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Contests
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Written by Hotstuffler
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Friday, 04 December 2009 12:46 |
We’re finally back with everybody’s favorite…the Quote Contest! Nah, just kidding, nobody really likes these except for me. Okay, let’s have fun!
Category: Music
“Hey man, slow down. Slow down. Idiot, slow down. Slow down.”
Simply name the artist. Good luck, A Charlie Brown Christmas! Remember that special?
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2009-SEC Championship Preview |
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Sports
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Written by Jeff
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Thursday, 03 December 2009 09:38 |
 The #1 Florida Gators and #2 Alabama Crimson Tide will meet in the 2009 SEC Championship, Saturday @ 4pm. This will be the 18th SEC Championship game; and it's probably the biggest one ever. Florida & Alabama will be facing each other in the title game for the 7th time (Florida holds a 4-2 edge). In fact, Alabama has never faced another team for the SEC title, only Florida. This will only be the second time the two teams meeting for the championship will be ranked #1/#2 (last year obviously being the first time, with). But this will be the first time ever, that both teams are 12-0. We already know that the winner will go on to the BCS National Championship. Most likely to face Texas, unless they stumble against Nebraska, which I don't see happening.
Most people I've talked to & seen on TV, think Florida is going to win. Again, I'll admit, I'm a Florida fan. So I hope they are right, but I'm not too sure. I have a feeling this is going to be an epic battle. Neither offense has been spectacular. But this game will feature arguably the best two defenses in college football (top 2 according to stats & rankings). Here's a breakdown of different aspects of the game. Maybe after this, I'll decide on a winner.
OFFENSE:
Rushing: Florida & Alabama both like to run the ball. And both teams are very good at it. There's no doubt that the best runner in the game is Alabama's Mark Ingram. But the question is, which team is better as a whole? Florida with Tim Tebow, Jeffery Demps, Chris Rainey & Emmanuel Moody. Or Alabama with Ingram & Trent Richardson. Florida ranks 6th in the nation in rushing offense, while Alabama ranks 13th. Again, Ingram is the best runner in the game. And Alabama's best chance at winning is for him to have a big game.
Advantage - Florida (by the slimmest of margins)
Passing: Neither team has been very explosive through the air this season. And while it's a no-brainer that Tebow is the better all-around QB, you can't definitively say he's a better passer than Alabama's Greg McElroy. Neither team ranks in the top 50 in passing offense (Florida 64th & Alabama 89th). But one thing you can say is that the best WR in the game will be Alabama's Julio Jones. But it takes two to tango, and Jones hasn't had a stellar season. Florida's Riley Cooper actually has 150 more yards & twice as many TDs on the season. But Florida's most reliable & important receiver is their TE Aaron Hernandez. There will be some important plays & 3rd down conversions through the air, but neither team is going to win by throwing the ball all over the place.
Advantage - Florida (again, barely)
DEFENSE:
Rush: Both of these teams are very tough against the run. Alabama is ranked 2nd in the nation, while Florida ranks 8th. The big LB match-up is Florida's Brandon Spikes vs. Alabama's Rolando McClain. But Alabama's ace in the hole against the run is big Terrence Cody. This is going to be the most interesting part of the game. Which defense will do a better job at stopping -- or at least slowing down -- the run. For both teams it's going to be strength vs. strength. And this will ultimately be the biggest deciding factor as to who will be victorious.
Advantage - Alabama (by 6' 5" 354 lbs)
Pass: Again, both teams are strong against the pass. Florida ranks 1st in the nation, while Alabama ranks 5th. Both teams have a great group of LBs, CBs & safeties. They are pretty much dead even in interceptions & sacks. The one new variable is the arrest & suspension of Florida's standout DE Carlos Dunlap. If this makes it harder for Florida to pressure McElroy, it will help out Alabama's passing game. In this case, it's strength vs. weakness. Like I said earlier, I don't see either team finding a ton of success through the air.
Advantage - EVEN
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Both teams have very solid special teams. The better punt returner is Alabama's Javier Arenas. But Florida has only allowed 4 punts to be returned all season. For a total of 13 yards, which is just incredible. Again, strength vs. strength, we'll see what happens. Florida's Brandon James has had a pretty disappointing season returning punts. Alabama doesn't have as good a punt coverage team, but that might not matter. Now if the 2006-08 James shows up, that might be a problem for Alabama. As for returning kickoffs, again, Arenas is the most dangerous. But Florida is better at covering kickoffs. I don't see this being a huge factor in the game. Obviously, unless a team returns a kickoff for TD. And similarly, if a team blocks a punt, that would be huge. But you can't bank on either of those things happening. After saying all of that...
