WHO’S GONNA WIN

now playing: Mad Season – Matchbox 20

for the early games, there may be a few good matchups… starting with the Ravens, who remembered how to play last week, meeting up with the Bengals, who remember how to play at the beginning of the year… powerful defenses, powerful offenses, deodorant, and fireworks aplenty… Bengals win, 31-28…

- The Colts should beat the Texans regardless of who they have running the ball… Payton is on fire this year and has managed to have everyone saying Marvin Who?…

- Packers obliterate the Bucs…

- a win for the Bears just isn’t in the Cards…

- the Jags stick it to the rebuilding Chiefs, even with their new wideout…

- Patriots will beat the Dolphins who will learn early on that the wildcat won’t work, and that they have nothing else to offer…

- and the Redskins will draw a blank against the Falcons…

The late games have the Giants and Chargers matchup as the highlight of the afternoon… and that could go either way as both teams seem to struggle when they’re actually challenged… i think this one goes to the Chargers though, by about ten points…

- Saints continue to roll, Panthers return to rolling over…

- Seahawks get a breather and should beat the Lions… (if the Rams can beat them, anyone can)…

- and the 49ers should break out of this lull, bouncing back against the Vince Young Titans…

Sunday Night brings us the NFC EAST MATCHUP of the Cowboys and the Eagles… yeah, well, the NFC East has really become a bunch of kittens this year… the Eagles, though, could turn it out something fierce if they are feeling right… and i think they’ll fly pretty high this week… (and beat the Cowpokes… er, Cowboys)…

which brings us to the Monday Night game and the best home field advantage in the league?… the Steelers come into face the Broncos with a blueprint for success (assuming they watched the Ravens tear the Broncos to shreds last week)… despite the Broncos playing at home and the altitude adjustment needed for the Steelers, i give this one to the Steelers… and i hate the Steelers, so i’m certainly not playing favorites here…

AND THAT’S IT…

goodbye.

peace… love… bdg…

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well, last week, despite not feeling well at all, i still managed a hearty 10-3 for my picks, though i got trounced in two of my fantasy leagues… so far this year, i’m 71-31 which puts me right on par with Jaws who gets paid to follow football… anyway, i do have to say that picking the games is pretty easy this year because most of the games are so lopsided… which brings me to my topic…

A PARODY OF PARITY

now playing: Boulevard of Both Extremes – ApologetiX

remember when the NFL used to be comprised of about thirty good teams and the Bucs and Browns?… remember when the phrase “Any Given Sunday” was accurate?… yeah, those days are clearly gone and it seems like it happened over the last offseason… sure, there’s always been a team or two that proves themselves elite over the course of the year, say, the 2007 Patriots for example, but then on one given Sunday, even they fell short, losing the Superbowl to the Giants… this year, there are too many games that are gimmes…

looking around the league, it’s clear that the NFL has been given over to some sort of class warfare… we’ve got the “upper class” filled with about eight teams (Saints, Colts, Broncos, Vikings, Steelers, Bengals, Patriots and Giants – though, the last two can teeter either way) that that seem overloaded with talent and the ability to be unstoppable each week… Then, on the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got about eight teams (Titans, Rams, Bucs, Lions, Chiefs, Browns, Raiders, Panthers and Redskins – with a handful of others trying to join them) who just can’t buy a win, or even a touchdown most of the time…

The middle class consists of a bundle of teams that just seem to take up space… sure, some threaten to crack into the top tier (namely the Cards, Falcons, Packers, and Texans) and some threaten to drop into the miserable (Bills, Dolphins, Jags and Seahawks) but for the most part, they seem all too happy to split wins and losses, with no hope of impacting the league either way…

So what happened? why is there such a difference between the league’s best and worst?… i blame the Obama administration and their policies that promote class warfare in society as a whole… okay, not really, but there is a serious problem when the most popular sport in America is no longer competitive… and of course, by “serious problem”, i mean, lack of entertainment value… perspective, people… anyway, something should be done, but i’m not sure what… i just like to point out the obvious…

PICK-URE PAGES…

now playing: No One Really Wins – Copeland

well, there’s no Sunday Night game tonight, so i suppose i can talk a little bit about some other games… maybe a brief blurb about each game?… see how long that lasts..

