Got three of my four picks last weekend right, bringing my playoff prediction record to 5-3. Perhaps more amazingly to me, it also makes me look smart in the sense that three of the four teams I had in this round of conference championships back when I made my predictions for the season in September actually got this far. The only question now, of course, is whether I stick to my guns. At this point, I really don't see any reason not to. In all honesty, this season is pretty much at risk of playing out exactly as I expected (and feared, to some degree). Of course, we saw unlikely underdog comebacks (Cleveland Cavaliers) and historic curses being broken (Chicago Cubs) in 2016, so there's still some small hope that maybe we'll get a couple more surprises. It's not completely unrealistic, but the NFL has to be salivating at the prospect of two weeks of buildup to a Brady-Rodgers meeting in Super Bowl LI. That's not to say these outcomes will be rigged, as I'm guessing we'll get at least one (hopefully) two close games this weekend. If nothing else, there should be a whole lot of scoring. Still, there's almost a sense that a New England-Green Bay rematch is preordained. Continue reading, I guess, if you want to see me try to talk myself out of that conclusion.
So I got half of my picks last weekend right, and damned if those games didn't live up to the subtitle of my post. Four games and not one offered a compelling finish. The small upside for this observer is that three of my originally predicted final four teams are still alive as we get ready for the league to indeed reduce the remaining teams to that number. I'm not sure that getting three of the four or both Super Bowl participants or that game's winner is really worth anything since I don't gamble, but it'll at least make me feel somewhat better about my pre-season predictive abilities now that I've cut back on the amount of time I invest in such posts. Perhaps what baffled me the most about anything last weekend is that the tournament bracket I originally downloaded indeed needed to be adjusted but shouldn't have required as much work. All of the home teams won last weekend. Why wasn't that assumed and why wasn't the default lowest-remaining seed after such outcomes closer to the top seed's bracket? It makes no sense to me. Anyway, I've got much higher hopes for the competitiveness in this weekend's games.
Well, looking back on my shorter predictions for the year, it looks like I got five of the eight division winners right and had seven of the 12 playoff teams correct. Three of my final four and both of my Super Bowl teams are still alive, so there's that. Do I stick with that Super Bowl pick though? That's actually a tougher questions. It's still very much a feasible pick, although the path for my predicted NFC winner is going to be far tougher than the one for my predicted AFC winner. And as usual, I'm pretty much hoping I'm wrong because God, the last thing I need is another Patriots title or the possibility of another Packers championship. Dear God, give us fresh blood, NFL. This weekend's round of games does very little to compel interest here. Aside from the last game of the weekend in Green Bay, most of the other three contests appears to be either forgone conclusions or simply uninteresting matchups. This season has not exactly provided me with a lot to root for, what with the Bears finishing with the worst record they've ever had since the league expanded to a 16-game schedule. Cowboys fans have reintroduced themselves as being worthy of consideration for most annoying fans in the sport of football, so a Super Bowl against the Patriots would just be filled with two weeks of awful fans. Even the underdogs I'd be tempted to root for have seen their chances dramatically hampered by injuries or unfortunate luck. Both the Raiders and the Dolphins lost their starting QBs. The Texans remain a mess at that same position. Perhaps there's some hope for the Chiefs and Falcons, but I remain somewhat skeptical that either team is going to suddenly do better than the letdowns we've come to expect both clubs to deliver. Then again, 2016 gave us a Cubs World Series and an NBA title in Cleveland. So if the pattern holds true, then maybe there is some hope that we're about to be in store for something special. We can only hope.
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, E-mail Me
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"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
— Herbert Bayard Swope
That Ship Has Sailed
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At least, *that's what all the signs and rumors are pointing to*:
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*In a Hail Mary attempt to keep the Bears in Chicago, developers of the
...
Casting bad joojoo on a jerk
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I had a trump voodoo doll years ago and gave it to the dog to chew up. I
think I am going to make a new one to get me through the coming years. I am
find...
Skandiewrap, or More Than You Wanted to Know
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"You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. You run
into assholes all day, *you're *the asshole."—Raylan Givens (though he
first as...
News of the Day for Friday, January 24, 2020
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The U.S. president first announced that there were no casualties from the
January 28 Iranian missile attack on U.S. facilities in Iraq. The Pentagon
later ...
Update: Execution put on hold
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Today a federal district judge granted Dexter Johnson's request for a stay
of execution - but not because of claims of brain damage and intellectual
disabi...
Bret Stephens is Wrong
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On February 9th, Bret Stephens penned an Op-Ed for The New York Times
entitled " The Smearing of Woody Allen". In the piece he argues that Woody
Allen is...
Tales from the Cryptkeeper - Giant Worm GIF
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Earthquake drills are being practiced all across the country (#ShakeOut),
just remember that 99.9% of the time the cause of an earthquake is not a
giant ...
