By Rick Morris
Our good pal Ben Chew from The 21st Century Media Alliance is going to have great coverage of the NBA All-Star Game with the Cover It Live liveblogging package tonight over at Outside The Boxscore. FDH is going to be participating and we invite you to come over and enjoy the game with us.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XLXVIII
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
FDH Lounge #91: February 10, 2010
By Rick Morris
EDIT: This program was cancelled due to technical problems at the station. These segments will be rescheduled in the near future. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The “Road to 100” continues as THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) adds once again to its vast lineage of variety.
After The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries and our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge, we conduct our Super Bowl recap discussion with one of our favorite gridiron scribes, Ken Palmer of Scout.com. Then we take our final look ahead to next week’s EPIC!!! third installment of The FDH Lounge Pantheon, our Hall of Honor for the best of the best in multiple categories. Don’t forget, in addition to our hand-selected members of The FDH Academy of Arts and Sciences, we are also throwing open the voting to our Facebook friends as well, so you should look us up at www.facebook.com/thefdhlounge if you haven’t already. Simply copy the ballot from the above link and send it to us via our FDH Facebook email and you too can have your opinions counted.
At the top of Hour Two, we will be speaking with one of the world’s foremost iPhone authorities, Alex Cone. He and his cohorts at CodeFab are actually experts on many of the world’s leading smartphones and similar devices and he’ll be here to talk about what technological developments are in store in 2010 and going forward. From there, our review of Super Bowl commercials and preview of NBA All-Star Weekend leads us into our two segments in the second half of the program: our Winter Olympics fantasy medals draft and our Winter Olympics fantasy hockey draft. The latter segment actually represents a merger of our show-within-a-show sectors THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER and THE GOON SQUAD.
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 now on iTunes!
EDIT: This program was cancelled due to technical problems at the station. These segments will be rescheduled in the near future. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The “Road to 100” continues as THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) adds once again to its vast lineage of variety.
After The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries and our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge, we conduct our Super Bowl recap discussion with one of our favorite gridiron scribes, Ken Palmer of Scout.com. Then we take our final look ahead to next week’s EPIC!!! third installment of The FDH Lounge Pantheon, our Hall of Honor for the best of the best in multiple categories. Don’t forget, in addition to our hand-selected members of The FDH Academy of Arts and Sciences, we are also throwing open the voting to our Facebook friends as well, so you should look us up at www.facebook.com/thefdhlounge if you haven’t already. Simply copy the ballot from the above link and send it to us via our FDH Facebook email and you too can have your opinions counted.
At the top of Hour Two, we will be speaking with one of the world’s foremost iPhone authorities, Alex Cone. He and his cohorts at CodeFab are actually experts on many of the world’s leading smartphones and similar devices and he’ll be here to talk about what technological developments are in store in 2010 and going forward. From there, our review of Super Bowl commercials and preview of NBA All-Star Weekend leads us into our two segments in the second half of the program: our Winter Olympics fantasy medals draft and our Winter Olympics fantasy hockey draft. The latter segment actually represents a merger of our show-within-a-show sectors THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER and THE GOON SQUAD.
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 now on iTunes!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Super Bowl preview
By Rick Morris
^ Here are some notable links: the official Super Bowl page, New Orleans and Indianapolis depth charts, the picks of USA Today’s football experts and those from ESPN, the USA Today “tale of the tape,” the annual Scripps Super Bowl celebrity predictions, the CBS Sports preview and the Madden NFL ’10 simulator results.
The media “hooks” for this game have been fairly obvious: Archie Manning’s old team against his son’s team, more recycled Katrina coverage almost 4 ½ years after the hurricane, two first-time Super Bowl head coaches in offensive genius Sean Payton and one of the best rookies of all time in Jim Caldwell, the Dwight Freeney injury for the Colts being piled on top of the previous losses of Bob Sanders, Anthony Gonzalez and some cornerbacks, Pierre vs. Pierre/Reggie vs. Reggie/Peyton vs. Payton, the first matchup of conference #1 seeds in the Super Bowl in 16 years and teams that can plausibly lay claim to being the two biggest offensive powerhouses in the game right now (with the underlying Peyton Manning/Drew Brees comparisons being made regularly). Much is also made of how the Saints survived two Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Kurt Warner and Brett Favre en route to the big game, while the Colts toughed it out against two of the game’s best and most physical defenses in the Ravens and Jets.
Notwithstanding the surface similarities between the two high-powered offenses, they have some real differences: namely, in terms of the run. The Colts became, strangely enough, the second consecutive team after the Cardinals to make the Super Bowl while finishing last in the league in rushing yards per game (or maybe it’s not so much a coincidence as it is a statement about the primacy of passing in today’s game – an interesting point of discussion for another day). The Saints finished sixth in the same category, keyed in part by excellent guard play. However, both teams saw different patterns emerge during the playoffs. New Orleans received a big-game performance from Reggie Bush against Arizona that rivaled any of his epic performances in college – and in the biggest shock of all, Bush actually ran strong and powerfully inside, not just in space. Indianapolis, in the face of strong run defenses in Baltimore and New York, maintained a patient commitment to the run. They pounded the ball repeatedly with Joseph Addai and Donald Brown, rarely attaining more than a few cursory yards per carry, but successfully keeping their offense from being too one-dimensional and providing their defense (which was facing a similar commitment to the run with much better firepower behind it) the rest it needed to compete. Their line, with the notable exception of the great Jeff Saturday at center, doesn’t provide much help. The Colts and Saints do have much in common in the passing game, with triggermen Manning and Brees showing the capacity to spread the football to multiple options.
