NFL 2008 Projections - NFC Edition

Hate it or love it, the Boys are on top. No - this is not a 50 Cent remix with the former members of G-Unit, these are my predictions for the upcoming football season. I usually do pretty good in my head, so now it is time to put these projections on digital paper to revisit in the "I Told You" post sure to come in January after my dreams come true.

NFC East
1. Dallas - The Boys are truly the best team in the NFC on paper. They have had some let downs in the past 2 postseasons but don't let that fool you. This team is the real deal. They have sured up their pass coverage woes (yes I am talking about Roy Horse Collar Williams) by drafting Jenkins and getting Adam Jones. Throw in Zach Thomas and the defense should be able to repeat its performance from last year. On offense, Marion will be unleashed and Felix the Great will flash some of that 8ypc he showed at Arkansas. TO, is TO and Patrick Crayton has the best job as 3rd fiddle since Steve Kerr.
2. Philadelphia - McNabb despite not having anyone to throw to of Pro-Bowl status will have a great year. Letting Westbrook pace the team as usual, the Eagle are my surprise pick to win the Wild Card. The defense should be able to defend the spread better than any other with 3 Pro Bowl caliber CBs. Desean Jackson is the difference maker this team has yurned for.
3. Washington - Let's face it, this is an over achieving team. After Sean Taylor's murder, they really banned together and rode their emotions to the playoffs. This year, they will be right in the thick of things with a heavy dose of Portis and defense. Jason Taylor will be ready for the upcoming season, ready to prove he is more than just a dancer with great looks.
4. New York Giants - From 1st to worst is usually a horrible thing for a franchise. But when you play in the toughest division in football, worst could mean you are 8-8 or 7-9. The lost of Strahan (currently on Brett Favre's retirement plan) and now Osi have left a vital hole to fill in what essentially won the championship: dominating pass rush.

NFC South
1. New Orleans - New defense, healthy (somewhat) backfield and did I mention new defense? The Saints should return to the form that got them deep into the playoffs two years ago despite a banged up running game. Duece McCallister is coming back again from knee surgery and Reggie Bush is not an every down back just yet. Look out for Pierre Thomas to fill the main carries role if Duece can't get loose. On the defensive side of the ball, the additions of Jon Vilma, Randall Gay, Sedrick Ellis and a few others should give the Saints enough defense to get at least to the 2nd round of the playoffs.
2. Carolina - Despite losing Steve Smith for 2 games for going Tyson on his teammate, the Panthers are in a good position. For once, they wont have to worry about losing Smith to injury early. Add despite all of the woes they faced last year with QBs, the defense played lights out and the team finished 7-9.
3. Atlanta - Rebuilding is in full swing and so is the Matt Ryan era. He has been named the starter which equates to him trying not to mess up more than win games. This should be a clinic of Big Ben in Pitt his first year with a massive ground game. Michael Turner will try to prove he is worthy of starter money and Jerious Norwood will try to prove he is still relevant as a change of pace back.
4. Tampa Bay - Although they did not have any relevant personnel changes, I just think last year was a fluke. The Bucs played great defense, made plays when they had to, but mostly capitalized from a weak division and injuries. It seems like you just keep waiting on father time to finally catch up with this team (Garcia, Galloway, Brooks, Barber, etc.) and it seems it is this year. Everyone else in the division made significant moves, the Bucs dropped the buck.
NFC West

1. Seattle - It's not that the Seahawks are that good, but more of saying that this could be the weakest division in football. Despite the star power (Hasselbeck, Holt, Jackson, Warner/Leinart, Gore, Fitz/Bolden), this division has some of the weaker teams around. Seattle may struggle early with a number of receivers out, but it should be better after the return of Branch and Engram that should lead them to their 6th consecutive conference title.
2. St. Louis - Not that the Rams have made any key improvements, but again this division is lacking the key ingredients to knock them any lower. The Rams drafted a speed rush energy guy in Chris Long but didnt sure up the gaping holes they had at WR, DT, CB, S, or depth anywhere else. Long will be able to help get pressure on the pass happy West but these teams have superior talent at WR compared to the Rams Db's.
3. Arizona - Matt Leinart is about to lose his job to a busboy. Well not really, this busboy is Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner. Leinart, overhyped but decent qb, has never really lived up to the hype. His lack of cannon arm has not been helped by his poor judgement or glaring accuracy problems. I liked Leinart coming into this year, he should have been able to hit a lot of quick hitters to his star combo of Fitzgerald/Bolden. However, after Kurt Warner gets hurt (its inevitable), the shine will be on Leinart, and if the light is too bright, he may become the next David Carr.
4. San Francisco - Mike Martz is a genius. He found a way to blow the biggest game and point spread in Super Bowl history (before the 18-1 Pats). What has that gotten him? Two more offensive coordinator positions. Will Martz finally run the ball in a WR deprived offense of the 49ers? Frank Gore will try to stay healthy, Ike Bruce will be a good role model and creep towards more HOF credentials, and the defense will be tough. But a team that is debating between JT O'Sullivan and Shaun Hill as the starting qb can not be serious about a playoff push, can they?

