NFL Preview...book it

So guess who's healthier than a well-hung ox...that'd be this guy. Oh yes, I'm out of bed, running through the woods, picking flowers and taking souls as my antibodies fought a valiant war against the big bad cold virus. Chalk up another victory for me. That's like a 50-0 record over my lifetime. It is somewhat sad, however, as we lost several good men out there. But there were heroes and they will be honored as they've kept me alive another day. Please stand and join me in singing their praises. Hats off damnit!

Ok, you may sit down now. It's Labor Day (as pictured to your right) weekend and after making the rounds to my parents, both grandparents, my wife's parents, her grandparents and other people's houses in one 14-hour day on Saturday, today is "lounge in my dirty clothes and don't leave the couch" Day. So to commerate this special moment, I present to you my first annual (fuck you journalism teachers who told me I can't write first annual...I'm doing it and loving every second of it) Pro Football Picks. Everyone else is doing it. Why can't I? Just because I'm not a professional writer doesn't mean I can't chime in. I'm going to go out on some limbs, climb a few high branches and maybe take a plunge down the ugly tree, but these picks should be something you haven't seen yet.

Remember, however, that preseason picks usually aren't worth the paper they're printed on, so since this is on a free blog, assume these picks are worthless. I'm going to split these up over the course of two blogs so it looks like I'm blogging more than I actually am doing. On to the picks!

AFC EAST
1. Jets: Whoa! Already a big shakeup in the league. I know what you're saying. 1) Favre is gay, 2) New England has Brady and Moss, 3) the Pats have the easiest schedule in the NFL this year. I don't care. Unfortunately for the Pats, a week 2 upset in the Meadowlands will send their season spirling (see below) and the Jets will be launched into a division-winning season. Book it.
2. Bills: Why not?
3. Dolphins: Pennington helps the fish win six games, but they still suck.
4. Patriots: During the week 2 loss to the J-E-T-S, the Pats lose Brady to a season-ending groin injury. As losses pile up, Moss requests a mid-season trade and he is shipped to the Eagles. Things get worse for Brady as his groin injury turns off Gisele and she leaves him to live in Greenwood, Ind., as she searches for her lover. Luckily, I'm married so I don't have to worry about her stalking me. Anyways, the Pats win one game this year. Tough luck.

AFC NORTH
1. Steelers: Big Ben and Willie Parker use my fantasy football motivational skills to help propell their team to greatness.
2. Browns: Hello Cleveland!
3. Bengals: Chad OchoCinco can't save Cincy.
4. Ravens: Didn't Ray Lewis murder somebody once? Normally that would earn bonus points in predictions like this, but after remembering the charges were dismissed, I can't give him props for being a bad ass. Loss of cool points result in last place in the division.

NFC NORTH
1. Bears: Despite Tom thinking his team is going to be drafting in the top five after this season, he doesn't know that Rex will hold a press conference after a week 3 loss to Tampa Bay to say "I was just kidding these past few years. I'm actually the next Johnny U. This whole sucking thing? Just a joke gone wrong. Sorry for the pain." Grossman breaks Brady's TD record en route to leading Chi-town to a 13-3 record.
2. Vikings: Peterson rushes for 18,000 yards and scores 78 rushing TD's to help me win the CORONA fantasy football championship.
3. Lions: Yep.
4. Packers: No wins for the Pack this year. Maybe next year.

NFC EAST
1. Eagles: The midseason Moss trade leads to the Eagles going the rest of the regular season undefeated.
2. Cowboys: A simple-minded blogger would mention Tony Romo's love life, but not me. I coached a runner who had the same name as a certain Dallas kick returner and he pissed in a bottle on a bus on the way home after a meet. That's enough to give the Cowboys second place in a tough division.
3. Giants: I was counting on Strahan to unretire when I drafted this defense in the CORONA fantasy league last week. I'm pissed. Third place for you!
4. Redskins: I really know nothing about this team. Told ya this thing was worthless.

Tune in to the next blog to get the rest of the predictions for the regular season and playoffs. Only gonna have one subcategory today, so hope you enjoy and thanks for tuning in.

Hello, Mr. Radio
I mentioned her name, so obviously a pictured needed to be included. Enjoy.

[Cough] [Cough] New post [Sneeze]

That's right...I'm sick.

