup.

RAVENS (-13) vs Chieves
Andy: Baltimore's defensive score will help them cover this.
Figgs: Ravens
Nick: Ratbirds. I hate myself.

BENGALS (-4.5) vs Broncos
Andy: I have a weird vibe that the Bungles will be competitive this year with a revitalized Palmer/Ochocinco hookup.
Figgs: Broncos
Nick: Natti. The Donks blow.

TEXANS (-4.5) vs Jets
Andy: I'm waffling on this uninspiring matchup between two teams looking right down the barrel of 8-8. Jets, I guess.
Figgs: Texans
Nick: Texans. I'm owning Andy this year.

SAINTS (-13) vs Lions
Andy: I'd give 30 here if I had to.
Figgs: Saints
Nick: Saints. That is all.

CARDINALS (-6) vs 49ers
Andy: My off-season rust showed in my line prediction here, as I guessed the NFC champs would be favored by 13. I guess I have to take them, huh?
Figgs: Cards
Nick: Cards. I'll crush Andy in this just like triathlons. Editor's note: By that, you mean, you'll wear a funnier outfit while making your picks?

SEAHAWKS (-9) vs Rams
Andy: The Rams will get better as the season progresses, but they're not ready for this early trip to Qwest.
Figgs: Rams
Nick: Shehawks. The Rams are one of the worst teams in football.

GIANTS (-6.5) vs Redskins
Andy: This could be a good game. I like New Jersey NFC by 7.
Figgs: Redskins
Nick: Redskins. Too many points.

PACKERS (-3.5) vs Bears
Andy: I'm sold on the Pack this year.
Figgs: Bears
Nick: GO! PACK! GO!


Monday Games

PATS (-10.5) vs Bills
Andy: Belichick usually loves winning games by 3 points, but he seems to relish kicking around the Buffaloes, so I'll give these points.
Figgs: Patriots
Nick: Too easy. Pats. ($)

RAIDERS (-9) vs Chargers
Andy: LA head coach Tom Cable's career head coaching experience: University of Idaho, 2000-2003. That's it. He's punched out more assistants than he has coached NFL games. I'll be taking the Chargers.
Figgs: Chargers
Nick: Bolts. Over and over again. ($)

Nick's Teaser: 2-teamer with the Ravens (-6.5) and Seahawks (-2.5).

(Note: Every week, I'm going to pick a 2-or-3-team teaser, just for fun. Two-team teasers are 6-pointers, three-team teasers are 10-pointers.)

Random Michigan-bashing

Hey, why not? It's more fun than writing about the Indians.

- I'm sort of torn as I watch today's Notre Dame - Michigan tilt. I really don't care for either team, yet there's no way both can lose that I'm aware of. For the sake of Ohio State and the Big Ten, it seems rational that I should pull for the Wolverines. On the other hand, even though I dislike the Irish for several reasons, I absolutely hate the school up north. The competition for my least favorite sports team overall has only three legitimate contenders, and the Steelers and Ravens sort of siphon votes from one another, leaving only these morons from the oddly-named town of Ann Arbor.

- Touchdown Irish!! Rational behavior isn't always the order of the day, and I'm flat-out rooting for Notre Dame here. I can't be something I'm not, and the stunned, disappointed faces of Michigan fans are almost as good as Hines Ward's dejected expression walking off the field after his fumble at the end of Thursday's game. I'm willing to sacrifice some small measure of conference prestige to indulge my joy at the defeat of an archrival. Go Notre Dame!

- One fan in the stands was sporting a "Beat Ohio State" t-shirt. In what?

- Michigan's QB is named "Tate Forcier." Not much I need to add to that, except that it reads "T. Forcier" on the back of his uniform, meaning there must be another Forcier on the roster. I'm already spending too much time on this article to look it up.

- The turning point for me today may have been Michigan's first touchdown, which prompted the playing of their awful fight song, arrogantly titled "The Victors." Even substituting the dirty words in my brain (I actually don't even know any of the real ones), I can't listen to it. Notre Dame, on the other hand, has a totally boss fight song. Any tune that figures into the plot of Airplane! is good with me.

