Tuesday, December 28, 2010

FDH Lounge #128: December 28, 2010

By Rick Morris

The end of the fourth year of THE FDH LOUNGE (Tuesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) brings more of the characteristic diversity of the only show where “nothing is off-topic.”

After The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries and This Week in The FDH Lounge, The FDH Lounge Pigskin Report examines the still-ongoing (!) Week 16 of the NFL season and looks ahead to a final week where some playoff spots still hang in the balance. From there, after rescheduling from the last episode, comedian/talk show host/media personality Adam Carolla comes into The Lounge to discuss his new book.

In Hour Two, we bring back our old pal, former MLB All-Star and current MLB Network analyst "The Mayor" Sean Casey to talk Hot Stove Baseball (and also his passion for pro wrestling!). Then, we premier a brand-new segment: The FDH Lounge Sports Story Slam. Based on the concept of the poetry slam and with the seed of the original idea conceptualized by longtime FDH Lounge Dignitary Jon Adams, this segment celebrates storytelling and oral history, but injects the requisite FDH Lounge twist as the Dignitaries compete for the honor of best sports story. Our judge is free to use any criteria, with the only instruction being that he is instructed to give additional leeway to any stories that actually include a Dignitary in them.

After we start the third hour, we’ve got a real treat for you: sports reporter Lindsay McCormick, who is an Auburn alum currently covering the Oregon Ducks! She will be in Glendale for the BCS National Championship game watching the team she currently reports on going up against her alma mater. Oh, the dilemma! The odds against her being in this position were staggering, as this matchup would have looked to be one of the most out-of-nowhere in more than a decade, but here she is. She also covers the underachieving Portland ‘Blazers and has had to deal with media scrutiny due to her friendship with Mark Sanchez, so we’ll be able to hit a lot of interesting topics with her.

THE FANTASY DRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER then closes out the show with our big NFL Week 17 preview. We remind you also to consult our fantasy – and non-fantasy – hoops guide, FANTASY HOOPS DRAFTOLOGY 2010. Click and enjoy! Also, remember that for your football needs, you should be using our FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010 as your guide through the season, along with our weekly fantasy newsletter at The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog – which, during the football season, has your list of which players to start each week.

As always, we urge you to watch the show live (or listen if you’re on dial-up), but if you can’t catch this as it’s happening, you can always catch the FDH archives 24-7 right here or catch us on iTunes. Also, you can sample THE FDH LOUNGE VAULT, a compilation of our best interviews and roundtables, now every weeknight from 6-7 PM, also on SportsTalkNetwork.com.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Pro Gridiron Surround: Week 16

By Rick Morris

The 21st Century Media Alliance will be joining to provide live, as-it-happens coverage from the pro and college gridirons this fall, with on-the-ground coverage aggregated from a variety of outside media sources all over the country via Twitter. Today's presentation marks our 16th effort on the pro side.

PLEASE NOTE: While the Cover It Live software may classify the liveblog as being in "Standby," it is continuously updating from a variety of sources, averaging several entries per minute during the height of the day's action. You need only to click the play button to view the continuous updates and follow what has already been posted at any time. We hope you enjoy.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Top 75 Christmas Movies of All-Time

By Jason Jones (posted by Rick Morris)

NOTE: These movies were ranked for a feature on the 127th episode of THE FDH LOUNGE Internet TV show (Tuesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com).

CHRISTMAS MOVIE RING OF FAME

1 Scrooged (1988, Bill Murray)

2 A Christmas Story (1983, Peter Billingsley)

3 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1983, Chevy Chase)

4 Santa Claus: The Movie (1985, Dudley Moore, John Lithgow)

5 A Christmas Carol (1999, Patrick Stewart)

6 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, James Stewart, Donna Reed)

7 Miracle on 34th Street (1994, Richard Attenborough, Dylan McDermott)

MOVIES THAT CANNOT BE MISSED

8 The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (2008, Henry Winkler)

9 Christmas Do-Over (2006, Jay Mohr)

10 Chasing Christmas (2005, Tom Arnold)

11 Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle (2009, James Van Der Beek, Doris Roberts)

12 Santa Baby (2006, Jenny McCarthy, George Wendt)

13 Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe (2009, Jenny McCarthy, Paul Sorvino)