On the other side of the ball, the Saints take great pride in their opportunistic defense, which generates massive turnovers (the team ranked third in the league in turnover differential). However, I noted correctly during last year’s playoffs that Baltimore and Arizona could both expect problems against Pittsburgh because of their overreliance on that part of the game. Racking up interceptions and fumble recoveries is nice; mixing in timely stops – that’s very nice as well. And the Saints don’t do very much of that, frankly. They ranked 21st in yardage against the run and 26th against the pass. Pinning your hopes on winning based on takeaways when you are facing the ruthless shredding machine known as Peyton Manning is a fool’s wager: just ask the significantly better Jets defense how that goes. New Orleans has star power in a few positions and they are basically decent elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the Colts come into the game with the league’s 18th-rated defense, but their edge goes beyond that statistic. It’s almost incomprehensible how well Indy has been able to play defensively sans All-World safety Bob Sanders (who was actually, probably, the most indispensible player when the team won it all three years ago) and much of that owes to their change in scheme from the Cover-2 to a much more aggressive series of packages (that area is the main point of similarity with the Saints – they both love to blitz). However, they remain on the small side, albeit very fast.
Let’s take a look at the biggest “X-Factor” players in this Super Bowl:
1 Reggie Bush: We make the point all the time at FDH that the most lethal teams are the ones that can establish a dangerous running and passing game simultaneously. Such a capacity keeps the defense on its heels and unable to play aggressively lest they leave a sliver of the field open to be exploited. The epic 42-39 Ohio State/Michigan game of 2006 is one of the great all-time examples of this, with both teams driving up and down the field due to establishing tremendous run and pass capabilities. If the Reggie Bush who dominated against Arizona (and at USC) returns in Miami (a big if, as FDH Senior Editor Jason Jones points out), then Drew Brees will be able to pick apart the Indianapolis defense to his heart’s content.
2 Darren Sharper: One of the greatest “interception machines” ever to suit up at safety has to play up to his most opportunistic level, just as he did all year long, against Manning – who rarely makes those mistakes in games at this level, at least in the last few years. Anything less and the defense predicated on turnovers will not be able to hold up its end of the bargain in Miami.
3 Will Smith: If Gregg Williams is to receive the pressure on Manning from his D that he knows he needs, it will have to emerge from the team’s best pass rusher. Collapsing the pocket won’t be easy, but the team was able to make it happen in the earlier playoff games. Blitzing Manning is usually a fool’s errand.
4 Dwight Freeney/Robert Mathis: The Colts must try to get pressure of their own on Brees, especially because they don’t generate many turnovers. Like the Saints, the Colts will not want to blitz an opposing QB who has picked apart defenses for the past several years.
5 Joseph Addai/Donald Brown: Indianapolis cruised through the regular season despite their poor running game. Now, they face the easiest run defense they have encountered in the playoffs. The Colts cannot hope for the type of top-end run/pass combo that the Saints will have if Bush gets really untracked; however, if Addai and Brown can average at least 4 to 4.5 yards per carry, they’ll be even more efficient in the passing game than they were against the Ravens or Jets. That’s a scary thought. Keep in mind that Addai and Dominic Rhodes really rose to the occasion against a stout Bear run D in the Super Bowl three years ago.
Of course, this list does not include players who could fairly obviously be expected to perform well, such as the two QBs, the two TEs and both #1 WRs. Reggie Wayne in particular should be poised for a good game, since he’s got something to prove after being bottled up by two superb defenses thus far in the playoffs. For obvious reasons, the Saints dare not double-team him.
So how does this game shake out in the end? The Colts have the “big-stage” experience that the Saints lack, a factor that has mattered more often than not in the Super Bowl. Based on the fact that Washington’s comeback from being down 10-0 in 1988 was the only double-digit rally to win in Super Bowl history, history indicates that neither team can win if they don’t stay very close. The Saints won’t have the raucous home crowd that they have relied on fairly disproportionately this season. And New Orleans probably lacks the shutdown factor against the run needed to force Indy to abandon their “just keeping it honest” attack and play one-dimensionally. There’s a tremendous consensus – shared by FDH prognosticators – that the game will end up with the total points in the 50s or 60s – so here’s one more log on that pile. Look for a plethora of big plays on both sides, but for “George Seifert 2K10” to be standing tall in the end with MVP Peyton Manning. Colts 34, Saints 28.
^ Here are some notable links: the official Super Bowl page, New Orleans and Indianapolis depth charts, the picks of USA Today’s football experts and those from ESPN, the USA Today “tale of the tape,” the annual Scripps Super Bowl celebrity predictions, the CBS Sports preview and the Madden NFL ’10 simulator results.
