Week 13 Picks

Here are our picks for Week 13, this week's expert was Matt, our guest host for Episode 4:

TITANS - Lions
COWBOYS - Seahawks
CARDINALS - Eagles
COLTS - Browns
DOLPHINS - Rams
49ers - BILLS
Panthers - PACKERS
SAINTS - Bucs
GIANTS - Redskins
FALCONS - Chargers
STEELERS - Patriots
Broncos - JETS
Chiefs - RAIDERS
Bears - VIKINGS
JAGUARS - Texans

Tom Who?

You're familiar with the Patriots' star quarterback, right?...'bout 6'4'', decent looking kid from California, makes a habit of throwing several touchdowns and several hundred yards each game and the occasional rushing TD....that's right I'm talking about Matt Cassel (what were you thinking?). I don't know about you, but for all the whining everybody did about Tom Brady going down in Week 1, Cassel has sure picked up the slack and then some. To quote Mr. Randy Moss, Cassel's been playing some hellified ball.
If you're still not paying attention to the Patriots this season, you better open your eyes and pay attention. In the last 2 games, Cassel's been...well...Brady-like. Before Sunday, only 4 quarterbacks in NFL history threw for 400 yards in back-to-back games, and Tom Brady isn't one of those guys. Sure, the Pats aren't 11-0 at this point, but they're surging in the AFC and making a valid push at another great season. Cassel almost single-handedly beat the Jets 9 days ago, throwing for 400 yards and 3 TDs, while leading the Pats in rushing with 62 yards. He followed that up by throwing another 3 TDs to Moss, 415 yards, completing almost 70% of his 43 passes and rushing for a TD.
I'm in no way suggesting the Patriots need to look to trade Tom Brady, don't get me wrong. However, if I'm Matt Cassel and things keep going this way, I need to start at QB for somebody in the NFL (hey Philly, I'm pretty sure Matt knows ties can happen!). Anyway, the Pats have another tough game this week against the Steelers, and it'll be mainly up to Cassel to keep his trade value going up.

Where Wax Figures Happen...

Every now and then something happens that just ticks me off. You know, like every time Manu Ginobili flops, or every time Robert Horry wins another cherry-picked championship ring, or when they change the actress playing Vivian on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air without a word, as if she just got taller and lighter overnight.
Well, this is one of those moments. Apparently, Madame Tussaud's wax museum in D.C. decided to make a wax figure of an NBA player...Gilbert Arenas? What? That's right, Gilbert "Agent Zero worth for the money we're paying you" Arenas. Now I'm not saying his injuries are his fault or that he isn't a great player, but I used to think only the most distinguished got inducted into Tussaud's wax museum. I mean we're talking George W. and the Jonas Brothers here, this isn't just an honor you hand out like a raffle ticket. Arenas? Maybe just because he plays in Washington, but so did Jordan, is there a wax figure of Jordan in a Wizards jersey? (No really, is there? I'd like to know)
Anyway, at least Arenas donated one of his own jerseys to the cause. Still, makes me want to go to D.C., pose with the Duke Ellington figure and burn Arenas' figure to the ground...but slowly...and with one of those peppermint scented candles...

Week 12 Picks

So here are our picks for Week 12, as always, winners in ALL CAPS

Bengals - STEELERS
BUCS - Lions
Texans - BROWNS
VIKINGS - Jaguars
BILLS - Chiefs
BEARS - Rams
PATRIOTS - DOLPHINS (Each of us picked one)
JETS - TITANS (Again, each of us picked one)
Eagles - RAVENS
49ers - COWBOYS
Raiders - BRONCOS
GIANTS - Cardinals
Panthers - FALCONS
REDSKINS - Seahawks
COLTS - Chargers
Packers - SAINTS

Speaking of Michael....

As you heard in Episode 2, we talked about Jordan and Kobe, so I came across this video of Jordan in his high-priced basketball camp for CEOs who can afford it. Jordan got beat. Sure, it's not like he was his intense I'll-score-38-on-you-in-the-finals-after-puking-my-guts-out-with-the-flu self, but you know that guy left that camp feeling like his big bucks were worth it.

NFL Week 11 Picks

Well last week we did well, 10-4 with the week's picks. If you missed Episode 2 of our show, here are our picks for Week 11 in the NFL, with our picks in ALL CAPS.

Jets - PATRIOTS
Bears - PACKERS
BRONCOS - Falcons
Saints - CHIEFS
Texans - COLTS
Vikings - BUCS
Raiders - DOLPHINS
Ravens - GIANTS
LIONS - Panthers
EAGLES - Bengals
Cardinals - SEAHAWKS (if Hasselbeck plays)
Rams - 49ERS
TITANS - Jaguars
Chargers - STEELERS
COWBOYS - Redskins
BROWNS - Bills

Is Paul Pierce now one of the Great Celtics??

The defending national champions, The Celtics, have a lot of new faces that aren’t exactly familiar faces in Boston with the exception of one man, Paul Pierce. Pierce was drafted 10th overall in 1998 by the Boston Celtics. Over the last 10 years the Celtics have had some of the worst moments in NBA history, but in contrast, Pierce has been part of some of the most memorable. Some of those moments that come to mind are the Celtics comeback against the Nets in Game 3 of the 2002 Eastern Conference finals. Another more recently was the comeback in Game 4 of the 2008 Finals against the Lakers. These two comebacks I would consider two of the best of all time. Paul Pierce has been a part of these and other great moments in the NBA and finally winning championship ring in 2008 with the Celtics.