14 Holiday in Handcuffs (2007, Melissa Joan Hart, Mario Lopez)

15 Call Me Claus (2001, Whoopi Goldberg)

16 Moonlight and Mistletoe (2008, Candace Cameron, Tom Arnold)

17 Snow (2004, Tom Cavanaugh, Ashley Williams)

18 Snow 2: Brain Freeze (2008, Tom Cavanaugh, Ashley Williams)

19 Fred Claus (2007, Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti)

20 How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2003, Jim Carrey)

21 The Santa Clause (1994, Tim Allen)

22 Mr. St. Nick (2002, Kelsey Grammer)

23 Santa Jr. (2002, Lauren Holly, Nick Stabile, Judd Nelson)

24 Santa Who (2000, Leslie Nielsen, Tommy Davidson)

25 Christmas in Boston (2005, Marla Sokoloff, Patrick Adams)

26 Snowglobe (2007, Christina Milian)

27 Single Santa Seeking Mrs. Claus (2004, Steve Guttenberg, Crystal Bernard)

28 Meet the Santas (2005, Steve Guttenberg, Crystal Bernard)

29 Surviving Christmas (2004, Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini)

30 Christmas Choir (2008, Jason Gedrick)

31 The Santa Clause 2 (2002, Tim Allen)

32 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006, Tim Allen)

33 A Christmas Carol: The Musical (2004, Kelsey Grammer, Jason Alexander)

34 When Angels Come to Town (2004, Katey Sagal, Peter Falk)

35 A Colbert Christmas (2008, Stephen Colbert)

36 The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Tim Burton)

37 The Christmas Wish (1998, Neil Patrick Harris, Naomi Watts)

38 Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle (2010, Doris Roberts)

39 How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966, Dr. Seuss)

IF YOU HAVE TIME, STILL PRETTY GOOD

40 Home Alone (1990, Macauley Culken)

41 Twelve Days of Christmas Eve (2004, Steven Weber, Molly Shannon)

42 Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974, animated special)

43 Elf (2003, Will Ferrell)

44 A Christmas Carol (2009, Jim Carrey, animated movie)

45 I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998, Jonathan Taylor Thomas)

46 White Christmas (1954, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye)

47 Bad Santa (2003, Billy Bob Thornton)

48 Garfield Christmas Special (1987, animated special)

49 Polar Express (2004, Tom Hanks)

50 A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992, Michael Caine)

51 Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish (1998, David Gallagher, Eugene Levy)

52 A Carol Christmas (2003, Tori Spelling, William Shatner, Gary Coleman)

53 Christmas Town (2008, Nicole De Boer, Patrick Muldoon)

54 Finding John Christmas (2003, Valerie Bertinelli, Peter Falk)

55 Holiday Inn (1942, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire)

OK, THIS IS PUSHING IT

56 Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983, animated special)

57 A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965, animated special)

58 Frosty the Snowman (1969, animated special)

59 Christmas with the Kranks (2004, Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd)

60 Deck the Halls (2006, Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick)

61 The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974, animated special)

62 A Very Married Christmas (2004, Joe Mantegna)

63 An Accidental Christmas (2007, Cynthia Gibb, James Hong)

64 Eve’s Christmas (2004, Elisa Donovan, Cheryl Ladd)

65 Four Christmases (2008, Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon)

66 The Christmas Blessing (2005, Neil Patrick Harris, Rob Lowe)

67 All I Want for Christmas (1991, Leslie Neilsen)

YOU HAVE TO DRAW THE LINE SOMEWHERE

68 Jingle All The Way (1996, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad)

69 Three Wise Guys (2005, Judd Nelson, Tom Arnold, Katey Sagal)

70 The Dog Who Saved Christmas (2009, Mario Lopez, Elisa Donovan)

71 The Santa Suit (2010, Kevin Sorbo)

72 Mrs. Santa Claus (1996, Angela Lansbury)

73 Jack Frost (1998, Michael Keaton, Kelly Preston)

74 Ernest Saves Christmas (1988, Jim Varney)

MR. IRRELEVENT

75 Star Wars Holiday Special (1978, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher)

Merry Christmas

By Rick Morris

The entire FDH family would like to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas as we celebrate what is probably the most sacred day on the calendar. What better way to indulge in the greatness of the day than with a little “Christmas in Hollis?”

