WEEK 4 Picks: First Mover Advantage

Posted: October 2, 2011 by Keith Stone in 2011 NFL Picks, football, NFL
0

This is the time in the NFL season to really take advantage of the lines. If you’re smart enough to figure out which teams are good and which are bad, you can make a lot of money or get a nice lead in your picks league. Most people are idiots and still haven’t figured out that, say, the Browns aren’t very good. As a result, last week the lines were a bit high so if you took the underdogs, it would have paid off in a big way. Remember: if you think two teams are shity, just take the underdog if they’re getting more than a few points. Eventually, everyone will figure it out and the lines will be harder to read but you still have a few weeks.

It’s like Apple. Sure, the iPod, iTunes, and iPhone are great but it’s not so much the products themselves; it’s the fact the Apple knew where mobile technology was going and got there first. I got to where the NFL is heading first with 12 wins last week. Let’s see if I keep my first mover advantage or go the way of Blockbuster. Here’s the picks:

LIONS AT COWBOYS (-1.5)
Stone: Lions
I hope Suh sits on Romo.

Rodave: Cowboys

Rory: Lions
I never understood why they settled at half points as the fraction of choice.  They could just easily use 0.25 or 0.75.  For this game, I have Lions by +1.637.

DP Animal: Lions
Still waiting for the other shoe to fall, but Stafford and Megatron vs. that banged-up ‘Boys secondary?

Phanatic: Lions

SAINTS (-6.5) AT JAGUARS
Stone: Saints
The Saints are very good. The Jags are very bad.

Rodave: Saints

Rory: Saints

DP Animal: Saints

Phanatic: Saints

Read the rest of this entry »

Reign Delay

Posted: October 1, 2011 by Keith Stone in baseball, Detroit Tigers, MLB, MLB Playoffs, Yankees
0

My head hurts deciding whether the postponement of Game 1 is a good thing. CC was dealing, but ultimately the fact that Verlander only got to pitch an inning has to be an advantage. The Yanks really worked him in that inning, though. I wonder if he would have recovered later in the game? I guess we’ll never know. Fister isn’t exactly a slouch either. At the same time, as much as you don’t want to see Verlander, you don’t want to win the lucky way. You want to face the best the other team has to offer and kick their ass.

CC is a beast and will be fine going in Game 3, but Verlander isn’t a short rest guy. The question now is who’s going to pitch in Game 4 for the Yankees. Looks like it might be some sort of A.J. Burnett-Phil Hughes combo. Let’s hope it doesn’t get that far.

The Toilet Series

Posted: September 30, 2011 by Keith Stone in baseball, Detroit Tigers, MLB, MLB Playoffs, Yankees
0

I hate these best-of-five series. One weird game and the entire season could go down the toilet. The Yanks only won two more games than the Tigers. How is five games enough to determine which is the superior team? As you can tell, I’m a little nervous. I think this series could go either way. Facing Verlander twice is scary. He can win this series all by himself. For that reason, Game 1 is going to have more importance than usual.

In the end, that’s probably what everything is going to come down to: whether the Yanks can get a win off Verlander. He’s great but the Yankee lineup is deeper than ever. They’re going to have to take advantage of every opportunity and make Verlander work in every at-bat to get him out of the game as soon as possible. That’s the Yankees’ specialty. And if anyone can keep up with Verlander, CC can. As good as Verlander pitched this year, he’s still not as dangerous as Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee but you don’t want to face any shutdown pitcher in the first round.

I feel pretty comfortable with Nova going in Game 2 but Freddy Garcia is going to be an adventure. It’s a shame that Phil Hughes never got it going this year. Using Posada as DH is questionable as well but Girardi can’t be afraid to switch him out if he struggles. The Bombers have the experience, but in the playoffs, pitching is king.

Prediction: Yankees in 4

Booty Bus!

Posted: September 30, 2011 by Keith Stone in Detroit Rock City, strippers
0

I hate to kick a city while it’s down (except Boston) but this week is an exception for Detroit. Motor City is so dirty they actually have a bus called the Booty Lounge that operates as a strip club for tailgaters at Lions games. Wait a minute, actually that’s awesome. Unfortunately, the police are investigating the legality of the Booty Lounge, while some officers are under fire for taking pictures with strippers while “investigating.” The bus is outfitted with two stages, stripper poles, and a smoke machine, and customers hand over a suggested donation of $10 before going in. See, the Booty Lounge is classy. The only other place I’ve seen with a suggested donation is a museum.

