Articles Archive for 9 September 2005

9 Sep 2005
Because it’s Friday and the NFL season technically started last night, I’m going to make this quick.  Here are my NFL predictions for the 2005 season, as well as for some games this weekend.
 
(And please note: there is no way I’m adding up all the win-loss records to make sure they are even.  That is entirely too much work for a Friday afternoon.)
 
NFC East
Philadelphia Eagles  12-4
Dallas Cowboys  9-7
NY Giants  7-9
Washington Redskins  4-12
 
There’s the Eagles, then there’s the rest.  I’m not buying the Parcells-Bledsoe reunion, and the Giants and Skins haven’t improved enough to warrant any serious consideration.
 
NFC NORTH
Minnesota Vikings  11-5
Detroit Lions  9-7
Green Bay Packers  7-9 
Chicago Bears  4-12
 
The Vikings are NOT better without Moss, but they manage 11 wins with an improved D.  The Lions have a lot of potential, and I think either Joey Harrington busts out (to respectability) or Jeff Garcia is starting by week six.  The Packer’s D is terrible and I’m actually third on the QB depth chart for the Bears.
 
NFC SOUTH
Carolina Panthers  11-5
Atlanta Falcons  10-6
Tampa Bay Buccaneers  6-10 
New Orleans Saints  5-11
 
Carolina is TOUGH.  Vick, no matter how much of a “playmaker” or how “explosive” he is, continues to be a mediocre QB.  I laugh as Gruden’s Bucs flounder and the Saints have a long, tough year.
 
NFC WEST
St. Louis  10-6
Arizona  10-6
Seattle  8-8
San Francisco  3-13
 
The worst division in football.  St. Louis takes it because, well, someone has to.  Arizona vastly improves, Seattle is just “eh” and San Fran continues to suffer.  Alex Smith will be regularly getting picked off by week five.
 
NFC TEAMS I COULD BE COMPLETELY WRONG ABOUT:  New Orleans, Minnesota
NFC PLAYERS WHO CAN DRASTICALLY AFFECT THEIR TEAMS:  Julius Jones, Kevin Jones, Steve Smith, Kurt Warner
 
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AFC EAST
New England Patriots  12-4
NY Jets  11-5
Buffalo Bills  8-8
Miami Dolphins  3-13
 
Same old situation.  The Pats dominate, the Jets improve a bit, Buffalo show signs off life but Losman’s learning curve is too steep, and what the fuck is going on in Miami? 
 
AFC NORTH
Baltimore Ravens  11-5
Pittsburgh Steelers  11-5
Cincinnati Bengals  7-9
Cleveland Browns  4-12
 
Baltimore and Pittsburgh take turns beating the hell out of Cincy and Cleveland.  I miss the days when the Browns were good.
 
AFC SOUTH
Indianapolis Colts  13-3
Jacksonville Jaguars  9-7
Tennessee Titans  8-8
Houston Texans  6-10
 
Indy scores a lot.  Jacksonville stagnates.  Tennessee scores a bit too, but not enough.  I actually had to look up Houston’s team name because I had a brain lapse.  I can only name about four guys on Houston and I’m a huge football fan.  That usually means your team isn’t that great.
 
AFC WEST
Kansas City Chiefs  10-6
San Diego Chargers  9-7
Denver Broncos  9-7
Oakland Raiders  8-8
 
Four solid teams here and it wouldn’t surprise me if any win the division.  I’m thinking that Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson carry the Chiefs past the rest.  But it really wouldn’t surprise me if my picks were reversed.
 
AFC TEAMS I COULD BE COMPLETELY WRONG ABOUT:  Miami, Cincy, Tennessee.
AFC PLAYERS WHO CAN DRASTICALLY AFFECT THEIR TEAMS:  Ricky Williams, Carson Palmer, Travis Henry, Randy Moss
 
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PLAYOFFS
 
NFC
1) Philly
2) Minnesota
3) Carolina
4) St. Louis
5) Atlanta
6) Arizona
 
Wild Card
#3 Carolina over #6 Arizona
#5 Atlanta over #4 St. Louis
 
Semis
#1 Philly over #5 Atlanta
#3 Carolina over #2 Minnesota
 
NFC Championship
#1 Philly over #3 Carolina
 
AFC
1) Indy
2) New England
3) Baltimore
4) KC
5) Pittsburgh
6) NY Jets
 
Wild Card
#6 NY Jets over #3 Baltimore
#5 Pittsburgh over #4 KC
 
Semis
#6 NY Jets over #1 Indy
#2 New England over #5 Pittsburgh
 
AFC Championship
#2 New England over #6 New York Jets
 
SUPER BOWL
New England 31, Philly 25
 
And that’s all I have to say about that.
 
