Lounge on YouTube: Bob Barker – 7 Clips from 7 Appearances

By Rick Morris

To recognize The FDH Lounge’s greatest guest, Bob Barker, we present one clip from each of his seven appearances on the program.

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Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #899 – Deadwood series review

By Rick Morris

Mini-Episode #899 of The FDH Lounge reviews the Deadwood series.

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Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #898 – 2017 Fantasy Football Week 8 preview

By Rick Morris

Here is Mini-Episode #898 of The FDH Lounge, another edition of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER, previewing Week 8 of the 2017 fantasy football season.

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Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #897 – 2017 NFL Week 8 preview

By Rick Morris

Here is Mini-Episode #897 of The FDH Lounge, previewing 2017 NFL Week 8.

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2017 NFL Week 8 power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Philadelphia (15-17-17-8-6-2)

2 Kansas City (4-3-3-1-1-1)

3 New England (1-1-1-6-5-4)

4 Pittsburgh (7-6-6-3-9-5)

5 Seattle (6-7-10-11-8-7)

6 New Orleans (21-22-21-21-21-10)

7 Minnesota (11-11-9-13-10-8)

8 Los Angeles Rams (16-19-19-9-11-9)

9 Atlanta (3-2-2-2-2-3)

10 Carolina (14-16-16-14-6)

11 Oakland (5-4-5-7-16-26)

12 Buffalo (26-26-20-10-12-12)

13 Jacksonville (23-24-23-26-13-14)

14 Dallas (8-15-15-19-22-22)

15 Detroit (18-14-14-12-14-13)

SECOND TIER

16 Los Angeles Chargers (20-21-26-27-27-27)

17 Miami (17-13-13-25-24-19)

18 Houston (25-25-25-15-19-18)

19 Green Bay (2-5-4-4-3-15)

20 Denver (10-8-7-5-4-11)

21 Washington (24-18-18-20-20-16)

22 Tennessee (13-12-8-17-18-17)

23 Chicago (19-23-22-23-25-23)

24 Tampa Bay (12-10-12-16-17-25)

25 Baltimore (9-9-11-18-15-20)

26 New York Jets (32-32-29-29-28-28)

27 Cincinnati (28-28-27-22-23-21)

THIRD TIER

28 Arizona (22-20-24-24-26-24)

29 New York Giants (27-27-28-28-29-29)

30 Indianapolis (30-30-30-30-30-30)

31 San Francisco (31-31-32-31-31-31)

FOURTH TIER

32 Cleveland (29-29-31-32-32-32)

BIGGEST RISERS: Oakland (15 spots), Los Angeles Chargers (11 spots), Dallas (8 spots), New Orleans (4 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Denver (9 spots), Atlanta and Cincinnati (6 spots), Baltimore, Tennessee and Washington (5 spots), Arizona, Carolina and Green Bay (4 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM

1 NFC SOUTH 49

1T AFC WEST 49

3 NFC NORTH 64

4 NFC EAST 65

5 AFC EAST 68

6 NFC WEST 72

7 AFC NORTH 78

8 AFC SOUTH 82

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 NFC 240

2 AFC 277

NCAA Week 9 Top 4 teams for College Football Playoff

By Rick Morris

1 Alabama

2 Penn State

3 Georgia

4 TCU

Next 4 in:

5 Wisconsin

6 Miami

7 Clemson

8 Ohio State

2017 NCAA football Week 9 picks

By Rick Morris

NOTE: 2-3 last week, 25-15 for the season

Penn State +7 over Ohio State

North Carolina State +8 over Notre Dame

TCU -6 ½ over Iowa State

USC -3 ½ over Arizona State

Oklahoma State -7 ½ over West Virginia

Lounge on YouTube: 2017 World Series preview

By Rick Morris

FDH Lounge Mini-Episode #896 previews the 2017 World Series with FDH Lounge Dignitary Steve Kallas.

