SportsBytes #3.1

- That’s right, for my Tuesday sports-related ramblings, I’m bringing back the “SportsBytes” brand that won me an SPJ Mark of Excellence Award back in 2001. So enjoy.

- Obviously, there have been no college football rankings for me (I like to wait until 6 weeks into the season, so I get a real feel for things). That said, I do have some thoughts. Oklahoma looks phenomenal. Alabama is overrated at #2. And watch out for Vandy. They win against Auburn this week, and I’ll put them in my Top 10.

- I know the postseason isn’t even set yet, but I made my picks yesterday. I really don’t think any of these series are very close. The only reason I picked the Rays in 5, instead of 4 or 3, is I’m not sure how the young team will play on the road. As for the Sox, well, I don’t trust their health. But if Lowell and Drew can play, and Beckett can pitch, that could easily be a different series.

- How ‘bout them Redskins?! Yes, it took me 3 items to get to them, but holy crap were they awesome on Sunday. Wanna know the best part of the win? The fact that the Cowboys are now whining and bitching at each other, like a team in disarray. And it’s all because of Jim Zorn’s squad.

-By the way, I’m still not sold on Jim Zorn.

- Jason Campbell, on the other hand, has convinced me that if you give him a month, he can learn any offense mankind has ever created. He’s like the Brainiac of quarterbacks.

- I still can’t write about the Mets. Too soon. Get back to me next week.

My Official Postseason Predictions

Sure, the MLB regular season isn’t actually over yet (the White Sox have a make-up game Monday, then possibly a one-game playoff against the Twins on Tuesday), but I’m ready to make my postseason predictions.

With the Mets out of it (again!) I can predict without bias (except for the Brewers, who suck... I hate Milwaukee right now).

As The Joker would say... “here... we... go...”

NLDS
Phillies def. Brewers, 3-1
Dodgers def. Cubs, 3-1

This is all about the sluggers. I think Ryan Howard will carry the Phillies, and the Crew will only be able to win the game Sabathia starts. Manny will continue being Manny to get the Dodgers past the star-crossed Cubbies.

ALDS
Angels def. Red Sox, 3-1
Rays def. AL Central Champ, 3-2

Beckett’s injury hurts Boston, since he’ll probably only be able to start once in the series. I don’t care who makes it of the Twins and White Sox, I think the Rays win that series.

NLCS
Phillies def. Dodgers, 4-1

Too much Howard, Utley, Rollins, etc. for the Dodgers pitching staff to handle.

ALCS
Rays def. Angels, 4-2

Can you feel the magic in St. Pete? Evan Longoria hits 3 homers, wins series MVP.

World Series
Phillies def. Rays, 4-2

Philadelphia clinches its first title since 1980 (and the first for the city since 1983) on the road, thanks to Brad Lidge’s loss in the All-Star Game.

Thank the Goddess for the Redskins...

... because everything else today was Shit-tastic.

Fuck the Mets and their collapse-o-matic (it's September? The Mets must be choking!). Fuck my fantasy team (seriously? 8 carries for Marion Barber? WTF?!). Fuck, well, actually, that was just about it.

But holy Jeebus, were the Mets bad. Look, the bullpen sucked all season, so it's no surprise they'd suck in the last game of the season. But it would've been nice if maybe, just for once, someone would have provided some actual relief.

As for the Redskins, well, they beat the Cowboys. And, in the interest of equal coverage, PooZ's Bears also won, by beating the Eagles. So here's how the NFC East and North standings look after Sunday:

NFC EAST NFC NORTH

W-L W-L

Giants 3-0 Packers 2-2

Redskins 3-1 Bears 2-2

Cowboys 3-1 Vikings 1-3

Eagles 2-2 Lions 0-4

See, that's just awesome. Both my team and PooZ's team are in 2nd place in the division, and PooZ's Bears are technically tied for 1st. Not bad, not bad at all.

