Week 16 Pick 'Em Winner

 

CONGRATULATIONS to Jim for winning the Week 15 Pick ‘Em Blog Challenge.  Had it not been for the Patriots, Chargers, and Lions losing their games, this would have been a high scoring week, with many folks at 13-14 wins, and having to rely on the tie breaker.  But Jim picked the underdogs and prevailed!

So, here we are at the wire, with playoff positions up for grabs.  The NFC East has turned into the division to watch.  The Redskins control their fate:  win out (against the Eagles and Cowboys) and they’re in, no matter what the Giants do.  But anything can happen.  Taking no one for granted!

WEEK 15 SCORES
BENGALS: 34		EAGLES: 13		COLTS: 17		TEXANS: 29
JAGUARS: 3		DOLPHINS: 24		BRONCOS: 34		RAVENS: 17
VIKINGS: 36		RAMS: 22		REDSKINS: 38		BROWNS: 21
GIANTS: 0		FALCONS: 34		BUCS: 0		SAINTS: 41
PACKERS: 21		BEARS: 13		PANTHERS: 31		CHARGERS: 7
SEAHAWKS: 50		BILLS: 17		LIONS: 10		CARDINALS: 38
STEELERS: 24		COWBOYS: 27		CHIEFS: 0		RAIDERS: 15
49ERS: 41		PATRIOTS: 34		JETS: 10		TITANS: 14
LEADERBOARD
Name	Points		This Week		Weekly Wins		Week
Rick	147		9		4		8, 9, 10, 12
Shelly	142		11		2		2, 5
Zeb	136		11		3		1, 7, 11
Brent	139		11
Jim	138		12		2		4, 15
Robbie	135		11
Aaron	133		9		2		6, 14
George	116		8		2		3, 13

Time to get your picks in for next week (Week 16):

ATL/DET         NYG/BAL         MIN/HOU        WAS/PHI         STL/TB             IND/KC

NO/DAL           CIN/PIT            NE/JAX             OAK/CAR        BUF/MIA          TEN/GB
CLE/DEN         SF/SEA              CHI/ARZ          SD/NYJ

Fight Song For The Probable NFC East Champs

As bad as it hurts to say this, it looks like the Washington Redskins will pull out the NFC East.  If they do, G will have every right to gloat about his Redskins.  Hell, even if they don't, G can gloat about his team.  Nobody thought that they had a chance.  Congrats on the season, Redskins fans. 

Tough Being a NHL Player During The Lockout In Toronto

Joffrey Lupul is a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  He decided that he wanted a meal at the Real Sports Restaurant.  However he was one of a few patrons that are not being served in the restaurant.  Why?  The Real Sports Restaurant is owned by the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Company, who is the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  So what do you do when a locked out player decides to eat at your establishment?  You don't serve him.

But hey, if you're frustrated, Real Sports remains a great place to eat your feelings. Hockey or no hockey, at least you can still make a reservation to get together with a group of friends and eat a half dozen tiny burgers.

That is, unless you're a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. As Joffrey Lupul just discovered, membership in the NHLPA means the lockout extends to the restaurant next door to the Air Canada Centre.
                                                                                                                      "Real Sports is not allowed to take reservations from Leafs players during the lockout," a bemused Lupul tweeted Sunday, "but will continue selling our jerseys for $300 a pop."

And it's not as though Real Sports is just using the lockout as a lame excuse to refuse Lupul a reservation because he's a bad tipper or something. James Van Riemsdyk corroborated Lupul's account. "Same thing happened to me a month ago," he tweeted in response (although both Leafs forwards have since deleted the tweets).
 

Talk about no respect.  Rodney Dangerfield would be appalled at that lack of respect.  The players and owners have staked out their position and the owners, at least up in Toronto, have said that they don't want money from the players to eat in their establishment.  Maybe that is why the Maple Leafs look like an expansion team.

 

The Worst Injury That I Have Heard Of In A While

Dude got taken out by his girlfriend.  He is an MMA fighter and she caused a major injury.

Ray Elbe, who competed on Season 9 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” announced on Saturday that he sustained one of the most horrifying injuries we can think of: a broken penis. No, the injury did not occur while he was fighting; it actually happened while he was having sex.

Elbe explained in a video posted on his website over the weekend that the injury occurred while he was having sex with his girlfriend in Malaysia on Dec. 3. He says his penis broke (ed note: there is no bone to break) when his girlfriend landed hard on him. Blood began spraying everywhere.