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2017 World Series notes/oddities

By Rick Morris

^ Never before have two World Series teams played more games against each other than the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros, having competed against each other in the National League from the latter’s inception in 1962 until their departure to the American League in 2012 – and keep in mind that the two teams’ membership in the NL West from 1969-1993 additionally.  In a sense, this World Series is the reverse of 1982, when Milwaukee and St. Louis met in the Fall Classic, only to become NL Central divisionmates in 1998 and to meet again in October in the 2011 National League Championship Series (won by the Cards, as they did in the World Series 29 years before).  The Dodgers and Astros were rarely towards the top at the same time in those old NL West days, but from 1977-88, they combined for eight division titles, with the Dodgers at six (1977-78, 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1988) and the Astros at two (1980 and 1986).  Of course, in leaving the National League, Houston became the second franchise eligible to win both the AL and NL pennants and they accomplished what Milwaukee fell just short of in 2011 by making it happen, adding to the 2005 crown that they won from the same St. Louis franchise that would keep the Brewers out of the World Series six years later.  Houston’s 2005 World Series berth is primarily remembered for the Chicago White Sox breaking an 88-year drought against them – and while the Dodgers’ 29-year travails are much smaller, they will be looking to become the second legacy franchise to get off the schneid against the Astros in the World Series.

^ In terms of geographic regions, with the rise of Silicon Valley in the last 30 years, the Bay Area might argue that LA is no longer the undisputed capital of the West Coast, but this Series matches up a city with a legitimate claim to that with the one that is widely regarded as the capital of the Gulf Coast.

^ There’s not much sports history of note between the cities of Los Angeles and Houston.  Perhaps the most noteworthy chapters came in 1981 and 1986; in the former year, the Rockets upended the Lakers in the defending NBA champions in the first round of the playoffs and five years later, they also denied LA a championship repeat, this time by way of a victory in the West Finals.  Certainly Magic Johnson, a member of the Dodgers’ ownership team, remembers these battles well.

^ Since the divisional format came to baseball in 1969, West vs. West battles in the World Series have been scarce.  Here’s the full list of results: 1974 (Oakland over LA Dodgers), 1988 (LA Dodgers over Oakland), 1989 (Oakland over San Francisco), 2002 (Anaheim over San Francisco), 2010 (San Francisco over Texas).  The AL is 3-2 in this spot, with the Dodgers 1-1.  The 2010 World Series also marks the only previous time that teams from the states of Texas and California have met for the championship of any of the big four championships in North America.

^ Houston becomes the first metropolitan area to host the Super Bowl and the World Series in the same calendar year since their state-mates in the Metroplex notched the honors in 2011.  It was also done in Detroit in 2006, in San Diego in 1998 and in greater Los Angeles in 1977 (Super Bowl IX was at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena).  Bad news for Houston: every one of these four cities saw their team lose the World Series that fall.

^ Houston hosting the Super Bowl and World Series in the same year continues an odd trend of cities having a number of extraordinarily newsworthy events in their area in the same year; unfortunately for all involved, Hurricane Harvey was the other big one in the area this year.  Last year, the Bay Area hosted the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals, while Cleveland hosted the NBA Finals, the World Series, the Republican National Convention and the rare occurrence of an American-born UFC Heavyweight Champion, Stipe Miocic, defending the title on his home turf.

^ This World Series is the first since 1970 (Cincinnati over Baltimore) to feature two teams who won at least 100 games.  It also feels a bit like the Fall Classic of a quarter century later when Cleveland and Atlanta faced off in an epic hitting vs. pitching duel, although the analogy is imperfect because Houston’s pitching is above-average and LA’s offense is better than that assuming that young superstar shortstop Corey Seager is back from injury.

Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #895 – 2017 Fantasy Football Week 7 preview

By Rick Morris

Here is Mini-Episode #895 of The FDH Lounge, another edition of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER, previewing Week 7 of the 2017 fantasy football season.

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Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #894 – 2017 NFL Week 7 preview

By Rick Morris

Here is Mini-Episode #894 of The FDH Lounge, previewing 2017 NFL Week 7.

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2017 NFL Week 8 power rankings

By Rick Morris

NOTE: Rankings from start of season are in parentheses.

