Looking for another better showing in Week 3... THE PICKS

Before I get started, I have a bit of a programming note for this week. This would normally be the time when my Bears preview would be accompanied by my NFL picks, but with Da Bears set for a Monday Nighter, I'm holding out on that until right before kickoff, so you can call me on my shit during the game.

Alright, now that that is out of the way, let's get to the picks. Last week I went 10-6 and rose in the nationwide rankings as my season record is no 18-14. I'm looking for similar results this week. Here we go...
49ers at Chiefs
Browns at Ravens
Cowboys at Texans... PANIC!
Lions at Vikings... PHEW!
Bills at Patriots
Falcons at Saints
Titans at Giants
Steelers at Bucs
Bengals at Panthers
Eagles at Jaguars
Redskins at Rams
Colts at Broncos
Raiders at Cardinals
Chargers at Seahawks
Jets at Dolphins
Packers (20) at Bears (23)... DUH!!!!!!

Going to make today a quick post as I have a busy final Brewers weekend to get to (should be a blog tomorrow night). Yeah it's bittersweet, so to get to the festivities, I'm going to turn things over to the Nussie Hunter.

The pages of Maxim this month were blessed by the one and only Ciara. For some reason she had sort of gone away the last couple years and I almsot forgot about her. Well she's back with the ridiculous video for "Ride" Check it...


Uhh, yeah. She's gorgeous and Maxim attempted to do her justice and did a good job, but I'm not sure pictures can do her complete justice. Check below and the rest of the pics, here.

Making a statement: At 2-0 Bears turn heads

Did you think the Bears could beat the Cowboys? Be honest when you answer that! I know every single "expert" on Fox picked the Cowboys to roll without a second thought. You know what, I had my doubts, but check my picks on the last blog post. Yes, I'm a Bears fan, so I picked them, but be real here. They went on the road to a place not many teams can really go and win and you had to think many of the mistakes the Cowboys made in their loss to the Redskins would go away when they got to the friendly confines of Cowboys Stadium.
Well, they didn't and every time it looked like the Cowboys scored and looked like they were going to take over the game, Jay Cutler (and his 5 TDs and lone INT) led drives that got points with touchdown passes to Greg Olsen (beating an all-out blitz), Devin Hester (You are RIDICULOUS!) AND Matt Forte (after a missed FG that would have tied it to put the game away). Yes, this may be the Jay Cutler Jerry Angelo thought he was going to get when he traded a pair of first round picks and Kyle Orton for him.
Yes he took a ton of hits and at times looked to be in a ton of pain, but he persevered and made the big throws that everyone has been waiting for him to make.
Add to it the fact that the Bears defense allowed just 38 rushing yards on 22 attempts. Yes, this might be the beginning of something big. Heck, look around the division and the Vikings are 0-2, so things could be going in the Bears way.
As much as they'll say in the locker room over and over that they are not thinking about the "haters" when they came home with a win, you know they had some fresh crow ready to be served to the media at Halas Hall in Lake Forest.
Can't say you blame them. You can't put a lot of weight in an 0-4 preseason, but the way the Bears went 0-4 there wasn't a lot of positives you can take from it. You have to hand it to the team for being able to turn it on when it matters and do what they have done the first two weeks of the season.


Up next though is a visit from Clay Matthews, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to Soldier Field on Monday Night Football. For six quarters they didn't look like the team many expected to see to start the season, but the second half of the Bills game last week was very impressive. Aaron Rodgers finally got the offense in a groove and Clay Matthews.... I'll say it again Clay Matthews. Yes he is a man beast and yes he has turned quarterbacks into his own rag doll through two games.
It's going to make for a great night on the Lake in Chi-City. I'll have my preview this weekend in what should be a great game and maybe one that is the Bears official coming out party. A win in this one and do the Bears become a sexy Super Bowl pick? Heck after this one, they could go undefeated into the bye week in Week 8 or even 6-1 with a loss. That's if things keep trending up. Yes, this team could be something special. We'll have to see how things unfold over the course of the week.

Alright, time to get on to the Nussie Hunter portion of this broadcast. In checking my "dude blogs" today I found some great stuff. I remember watching Holly Madison dating Hugh Hefner for something like seven years, but now she's single and is in UFC Magazine. All I can say is she looks incredible these days. The good folks at Guyism have all the photos. Here's a sample.

