By Rick Morris
Here is Mini-Episode #647 of THE FDH LOUNGE, an edition
of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER, presenting Week 12 of our fantasy football
coverage for 2015.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Lounge on YouTube: Fargo Episode 2.8 preview
By Rick Morris
Here is
Mini-Episode #646 of THE FDH LOUNGE, previewing Episode 2.8 of Fargo.
Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #645 – 2015 NFL Week 12 preview
By Rick Morris
As we referenced previously, our
pals at Sportsology are hooking us
up for live segments that we’re doing with guests and remote FDH Lounge
Dignitaries these days. We’re happy to
report that we’ve been able to produce many segments on our own, but we’re
thrilled for the help on some of these with guests and the thanks all go to our
great friend Russ Cohen.
Mini-Episode #645 features a preview
of Week 12 of the 2015 NFL season with FDH Lounge Dignitary and Vegas
handicapping veteran Kyle Ross.
Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #644 – Dr. Kenneth Alleyne
By Rick Morris
As we referenced previously, our
pals at Sportsology are hooking us
up for live segments that we’re doing with guests and remote FDH Lounge
Dignitaries these days. We’re happy to
report that we’ve been able to produce many segments on our own, but we’re
thrilled for the help on some of these with guests and the thanks all go to our
great friend Russ Cohen.
Mini-Episode #644 features a
conversation with orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine expert Dr. Kenneth
Alleyne.
Lounge on YouTube: 2015 Week 11 fantasy football preview
By Rick Morris
Here is Mini-Episode #643 of THE FDH LOUNGE, an edition
of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER, presenting Week 11 of our fantasy football
coverage for 2015.
Lounge on YouTube: Fargo Episode 2.7 preview
By Rick Morris
Here is
Mini-Episode #642 of THE FDH LOUNGE, previewing Episode 2.7 of Fargo.
Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #641 – 2015 NFL Week 11 preview
By Rick Morris
As we referenced previously, our
pals at Sportsology are hooking us
up for live segments that we’re doing with guests and remote FDH Lounge
Dignitaries these days. We’re happy to
report that we’ve been able to produce many segments on our own, but we’re
thrilled for the help on some of these with guests and the thanks all go to our
great friend Russ Cohen.
Mini-Episode #641 features a preview
of Week 11 of the 2015 NFL season with FDH Lounge Dignitary and Vegas
handicapping veteran Kyle Ross.
Thursday, November 26, 2015
NCAA football picks Week 13
By Rick Morris
NOTE: Last
week’s picks were 7-3; picks for the season are 41-58-1.
Ohio State -1
over Michigan
South Carolina
+17 over Clemson
Auburn +14 ½ over
Alabama
Iowa -2 ½ over
Nebraska
Miami +7 over
Pittsburgh
Arkansas -14
over Missouri
Houston +4 over
Navy
Washington -7 ½
over Washington State
Oregon -35 ½ over
Oregon State
Boise State -7 ½
over San Jose State
Baylor +1 ½ over
TCU
Wisconsin -2 ½ over
Minnesota
Arizona State
-13 ½ over California
Louisville -5
over Kentucky
Penn State +10 ½
over Michigan State
Tennessee -17 ½
over Vanderbilt
Virginia Tech
-3 ½ over Virginia
North Carolina
-5 ½ over North Carolina State
Florida +2 ½ over
Florida State
Georgia -4 over
Georgia Tech
Texas A&M
+5 ½ over LSU
Northwestern -3
½ over Illinois
Oklahoma State
+7 over Oklahoma
Mississippi -1
over Mississippi State
Notre Dame +3 ½
over Stanford
UCLA +3 over
USC
Connecticut +3
