Madden NFL Fantasy Draft

We ran a Madden NFL Fantasy draft to see where things would wind up with the best players in the league. In the Fantasy draft the Colts got the first pick, and they
selected (drum roll for this crazy stuff) Bob Sanders!
the rest was far more realistic,
#2 LT
#3 Brady
#4 Peyton
#5 Randy Moss
One person we should have thought of went 9ish and that was Albert Haynesworth. No TEs or G in the 1st round and Champ Bailey was the only CB taken and that was 29th.
I thought that Bailey and Corners in general would be a relatively hot commodity.

A: I like it. If healthy, Brady goes #1 in my book but that's a big if. Glad you are an LT homer like me. I know it sounds crazy but I actually think he's been underrated his entire career, minus the MVP season of course. Yeah, my boy Haynesworth is a monster. He's top 10 no question.

T: The only thing about LT is that before this year he was pretty much invincible, now that the curtain has been pulled back a little he may start to decline with these little injuries. I still think he is top 5 all time without a doubt in my mind, maybe even the best IMHO

National Championship Game

I'm going to write this before i read any messages that are in my box.

Oklahoma's defense played far better than I think anyone expected them to. They did a great job of confusing Tebow (and the rest of the offense) and shutting down any kind of running threat in the first half. I think Tebow had a subpar game except for the last two TD drives. Other than those two drives he looked scared IMO and was inaccurate on any resemblance of a deep throw. They also had Florida's line jumping
all over the place. UF could never get any kind of rhythm going at all and needed Tebow to strap them on his back and run them down the field for that second TD, and it wasn't until the final TD drive that the Gator offense looked comfortable in the game. I know you guys probably don't remember this, but oklahoma did the same thing Auburn did the last two times they beat Meyer's gators. Bring your safeties up, daring them to throw downfield, and run your defense straight up the field at them.

Oklahoma may have the best offensive line in the history of college football. I told my brother the Florida fan yesterday that they should look at what Ohio State did to Texas for their game plan: Blitz the hell out of the QB. And they did, it just wasn't as effective. Other than a hold here and there the OL from OU handled a man for a man. The exceptions being in crucial situations like 4th and goal at the 1. If you can't get that 1 yard you don't deserve to win. I still think maybe
the Heisman should go to OU's OL.

Do you think the play by Oklahoma's Nic(sp?) Harris on Harvin was dirty? You tackle a guy who has had an injured ankle, then when you get up you drag him half a yard by that ankle. The announcers touched on it, but i haven't listened or read anything to see if anyone else is talking about it.

All in all this was a honey of a game. Take out all the penalties
(lots and lots of penalties) and you have yourself a classic. Of the
BCS title games over the years, it has to be in the top 3 with USC vs.
Texas, and anOSU vs. Miami (more of a testament to crappy title games). But now i think there is some pressure off of Jim Tressel because now everyone will be pointing at Stoops as being "overrated" or "underachieving". It's not true, and hey, maybe Oklahoma will play anOSU in a title game and we will all want to shoot ourselves

How did the predictions go?

If you will remember, I didn't officially make as many predictions as
as usual. However, I did have some unofficial predictions like
Marshawn Lynch having a phenomenal fantasy football season and Michael
Turner flopping fantasy wise that obviously didn't turn out so hot. I
also thought the Falcons and Ravens were morons for starting their
rookie quarterbacks. Here is another prediction that was not so good for me.

"Mike Tomlin will come under heavy fire from the fans"

You will remember this was actually more about the Steelers tough
schedule than poor coaching by Tomlin. Regardless, the prediction
flopped. I think my other four predictions turned out pretty well.
You guys can make the call.

"The Tennessee Titans will lead the NFL in rushing yards"

"New Orleans Saints 2008 offense = New England Patriots 2007"

"A defensive lineman will win the defensive player of the year award"

"At least two second-year safeties will make the Pro Bowl"


Vince Young factored into my rushing yards equation but he was benched
in favor of Kerry Collins. So that prediction was okay. I also
didn't predict the Titans offensive line would pull a San Diego and
suddenly turn into a much better pass blocking than run blocking unit.
Had the Saints offense not suffered so many injuries I feel extremely
confident that prediction would have come true. Ed Reed, DeMarcus
Ware, or James Harrison may win the defensive player of the year award
but I think it's pretty safe to say this has been a very good year for
star defensive linemen. And while my second-year safeties prediction
fell short, no one questions Michael Griffin turned in a Pro Bowl
caliber season. Brandon Merriweather played well too and who could
have guessed that LaRon Landry, Reggie Nelson, and Eric Weddle would
badly regress as a group this season. That was very odd.