First up, a big matchup between the undefeated Broncos and the hiccupping Ravens… somehow, the Ravens are favored in this game – probably being the home team – but the Raven’s defense has shown signs of age and their offense, despite a good start, has all but sputtered to a stop… and the Broncos have been obnoxious on defense and rather good-fortuned on offense… this may be a close game, but i’m pretty sure that the Broncos remain undefeated with a 30-21 victory…

the Texans roll into Buffalo to face the ailing Bills… both teams have had problems of their own throughout the season and seem to hate the idea of performing well consistently… for the Bills, it began with the opening game, when they decided to ruin a great game by self-destructing in the closing minutes… they’ve lacked confidence and poise ever since… the Texans also lost in week one and struggled to get out of the gate… they have, for the most part, turned things around and will more than likely defeat the Bills handily, 27-17…

if the Bears don’t destroy the Browns, then they should just not play the rest of the season… Bears 42, Browns 12…

the Cowboys host the Seahawks in a battle of two teams that seem to be bi-polar… the real mystery is guessing which version of each team will show up… i suspect that the better of both will take the field and, if that’s the case, the Seahawks will fall to the Cowboys…

the Dolphins and the Jets square off in a rematch that dates back about two weeks?… the Jets are riding high from blowing out Oakland High last week and the Dolphins are reeling from watching the Saints pick them apart despite a twenty-nine minute headstart… here’s the thing, if the Jets can manage the wildcat madness – and i think they can – then they’ll prevail with close to 400 yards rushing of their own… Jets 33, Fins 24…

as much as i’m loving the thought of the 49ers re-establishing themselves as a dominant force in the league, they’re not quite ready to do it against the Colts, especially with Peyton having a career year… Colts win 48-10…

at the beginning of the season, this might have seemed like a really compelling game… division rivals squaring off, but really, over the last few weeks, both of these teams have proven pretty fallible… the Giants have lost to two quality teams and have had their defense exposed, while the Eagles lost to the Raiders and were less than dominant against the Redskins… the Eagles are at home, but they’re limping more than the Giants right now and the G-Men will beat them 30-22…

Lions host the Rams for the Misera-Bowl… Lions fail to lose, leading at the end of the game 15-14…

LATE GAME (and a few beat-downs)…

the game at four is the rematch between the Packers and the Vikings… last time around, the Vikings were undefeated and hosting a bitter Packer team… This time, the Vikings are bleeding a little and the Packers are at home… the problem is, that the Vikings defense is still significantly better than the Packers offense… and that leaves the Vikings with a sweep over Green Bay, winning 30-24…

the Chargers will actually look like a playoff team this weekend… but that’s only because they’ll be embarrasing the Raiders… divisional rivalry or not, the Chargers win 45-6…

Similarly, the Jaguars will blow out the Vince Young Titans, 43-16…

Continuing the theme, the Cardinals will own the Panthers, 52-10…

MONDAY NIGHT MADNESS…

the Saints host the Falcons in the Monday night matchup and, although the Falcons have the ability to put up a lot of points, they also have the ability to give up a lot of points… and guess what? the Saints are awaiting the approval for a trademark of putting up a lot of points this year… this game may replicate last week’s outing for the Saints, but chances are better that it will just be a shootout with the Falcons running out of ammo long before the Saints… Saints 56, Falcons 38…

AND THAT’S A WRAP…

see you real soon with a variety of goodness… Happy Halloween or something to that effect…

peace… love… bdg…

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Packers, 49ers, Chargers, Colts, Patriots, Vikings, Bills, Jets, Bengals, Falcons, Saints, Cards, Eagles…

and that’s all i’ve got today… hopefully i’ll be feeling better tomorrow…

peace… love… bdg…

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NOT THE SYMPTOMS, THE DISEASE

now playing: Done All Wrong – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Christianity in Crisis (21st Century)- Hank Hanegraaff

Hank Hanegraaff revisits a book that he wrote about twenty years ago… and it’s pretty clear that, based on the escalated propagation of the message he specifically targets, he’ll need to write another edition in half that time…

the book calls out many “celebrity” preachers of the day – televangelists and what not – by name, providing quotes and pointing out the fundamental flaws that have led them and many others astray from the original message… he tries to detail where the paths have intersected, but the “prosperity gospel” and “faith movement” messages seem as accurate as the last person in a long game of “telephone”…