This Week in Buffy History: September 28 - October 4

September 29
1973 - Brad Kane born (played Tucker Wells on Episode 3.20 “The Prom”)
1997 - Episode 2.03 “School Hard” airs on The WB (debut of James Marsters)
1998 - Episode 3.01 “Anne” airs The WB

October 1
2001 - Angel Episode 3.02 “That Vision Thing” airs on The WB
2002 - Episode 7.02 “Beneath You” airs on UPN
2003 - Angel Episode 5.01 “Conviction” airs on The WB

October 2
Unknown Year - Tom Kiesche born (played vampire in episode 5.01 “The Gift”)
2001 - Episode 6.01/6.02 “Bargaining” airs on UPN

October 3
2000 - Episode 5.02 “Real Me” airs on The WB
2000 - Angel Episode 2.02 “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” airs on The WB

October 4
1969 - Abraham Benrubi born (played Olaf the Troll)

Force Unleashed (PooZ, not so much)

OK, while PooZ has been busy moving and painting and doing responsible adult-like stuff, I've been busy doing things like going to baseball games and playing video games (look, I had 5 straight days off from work... I wanted to enjoy it)...

The video game that's been taking up most of my time is "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed". Look, let's be honest. Both PooZ and I are huge Star Wars fans, and we both had our issues with the original trilogy. But as I discussed with PooZ on the phone earlier today, this game might actually represent the best Star Wars story in years.

I don't want to go into too much detail, since PooZ hasn't played the full game yet (he's still livin' off the demo), but it's freakin' awesome. Force powers. Awesome. Lightsaber combos. Awesome. Throwing people off ledges to their long demise. Awesome.

Shea Goodbye

Wow, 2 posts in one day. What’s going on?

Well, I had to post about this. I made what will likely be my final trip to Shea Stadium on Tuesday, to see the Mets beat the Cubs, 6-2.

It was my third trip to Shea this season, the stadium’s final season. I made my first trip way back in 1987, and have been back nearly annually since.

Look, I know the place is a dump, but for Mets fans, it’s our dump. We may not have as many memories as Yankees fans do of their home, but they’re still memories. It’s sad knowing that I won’t be able to take my nephews to their first game at the same place I saw my first game.

Still, I did enjoy my 3 Mets games this season (well, I enjoyed the 2 wins, and was disgusted with the bullpen in the loss). I took plenty of pictures, which you can enjoy in this photo gallery.

Believe it or not, I'm not home!

Hey, what’s this, an actual AdamReisinger.com post from Adam Reisinger? That can’t be possible.

Well, soak it up my friends, because I’m back. Well, technically, if you’ve been reading AdamNPooZ.com, I never left, but I’m back HERE, which is important for, ummm, well, no reason actually.

Sure, I’ve been away for awhile, but I still plan on blogging here, while also sharing my thoughts on AdamNPooZ.com. So here’s how this is going to work, at least from this site’s perspective, starting next week.

Sunday: This Week in Buffy History
- I know you’ve all missed this (or not at all) and I’m moving it to Sunday because it’s a quick and easy post I can get out of the way before sitting down to enjoy my NFL action.

Monday: College Football Rankings
- These actually won’t start until 2 weeks from now. By that point, most teams should be 4 or 5 games into their schedules (6 in some cases) and I’ll have a real sense of how they should be ranked.

Tuesday: Sports-related Ramblings
- Early on, these will mostly be about the NFL, but that will change once NBA season starts up. I may even throw in the occasional college hoops though come December.

Wednesday: Fave 5
- I’m gonna start planning these out more in advance, so I know what I’m writing about. I already have next week’s sketched out, so we should be good.

Thursday: Probably nothing
- Looking I’m not blogging every day. I don’t have the time for it. So there.

Friday: This Week in TV
- I watch a LOT of TV. Here’s where I’ll share my thoughts on what I’ve watched with you. Pretty simple, right? (Oh, and FYI, if you’re not watching “Gossip Girl” and “Privileged” just because you think they’re for teen girls and your not a teen girl, you’re missing out).

Saturday: Wild Card
- I’ll try to post every now and then on Saturday, but I don’t want to commit to a format. Maybe some weeks it’ll be thoughts on the comics I picked up. Sometimes it’ll be about upcoming NFL games. And sometimes I’ll just write random stuff here (though again, the randomness and quickie posts are mostly going on AdamNPooZ.com, so visit that too).

Alright, so it’s like the new fall season of AdamReisinger.com is beginning, after a boring summer hiatus. Enjoy!

Going to Shea... alone...