Not deathly ill or anything, so don't go rushing to your nearest cordless phone to bring the whambulance to my apartment or anything. After laying on the couch for the past two days watching movies and drafting fantasy football players, I've finally gained enough strength to stop sneezing and sit in front of a computer to update this blog. Here's what I would like to talk about: the difference between Dayquil and Nyquil. Is it merely a marketing ploy by Vicks to try to sell people, like me, two brands of the same thing making us think one will only work during the day and one will only work during the night? Which came first? Did people really get so drowsy from Nyquil that they couldn't function? Do these pills even work? Thank God there's a wikipedia site to answer a dying man's questions.

Just as I thought, Nyquil came first in 1968 and after people decided they didn't want to be sedated during the day, Dayquil was released to mighty applause in 1972, climbing the flu/cold symptoms charts to #1 for 11 weeks before...wait, read too many rock n' roll books lately. Right now I'm reading the book "Lennon in America", which contains many disturbing facts about John Lennon's later years in life. If you see the book at a book store, just quickly browse through the introduction and you'll see what I'm talking about. Things such as fondling his mother's breast as a teenager play prominantly in this book. Needless to say it's different.

No Pacer news so we'll stick with the Beatles theme:
It's Beetles...with an A
Stu Sutcliffe's art is on display in Liverpool right now, and here's a lengthy article talking about if Sutcliffe had not died at age 21, what his life might be like today. Basically, he should have been one of the best artists of his generation. Here's the original bass player of the Beatles pictured to your right.

Top 5
Watched Field of Dreams and Bull Durham during my illness, so here's my top 5 sports movies of all time. This was actually much tougher than I thought it would be as I had many honorable mentions: Bull Durham, Major League, Teen Wolf (not really a sports movie, otherwise it would be top 5), Varsity Blues and Caddyshack.
5. Rudy
4. Without Limits
3. The Natural
2. Field of Dreams
1. Hoosiers

Mrs. Thug Mrs.
Not sure whether to put this in the wife's category or Tom's, but here's some more stuff about last night's Hills episode where Spencer made the amazing analogy of comparing Spencer & Lauren to Iran and Israel. Brilliant.

Hello, Mr. Radio
Introducing Lilly Robbins, a cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins.

Info for Bo
With Dunkin Donuts about ready to invade near my living area, I'll keep my focus on the positive as our Fall semester professor Tom Crean landed his first recruit for the 2011 season.

You tube...no, you're a tube
In honor of the Big Lebowski's 10-year anni, here's a 2-minute video that featuers all 281 F-words from the movie. Enjoy.

This drink is on me

God bless our college presidents!

Well, wait..not so fast. If you’ve kept up with your reading lately, you’ll have noticed that more than 100 university presidents have signed off on a petition to bring the drinking age from 21 to 18. IU president McRobbie has said he would support it, while our illustrious leader at BSU, Jo Ann Gora, has said he is opposed to it. I never thought I would say, or write this but I’m siding with Gora on this one…go ahead, someone punch me, shoot me, tie me up in a bag and dump my body in the nearest creek next to that rubber Big Foot.

I’m all for lowering the drinking age..but for the right reasons. Let’s say you want it lowered because people 18 are already allowed to vote, fight in a war and be prosecuted like an adult. That’s good reasoning. The college presidents are saying they want it lowered to prevent binge drinking at their campuses. That’s NOT good reasoning. Obviously they didn’t attend college during the last six years, but luckily for their sakes, I have. So who better to know what would curvetail binge drinking?. Me you silly rabbit.

First of all, everyone binge drinks in college. It’s a deep, deep part of the culture now. Sometimes you just become an alcoholic and then you don’t have worry about binge drinking on the weekends. But for the rest of us, there was that one night per week where we got sloshed, bombed, monkey drenched and violated by beer. The college presidents are taking an extremely easy way out on this by blaming binge drinking on the age law. This is much bigger than that. Second, when my friends and I all turned 21, the binge drinking didn’t stop, it got even worse (better in my opinion, but hey, I’m not a saint!). We did it more because there was no chance of us getting arrested for being underage. The college presidents who signed off on this are looking for the easy way out. Don’t let them fool you that they’re doing this for the right reasons.

On to the links…

A friend of this blog, Mr. Philippsen, has finally gone back to blogging about his recent photo opportunities and conquests. You can access his blog on the links column on the right side of the page. If you can't do that simple task, find a rock, hit your head with it and try again. Repeat if necessary. Also to your right is a sample picture from his blog, which he apparently photographed.

