The Bizniz, Volume 4, Issue 9

First off, Rangers vs. Giants World Series... just like we all predicted. As a baseball lover I don't need New York or Philly. Should be a great series. One team hadn't ever won a pennant and the other hasn't won the Series since '54. And I love the Josh Hamilton redemption story. Big Time Timmy Jim vs. Cliff Lee, etc. The crazy road team success in these playoffs (17-10). I'll go Rangers in 7.

Second, a 59-14 win for the Raiders over the Broncos is pure joy for yours truly (especially in Denver). Let me indulge, there aren't many joyful days as a Raider fan since '02. I have many Bronco fan friends and the Raiders and Broncos play again so I won't pontificate. But is was an acutely awesome game.

Now onto college football. Current pick 'em standings as follows:

Hill: 137-27 (5-9 upsets), 15-5 (0-1) last week

Chesh: 127-37 (5-14 upsets), 15-5 (2-1) last week

Chesh and I both went with Taylor Martinez, Nebraska QB, for helmet sticker (23/35, 323, 5 td's, no picks passing/19 carries, 112 on the ground). Martinez played great and bounced back from a terrible game against Texas to get an important win on the road against Oklahoma State. Dude has run like crazy but he actually made plays with his arm as well. Cam Newton again gets honorable mention status from us both. Dude is ill and his squad in numero uno.

Here are this week's picks (Boise played a Tuesday game--yeah--and we all knew it wouldn't be close so who cares):

#16 Florida State 34

N.C. State 24

Chesh: FSU 31 NC St 17

#6 Missouri 28

#14 Nebraska 30*

Chesh: Nebraska 35 Mizzou 31

Game of the Week

#2 Oregon 42

USC 34

Chesh: Oregon 47 USC 38

#15 Arizona 34

UCLA 21

Chesh: Ariz 35 UCLA 17

#1 Auburn 44

Ole Miss 20

Chesh: Auburn 45 Miss 24

#4 TCU 48

UNLV 14

Chesh: TCU 45 UNLV 12

#5 Michigan State 34

# 18 Iowa 28

Chesh: Iowa 35 Mich St 34

#8 Utah 37

Air Force 24

Chesh: Utah 27 AF 24

#9 Oklahoma 45

Colorado 21

Chesh: Okla 34 Colo 17

#11 Ohio State 47

Minnesota 17

Chesh: Ohio St 35 Minn 19

#13 Stanford 34

Washington 23

Chesh: Stanford 28 Wash 24

#17 Oklahoma State 34

Kansas State 30

Chesh: Okla St 34 K-St 24

Vandy 20

#19 Arkansas 44

Chesh: Ark 45 Vandy 26

Tennessee 18

#20 South Carolina 33

Chesh: S Car 27 Tenn 20

Kentucky 24

#21 Mississippi State 31

Chesh: UK 28 Miss St 26

#22 Miami 42

Virginia 20

Chesh: Miami 37 UVA 17

Utah State 21

#24 Nevada 41

Chesh: Nevada 37 Utah St 21

#25 Baylor 24

Texas 34*

Chesh: Baylor 27 Texas 21

Non Top 25 Game

Michigan 39

Penn State 30

Chesh: Mich 31 Penn St 21

The Bizniz, Volume 4, Issue 8

Hill: 122-22 overall (5-8 upsets), 14-6 (1-1) last week
Chesh: 112-32 overall (3-13 upsets), 13-7 (0-2) last week

I've got dual helmet sticker honorees in Mike Hartline, Kentucky QB (32/42, 349, 4 td's, no picks) and his teammate WR Chris Matthews (12 catches, 177, td). The Wildcats came back from a 28-10 halftime deficit to then-10th ranked South Carolina and Hartline and Matthews led the comeback. Chesh went with Jermaine Kearse, WR Washington (9 catches, 146, 4 td's).

This week's picks:
(note-going forward, we will be using BCS rankings)
* denotes upset