over Temple
Boston College
-3 over Syracuse
Duke -4 over
Wake Forest
Maryland +1
over Rutgers
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Week 12 NFL power rankings
By Rick Morris
NOTES: Rankings from start of season are
in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 New England (4-1-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-1-1)
2 Arizona (14-7-5-3-5-5-6-6-6-6-2)
3 Carolina (23-19-16-10-8-8-4-4-5-2-3)
SECOND TIER
4 Green Bay (1-2-1-1-1-1-2-1-4-5-6)
5 Cincinnati (17-16-6-5-3-3-3-3-3-3-5)
6 Denver (3-3-3-4-4-4-5-5-1-4-7)
7 Minnesota
(12-17-12-9-11-11-11-9-9-8-4)
THIRD TIER
8 Pittsburgh
(10-13-8-14-15-10-10-11-13-10-8)
9 Seattle (2-4-4-6-6-6-8-8-7-7-9)
FOURTH TIER
10 Kansas City
(9-9-9-12-17-28-31-24-20-20-17)
11 Buffalo (18-6-13-8-13-14-15-17-18-14-11)
12 Houston
(25-24-24-26-27-25-23-27-27-29-19)
13 New York Giants
(24-23-22-16-12-12-14-12-15-13-13)
14 Indianapolis
(5-8-20-18-20-15-17-20-21-16-16)
15 Atlanta (22-18-10-7-7-7-7-7-8-11-10)
16 New York Jets
(26-21-11-13-9-9-9-10-11-9-12)
17 Tampa Bay
(20-31-31-29-29-24-22-23-22-22-23)
18 Dallas
(7-14-15-15-16-21-21-22-23-23-24)
19 Miami (11-10-14-17-24-22-16-13-16-16-18-15)
20 Oakland
(30-32-30-21-21-19-20-16-10-12-14)
21 Chicago
(15-27-32-32-30-26-25-26-26-24-21)
22 Philadelphia
(6-12-23-23-25-20-12-14-14-15-18)
23 Washington
(27-28-19-20-18-17-19-18-19-21-20)
24 St. Louis
(13-11-17-24-19-18-18-15-12-17-22)
25 New Orleans
(21-20-25-27-26-29-26-21-17-19-25)
FIFTH TIER
26 Detroit
(19-22-21-22-22-32-30-32-32-32-31)
27 Jacksonville
(31-29-28-28-28-30-32-28-28-30-27)
28 Baltimore
(16-15-18-19-14-16-28-31-24-25-28)
29 Tennessee
(32-26-27-25-23-23-24-25-29-27-29)
30 San Diego
(8-5-7-11-10-13-13-19-25-26-26)
31 San Francisco
(29-25-26-30-32-31-29-29-31-28-30)
32 Cleveland
(28-30-29-31-31-27-27-30-30-31-32)
BIGGEST RISERS: Houston and Kansas City
(7 spots), Dallas and Tampa Bay (6 spots), Detroit (5 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Oakland (6 spots), Atlanta
(5 spots), Miami, New York Jets, Philadelphia and San Diego (4 spots), Minnesota
and Washington (3 spots)
RANKINGS BY
DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM ,
LOWEST SCORE IS BEST
1 AFC East 47
2 NFC North 59
3 NFC South 60
4T NFC West 66
4T AFC West 66
6 AFC North 73
7 NFC East 76
8 AFC South 82
RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE
1 NFC 261
2 AFC 268
Friday, November 20, 2015
WrestleMania 32 booking
By Rick Morris
While the Seth
Rollins injury supposedly didn’t shake up the top of the card at WrestleMania
32 – which should be the biggest in history by one very important metric, a
live crowd which should top 100K for the first time – it should have. The thought of him not being in a top match
after being on top most of the year – albeit, yes, with the same “Honkytonk Man
chicken-s” booking that also did Miz no favors back in 2010-11 – and not being
used at ‘Mania in a top spot seems a terrible waste.
Thus, let’s lead off with the matches
that I wanted to see on top before his injury:
MAIN EVENT
Dean Ambrose (WWE World Champion) vs.
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar
In essence, it’s
Brock vs. all of the members of the Shield, with Dean as the champ joining last
year’s main event. How do you get
here? Relatively simply. Roman takes the title from Seth, as would
have apparently happened anyway, but gets immediately jumped by the Wyatts
again. Oh, by the way, Dean would have beaten
Sheamus for the briefcase prior to this.