The media “hooks” for this game have been fairly obvious: Archie Manning’s old team against his son’s team, more recycled Katrina coverage almost 4 ½ years after the hurricane, two first-time Super Bowl head coaches in offensive genius Sean Payton and one of the best rookies of all time in Jim Caldwell, the Dwight Freeney injury for the Colts being piled on top of the previous losses of Bob Sanders, Anthony Gonzalez and some cornerbacks, Pierre vs. Pierre/Reggie vs. Reggie/Peyton vs. Payton, the first matchup of conference #1 seeds in the Super Bowl in 16 years and teams that can plausibly lay claim to being the two biggest offensive powerhouses in the game right now (with the underlying Peyton Manning/Drew Brees comparisons being made regularly). Much is also made of how the Saints survived two Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Kurt Warner and Brett Favre en route to the big game, while the Colts toughed it out against two of the game’s best and most physical defenses in the Ravens and Jets.
Notwithstanding the surface similarities between the two high-powered offenses, they have some real differences: namely, in terms of the run. The Colts became, strangely enough, the second consecutive team after the Cardinals to make the Super Bowl while finishing last in the league in rushing yards per game (or maybe it’s not so much a coincidence as it is a statement about the primacy of passing in today’s game – an interesting point of discussion for another day). The Saints finished sixth in the same category, keyed in part by excellent guard play. However, both teams saw different patterns emerge during the playoffs. New Orleans received a big-game performance from Reggie Bush against Arizona that rivaled any of his epic performances in college – and in the biggest shock of all, Bush actually ran strong and powerfully inside, not just in space. Indianapolis, in the face of strong run defenses in Baltimore and New York, maintained a patient commitment to the run. They pounded the ball repeatedly with Joseph Addai and Donald Brown, rarely attaining more than a few cursory yards per carry, but successfully keeping their offense from being too one-dimensional and providing their defense (which was facing a similar commitment to the run with much better firepower behind it) the rest it needed to compete. Their line, with the notable exception of the great Jeff Saturday at center, doesn’t provide much help. The Colts and Saints do have much in common in the passing game, with triggermen Manning and Brees showing the capacity to spread the football to multiple options.
On the other side of the ball, the Saints take great pride in their opportunistic defense, which generates massive turnovers (the team ranked third in the league in turnover differential). However, I noted correctly during last year’s playoffs that Baltimore and Arizona could both expect problems against Pittsburgh because of their overreliance on that part of the game. Racking up interceptions and fumble recoveries is nice; mixing in timely stops – that’s very nice as well. And the Saints don’t do very much of that, frankly. They ranked 21st in yardage against the run and 26th against the pass. Pinning your hopes on winning based on takeaways when you are facing the ruthless shredding machine known as Peyton Manning is a fool’s wager: just ask the significantly better Jets defense how that goes. New Orleans has star power in a few positions and they are basically decent elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the Colts come into the game with the league’s 18th-rated defense, but their edge goes beyond that statistic. It’s almost incomprehensible how well Indy has been able to play defensively sans All-World safety Bob Sanders (who was actually, probably, the most indispensible player when the team won it all three years ago) and much of that owes to their change in scheme from the Cover-2 to a much more aggressive series of packages (that area is the main point of similarity with the Saints – they both love to blitz). However, they remain on the small side, albeit very fast.
Let’s take a look at the biggest “X-Factor” players in this Super Bowl:
1 Reggie Bush: We make the point all the time at FDH that the most lethal teams are the ones that can establish a dangerous running and passing game simultaneously. Such a capacity keeps the defense on its heels and unable to play aggressively lest they leave a sliver of the field open to be exploited. The epic 42-39 Ohio State/Michigan game of 2006 is one of the great all-time examples of this, with both teams driving up and down the field due to establishing tremendous run and pass capabilities. If the Reggie Bush who dominated against Arizona (and at USC) returns in Miami (a big if, as FDH Senior Editor Jason Jones points out), then Drew Brees will be able to pick apart the Indianapolis defense to his heart’s content.
2 Darren Sharper: One of the greatest “interception machines” ever to suit up at safety has to play up to his most opportunistic level, just as he did all year long, against Manning – who rarely makes those mistakes in games at this level, at least in the last few years. Anything less and the defense predicated on turnovers will not be able to hold up its end of the bargain in Miami.
3 Will Smith: If Gregg Williams is to receive the pressure on Manning from his D that he knows he needs, it will have to emerge from the team’s best pass rusher. Collapsing the pocket won’t be easy, but the team was able to make it happen in the earlier playoff games. Blitzing Manning is usually a fool’s errand.
4 Dwight Freeney/Robert Mathis: The Colts must try to get pressure of their own on Brees, especially because they don’t generate many turnovers. Like the Saints, the Colts will not want to blitz an opposing QB who has picked apart defenses for the past several years.
5 Joseph Addai/Donald Brown: Indianapolis cruised through the regular season despite their poor running game. Now, they face the easiest run defense they have encountered in the playoffs. The Colts cannot hope for the type of top-end run/pass combo that the Saints will have if Bush gets really untracked; however, if Addai and Brown can average at least 4 to 4.5 yards per carry, they’ll be even more efficient in the passing game than they were against the Ravens or Jets. That’s a scary thought. Keep in mind that Addai and Dominic Rhodes really rose to the occasion against a stout Bear run D in the Super Bowl three years ago.
Of course, this list does not include players who could fairly obviously be expected to perform well, such as the two QBs, the two TEs and both #1 WRs. Reggie Wayne in particular should be poised for a good game, since he’s got something to prove after being bottled up by two superb defenses thus far in the playoffs. For obvious reasons, the Saints dare not double-team him.
