Week Eleven: The Double Tap!!!

Well, VBS, scoring the "Double Tap". Two straight wins. Nice job buddy. Nice job.

My picks have suddenly started to stink like a nasty dog turd out behind the garage. Yeeeiiick. Gonna have to "clean that up"(*) before next week.

(*) "Clean That Up", copyright Michael McCarthy, 2006, all rights reserved.

Public service announcement: To all players (especially Ardita), if you're not sure you can get your picks in, use the website to select an "Autopick" option. If you DO go ahead and make your own picks, it will not change your picks. However, if you cannot make your picks, if you forget, if your dog eats your homework, WHATEVER, the autopick will put in picks for you. And, I will tell you in total honesty, several weeks have been won with an "All favorites" autopick... Just sayin'...

An intriguing observation from a blogger I read:

In Christmas-is-coming news, man of the worldly mind, do you believe in the Crabtree Curse? San Francisco was 3-1 before signing Michael Crabtree and is 1-5 since. Do you believe in the Kern Kurse? As noted by reader Diego Arias of Delray Beach, Fla., the Broncos were 6-0 with Brett Kern as their punter, and have gone 0-4 since waiving him. The Titans were 0-6 without Kern, and are 4-0 since claiming him off waivers from Denver.

Intriguing... Kern didn't look super great either. Why am I talking about punters?? Good question. Let me tell you this: the quality of punting and place kicking, in both college FB and NFL FB, is atrocious. The Texans trotted out a 41 year old dude to punt for them. Jeremy Kapinos has been atrocious for the Packers, and he is apparently THE BEST WE CAN FIND. Sean Landeta punted until he was collecting social security, I think, despite never being more than an "average" punter, with a below average leg, and a knack for downing kicks at the ten yard line from time to time. Place kicking, my gosh, don't get me started... How many short, makeable kicks have I seen missed this year, college and pro... I wish I had ten bucks for each one, I'll tell ya that.... Pay my gasoline to Florida, no problem. MY POINT, people, is this: if you have a son, a nephew, a cousin, whatever, between the ages of 9 and 14, that boy needs to be KICKING. Not soccer balls, either. NFL Footballs. That young man needs to go to punting camps, placekicking camps, leg training camps, camps put on by former kickers.... whatever. If he can kick A LITTLE, he's going to go to a fine college for free, and then play in the NFL for 20 years. If your son is NOT learning to kick, don't blame me for your tough luck in life. Your son/nephew/cousin must kick. Period. Hear me now, and believe me later. The sport of football itself is depending on him, to say nothing of your familial wealth....

Vince Young actually looked pretty good, I thought. When they spread it out, and run that option play, the Titans are dangerous. Truly.

Do you wanna know who Vince Young's biggest fan is?? How about Florida's Tim Tebow?? Seriously, the more success Vince Young has, the higher Tebow's NFL draft value soars...

The Patriots on 4th and 2. Okay, I've seen the replays, read 50,000 words on the subject... I'm already tired of it. I will say two things: One, I didn't like the spot at all. I thought he got it. Two, let us recall this: In 1995, Dallas went for it on fourth-and-1 from its own 29 in the closing moments of a tie game, in order to avoid punting back to the Eagles. Emmitt Smith was stuffed at the line, and The Cowboys went on to lose by three -- the Cowboys also went on to win the Super Bowl that season. So there.

After the 4th and 2 fiasco/loss to the Colts, Bill Simmons pointed out in a podcast that "Bill Belicheck owes me a remote control." Hehe heh. Nice. I'll tell ya what, after last Thursday, Jake Delhomme owes me $5 for this week... donkey!

The Florida Boys somehow knew Miami was gonna win that game... Maybe proximity gave them some kind of insider edge. Or maybe they rightly recoiled in horror when they realized they were hitching their wagon to Jake Delhomme... Hmmm.

Let's talk about something else: the utter, complete, and total wasteage of coaches challenges. This last weekend, I saw so many, I can't even keep track. Mike "bag of Doughnuts" McCarthy, pulling a completely pointless challenge in the first half, with no hope of winning it. Bill "Darth" Belicheck, wasting BOTH challenges in the first half against the Jets. Dude, you might wanna save one, in case you REALLY get jobbed in the second half, eh??? After last year's Super Bowl, do these coaches really need to be reminded to save at least one, for something really aggregious???

(Do I have to remind you??? The Arizona Cardinals were getting raped by the officials... Ken Whisenhunt won his 2 challenges, and thus was awarded a "third" challenge... Which I also feel is absurd... If you win the challenge, you should not lose that challenge....You should still have 2)

Seriously though, in the second half, don't you HAVE to have a challenge and a timeout held in reserve, just in case of some outrageous officiating??? Isn't that Coaching 101???

Anyways, get your picks in people, pleeze.

I'm leaving for florida in a day or two... I was re-reading my other blog the other day, and I re-lived THE ROUND OF MY LIFE. We're talking golf here. If you wanna read a blow-by-blow of the finest 18 holes of my life, check it out at http://advoffireplug.blogspot.com

And congrats to VBS. 6 weeks to go. I can feel the noose tightening. The sands of the season are passing us by... Drink it in, people, drink it in....