He runs in ostensibly to save Roman, but instead he joins the attack,
joins the Wyatt family, actually, and cashes in. Roman wins the Rumble again to get his
rematch, but Seth and Brock make successful appeals to HHH to join the
match. Dean and Bray together leading
into ‘Mania would be the kind of Roddy Piper/Jake Roberts heel pairing on top
that we never got back in 1986. Roman
takes the title, pinning Ambrose and leaving open rematches with all three men.
SEMI-MAIN-EVENT
John Cena vs. The Undertaker
This is a
pretty straightforward respect match. It’s
arguable that Cena needs the win less than ‘Taker if there’s 1-2 more ‘Mania
matches left for the Dead Man – as seems to be the case – and nobody’s ever
lost luster by losing to Undertaker at WrestleMania, so that probably dictates
the booking.
OK, with those might-have-beens
out of the way, let’s revisit the usual ground rules in this space for fantasy
booking. All of this has to be within
the parameters of the possible, so John Cena jobbing clean to Cesaro in 30
seconds – while I, as a bona fide smart mark, would pay big money to see that –
and other such ridiculous scenarios are off the board. For example, Roman Reigns is going over for
the World Title no matter what, so I’m not fighting the impossible battle,
merely trying to show how it could best be done – and that’s the same approach
for the booking up and down the card.
MAIN EVENT
John Cena (WWE World Champion) vs. Brock
Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
Vince McMahon
is reputed to be torn between Cena and Lesnar as dance partners for his new
lead star. Why not both? On a card that’s going to be apparently deprived
of some of the old-school name value that we thought maybe we’d see (The Rock)
or saw last year (Sting), why not load up a main event that would be one of the
most star-studded three-ways in history?
Here’s how you get there. Reigns
does win the tournament at Survivor Series this Sunday, but Sheamus immediately
cashes in on him due to an attack from Wade Barrett. While Reigns is pursuing revenge against
Barrett, Sheamus quickly loses the title to Cena. Reigns wins the Royal Rumble again, while
Paul Heyman successfully petitions to have Lesnar added to the match since he
never was pinned for the title and had his rematch disrupted by The Undertaker. Here’s the finish, setting up rematches for
Reigns against both men: with Roman outside the ring, Cena has Lesnar locked in
the STF when Heyman interferes. Cena
grabs Heyman, while Lesnar delivers an F5, only to be met with a spear from
Reigns as he hoists himself up to crawl over to make the pin. Reigns steals the pin on Cena and gets his
moment to celebrate at the end of the night.
SEMI-MAIN-EVENT #1
HHH vs. Dean Ambrose – TEXAS DEATH MATCH
This card needs
to be about cementing the stars of the next generation – in an aspirational
sense, like WrestleMania 14 with Austin, The Rock, the New Age Outlaws, HHH,
Mankind and Kane. As such, that has to
determine the booking and placement of the existing top guys. This match is a no-brainer: the figurehead of
The Authority vs. the biggest anti-authority (and anti-Authority) guy on the
roster. Position Ambrose as the initial
challenger to Sheamus during his brief spell with the WWE World Title and
position HHH as the man who, horrified at the thought of Ambrose as “face of
the company,” redoubles his efforts to keep him away from the belt. This can easily build towards the kind of
all-out brawl that could steal the show.
Here, HHH has the chance to pay it forward in giving the final push
towards superstardom that Mick Foley bequeathed to him 16 years ago.
SEMI-MAIN-EVENT #2
The Undertaker vs. Daniel Bryan
With Bray Wyatt
super-unlikely to be a ‘Taker foe two years in a row at WrestleMania, just
about any hate-filled-feud angle is out the window, so we’re back to the
concept of a respect match. This would
be a perfect one, since Bryan is reputed to be on the verge of being cleared:
Undertaker could do a lot to put him over simply by issuing the challenge,
noting that the Bearded One has become one of the very best in the world and
somebody who could challenge him sternly on the grandest stage. As with Cena, it would make more sense to
have Undertaker go over, especially since it could kick off a “re-proving
himself” angle for Bryan after being out of action for the vast majority of the
last two years.