So how does this game shake out in the end? The Colts have the “big-stage” experience that the Saints lack, a factor that has mattered more often than not in the Super Bowl. Based on the fact that Washington’s comeback from being down 10-0 in 1988 was the only double-digit rally to win in Super Bowl history, history indicates that neither team can win if they don’t stay very close. The Saints won’t have the raucous home crowd that they have relied on fairly disproportionately this season. And New Orleans probably lacks the shutdown factor against the run needed to force Indy to abandon their “just keeping it honest” attack and play one-dimensionally. There’s a tremendous consensus – shared by FDH prognosticators – that the game will end up with the total points in the 50s or 60s – so here’s one more log on that pile. Look for a plethora of big plays on both sides, but for “George Seifert 2K10” to be standing tall in the end with MVP Peyton Manning. Colts 34, Saints 28.
Super Bowl oddities and trivia
By Rick Morris
^ Only once, in 43 previous Super Bowls, has one team surmounted a double-digit deficit – and that was the Redskins, who spotted Denver very early ten points and then put up a 42-spot on them in 1988. So don’t count on a big comeback – based on how you define it, it has never happened yet in one of these games.
^ Much has been made of the fact that the Saints have never made a Super Bowl before, but they have hosted more Super Bowls than any other metro area – except Miami, this year’s host (this will be the fifth Super Bowl at what is now known as Sun Life Stadium with another five before that at the Orange Bowl). There have been six in the Superdome (with another scheduled in 2013) and another three before that in Tulane Stadium – and the first of those Super Bowls was 40 years ago this year.
^ As Peyton Manning pursues his second Super Bowl title in the same place he won his first three years ago, he will become the third quarterback ever to try to win a second championship in the same city. Roger Staubach won Super Bowl VI at Tulane Stadium, then returned to the Superdome in New Orleans to win Super Bowl XII. Terry Bradshaw beat Staubach in the Orange Bowl in Super Bowl X and then repeated the feat in Super Bowl XIII (with both games decided by exactly four points). So Manning is facing a situation where quarterbacks in the same scenario are 2-0 in Super Bowls.
^ This game marks the second time this decade that teams met in the Super Bowl while having played on the same Championship Sunday within the last three years. Indianapolis made it to Super Bowl XLI, while the Saints lost out to the Bears for the right to play in that game. New England beat Philadelphia in Super Bowl XXXIX after just missing out on a matchup with them the previous year after the Eagles lost to the Panthers for the right to face the Patriots. So the AFC is 1-0 in this scenario this decade.
^ With Indianapolis set to host their first Super Bowl in 2012 at their relatively new Lucas Oil Stadium, this marks only the third Super Bowl matchup between teams who have hosted or would go on to host a Super Bowl. Dallas and Miami met in Super Bowl VI; Miami’s history was documented above and Dallas will host their first one next year in Jerry Jones’ new palace. The other matchup was Super Bowl VIII; the Vikings faced the Dolphins that year. Minnesota went on to host Super Bowl XXVI. Teams who hosted a Super Bowl before the other city are 1-1, thus rendering this tidbit as a statistical non-factor.
^ The NFC has seen only one team represent the conference in two Super Bowls over the past decade (the Giants lost XXXV to Baltimore and beat New England in XLII); meanwhile, the AFC has had only three teams account for the last eight Super Bowl berths. The Patriots, Steelers and Colts are a combined 6-1 in these games, with the aforementioned Giants accounting for that only loss back in 2008. Over that same stretch, the NFC has sent some first-time teams to the big game (the Panthers, Seahawks and Cardinals) and others who hadn’t been back there in more than two decades (Eagles and Bears). If these facts mean anything to you, then you can’t be that optimistic for the first-time Saints, considering also that Super Bowl rookie teams are 4-19 historically against teams who have been there before.
^ Only once, in 43 previous Super Bowls, has one team surmounted a double-digit deficit – and that was the Redskins, who spotted Denver very early ten points and then put up a 42-spot on them in 1988. So don’t count on a big comeback – based on how you define it, it has never happened yet in one of these games.
^ Much has been made of the fact that the Saints have never made a Super Bowl before, but they have hosted more Super Bowls than any other metro area – except Miami, this year’s host (this will be the fifth Super Bowl at what is now known as Sun Life Stadium with another five before that at the Orange Bowl). There have been six in the Superdome (with another scheduled in 2013) and another three before that in Tulane Stadium – and the first of those Super Bowls was 40 years ago this year.
^ As Peyton Manning pursues his second Super Bowl title in the same place he won his first three years ago, he will become the third quarterback ever to try to win a second championship in the same city. Roger Staubach won Super Bowl VI at Tulane Stadium, then returned to the Superdome in New Orleans to win Super Bowl XII. Terry Bradshaw beat Staubach in the Orange Bowl in Super Bowl X and then repeated the feat in Super Bowl XIII (with both games decided by exactly four points). So Manning is facing a situation where quarterbacks in the same scenario are 2-0 in Super Bowls.