UCLA 24
#2 Oregon 45
Chesh: Oregon 48 UCLA 24

Game of the Week
#1 Oklahoma 34
#11 Missouri 30
Chesh: Mizzou 23 OU 19

#6 LSU 24
#4 Auburn 37
Chesh: Auburn 31 LSU 24

Air Force 20
#5 TCU 35
Chesh:TCU 38 AF 14

#7 Michigan State 34
Northwestern 17
Chesh: Mich St 35 NW 17

#8 Alabama 28
Tennessee 20
Chesh: Bama 28 Tenn 10

Colorado State 21
#9 Utah 47
Chesh: Utah 48 Colo St 10

Purdue 16
#10 Ohio State 36
Chesh: Ohio St 42 Purdue 17

Washington State 14
#12 Stanford 41
Chesh: Stanford 55 Wash St 0

#13 Wisconsin 21
#15 Iowa 24*
Chesh: Iowa 27 Wisc 24

#16 Nebraska 30*
#14 Oklahoma State 27
Chesh: Okla St 31 Neb 21

Washington 24
#18 Arizona 35
Chesh: Ariz 27 Wash 17

Iowa State 12
#19 Texas 34
Chesh: Texas 34 Iowa St 10

Syracuse 20
#20 West Virginia 37
Chesh: West Va 53 Cuse 13

#21 South Carolina 30
Vanderbilt 14
Chesh: S. Car 28 Vandy 20

#22 Kansas State 38
Baylor 17
Chesh: Baylor 23 K-St 16

Ole Miss 24
#23 Arkansas 34
Chesh: Ark 34 Miss 26

UAB 10
#24 Mississippi State 28
Chesh: Miss St 37 UAB 10

Duke 20
#25 Virginia Tech 42
Chesh: Va Tech 47 Duke 7

Non Top 25 Game
North Carolina 21
Miami 30
Chesh: UNC 27 Miami 20

One of the big stories in sports this week has been the NFL's stance on big hits, going so far as to say they will suspend players for hits it considers to be egregious. The main offenders from last week were the Steelers' James Harrison, the Falcons' Dunta Robinson, and the Patriots' Brandon Meriweather. All three have been fined for hits the league deemed dirty. At the heart of the issue is how to police the natural gladiatorial nature of football. Violence will always be a part of the game. But to me there have to be some controls in place. Everyone agrees that Meriweather's hit on the Ravens' Todd Heap was dirty. He went head-hunting, plain and simple. But all three penalized players led with their helmet, something the league has deemed illegal, especially on defenseless players. To me, Harrison's two big hits (one on Mohamed Massaqoui and the other on Josh Cribbs) were just as bad as Meriweather's (or Robinson's for that matter, but at least he took as much punishment as he dealt to DeSean Jackson). In both cases, Harrison led with the crown of his helmet to hit the other player in the head. In fact, the one that many seem to consider the more innocuous of the two, the hit on Cribbs, who as a ball carrier wasn't considered defenseless, was as bad as any of the illegal hits. Cribbs was engaged by other defenders so he couldn't defend himself against the oncoming Harrison who came flying in directly helmet to helmet. He didn't have his hands up or anything. To me it was strictly to ding the guy. Now Harrison, after being fined $75,000 by the league, is supposedly considering retiring. What a freaking baby. I can't help but think of Cartman from South Park whining, "Screw you guys, I'm going home". Dude, you are a grimy player and you got caught. How would you like an o-lineman to chop block you and blow out your knee? Is that "how the game is played"? Harrison is just a weird dude. He didn't go visit the White House after the Steelers last Super Bowl win because the White House only invites winners... or something like that. Bizarre. Again, football will always be violent. People are crying that policing hits will ruin the NFL. It's like anything else in life, there have to be rules and laws. Otherwise, why give these guys any padding or protective equipment at all? People are saying that it's like all these guys will have to "re-learn" to play the game. Huh? I picture a Pop Warner coach: "Okay, Timmy, run at the ball carrier and launch straight into him with your helmet and your helmet alone. Don't use your arms at all. Just helmet. Alright, let's run it!" Wrap a guy up, use a shoulder, that's cool. But when did helmet hits become "fundamental"? Surely not in the early days of the NFL when guys had leather helmets. Somehow I bet those players weren't quite as bold with leading with their heads, just a guess. These are not new rules. The league is just enforcing them more. I agree that the league comes off as slightly hypocritical because they promote big hits so much. Big hits put butts in the seats. But so does having electric playmakers like DeSean Jackson and Josh Cribbs on the field. And both are likely out this week with the concussions each suffered. So, yes, the NFL can be exciting and violent... but with some control in place. Otherwise, just put them in loin cloths and give them maces and swords. Oh, and put lions on the field. That would be sweet.

The Bizniz, Volume 4, Issue 7

It was a rough week for picks last week for both Chesh and I. I rolled the dice on more upset picks than usual (just the way the matchups worked out) and they did not pan out. I do want to say, though, that I thought Arkansas/Texas A&M was a true road game for the Hogs (from a cursory glance at the schedule), not a neutral site game so there's a little asterisk there for me. It was a close game.

