OK, I thought I understood this
 

The Detroit Lions are locked in a battle for top spot in the NFC North with the Bears- both teams are 1-2, but the Bears won the head to head game so, for now we are nipping at their heels.

It is possible several teams with winning records won't get the wild card and a 5-11 team will win the NFC North.

OK, I thought I understood this
 

I sort of watched the StL/SF game played in Mexico City last night. The game sounded much more exciting when being called by the Spanish-speaking announcers. And, even though I don't speak Spanish, their analysis made much more sense to me than anything Joe Theisman said.

Threshold -- almost as scary as baseball
 

Anybody watching Threshold? I finally got around to watching the first 3 episodes this weekend. It's a total rip-off of X-files and about a dozen other sci-fi shows, but I like it anyway. Probably b/c I'll watch Brent Spiner in anything. Anyway, I recommend it.

Threshold -- almost as scary as baseball
 

Did you buy his CD? I hear he has quite a voice.

*GROAN*
 

Eh, what are you going to do? Going 1-6 the final week of the season isn't going to help your chances, you know. And it's hard to believe looking back that we had a chance at one time to trade Wright (and possibly Colon or some other combination of players, I don't remember exactly now) for Pedro Martinez back when he was with the Expos. Man, I would have done that in a heartbeat.

I'm having a hard time relating to the phrase "in the anticipation of being drunk," or at least it's been a long time since I've done that, but I'll note this for future reference, should the occasion ever arise.

OK, I thought I understood this
 

Why is it unreasonable to have a playoff game for determining which team gets into the post season, but not bothering (and instead relying on tiebreakers) when both teams are in, and it's just a question of who gets which seed?

A playoff game between the Red Sox and Yankees today would be a fiasco. They would start some regulars, and probably bring in the reserves pretty quickly, especially if one team got to a decent lead.

OK, I thought I understood this
 

I just think they should be consistent. Either you have a better record than a team, when tied, based on h2h records or you don't. Why look at it differently based on whether both teams have a shot at making the playoffs?

Isn't that exactly what would have happened if Cleveland, Boston and New York ended up with the same record?

TM

OK, I thought I understood this
 

You clearly weren't watching very closely, as StL played the Giants and it was Arizona (sure, formerly StL) playing SF in Mexico City.

Always hepful.

I heart Mike Martz at the moment. Most excellent sucky-ass coach in the world. Third 40+ point game for the Giants this year. I think they might have most points scored in the NFL this year. How scary is that?

PS. Str8 only fucked up my SD to lose mojo. Season-standings loss, but I was already out of the main pool for that one.

OK, I thought I understood this
 

Cardinal timmy.

Threshold -- almost as scary as baseball
 

The key word was "watch." I wrote nothing about listening to him.

OK, I thought I understood this
 

There's a lot more to play for if it's a chance to be in the playoffs than simply to determine your opponent and whether you have home field advantage. Given the Yankees' effort yesterday, which mattered at least as far as their getting a higher seed, one can see why they don't bother with playoff games merely to determine seeding.

NFL picks of the week
 

Cinci -9.5 (+6.5)
Indy -7 (+6.5)
San Diego +4 (+6.5)
Tampa -6.5 (+6.5)
Carolina -7.5 (+6.5)

I know we haven't got all the way home yet, but if you didn't get on this bet (which pays 5-1 odds, btw), then it's your loss.

I'm thrilled -- I had one three teamer (Cinci/Indy/SD), one four teamer (those three + TB), one five teamer (the five above), and one six teamer (a college game! Thank you Wisconsin!)

This has been a good weekend, which will be a great weekend if Carolina manages to beat the worst team in the NFL tonight. Hookers and blow for everyone.

OK, I thought I understood this
 

In a 5 Game Series, I always though "Home Field advantage" was exactly the opposite.

OK, I thought I understood this
 

This is some crazy shit, but here is a link to some hepful rules on the subject.

http://www.all-baseball.com/ref/tie.html

From the site, here is the relevant info:

Major League Baseball Playoff Tiebreaker Info

1. When there is a tie for a Division Championship and the breaking of the tie will result in the losing team nonetheless being the Wild Card team, the Division Champion shall be:
a. the team with the better record in head-to-head competition. . .

2. When there is a tie for a Division Championship and the breaking of that tie will result in the losing team(s) not being the Wild Card team, the tie for the Division Championship shall be broken as follows:
a. Tie between two teams. The League President shall conduct a coin flip to determine the site of a playoff game between the two teams, the game to be played the day after the conclusion of the championship season. The winner of the game shall be declared the Division Champion.

Had all three teams tied with the same record, situation one would apply. The reason no game would be played in the event all three of these teams had tied is because the loser of the "Divisional Championship" would then had been one game behind Cleveland in the standings for the Wild Card. So, they settle the "Division Championship" which is meaningless (except for home field advantage) by the tie-breaker, and they allow Cleveland and Boston (had Cleveland won yesterday) to play one game for the Wild Card.

I think situation 2 would apply only in the case where New York or Boston had the same record atop their division, but the Wild Card team (from another division obviously) had a better record.

OK, I thought I understood this
 

In law school, my friends and I would often go to Tuesday night pub quiz and the local Irish pub. During and after the quiz, we would complain about the arbitrariness of certain questions. There were questions like "What is the most popular steak in the world?" Huh?

Anyways, I kept waiting for "what is the color of lead." This exchange reminded me of that.

Please resume making fun of my winning football picks.