^ This game marks the second time this decade that teams met in the Super Bowl while having played on the same Championship Sunday within the last three years. Indianapolis made it to Super Bowl XLI, while the Saints lost out to the Bears for the right to play in that game. New England beat Philadelphia in Super Bowl XXXIX after just missing out on a matchup with them the previous year after the Eagles lost to the Panthers for the right to face the Patriots. So the AFC is 1-0 in this scenario this decade.
^ With Indianapolis set to host their first Super Bowl in 2012 at their relatively new Lucas Oil Stadium, this marks only the third Super Bowl matchup between teams who have hosted or would go on to host a Super Bowl. Dallas and Miami met in Super Bowl VI; Miami’s history was documented above and Dallas will host their first one next year in Jerry Jones’ new palace. The other matchup was Super Bowl VIII; the Vikings faced the Dolphins that year. Minnesota went on to host Super Bowl XXVI. Teams who hosted a Super Bowl before the other city are 1-1, thus rendering this tidbit as a statistical non-factor.
^ The NFC has seen only one team represent the conference in two Super Bowls over the past decade (the Giants lost XXXV to Baltimore and beat New England in XLII); meanwhile, the AFC has had only three teams account for the last eight Super Bowl berths. The Patriots, Steelers and Colts are a combined 6-1 in these games, with the aforementioned Giants accounting for that only loss back in 2008. Over that same stretch, the NFC has sent some first-time teams to the big game (the Panthers, Seahawks and Cardinals) and others who hadn’t been back there in more than two decades (Eagles and Bears). If these facts mean anything to you, then you can’t be that optimistic for the first-time Saints, considering also that Super Bowl rookie teams are 4-19 historically against teams who have been there before.
Super Bowl picks
By Rick Morris
In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from other members of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. In the regular season, we each posted our three strongest plays. Here are the standings to this point, including Championship Sunday:
RICK MORRIS: 29-32 overall, 1-1 last round (also 9-8 on my 1,000-Star, Gold-Plated Lock of the Millennium for each week of the regular season)
STEVE CIRVELLO: 29-32 overall, 0-2 last round
RYAN ISLEY: 28-32-1 overall, 2-0 last round
DAVE ADAMS: 28-33 overall, 1-1 last round
SEAN TRENCH: 22-36-2 overall, 1-1 last round
We are picking every playoff game, culminating in the Super Bowl this weekend. Each of our picks will be listed, in addition to the FDH "consensus" pick based on who has the most votes in each game (the FDH consensus picks were 1-1 last week and 3-5 in the playoffs) – and we are also listing our pick for the final score and the MVP:
Indianapolis -4 vs. New Orleans
RICK: Indianapolis 34-28 – Peyton Manning
STEVE: Indianapolis 34-27 – Peyton Manning
RYAN: Indianapolis 34-27 – Peyton Manning
DAVE: Indianapolis 45-35 – Peyton Manning
SEAN: New Orleans 35-31 – Drew Brees
FDH CONSENSUS: Indianapolis, 4-1
So the season-long competition for first place comes down to the tiebreaker (final score in the Super Bowl). Because Sean is the only one picking New Orleans, the only variable between Steve and I is total points. A combined score of 61 points or less hands the contest to Steve; 62 or more gives it to me. Regular-season champ Dave has had a tough playoff run, while Ryan has surged with a 7-3 postseason mark and could have taken the entire contest had he been a bit closer heading into January. I will note also that FDH Senior Editor Jason Jones has gone on the record with a 42-40 Saints prediction.
While none of the Dignitaries have distinguished themselves over the course of the entire season in this contest, it should come as no surprise that Steve and I are in a tie at this point, since we also tied on their college football bowl picks vs. the spread at 17-15. That mark gave me a “stellar” record of 56-55-1 for the season. Whoopie!
In addition to posting my weekly picks, I will post those from other members of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries' Football Challenge Contest. In the regular season, we each posted our three strongest plays. Here are the standings to this point, including Championship Sunday:
RICK MORRIS: 29-32 overall, 1-1 last round (also 9-8 on my 1,000-Star, Gold-Plated Lock of the Millennium for each week of the regular season)
STEVE CIRVELLO: 29-32 overall, 0-2 last round
RYAN ISLEY: 28-32-1 overall, 2-0 last round
DAVE ADAMS: 28-33 overall, 1-1 last round
SEAN TRENCH: 22-36-2 overall, 1-1 last round
We are picking every playoff game, culminating in the Super Bowl this weekend. Each of our picks will be listed, in addition to the FDH "consensus" pick based on who has the most votes in each game (the FDH consensus picks were 1-1 last week and 3-5 in the playoffs) – and we are also listing our pick for the final score and the MVP:
Indianapolis -4 vs. New Orleans
RICK: Indianapolis 34-28 – Peyton Manning
STEVE: Indianapolis 34-27 – Peyton Manning
RYAN: Indianapolis 34-27 – Peyton Manning
DAVE: Indianapolis 45-35 – Peyton Manning
SEAN: New Orleans 35-31 – Drew Brees
FDH CONSENSUS: Indianapolis, 4-1
So the season-long competition for first place comes down to the tiebreaker (final score in the Super Bowl). Because Sean is the only one picking New Orleans, the only variable between Steve and I is total points. A combined score of 61 points or less hands the contest to Steve; 62 or more gives it to me. Regular-season champ Dave has had a tough playoff run, while Ryan has surged with a 7-3 postseason mark and could have taken the entire contest had he been a bit closer heading into January. I will note also that FDH Senior Editor Jason Jones has gone on the record with a 42-40 Saints prediction.