- On a slightly tangential note, it's a good thing the Penn State band doesn't have to pay royalties every time they play "Seven Nation Army," because they would owe Jack White roughly the school's entire endowment.

- What is this supposed to be at Michigan Stadium, a yellow-out? Is it even really called Michigan Stadium (editor's note: yes)? I pretty much only hear it called "The Big House," which is staggeringly uncreative. According to Wikipedia, it's also referred to as "The Carnegie Hall of All Sports" and is also known as "the House that Yost built." I have now three sub-points to this bullet:
a) No one calls it "The Carnegie Hall of All Sports." No one. Ever.
b) No one calls it "The House That Yost Built." No one. Ever.
c) Maybe this explains why they stuck with the "Big House." Michigan doesn't do creativity.

- They don't do defense, either, not in this half anyway. This is a pretty entertaining game, as it turns out.

- I like the sort of unfair double-standards that sports fanaticism allows one to apply. Check it out:
1) "Michigan Stadium" is a stupid, unclever name for a stadium hosting one of sports' most pathetic teams.
2) "Ohio Stadium" is a simple, classy, traditional name befitting a fine university and football team with a rich tradition.

- Last week, I saw fans with a banner reading "In Rod We Trust." What, exactly, is it about coach Rich Rodriguez that you find trustworthy? The offseason practice scandal? His unethical and acrimonious departure from West Virginia? Or do you simply trust that he'll lead the team back to prominence, based entirely on last year's 3-9 mark?

- Ha ha, "last year's 3-9 mark." Ha!

- Michigan's last two graduating classes of football players (assuming they actually graduate) both left the school having posted career 0-4 marks against Ohio State. So will the next two. That's a beautiful thing. A someone who watched every one of the 1988-2000 contests, during which OSU posted an abysmal 2-10-1 record against their archrivals (a youthful Francis attended the tie and at least one of the losses), this is a long time coming. As Marsellus Wallace would say, I ain't through with you by a damn sight.

- One thing I left out of my piece on the Aeros from a few days ago was that the guy who was working the Ohio Brewing tap sported a Michigan cap, and seemed to have no grasp whatsoever of the idea that I would give him US currency in exchange for the beer. If I wasn't so ethical, I might have walked away with a coupla free beers. It's like the hat sucks out your brainpower, like getting a Metroid stuck on your head.

- In other news involving college football being played by teams from the state of Michigan: come on, Michigan State. I have none of the qualms rooting for you that I do with the other Big TenEleven school in your state, and you lose to Central Michigan? The same Central Michigan that I hate because of their insistence that they own the rights to the acronym "CMU" even though Carnegie Mellon is a much finer institution, we have the website cmu.edu, and you can't actually own a fucking acronym? That Central Michigan? Ugh.

- Do I like Bob Greise openly rooting against the Buckeyes because his son went to the school up north? Nope, I sure don't. My Dad has also made it clear that he does not care for "Greasy Bob"'s perspective.

- Wikipedia also lists Michigan as having 11 "Claimed National Championships," which is an interesting bit of wordplay. It makes one suspect that they're trying to get their hands on titles that aren't actually theirs. I recall reading something to this effect once, and frankly, the idea of them doing this is so consistent with my view of the school that I'm going to accept it as fact uncritically, without researching it.

Go Bucks.

Aeros fever!

I had the pleasure last evening of attending game two of the Eastern League Divisional Series, where the Indians' AA affiliate, the Akron Aeros, defeated the Reading Phillies 6-2 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-5 series. A couple of notes on the game:

- Reading is an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, and are exceptionally creatively named: the Reading Phillies. Their uniforms list them as the "R-Phils," which has no ring to it whatsoever. Furthermore, when you consider that "Phillies" is one of the lamest team names in all of pro sports, couldn't Reading have spent five minutes thinking of a better name. How about "Reading Railroaders"? There, I spent 30 seconds and thought of something way better than "R-Phils." I'm going to call them the Railroaders for the rest of this article.