NFL picks Week 16

By Rick Morris

In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from The FDH New York Bureau and FDH Lounge Dignitary Sean Trench for The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. Each week, we will single out our three strongest plays:

ME (0-3 last week, 19-24-2 overall)

Baltimore -4 over Cleveland

Kansas City -5 over Tennessee

Indianapolis -3 over Oakland (Lock was 0-1 last week, 7-6-2 overall)

BUREAU (1-2 last week, 20-25 overall)

Indianpolis -3 over Oakland

New York Giants +3 over Green Bay

New England -9 over Buffalo

MY OTHER PICKS (7-9 last week, including my Big Three, 105-114-8 overall, including the Thursday loss on Twitter)

Dallas -7 over Arizona

Detroit +3 ½ over Miami

Minnesota +14 ½ over Philadelphia

Jacksonville -7 over Washington

San Francisco +2 ½ over St. Louis

Tampa Bay -6 ½ over Seattle

Buffalo +9 over New England

New York Jets +1 over Chicago

Houston -3 over Denver

New York Giants +3 over Green Bay

Cincinnati +9 over San Diego

Atlanta -2 ½ over New Orleans

NFL Week 16 power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Previous rankings in parentheses.

TOP TIER – LEGIT SUPER BOWL CONTENDERS

1 Atlanta (1)

2 New England (2)

3 Baltimore (4)

4 Pittsburgh (3)

5 New York Jets (8)

6 New Orleans (5)

7 Philadelphia (7)

8 New York Giants (6)

SECOND TIER – LEGIT PLAYOFF CONTENDERS

9 Chicago (9)

10 Indianapolis (14)

11 Jacksonville (11)

12 Kansas City (15)

13 San Diego (12)

14 Green Bay (10)

15 Tampa Bay (13)

16 St. Louis (16)

17 Seattle (19)

THIRD TIER – PLAYOFF LONGSHOTS

18 Tennessee (21)

19 San Francisco (27) NOTE: Niners are only ranked this high because they have a remaining chance of winning the worst division in NFL history.

FOURTH TIERWON’T MAKE PLAYOFFS, BUT NOT THE WORST OF THE WORST

20 Miami (17)

21 Oakland (18)

22 Dallas (23)

23 Houston (20)

24 Minnesota (22)

25 Washington (24)

26 Buffalo (25)

27 Cleveland (26)

28 Detroit (28)

FIFTH TIER – BOTTOM FEEDERS

29 Cincinnati (31)

30 Arizona (29)

31 Denver (30)

32 Carolina (32)

BIGGEST RISERS: San Francisco (8 spots), Indianapolis (4 spots), Kansas City and New York Jets (3 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Green Bay (4 spots), Houston, Miami, Oakland and Tennessee (3 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST

1 AFC East (53)

2 NFC South (54)

3T NFC East (62)

3T AFC South (62)

5 AFC North (63)

6 NFC North (75)

7 AFC West (77)

8 NFC West (82)

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue XLX

By Rick Morris

For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week’s newsletter.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Pro Gridiron Surround: Week 15

By Rick Morris

The 21st Century Media Alliance will be joining to provide live, as-it-happens coverage from the pro and college gridirons this fall, with on-the-ground coverage aggregated from a variety of outside media sources all over the country via Twitter. Today's presentation marks our 14th effort on the pro side.

PLEASE NOTE: While the Cover It Live software may classify the liveblog as being in "Standby," it is continuously updating from a variety of sources, averaging several entries per minute during the height of the day's action. You need only to click the play button to view the continuous updates and follow what has already been posted at any time. We hope you enjoy.