While none of the Dignitaries have distinguished themselves over the course of the entire season in this contest, it should come as no surprise that Steve and I are in a tie at this point, since we also tied on their college football bowl picks vs. the spread at 17-15. That mark gave me a “stellar” record of 56-55-1 for the season. Whoopie!
Super Bowl prop bets
By Steve Cirvello (posted by Rick Morris)
Here are some Super Bowl prop bets you can arrange with your friends, along with forecasts made by FDH Managing Partner Rick Morris.
Rain any time during SB game: Y/N YES
National Anthem O/U 1:42 seconds long OVER
Singer Carrie Underwood wears boots: Y/N NO
Times Archie Manning shown on CBS during the game: 2.5 OVER
Times Eli Manning shown on CBS during the game: 2.5 UNDER
Times Kim Kardashian shown on CBS during the game: 2.5 OVER
Times Bourbon Street shown on CBS during the game: 2.5 OVER
Kim Kardashian wears black top: Y/N NO
Kim Kardashian wears Saints jersey: Y/N YES
Pete Townsend windmills during halftime performance: 5.5 OVER
No. of times phone number for Haitian Relief shown on CBS: 3.5 OVER
No. of times any promo for Survivor season premiere shown on CBS: 5.5 OVER
No. of times any promo for NCAA Selection Sunday show shown on CBS: 2.5 OVER
Defensive player pours Gatorade on Winning Coach: Y/N YES
Reggie with more total yardage: WAYNE
Pierre with more total yardage: GARCON
Here are some Super Bowl prop bets you can arrange with your friends, along with forecasts made by FDH Managing Partner Rick Morris.
Rain any time during SB game: Y/N YES
National Anthem O/U 1:42 seconds long OVER
Singer Carrie Underwood wears boots: Y/N NO
Times Archie Manning shown on CBS during the game: 2.5 OVER
Times Eli Manning shown on CBS during the game: 2.5 UNDER
Times Kim Kardashian shown on CBS during the game: 2.5 OVER
Times Bourbon Street shown on CBS during the game: 2.5 OVER
Kim Kardashian wears black top: Y/N NO
Kim Kardashian wears Saints jersey: Y/N YES
Pete Townsend windmills during halftime performance: 5.5 OVER
No. of times phone number for Haitian Relief shown on CBS: 3.5 OVER
No. of times any promo for Survivor season premiere shown on CBS: 5.5 OVER
No. of times any promo for NCAA Selection Sunday show shown on CBS: 2.5 OVER
Defensive player pours Gatorade on Winning Coach: Y/N YES
Reggie with more total yardage: WAYNE
Pierre with more total yardage: GARCON
FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume II, Issue XLXVII
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.
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.
Friday, February 5, 2010
NHL power rankings for start of February
By Rick Morris
Mid-January rankings in parentheses (next rankings at the start of March).
TOP TIER
1 Washington (4)
2 San Jose (1)
3 Chicago (2)
SECOND TIER
4 New Jersey (3)
5 Los Angeles (12)
6 Phoenix (9)
7 Buffalo (5)
8 Vancouver (11)
9 Pittsburgh (6)
10 Ottawa (19)
11 Colorado (8)
12 Nashville (7)
13 Detroit (13)
14 Calgary (10)
THIRD TIER
15 Dallas (17)
16 Anaheim (21)
17 Montreal (18)
18 Minnesota (16)
19 Philadelphia (20)
20 St. Louis (23)
21 Tampa Bay (25)
22 NY Rangers (15)
23 Florida (26)
24 Boston (14)
25 Atlanta (24)
26 NY Islanders (22)
27 Columbus (27)
FOURTH TIER
28 Toronto (28)
29 Carolina (30)
30 Edmonton (29)
BIGGEST RISERS: Ottawa (9 spots), Los Angeles (7 spots), Anaheim (5 spots), NY Islanders and Tampa Bay (4 spots), Florida, Phoenix, St. Louis, Vancouver and Washington (3 spots
BIGGEST FALLERS: Boston (10 spots), NY Rangers (7 spots), Nashville (5 spots), Calgary (4 spots), Colorado and Pittsburgh (3 spots)
Mid-January rankings in parentheses (next rankings at the start of March).