TOP TIER

1 Kansas City (4-3-3-1-1)

2 Philadelphia (15-17-17-8-6)

3 Atlanta (3-2-2-2-2)

4 New England (1-1-1-6-5)

5 Pittsburgh (7-6-6-3-9)

6 Carolina (14-16-16-14-7)

7 Seattle (6-7-10-11-8)

8 Minnesota (11-11-9-13-10)

9 Los Angeles Rams (16-19-19-9-11)

10 New Orleans (21-22-21-21-21)

11 Denver (10-8-7-5-4)

12 Buffalo (26-26-20-10-12)

13 Detroit (18-14-14-12-14)

14 Jacksonville (23-24-23-26-13)

15 Green Bay (2-5-4-4-3)

16 Washington (24-18-18-20-20)

SECOND TIER

17 Tennessee (13-12-8-17-18)

18 Houston (25-25-25-15-19)

19 Miami (17-13-13-25-24)

20 Baltimore (9-9-11-18-15)

21 Cincinnati (28-28-27-22-23)

22 Dallas (8-15-15-19-22)

23 Chicago (19-23-22-23-25)

24 Arizona (22-20-24-24-26)

25 Tampa Bay (12-10-12-16-17)

26 Oakland (5-4-5-7-16)

27 Los Angeles Chargers (20-21-26-27-27)

THIRD TIER

28 New York Jets (32-32-29-29-28)

29 New York Giants (27-27-28-28-29)

30 Indianapolis (30-30-30-30-30)

31 San Francisco (31-31-32-31-31)

FOURTH TIER

32 Cleveland (29-29-31-32-32)

BIGGEST RISERS: New Orleans (11 spots), Oakland (10 spots), Miami (5 spots), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington (4 spots)

BIGGEST FALLERS: Green Bay (12 spots), Tampa Bay (8 spots), Denver (7 spots), Baltimore (5 spots)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM

1 NFC SOUTH 44

2 NFC NORTH 60

3 AFC WEST 65

4 NFC EAST 69

5 NFC WEST 71

6 AFC EAST 73

7 AFC NORTH 78

8 AFC SOUTH 79

RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1 NFC 242

2 AFC 295

2017 NCAA football Week 8 picks

By Rick Morris

NOTE: 3-2 last week, 23-12 for the season

Kent State +19 over Ohio

Penn State -9 ½ over Michigan

Texas +7 over Oklahoma State

USC +3 ½ over Notre Dame

Oklahoma -14 over Kansas State

NCAA Week 8 Top 4 teams for College Football Playoff

By Rick Morris

1 Alabama

2 Penn State

3 Georgia

4 TCU

Next 4 in:

5 Wisconsin

6 Miami

7 Clemson

8 Ohio State

2017 NLCS preview

By Rick Morris

Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers.  October curses have held up strongly through the LDS, with Cleveland and Washington left to lick their wounds for yet another winter.  Now the LA Dodgers try to add an exclamation point of legitimacy to what has been their only good stretch outside of the admittedly monstrous 1941-1988 run that compassed two cities, 16 of their 21 pennants and all six of their World Series titles.

Those Dodgers never went more than eight years without a pennant.  These Dodgers are in the NLCS for the fifth time in a decade and are still looking for their first pennant in that bunch.  That’s harder to do than you might think.  In the LCS era dating back to 1969, 10 teams went to the LCS five times in a decade or less, including the Dodgers.  NONE of them failed to not only make the World Series during that run, but failed to win it – so the stakes are high for Los Angeles to avoid becoming the first team ever to suffer that dubious distinction.  For the record, here are the previous teams that went to the LCS five times within a decade or less:

^ Orioles (1969-74)

^ Pirates (1970-75)

^ As (1971-75)

^ Reds (1970-76)

^ Dodgers (1974-81)

^ Yankees (1976-81)

^ Phillies (1976-83)

^ Blue Jays (1985-93)

^ Braves (1991-96)

^ Yankees (1996-2001)

The 2008-09 Dodgers admittedly seem distant from this team, with Andre Ethier serving as the only connective tissue, underscoring that this team has turned over significantly during this time period.  The 2009-13 years that bookended LCS losses saw an incredible amount of turnover, but at least to the fans and the media, the losses short of the World Series (including those in the LDS in 2014-15) all blur together.

