to spice it up):
Congrats to my pal Shamu for hitting the biggest gain
this week.
The average wagered by each team was a hefty 78% of total
points, resulting in an average risk of 18,532 points! Staggering!
The Point Pool gave people a lot to be thankful for on
Thursday. 135,000 points were won in the point pool versus 23,300 lost.
Overall, people made more good picks than bad picks. 58%
of the picks were good to 42% bad. And, as an added bonus, they wagered more on
the good picks. 64% of the points wagered were on winners.
I guess it’s appropriate during the Thanksgiving weekend
when everyone is traveling that the Road Teams would be so victorious. Of the
12 games played Sunday, only 2 were won by the Home Team.
Six underdog road teams won outright.
Did you know that cattle belching is more harmful to the
environment than cars?? In fact, 18% of greenhouse gases can be attributed to
the methane emitted through cattle belching. That is higher than the total
impact of all transportation - cars, , buses, planes, ships. One cow can burp
up to 50 million metric tons of methane gas each year. Holy Cow!! Correct me if
I’m wrong, but it sounds like we need to stop trading in our SUVs for hybrids
and start eating more burgers.
I hope everyone is betting the overs this year and
cashing in. Whether it’s over in total points or over in total number of times
the announcers said the word "gunslinger" in Sunday’s Broncos/Jets game. Either
way, winner!!!
Speaking of The Broncos and Jets, who has the bigger
identity crisis after Sunday?s game? The week prior, the Jets dominated the
previously undefeated Titans while the Broncos pissed away a game at home
against the Raiders. Can the real Jets and Broncos please stand up? It was fun
to see all of the analysts backpedal after saying that the Jets were the best
team in the AFC, though. I like a good backpedal.
Indy has only won one game by more than 6 points, but
they are favored this week over the Bengals by 13.5.
USC is forfeiting 2 timeouts in the game against UCLA
this weekend to wear Red on the road. (In college, road teams are supposed to
wear white). To make it really worth it, I hope they go full on Red like the
Titans did last night.
Speaking of the Titans, did you guys hear the lyrics to
Hank Williams Jr’s MNF song last night? "We’re gonna blow the roof off Houston tonight."
Slightly inappropriate after Hurricane Ike.
And did you see the announcers, with their full on man
crush, lusting over Jack Del Rio. "Oooooh, he looks so handsome in that leather
jacket"? Jaws honestly said, "Del Rio
is the perfect image of the team; tough and strong and looks really good
getting off the bus".
Why do I insist on watching MNF with the sound on? And
why must I watch the pre-game show? Ugh. I just can’t stop. I must enjoy
torturing myself. I am also watching Fringe week after week after week. Even
though I described the show as raking open nerve endings over a cheese grater.
Last week, my sister and I watched a couple of the episodes I had on my Tivo.
Then we spent the subsequent 2 hours, sharing a bottle of wine and comparing
all of the things that bother us about the show. I guess that’s why we torture
ourselves. To bond over shared misery.
So, while I’m watching all of these shows I hate and
wasting countless hours, I’m way behind in my reading. I have 2 books to read
right now, with another 4 books on hold at the library. Plus, I just found out
that my all time favorite author, Christopher Moore, is coming out with a new
book in February. I can definitely get through my current reading list before
February, but I think that Moore’s
new book requires a prerequisite. The book is titled Fool and it is the story
of King Lear told from the fool?s perspective. The Publisher’s Weekly review is
awesome and promises "tragedy, comedy and medieval porn action." I guess I have
to read King Lear now.
What was the more surprising news of the day? The fact
that we have been in a recession for a year or that the Giants suspended
Plaxico?
Do you know who controls the clichés used in our
language? Do you think we can convince them to change the cliché from "shooting
yourself in the foot" to "shooting yourself in the leg?"
So, you all know the story by now. Plaxico goes to a
nightclub on Friday night. With a gun. Tucked in his sweatpants. While being
escorted to the VIP room with a drink in hand, the gun slips. He reaches down
to catch it. Gun fires. Jon Stewart asked a great question last night, "so, did
his penis unhook the safety?"
Page 2 on ESPN had a great opinion question today:
What are you sick of hearing about?
- Plaxico Burress
- Stephon Marbury
- The BCS
- Britney Spears
Speaking of Britney Spears, Yahoo just released the top
searches for 2008. Britney came in at numero uno. Unbelievable!!! She has been
#1 for 7 out of the last 8 years. Just look back at 2008… It was an amazing
year. Historic presidential election, introduction of Sarah Palin into the
mainstream, Summer Olympics, economic turmoil, bailout packages, Wendy’s
rollout of the Baconator, etc. And stupid people can only think of one thing to
care about? Britney Spears. Ridiculous! World Wrestling Entertainment came in
at #2. I didn’t even know that was still around. Barack Obama slightly edged
Miley Cyrus for the coveted #3 spot.
If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I
wouldn’t be more surprised than I am now?