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Every Friday, I will be picking five games with spreads.  I do this to show you that I am the worst gambler in the world.  My guess is that by the time the season is over, I will have a winning percentage of around 35%.  Because of karma, I will never, ever pick or bet on an Eagles game, as they are of course my favorite team. 
 
So here are this week’s picks (home team in CAPS).
 
VIKINGS (-6) over Bucs
BILLS (-4.5) over Texans
CHARGERS (-4.5) over Cowboys
Bengals (-3.5) over BROWNS
Saints (+7) over PANTHERS
 
Though I’m pretty confident about these games now, I bet when the dusts settles I go one, maybe two, for five. 
 
On that note, have a good weekend and enjoy the return of the NFL.  Finally, something to do with my Sunday afternoons besides sitting around, eating bacon, egg and cheese bagels, and feeling lonely/sorry for myself.  Thank the Lord – not a moment too soon.
 
[Have a good weekend]
9 Sep 2005

First, thank you to all who replied with the name of the hot Levis model that I mentioned last Friday.  Chris from Philly was the first to tell me that its the lovely and talented Tracy Zahoryin who starred in those commercials.

 

(Heres one guys tribute to her.  Scroll down for pictures and be filled with awe.)

 

(Actually, the Levis ones are the only ones worth looking at really.  In retrospect, she’s not as good-looking as I thought, and I’m kinda sad.)

 

But the point is that once again, I made a call for help and many of you answered.  God bless the internet.  Thank you Chris, and Tracy, Ill see you soon.  Cave pervert. 

 

In other emails, after reading my Keith Sweat story, my buddy Chris from just outside of Philly (different from Chris from Philly above) wrote:

 

For the record, the best song to “have relations” with is “Also Sprach Zarathustra”. I actually did it in college with a Phish bootleg and if you can time it perfectly so that you’re hitting it with the climax part of the song, you’re pretty much the f’n man. It’s also good because since it’s a phish bootleg you’re just playing it off like it’s some concert and “whoops this song just kind of came on.”  By far the best song for when “two become one”.

 

2nd place: “Dogs singing Jingle Bells”… if you pull that off, well you’re pretty much the f’n man.

 

Fuck Zarathustra – stop whatever you are doing now and download those dogs singing Jingle Bells.  When I first read Chris’s email, I quickly brought up my Limewire to download the dogs.  Five seconds later I was on the floor with pee pee coming out my willy because I was laughing so hard.  Then I listened to the dogs barking Jingle Bells on full volume about ten times in a row, causing my roommate Brian to barge into my room to say, Dude, what the FUCK are you doing in here? 

 

This songs wins.  Hands down.  As a matter of fact, I DARE you to come up with something better than that.  And please, don’t inundate me with stupid suggestions (Dude, the best song to make out to is anything by the Spice Girls).  If you are unfamiliar with the rules, please read the Keith Sweat story (scroll down to the bottom of the post). 

 

JC from Charlotte wrote in with an interesting theory:

 

I’d like to run something by you for your consideration. It happened to me a couple of years ago, but I wasn’t reading your blog at that time. And since then, I’ve discovered what a sage you are when it comes to all things women.

I went to visit some friends in
Atlanta (I’m in Charlotte) for a long weekend. One of the buddies was living with a platonic girlfriend at the time, and during that weekend they threw a nice little party (PJ, keg, and tons of whiskey). The girlfriend/roommate was an attractive brunette, freckles, the natural look, and kind of tall (5′8-5′10′), but she was a little overweight. Nothing to frown upon, but nothing to write home to mother either (assuming you write home to you mother about chicks you’d like to hump).

So one drink leads to the next and we end up naked in bed. We do the deed, sleep it off, feel awkward in the morning and then stay in touch via random emails for the next few months. No biggie.

A year or so after that a mutual friend was married and I saw the girlfriend/roommie at the wedding. She’d dropped a good 25 lbs. and was just SMOKIN’ hot. Double take hot. Can’t believe I slept with this woman hot.  So naturally I went over to make conversation and see if she’s interested in doing a little sheet dancin’ later that evening.

 

The reaction I got from her was, as best I can describe it, polite disdain. It was just a very odd reaction to my flirting and friendliness. I’ve been shot down before and am pretty well versed in women’s uncomfortable reactions to my humor, but this was a new one to me. I took it in stride that evening only to ponder it later on.