However, and very importantly, Hanegraaff issues a call to action of sorts… recommending avoidance in some cases and a healthy dose of self-evaluation… it’s important to address the root cause, the disease rather than just all the symptoms… and to that end, the book offers a boot camp of sorts, with the “Back to Basics” section that explains the fundamental beliefs of Christianity… following after that are three appendices that are also quite helpful and informative…

All-in-all, there’s a lot of finger-pointing and calling on the carpet in a sense, but without being mean-spirited… it’s clear that “The Bible Answer Man” has done his due diligence and that his goal is not to attack, but to heal what could potentially become a fatal blow to a large cross-section of the church… Christianity in Crisis is an interesting read for those into church history or perhaps sociology as it relates to the church…

peace… love… bdg…

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LIGHT IT UP

now playing: Illuminate Pt. 1 – Lightheaded

Illuminated – Matt Bronleewe

a while ago, i read and raved about House of Wolves and now, finally, i managed to buy and read a copy of the first book of the August Adams series… and guess what?… i’ll rave about this one too… Matt Bronleewe certainly puts together a mean story… fast-paced, thrilling, intricate and well-detailed… Illuminated kept me flipping through the pages as though i were cooling myself off… (maybe not THAT fast)…

Anyway, it is, again, or perhaps first, a great piece of writing and at 300 pages, it’s a manageable length for those of us who can’t keep our schedule in order… certainly there are themes that are similar to storylines such as the National Treasure franchise and books like, duh, the Da Vinci Code, but it’s a special tale that stands on it’s own despite any other books about secret societies and mysterious symbols… Cheers to Matt… looking forward to book three..

SECOND ROUND

now playing: The Hard-Knock Life – Original Cast of Annie

Knockout Entrepreneur – George Foreman (with Ken Abaraham)

i gotta admit… i love watching George Foreman… i think there’s a part of each of us that feels that way… and now i know that it was by design… George opens up with a very enjoyable book telling his story of success in the business world… one piece of advice that stood out? When you answer the phone, keep a smile on your face – it comes through… clearly, Foreman wrote this book with a big smile on his face, because that’s exactly how it reads…

Granted there are times when the book feels a little repetitive (revisiting the same events) and almost like a sales pitch – for instance, the grill is mentioned by its full name (with adjectives) several times – but that’s the nature of the game… Foreman is very up front about the fact that he’s using every opportunity to sell his products and continue to be successful… that’s fine, because, overall the book has plenty of good advice tucked away in each chapter…

It’s also worth noting that this is a Nelsonfree product – and yes, by the way, this is based on a free promotional copy – which means that with the book in hand, you can click over to the special webpage, answer a question or two and get a free PDF and audiobook version of the book as well… (George Foreman does NOT narrate the audiobook, but it’s still a rather lively reading)…

Anyway, the bottom line, as with many career/business/self-improvement books is that you won’t find too much here that you can’t find in many similarly-themed… the difference is that this is someone else’s story and the more times you hear success stories from different voices, the more you’ll start to believe that soon enough, it can be your voice telling the tales… plus there’s the whole smile thing… and George has a lot of mouths to feed in his family…

CAN YOU DIG IT?

now playing: The Pleasure Principle – Janet Jackson

The Treasure Principle – Randy Alcorn

the section title is from the cornerstone illustration for this book, by the way… the parable of the man who finds a treasure in a field, sells all he has, buys the field and, presumably, lives happily ever after… it’s a passage from the Bible that i feel is somewhat betrayed by the application here and the book tends to further unravel from there… but let me back up for a second…

i feel like i came upon this book under false pretenses… pretenses that keep me from being at all unbiased (as if i’m ever unbiased) and that said, my attitude when reading this book was more of a cynic than of a reviewer… and, honestly, i don’t want to spend too much time talking about it right now because i’m pretty sure it will be part of the focus of another piece of writing that i have brewing but i will say this… (that was a long sentence, sorry)… i will say this… bottom line, i feel like this is the prosperity gospel repackaged and framed from a “more spiritual” perspective… that’s not to say that there weren’t some parts that i agreed with, but largely i’m pretty sure that htis book misses the mark…