“I ended up fracturing my penis bone … I tore the urinary tract, tore some membrane — as it happened you can imagine the shock and the horror that was going on,” Elbe said in the video. “I jumped up from the intimate moment, blood shooting out of my groin. I immediately tried to run to the shower, felt myself losing consciousness, tried to walk back to the bed at which point I collapsed, knocking myself out. I gave myself 10 stitches and fractured a couple teeth.”

Elbe says he tried treating himself after coming to, and that his girlfriend was frantic. She called emergency while he was laying naked on the floor in a pool of blood.

Elbe says he spent 13 days — including his birthday — in the hospital, and that he’s still using a catheter to urinate. He says he’s going back for a checkup on Dec. 19 where the catheter should be removed.

Maybe Dana White should be looking at the girlfriend to step into the octagon.  If she can cause a critical injury like that to her boyfriend, she can do damage to people that she wants to hurt.  And apparently the missionary position wasn't being utilized.  See what happens when you don't do things the traditional way!

A Christmas Gift...

...from Matthew Stafford to Packer fans, that is.  As you know, my Pats aren't scheduled to play the favorite teams of any of the other bloggers here this season, ditto regarding Rick's Packers.  So I came up with the idea that anyone could pick a week where they thought the Pack or Pats were ripe for the picking and blog challenge us for that game.  We've had a scarcity of blog challenges as it is, so I decided this weekend was the time and that the Lions were going to break their 20 game losing streak at Lambeau Field.
Well, things looked good for me not having to write a crow-eater as the Lions defense was holding the Packers in check and the Lions had scored two early TDs.  As an aside, I had to get to bed early for work the next day, especially since we were due for freezing rain.  So I had no intention of staying up to watch the whole game but it would've been nice if I went to sleep with a lead.  That didn't happen, as the aforementioned Stafford decided gave NFL fandom one of the best blooper throws of all time.  Charlie Brown would've been proud.  So instead of continuing a drive that was in Packer territory, the Pack got a gift touchdown and you knew this game ultimately would go to the Packers, as it did.  I'd share a video of the play in question but NFL.com doesn't allow embeds.  I'm sure you've seen the highlight of Stafford's arm going forward but the ball going backwards, recovered by a D lineman would picks it up and lumbers for a touchdown.
Congrats on another Packer win, Rick.
Hey, did you happen to see the Patriots put a complete smackdown on the Texans Monday night?!

Aaron Wins 2nd NFL Pick 'Em Challenge

CONGRATULATIONS to AA for winning the Week 14 Pick ‘Em Blog Challenge.  Both Rick and AA tied for the most wins (10), but AA picked the Patriots and Rick picked to Texans, so AA wins the tie breaker (despite his total score of 57 pts with the actual total score being 56—close enough!!)

This was the Week of the Upset (trending from last week), with arguably five upset wins:   Carolina over the Falcons (the biggest of the week), the Eagles over Tampa Bay; the Chargers toppling the Steagles; the Vikings upsetting the Bears, and the Rams over the favorite Bills. 

There was a lot of drama this week with the OT win by the Skins over the Ravens in a battle of offensive teams (no defense at all!), the Cowboys and the Eagles coming back at the last minute to secure victories.  It seems now that almost everyone in the NFC is in contention for a playoff berth!   

WEEK 14 SCORES
BRONCOS: 26		RAIDERS: 13		REDSKINS: 31		RAVENS: 28
DOLPHINS:  13		49ERS: 27		SAINTS: 27		GIANTS: 52
CARDINALS: 0		SEAHAWKS: 58		RAMS: 15		BILLS: 12
COWBOYS: 20		BENGALS: 19		CHIEFS: 7		BROWNS: 30
TITANS: 23		COLTS: 27		BEARS: 14		VIKINGS: 21
CHARGERS:  34		STEELERS: 24		EAGLES: 23		BUCS: 21
FALCONS: 20		PANTHERS: 30		JETS:  17		JAGUARS:  10
LIONS: 20		PACKERS: 27		TEXANS: 14		PATRIOTS: 42
LEADERBOARD
Name	Points		This Week		Weekly Wins		Week
Rick	138		10		4		8, 9, 10, 12
Shelly	131		6		2		2, 5
Zeb	125		5		3		1, 7, 11
Brent	128		9
Jim	126		7		1		4
Robbie	124		8
Aaron	124		10		2		6, 14
George	108		8		2		3, 13

Time to get your picks in for next week (Week 15):

CIN/PHI            WAS/CLE         NYG/ATL         GB/CHI              MIN/STL          JAX/MIA

TB/NO               DEN/BAL         IND/HOU         SEA/BUF          DET/ARZ         CAR/SD
PIT/DAL           KC/OAK            SF/NE                NYJ/TEN