The Bears & Boys, plus all of Week 2 in the NFL

For two teams that really didn't do a lot of things right, Week 2 of the NFL season has the Bears in Dallas to take on the Cowboys at Cowboys Stadium. The only difference from Week 1 for the Bears and 'Boys was that the Bears were the benefactor of an odd call.
The key to this game will be which offensive line can pick it up late in the game. I'm imagining both defenses living the the backfield and meeting at the quarterback all game, making things rough for Jay Cutler and Tony Romo. Last week, former Bears first-round pick Marc Colombo cost them the game with a holding call in the final seconds. I'm not sure which unit will step up, but I know it's the key. I see both defenses running amok in this one and creating chaos all over the field.
If Cutler can hit Matt Forte out of the backfield on some short passes to counteract that quick rush, it could put the Bears in a position to do some damage.
I have made my picks and the team I picked to win shouldn't surprise you.
Prediction: Bears 20, Cowboys 17 in a close one in the Jerry Dome.

Now for my Week 1 picks. Last week was a rough one, as I only went 8-8. It's time to get better in Week 2. Here they are (Bold teams are winners):
Cardinals at Falcons
Ravens at Bengals
Chiefs at Browns
Bears at Cowboys
Eagles at Lions
Bills at Packers
Steelers at Titans
Dolphins at Vikings
Buccaneers at Panthers
Seahawks at Broncos
Rams at Raiders
Patriots at Jets
Jaguars at Chargers
Texans at Redskins
Giants at Colts
Saints (28) at 49ers (13)

Alright, got a quick Nussie Hunter to present in today's broadcast and it's a woman that shares a name with one of my fave teams. Nicole Brewer was on CoEdMagazine.com this week and look amazing. I'm thinking the Brewers need to get her some sort of appearance deal! Here's a great sample below. You can see the rest of them here.

I'll take a 1-0 start to the season anyday!

Well, let's get right into it. The Bears' 19-14 win over the Lions Sunday at Soldier Field was not without the play that will be felt and replayed over and over again throughout this NFL season.
My initial thought was, OK, this game is a loss. There are 24 seconds left, they have three timeouts, but that doesn't make things easier. But when I saw the play had been ruled an incomplete pass and I saw the replay, I had a gut feeling the play would not be overturned. Yes he caught the ball initially, but how he was holding it with one hand and just setting it down when his hand hit the ground, cost the Lions the score. It's simple really. That's why coaches teach high school kids to put the ball to their chest when they catch it. Had he down that and tossed the ball to a ref or even spiked the ball, the touchdown would have stood.
The best explanation of the thing is from former Director of Officials in Mike Pereira, who now works for Fox Sports. Here he is...

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=84f74ba3-944b-4246-8a5b-a50d8c618c1c&from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_articles" target="_new" title="Online OT: Pereira's Week 1 Calls">Video: Online OT: Pereira's Week 1 Calls</a>


Alright, now time for a look at the rest of the game and the good and the bad from this team.
I'll say the best thing I saw in the day was the throw Jay Cutler made to Matt Forte to get the Bears the lead. It is clear if Mike Martz has things his way, Forte will play the role of Marshall Faulk in this offense. He is capable of doing so and the 151 receiving yards in the opener is the most for a running back on opening day in NFL history.
And I cannot go a game recap post without mentioning the man above wearing No. 6. No folks, Kevin Butler is long retired, but Jay Cutler had 371 yards with two touchdowns. He looked poised and ready to spread the ball over the field. That's the work in the Martz offense that I wanted to see in the preseason. It was apparently kept under wraps and was ceremoniously unveiled Sunday. There is also one Cutler stat that stands out to me and it is the one interception he threw. Yes, Aaron Rodgers, the guy many gave the MVP to, including myself has more interceptions that Cutler. So all the pundits can sit down (at least for now).
There were some things that upset me. Namely the turnovers that kept this game close.  It's not rocket science and a coach doesn't even had to mention it to the players. It's like a pitching coach telling a pitcher to throw strikes. He's going to respond with a "No kidding, thanks for the help." The Greg Olsen cough up in side the five was the biggest one to me. Last year the Bears were the worst inside the redzone and you can't expect them to be that bad again. this start to the season isn't exactly encouraging, though.
I am pretty sure it will get fixed and we will not be talking about this for long.
Week 2 is at Dallas and it should be another good one. Look for the preview on that one during the week!