NO MAS

time’s up… well, over up… beyond? long since past?… whatever… good night…

peace… love… bdg…

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moving on… is it just me or are there a lot of teams that are really, really bad this year… sure, there are a lot of teams that seem really good, but i think a lot of that is because they’re in contrast with really, really bad teams… take last week’s scores… the average margin of victory was almost 16 points… 3 teams won by over 30 points (5 over 20)… that’s some bad matchups…

what particularly irritates me, though, is that a couple of those went the wrong way (according to my picks)… the 49ers and the Jaguars simply didn’t show up last week… anyway, i digress… this week, i’m taking a break from the “How Bad are THEY” feature (partly because i think it falls to my beloved Bills this week) and instead talking about something else that’s been bugging me about football this season… more after the jump… let’s move foward…

HANGING CHADS…

now playing: Hanging By a Moment – Lifehouse

i think it’s time to move away from the “wildcat” offense… as a league… it’s getting pretty annoying and that may be largely because every team that’s doing it is only doing it so that they’re not the only team left not doing it…

what i mean is, when the Dolphins debuted the wildcat last year, it was a creative solution for a struggling offense… it fits the team’s style and addresses their needs – specifically the need for a quarterback… it still works for the Dolphins largely because they’re still approaching it creatively and they still haven’t got a quarterback worth anything… sorry Chads…

Every other team in the league is simply trying not to get left behind… they’re all playing copycat with their wildcat, but it’s just plain silly for them to be spreading a QB out to the right as a WR… offensive coordinators need to tap into the imagination that they’ve ignored while trying to do keep up… just stop… you’re not fooling anybody… trick plays are cool and all, but if you can’t consistantly get first downs, tricks aren’t going to save your season… focus on the basics, not the frills…

WHO’S GONNA WIN

now playing: Mad Season – Matchbox 20

This week, there are a lot of good match-ups… looks like the bad teams are playing bad teams and good teams are playing good teams… for the most part… which makes things a little bit difficult when it comes to weeding out which games to spotlight… as such, i’m going to cop out a little and feature a double whammy in the early games…

First up, the Baltimore Ravens head over to face the Minnesota Vikings… two weeks ago, this looked like a much better game… the Ravens were cruising through the season, promising to be a Superbowl contender and the Vikings, of course, are still on that path…

so what happened? How on earth did the Ravens get derailed?… Ray Lewis would argue that the refs have interfered unjustly… first with the dirge of “Tom Brady Rule” penalties in New England and then, this week, Lewis was fined $25k for a bell-ringing hit that has been described as “helmet-to-helmet”, but looks to me to be shoulder-to-shoulder and clean… either way it was late in the game, called a personal foul, and gave the Bengals fifteen yards and a fresh set of downs on a game-winning drive that had almost stalled…

that said, the Ravens are angry… and they’re still good… really good… but so are the Vikings… and i’m gonna have to say that the Purple People Eaters are going to demote the Ravens to a 500 team… Vikings 38, Ravens 24…

Next up, without hesitation… the Saints and the Giants… I’ve not seen too much from either team to be honest… but both teams are justifiably undefeated and this is going to be a really tough game… it could easily go either way and this may even be a preview of the NFC Championship this year…

The saints have proven that their celebrated offense is still something to talk about each week and, more recently, people have started waking up to realize that the Gregg Williams defense is respectable… the Giants seem destined to work from the opposite direction… their defense is highly-touted and their offense is coming around…

so who’s going to win… that’s a tough question, but i’m going to go with the Saints at home in a close one, 24-21

and the rest of the early games…
- Jags redeem themselves, and crush Rams
- Panthers will beat Bucs
- Pack shuts Lions down
- Bengals win over Texans
- Steelers over Browns
- and, *sigh*, Chiefs outscore Redskins