Hill: 108-16 (4-7 upsets) overall, 13-7 (1-3) last week
Chesh: 99-25 (3-11 upsets) overall, 12-8 (0-3) last week

Helmet stickers for last week: many really good choices out there. I went with Andrew Luck, Stanford QB (20-24, 285, 3 td's, no picks). I mainly went with Luck because he played great in what has become a really good rivalry game, and the game went right down to the wire with two ranked teams. Chesh went with Taylor Martinez, Nebraska QB (369 all purpose, 5 total td's). Cam Newton from Auburn gets the honorable mention from both of us. Check Chesh's full game capsules at http://jimmiecheshsports.blogspot.com/

We'll see how this week's picks go. (* denotes upset)

South Florida 16
#25 West Virginia 35
Chesh: West Va 31 S. Fla 10

Illinois 17
#11 Michigan State 41
Chesh: Mich St 44 Ill 20

Boston College 21
#17 Florida State 43
Chesh: Fla St 37 BC 14

#19 Missouri 34
Texas A&M 30
Chesh: A&M 28 Mizz 24

Texas 17
#4 Nebraska 36
Chesh: Neb 31 Tex 21

Game of the Week
#13 Arkansas 28*
#7 Auburn 23
Chesh: Aub 27 Ark 24

#14 Iowa 30
#24 Michigan 24
Chesh: Mich 35 Iowa 21

#18 Oklahoma State 40
Texas Tech 24
Chesh: Okla St 48 TexT 38

BYU 17
#5 TCU 34
Chesh: TCU 48 BYU 27

#12 South Carolina 33
Kentucky 23
Chesh: S. Car 27 UK 17

#10 Utah 45
Wyoming 20
Chesh: Utah 59 Wyo 10

#1 Ohio State 34
#16 Wisconsin 21
Chesh: Ohio St 24 Wisc 20

Iowa State 24
#6 Oklahoma 48
Chesh: Okla 54 Iowa St 17

McNeese State 6
#9 LSU 39
Chesh: LSU 44 McSU 6

Mississippi State 17
#22 Florida 27
Chesh: Fla 26 Miss St 13

#20 Arizona 42
Washington State 24
Chesh: Ariz 45 Wash St 17

#3 Boise State 48
San Jose State 17
Chesh: Boise 58 SJSU 13

#23 Air Force 35
San Diego State 28
Chesh: AF 34 SDSU 21

Ole Miss 14
#8 Alabama 32
Chesh: Bama 41 Ole Miss 21

#21 Nevada 44
Hawaii 14
Chesh: Nev 52 Haw 41

Non Top 25 Game
Kansas State 27
Kansas 21
Chesh: K-St 34 KU 17

As an Atlanta Braves fan of almost 20 years now, I have to take a minute to shout out Bobby Cox, the manager of the Braves who as of last night is now retired from MLB. Cox led the Braves from worst to first in 1991 and never looked back. The Braves won an unmatched 14 straight division titles in the National League, 5 NL pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995. True, 14 playoff appearances yielding only one title is disappointing. I certainly would love to have had more championships to celebrate. But when Cox took over the Braves in 1990 they were a cellar dweller for well over a decade. He, along with GM John Schuerholz, built the Braves into a perennial contender. I think it's a good time to move forward as an organization and get a new manager (word is that fomer Marlins manager--and one time Braves bench coach--Fredi Gonzalez is the favorite) after Cox has helmed the Braves for over 20 years. But Bobby Cox is a legend in baseball and he deserves all the credit in the world for what he's done in Atlanta. Cox finished with 2,504 wins, good for 4th all time. He was a 4 time Manger of the Year (3 with Atlanta). Most importantly, he'd take a bullet for any one of his players, as evidenced by his record 158 ejections, almost always for arguing on behalf of a player. On behalf of all Braves fans, thanks for the memories.

Also, I want to shout the ESPN documentary series 30 for 30. I haven't seen them all but I have caught many of them and they are outstanding. I loved the one about the Miami Hurricanes of the 80's and 90's, entitled The U. Another doc that I was a fan of was Straight Outta L.A., which documented the rise of hip-hop in SoCal and the inexorable connection with the then-L.A. Raiders. Run Ricky Run was a fascinating glimpse into the life of the enigmatic Ricky Williams.The recent one about the incredible Red Sox comeback of 2004 (Four Days in October) was great. This week's was called Once Brothers. It was about the early days of European basketball with the likes of Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic, and Toni Kukoc, among others. It was phenomenal, perhaps the best in the series thus far. I remember the dawn of the Euro invasion with the aforementioned names in the late 80's. Add the drama of war torn Yugoslavia and its factions of Croats and Serbs and you have an extremely compelling story that I knew nothing about. Do yourself a favor and watch it.