Advantage - EVEN
COACHING:
These are both very good coaching staffs. Outside of Gainesville, not many people like Urban Meyer. And outside of Tuscaloosa, Nick Saban is pretty much hated. But you can't deny that they are two of the best football coaches in the nation. I don't think either of them will make any big mistakes. And I don't think last year's game will have any effect on this game. It's going to come down to the players, execution, mistakes, penalties, etc.
Advantage - EVEN
INTANGIBLES:
This is where the "Tim Tebow Factor" comes into play. Since losing to Ole Miss last September, Tebow has led Florida to 22 straight victories. And in many cases, he seemed to will his team to victory. It's hard to not think this will play a factor in this game. If it's close, he's the one player that's proven he can carry his team to a championship game victory.
Advantage - Florida (by default)
So, at the risk of jinxing my team, I think Florida will pull this one out. I think it's going to be close as hell, but I see Florida winning. But it honestly won't surprise me one bit if Alabama stifles Florida's offense, makes a big play here & there, and wins this game. We'll see, I can't wait.
It's just too bad we don't have a playoff system. So maybe Florida & Alabama could meet with the National Championship on the line. Instead of -- for the second year in a row -- finishing the season #1 & #2, and meeting in the SEC Championship. But I digress.
Oh, real quick, I almost forgot. Here are my other championship game previews:
Big 12 Championship: Texas wins.
ACC Championship: I like Georgia Tech. But, no offense, does it really matter?
Too bad TCU, Cincinnati & Boise State have no control over their own destiny. Shit! There I go digressing again.
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The Salahis were not invited & AI signs with the 76ers: |
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Extra Dose
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Written by Jeff
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Thursday, 03 December 2009 09:28 |
I've been chomping at the bit to delve into these two important stories. Alright, here we go...
First of all, who gives a shit?
Secondly, who fucking cares?
Okay, I feel better now.
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Football Picks 12/1/09-12/7/09: |
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Contests
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Written by Jeff
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Wednesday, 02 December 2009 10:23 |
Sorry, too busy to make up a results chart this week, hopefully next week. Don't worry, you'll get over it. Here are the top 5 finishers from last week's contest; in a much simpler & less exciting fashion:
floridag8tor - 13 (winner via tiebreaker)
stlope01 - 13
Rorschach's Revenge - 11
Independent Thought - 10
Hotstuffler - 10
Congrats floridag8tor! Alright, well this weekend there are a bunch of big games. Obviously there are the conference championships. And there are also some NFL games with playoff implications. So click the link below to submit your picks. Oh, before I forget, I wanted to send out a big thank you to Carlos Dunlap for being a fucking moron. Being a Gator fan, I was thrilled to hear that your stupid ass got arrested for drunk driving & is now suspended for the SEC Championship. Great decision! Okay, now I'm in a bad mood, go ahead & send in your picks. Good luck!
Also -- I say this every week & this week is no different -- if you know anybody that you think would enjoy participating, please let them know about the contest. For those of you that have never played before: Just click on the image below, and you'll be able to submit your picks there. Only one entry per person, you must be a URDD member, and picks need to be submitted by 11:30am (EST) on Saturday. The winner will get a $20 Visa Gift Card! If anybody has any problems, let me know.
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Sports
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Written by Jeff
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Tuesday, 01 December 2009 12:50 |
Oh boy, it's seems like it was just yesterday when I was complaining about the BCS last year. I just wanted to send out another message to all those who are still in favor of the current BCS system. Yes, I know, it's hard to believe they are still out there. As some of you may know, I'm currently working on a much more in-depth playoff system, that I plan on sending to school presidents & the like (trust me, I know it's pointless & I'm wasting my time). But for the time being, I've come up with a much simpler system.
BCS lovers & haters should both love this. For those of you -- like me -- that are dying to see a playoff, this is it. And for those of you that love the BCS, this system is completely based on those rankings. Simple as it can be. The top 8 teams in the BCS rankings play it out on the field, like it should be.
There are a few things that have to happen this week. But for arguments sake, let's assume that Oregon defeats Oregon State, and Cincinnati defeats Pittsburgh (the records below account for that). Now let's get real. Of the 6 teams that are currently undefeated, only 3 of them control their own destiny. The winner of the SEC Championship will be in the title game. And if Texas wins the Big 12 Championship, they will be in. TCU, Cincinnati & Boise State all need other teams to lose; and even that won't guarantee anything.
The other omission in the system would be the conference championship games. But how is it fair that only half the BCS conferences have a championship game? How is it fair that for the second year in a row, the #1 & #2 teams in the nation have to eliminate one another in their own conference championship game? Unless the other 3 BCS conferences are going to add teams to get up to 12 teams, and add a conference championship game, it's not fair to the 3 conferences that currently have to go through that.