So, while high as a figurative kite, I stumbled on why I think I got the disdain.  I call it the Quantum Leap Cock Block. (after the cheesy TV show, not the actual scientific theory).

This attractive, thin, personable young lady knew of my past relations with a heavy, attractive, personable young lady (her old self) and found it to be in poor taste. In other words, she didn’t want to be with a guy who has hooked up with heavy chicks in his past. So my hooking up with her while she was heavy kept me from hooking up with her when she was thin.


Is it possible to cock block your future self with the same girl? I’m positive that I’m not explaining this well enough to make any sense, because it’s making my head hurt just thinking about it…sober. But if you can muddle through the details here, I’d love to get your take on this strange phenomenon.

 

Hmmthis one has all the main mysteries of the universe: physics, cock blocking, and sudden weight loss.  This is going to get ugly.

 

I have to say I have no precedent for this type of thing, nor have I heard of this type of thing happening to any of my friends.  I’ve heard of two variations:

  • Guy hooks up with girl, doesn’t see her for a few months, sees her again and it looks like she’s been spending time living in a cave eating dynamite and babies, but hooks up with her anyway because it’s convenient; 
  • Guy breaks up with girl, doesn’t see her for a few months, sees her again and she’s hotter than when they dated.  Tries to hook up with her to no avail, but not because he cock blocked himself by hooking up with her in the past, but because their emotional history/baggage prevents the hook up.  
But at heart what this speaks to is something very important: stock price and lovin’ market value.
 
When it comes to love, sex, and relationships, people are like stocks.  They are commodities that have a value that a) can change over time; and b) allows them to be measured against others.
 
[My former writing teacher and pervert extraordinaire, Steve Almond, wrote a story in which one of his characters talked about the "beauty gradient".  Meaning, I'm pretty good-looking and so a B+, you're pretty good-looking and so a B+ as well, so let's get together.  But since I work in business (kinda) and Almond's gradient was immutable, we'll stick to stocks.]
 
Everything you do that is publicly known affects your stock price on the lovin’ market.  Get a big raise and promotion?  Stock up 6 points.  Get drunk and make out with a beast in front of your friends at the bar?  Down 9.  Lose a bunch of weight and get in shape?  Plus 12.  Get arrested for possession, go to prison for a few months, and get an STD?  That’s a veritable crash.  
 
Whatever you do that isn’t known, however, is ok.  It matters not if you secretly watch tranny porn and get off by jerking off into your garbage disposal.  As long as that information isn’t known by others, particularly those of the other sex who can spread such information, then you’re in the clear.  Of course, when a company does not disclose potentially damaging information that would lower a stock price, that’s securities fraud and there’s usually a messy law suit.  The good news is that the only thing that can happen to you when your girlfriend of six months catches you balls-naked crouching in the sink playing with yourself is that you get dumped.  And trust me, getting dumped is MUCH better than being sued.  Back back to the point…
 
Perhaps even more importantly that the fluctuation, this value allows you to be compared to others.  Think about how often you walk into a room, look around, and judge others (“She’s beat…she’s out of my league…that girl looks like she would F somebody in the driveway…that chick has one leg, but is kinda hot”…etc”).  You’re immediately rating this people.  If you talk to these women, their values might change depending upon how cool they are, but you’re still constantly comparing them to others.  Everyone has a value.
 
In this instance, we have a normal, slightly chubby girl.  Let’s say she’s at 60.  We have JC, normal guy who consents to hooking up with chubby girl.  Therefore, he puts himself at her level – 60.  It may be the case that he’s actually 70 or 80 or 110, but his hooking up with her affects his value in her eyes, so she judges him as the same as her.  And so JC is 60.
 
However, time passes.  The chick loses weight and her value is positively affected.  Let’s say, if she’s smoking hot, she’s 90.  When she sees JC again, seemingly the same as he was before, she views him at her old level, 60.  Therefore, JC doesn’t get his noodle wet by the girl, who is now out of his league.
 
So short answer: yes, it is possible to cock block yourself with the same chick.  But this is so rare that though I support of the Quantum Leap Cock Block theory, I view it more as a microcosm of the larger lovin’ market value system (and yes, I know that I need a name better than “lovin’ market value system”, one on par with “Quantum Leap Cock Block theory” – I’ll work on it).  Like I said, I don’t know of anyone who this has happened to before (the QLCB), but people’s stock prices fluctuate all the time - even dramatically so – so that I think the Quantum Leap Cock Block must be relegated to corollary status.  Great idea, but not universal enough.
 
Coming later…the most abridged NFL 2005 preview ever.