NFC North
1. Green Bay - Yes. Brett Favre is gone. Yes Aaron Rodgers is inexperienced and wide-eyed. But the Packers are going to prove the critics wrong and prosper post Favre. The defense is turning the corner, but needs some young blood in the secondary to help Woodson and Al Harris as they start to wind down. Otherwise, the defense is stout, Ryan Grant will see if he was a one-year wonder and the boo birds will be out early if Rodgers doesnt deliver. No fret, he will.
2. Minnesota - Despite all the hype surrounding the defense and running game, this team just doesn't seem to impress you. Of course, their is the traditional talk that Peterson and Taylor are enough to walk through the division, but your team can not be built solely on the ground. Tavaris Jackson will be good enough to lead them down the stretch, especially since they have one of the easiest schedules after week 9.
3. Detroit - Post Mike Martz Detroit will fair better on offense that with Martz. The arrogance that comes with Martz has rubbed off and the team is better for that, but even the genius needs a reality check sometimes. A more balanced attack will help this retooled defense keep a number of games close, but they still will fall under .500.
4. Chicago - The Bears are starting Kyle Orton at qb, Devin Hester at WR, and a rookie RB, Matt Forte. Yes they are rebuilding. A few years removed from a Super Bowl lost, the Bears seem to be getting long in the tooth on their staple, defense. Mike Brown doesn't look the same, Urlacher has chronic back pain, and the corners look very suspect.

Playoffs
Dallas, Green Bay, Seattle, New Orleans, WC - Philadelphia, Minnesota

Dead Man Standing

The body of deceased Angel Pantoja Medina stands erect and leans against a wall by his coffin during his own wake in his mother's home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday, Aug. 18, 2008. The last wish of Medina , 24, who was found dead on Aug. 15, 2008 underneath a bridge in the capital, was to be standing at his own wake, and was embalmed for the occasion. (AP Photo/Juan Alicea Marcado, El Nuevo Dia)


This is utterly ridiculous. Sure we have seen people in the casket that looks like a car, or with their favorite team decoration, or even with the full ensemble of trickets inside the casket with them. But to be standing over the casket that you should be in? What if you didn't know that he was in the corner when you walk in the room? That would be the scariest and weirdest thing in the world. Or what if you looked in the casket and thought that he was missing?

(Untitled) Technology

If the word (untitled) offends you, I am sorry. But this is some of the most important technological advice you will hear.

Redeem Team: Statement Time

Have you seen this photo? No, it is not an invitation to get your eyes checked, nor a photoshop. This is the Spanish National Team's version of talking smack. Throw all the "yo momma" jokes out the window, this is a slap in the face to the host nation China. The teams response, "What's the big deal?" If they don't see a problem, I guess they never will.

My problem is the perception that the NBA has an image problem. Say what you want about tattoes and saggy shorts, nobody is posing with the New Black Panther Party with "Kill Whitey" shirts on with a black fist. Will the Spanish team get a pass? Of course. Because they are European? Nope. They will get a pass the same way that their other acts have come to pass.

Spanish sports is no stranger to racial controversy.

1. Luis Aragones, the head coach of Spain’s men’s soccer team, was overheard telling his player Jose Antonio Reyes to “tell that black (expletive) you are better than him” at a training session in 2004. Aragones was referring to Thierry Henry, a black player from France who was then a teammate of Reyes at English Premier League club Arsenal.
   
2. At a Formula One motor racing testing session this year, a group of Spanish fans believed to be supporting home driver Fernando Alonso were pictured with their faces covered with black paint. They wore T-shirts with the slogan “Hamilton’s Family,” a reference to Alonso’s world title rival Lewis Hamilton, a black Englishman.
   
3. Moreover, at an exhibition match in Madrid in 2004, several black members of the England men’s soccer team were subjected to monkey chants and whistles whenever they touched the ball.
   