Time now for the Nussie Hunter and we go no farther than the WWE to find our gorgeous guest for today. It's the one and only Maryse Oulett.  The fine folks at Guyism.com have more photos of her. Be sure to take a look! Here's a preview:

What to think of the 2010 Monsters of the Midway

At noon Sunday the Chicago Bears start another season and this may be the first time in a long time my expectations for the season are low.
Does an 0-4 preseason give fans anything to get excited about? Well, not really. Aside from Matt Forte's 89-yard touchdown run against the Raiders in Week 2 of the preseason.
Everything from Jay Cutler's production with the offense, to the offensive line in pass protection, there are a lot of things I don't think this team can do.
Is that to say they won't get it fixed through the year? Maybe, but with an offseason and preseason games to work on things, you'd think they'd have things under control by now.
On the defensive side of the ball Julius Peppers has been everywhere on the field and Brian Urlacher (when he has not been nursing a calf strain) has been a welcome re-addition to this unit. There are still question marks at cornerback with Nathan Vasher shipped out of town and Zachary Bowman taking over. Also, at safety where the coaching staff cannot seem to figure out if Daniel Manning and the re-acquired Chris Harris belong at the spot.
So, ,you're probably thinking, do I think the Bears are going to do this year? Well, the folks that have this team winning three games this season are mistaken. They are better than that if they just let Jay make the calls for himself and just wing it at the line. If you saw my NFL preview the other night, you saw I didn't have them in the playoffs and that is right. The Vikings and the Packers are too good within the division for the Bears to make it into the postseason.
The schedule this year is pretty tough and I'm thinking this team could have another 7-9 or 8-8 year in them. It's not awful, but it's not great either and I'm going to say it now, Lovie Smith should not be back next season.
The only way things turn is if things start to click offensively and Cutler and Martz figure out the offense and everyone gets rolling. In order to do that, the offensive line is going to have to play out of their minds and Mike Tice will have worked wonders because even the supposed best of the bunch in Chris Williams has looked terrible at points during the preseason.


Alright, let's turn our attention to the near future and Sunday's game against the Lions, shall we? The Lions have lost 20 at home and in two games the Bears scored 47 points against Detroit last year.
With the Bears playing at home, I'm going to give them the edge in this game to get things established with Matt Forte and Chester Taylor early. Whether that is with straight runs or with short throws from Cutler is up to Mike Martz, but I see it happening.
To me, that is the key in the offense. If a line can run block, they can protect the QB and if they can push bodies around when the guys are running down hill, they will be able to get the confidence needed to protect Jay and maybe even let him make some strikes downfield.
The news today is that Lance Briggs and Desmond Clark are "probable" to play and both should be welcomed on the field. Briggs, moreso, clearly for his importance on the weakside next to Brian Urlacher and Pisa Tinoasumoa on the strong side.
The key for the defense is simple, get off the field on third down. If Julius Peppers can get some pressure on the Matt Stafford or bring enough attention to himself that Tommie Harris and Marc Anderson can get pressure, the Cover-2 will be able to shine.
Prediction: Bears 24, Lions 20


OK, folks, time for a talk with the Nussie Hunter. He made a trip Down Under and brought back with him shots of Miranda Kerr set to appear in Victoria's Secret. I'll say it's not a secret anymore, hun. Here she is. And here are more shots of her!

The picks are in for Week 1 of the NFL season

Week 1 of the NFL season is finally upon us! Yes I'm excited and you probably are too. So let's get right into it. Here are my NFL Week 1 picks with the winners in bold. This season I will keep a running tab of how I'm doing on the blog and not just on my ESPN.com pick-'em league. That way, I can make fun of you every week for picking more than you.
Vikings at Saints (Yes I made this pick before the game. Here's the proof.)
Dolphins at Bills
Lions at Bears
Raiders at Titans
Bengals at Patriots
Panthers at Giants
Falcons at Steelers
Browns at Bucs
Broncos at Jaguars
Colts at Texans
49ers at Seahawks
Packers at Eagles
Cardinals at Rams
Cowboys at Redskins
Ravens at Jets
Chargers at Chiefs

Alright, time to jump right in it and get to the Nussie Hunter pick of the day. Figured we had to have some football tie-in and the one and only Sara Jean Underwood was more than willing to help us out with some bodypainting. there's more of that, here!

Are you ready for some football?! The time is here!