For the late games, the key matchup is the Cards at the Seahawks… with Hasselbeck back at the helm, the Hawks looked pretty good last week, just like they looked the first week… just like they’ll probably look this week… but on the other side of the ball, the Cards also have the tools to launch a high-powered offensive attack… this could be the shootout game that everyone enjoys until the end… i’m calling Cardinals 52, Seahawks 45…

and finishing out Sunday afternoon…
- Eagles rock Raiders
- Patriots pound Titans
- Jets depress Bills fans everywhere…

Sunday Night is perhaps not the most exciting game, with the Bears heading to Atlants, but it should be interesting enough… the Falcons exploded last week, manhandling the 49ers, and often threaten to put up lots of points… the Bears always threaten to have a good defense… i see this as decent game with the Falcons pulling it out, 21-18…

and last but not least, the Broncos face the Chargers on Monday Night Football… this should be a pretty hard-fought game between the bitter rivals… the Broncos are playing a solid season and the Chargers seem to be limping along… honestly, i think until the Bolts turn the team over Sproles instead of LT, they’ll continue to stumble through the games… that said, i’m picking the Broncos to maintain their unbeaten streak, winning by ten, 31-21...

AND THAT’S IT…

goodbye.

peace… love… bdg…

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the big news this week involved wide receivers, as Braylon Edwards shipped off to the Jets and Michael Crabtree came down off his cloud to join the show-stopping 49ers… and, of course, my hometeam made a lot of headlines as well, but i’ll get into that more in a bit… they’ve clearly forced my hand… and the Bills… oh, my, the Bills… just not good… on we go with the program…

HOW BAD ARE THEY???

now playing: Bad to the Bone – George Thorogood

This week’s edition of How Bad are THEY? starts right in my backyard… the Washington Redskins… how BAD are THEY?… they’re currently 2-2, having scored a total of 56 points, which may not seem too bad, except that they’ve been playing what is arguably the easiest schedule so far… aside from the opener against the Giants, they’ve played the Lions, Bucs, and Rams, who are a collective 1-11, the only win coming against the Redskins… the next two weeks, they’re pitted against the Panthers and the Chiefs (0-7 combined) and i’m not sure that they’re expected to win either game…

in fact, the win against the Bucs last week hardly seemed like a win at all, because it actually seemed like both teams were trying their best to give the game away to the other team… turnovers galore and just bad, bad play… the skins just can’t find the end zone consistantly and in games like these, when they should be posting Saints-like numbers, they’re barely managing a touchdown or two and it’s really sad… the defense is no better to speak of… something needs to be done…

to top it all off, the backfield is feuding and the coaching staff is, well, distracted to say the least… i do love how Coach Zorn explained the Portis-Seller fight as akin to two brothers arguing over who owes whom a dollar… and of course, the team brought in “the Bobs”… well, at least one Bob – Sherman Lewis – to act as an offensive consultant and perhaps a scout for next year’s head coach, Mike Holmgren?… we’ll just have to see if all this activity makes things worse or better…

PICK, PICK PICK, PICK, PICK PICK PICK PICK PICK…

now playing: Over Thinking – Pickin’ on Relient K

wow, most of these early games look like they won’t be very competitive, but i could be wrong… i’m sure a few of the games will end up way closer than they should (i’m looking towards Buffalo)… but i think the best matchup will be the Ravens and the Bengals… Division rivals clashing and both off to a great start… two offenses that are hitting their stride after years of inadequacies and it should be fun to watch… weighing both teams though, it has to go to the Ravens because of their trademark defense… Ravens 34, Bengals 20

and the rest…
- Vikings dominate the Rams
- Eagles soar past the Bucs
- Panthers edge out the Redskins
- Steelers crush the Lions
- Giants destroy the Raiders
- Cowboys throttle the Chiefs
- Bills sneak past the Browns

Later on, look no further than the Broncos and Patriots for all the drama you could ever need… student meets teacher and the teams square off with no love lost… it’s been pretty hard to accept the Broncos as a legitimate team this year because they’ve been so inconsistent in the last couple years, but i’m starting to believe… with a tough defense and an adequate offense, it seems that they’re modeled after the Ravens from earlier in this decade… and the Patriots haven’t really done enough to convince me that they’re able to go on the road and take this one away… Broncos win 27-21

and the others…
- 49ers dominate the Falcons
- Cards over Texans
- Jags over Seahawks