   Spain recently beat China in overtime after overcoming a 19point deficit. All I can say is that the Redeem Team is set to play Spain on Aug 16th at 10:15 am est and should hold no mercy....they could be on the next photo shoot. We don't even want to imagine that one....do we?

Who Needs Baseball?

She looks like the future ex-wife.

Something's Gotta Give - Big Boi ft Mary J Blige

Sumthin's Gotta Give
by yardie4lifever2

Only two things with this video - 1. Big Boi is wearing the Big Boi crown t-shirt that used to be the Outkast crown t-shirt. Maybe I am reading to much into that, but my favorite group can not break up. Not now. Not how terrible music is nowadays. 2. What if gas was $7.35 a gallon? Would I be able to call in to work and my excuse would be not that I am sick, but gasless?

MJ works the Crowd

The Michael Jordan-Kobe Bryant comparisons have obviously gotten on MJ’s nerves. Michael wasn’t messing around, trying to get a rise out of the crowd. He was saying what he truly believes.. And he’s right. In their primes Michael Jordan is better than Kobe Bryant. Not even close.

Other than MJ setting the record straight the best part of the video is the kids in the background yelling for a 45-year-old Michael Jordan to dunk the ball. You can see Mike only wanted to shoot jumpers and layups, but he’s also a showman so he gave the people what they wanted.
From YouBeenBlinded.com

Houston, We have a Problem?

The NBA is a copycat league. In the 80s, everyone got caught up in the run and gun of Showtime. The 90s, build your team around 2 superstars like Jordan/Pippen, Duncan/Robinson, Hakeem/Drexler, then fill your roster out with role players. Now, heading into the 2008 season, the 3 headed monster is the way to go. Dont get me wrong, teams still want the superstar that sells tickets, the classy superstar that doesnt cause any "image" problems, and the up-and-coming superstar that has a cult following. With the Celtics pummelling the Lakers in Game 6 of the Finals, the verdict was in: You can't win without the three headed monster. Ultimately, KG, Ray Allen, Pierce and Co. proved too much for the Lakers and Kobe. The key here it was Kobe, Gasol, and the third piece was Odom by default. Had they had the promising Bynum in the lineup, it is another ball game. So what has happened since then? Panic.

Teams are going after the new model of small ball and agile stars. The latest sucked into this fray are the Houston Rockets. The Rockets traded Bobby Jackson, a player to be named (Dontae Green), and a future 1st rounder to the Kings to rent Ron Artest. Yes, rent. Artest is in the last year of a contract that pay a modest $7.4 million. Yes, modest for a player that is arguably the Dennis Rodman of his era when its comes to defense, intensity, and plain old scary. But this experiment could over as just another Houston melee did with Scottie Pippen and Charles Barkley. One and done. Beyond that, where does Ron Ron fit in the lineup? Last years starters: Alston, T-Mac, Battier, Scola, Yao. So does Ron Ron play the 4 and Houston play somewhat small ball. (Sidenote: Can't play small ball when someone on your team is 7'5.) Projected Lineup A: Alston, T-Mac, Battier, Ron Ron, Yao. Good lineup if you are playing against the East but does Ron Ron guard Amare, Boozer, David West, Pau? Dont think so. Sure he has help over the top in Yao but that is a lot to ask a player that would rather promote his rap album next summer with DJ Drama.

I hope this is just trade bait to lure an actually need to Houston. With the stars on this team turning the corners in their careers, Houston is still in the playoffs, but they are not going anywhere fast.

Why play a losing game?

Study uncovers why low-income people buy lottery tickets

Although state lotteries, on average, return just 53 cents for every dollar spent on a ticket, people continue to pour money into them — especially low-income people, who spend a larger percentage of their incomes on lottery tickets than do the wealthier segments of society. A new Carnegie Mellon University study sheds light on the reasons why low-income lottery players eagerly invest in a product that provides poor returns.

In the study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, participants who were made to feel subjectively poor bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets as a comparison group that was made to feel subjectively more affluent. The Carnegie Mellon findings point to poverty's central role in people's decisions to buy lottery tickets.

"Some poor people see playing the lottery as their best opportunity for improving their financial situations, albeit wrongly so," said the study's lead author Emily Haisley, a doctoral student in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. "The hope of getting out of poverty encourages people to continue to buy tickets, even though their chances of stumbling upon a life-changing windfall are nearly impossibly slim and buying lottery tickets in fact exacerbates the very poverty that purchasers are hoping to escape."

