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Just Another Simple, Run of the Mill NFL Preview: AFC North

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Champs: Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5)* – Why should we expect anything less from the been there done that Steelers? It was a relatively quiet offseason for Roethlisberger and the gang, that is unless you count the Hines Ward DUI as newsworthy. I would also like to apologize to the Pittsburgh Pirates who I apparently gave the kiss of death to once I made them my NL team. You can either blame me or Derrek Lee, it’s your choice.

On Deck: Baltimore Ravens (10-6)* – I don’t think I have ever heard Joe Flacco being interviewed so I still imagine his voice sounding like a cross between Bubbles best friend Johnny from The Wire and Chewbacca.

Limbo: Cleveland Browns (7-9) – I think I would like Colt McCoy a whole lot more if his name were not Colt McCoy. With a name like that he should be starring in Bonanza. Also, funny that he is backed up by a guy named Seneca Wallace. Rumor has it that next offseason the two QB’s will star in a Lonesome Dove remake alongside Matthew McConaughey and Beetroot McKinley.

Chumps: Cincinnati Bengals (2-14) – This is what you get for beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl Andy Dalton!!! And you thought being saddled with red hair was enough. Try manning the helm for the USS Suckville. It’s enough to make you long for the days of Louisiana-Monroe and Portland St.

Fantasy Sleepers: Lee Evans (WR – Baltimore), Jermaine Gresham (TE- Cincinnati), Jerricho Cotchery (WR – Pittsburgh)

Ready for Primetime Games: 10/2 – NY Jets @ Baltimore, 9/25 – Pittsburgh @ Indianapolis, 10/24 – Baltimore @ Jacksonville, 11/6 – Baltimore @ Pittsburgh, 11/24 – San Francisco @ Baltimore, 12/8 – Cleveland @ Pittsburgh, 12/18 – Baltimore @ San Diego, 12/19 Pittsburgh @ San Francisco

*denotes playoff team

view from Steelers practice courtesy of @ThaRedShirt901

 

 

 

Just Another Simple, Run of the Mill NFL Preview: NFC North

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Champs: Green Bay Packers (12-4)* – Honestly, what’s preventing the Packers from not being a better team this year than they were last year? I suppose they could take things for granted, enjoy the honeymoon like a lot of previous Super Bowl champs. But I don’t see that happening. Not with Aaron Rodgers. Especially not if the Packers QB keeps that dominant handlebar mustache. He looks like a character from The French Connection.

On Deck: Detroit Lions (8-8) – Warning! Warning! The Lions are quickly becoming the sleeper team of 2011. Proceed with caution. I need to see Matthew Stafford play all 16 games before jumping on the Detroit bandwagon. However, Ndamukong Suh is such a dominant force that I hear the Weather Channel is thinking of hiring the defensive lineman to stand in the path of the next hurricane before it makes landfall. Sorry Jim Cantore, you’ll have to find work elsewhere.

Limbo: Chicago Bears (7-9) –  I promised myself that I wasn’t going to take any cheap shots at Jay Cutler this season. So, I’m not going to tell you that it’s about time Cutler dropped those 20 extra lbs and came to camp in shape. You also won’t hear me say that I fully expect Cutler to be on the exercise bike as soon as the Chicago weather turns a tad frosty.

Chumps: Minnesota Vikings (6-10) – I am actually starting to believe that the Minnesota Vikings may surprise a few people this year. Donovan McNabb could in fact experience something of a career renaissance in the Twin Cities. Or he could just hand the ball off to Adrian Peterson 30 times a game and let All Day do the work. Either way, I sincerely hope the Vikings are not one of the 2(?) teams heading to LaLa Land in the not so distant future.

Fantasy Sleepers: Bernard Berrian (WR – Minnesota), Matthew Stafford** (QB – Detroit), Marion Barber (RB – Chicago)

Ready for Primetime Games: 9/8 New Orleans @ Green Bay, 10/9 Green Bay & Atlanta, 10/10 Chicago @ Detroit, 10/16 Minnesota @ Chicago, 11/7 Chicago @ Philadelphia, 11/14 Minnesota @ Green Bay, 12/25 Chicago @ Green Bay

* denotes playoff team

**sans the baby fat

view from Vikings training camp courtesy of @durkeee

Monday Musings: Come On Irene Edition

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Happy to announce that this morning’s musings are coming to you live from the Danbury Fair Mall in Danbury, CT. It looks like this in fact the last bastion of electricity in Fairfield County after Hurricane/tropical storm Irene sunk her teeth into the area. Not to complain however because by comparison, it seems we in Connecticut got off easy. The poor people of Brattleboro and White River Junction Vermont, not to mention several counties in northern New Jersey, will be dealing with severe river flooding for the next few days. My dad up in New Hampshire sent me an amazing video from Quechee, VT that shows an old covered bridge being completely swept away by a surging river. You have to hope that the majority of homes and businesses in the area, like the good folks at Simon Pearce, are able to survive the storm with minimal damage.

Until electricity is restored here in Southern New England, people just need to chill out and let the power company do their job. It’s a small inconvenience by comparison and heading into Irene, we all thought it was going to be much worse. I can live with my next door neighbor running his generator through the night, even though the thing is so loud it sounds like the famous squash courts at the University of Chicago. I half expect Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, head of the Manhattan Project, to emerge from the shrubbery and announce: “Mr. President, we have our bomb!” But I digress…

A Quick Trip Around the Bases

1B – My heart goes out to the family of Mike Flanagan, who took his own life early last week outside his rural Baltimore, MD home. Flanagan, a New Hampshire native and Baltimore Orioles great, meant a lot to Birds fans, including my dad. In 1979, the year I was born, Flanagan had perhaps his best season in the bigs, eventually going on to win the AL Cy Young award. To this day, my father can remember rocking me to sleep after a midnight feeding while listening to Flanagan take the mound for the Orioles during a west coast swing.

Lots of folks, friends of Flanagan and sports blogs included, immediately weighed in on what could have caused the happy go lucky southpaw to take his own life. In my opinion, at this point it is careless and insensitive to speculate why Flanagan would commit suicide. What’s important now is for fans to remember the person/player that Flanagan was and

2B – Oh and would the New York Yankees just please stop complaining about all the rainouts and rescheduled games . Orioles manager Buck Showalter took the Bronx Bombers to task by saying that now is not the time to complain about having to play a makeup game on September 8th, a scheduled off day for the Yankees, especially when the entire Baltimore community is busy grieving after the loss of Mike Flanagan. Showalter went on to say that if roles were reversed and a Yankee great had passed away, New York would certainly expect the same common courtesy from the Orioles.

3B – Heck with MLB baseball testing players for HGH, how about they start checking for pedialytes? Due to the incredibly high heat in the Arlington Texas area, Rangers starting pitchers have begun mainlining baby supplements before scheduled starts to avoid dehydration. I don’t know about you but I can’t trust any athlete who hooks into an IV before competing. How do I know whether or not there isn’t some sort of illegal substance in that Gatorade frappe? Pretty soon the television cameras will be able to pick up track marks on the Rangers pitchers.

HR – And speaking of Texas, they are currently embroiled in a race to the finish with the Los Angeles Angels for the AL West crown. With the majority of playoff frontrunners already separating themselves from the rest, baseball fans aren’t going to have many division races to follow this fall. Beyond the AL and NL West, and possibly the AL Central, it looks like the we already have a fairly clear picture of the 2011 postseason.

view from Camden Yards courtesy of @adamjschmidt