- Canal Park is a beautiful stadium, even nicer than my low-res picture at right indicates. Really a lot nicer than Huntington Park, the new home of the AAA Columbus Clippers. Plus, all seats are just $10! We were only 4 rows behind the Railroader dugout, which meant easy heckling of improbably-named Reading catcher Tuffy Gosewisch.

It turned out to be Thirsty Thursday, as the club was offering 12-oz beers for $1 through the third inning. It was good beer too - the Ohio Brewing Company was there with their wares, including the Ohio Fest beer that won the People's Choice Award at last weekend's Cleveland Oktoberfest, as well as the coveted Best Beer Andy Francis Tried All Night Award at the same event.

I attended the game with my buddy Fanuc, and needless to say, we discovered this promotion immediately after the 3rd inning. Oh well.

- It was nice to get an opportunity to see some of the Tribesmen of the future get some action. Jeanmar Gomez, the Eastern League pitcher of the year, pitched 6+ strong innings, losing a shutout bid only at the end. I also got a look at Lonnie Chisenhall (3-3 on the game), Beau Mills, and, of course, Eastern League MVP Carlos Santana.

- Neither team did anything offensively through 3 1/2 innings, until Santana absolutely unloaded on a pitch from Railroader starter Yohan Flande. Crushed. It was still rising when it cleared the wall. I lost sight of it. The writeup I read on aeros.com claims it landed in the canal beyond left field, but I'm not convinced it ever landed. Goodness. Apparently, concerns over Santana's communication skills are keeping him from the Majors for now. I don't care if the guy speaks only Klingon - let's have him up to Progressive Field for a few games. We already have like six catchers on our roster - what's one more? DH him for all I care. Tell me you wouldn't rather see him take a few whacks over Hafner for a couple of games.

- The Aeros have a guy in uniform (no number) whose name is listed as "BATMAN" and who sports a Batman belt buckle and retrieves the visitors' bats, often twirling them through his legs (the bats, not the visitors). He's a bit of an entertainer, both intentionally and unintentionally. Everytime I saw him, I thought of the Batdad from the Little League episode of South Park.

- Excellent work was done by Aeros in-game host Calvin Funkhouser, a fellow New Philadelphia High graduate. Thought I'd put that out there. At right is a photo of Calvin and his crew leading the fans in a rendition of "YMCA."

- Poor work was done by whomever is in charge of the Aeros' stats and publications. The two-page game program was apparently typeset using Gutenberg's original printing press, and bizarrely used 2008 stats for all of the players instead of 2009 stats, so you had no idea how well the players performed this year, which seems like the kind of thing someone reading stats might want to know. I could have made a far superior version using Excel and baseball-reference.com in a couple of hours. Aeros staff, you have my contact info. I'm willing to do this pro bono.

- Making things worse was the scoreboard display, which inexplicably presented the players' 2009 playoff statistics rather than their regular-season stats. This is the second game of the playoffs! Did they do the same thing for Game 1? Telling me that a guy is batting .250 for the postseason is in no way interesting. I get it, he went 1-4 yesterday. How about his 400 regular-season at-bats? Any news on that? Every reliever who came in got their face on the scoreboard next to a bunch of zeroes in literally every category, simply because they didn't pitch last night. This is in no way useful information. Please, Aero management, use the regular-season numbers so we can learn something!

- This is especially puzzling considering that Akron is a habitual playoff-qualifying team, so they should know better. This a winning club! Assuming they can knock off the Railroaders in one of the next three contests, they will reach their 6th Eastern League Championship series in the past 7 years. That's an impressive run. The team claimed titles in 2003 and 2005; hopefully they can add another Eastern League trophy to their mantle to sit next to their 2009 EL Southern Division regular-season crown.

Go Aeros!

Good ol' Texas thrashin'

Here are the Indians' starting pitchers' lines for the three "games" recently completed at Progressive Field against the Texas Rangers:

Carrasco: 5 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 3 BB
Laffey: 3 1/3 IP, 6 ER, 12 H, 1 BB
Carmona: 2/3 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 1 BB

Look at how much efficienter our starters got as the series went on! It was like a game of Name That Tune; I can give up 5+ earned runs in...3 1/3 innings! I can do it in just 2/3 inning!

