Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player (song 2 and 3)

(Editor's note: this post is listed as Friday the 14th, but pretend it's really Wednesday the 19th)

First, a few sports comments (that means, Alex, skip down a few paragraphs):

Concerning the Red Sox...

...Eric Gagne is a disaster. I was all for the move the Red Sox made at the trade deadline, but he really hasn't done anything good and has now cost them four games in the standings.
...They've basically clinched a playoff spot (magic number over Tigers for the wild card is 4, I believe), but they really need to finish this off. God help us all if the Yankees were to overtake them. And at this point, they're only half a game up on the Indians and Angels for the best record in the AL, too.

Concerning the Patriots...

...They look really freaking good. Stomping the Jets was one thing - I see them as a typical 7 to 9 win team depending on how the breaks go, just like 75% of the NFL. Stomping the Chargers was another. Maybe we'll find the Chargers aren't as good as last year or Norv Turner sucks at coaching, but at this point in time the Pats laid waste to a team that is widely considered to be one of the top 5 teams in the NFL. Wes Welker and Randy Moss simply will not be stopped this year. It's as simple as that.
...A first round draft pick was pretty harsh penalty for this whole cheating scandal. Let's be realistic - pretty much every team in every sport tries to gain an advantage any way they can. In baseball you've got sign stealing, tar/sandpaper incidents, corked bats, etc. In football, you have retired players admitting as much as most teams trying to steal signs for decades. I'm not condoning these things, and the Pats deserved to be punished to a greater extent because the use of video clearly crosses a line. But a first round pick in the NFL is a big deal, and I'm not sure it quite fit the crime.
...That being said, if it wasn't clear before, it's clear now that the entire Patriots fan base is utterly in love with Belichick. But hey, you win three Super Bowls, you achieve that kind of status. It's interesting how everyone else hates the Patriots now - just six years ago they were a team that had a pretty miserable overall history.

Concerning the Bruins...

...did you know NHL training camps not only opened, but they started the exhibition season two days ago? Me neither. I used to know almost as much about hockey as I did baseball and football, but I'm totally out of the loop these days. Thanks, lockout.

And now a few comments on the life of Nathan:

It's been an interesting week and a half, to say the least. Last week started great, but mid-week was not so hot. I had to run around in circles for a few days dealing with some unauthorized charges to a debit card, and I screwed up my team's softball schedule so that we showed up to a game at the wrong time and had to reschedule it (why the league would send out a "preliminary" schedule, we still don't know). Thursday morning was kind of the perfect storm - I was still in the middle of dealing with the debit card thing and felt like no one was really helping me, and I still felt bad about the softball game the previous night - but it also turned into "just one of those days" that you wake up and really, really just don't want to go to work. To explain to you why I'm not overly excited about my job anymore would be a whole other blog post. Fast forward to later in the day, and I found out that a friend of a friend died - not anyone I knew, but someone not much older than me. The juxtaposition of hearing something like this, compared to the day I was having, made me realize that I wasn't really having such a bad day. Who am I to have a bad day over things that I either have control over or things that don't really matter at all? I can't make these changes immediately, but it was at this point that I realized that I needed to start formulating a plan to make changes instead of moping about the fact that I don't know what those changes need to be yet. Some things in my life that I have far less control over seem to be coming together very nicely, so this should really be a piece of cake, right?

At this time, I'm strongly considering looking into teaching. This feels kind of weird because half my friends are either teachers or started somewhere else like me and made the same switch, but I can really see myself doing it. Their reactions have all been positive (so far, at least!), and I am encouraged by that. I'm not going to lie, spending a good chunk of the next few years focusing on a switch to an entirely different career is a bit disconcerting. But not doing so, well that would probably be worse. I'm pretty sure I'd look into coaching something like track eventually too.

Well, that's probably the most I've ever actually talked about myself in this blog, but I figured the five of you who read this would find it interesting. Until next time...

Part II - Football picks!