TOP TIER
1 Washington (4)
2 San Jose (1)
3 Chicago (2)
SECOND TIER
4 New Jersey (3)
5 Los Angeles (12)
6 Phoenix (9)
7 Buffalo (5)
8 Vancouver (11)
9 Pittsburgh (6)
10 Ottawa (19)
11 Colorado (8)
12 Nashville (7)
13 Detroit (13)
14 Calgary (10)
THIRD TIER
15 Dallas (17)
16 Anaheim (21)
17 Montreal (18)
18 Minnesota (16)
19 Philadelphia (20)
20 St. Louis (23)
21 Tampa Bay (25)
22 NY Rangers (15)
23 Florida (26)
24 Boston (14)
25 Atlanta (24)
26 NY Islanders (22)
27 Columbus (27)
FOURTH TIER
28 Toronto (28)
29 Carolina (30)
30 Edmonton (29)
BIGGEST RISERS: Ottawa (9 spots), Los Angeles (7 spots), Anaheim (5 spots), NY Islanders and Tampa Bay (4 spots), Florida, Phoenix, St. Louis, Vancouver and Washington (3 spots
BIGGEST FALLERS: Boston (10 spots), NY Rangers (7 spots), Nashville (5 spots), Calgary (4 spots), Colorado and Pittsburgh (3 spots)
NBA power rankings for start of February
By Rick Morris
Mid-January rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Cleveland (1)
2 LA Lakers (2)
3 Orlando (4)
4 Denver (7)
5 Atlanta (5)
6 Dallas (6)
7 Boston (3)
8 Utah (11)
9 San Antonio (8)
10 Portland (9)
11 Phoenix (10)
12 Oklahoma City (13)
13 Houston (12)
14 Memphis (16)
15 New Orleans (14)
16 Toronto (17)
SECOND TIER
17 Charlotte (19)
18 Chicago (18)
19 Miami (15)
20 Milwaukee (21)
21 LA Clippers (20)
22 New York (22)
23 Indiana (24)
24 Philadelphia (26)
25 Detroit (25)
26 Sacramento (23)
27 Washington (28)
28 Golden State (27)
29 Minnesota (29)
THIRD TIER
30 New Jersey (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Denver, Sacramento and Utah (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Boston and Miami (4 spots)
Mid-January rankings in parentheses.
TOP TIER
1 Cleveland (1)
2 LA Lakers (2)
3 Orlando (4)
4 Denver (7)
5 Atlanta (5)
6 Dallas (6)
7 Boston (3)
8 Utah (11)
9 San Antonio (8)
10 Portland (9)
11 Phoenix (10)
12 Oklahoma City (13)
13 Houston (12)
14 Memphis (16)
15 New Orleans (14)
16 Toronto (17)
SECOND TIER
17 Charlotte (19)
18 Chicago (18)
19 Miami (15)
20 Milwaukee (21)
21 LA Clippers (20)
22 New York (22)
23 Indiana (24)
24 Philadelphia (26)
25 Detroit (25)
26 Sacramento (23)
27 Washington (28)
28 Golden State (27)
29 Minnesota (29)
THIRD TIER
30 New Jersey (30)
BIGGEST RISERS: Denver, Sacramento and Utah (3 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: Boston and Miami (4 spots)
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
FDH Lounge Show #90: February 3, 2010
By Rick Morris
The countdown to Episode #100 begins in earnest for THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) as the 90th program covers more of the trademark endless variety of content.
After The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries and our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge, we welcome in comedian and co-host of VH1 Classic's THAT METAL SHOW Don Jamieson. He is a really talented and entertaining performer and we look forward to having him on with us.
Then we preview our forthcoming third installment of The FDH Lounge Pantheon. Forget the Oscars, forget the Grammys, we’ve got your hugely-anticipated mid-winter awards show right here. 16 inductees – eight from the world of sports, eight non-sports – will take their place alongside the awardees from the first classes in 2008 and 2009. Don’t forget, in addition to our hand-selected members of The FDH Academy of Arts and Sciences, we are also throwing open the voting to our Facebook friends as well, so you should look us up at www.facebook.com/thefdhlounge if you haven’t already. Simply copy the ballot from the above link and send it to us via our FDH Facebook email and you too can have your opinions counted.
From there, we move to another installment of The FDH Spotlight Website segment with one that will have you in stitches: Passive-Aggressive Notes. Then, from the latter part of Hour One through most of Hour Two, we bring you one of our biggest installments yet of The FDH Lounge Pigskin Report with your ginormous Super Bowl XLIV preview. From commercials to prop bets, from Xs and Os to media angles, we’ve got you covered all the way around just like always.
Just before the start of Hour Three, we tee off with our sixth annual FDH fantasy golf mock draft on THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER. We’ll also call attention to FANTASY NASCAR DRAFTOLOGY 2010, our newly available draft guide that includes a recap of last week’s mock draft. Then we close as usual with THE GOON SQUAD and a look at some buy low, sell high fantasy hockey players and the start of our preview for the huge Olympic hockey tournament. In particular, we’ll focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the respective rosters.
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 now on iTunes!
The countdown to Episode #100 begins in earnest for THE FDH LOUNGE (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com) as the 90th program covers more of the trademark endless variety of content.
After The Opening Statements of The FDH Lounge Dignitaries and our look at This Week in The FDH Lounge, we welcome in comedian and co-host of VH1 Classic's THAT METAL SHOW Don Jamieson. He is a really talented and entertaining performer and we look forward to having him on with us.
Then we preview our forthcoming third installment of The FDH Lounge Pantheon. Forget the Oscars, forget the Grammys, we’ve got your hugely-anticipated mid-winter awards show right here. 16 inductees – eight from the world of sports, eight non-sports – will take their place alongside the awardees from the first classes in 2008 and 2009. Don’t forget, in addition to our hand-selected members of The FDH Academy of Arts and Sciences, we are also throwing open the voting to our Facebook friends as well, so you should look us up at www.facebook.com/thefdhlounge if you haven’t already. Simply copy the ballot from the above link and send it to us via our FDH Facebook email and you too can have your opinions counted.