The Booty Lounge is a microcosm for the decline in Detroit. In this situation, you have some brilliant entrepreneurs bringing economic development to the area, and the cops want to shut them down. This is the greatest automotive innovation since Henry Ford, maybe even greater. If Ford was stopped as his business was beginning, Detroit wouldn’t even exist. The Booty Lounge must live on. In fact, put these guys in charge of GM. The economic fate of Detroit rests on it.

And while we’re at it, can we maybe get a Booty Bus movie starring Snoop Dogg and Cedric the Entertainer as down-on-their-luck buddies who take their failing strip club mobile and become millionaires? Gabrielle Union and Meagan Good could play strippers. I would watch this.

CBS News

Wrestling Video of the Week: Goldust’s Shocking Development

Posted: September 30, 2011 by Keith Stone in Goldust, Slobberknocker, videos, wrestling, WWF
0


Considering his minimal role in the WWF, Goldust has had his share of memorable moments over the years. In this clip, the Bizarre One is attacked by Randy Orton and Batista for not giving the whereabouts of Scott Steiner. Not content with merely beating the shit out of him, the Evolution duo threw Goldy into some stray electrical equipment at ringside. The equipment was only there for that one show. Go figure. Goldust survived but somehow developed a hilarious case of Tourette’s syndrome from the encounter. Not surprisingly, this isn’t the only time there’s been a questionable plot point in the WWF.

Leighton Meester: Dayyyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuuuuum

Posted: September 30, 2011 by Keith Stone in dayyyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuuuuum, Leighton Meester
1

One of my ladies made me watch Gossip Girl the other night. It was painful but Leighton Meester softened the blow. Her character is engaged to a prince from Monaco whose mother was dominating their wedding plans and putting a strain on their relationship. But wait there’s more! She’s still in love with the guy who played the Other Tucker in John Tucker Must Die. Yeah. I liked her better on Entourage. Dayyyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuuuuum!

Remember This?

Posted: September 29, 2011 by Keith Stone in baseball, MLB, Yankees
0

Just for fun, here’s the Yankees’ season preview I wrote back in March. Sorry for not being completely accurate with the projected finish:

After failing to get Cliff Lee or any significant free agents this offseason, a sense of negativity has permeated the Yankees as they head into the 2011 season. Compounded with the signings of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez by Boston, expectations are tempered compared to years past. However, the Bombers lost no players of note besides the aging Andy Pettitte. You would think that the Yankees were a .500 team last year, BUT THEY FUCKING WON 95 GAMES AND CAME TWO WINS AWAY FROM THE WORLD SERIES!

Expectations shouldn’t be any lower than last year when the Yanks were the defending champs and expected to repeat. They led the AL East for most of the year and only lost out to Tampa Bay at the end because they didn’t want to play Texas in the playoffs.

The strength of the Yankees lineup has always been the ability to wear the opponent out. It’s relentless. Having Curtis Granderson batting in the 8-hole is an enormous fucking luxury. By being patient and working every at-bat, starting pitchers are gassed by the time they reach the seventh inning stretch and then it’s time to pounce. It’s the same in 2011.

If anything, the lineup should be even stronger this year. Alex Rodriguez is healthy for the first time in years and Derek Jeter is out to prove that he isn’t washed up. Robbie Cano, Nick Swisher, and Brett Gardner are all young guys coming off career years and will continue to improve. Russell Martin at catcher is the only question mark, but he should be an upgrade defensively over Jorge Posada, and Jesus Montero is waiting in the wings if it doesn’t work out.

Yankee fans are spoiled by this embarrassment of riches. If there’s one position where the player is below average, it’s not good enough and the entire team is awful. It’s OK to have one or two subpar players. The Yankees won the World Series with Ricky Ledee playing left field. Half the guys on the Giants last year couldn’t even hold A-Rod’s jock. That’s Cameron Diaz’s job anyway.