2 minutes…2-ah

The Pacers announced some preseason dates this week that involve them playing at the State Fairgrounds and in Fort Wayne. But the bigger news is the window is closing to sign Danny Granger to an extension. The Pacers need to get this done and Hoops World does a good job of explaining why.

It’s Beetles…with an A

People continue to spend outrageous sums of money on Beatles memorabilia. The first signed contract of the Beatles with manager Brian Epstein should go for around $500,000. I wonder if my credit limit goes that high....

Mrs. Thug Mrs.

Just five days after the season premiere of season 4, LC is saying the show is nearing an end. What will do with our Monday nights from now on?

Hello Mr. Radio

In the honor of US softball blowing up this week, here's Ms. Finch for ya.

Info for Bo

I'm sure you saw this, but I just loved seeing that Mr. Kennedy might be leaving the WWE. Good riddance I say.

You tube…no, you’re a tube

If you've loved watching the olympic track competition then you'll love this video. Nothing is better than watching totally exhausted athletes try to give an interview 30 seconds after running the race of their lives.

http://view.break.com/557942 - Watch more free videos

Stick that in your swim cap and smoke it

We're going to keep this short in light of the epic blog post that took place last time, but I want to say that last night's 4x100 relay in the male swimming event at the Olympics was sensational. Thank God for the French. They made it all possible. For simply being themselves and talking some trash before the event, the comeback victory by team USA was made that much more special and will never be forgotten. I've never gone from thinking a team had lost to seeing a team win in such a quick time span. What a race. (pic above shows how far behind Jason Lezak, center, was of France's Alain Bernard, right, before the turn) And were you like me in wishing President Bush would just stand up in the crowd, flip off the French team and then announce a declaration of war? I would have signed up to fight right there and then. Too bad NBC makes it impossible to see replays on ESPN or anywhere else for that matter. I could watch over and over and over again. But in case ya missed it, here's an article at least attempting to give you swim in words. Kudos to the Americans.

It's Beetles...with an A
The name of the man who spent $23,000 on a newly discovered tape of the Beatles talking and recording during late-1964 has been released to the public. Some Canadian dude. Good for him.

2 minutes...2-ah
The Pacers have had some news lately. It appears Tinsley will definitely not be in uniform next season as the team's owners said he won't be back, but they won't release him either. Definitely will be interesting to see who, or what (a washing machine perhaps?) they get for him. Also, since beat reporter Mike Wells mailed in his article on what games to watch this season after the schedule was released last week, I'll come back soon with a more detailed look at what games you Pacer People need to watch or attend.

Mrs. Thug Mrs.
With our favorite show The Hills returning in two weeks, here's an article previewing the new season.

Hello Mr. Radio
Couldn't really find a lady to fit in with today's links (although a hearty picture of Phelps may be just what you ordered) but I saw this on SI.com and couldn't pass up posting the Err Dizz's favorite lady. Enjoy.

Info for Bo
The man who survived the one-and-only Ozzfest this year in Dallas last weekend, here's a recap article in RollingStone.

You tube...no, you're a tube
Hilarious video of people running scared from a mascot...good stuff.

How much more white can it be?

WARNING: The following is an extensive analysis of The Beatles' White Album. It's true. I'm a Beatles nut and when I read Mojo Magazine's tribute to the 1968 classic "The Beatles" I had to chime in. One of the better sections of the magazine was the idea of what if the White Album had been a single album instead of a double album. It's a concept that was started when George Martin looked back on the past and said aloud that it would have been much stronger as a single album. Ringo agreed. So did George. But Paul didn't. I agree Paul that if you're a Beatle nut, the more songs the better. But several years ago I decided to check it out for myself and I created an iPod playlist of the Beatles White Album, Single Album version. It was designed with two thoughs in mind: 1) that it would follow Beatle form as it would contain around 14 songs (although by 1968 they had dropped the mandatory 14-song album) and would feature one song by Ringo, 2-3 songs by George and the rest would be a pretty even match between John and Paul, and 2) it would have my personal flavor. My problem was getting the songs even between John and Paul as I was heavily biased for John's songs. So I manned up and got Paul's count to 6 and John's to 8. But wait! That's already 15 songs! So that left two for George and one for Ringo bringing my total to 17. That's a 50-minute record of pure lust! Now, Mojo Mag tried to create what would have been George Martin's idea of a single record here. Notice it is very Paul centered. It's a 15-track record that I think would suck. But that's my opinion. Let me take you on a journey through MY single White Album. Tighten your selt belts, check the rear view mirror for a pissed off Ringo and off we go!!