Paige (WWE Divas Champion) vs. Charlotte
vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks vs. Naomi vs. Brie Bella
Brie gets into
this match simply because it can’t be presumed that Nikki will be cleared by
then and, storyline-wise, with the Bellas as the top figures pre-“Revolution,”
one of them does belong in this match.
This would be a perfect place for Sasha to take the title for the first
time and cement her face turn in the process, leaving Naomi and BAD
behind. It remains to be seen how nasty
the WWE will let Sasha be as a face, since the last thing you’d want to do is
take away her personality even if the crowd is forcing her to become a “good
guy,” but that concern can’t affect the outcome here.
Kevin Owens (Intercontinental Champion)
vs. Cesaro
Ideally,
neither man would take a loss on this card, but there’s only so many wins to go
around and a 4 ½-star epic would at least somewhat elevate both. KO won at Summerslam and Cesaro is more in
need of a boost right now, so he would go over here in a moment that,
ironically, will mean much more than it should given how stingy the WWE has
been with allowing him the successes he deserves after winning the Andre battle
royal two years ago.
New Day (WWE World Tag Team Champions)
vs. Dolph Ziggler & Ryback
The top of the
face ladder is pretty crowded and the company is reluctant to give Dolph the “all
the way” push, so this is a good spot for a heel turn, maybe reprising the Strike
Force breakup of 1989. This outcome
keeps New Day on top of the tag division even longer – keeping in mind that,
with the epic stretch that they’ve had, like The Shield, they’re going to need
at least a brief face run on top before they split up – without costing the
now-feuding Ziggler and Ryback any heat in the process.
The Dudley Boys vs. Wade Barrett &
Sheamus
Honestly, you
could whip up any kind of a pretext angle to put these four men in the ring in
Arlington. This match would deliver the
nostalgia pop that fans enjoy on this stage, whilst putting over Barrett and
Sheamus – who, hopefully, have something left to offer.
Tyler Breeze vs. Neville
The setup here
is simple: Breeze, having never been able to beat Neville for the NXT Title and
having had to wait eight months longer for the call-up because of that failure,
seeks the chance to make things right at WrestleMania. He goes over, but, in having put over Neville’s
dominant NXT streak (which, sadly, hasn’t been mentioned nearly enough on
commentary since he joined the main roster), he keeps his British rival strong
for rematches.
Alberto Del Rio (US Champion) vs.
Kalisto
Granted, their
World Title tournament match was a debacle, but a matchup of top Latin stars
has been a tried-and-true staple for putting backsides in seats in Texas for
decades. Plus, the WWE is reputed to always
be angling for a chance to get the world record for masks being worn in a
venue, and featuring Kalisto in a match would fit the bill. This should be a hot opener, with ADR
blatantly cheating to go over. Then, the
next night on Raw, he can mock the old “US Open challenges,” only to be
shockingly answered by Cena coming out to accept and win back the US Title.
(Pre-Show) Andre the Giant Memorial
Battle Royal
The storyline
going in is “4 vs. 26,” as the Wyatt Family has vowed to come away with the big
win. The assumption is that Braun
Stroman would be the man to emerge, if they could pull it off, but Luke Harper,
as the best worker by far in the Family, could do more with the rub. Stroman could go out as part of a big tumble
over the top also involving Big Show and Kane.
Harper and Stroman could both come out of this match as viable
contenders for Reigns in his first year on top.
NCAA football picks Week 13
By Rick Morris
NOTE: Last
week’s picks were 2-3; picks for the season are 34-55-1.
Michigan State
+13 ½ over Ohio State
Michigan -3 ½ over
Penn State
TCU +11 ½ over
Oklahoma
Baylor -1 over
Oklahoma State
Tennessee -7
over Missouri
Northwestern
+10 over Wisconsin
Arizona +7 ½ over
Arizona State
UCLA +2 over Utah
USC +3 ½ over
Oregon
LSU +6 ½ over
Mississippi
Thursday, November 19, 2015
2016 should be the year for Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame
By
Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
Last
week, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that, with respect
to a decision on Pete Rose’s application for reinstatement, “The end of the
year is my deadline.” He went on to say,
“I’m not telling you that this is coming December 30 or whatever. It will be done by the end of the year, let
me be clear about that.”