Just what you need: more useless, mostly incorrect predictions! I'm not sure why I'm bothering with this because the Pats are going to be the first to chalk up a 19-0 season after winning the Super Bowl, but I guess just to humor you...

x-Division champ
y-Wild Card

AFC East:
x-New England Patriots
Buffalo Bills
New York Jets
Miami Dolphins

Let's be serious for a moment - the Pats were 1 minute away from winning (because they would have beaten the Bears) their 4th Superbowl in six years, until the Colts stomped all over those dreams. I'd forgotten how incredibly disappointing that was until this week - it would have solidified their "dynasty" or whatever word you prefer. Instead, Peyton got his ring. Anyways, the point was going to be, the Pats got BETTER by fixing most of their glaring deficiencies (WR, defense). The AFC is going to be tough to get out of like usual, but I'll be extremely disappointed with anything less than the AFC championship game in Foxborough. As for the rest of the division, I don't think any of them will make the playoffs. I don't think the Dolphins are going anywhere with Trent Green and Ronnie Brown. The Jets were a perfectly built 8-8 team last year who played an easy-ish schedule that allowed them to chalk up 10 wins. The schedule is harder this year, so I think it's a real 8-8. I'm not sure why I placed the Bills second, I just have a weird feeling that they're going to be better than people expect. JP Losman has slowly improved, and if this Marshawn Lynch character is any good for real, well, you never know.

AFC North:
x-Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cleveland Browns

A lot of people like the Ravens, and it's not that I don't think they're good, I just don't love them this year. The Bengals flat out blew a playoff spot last year and they have a really good offense behind Palmer (now two years out from knee surgery), Rudi Johnson, Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh. The Ravens have a good D and probably will be right on the playoff bubble at worst, but how far can you go with Steve McNair these days? I sure don't know. I think the Steelers will be bubble-icious too but third best in the division and the Browns, well, poor Romeo Crennell. You can only do so much with a terrible team.

AFC South:
x-Indianapolis Colts
y-Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans
Houston Texans

The Colts are obviously winning this division. If you don't agree, you should go find a new friend. Like the Bengals, the Jaguars really coughed up a playoff spot last year and I think they'll make it this year. No one really talks about the defense after Chicago, Baltimore, New England, but they always give the Colts fits, and now that they dumped Leftwich and finally said "Hey David Garrard, your better and permanently our starting QB." I think you can't underrate that stability enough. As for the Titans, Vince Young will probably make enough big plays to keep them out of the basement, but he doesn't have much to work with. And... poor Texans. One of these years they'll really go 8-8. I'm not going to say I'd rather have Matt Schaub and Ahman Green over some other tandems in the league, but they could do it.

AFC West:
x-San Diego Chargers
y-Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs
Oakland Raiders

The Chargers are still stacked, so that's a no-brainer. I really like Denver as the other wild card - it didn't help them last year, but Jay Cutler has 6-7 NFL games under his belt and that probably helps him a lot - and now they're plugging Travis Henry into Mike Shanahan's running back factory, except he was already good to begin with. I never understood how he got buried for two years in Buffalo and Tennesse. I don't like the QB situation in KC or Oakland, so good luck and enjoy a long season chaps.

NFC East:
x-Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Cowboys
NY Giants
Washington Redskins

Huge assumption alert! Assuming McNabb and Westbrook stay healthy... I don't know, how do you pick against Philly? They have a reasonable defense too. The other three teams in this division are all on that weird mediocre plane of existence. I'm not sold on Tony Romo, I'm not sold on Brandon Jacobs, I'm not sure the Campbell kid in Washington has enough experience. So the rest is purely guesswork.

NFC North:
x-Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings
Green Bay Packers

Let's just say Rex Grossman should be ever so thankful to play in this division. People like the Lions for some reason this year - they drafted a hot prospect WR, just like the last 13 years running - but I dunno, I'm rooting for them to pull off 8-8. Jon Kitna is by no means a great QB, but I always kind of liked him. Tavaris Jackson doesn't have nearly enough experience to get the Vikings more than 6 wins, but I put them ahead of Green Bay based on the quality of their defense last year. Green Bay is a disaster and Favre should retire. And by that I mean when he breaks the QB records he's going for (I'm convinced this is the only real reason he's still playing) he should hang them up mid-season. I know they love him out there, but he's killing this franchise.

NFC South:
x-New Orleans Saints
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I write this with a little hesitation after they got whupped 41-10 by Indy, but I still think the Saints are for real. Maybe not REAL with all capitals, but real. That offense should win 10 games in its sleep in the NFC. The Falcons and Panthers are a toss up. Carolina's weird because they're the team every year that if they put it together they could be really good, and then they put it together 50% of the time. So I gave the Falcons the benefit of the doubt. Word on the street is maybe Joey Harrington isn't terrible... perhaps wishful thinking, but I think Atlanta fans deserve it if he plays well. The Vick thing isn't their fault. Tampa Bay's gonna be bad.