First songs to kick off the island: These songs were either left on the album for ego purposes or because George Martin (in pic to your right) had lost control as baby-sitter and censor for not-the-best songs. First to go are both Revolutions. Obviously Revolution 9 should never be released on a Pop/rock album. John should have put it on the Zapple lable with one of his and Yoko's experimental tracks but none of the Beatles could convince him to do it. That's gone. Revolution 1 is out because the single version is 20x better and like Paul said, "It's too damn slow." Other obvious ones include Wild Honey Pie, Savoy Truffle, Long Long Long (apologies to George).

The next songs to get sliced and diced are harder to kick off and they probably have some fans out there, but compared to the final 17, these are running in the slow heat of the 100-yard dash: The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, Martha My Dear, Rocky Raccoon, Birthday, Mother Nature's Son, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except for Me and My Monkey, Honey Pie and Good Night. Now Birthday, Mother and Monkey are tough ones to leave off for me. In my little imagination world, those resurface in the Get Back sessions and are released then. Or if Ringo has his way they are released on the "Whiter" Album. Ok, here's the track list. Unlike the people at Mojo, I tended to stay with the track order that the Beatles originally chose, but there are some variations. Here we go:

Side A
1. Back To The U.S.S.R
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
Probably my favorite start to any Beatles album, these three songs start things with a bang as the rocker U.S.S.R. is followed by one of my favorite songs Prudence and the even rockier Glass Onion. If you take off Glass Onion they you may not have the "Paul is Dead" theory of 1969 and we just can't have that can we?
4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Fair to say the other Beatles hated this song, but Paul's pop tune that was re-made and re-made again is still a goodie.
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
6. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
7. I'm So Tired
8. Don't Pass Me By
Side A ends with Ringo's lone composition of the record. The first side looks really good to me and I can't think of a better Side A than that in the Beatles catalog except maybe "A Hard Day's Night" or "Rubber Soul."

Side B
1. Helter Skelter
Birthday started Side B with a bang and with Helter Skelter it's even more so. One Mojo writer put HS on the side A to start the record, which I think would be awesome too, but he left U.S.S.R. off and I can't agree with that.
2. Yer Blues
3. Blackbird
4. Sexy Sadie
5. Piggies
George's second song for the record is a very underrated song that holds side B together in this edition.
6. Cry Baby Cry
7. Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
8. I Will
9. Julia
Road is a toss up. I love the song, but had it been a single record it wouldn't have made the cut. However, I keep it on here because of time and Paul getting his song numbers up to near John's. Julia finishes the record in fantastic fashion.

There it is. The single album version of the White Album. Looks good doesn't it? But it's not at all complete and that's what makes me hate the idea that it should have been one album instead of two. Stuff it up yer arse Martin! On to the links....

2 mintues...2-ah
I've said it a lot lately and I'll say it again, not much happening in Pacer Land. But to see an interview with Roy Hibbert is interesting. I love how every interview with the players this summer has them either doing some activity that white, rural Indiana fans, who have hated the recent "dreadlocks" NBA, love to do in their own time and also has them talking about their extensive charity work. Talk about damage control!

Top Five
Easy one today. My top five Beatle songs from 1968. Notice numbers 3-5 did not appear on the White Album.
5. Revolution
4. Hey Bulldog
3. Across the Universe
2. Dear Prudence
1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Mrs. Thug Mrs.
My wife's affection for So You Think You Can Dance comes to a close this week when the finale airs and the winner is chosen. But trouble happened this weekend when two dancers (not named in story) were rushed to the hospital.

Hello Mr. Radio
In honor of the WWE SummerSlam event in a couple of weeks in Indy (which I'm attending), here's my favorite WWE Diva, Kelly Kelly. Enjoy.

Info for Bo
The Dunkin Donuts chef himself had his high school basketball jersey retired this week at Pizza Hut, but the news in the papers was the grand opening of his store in Bloomington. Let us know when the jersey ceremony takes place.

You tube...no, you're a tube
To honor the Hell in a Cell upcoming match between the Undertaker and Edge, here's a look back at the greatest WWE match ever where the term hell in a cell holds true. Tune to the 6:45 mark for an immediate look at what I'm talking about.