Ok, so I got 2 tickets to tonight's Mets game against the Cubs, and yet somehow couldn't get any of my friends to go with me. Is that more of a sad commentary on me or the Mets?

Either way, I'm headed to Shea, and hopefully I'll get to see a Mets win. I'm 1-1 this season, though I didn't buy a jersey at the game they lost, so for those keeping track, home teams are still 4-0 in 2008 when I buy their jersey at a game.

Johan Santana is pitching tonight. He's started every Mets game I've gone to this season. Best case scenario: Johan throws the first no-hitter in Mets history, and I get to enjoy it with my future wife, who I meet at the game. Worst case: Johan gets shelled, the Mets lose the Wild Card lead to the Brewers, and my car doesn't start when I get back to New Haven.

Oh, and I wrote this entire post on my iPhone. While Blogger's web interface isn't horrible, would it kill them to release an iPhone app? Still, it's better than iWeb (which reminds me, I may actually update AdamReisinger.com when I get home).

Now THIS is a fantasy...

Amazingly, despite being the so-called "expert", I've never won the Black Ops fantasy football league. In fact, I've never finished better than 3rd.

Now, I'll probably regret writing this at the end of the season, when I'm playing in the 7th place game, but I'm rolling so far.

I'm 2-0. I've scored the most points in the league by more than 30 points. I scored the most points in Week 1, and did it again in Week 2.

Let's analyze my roster:

- My QBs are Philip Rivers and Jason Campbell.

- My RBs are Marion Barber, Maurice Jones-Drew, Michael Turner, Jonathan Stewart and Kevin Smith

- My WRs are Reggie Wayne, Roy Williams, Torry Holt, Lee Evans and Chansi Stuckey

- Rounding out my roster, my TE is Chris Cooley, my K is Ryan Longwell, and I've got the Titans Defense/Special Teams.

Overall, I've got 4 of the top 20 players in the league so far, and only Cooley and MJD rank outside the top 102 (in a 10-team league with 15-man rosters).

Look, I'm not saying I'm going to win this league (PooZ has a really good team too, and there are a couple other guys that worry me). But I am saying that I'm off to a great start, and for the first time in this league, I really like my roster.

Hail to the Redskins!

I gave PooZ's team their props last week, so it's time for me to gloat a bit.

The Redskins picked up their first win of the season with a HUGE come-from-behind win against the Saints, thanks in large part to the heroics of Jason Campbell and Santana Moss.

Now, I'm still not sold on the Zorn offense (most of the Skins productivity came from old-fashioned pounding on the ground, and going long through the air, none of which is part of the West Coast Offense), but the coach himself gets a reprieve for one week.

Oh, and how amazing is it that the Skins were a quarter away from being 0-2, while the Bears were a quarter away from being 2-0. That's why they play the entire 60 minutes (just ask the Chargers).

Also, on the topic of gloating, I believe I'm now 2-0 in the Black Ops fantasy football league (I was up by 44 points heading into Monday night, and had Marion Barber in my lineup). Go CashFlow Biggums!

It's Party Time! (Almost)

OK, so I listen to Britney Spears music, watch "Gossip Girl" religiously, and follow the celebrity lives of people like Lindsay Lohan... and yet somehow, between me and PooZ, I'M the one without a Facebook account (I also don't have MySpace or Twitter or Flikr or any of that stuff... I've got AdamnPooZ.com, and I'm good with that)...

That's really just a long and rambling way of me saying that until I had Sarah e-mail me the Halloween invitation specifically, I hadn't seen it. I'd guess there are some of you out there like me, so here it is:

Look, you know you wanna be there. You listened to the Podcast. Me+PooZ+Costumes+Alcohol+Party=Awesome (I think that's actually Einstein's 3rd law of relativity).

Da Bears!

OK, so I'm not a bears fan, but PooZ is, so I'll placate my compadre by writing about how awesome they looked Sunday night.

The fact is, their defense looked very impressive in frustrating Peyton Manning and completely shutting down Joseph Addai.

The offense, well, Kyle Orton didn't blow anything, and Matt Forte was actually pretty damn impressive.

Add it all up, and the Bears are atop the NFC North, and they've handed the Colts just their 3rd season-opening loss in the Peyton Manning era (FYI, those losses are to Dan Marino, Tom Brady and... Kyle Orton?!).