Hall of Fame Semifinalists

The 2009 Hall of Fame Semifinalists list was announced Wednesday, about a month after the list of eligibles was announced.  Four players in their first year of eligibility made the cut — DT John Randle, DB Rod Woodson, TE Shannon Sharpe, and DE Bruce Smith.

The other candidates are WR Cris Carter, RB Roger Craig, RB Terrell Davis, C Dermontti Dawson, DE Richard Dent, DE Chris Doleman, LB Kevin Greene, OL Russ Grimm, P Ray Guy, DE Charles Haley, CB Lester Hayes, DT Cortez Kennedy, G Bob Kuechenberg, G Randall McDaniel, owner Art Modell, WR Andre Reed, QB Ken Stabler, commissioner Paul Tagliabue, ST Steve Tasker, LB Derrick Thomas, and owner Ralph Wilson.

A further round of voting will cut the list to 15, which will be announced in January (so far, all 15 of ZoneBlitz.com’s picks as finalists are still in play).  From those 15 (plus senior candidates Bob Hayes and Claude Humphrey), inductees will be picked (and announced) the Saturday before the Super Bowl.

ESPN Monday Night Football is A Joke

So, I was sitting at a local chain restaurant having a quick bite to eat with my wife tonight, and had my eye on the TV watching a little bit of the pregame show before tonight’s Green Bay Packer vs. New Orleans Saints matchup.  Fortunately, we didn’t have any sound.

The pregame show is bad enough with the group of jokers that they have on set (including a bit with Trent Dilfer that appeared to be talking about what Tony Romo’s return has meant to Terrell Owens and the Cowboys–and I wouldn’t be shocked if he didn’t bother to mention the illegal contact and pushing off that TO appeared to do in every highlight).

But to make it an even bigger waste of time, they aired a segment that appeared to be a “Newlywed Game” type contest of who knows Reggie Bush better–between what I assume was a teammate and Bush’s girlfriend, Kim Kardashian.  That’s right, they devoted at least five minutes of airtime (and who knows how much production time) to a segment that featured a player that is not playing in tonight’s game, and his “celebrity” girlfriend/fiance that is most known for a) having a fat ass, b) having a not quite as famous as Paris Hilton porn tape, and c) getting booted off Dancing with the “supposed” Stars.

Congratulations, ESPN–you have sunk to a new low.

And, to make things worse, in a quick search before writing this, it appears that the Bush/Kardashian bit isn’t limited to Monday Night Pregame–it appears that they are in ESPN: The Magazine, ESPN: The Website, and presumably ESPN: The Vomit Bag.  At least, I hope so–I think I need one after seeing that.

Week 11 & Week 12 NFL Picks

Alright, getting caught up (again)–week 11 picks are below.  After 11 weeks, things are very tight in our races.  In our ranked draft head to head match up, things are tied at 53-26 after we both went 6-2 in week 11 (the Philly/Cincy tie counted as a loss–at 15 points, that hurt us–but a lot of people had it that high, so a Philly win probably wouldn’t have put us in the money).

I closed the gap in our straight picks with a 13-2-1 week, versus Andy’s 11-4-1 week.   He still has a five game lead on me, though, at 94-51-1 to 89-56-1.

And against the spread, I tied things up with a 9-7 week, while Andy went 7-9 overall, to bring both of our totals to 67-61-2.

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ZoneBlitz Picks – Getting Back on Track

OK, so two weeks ago we delayed posting our picks–and finally won some money.  So last week we did it again–and didn’t fair so well.  And ended up not posting them at all–although we did have them done.

This week, we were so busy trying to make a last second trade in Fantasy Football–a trade that didn’t happen, and may have cost us a win this week (since a couple of the players being discussed killed us Thursday night)–that we forgot to make our spread picks until this morning.

So here’s a two week update:

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Week 8 Picks (Finally) – In the $$!!

After a lengthy delay, here are the picks we made last week.  In a twist of fate, the week that we delayed posting them, we actually went out and finished in third place in our ranking pool–netting us some cash back (not quite the entry fee–but if we finish third or higher again, we’ll be covered for the year).  We finished the week with just a 104–but we climbed to 30th overall for the year.

Head to head, I’ll have to get caught up on.  But as for Week 9 picks…well, we’re not the most superstitious people in the world–but we figured why screw with what’s worked, so we’ve made our picks early again, but plan on holding off on publishing them for now.

ZoneBlitz
(Rank)
Andy
(Picks)

Tony
(Picks)

Andy
(AtS)

Tony
(AtS)
Saturday, October 25th, 2008
Rutgers @ Pittsburgh Pit (9)
Michigan State @ Michigan MSU (13)
Sunday, October 26th, 2008
Cincinnati @ Houston Hou (14)
Hou
Hou
Cin (+9.5)
Cin (+9.5)
Oakland @ Baltimore Bal (10)
Bal
Bal
Oak (+7)
Oak (+7)
Arizona @ Carolina Car (6)
Car
Car
Car (-4.5)
Car (-4.5)
Tampa Bay @ Dallas TB (4)
TB
TB
TB (+3.5)
TB (+3.5)
Washington @ Detroit Was (16)
Was
Was
Was (-7.5)
Was (-7.5)
St. Louis @ New England NE (11)
NE
NE
NE (-7)
NE (-7)
Kansas City @ NY Jets NYJ (15)
NYJ
NYJ
KC (+13)
NYJ (-13)
San Diego @ New Orleans NO (1)
NO
SD
NO (+3)
NO (+3)
Atlanta @ Philadelphia Phi (8)
Phi
Phi
Atl (+8.5)
Atl (+8.5)
Buffalo @ Miami Buf (5)
Buf
Buf
Buf (-1.5)
Buf (-1.5)
Cleveland @ Jacksonville Jac (12)
Jac
Jac
Jac (-7)
Jac (-7)
Seattle @ San Francisco SF (2)
SF
SF
Sea (+5)
Sea (+5)
NY Giants @ Pittsburgh NYG (3)
NYG
Pit
NYG (+3)
Pit (-3)
Monday, October 20th
Indianapolis @ Tennessee Ten (7)
Ten
Ten
Ind (+4)
Ten (-4)