Our hitters pulled a similar trick, becoming increasingly efficient at recording outs as the series went along:

Game 1:9 runs on 16 hits
Game 2:5 runs on 7 hits
Game 3:0 runs on 6 hits

Now that's making some outs!

Also: we got swept. Giving up 11, 10, and 10 runs is no kinda way to win three games. Hopefully we can hold the Royals to <10 once or twice this weekend.

Buckeyes Survive Opening Day Scare

Unfortunately, I had to work during Ohio St's season opener this past Saturday against Navy. So imagine my surprise when my text updates said that this one came down to the wire. Originally I was pretty worried that the game was this close, especially going into next weekend's showdown against USC. However, after I watched the game in its entirety, I feel much better. Ohio St drastically outplayed Navy for 54 minutes. A couple of mistakes from the Buckeyes and big plays from Navy in the game's closing minutes led the Midshipmen to within a two-point conversion from tying the game. Thanks to LB Brian Rolle's pick-two the Bucks won their 31st straight home opener.


Game Recap
Ohio St dominated the first half, outgaining Navy 226-120 and taking a 13-point lead into the break. On the game's first possession, OSU drove right down the field, ending in a 38 yard touchdown pass from Terrelle Pryor to Dane Sanzenbacher. Ohio St's defense looked confused against Navy's rare triple-option attack on their first drive. Navy responded by going 80 yards on a seven minute drive, resulting in a Ricky Dobbs 16-yard TD run to tie the game at 7. That would be about all the Middies would do in the first half, as the next 20 minutes were dominated by the Buckeyes.

Pryor led the Bucks on another good drive, this one capped off by an Aaron Pettrey FG. After a couple of punts, Thaddeus Gibson sacked Dobbs and forced a fumble. With a short field to work with, OSU had another good drive and TP ran it in the end zone to give Ohio St a 17-7 lead. Joe Bauserman gave Pryor a break on the next series and led Ohio St to another FG, making the halftime score 20-7.

The third quarter was basically only one series, that being Navy's 15 play, 99 yard drive that lasted over eight and a half minutes. Anderson Russell made a great play to down a punt at the Midshipmen 1 yard line, but Ricky Dobbs had a great drive running and throwing the ball, and hit Marcus Curry for a TD to cut the lead to 20-14. Russell got beat in a big way by Curry on the touchdown.

Pettrey showed off his incredible range by drilling a 52 yard FG to begin the 4th quarter, putting the Bucks up by nine. Two plays later, Buckeye defensive captain Kurt Coleman forced a fumble in Navy territory, leading to a touchdown run by Boom Herron. Pettrey, who minutes ago was good from over 50, missed the extra point, 29-14 Buckeyes. With under 10 minutes to play in the game, Coleman made an extraordinary interception that seemingly sealed the victory. Not quite.

On a 4th and 2 from inside the 20, Ohio St elected to go for it and Herron was stuffed, turning the ball over on downs. The very next play, Anderson Russell fell victim to Marcus Curry yet again, this one to the tune of 85 yards to put the Academy right back in the game, 29-21. With four minutes to play, Pryor made his first mistake of the game, overthrowing Sanzenbacher and leading to an INT. Starting at the OSU 32, Dobbs only needed three plays to rush into the end zone and come within a two-point conversion from tying the game. In a completely unexpected move, Navy got away from the triple option, and instead decided to spread it out four-wide for the conversion try. Dobbs looked far more confused than the Buckeye defense did, as he threw it to no one in particular and was picked off by Brian Rolle. Thaddeus Gibson landed an excellent block on the only guy that had a shot at getting Rolle, and he took it back 101 yards to the house for two points the other way. Ohio St runs out the clock and survives an early scare, winning 31-27.