The researchers influenced participants' perceptions of their relative wealth — or lack thereof — by having them complete a survey on their opinions of the city of Pittsburgh that included an item on annual income. The group made to feel poor was asked to provide its income on a scale that began at "less than $100,000" and went upward from there in $100,000 increments, ensuring that most respondents would be in the lowest income category. The group made to feel subjectively wealthier was asked to report income on a scale that began with "less than $10,000" and increased in $10,000 increments, leading most respondents to be in a middle or upper tier.

Participants, who were recruited at Pittsburgh's Greyhound Bus terminal, were paid $5 for completing the survey and given the opportunity to buy as many as five scratch-off lottery tickets. The experimental group purchased an average of 1.27 lottery tickets, compared with 0.67 tickets bought by the members of the control group.

A second experiment reported in the paper found that indirectly reminding participants that, while different income groups face unequal outcomes in education, jobs and housing, everyone has equal chances of winning the lottery induced an increase in the number of lottery tickets purchased. The group given this reminder purchased 1.31 tickets, compared with 0.54 for the group not given such a reminder.

In the study, the researchers note that lotteries set off a vicious cycle that not only exploits low-income individuals' desires to escape poverty but also directly prevents them from improving upon their financial situations. They recommend that state lottery administrators explore strategies that balance the economic burdens faced by low-income households with the need to maintain important funding streams for state governments.

"State lotteries are popular revenue sources that are unlikely to go away anytime soon," said George Loewenstein, a study co-author and Herbert A. Simon professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon. "However, it is possible to implement measures that can actually benefit low-income lottery players and lead to fairer outcomes." Loewenstein noted that one such potential method for addressing income inequality, which has shown promise in other countries, is tying lottery tickets to savings accounts.

U.S. AIDS policies neglect blacks

Link

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. policies and cash may be leading the fight against AIDS globally, but they have neglected the epidemic among black Americans, the Black AIDS Institute said in a report released on Tuesday.

While blacks account for one in eight people in the United States, half of all Americans infected with HIV are black, the report found.

"We are 30 percent of the new cases among gay men, 40 percent of the new cases among men in general, 60 percent of the cases among women and 70 percent of the new cases among youth," Black AIDS Institute CEO Phill Wilson told reporters in a telephone briefing.

"Yet ... the U.S. response to AIDS in black America stands in sharp contrast to the international response to the epidemic overseas," he added.

Al Sharpton, a prominent activist and founder of the National Action Network, agreed.

"U.S. policy makers seem to be much more interested in the epidemic in Botswana than the epidemic in Louisiana. This is an unnecessary and deadly choice. Both need urgent attention," Sharpton said.

Dr. Helene Gayle, former head of AIDS for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and now president of the poverty-fighting charity CARE, said many HIV infected blacks are not in traditional high-risk groups such as men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and sex workers.

"The federal government's approach to the epidemic in black America is fundamentally flawed," Gayle said. This includes both a lack of funding and poor targeting of the money, she said.

EMPOWERMENT AND EDUCATION

Approaches that would work among black Americans include policies to empower women. "Black women often cannot insist on abstinence or the use of condoms for fear of violence or other emotional trauma," Gayle said.

Black American women are 23 times more likely than white women to become infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, the report found.

A lack of education works against young people, who are often powerless and in sexual relationships with older people, who can infect them, Gayle said. Wider testing for HIV among blacks is also essential, the report stressed.

And better prevention messages that use language that will reach drug users, youths and men who have sex with men are key.

"We have focused on abstinence-only (methods) even though they don't work in our community," Wilson said.

Information about condom use is important, Wilson said. "We also need to look at needle exchange," he said -- noting that although needle exchange programs work to reduce HIV transmission while doing nothing to encourage drug use, they are frowned upon by the federal government.

Education campaigns can battle myths about disease transmission, as well as conspiracy theories that cause many blacks to mistrust the medical system, Wilson said.

The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, will spend $48 billion over the next five years to help treat and prevent AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in 15 targeted countries and is considered a showpiece of George W. Bush's presidency.

"More black Americans are infected with HIV than the total populations of people living with HIV in seven of the 15 countries served by PEPFAR," Wilson said.

"Were black America a separate country, it would elicit major concern and extensive assistance from the U.S. government. Instead, the national response to AIDS among black Americans has been lethargic and often neglectful."