Sunday Night Football brings us the Colts going 5-0… the Titan defense is more mousey than Titan and the Colts are already off to such a great start that we can ezpect Manning to toss another 300 plus yards with at least two TD passes… it’s not really going to be much of a game, actually… Colts take this 42-17

And finally, Monday Night… the Jets in Miami… yeah, so the fins pretty much obliterated the Bills last week and Jets got their wake-up call last week… now, with the addition of Braylon Edwards, who is expected to start, it will be interesting to see these two teams square off… last week, i would’ve given it to the Jets by a landslide, but this week, well, it’ll be a close… Jets pull it out, 31-28…

AND THAT’S A WRAP…

so, i’ll see you on the flipside…

peace… love… bdg…

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okay… it’s time for some football… i’m a bit tired, so we’ll see how much i can crank out here and still make sense… being in the DC area, i feel somewhat obligated to talk about the Redskins and the fact that they lost to the worst team in the league last week and how they barely beat one of the other worst teams in the league and how they’re playing another of the worst teams in the league and… well, i’ll get to that… but should or shouldn’t they fire the Zornado? you know, i don’t think so, but i don’t really want to talk about it…

nor do i really want to talk about the troubles brewing in Buffalo – by the way, speaking of head coaches that should or shouldn’t be fired… does anyone else realize that Dick Jauron has pretty much NEVER (outside of one fluke season in Chicago) had a winning season or that 7-9 seems to be the best he can do? i’m not sure who should replace him, but shouldn’t that be something that we all look into? also, is it weird to anyone else that TO regularly tweets Bible verses? in between snide, bitter tweets, but still… i think i’d really enjoy getting to know this guy… anyway… on with the show…

HOW BAD ARE THEY???

now playing: Bad to the Bone – George Thorogood

This week’s edition of How Bad are THEY? will cover two teams that played each other last week… which will make it obvious in a second, but first, the Titans are now 0-3… How BAD are THEY?… how do you go from having the best record in the league to having the hardest time in the world winning a game in one off season?… i know that Albert Haynesworth didn’t make THAT much of a difference… is it just age? rust? what’s going on down there in Nashville?… i’ll tell you what it is…

Kerry Collins is inconsistent… always has been… i mean, how else can you lead your team to the Superbowl one year and then disappear off the face of the earth for the next five years or so?… i’m not saying it’s time for Vince Young, but it’s time to dig in and get some defensive points… this week they face the Jaguars who are also struggling, but may have started something with last week’s win…

next, the J-E-T-S are 3-0 and they don’t seem to be slowing down at all… How good are THEY?… well, they may just be as good as they said they were… i mean, it’s not like they’ve been playing easy teams to beat… the Texans, the Patriots, and, well, the Titans… the defense is clearly something worth paying attention to, and the offense is certainly clicking despite being led by a rookie and fielded by what some of the elite teams would consider a rag tag bunch of receivers and such… that may be the most impressive part of their early success…

IF PETER PIPER PICKED THE PACK TO POUND…

now playing: Over Thinking – Pickin’ on Relient K

alright, now we come to the picks… so far this year, i’m 33-14 after last week’s 11-5 performance… and yes, last week i took a few risks and yes, some of them didn’t pan out, but they were pretty close… and you’ve gotta take some risks now and then… so we’ll see how risky i get this week… first up the early games…

Besides this week kind of being a must win for the Redskins, the game that stands out the most is the Ravens visiting the Patriots… who would’ve thought that the Ravens would have the second most touchdowns in the league after three weeks… crazy, right?… but Flacco has been a real phenom and everyone has been inspired… they really look like the best team in the AFC… but then there’s the Patriots… loads of potential with great leadership and a penchant for winning when everyone says the odds are against them… well, i say the odds are against them and the Ravens will win 33-17…

and the rest…
- Bears squeak by the Lions
- Bengals trounce the Browns
- Texans beat the Raiders but don’t look all that good doing so
- Colts crush the Seahawks
- Jags beat the Titans in a fierce one
- Giants cruise past the Chiefs
- Bucs embarrass the Redskins… well, the Skins might just beat them to the punch, actually, and embarrass themselves…

