Last week:

Ryan: 3-5 (15-25), my picks were right on my average, leaving DISMAL so far this year, oh well, they're still the playoffs

John: 7-1 WOAH (22-18), john jumps above .500, not too shabby

combined: 3-1, (pretty f'ing sweet) 9-13 on the rise!!

so, i'm thinking playoff pick'em, and john's superior record allows him to pick the games HE wants to pick first, leaving me with the harder games, is this making sense? or we could just pick 'em all (gotta pick 'em all, Pick-e-mon)

i guess we're both glad we didn't pick the panthers game, it would have hurt in all three categories, unless john ended up letting war eagle sway him over.

College Basketball Thoughts (yes, yes, this is more than a NFL pick 'em blog)
Duke - wow, they look beatable, and not just aginst a fired up, young, athletic Marquette on a neutral floor, but an average (I tried to look up Indiana's Big Ten pre-season rank, but apparently the Big Ten only publishes the top 3, and Indiana wasn't one of them) Indiana team, at home, playing slowed down basketball Duke normally dominates. I'm not comparing Paulus to Felton, well, I am, but NO BYRON, DON'T CLOSE THE WINDOW, just stick with me for a second, but only in importance to the team. Just like in 2004 and 2005, we had no reliable PG behind Felton, no Melvin Scott doesn't count. In the games that Felton got into foul trouble early, we obviously struggled. Paulus means as much to Duke as Felton did to those Tar Heel teams, and with only freshmen behind him, no one can run the team quite like Paulus. SO, in light of this, i suggest teams attack Paulus by driving, and forcing him into foul trouble, it might be the easiest way to get to Duke.

Maryland - move over Duke, move over BC, move over UNC? Maryland is playing good solid Gary Williams basketball, with perhaps their least talented team in the past 3 years. I guess Gary can still coach 'em up with the best. Maryland is playing the best basketball in the ACC right now, hands down, no debate. They have clearly replaced Duke and BC as the co-favorites to run with UNC for the ACC title (and thats based on pre-season opinions 1.UNC 2a. Duke 2b. BC). And along with BC struggling, Maryland looks to be moving on up in the world, oh boy, I can't wait for Md at Cameron (hmmm, Feb 28th, things might look a LOT different then). Speaking of, is Maryland peaking too early? Lets check the past few years in search of teams that peaked early after being initially ranked outside the top 25.

2006 - Washington started ranked #26 (technically), and 10-0 before cooling off, but i all ended up OK (#1 seed in tourney, elite 8), then again, they play in a weaker bball conference, and probably weren't tested as severely in conference

2005 - Iowa starts off hot and rockets into the top 25, only losing to UNC in Maui (correct me if i'm wrong), however, they cooled back off and fell out of the rankings, did they suspend someone or something? I feel like one of their players got in trouble around new years, oh well.

OK, thats all i'm going to look into for now, i mean, its kinda hard to do clicking around on ESPN and without the actual schedule results, just records and weekly top 25s. That and i think the professor is noticing that i haven't looked up in like 25 minutes. Anyways, thanks to Dr. Styers for giving a lecture that would inspire me to post. God, i hope this stuff isn't on the final.

PS: State, impressive, that was a quality win, for State basketball this year at least, Injun going down reeks of Ewing theory

PPS: JAKE IS THE QB, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR WHINING, HE IS GOING TO BE THE QB FOR 2 MORE YEARS, TOUGH, SUCK IT UP.

that is all.

PPPS: oh yeah, PLEASE POST, call me an idiot, call me a genius, call me a UNC back stabber for saying UMD>UNC, whatever, just say something.

snake? SNAAAAAAAAKE!!?!?!!?