Game Notes

Game Ball
Goes to Terrelle Pryor. TP looked good running and throwing the ball, going 14-21 for 174 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT through the air, and rushing it 6 times for 30 yards and another touchdown. His best plays might not look so good in the stat sheet: a 4 yard run, a 6 yard run, a 7 yard pass, and an incomplete pass, but on these four plays he showed excellent elusiveness to escape multiple Midshipmen defenders and avoid the sack. Seven different Buckeyes caught a pass, with the running backs being the favorite targets (4 grabs for 29 yards for Herron and 2 for 21 for Brandon Saine). Duron Carter, true freshman and son of Buckeye great Cris Carter, grabbed 3 balls for 21 yards. He was also open two more times where Pryor missed him. It's great to see him getting a lot of reps early on.

On a Rolle
As I mentioned in my Buckeye Preview, the OSU linebackers were very inexperienced, especially when Tyler Moeller went down for the year. Moeller's injury moved Austin Spitler from middle to strong side, and opened the door for Brian Rolle to start in the middle. After week one that looks like a blessing in disguise. Rolle seemed to be all over the field against Navy, especially in the first half. Then of course he came up with the big play that may have saved the Buckeye season with his interception and return for two points.

The Joe Bauserman Experiment
In a very odd move, Tressel sat an un-injured Pryor for the last drive of the first half in favor of Joe Bauserman. Bauserman is a redshirt sophomore with virtually no experience. The only thing I can come up with is that Tressell wanted to get the young QB some reps just in case (knock on wood) anything should happen to TP. It seemed like a strange time to do it, but Bauserman led a good drive that resulted in three points. He never really looked down field, but did a good job throwing swing passes to his running backs and finished 3/5 for 36 yards.

Offensive Line Struggles
The OL didn't look awful against Navy, but it was certainly the team's weakest link in the game. Dan Herron looked mediocre (17 carries, 72 yards, 1 TD, 4.2 YPC), and I think it was mostly due to the poor play of the o-line. Brandon Saine looked more explosive than Herron, with 9 carries for 53 yards, racking up 5.9 per carry. While these stats look pretty solid, most of their yards came on the option where Navy defenders we're more worried about focusing on Pryor. When OSU tried to slam it up the gut, they were often stuffed. In my opinion this is the biggest concern heading into next week's matchup with SC.

Speaking of the Option...
Ohio St used the option offense quite a few times in this game, and it was effective. Pryor looked as if he might have been a little worried about getting hit and pitching the ball a little too early, but in his defense Navy was focusing almost solely on him so the RB's had some room to work with. I really like this look as Pryor and Saine can both fly and could give defenses fits. Last year this play probably wouldn't have worked against the Trojans, but Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews aren't back there this year. Expect to see a lot of this next week.

Mika Vick
That is what was written on the eye black of Terrelle Pryor. Michael Vick was a favorite of Pryor's growing up, and TP recently openly expressed his happiness for Vick being back in the league at a press conference. That's all well and good, but the eye black? Really? Could you at least write smaller and get his full name on there? I hope these don't stick around all year.

Pre-game Respect
With the controversy surrounding the pre-game ritual of opponents shaking hands, Jim Tressel showed a lot of class last week when not only did the Buckeyes and Midshipmen meet at mid field to shake hands, but for the first time in Horseshoe history both teams ran out of the same tunnel at the same time. Brutus led the way with an OSU flag with a Navy player right by his side with the American flag. A classy move by Tressel and Ohio St.


Next Game: vs. USC, 8:00, ESPN
One of the best games of the year comes in the middle of September this year. Last year in Los Angeles, USC won in a rout; this year the game is in Columbus. True freshman Matt Barkley will lead the Trojans into the Shoe for the first test in his young career. The key to the game will be limiting mistakes. Even though Pryor had a good game against Navy, he made one big mistake that almost cost his team the game. It may only take one against SC. Scorchers will be rocking, as Nick and I will join our fellow blogger Andy in Cleveland for this one as we prepare for the Browns' home opener. I could see the game going either way, and I really hope I'm wrong with this pick.
Prediction: USC 36 Ohio St 31

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(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)