From there, we move to another installment of The FDH Spotlight Website segment with one that will have you in stitches: Passive-Aggressive Notes. Then, from the latter part of Hour One through most of Hour Two, we bring you one of our biggest installments yet of The FDH Lounge Pigskin Report with your ginormous Super Bowl XLIV preview. From commercials to prop bets, from Xs and Os to media angles, we’ve got you covered all the way around just like always.
Just before the start of Hour Three, we tee off with our sixth annual FDH fantasy golf mock draft on THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER. We’ll also call attention to FANTASY NASCAR DRAFTOLOGY 2010, our newly available draft guide that includes a recap of last week’s mock draft. Then we close as usual with THE GOON SQUAD and a look at some buy low, sell high fantasy hockey players and the start of our preview for the huge Olympic hockey tournament. In particular, we’ll focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the respective rosters.
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 now on iTunes!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
My Admiration for "Calvin and Hobbes"
By Tony Mazur
Whenever I straighten up my house in preparation for a family gathering, for some reason I tend to clean places that no one will see, such as the attic and closets. As I tore apart my closet, I came across a bookcase filled with comic books. I was always fascinated with newspaper comic strips, and I would always save my money to purchase as many as possible. I had numerous treasuries of "Foxtrot", "Garfield", "Zits", "Peanuts", "Ziggy", and "The Far Side", but I had the market cornered on "Calvin and Hobbes".
As a child in suburbia, I identified with Calvin. Like me, Calvin was a young boy with a large imagination and a small attention span. Also like me, he was bright, but his grades in school did not show it. I attended a Blue Ribbon elementary school, and most of my classmates were fairly intelligent. Because my attention span was like that of a hummingbird, I occasionally forgot to complete homework assignments, and I was teased for it by my peers. "Calvin and Hobbes" guided me through the perils of childhood.
"Calvin and Hobbes" taught me a lot about growing up. Believe it or not, I was an incredibly shy kid all the way up until high school. The few times I would come out of my shell was because I questioned reality, much like Calvin did. Over the years, I tended to become very philosophical, and I'm sure that traces back to the countless hours I spent with my nose buried in a "Calvin and Hobbes" collection.
As a fellow artist, I admire the work of creator Bill Watterson for a number of reasons. In a medium where newspaper space costs money, Watterson did what he could to bring a higher form of art to the funny pages, art's lowest common denominator. He also fought against licensing his work. As much as it would be nice to buy Hobbes stuffed animals and LEGAL Calvin T-shirts and window decals, Watterson did not want to see his creations distorted.
The strip only lasted ten years, and even though fans are still left wanting more, Watterson pulled the plug. Unlike seasoned strips like "Blondie", "Beetle Bailey", and "Marmaduke", Watterson did not want to see his work become stale and lifeless. Like "The Far Side"'s Gary Larson (who ended his strip exactly one year before "Calvin and Hobbes" closed shop), he went out on top.
Here is a recent interview Watterson gave to The Plain Dealer.
Mr. Watterson, I want to thank you for your tremendous work. You have inspired generations, and when it comes time for me to settle down and have children, I will make sure they are as big of "Calvin and Hobbes" fans as I was growing up.
Whenever I straighten up my house in preparation for a family gathering, for some reason I tend to clean places that no one will see, such as the attic and closets. As I tore apart my closet, I came across a bookcase filled with comic books. I was always fascinated with newspaper comic strips, and I would always save my money to purchase as many as possible. I had numerous treasuries of "Foxtrot", "Garfield", "Zits", "Peanuts", "Ziggy", and "The Far Side", but I had the market cornered on "Calvin and Hobbes".
As a child in suburbia, I identified with Calvin. Like me, Calvin was a young boy with a large imagination and a small attention span. Also like me, he was bright, but his grades in school did not show it. I attended a Blue Ribbon elementary school, and most of my classmates were fairly intelligent. Because my attention span was like that of a hummingbird, I occasionally forgot to complete homework assignments, and I was teased for it by my peers. "Calvin and Hobbes" guided me through the perils of childhood.
"Calvin and Hobbes" taught me a lot about growing up. Believe it or not, I was an incredibly shy kid all the way up until high school. The few times I would come out of my shell was because I questioned reality, much like Calvin did. Over the years, I tended to become very philosophical, and I'm sure that traces back to the countless hours I spent with my nose buried in a "Calvin and Hobbes" collection.
As a fellow artist, I admire the work of creator Bill Watterson for a number of reasons. In a medium where newspaper space costs money, Watterson did what he could to bring a higher form of art to the funny pages, art's lowest common denominator. He also fought against licensing his work. As much as it would be nice to buy Hobbes stuffed animals and LEGAL Calvin T-shirts and window decals, Watterson did not want to see his creations distorted.
The strip only lasted ten years, and even though fans are still left wanting more, Watterson pulled the plug. Unlike seasoned strips like "Blondie", "Beetle Bailey", and "Marmaduke", Watterson did not want to see his work become stale and lifeless. Like "The Far Side"'s Gary Larson (who ended his strip exactly one year before "Calvin and Hobbes" closed shop), he went out on top.
Here is a recent interview Watterson gave to The Plain Dealer.
Mr. Watterson, I want to thank you for your tremendous work. You have inspired generations, and when it comes time for me to settle down and have children, I will make sure they are as big of "Calvin and Hobbes" fans as I was growing up.
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