NFL Week 15

PICKS
Home Team in Bold

San Fran +9.5 Seattle
Atlanta +3 Dallas
Chicago -13.5 Tampa
Pittsburgh -2.5 Carolina
Green Bay -5 Detroit
Baltimore -11 Cleveland
Tennessee +3.5 Jax
NYJ +3 Minnesota
New England -11.5 Houston
New Orleans -9.5 Washington
Miami +1 Buffalo
Arizona +2.5 Denver
St. Louis +2.5 Oakland
NYG -5.5 Philadelphia
San Diego -8.5 KC
Cinci +3 Indy

Week 15 BRO's
Drew Brees vs Was - The league's hottest QB takes on one of the worst passing defenses in the league
Rudi Johnson vs Indy - Who can't run against the Colts, never mind someone with a lot of talent
Vernon Davis vs Hawks - After calling out Alex Smith, you know this athletic freak is going to see the ball
Philip Rivers vs KC - KC's backs are dinged up and LT just makes passing the ball simple
Jon Kitna vs GB - The Lions have no other choice than to air it out every down
David Garrard vs Ten - With all the focus on the run, Garrard should hit some deep bombs over the top
Tom Brady and Reche Caldwell vs Hou - No way will we ever see a performance like that again, even if I hate the guy
Thomas Jones - Will play and prove that he deserves the rock in the playoffs over Benson
Terrell Owens vs Atl - Deangelo Hall isn't the cover corner everyone thinks... can we say overrated
Dominic Rhodes vs Cin - only if Addai isn't ready to go; this is going to be a shootout
Chad Pennington vs Min - See Kitna
Brian Westbrook vs NYG - Someone has to account for the Eagles offense this week (see below)
Brett Favre/Ahman Green/Donald Driver/Bubba Franks vs Det - The Pack lit up Detroit last time out, I don't see anything different here; maybe this is the week Favre finds Franks
Vince Young/Drew Bennett vs Jax - Jags D doesn't scare me as much away from Alltell Stadium
Jeremy Shockey vs Phi - Opens his big mouth but then steps up with big game

Week 15 HOE's
Marc Bulger/Torry Holt vs Oak - The Raiders D is better than you think at stopping the pass
Duece McCallister vs Was - Skins have only allowed 4 rushing TD's all year, look for Bush to see a lot of the ball as a WR
Larry Fitzgerald vs Den - doesn't stand a chance against the Champ
McGahee/Losman vs Mia - The Phins D is really clicking and will get deep into the backfield all game
Ron Dayne vs NE - "No Gain" is right back to being a fat turd this week
Tony Gonzalez/Trent Green/Any WR vs SD - The Chargers and Merriman will harass the Chiefs all day
Kia Williams vs Chi - I doubt he's on your roster if you're in the playoffs so this is irrelevant
Hines Ward vs Car - not this soon after coming back, sorry
Cedric Houston/Leon Washington vs Min -nobody runs against this team, don't expect the Jets to buck that trend
LJ Smith/Jeff Garcia/Reggie Brown/Donte Stallworth vs NYG - The Giants need this game and they'll take advantage of Garcia in the Meadowlands
Rex Grossman vs TB - Guess who's back, Bears still win big thanks to TB's inability to move the ball

The clock continues to tick

The timer is ready to ding on an overcooked turkey as The Answer Sweepstakes continues. I'd love to see him in a Wolves uni paired up with KG, only to get bounced in the first round of the playoffs yet again. However, I think the Celtics can put together the best package of youth for the Sixers, but who wants to trade with a division rival.

Some great locker room combinations could really happy here so keep a watchful eye.
AI and Artest in SAC: hook up for a killer rap album and then leave the team at the all-star break to go on tour
AI and Stephen Jackson: who better to pair with the writer of "40 bars" but the man who shall soon find himself behind them
AI and Bassy Telfair: More midget PG thugs than any one roster can handle

The oven is set to 450 in Boston not only over AI but for a man looking to add some international flavor to the dish. The Red Sox have entered into the final 48-hour window of negotiations with super-agent and egomaniac Scott Boras over Daisuke Matsuzaka and things are sure to get interesting. After blowing an undeserved $70 million on J.D. Drew, who the Sox should be happy to get 2 full years of service from over the 5 years of the deal, I can't see any reason that this deal isn't going to get done. The BoSox need to make a big splash and this one is calling Theo's name. The guy throws a "gyro"ball for Christ's sake; I don't even know what that is and I'm quite impressed. Without ever throwing an inning in the bigs, I'm willing to say that Zaka can and will be a Top 5 pitcher this year and a perennial Top 10 performer. His first year should surprisingly be his best as teams and players will have to adjust and will have little tape on him.

Dislike the move by the Astros in getting Jason Jennings although I wouldn't expect too much of a difference in numbers as Minute Maid is nowhere close to pitcher friendly and Jennings will see more of Pujols as well as a revamped Cubs lineup this year instead of beating up on my Dodgers and the rest of the paltry West. Hirsch is a great prospect and will probably surpass Jennings as pitcher before Jennings even reaches free agency in a year. I understand that the 'Stros need to get into a win now philosophy after throwing that kind of money at Carlos Lee, but this was another poor judgment call after a woeful off-season. Clearing Taveras in the OF helps to make room down the line for Hunter Pence to arrive, so now the Astros can concentrate their efforts on shipping off Jason Lane. The Astros have now missed out on Soriano, overpaid for Lee, check-swung and missed on Pettite, and try to recoup by dealing one of their best prospects for one year of Jennings. I see no reason for Clemens to come back to this mess, the final nail in the coffin.