NBA power rankings for mid-December

By Rick Morris

TOP TIER

1 San Antonio

2 Boston

3 Dallas

4 Los Angeles Lakers

5 Miami

6 Oklahoma City

7 Utah

8 Chicago

9 Orlando

10 Atlanta

11 New Orleans

12 New York

13 Denver

SECOND TIER

14 Portland

15 Phoenix

16 Memphis

17 Houston

18 Indiana

THIRD TIER

19 Milwaukee

20 Philadelphia

21 Toronto

22 Charlotte

23 Golden State

24 Cleveland

25 Detroit

26 New Jersey

27 Los Angeles Clippers

28 Minnesota

29 Sacramento

30 Washington

NHL power rankings for mid-December

By Rick Morris

TOP TIER

1 Philadelphia

SECOND TIER

2 Detroit

3 Pittsburgh

4 Nashville

5 Montreal

6 Colorado

7 Washington

8 Dallas

9 New York Rangers

10 Vancouver

11 Tampa Bay

12 Atlanta

13 Anaheim

14 San Jose

15 Boston

16 Chicago

17 Los Angeles

18 St. Louis

19 Phoenix

20 Columbus

21 Carolina

22 Calgary

23 Ottawa

24 Minnesota

25 Edmonton

26 Buffalo

27 Florida

28 Toronto

THIRD TIER

29 New Jersey

30 New York Islanders

Saturday, December 18, 2010

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue XLIX

By Rick Morris

For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week’s newsletter.


NFL picks Week 15

By Rick Morris

In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from The FDH New York Bureau and FDH Lounge Dignitary Sean Trench for The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. Each week, we will single out our three strongest plays:

ME (1-2 last week, 19-21-2 overall)

Cleveland +1 over Cincinnati

St. Louis -1 ½ over Kansas City

Tampa Bay -5 ½ over Detroit (Lock was 1-0 last week, 7-5-2 overall)

BUREAU (1-2 last week, 19-23 overall)

New England -14 over Green Bay

Chicago -6 ½ over Minnesota

Miami -5 ½ over Buffalo

The contest is now head-up between the Bureau and myself. We thank our friend, FDH Lounge Dignitary Sean Trench, for hanging in the contest through a tremendous run of bad luck; he is a very good sport for persevering into December.

MY OTHER PICKS (6-10 last week, including my Big Three, 99-104-8 overall, including the Thursday win on Twitter)

Tennessee -1 over Houston

Jacksonville +4 ½ over Indianapolis

Arizona +2 ½ over Carolina

Miami -5 ½ over Buffalo

New York Giants -3 over Philadelphia

Dallas -7 over Washington

Baltimore -1 ½ over New Orleans

Atlanta -7 over Seattle

Pittsburgh -6 over New York Jets

Oakland -6 ½ over Denver

Green Bay +14 over New England

Chicago -6 ½ over Minnesota

2010-11 college bowl season picks

By Rick Morris

Regular season college record: 54-47-4

New Mexico Bowl: BYU -11 ½ over UTEP

Humanitarian Bowl: Fresno State +1 ½ over Northern Illinois

New Orleans Bowl: Ohio +2 over Troy

St. Petersburg Bowl: Southern Mississippi +3 over Louisville

Las Vegas Bowl: Utah +17 over Boise State

Poinsettia Bowl: Navy +4 ½ over San Diego State

Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii -10 over Tulsa

Little Caesars Bowl: Toledo -1 ½ over Florida International

Independence Bowl: Georgia Tech +3 over Air Force

Champs Sports Bowl: North Carolina State +3 over West Virginia

Insight Bowl: Iowa +1 over Missouri

Eagle Bank Bowl: Maryland -7 over East Carolina

Texas Bowl: Illinois +1 over Baylor

Alamo Bowl: Arizona +5 ½ over Oklahoma State

Armed Forces Bowl: SMU -8 over Army

Pinstripe Bowl: Kansas State PICK over Syracuse

Music City Bowl: North Carolina -2 over Tennessee

Holiday Bowl: Nebraska -14 over Washington

Meineke Car Care Bowl: Clemson -5 over South Florida

Sun Bowl: Notre Dame +3 over Miami

Liberty Bowl: Georgia -6 ½ over Central Florida

Chick-Fil-A Bowl: South Carolina -3 over Florida State

Dallas Football Classic: Northwestern -9 ½ over Texas Tech

Outback Bowl: Florida -7 ½ over Penn State

Capital One Bowl: Michigan State +10 over Alabama

Gator Bowl: Mississippi State -4 ½ over Michigan

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin +2 ½ over TCU

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma -17 over UConn

Orange Bowl: Stanford -3 over Virginia Tech

Sugar Bowl: Ohio State -3 ½ over Arkansas

GoDaddy.com Bowl: Middle Tennessee State +1 over Miami of Ohio

Cotton Bowl: LSU -1 ½ over Texas A&M

BBVA Compass Bowl: Kentucky +3 ½ over Pittsburgh

Fight Hunger Bowl: Nevada -9 ½ over Boston College

BCS National Championship Game: Auburn -3 over Oregon