All of this begs the question, Does Paul Pierce get considered as one of the greats in Celtic history?

When you think about the Celtics franchise you are automatically confronted with 17 NBA titles and some of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball. To name a few, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Robert Parish and many more. Along with those names comes not only the titles, but some of the greatest rivalries known in the sports world; Most notably, the Celtics vs. the Lakers. It seems fitting that Paul Pierce’s inclusion in the debate of the greatest Celtics came after the championship rivalries known in the sports world; Most notably, the Celtics vs. the Lakers. It seems fitting that Paul Pierce’s inclusion in the debate as on of the greatest Celtics came after the championship win against the Lakers.

Now, obviously, from a ring standpoint, Paul Pierce still needs a few to match the likes of Bill Russell and Larry Bird. However, from a statistical standpoint he ranks among the top. He ranks #1 in three-pointers, #3 in free throws, #4 in NBA Efficiency and #5 in defensive rebounds. One of the stats more respected among NBA fans is scoring; Paul Pierce is ranks second in scoring behind Larry Bird. Below is a table of the top regular season scorers per game, to qualify they needed to play at least 8 seasons.

Player	Yrs	PPG
Larry Bird	13	24.3
Paul Pierce	10	23.1
John Havliceck	16	20.8
Antoine Walker	8	20.6
Tommy Heinsohn	9	18.6
Bob Cousy	13	18.5
Jo Jo White	10	18.4
Dave Cowens	10	18.2
Bill Sharman	9	18.1
Kevin McHale	13	17.9
Sam Jones	12	17.7
Robert Parish	14	16.5
Bill Russell	13	15.1

Of course, there are two sides to every argument, but in the end I believe that now Paul Pierce needs to be mentioned when talking about other Celtic greats, and when He retires, his number, 34, will hang in the rafters alongside the other men that played for one of the greatest franchises in NBA history.

By JON

Please tune in to our show if you want to discuss this or any post, also if there is something you would like us to discuss just let us know!

Practice??

J's Picks for NFL Week 10

All right, we talked about it on the show, but here they are, J's picks for next weeks' NFL games (winner in all caps).

BRONCOS - Browns
SAINTS - Falcons
Bills - PATRIOTS
Ravens - TEXANS
JAGUARS - Lions
Rams - JETS
TITANS - Bears
PACKERS - Vikings
Seahawks - DOLPHINS
PANTHERS - Raiders
Chiefs - CHARGERS
Colts - STEELERS
GIANTS - Eagles
49ers - CARDINALS

America's Team

So, the first of many of my entries will focus on one of the many surprises that has occurred in the NFL this season... the downward spiral of the Dallas Cowboy's, a.k.a "America's Team". Sure, they've had Brad Johnson as their starting QB for the last few weeks and Romo is most definatly a pivotal part of the offense, however, I would like to suggest that the downfall started before Romo's injury. Setting aside the fact the Terrell Owens wasn't happy with the way that Romo was distributing the ball before Romo went down with a pinky injury I saw a lot of things that were just waiting to go wrong; Namely the defense. The latest game against the Giants for example was a ridiculous display of a defensive effort. Has the defense been this deeply affected by the loss of Tony Romo? The only thing that has changed since Romo's pinky injury for the defense is the suspension of Pacman Jones, and quite frankly Pacman isn't the defender he was in Tennessee. I found it comical that Brandon Jacob's hardest fought yards were actually caused by a net behind the end zone while throwing the ball to fans after scoring a touchdown.

The offense actually does have an excuse to be performing at level they are, although with all the weapons on that side of the ball it really shouldn't be this bad. It was mentioned that watching the Cowboys Giants game was like watching a horrific train wreck very slowly getting worse and worse. I think that was a fair description. When a QB in Dallas starts playing poorly Terrell Owens shuts down, when T.O. shuts down, the whole Dallas franchise follows suit. One more observation, the offensive coordinator Jeff Garrett, was the league’s next popular pick for a head coaching job. I hope that people are starting to realize that maybe he’s not all he was cracked up to be, I mean come on, besides Tony Romo there’s still a handful of pro-bowlers on that side of the ball.

To end, what happened on Sunday was basically this, when the cowboys weren't turning the ball over on offense, they were letting Eli Manning drive the ball up and down the field using Brandon Jacobs as his bulldozer to clear the path. As nice as it will be to have Tony Romo back I don’t think that he is going to solve all of the problems the Cowboys are having right now. Unfortunately, coming in to this season the Cowboys basically anointed themselves the next super bowl champions, now though, I’m not so sure they will even make the playoffs.

Welcome to the J and J Show!

Hey everybody. We've finally set up our blog page to go with our show. Here we'll be posting links, pictures, videos, and other things about the NBA, the NFL, and other major sports news. Some of it we'll talk about on our show and some of this will just be posts we'll make through the week. If a post gets enough reactions we'll probably talk about it on the show. We'll also post when our shows will be, as our schedules aren't very fixed, but we'll also provide links for you to download our shows so you can stay up to date on the latest discussions. Feel free to comment on our posts or email us with ideas for shows or blogs or if you have any suggestions.
Peace!
-J