Everyone makes a big deal about the pitching staff with Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia as the 4- and 5-starters, but as long as CC is your ace, you can’t complain. He’s still one of the top pitchers in the majors and Phil Hughes was having a great season last year until he wore down. Keep in mind, he’s only 24 years old and won 18 games. A.J. Burnett sucked last year, but hopefully he and his pie-throwing skills will bounce back.

The Yankees always seem to have a surprise in the rotation. Aaron Small anybody? If Nova and Garcia can pitch well, 15 wins isn’t out of the question. And if they can’t cut it, Felix Hernandez and Francisco Liriano are already being mentioned in trade talks. The bullpen should be stronger with the addition of Rafael Soriano. With Joba working the seventh, the Yanks can hopefully shorten games to 6 innings, which will take the strain off the starters.

The past two seasons in the American League, it has only taken 90 and 88 wins to clinch a Wild Card berth, respectively. Barring injury, the Yankees should eclipse that number. Tampa Bay is weaker after losing Crawford and Soriano, and Minnesota, Texas, Detroit, Chicago and Oakland don’t exactly spread fear in Hank Steinbrenner’s heart. He’d be chain-smoking either way. Trust me.

The Red Sox will once again be the main rival, the way it should be. They did improve but Youkilis and PED-roia are coming off major injuries and the pitching staff is weaker than the Yankees. Buchholz is overrated. Beckett is old. Lackey is fat. They should win 90 games as well but they’re not the huge favorites that everyone is making them out to be.

For once, the Red Sox made all the noise over the winter, but as we’ve learned, it’s not pomp and circumstance that wins championships. It will be nice to have all the pressure on another team this year and fly under the radar. Don’t sleep on the Yankees.

Projected finish: 96-66, first in AL East

Just Another Week In Philly

Posted: September 29, 2011 by Keith Stone in media, Philly sucks
0

So after the Giants humiliated the Dream Team on Sunday and Mike Vick cried in front of everybody about getting hit too much, Wayne Simmonds called Sean Avery a fag in Monday night’s exhibition game between the Flyers and Rangers. I’m sure in Philadelphia, people use the word “fag” in everyday conversation but we don’t tolerate it here in New York. Like I’ve said before, The Suite is very gay-friendly.

Then yesterday, two football writers from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News came to blows in the media room at the Eagles training facility. Apparently, both papers are owned by the same company, which is offering buyouts, so the pressure is high. When one of the writers wrote on Tuesday that Vick would play, the other one tweeted and criticized him for doing it so early in the week. The tweets went back and forth and eventually culminated in punches being thrown yesterday. Where’s the brotherly love? Oh, people of Philadelphia, you make me laugh so much. Too bad we can’t see a throwdown bewteen Mike Lupica and Peter Vescey.

Deadspin

Trailer Park: Don’t

Posted: September 29, 2011 by Keith Stone in Don't, Grindhouse, Trailer Park, videos
0


This is not an actual movie trailer but fuck it. It’s getting close to October. Don’t was a fake trailer in Grindhouse and was written by Edgar Wright, the director of Shaun of the Dead. Simon Pegg is actually credited as “bearded cannibal.” Despite the fact that it’s trying to be campy, Don’t actually looks scarier than half the movies that come out today. Those 70’s movies just have a creepy vibe. Much better than all those silly PG-13 movies about ghosts or ridiculous horror porn movies that have the victims exploding with blood the moment they’re killed.

I Hope He Doesn’t Bring His Guitar Case To Work

Posted: September 29, 2011 by Keith Stone in basketball, Delonte West, NBA, NBA lockout, ridiculous
0

The Celtics’ Delonte West is a man of the people. Unlike others, he’s trying to stay out of trouble during the NBA lockout and even earn a little extra money to take his girl Gloria out to dinner. Delonte recently went down to his local Regency Furniture and submitted a fine (mostly-filled) job application to work in the stock room. How do we know? Because he tweeted it. And so what if he was convicted of a crime? It was just a misunderstanding. “Sorry officer, I didn’t know I can’t ride around on my motorcycle with a couple sawed-off shotguns.” Happens to me all time. In fact, Delonte’s application is so good I’m willing to hire him here in The Suite. I’ll even double his pay to $12 an hour.

Older Entries
Newer Entries