I'm alive.
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Hello! My hubby talked me into posting on my blog. What.... it's been about
3 years? It seems like forever. Life has had so many twists and turns
since th...
I want to be a photographer
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All I have is my eye and a lens. I want to start a new life as a
photographer. I only have a few months of sobriety. I know that drinking
will only le...
It Only Hurts When I think... I Think, OUCH!
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In this era of space-age technology and Velcro, you’d think that the
construction industry could invent a form of concrete that is anti-slip; if
not for ...
Now Available on Amazon
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So, I dug up some old zip disks and 3.5" diskettes (amazing, I know—what
was that technology? My current desktop doesn't even have a firewire port)
to see ...
Fandom Awakens
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The internet almost broke last week with the debut of the *Star Wars: The
Force Awakens* trailer. It was viewed over 30 million times in the first 24
hour...
We've Moved!
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My new website is up! For all the latest information on myself and my
books, go to www.hockingbooks.com.
All my old blogs from here have been moved over t...
Time Keeps on Slippin' ... Into the Future
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I disappeared again. I feel as though I am just resurfacing. After the
holidays. After life changes. After ... It all just goes fast, doesn't it?
This past...
Dat dere orange spray tan
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Unnatural looking, streaks, overpriced, wears off in just a few days, weird
chemicals cause you to break out.....what more could you want!?!?
Hibernation
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Thanks for dropping by!
I'm taking a break from blogging (or more to the point, taking a break from
feeling guilty about the lack of blogging but stil...
Oh dear
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I am not a patient person.
I couldn't finish the healing journey I had the other day.
I was taken to a deep blue pool and many of the gods and people I kne...
Where To Find Me
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As I mentioned in my last post, my writing was in the process of being
moved, and that process is complete. Going forward, you'll be able to read
my stuff ...
60 Days of Art... round 2
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I missed last years 60 days of art by roughly 2 weeks. I'm going to try and
officially complete it this year.
I started July 30 with this version of Adam W...
HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY
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"THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN," - sings Uncle Jesse with a mullet.
The boys are back (but not in town)! However, according to NBC's broadcast,
they were playi...
Jordan
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I saw this and this a while back but never shared it, since it's probably
BS. Nevertheless, it's still funny and I've sent both links around to
people b...
He who blogs and runs away
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*He settled *Hoti*'s business--let it be!--*
* Properly based *Oun*--*
*Gave us the doctrine of the enclitic *De*,*
* Dead from the waist down....
Icon Packages Download
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Dear users, I'm having trouble keeping the downloads directly from my
website, because the high traffic. Therefore, some links are broken.
Some of my works...
Book #9 -- The Dirty Life
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I had the pleasure of reading The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball over spring
break. I say pleasure because it seems appropriate. This book was a
complete...
Pheasant Tale
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*Pheasant Tale Fascinator by Arturo Rios*
*Artist Statement:* This is a beautiful hat i love from my collection, its
made on small pillbox covered with a...
the year of living almost celibately
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it's been a strange year.
for someone who advises people to have plenty of sex and plenty of wild
sex, i've had little of late. I'm like a reverse-christ...
Taiwan's International Athletes
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So after a long hiatus from the world of blogging...... I AM BACK!
Since I've been in Taiwan for the past bit, I will write about the world of
sports and cu...
Un-Baked Ziti
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I bought the largest package of Italian sausage I had ever seen. Three
dinners? Four dinners? Three dinners. I can get three dinners out of this
package....
Life changed
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I don't really know where to begin with this post because of how much life
changed since the last time I wrote. Well first things first, Evan is into
his s...
Finding The Flow To Let Yourself Go
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This is supposedly how you find your flow to let yourself go. The point is
to just write and see where the words take you. However, I am currently
listenin...
HOME PAGE:
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Click sequentially on the topics below to experience God's presence among
us:
*1. "I am who I am*"
2. "Understood from what has been made"
*3. "Male and f...
work in progress
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Our world of wealth and prosperity
Religions with alien deities
No spirit left in our arteries
Fat bellies from food made in factories
And terror danc...
Beautiful Steampunk Art and Video
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Courtesy of Natania Barron, authoress of the the book and blog The
Aldersgate Cycle, I discovered the winning entries to a steampunk art and
video contest...
Happiness
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What do you know? Happiness is IN! How do I know this? From a November 27,
2008 *New York Times* article about a convention on happiness in San
Francisco...
Post #1377: The Relatively Short Goodbye
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Hello, everyone.
After 21 years, and almost 40 million posts (we'll have to check those
numbers, but it's something like that), we have decided to bring F...
Jesus Christ...Martin Luther King, Jr...Ken Lay
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Until I became a martyr recently, the only time my name was uttered in the
same sentence as God's only son and that black civil rights guy would be
when so...