Let's not overlook Scott Boras's grand larceny of Rangers owner Tom Hicks yet again as he gets Eric Gagne $6 million for a year. You'd think Hicks would learn after looking like the nations' dunce by signing the A-Rod, Chan Ho Park, and Kevin Millwood deals but I guess thats the way the saying goes: "Insanity is repeatedly performing the same actions yet expecting different results". Boras is bordering on jail time after swindling Hicks for all of these deals; what a con man. Then, just as icing on the cake, why not throw another $6 mil to Kenny Lofton and call it a day. Hicks could just be baseball's version of Isiah Thomas. Speaking of...

Isiah Thomas has FINALLY received a timeline from King Dolan as the Cablevision god has given him until the end of the season to show "significant progress". In other words, nice seeing you Isiah; spend the next year with Art Shell working on your resume. I don't even think Thomas should be fired because of his coaching, it's his complete ineptitude as president that has single-handedly killed the Knicks. After taking on too many teams horrid contracts when already saddled with their own (thanks to the Mo Vaughn of the NBA - Allan Houston), trading away the future for Eddy Curry, and then making multiple suspect draft picks with the few picks his managed to salvage. Too bad Zeke couldn't figure out a better way to fill up MSG rather than just stick Curry inside.

Check out some of these lines of the night in the NBA:

J-Smooth - 21/10/5 with 5 blocks and 4 steals (this is why he went in the early 3rd round in MANY drafts)
Camby - 17 boards, 4 blocks... only a matter of time before the wheels fall off though
Kobe - 23/8/7.. solid but unspectacular going 8 of 26 from the floor
Odom - 4 minutes played and a real scare with a possible serious knee injury
Luther Head - should fill in nicely while TMac is gone (21 pts, 4 threes), if he's available grab him up
Skip to My Lou - still can't shoot (2 of 8 with an egg from downtown)

That's all I got for tonight...


Tomorrow I shall unveil my first weekly dose of Bro's and Ho's for the upcoming week in fantasy football playoffs as well as my NFL picks against the spread.

MNF - Bears @ Rams

Let me start by saying thank you to my Dolphins for slapping around Tom Brady and the Pats yesterday, if only you could all see the smile on my face from ear to ear. Is there anyone I hate in sports more than that pompous Tom Brady? I think not. Now if only the Dolphins would figure out how to play NFL level football during the first 7 weeks of the year (two years running now).

Touchdown, Torry Holt! And that will send me into the next round of my fantasy playoffs as the Bears D needed a shutout and A LOT more for me to have a chance of losing.

Before I could even get that sentence completed, Devin Hester dances his way to the endzone for his 5th return TD of the year. I feel like every year there is some guy doing this kind of stuff, but it's always some unknown quantity. Last year it's Dante Hall and now its Hester, if only any of this had fantasy relevance.

Let me just thank the ESPN production crew for blessing us with Jim Belushi in the press box as it adds to an already horrid MNF commentating crew. His "Go, go, go" chanting while Berrian runs one in was truly classic; Oh MNF, where have the good ol' days gone.

What a shot on Grossman to cause that "fumble" right before the half. There is nothing like seeing a guy's helmet pop loose after a stunning blow and it's an added bonus when the guy under the mask is Sexy-Rexy.

Before getting to the NBA action tonight, let me make mention of the biggest NBA news of the night and maybe even the year: Stern relents and goes back to the leather ball after the New Year. It's about damn time as players have been whining for too long nonetheless the initial decision was made in the interest of saving animal hides and to please the Rocket's owners wife. Women can truly accomplish anything when they put some effort into it and everyday I get the feeling that behind every man in power there is secretly a woman running the show.

Trolling through the NBA boxscores so far, Dwight Howard puts up a real stinker and played through a ton of foul trouble all night against the Suns. It would only figure I would play him tonight in NBA.com's Pick One Challenge. Anyone interested in the NBA should really check this game out, www.nba.com/fantasy/game_center/index.html, as it's a new twist to the fantasy world that requires some decent analysis.

Moving on, dare I say Al Jefferson has arrived! Back to back double-double's (14 and 12 with 4 blocks to boot) and he's finally putting ALL that potential we've been drooling over together. The only AI soon to be left in Philly is primed for huge numbers without Iverson taking 30 shots a game and tonight really shows it (27-7-3 with 2 steals). Jason Kidd finishes with yet another triple-double (12-10-13) and is coming mighty close to keeping good on his promise to finish the year averaging a TD per game.

Eddy Curry, who still looks like he swallowed Shawn Kemp, puts up another solid statline with 30 and 11 but I'm still truly impressed by the best hustle guy in the NBA, David Lee (14 and 13). Give this man a permanent starting job, even when Jeffries and limp-wristed Channing Frye come back!

Just witnessed a real oddity in the Pacers/Bulls game as it's the end of the 3rd and every guy who has stepped on the floor for the Bulls has scored in double-digits. Wonder when that happened last? Other than that, Pacers fans have to be worried with Jackson/Harrington/O'Neal all sitting out tonight due to a stomach ailment to go along with an gangster attitude and a possible torn hammy.

Unfortunately, here on the East Coast it is getting late and some people have to sit at a desk job at 8 a.m. tomorrow so here is to Thomas Jones running up a storm and the Bears D giving up some more points to solidify my victory.