NFC West:
x-Seattle Seahawks
y-San Francisco 49ers
y-St Louis Rams
Arizona Cardinals

I think Seattle is ready to bounce back into form as one of the top NFC teams this year. Between injuries and not playing well, last year was a lost year, but they still managed 9-7 and a playoff win. I like the 49ers and Rams a lot too, and I don't know if this ever actually happens, but I made them my two wild card teams out of the same division because I think they're next best after the division winners. Probably those three teams have to beat up on each other enough that this is impossible, but whatever, they're my picks. I think if Alex Smith makes a leap forward, and he's been steadily improving, he and Gore make a great duo. Ditto for Bulger and Steven Jackson. I have no idea how the Rams didn't take this division last year, presumably its defense killed them. I think whichever defense between the 49ers and Rams holds up best, that team will make the playoffs. Sorry Cardinals. You're getting better, but so is your division. Better luck next year.

Real Super Bowl contenders: New England, Indy, San Diego, Philly, Seattle.

Let the games begin!

LONG time, no see, part I - odds and ends

Well hello there friends,

So it's been a shade over five months since I posted, which is alternately incredible and kind of convenient because it creates a nice juxtaposition of posts where I can analyze my baseball picks now that the season is almost over.

So what have I been up to the past five months and why haven't I posted, you're wondering? Well, to make a long story short, I moved in with the girlfriend mid-March and things went from ok to disaster in about the time it takes you to read this sentence. In retrospect, I completely and utterly blew that move and I really have no good explanation for it. First time for everything, I guess. Anyways, during that time my computer wasn't hooked up so I haven't been on AIM since about April, nor have I gone into my blog since then (through my AIM profile). But I'm BACK! And by that I mean she's gone and I'm enjoying putting together my new, albeit now kind of expensive, bachelor pad.

Ok, back to analyzing the baseball picks:

AL East: Nice work on my part. I sort of missed the boat on how bad the Devil Rays are again, but called the division champ and wild card from this division. Yeah, like it was hard to pick the Red Sox and Yankees to make the playoffs.

AL Central: I don't know what happened to the Tigers, but the Indians have pretty much wrapped this division up. At least I had them second. Oh, and the White Sox turned out to be a complete disaster. I don't think anyone saw that coming.

AL West: Called all four spots perfectly. I think that deserves a little "Boo yah"

NL East: Ok, fine, I was wrong, the Mets are still the team to beat. The Phillies made a little run last week but look done now.

NL Central: Well, I got the top two teams right and still don't have any idea which one will win the division. I can't bear to see the Cardinals sneak in again with like 82 wins, so please let this not happen.

NL West: Oops, misfired on the Dodgers. Looks like the DBacks and Padres are going to end up division champ/wild card one way or the other.

On a random note, I won $495 last night! Colgate Dave is running a pool in which you're randomly selected teams and whoever scores each of 0, 1, 2, ... etc... 10 runs in a game exactly wins. Well, the first two times a team complete the task, no one owned them so Dave just kept rolling the pot over and it kept growing. One of my two teams was the Yankees, and going into last night they just needed the 3 - and although they probably should have scored about 8-10 runs in the game, they nailed it for me. It's the one and only time I've ever hoped Mariano Rivera wouldn't blow a save and let it go to extra innings.

Joined a co-ed softball team at work that has been lots of fun. We went 4-8 in the summer league, which the general consensus around the league was a good solid start for a first year team. We trimmed the roster a little bit and are starting to have the makeup of a pretty good team and I hope to do well in the fall. We won our first game this week. Unfortunately, during the summer season I pulled a hamstring when I crashed into somebody (they were standing on TOP of third base, idiots) and hurt something in the knee area probably while compensating for the other injury. The six weeks between seasons was juuuuuuuuuust enough time to heal and I felt good this week, which was encouraging. I hope to start running again soon - that plan originally formulated way back in April or May and hasn't come to fruition yet because of the injuries. Fingers crossed!

Final random thought: I had a post started ages ago that was about the New Seven Wonders of the World vote. I thought it was a kind of neat idea since most of the original ones don't exist anymore, and I was going to give my thoughts on what should win. Anyways, they were announced in July so I deleted that post's draft, but here are the winners if you missed it:

Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio de Janeiro
The Colosseum, Rome
The Taj Majal, India
The Great Wall of China, China (sorry for pointing out the obvious)
Ancient city of Petra, Jordan
Machu Picchu, Peru
Chichen Itza, Mexico

Now, I don't know anything about the 5th and 7th one, but I'm sure they're cool. Here's my only problem with the new list, though - the great pyramids are the only original wonder that still exists; how could that NOT make the new list too??? Anyways, I'm just glad things like the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower didn't win - those might nice feats of engineering, but not great enough feats to make them "wonders."

Ok, that's all for the five month summary for the moment. Next up: FOOTBALL PREDICTIONS!