The time is nearing. Thursday night the NFL season finally kicks off and I must say as much as I love the Brewers it's time to move on to my other favorite team. You know, the one who's stadium shares the Wilber's Way flag with Miller Park, the Chicago Bears and the NFL.
So why, you are probably asking, is there a picture of Aaron Rodgers on the top of the page? Well, that one is easy, my friends, I'm a smart fan and am willing to realize that Rodgers and the Packers might be the team to beat in all the land. It will come down to the Packers defense in Year 2 under Dom Capers in the 3-4 defense and how well the guys around Rodgers step up. I'm going to cut right to the chase and make my division-by-division picks. Yes this is debatable, so please comment below and let's get the chatter going.

NFC North
Packers: The Green and Gold will beat out Brett Favre who will be without key parts for half the season. That might be enough for the Packers to get out front and beat the Vikings in their trip to Lambeau this season.
NFC South 
Saints: The defending champs will have to fend off the Falcons to win the division, but should get it done with Drew Brees leading the way.
NFC East
Cowboys: This might not be a popular pick with the followers of the way, but Tony Romo and his supporting cast is good enough to beat out the Shanahan-led Redskins for the division.
NFC West
49ers: This one is pretty much by default, but the Niners will have a lot of teams outside of the division fits this year. The key is coach Mike Singletary bringing Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis, Frank Gore and Alex Smith together. That should be a potent quartet and all they need to do is get on the right page and stay healthy.

Wild Cards
Vikings: Favre will get this team back to the playoffs.
Redskins: Mike Shanahan and Donovan McNabb are too good to not get this team into the playoffs in their first year on the job with the weapons of Chris Cooley and Clinton Portis.


Before we get into the AFC, I have to talk about Joe Flacco. He might be the player with the most pressure on him in the entire league the season. Don't think so. Here's what I'm thinking. Yes, Ray Rice and Willis McGahee are in the backfield to ease the pressure, but for the first time in his NFL career, Flacco has guys to throw to on the outside in the traded for Anquan Boldin and the just signed T.J. Houshmanzadah (I'm allowed to spell that wrong). Add to the mix and aging defense and the offense will need to score more points to keep the wins coming. The one thing about him that leads me to think he will step up to the challenge is that winning is all he knows. The guy is the hero of Delaware. Name me one person that amounted to anything from there not a politician and I'd be surprised. OK, back to the Division picks.

AFC North
Ravens: The defense is aging, but can still make the big plays when needed and that could be the difference.

AFC South
Colts: The Texans are going to be in the hunt, but Peyton is too good to let the Colts sink. The only thing Indy might lose could be the consecutive seasons with 12-wins one that has made them the model of consistency.

AFC East
Patriots: Randy Moss and Tom Brady are in contract years. I'm not sure Brady will throw 50 TDs and Moss catch 25 like they did a couple years ago, but they might come close in proving how much they mean to their team.


AFC West
Chargers: Philip Rivers has had LT to look to turn to in each of his season until now. We'll see what he's made of on his own now. Let's be honest, there really isn't anyone else in the division who will put up a fight.

Wild Cards
Dolphins: Brandon Marshall's arrival means the 'phins have a playmaker on the outside. If they can work that i with the Wildcat, their offense should start carrying their part of the bargain.
Texans: I'm going to be honest, I originally had the Steelers in this spot, but Pittsburgh is nothing without Big Ben and him missing the first four games is going to take until Week 6 to shake off.
I'm saying Matt Schaub and the crew in Houston finally gets over the hump and into the playoffs.

Playoffs
NFC Wild Card
Cowboys over Redskins
Vikings over 49ers
AFC Wild Card
Patriots over Texans
Dolphins over Chargers

NFC Divisional Playoffs
Vikings over Saints
Packers over Cowboys
AFC Divisional Playoffs
Colts over Dolphins
Ravens over Patriots

NFC Championship
Packers over Vikings
AFC Championshp
Ravens over Colts

Super Bowl
Packers over Ravens
Yes, I just picked the Packers to win the Super Bowl. Now they will win just six games this season because hells is close to freezing and they need to balance the world. Or, everything will come together and they will show why I just took a chance on them.

Coming up: With a game Thursday, I'm going to make a quick post tomorrow night to continue something I started last year with posting my picks, by doing the same this year.
Friday or Saturday: My Bears season preview will come one of those two days depending on when I get to it and if I have game prep to do for that other Web site I write for.

Had enough NFL talk for the night. It's time to check out the woman Jason Kidd calls his own and the woman who is the Playboy Playmate of the Year. Yes there is hope. More specifically, Hope Dworaczyk. Want more? Here ya go!