As for the Cubs, their third consecutive NLCS appearance marks this as the greatest run in team history, especially with the ultimate achievement of that elusive world championship last fall.  With a still-young nucleus, even off of a year that was blanketed by a championship hangover until midseason, they would be considered more talented and deeper and thereby be favored over most other teams – but not the Dodgers, who have upgraded substantially since last fall’s loss – even without the loss of star shortstop Corey Seager for this round.

Almost all of the Dodger advantage in depth comes in pitching, in equal measure the starting rotation and the bullpen – although don’t rule out Chase Utley, who tormented this squad in 2008-09, sneaking in an impact moment.  They must fight the negative ripple effect of losing Seaver that plagued the Indians without Edwin Encarnacion in the ALDS (and a hobbled version of him in Game 5).

The best players on each team – Clayton Kershaw for LA, Anthony Rizzo/Kris Bryant for Chicago – will be challenged to step up, with Kershaw alone among the three really needing a great effort here for his legacy.  He’s undoubtedly the best pitcher of his generation, but no previous greatest hurler of a generation had to deal with a goose egg in terms of pennants.

Los Angeles does have the advantage of being well-rested against a disheveled foe coming in to meet them on short rest – the very scenario that helped them to surmount Arizona relatively easily in the LDS.  Just as importantly, their three lefty starters will put Kyle Schwarber on the pine quite a bit – just ask the Indians how important that can be.  The Dodgers have got to grab one of their first two, if not both of them, to avoid that “here we go again” feeling.  The guess is that they will, advancing to their first World Series in 29 years.  Dodgers in 6 (2-2 record through two rounds).

Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #893 – 2017 Fantasy Football Week 6 preview

By Rick Morris

Here is Mini-Episode #893 of The FDH Lounge, another edition of THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER, previewing Week 6 of the 2017 fantasy football season.

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Lounge on YouTube: Mini-Episode #892 – 2017 NFL Week 6 preview

By Rick Morris

Here is Mini-Episode #892 of The FDH Lounge, previewing 2017 NFL Week 6.

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Lounge on YouTube: NBA Top 10 of All Time – One Man’s Ballot

By Rick Morris                                          

Mini-Episode #891 previews The FDH Lounge balloting for the NBA Top 10 Players of All Time with the picks of FDH Managing Partner Rick Morris.

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2017 ALCS preview

By Rick Morris

New York Yankees vs. Houston.  Few cities have the sports advantage on the Big Apple when it comes to big events, but between the 2015 AL Wild Card Game and the 1994 NBA Finals (John Starks, anyone?), the capital of America’s Gulf Coast certainly does.

On paper, they’ve got a lot of similarities: young teams with a lot of pop.  Houston has a bit more and is considered less ahead of schedule than the Yankees.  In particular, the matchup of the Astros’ lineup, the most explosive in the league, against the explosiveness of Luis Severino and the back end of the Yankee bullpen will be strength-on-strength at its fines.

Houston’s lineup is less all-or-nothing than New York’s, as exemplified by their respective MVP candidates, Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge.  Having said that, the Yankees are going to have a much easier time scratching out runs.

But this is a series where New York will have to produce runs en masse because they won’t be getting the benefit of a Cleveland team hopelessly beating themselves at the plate this time.  Can they keep up?  They’ll have to do so early, to exploit their advantage in the bullpen (with the exception of Game 1, when the better-rested Astros would be the prime beneficiaries of a bullpen game) – but Houston has the better rotation, so that’s unlikely.  This time, New York’s going up against a very talented squad that also is very loose, unlike the Tribe – because once the Astros made it to the ALCS and avoided what would be considered an unsuccessful season by their rising standards, they were playing with house money.  That’s bad news for the Yankees, a franchise dipped in the gold glitter of history who will now see their opponents become the first franchise ever to win pennants in both leagues.  Astros in 5.

2017 NCAA football Week 7 picks

By Rick Morris

NOTE: 3-2 last week, 20-10 for the season

Ohio -10 over Bowling Green

Ohio State -24 ½ over Nebraska

Oklahoma -9 over Texas

LSU +7 over Auburn

USC -13 over Utah

NCAA Week 7 Top 4 teams for College Football Playoff

By Rick Morris

1 Alabama

2 Clemson

3 Penn State

4 Washington

Next 4 in:

5 Georgia

6 Wisconsin

7 TCU

8 Washington State