So, in the last 2 weeks, I found out some
surprising/disturbing things about 2 of my favorite people. Last week, I found
out that Big Papa loves (loves) musicals and ABBA and then this weekend I found
out that my dad hates (hates) Star Wars. Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!? You think you know
someone.
I knew that Big Papa enjoyed going to NYC to see "plays"
but I thought he was really going to see theater, which is respectable. Imagine
my surprise when he started talking about all of the fairy prancing musicals
he’s seen over the years and which ones are his favorite and how much he wants
to go see Mama Mia, which is the Broadway musical rendition of all ABBA songs
rolled into one 2 hour torture session. Ugh. When did he turn into such a candy
pants?? Does he see musicals as something that will take his mind off of the
atrocity that has become Notre Dame football? In that case, I might actually
start rooting for the Irish. 
In my opinion, there is nothing worse than having to sit
in a theater, watching a story slowly progress through music and dancing. Blah.
I speak from experience. I have seen a few musicals. And I lived to talk about
it. I saw Cats. It was horrible. I hate cats in general. Cats are disgusting,
filthy and untrustworthy. Seriously. You walk into a room, the cat looks at you
as if to say "f you!" and then proceeds to lick him/herself and cough up fur
balls. So you can imagine the torment associated with seeing them stand on
their hind legs and sing about their memories. Horrific. I also saw Rent with
my sister. I am pretty sure that we were drunk. I don’t remember much except
that there are 525,600 minutes in a year. I don’t even know what that is in
reference to, but it was set to music and I can sing it to you. And finally, I
saw Miss Saigon. The only thing I really remember is a pretty cool part when
the helicopter landed on stage. That’s it. I think my brain’s biological
mechanism kicked in to block the unpleasant memories associated with the
singing and story.
Oh how I wish you could just flip that switch in your
brain on demand! I just typed the word "memories" and could only hear that
damned song from Cats. It’s pretty locked in my memory banks. My sorority in
college was Kappa Alpha Theta (KAT). As part of pledge week, we "reenacted" our
version of KATS (get it??) and the highlight of the show was our rewritten
version of that epic song. The rehearsals alone made me want to stab my
sorority sisters in the throat. During the performance, I distracted myself by
looking around the room trying to spot the rushees that were crying or visibly
moved by the song so I would know who was on my cut list. I spent a semester in
London and graduated early just so I wouldn’t have to do more than one Rush
Week!
The fact that musicals continue to run on Broadway and
are made into movies at such alarming rates is just depressing to me. I’m with
Cartman. Upon hearing that the High School Musical craze had caught fire in
South Park and the only way to retain a popular status was to break into song
and dance, he said, "Well, I’m out, guys. If this is what’s cool now, I think
I’m done. I no longer have any connection to this world. I’m gonna go home and
kill myself. Goodbye, friends.?
So, when I saw that on my return flight from NJ to Denver
they were going to show Big Papa’s favorite movie Mama Mia, I knew that I would
have to take my own movie on the plane to avoid hurting myself and/or others. I
borrowed a movie from Utah. He had just reclaimed The Lord of the Rings trilogy
from his parents and I had never seen any of them. I didn’t have room for the
box set, so I just took the first one. It was awesome!! I read The Hobbit when
I was little, so I knew the story about Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf. I don’t know
why I waited so long to watch the movie but I absolutely loved it!! And I can’t
wait to see the next two.
I kind of feel like an idiot talking about this movie
now, 8 years after it came out. It’s like, "Hey, have you ever seen this show
Seinfeld? It’s on TBS. It is so funny!" (by the way, I’m watching "The Wink"
episode right now? the mutton in the pocket, sleeping head-to-toe, Paul O’Neill
hitting 2 homeruns? classic!)
Anyway, my family was in town for Thanksgiving and we
were sitting around the fire one night eating popcorn and decided it was movie
time. I suggested The Lord of the Rings. My dad balked at the idea. He doesn’t
like "fantasy" movies. I told him not to worry, it’s not over the top. I told
him it was a lot like Star Wars. He said, "I hate Star Wars." I can still hear
it echo in my head. I was in shock. Evidently I was the only one. My mom and my
sister were all too familiar with his hatred of Star Wars. I must have just
been in denial to miss the signs. I mean, he took me to see the first 3 or last
3 or whatever the ones were a long time ago. We had the Star Wars soundtrack on
reel to reel. He never said anything negative when I went through my
I-have-to-wear-my-hair-like-Princess-Leia stage (that preceded my
I-have-to-wear-my-hair-like-Mindy-from-Mork-and-Mindy stage). And he never
complained when he took me to Burger King week after week to score the Star
Wars collector glasses. He was such a good dad entertaining my whims, how was I
to know that he hated it?
I pressed him to find out what, exactly, he hated about
Star Wars. He hates fantasy themes and he hates predictability. But he does
like mythology.
I have to do something to fix these guys. If anyone has
any suggestions as to how to wean Big Papa off of musicals and get my dad to
appreciate the wonder of Star Wars, I’m all ears.
Hope everyone has a great week - filled with Star Wars
and Lord of the Rings and void of any singing and dancing!
Good luck with your picks.
Juicy