Late games include the huge rivalry between the Dolphins and the Bills… and what should be a good matchup between the 49ers and the Rams, but the key game has to be the Jets and the Saints in a battle of the unbeatens… everyone knows how good the Saints offense is and their defense has been showing signs of life as well… now, i’ve already talked about the Jets and, i’m not sure what the line is, but i’ll assume that i’m picking against the grain when i say that the Jets will win 28-27…

and the other three…
- Bills bounce back with a win over the Dolphins
- Broncos run out of luck, losing to the Cowboys…
- 49ers ransack the Rams

Now, Sunday Night Football brings us the Chargers and the Steelers… and it’s a good matchup, because even though the Chargers have become more of a finesse team, they can still hit hard… and the Cheaters, i mean Steelers, are definitely a smash-mouth team… watch for the Chargers to get a few big runs and some points early, but ultimately The Steelers win 24-20, mostly because of home field advantage…

And finally, the biggest matchup of the week comes on Monday Night Football… (go figure)… Brett Favre leads his Vikings against one of their bitterest rivals, the Packers… just when you thought the rivalry couldn’t get more intense… and Favre may say that he has no thoughts of revenge, but he knows that this is a really important game… and this will be a big game for the Minnesota running backs… and they’re likely to win this one on the leg of Ryan Longwell… Vikings 32 (that’s 6 FGs and 2 TDs) and Packers 27…

ADIOS YOU MANGY LITTLE…

okay, a little later than i’d hoped… but hey, enjoy the games…

peace… love… bdg…

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TRIpLE DEKkER…

now playing: Titanomachy – The Beginning – The Showdown

Showdown – Ted DeKker

I’ve had this book for a few years, but didn’t ever dig into it until i was somewhat tricked into breaching the Books of History Series by reading Sinner… Having read Sinner, i became quite interested in reading Saint, but figured i should read Showdown first – since i had it and since it was the first of the three part subseries…

Anyway, despite having a good idea of where the story was headed, i was still enraptured by the narrative presented in Showdown… it’s still a very suspenseful endeaver regardless of any prior knowledge of the series and as such was an incredibly entertaining (and pretty quick) read… one downside is that the overarching metaphor became obvious – almost painstakingly so – long before what i would’ve considered the appropriate time for it to have been revealed…

All in all, though, it’s a compelling read and one that certainly continued to whet my pallette for Saint, which is on my short list…

now playing: Washed By the Water – Needtobreathe

Lunatic / Elyon – Ted DeKker

Well, these are books 5 and 6 of the Lost Books subseries and, in TRu fashion, they were my entry point into the set… my initial thoughts were that it’s clearly a story along the lines of the Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia in the sense that this entirely new universe is created and it’s certainly well-situated in the fantasy genre… i suppose it’s also important to note that i think these books are written for a teenage audience, but the narrative works beyond that target demographic…

Having not read the previous four books, i was a bit unfamiliar with the relational dynamics surrounding Darsal, Silvie and Johnas and at times it was even difficult to keep track of who was speaking and the full weight of what had been said (lots of impersonal pronouns complicated things as well), but it was pretty easy to follow along in the story regardless…

The main theme that stuck out was clearly the mandate to love your enemies and as such, the books do a good job relating just how difficult that can be… there’s also discussion of baptism and romance and choosing friendships wisely and all of it was presented well, rolled together in a compelling enough tale to encourage me to read the first four (i’ve only got the first two, though)…

One downside, besides the “who’s on first” type issue of who said what, was that the voice of each co-author came through clearer than that of the characters… it was pretty obvious which parts came from the pen of Kaci Hill and which did not… and that’s fine, but it was a little distracting and pushed me out of the narrative at times… Certainly not enough to prevent anyone from truly enjoying this set…

TH-TH-THAT’S ALL FOLKS

and that will do it for now…

peace… love… bdg…

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HOW GOOD [OR BAD] ARE THEY?

now playing: Fire it Up – Thousand Foot Krutch

this week for the big stories, i thought i’d address a number of teams that have thus far shown surprising promise or a surprising lack thereof… first up, the 49ers… how good are they?… last year, they were pretty terrible, right? and their starting quarterback is currently not on anyone’s roster in somewhere around 90% of fantasy football leagues… and yet, they’re 2-0… and not because of an easy schedule either…