If we are stuck with the BCS, let's at least use it in a better way. We have a 12 game regular season. After that point, we take the top 8 ranked teams from the BCS & they play for the championship. Check it out. It looks amazing to me. I think you'll agree. And if I hear a BCS-backer complain, "what about the #9 ranked team..." -- I'm going to scream. If you're upset that the #9 ranked team gets left out, yet, you are in favor of a system that currently only give 2 teams a chance, give me a break. Now feast your eyes on this...
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Icebergs near New Zealand? |
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Extra Dose
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Written by Jeff
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Monday, 30 November 2009 10:52 |
I saw this last week, and I thought it was pretty wild. I added the football fields to the picture to help reference the size of these huge chunks of ice. Apparently, hundreds of icebergs have floated away from Antarctica, and made the 2,400+ mile journey to be within just a couple hundred miles of New Zealand. And some of them measure more than 650 feet across. Scientist Neal Young said that all of these icebergs came from a much larger piece that broke off of Antarctica; which was probably 11+ square miles in size. Yikes! That can't be a good.
But this isn't exactly an unheard of occurrence. In 2006, large numbers of icebergs floated near New Zealand. But those were the first sightings since 1931. I'm not going to go on a big global warming spcheel. Obviously we are doing things to the Earth that are not good. Our polluting is not only increases air & water temperatures, but is also hurting our air & water quality. We obviously need to take better care of our planet.
What really bugs the shit out of me though, is how "global warming" has become such a divisive topic. Again, like most things these days, there's no gray area. Either you think there's such thing as global warming & that we are hurting Earth. Or you don't, and vehemently deny it's existence. And of course it bleeds into all other social/political arenas. If you "believe" in global warming, then you are a pro-abortion, atheist, socialist, that hates America. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. But I hope we can all agree that we could treat planet Earth better.
Also, I think we can all agree that we want Flight of the Conchords to write a song about these icebergs. Something about Australia throwing global snowballs at them. Sounds good to me.
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Football Picks 11/24/09-11/30/09: |
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Contests
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Written by Jeff
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Wednesday, 25 November 2009 09:35 |
Okay, I'm back...again. Sorry for the recent absences. As you can see, things look a little different. I'm trying something new, we'll see how it works. Just click the link below to see the full results. And the winner is...
Congrats Hotstuffler! You finally don't suck at something. It was another close one, coming down to the tie-breaker. Alright, go to the link below to submit your picks for this week. I contemplated picking some games from the Thursday & Friday football schedule, but decided not to. I didn't want everybody having to rush to submit their picks earlier than normal. So again, there are only games from the regular Saturday through Monday schedule. But most of the early games weren't that good anyway. I hope everybody has a nice & relaxing Thanksgiving break. I'll see you next week. Good luck!
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Movie Recommendation: Michael Clayton |
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Movies, Music, TV, etc.
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Written by Jeff
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Tuesday, 24 November 2009 11:32 |
 I know I'm not blowing anybody's mind by recommending Michael Clayton. First of all, it starred George Clooney. Secondly, it won an Academy Award, was nominated for six more, and it came out in 2007. I usually only feel compelled to go out of my way to recommend a movie when it's independent & lesser-known. But for those of you that haven't seen Michael Clayton, I just wanted to let you know about it.
In addition to Clooney (nominated for Best Actor), the film stars Tilda Swinton (won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress), Tom Wilkinson (nominated for Best Supporting Actor), and Sydney Pollack. The other Academy Awards the film was nominated for were Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score and Best Original Screenplay.
Tony Gilroy not only directed Michael Clayton, but he also wrote the screenplay. At the time, Gilroy was a very accomplished writer. But Michael Clayton was actually his directorial debut. Which is just amazing, b/c he made one hell of a movie right out of the gate. James Newton Howard composed the original score for the film. On a side note, Howard is worth looking up; he's been the composer for too many great movies to even list.
As I write this I keep thinking to myself, what the hell took me so long to watch this movie, but I digress. I won't go into the plot, b/c I don't want to spoil anything. I'll just say, if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. The performances are incredible. The directing/editing is tight & thrilling. It really makes you wonder about -- and fear -- all the dirty little secrets, and backroom dealings that go on behind closed doors in the legal system & corporate environment. There are many other movies like this in the sub-genre of suspense/drama. But Michael Clayton is really original, and one of the best.
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Sounds like a fun guy to me... |
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Extra Dose
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Written by Jeff
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Monday, 23 November 2009 09:48 |
I was particularly interested in this article; because I too am a grown child. Or at least I'm told so by my wife on practically a daily basis. Well, there's not much more to say. This article is pretty damn funny. Enjoy!
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Extra Dose
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Written by Jeff
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Tuesday, 17 November 2009 13:56 |
I must take another leave of absence.
So there won't be a football picks segment or anything else this week. I'll announce the winner of last week's contest next week.
I'll be back on Monday, 11/23, with more tomfoolery & shenanigans.
Bye for now.
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