A
VERY EASY DECISION, IF MANFRED LISTENS TO BART GIAMATTI
Virtually
everybody knows that Bart Giamatti was the Commissioner of Baseball when Pete
Rose agreed to a lifetime ban IN 1989.
Very few people know that at the time of that ban, Pete Rose was
eligible to receive votes for the Hall of Fame.
In fact, few people know that Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was banned for
life for fixing the 1919 World Series (and there is no evidence that Jackson,
who batted .375 in that Series and hit the only home run by either team, did
anything wrong on the field), actually received some Hall of Fame votes over
the years (i.e., he was still eligible).
Everybody
also knows that Bart Giamatti died of a heart attack just days after announcing
the Rose lifetime ban.
Today,
more and more people are understanding that, ACCORDING TO BART GIAMATTI
HIMSELF, Rose should have been considered for the Hall of Fame way back in
1989, once he became eligible (in 1991).
Giamatti
was asked at the press conference announcing the Rose lifetime ban, whether
that ban would have any effect on Rose’s ability to get into the Hall of
Fame. When asked the question, as
discussed in Kostya Kennedy’s recent book, Pete Rose: An American Dilemma,
Giamatti clearly believed that one had nothing to do with the other. Addressing the baseball writers at the press
conference (baseball writers vote for the Hall of Fame members), Bart Giamatti
said, “YOU [meaning the writers] WILL DECIDE WHETHER HE [Rose] BELONGS IN THE
HALL OF FAME.”
That
should have been the end then, and the end now, of the inability of Pete Rose
to be considered for the Hall of Fame.
INSTEAD,
A MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
Instead,
Fay Vincent, Giamatti’s friend and number two man in baseball, became the
commissioner and, at a minimum, had some input into the absurd meeting in 1991
(just before Rose was eligible for the Hall) when baseball decided to not allow
anyone on the permanently banned list to be eligible for the Hall of Fame
(again, before the institution of this “Pete Rose” rule, anyone on the banned
less (like Shoeless Joe Jackson) WAS eligible to the Hall of Fame.
For
an understanding of the disgrace that led to this permanent Hall of Fame
eligibility ban, see Kennedy’s book at pages 228-31. It’s a permanent black mark on the Hall of
Fame (unless fixed by Rob Manfred).
Vincent
was vehement about keeping Rose out, always saying that Giamatti had said that
Rose had to “reconfigure his life” before he could be reinstated. But that had NOTHING to do with Rose’s
possible induction into the Hall of Fame; rather, it had to do with Rose’s
ability to come back and be employed by a team in some capacity. Clearly, Giamatti never meant the lifetime
ban or that statement to hurt Rose’s chance to get into the Hall of Fame (see
his quote above).
FROM
VINCENT TO SELIG TO MANFRED
So,
since 1991, Rose was denied, first by Faye Vincent and then by Bud Selig (who
stated for years and years that Rose had applied but he just had not gotten
around to it and, in fact, never did – despite being commissioner for 22
years. You can’t make this stuff up).
Now,
with Rob Manfred the new commissioner, the time is ripe (and right) to right a
terrible wrong and reinstate what BART GIAMATTI SAID IN 1989; that is, let the
writers decide.
This
isn’t about what Fay Vincent thought or thinks, or what Bud Selig thought or
thinks, or even, to a lesser degree (he is the one with the power now), what
Rob Manfred thinks about the issue. It
should be all about what Bart Giamatti thought AND SAID, plain as day; that is,
it’s up to the writers to decide whether Pete Rose should be in the Hall of
Fame.
WHAT
ABOUT SPORTS GAMBLING TODAY?
While
it’s interesting to see that Major League Baseball has an investment interest
in DraftKings and Commissioner Manfred has come out to say that daily fantasy
sports is not gambling, none of this should have any bearing on his Pete Rose
decision. He may be gun-shy now to allow
Rose to be considered for the Hall of Fame because he’s taking a lot of heat on
his DraftKings position.
