Why you gotta see poker on TV everytime you go to BWs

            As we face the sun falling over the beautiful day that was online poker, I have to wonder how the hell the whole craze got to be so big. Some people simply say that gambling is a degenerative thing and people, particularly young college students, were given infinite access to gambling. It would be somewhat akin to putting a casino in every city, town, farmhouse, or anywhere that a phone line or satellite link could reach. But I wonder if that had been the case, and not the online version of the trend, would we really  have reached the hysteria that online poker created?

It’s just a basketball, right?

Or, should we start to worry about this thing? The players have been outspoken about it, and really, there hasn’t been a whole lot out there about the new basketball other than various players badmouthing the thing. Things might take a turn for the annoying, now, however, as ESPN.com’s headlines produce a story that a “study” shows that the new ball doesn’t behave like the old.

Where we might be in trouble is that the study was apparently done at the request of Mark Cuban.

Totally forgot to post this, but uh, here you go

Sorry for the delay in getting the much anticipated conclusion of the first ever NBA-24 preview. So with out further ado here is how the eastern conference is going to compare with the characters from the BEST SHOW ON TV.

And if you missed the Western Conference preview, well, it is here.

Congratulations St. Louis!

Wow, how could we go through a weekend without talking about this one? St. Louis first, Detroit, second. We had to get around to mentioning it at some point, right? Inevitable, and the like. Well, it can not be said enough. Congrats, St. Louis.

Hey, St. Louis, Congrats, you deserve this Championship. You’ve worked very hard, and as much as I’m not a fan of some of the folks you’ve got putting together this Title run, I think I can get over that and appreciate the victory that you’ve compiled here. Party like it’s, well, party like you party in St. Louis. Have pride in all of your accomplishments, St. Louis. I don’t know what number title this is, but, I’m sure Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa knows. And hey, I’m sure he’s popping the bubbly personally after a Championship like this.

Congrats again, St. Louis…

2006’s most dangerous city. Yes, St. Louis, you managed to wrest that title out of the cold, near-dead, hands of Camden, New Jersey. While the folks of Camden are likely dissapointed to not three-peat with this honor, you really need to hand it to St. Louis. Take nothing away from them on this one. Violent crime up 20%? That’s getting it done.

And the hell with the Cardinals, too, because there’s a damn good chance they’re getting the business end of a shotgun at some point in the next year. Again, congrats St. Louis, this is your day. Your week, even. Celebrate!

Riddle me this….

Ok all of you NFL fans… I have a question for you. This question centers around two rules: the first being that in the NFL, for a catch in the end zone to be a touchdown the player must have both feet inbounds when he comes down; and the second being that as long as the ball has crossed the plane of the endzone it is a touchdown. Here’s my hypothetical… What is the result when a player jumps into the air over the endzone line and catches a ball (while technically in the endzone), however, before both of his feet touch in the endzone, the top half of his body leans forward (this includes the ball) over the endzone line (back out of the endzone towards the one yard line). It is this way when he touches the ground. Is it a touchdown, since the ball crossed the plane, and his feet were technically in the endzone when he landed with the ball…. or is it not a touchdown, since the ball was technically still on the playing field and not in the endzone when his feet touched and when he was down?

Ocho Cinco…Double Decoy?

Chad Johnson is not having the type of season that folks have expected him to have. This week, Johnson says he is back, and that came via one hell of a hilarious locker room interview. Johnson told Atlanta CB DeAngelo “Fall” that he was going to be flippin’ burgers at Willie Anderson’s Fatburger after this week, called himself “ocho cinco”, that he was going to get fined, that the dollar bill was going to change the slogan to “In Chad we Trust”. All in all, one hilarious interview.

Of course, I had to come up with ways to positively spin this for my fantasy team.

the Champ implements a new “3+2” format

Editor’s Note: Look, uh, I’m pretty fuckin’ speechless at these developments…

 

As of press-time the Champ has been unable to get ahold of Joboo editors, so I have decided to take it upon myself to tweak with the format of this column a bit. I think the New Thursday 3+2 column from the Champ will provide Joboo fans with even more excitement each week. That is, I will continue to offer bold predictions as always. But instead of 5, I will provide 3 bold predictions, along with 2 MAC picks of this week. When the football seasons ends, I plan on switching it over to basketball if things go well. I realize the MAC audience might not be rivaling that of the SEC or Big 10, but the simple fact is that you can bet on MAC games just the same as any other, and there is money to be made in the MAC. In fact, the only Division 1-A team in the country to be a perfect 8-0 against the Spread this year comes from the MAC, my beloved Central Michigan Chippewas. So, let’s get to business:

 

The Bold Predictions:

TELL ME WHERE THE LEATHER BASKETBALLS ARE!!!!!!

While watching Game 3 of one of the most depressing World Series of my short life, I was cheered up immensely by catching the preview for the upcoming 24 season. It got me pretty excited about everything 24, which got me thinking of other things making there return in the near future. Since the NBA making a return is a little more on topic for this blog, but given my inability to shake 24 from my mind, I decided, instead of rolling out an NBA season preview full of information you can gather from more reliable sources, I would let you know which NBA franchise corresponds to your favorite/least favorite 24 character. We’re going to start with the Western Conference merely to avoid any appearance of a Midwest bias.

Oh, yeah, that’s the 24 Season 6 trailer debuted Tuesday night.

Charlie Weis is baffled…

That’s not too surprising, really. I mean, Karl Dorrell basically gift-wrapped a victory for the Irish this past weekend that would leave any opposing coach wondering why the man did what he did. Being baffled and asking yourself questions like “did that man seriously tell his defenders to just, uh, not go anywhere near that dude on our team with the crazy last name” is wildly different, however, than what Weis is actually baffled by.

“One of the teams [Tennessee] that jumped us had the same game that we had. They’re down, they’re playing at home and they win by a field goal,” Weis said Tuesday. “Another team [Florida] that jumped us wasn’t even playing. They were home, eating cheeseburgers, and they end up jumping us. That befuddles me.”

A lot of coaches usually say how the polls don’t matter to them, because, uh, the polls normally do not matter in October. Usually winning the games and letting things sort themselves out is what coaches seem to worry about.

“Tell me how that works?” Weis said. “Maybe I’m just stupid. Tell me how that works?”

Well, since you asked, I’ll explain to you how that works.

The Tigers need to stop this lying

Let me first say that I don’t think Kenny Rogers’ pine tar on the hand was the key to his pitching. The Cardinals clearly couldn’t hit the man either way. The Cardinals had one hit on Rogers with the substance on the hand, and one the next seven. Rogers was rolling regardless.

But, uh, I have to think that it was pine tar on his hand and not a clump of dirt, as he happens to claim. I mean, there’s the picture, linked from Espn.com. Oh, and that shot on the left? From the ALCS against the A’s, not two shots from last night. So this was not a clump of dirt, as Kenny claimed after the game. But, the Tigers just couldn’t get their story straight…