The Bizniz, Volume 4, Issue 6

Latest standings in college football pick 'em:

Hill: 95-9 overall (3-3 upsets), last week 15-0 (1-0)
Chesh: 87-17 overall (3-8 upsets), last week 12-3 (0-2)

My helmet sticker for last week goes (for the second time) to Denard Robinson, Michigan QB (10-16, 277, 3 td's passing/19 carries, 217, 2 td's rushing). Dude continues to put up video game numbers on a top 25 team. Big challenge this upcoming week with rival Michigan State coming to the Big House. Chesh went with LaMichael James, Oregon RB (31 carries, 257, 3 td's).

This week's picks:

#6 Nebraska 38
Kansas State 21
Chesh: Nebraska 34 K-St 24

#21 Oklahoma State 48
La-Lafayette 17
Chesh: Okla St 48 La-Laf 12

#1 Alabama 27
#20 South Carolina 18
Chesh: Bama 35 S. Car 17

Indiana 21
#2 Ohio State 40
Chesh: Ohio St 38 IU 21

#3 Oregon 65
Washington State 17
Chesh: Oregon 59 Wash St 17

Toledo 20
#4 Boise State 48
Chesh: Boise 44 Toledo 17

Wyoming 20
#5 TCU 37
Chesh: TCU 44 Wyoming 10

#8 Auburn 37
Kentucky 24
Chesh: Auburn 34 Kentucky 28

Oregon State 23
#11 Arizona 35
Chesh: Arizona 31 Ore St 27

#10 Utah 36
Iowa State 24
Chesh: Utah 27 Iowa St 19

#13 Arkansas 27
Texas A&M 32*
Chesh: Ark 27 TAMU 14

#9 LSU 21
#12 Florida 34*
Chesh: Florida 26 LSU 17

#24 Florida State 36*
#14 Miami 33
Chesh: Miami 28 FSU 17

USC 24
#18 Stanford 30
Chesh: USC 27 Stanford 21

Game of the Week
#16 Michigan State 29
#17 Michigan 30*
Chesh: Mich 38 Mich St 36

Minnesota 18
#19 Wisconsin 37
Chesh: Wisc 48 Minn 27

San Jose State 21
#23 Nevada 50
Chesh: Nevada 43 SJSU 6

Colorado 27
#22 Missouri 35
Chesh: Mizzou 27 Colo 13

Purdue 23
#25 Northwestern 30
Chesh: NW 31 Purdue 17

Non Top 25 Game
UCLA 28
Cal 24
Chesh: UCLA 36 Cal 27

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Movie review: The Social Network. Like everyone else in an industrialized country, I'm on Facebook (and I wouldn't be surprised if some aborigines are on Facebook via some kind of ultra-wi-fi and homemade computers). It connects people. I've caught up with so many friends via Facebook. MySpace was cool but it was just about maxing out your friends, even if you didn't know the people (I had about 500 friends at my peak on MySpace and I knew probably 50 of those; I think that was fairly typical), and checking out underground music. Facebook is more about connecting with friends and connecting often. This movie depicts the creation of Facebook in 2003 and it's an absolutely fascinating ride. For anyone thinking, "Man I wish I'd have thought of that" (which I have before), make no mistake-Facebook was started by GENIUSES. Mark Zuckerberg and his crew were all brilliant computer science dudes (and they were all students at Harvard). No normal person could've pulled it off. The performances were outstanding, particularly Jesse Eisenberg who portrays founder Mark Zuckerberg. He pulls off the neurotic, semi-tortured genius perfectly. He deserves some serious Oscar consideration. Director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Benjamin Button) is known for amazing visuals and aesthetic style and he brings that rep to this movie, which is a decided departure from his previous work in tone and tenor. But it's very cool to have a biopic type movie with the creative eye of someone of Fincher's ilk. Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails, one of my favorite bands of high school) brings a likewise unique and unexpected flair to the music of the film. Dope. This movie is outstanding. It is so gripping to see how the events unfolded in the creation of a.) a giant company we all know and b.) a giant company started just 7 years ago. Justin Timberlake is a great creep as Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and one of the founding fathers of Facebook. Andrew Garfield is also excellent as Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg's best friend at Harvard and co-founder of Facebook. Pay particular attention to the final scene of the movie where we get a feel for Zuckerberg's state of mind, even as a billionaire: a poignant and painful scene hearkening to the movie's opening sequence. Grade: A-.