I was also right to predict the Titans and Panthers making the
playoffs, both of which were quite controversial picks at the time. I
was also right to pick Minnesota to win their division and the Eagles
to claim a wild card spot. Not placing Dallas as the #1 seed in the
NFC and predicting they wouldn't win a playoff game was good, even if
my #1 seed was the Saints. I was way way off about the Giants and
Browns. I actually pride myself in putting the Jaguars as the #5 seed
in the AFC playoffs considering the level of hype surrounding this
team in the preseason.

My list of obscure NFL players that will make or break the 2008 season
fell flat for the most part but I did get a couple players right in
LaMarr Woodley, Jason Jones, and Ryan Kalil. Many of the players who
flopped were playing for teams that turned out to be horrendous

Book Review: “The Secret”

Ari Brouillette's review of "The Secret" in it's original form can be found here, but is pasted below since I am sure it will be taken down by Amazon very very soon.

 

Please allow me to share with you how "The Secret" changed my life and in a very real and substantive way allowed me to overcome a severe crisis in my personal life. It is well known that the premise of "The Secret" is the science of attracting the things in life that you desire and need and in removing from your life those things that you don't want. Before finding this book, I knew nothing of these principles, the process of positive visualization, and had actually engaged in reckless behaviors to the point of endangering my own life and wellbeing.
At age 36, I found myself in a medium security prison serving 3-5 years for destruction of government property and public intoxication. This was stiff punishment for drunkenly defecating in a mailbox but as the judge pointed out, this was my third conviction for the exact same crime. I obviously had an alcohol problem and a deep and intense disrespect for the postal system, but even more importantly I was ignoring the very fabric of our metaphysical reality and inviting destructive influences into my life.
My fourth day in prison was the first day that I was allowed in general population and while in the recreation yard I was approached by a prisoner named Marcus who calmly informed me that as a new prisoner I had been purchased by him for three packs of Winston cigarettes and 8 ounces of Pruno (prison wine). Marcus elaborated further that I could expect to be anally raped by him on a daily basis and that I had pretty eyes.
Needless to say, I was deeply shocked that my life had sunk to this level. Although I've never been homophobic I was discovering that I was very rape phobic and dismayed by my overall personal street value of roughly $15. I returned to my cell and sat very quietly, searching myself for answers on how I could improve my life and distance myself from harmful outside influences. At that point, in what I consider to be a miraculous moment, my cell mate Jim Norton informed me that he knew about the Marcus situation and that he had something that could solve my problems. He handed me a copy of "The Secret". Normally I wouldn't have turned to a self help book to resolve such a severe and immediate threat but I literally didn't have any other available alternatives. I immediately opened the book and began to read.
The first few chapters deal with the essence of something called the "Law of Attraction" in which a primal universal force is available to us and can be harnessed for the betterment of our lives. The theoretical nature of the first few chapters wasn't exactly putting me at peace. In fact, I had never meditated and had great difficulty with closing out the chaotic noises of the prison and visualizing the positive changes that I so dearly needed. It was when I reached Chapter 6 "The Secret to Relationships" that I realized how this book could help me distance myself from Marcus and his negative intentions. Starting with chapter six there was a cavity carved into the book and in that cavity was a prison shiv. This particular shiv was a toothbrush with a handle that had been repeatedly melted and ground into a razor sharp point.
The next day in the exercise yard I carried "The Secret" with me and when Marcus approached me I opened the book and stabbed him in the neck. The next eight weeks in solitary confinement provided ample time to practice positive visualization and the 16 hours per day of absolute darkness actually made visualization about the only thing that I actually could do. I'm not sure that everybody's life will be changed in such a dramatic way by this book but I'm very thankful to have found it and will continue to recommend it heartily.

New sayings

When life gives you Lemons, go around the corner and get yourself some fucking oranges…