But
anyone with even half a brain knows that legal sports gambling is coming and
that includes daily fantasy (which might be legal today – case pending in New
York). Government regulation will come,
all the pro sports will invest and/or have their hands out for their share,
states and local municipalities will see it as a panacea for incredible debt and
financial issues that they all have on their books now (and into the future).
But
with respect to Pete Rose, Rob Manfred should stay above the fray and simply
announce that, after reviewing what Bart Giamatti said about Pete Rose and the
Hall of Fame back in 1989, he is simply following the guidance of the
then-Commissioner of Baseball, and allow Rose to be considered for the Hall of
Fame. If he doesn’t want Rose to work in
baseball, he can still separate the two.
CONCLUSION
Maybe
someone with a brain and some power can show this article to the Commissioner
of Baseball. It’s really very
simple. THIS SHOULD BE THE YEAR THAT THE
THOUGHTS OF BART GIAMATTI SHOULD BE RESPECTED.
©
2015 BY STEVE KALLAS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Monday, November 16, 2015
Week 11 NFL power rankings
By Rick Morris
NOTES: Rankings from start of season are
in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 New England (4-1-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-1)
2 Arizona (14-7-5-3-5-5-6-6-6-6)
3 Carolina (23-19-16-10-8-8-4-4-5-2)
SECOND TIER
4 Minnesota (12-17-12-9-11-11-11-9-9-8)
5 Cincinnati (17-16-6-5-3-3-3-3-3-3)
6 Green Bay (1-2-1-1-1-1-2-1-4-5)
7 Denver (3-3-3-4-4-4-5-5-1-4)
THIRD TIER
8 Pittsburgh
(10-13-8-14-15-10-10-11-13-10)
9 Seattle (2-4-4-6-6-6-8-8-7-7)
10 Atlanta (22-18-10-7-7-7-7-7-8-11)
FOURTH TIER
11 Buffalo (18-6-13-8-13-14-15-17-18-14)
12 New York Jets
(26-21-11-13-9-9-9-10-11-9)
13 New York Giants
(24-23-22-16-12-12-14-12-15-13)
14 Oakland
(30-32-30-21-21-19-20-16-10-12)
15 Miami
(11-10-14-17-24-22-16-13-16-16-18)
16 Indianapolis (5-8-20-18-20-15-17-20-21-16)
17 Kansas City
(9-9-9-12-17-28-31-24-20-20)
18 Philadelphia
(6-12-23-23-25-20-12-14-14-15)
19 Houston (25-24-24-26-27-25-23-27-27-29)
20 Washington
(27-28-19-20-18-17-19-18-19-21)
21 Chicago
(15-27-32-32-30-26-25-26-26-24)
22 St. Louis
(13-11-17-24-19-18-18-15-12-17)
23 Tampa Bay (20-31-31-29-29-24-22-23-22-22)
24 Dallas (7-14-15-15-16-21-21-22-23-23)
25 New Orleans
(21-20-25-27-26-29-26-21-17-19)
FIFTH TIER
26 San Diego (8-5-7-11-10-13-13-19-25-26)
27 Jacksonville
(31-29-28-28-28-30-32-28-28-30)
28 Baltimore (16-15-18-19-14-16-28-31-24-25)
29 Tennessee (32-26-27-25-23-23-24-25-29-27)
30 San Francisco
(29-25-26-30-32-31-29-29-31-28)
31 Detroit (19-22-21-22-22-32-30-32-32-32)
32 Cleveland (28-30-29-31-31-27-27-30-30-31)
BIGGEST RISERS: Houston (10 spots), Arizona
and Minnesota (4 spots), Buffalo, Chicago, Jacksonville, Kansas City and Miami (3
spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: New Orleans (6 spots), St.
Louis (5 spots), Baltimore, Denver, New York Jets and Philadelphia (3 spots)
RANKINGS BY
DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM ,
LOWEST SCORE IS BEST
1 AFC East 38
2 NFC South 61
3 NFC North 62
4 NFC West 63
5 AFC West 64
6 AFC North 73
7 NFC East 75
8 AFC South 91
RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE
1 NFC 261
2 AFC 266
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