The 49ers managed to shut down the defending NFC champs in week one and in week two, they beat down the suddenly powerful Seahawks who had just finished establishing the fact that they were viable by shutting out the Rams… the defense has been solid, the ball control steady and i say they’re good… really good… probably not Superbowl good, but i think that they actually have a reasonable chance to go into their bye week at 5-0… the difference? Mike Singletary, who spent his playing career destroying the 49er culture of success is now spending his coaching career rebuilding it… and i wish them all the best… it’ll be nice to see a strong NFC team emerge again…

Speaking of the NFC in decline… the Washington Redskins can’t seem to put the ball in the end zone… how bad are they?… the Giants made short work of them in the opening week and the Rams should’ve beaten them in the home opener… but instead grabbed the losing end of a 9-7 game that looked like it was played in invisible rain and mud… sloppy, sloppy play and some of the worst play-calling from the Skins… there are clearly in bad, bad shape and deaing with numerous internal conflicts… as a homer, i’d like to see them straighten this out, but as a realist, i’m accepting the they are very, very bad…

next up, the Patriots have now split games with divisional rivals and didn’t look good in either game… Tom Brady is clearly not the Tom Brady everyone else expected him to be (everyone else meaning not me) and the defense, though still reasonably well-constructed seems to have plenty of holes in it… so how bad are they?… methinks that they’ll right this ship somewhat, but they may actually miss the playoffs… even though i picked them as a wildcard)…

okay, this is getting long, but next week, pending on results, i’ll take a look at how good the Texans and Jets are as well as how bad the Titans and Bucs are…

PICK ME, PICK ME

now playing: Fire it Up – Thousand Foot Krutch

lots of good matchups in the early games including the Titan Bowl (The Jets were previously called the Titans) and the Brown Bowl (which sounds pretty bad, but again is about the namesake), but i’m going to say that the key matchup is the 49ers and the Vikings… two old institutions hoping that they’ve got one more run in them… by that i mean the 49ers and Brett Favre…

seriously though, it may seem like a less important matchup, but both teams are currently 2-0 and both teams are trying to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with… i’ve heard plenty of people say that the Vikings are a strong contender, but, at 2-0, they haven’t really been challenged, have they?… likewise, i’ve heard pretty much nobody tell me that the niners are a contender, but having taken out two strong teams, i beg to differ… as such, i’m going with the upset here, 49ers 27, Vikings 23…

and extremely quick with the rest…
- Ravens over Browns
- Lions over Skins (WHAT? ReALLY? yep.)
- Texans over Jags
- Falcons over Pats
- Packers over Rams
- Giants over Bucs
- Jets over Titans (oooooh)
- Eagles over Chiefs

i don’t know how much i care to chat about any of the late games at any great length, but i will talk about the Bills and Saints… hopefully, this will be a high-scoring occassion for BOTH teams… i know i’m going to sound like a homer, but the Bills do have a fair enough of a chance because their defense is better established… however, the Bills are banged up, their offense is NOT (yet?) at the caliber of the Saints and it’s going to be extremely difficult for them to match up… while i’d like to see it go a different way, the Saints will probably march all over the Bills winning 38-24…

and the rest…
- Seahawks surprise the Bears
- Steelers over Bengals
- Broncos over Raiders
- Chargers over Dolphins

On to the headliner… the main event… further proof that Sunday Night Football gets the better games… the Colts vs. the Cardinals… a showdown of two premiere quarterbacks… and it’s gonna be the highlight of the weekend… (as far as NFL games go)… Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner square off to see who’s arm can hold up the longest… honestly, the Cards have the advantage here, with a better defense and better receiving core, but i’m going with the Colts because they’re just plain tenacious… Colts win, 35-31…

and finally, a game that looked real good on paper last year before the Panthers flopped… (how bad are they?… another time)… anyway, the Cowboys are probably going to run away with this game, scoring early and often as Romo tries to redeem himself and the Panthers continue to collapse upon themselves… Cowboys 42, Panthers 22

TH-TH-THAT’S ALL FOLKS

more stuff coming soon, i promise…

peace… love… bdg…

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