Finally, No. 600 for one of the classiest players in the game!

Finally! Trevor Hoffman, you, your uncle, your brother, your father and me both figured we'd be talking about this so much sooner in the season than Sept. 7, but that's how it works sometimes. And to be honest, that made the story leading up to this - the 600th save for the man that is already the all-time saves leader - that much sweeter.
Who would have thought after the year he had last year that Trevor Hoffman would falter like he did at the beginning of the season and lose the closer role. The wrinkle in the whole story is something I heard in listening to the post game show on 620 WTMJ that Hoffman, while taking a backseat to the man who became the closer, John Axford, became one of the mustached man's biggest fans and friends. If that's not the class that makes the celebration on the field and the photo above that much sweeter, I don't know what is.
There is a line in sports between cocky and confident and in baseball confidence is something that is more evident and comes and goes more than any other sport. Hoffman lost his at the beginning of the year when he could not save a game for the life of him and he was big enough to give up the role, but not give up on the team and himself to get back to where he was. Let's be real here and say Trevor's pitches are not the best, not the fastest and everyone knows what they are going to see from him. That doesn't make it any easier to hit off him, though, because he is that smart and is at the ballpark at 2 in the afternoon on the day of a 7 p.m. gamenight. Yes, at 41 Hoffman is the epitome of hard work and every player on that team respects the hell out him. To be honest it's hard being as big of a fan as I am of that team to not get goosebumps and not get a little misty eyed watching the final out and the celebration that follows with the team and Hoffman's family. You could see how much he wanted to get there and how much the guys were pulling for him to get back into the ninth inning and to 600.


That video is one I watched a bit when word came down from a certain friend of mine (We'll call him The Rog for this episode of The Way). Save 478 tied the record back in 2007 and just three seasons later he's up to 600 and at 41 has shown in recent weeks he's able to be smart enough to step back and figure things out.



Alright, time to finish off this blog because it's late. The other big sports news of the day was that Reggie Bush is likely to have his Heisman Trophy taken away. For some reason, the first thing I thought of was "I wonder how Kim Kardashian is doing." Yeah, strange I know. So I hit up a couple dude blogs and I'd say she's doing quite fine. What do you think?

Picking 12th in your fantasy league? No problemo!

So my second attempt at drafting a winning fantasy football team went a little better (at least I think so) than the first time. It was made more challenging by the fact that I picked No. 12 in a 12-team league. It's a bit of a different beast in a snake draft and I had to draft some guys out of place because I wasn't going to get another shot for another 23 picks.
So, in the first round, I had Andre Johnson fall to me at No. 12 and I followed that up by taking Steven Jackson at No. 13. Yes, I have him in both leagues, but he was too good to pass up.
There is one guy I'm rather unsure about and that is Jamaal Charles of the Chiefs. I don't really know too much about him and I just took the word of Yahoo! today and just went with that one.
Here is the rest of Decatur Staleys II
QB Philip Rivers, SD
WR Andre Johnson, HOU
WR Michael Crabtree, SF
RB Steven Jackson, StL
RB Jamaal Charles, KC
TE Visanthe Schincoe, MIN
K Lawrence Tynes, KC
DEF New Orleans
Bench
Carson Palmer, QB, CIN
Marion Barber, RB, DAL
Devin Hester, WR, CHI
Steve Slaton, RB, HOU
Santonio Holmes, WR, NYJ
Todd Heap, TE, BAL
Sydney Rice, WR, MIN


The biggest key to this team is my quarterback, Phillip Rivers, who I ended up getting with the first pick of the four round. It was a need after I took my first two guys and Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were all taken by the time I took the floor at No. 12 and No. 13. So I let it go to my next picks and it turned out OK. I also think Michael Crabtree is going to have a big year and getting him in the fifth round in a draft where people started taking defenses in the fourth and fifth rounds was a steal for me.
I did make two mistakes, though. I completely spaced on Holmes' suspension and now that I think about it, wasting my last pick on Sydney Rice might not have been one of the smartest things I've done in fantasy football. But it is what it is and I can always hit the waiver wire and make some moves.

Alright, going to be a quick one today, but I would never leave you without taking a look at today's Nussie Hunter pick of the day. Maxim has unveiled its 10 finalists in this year's HomeTown Hotties competition. Here is my early pick to win it. Her name is Monique and she lives in Albuquerque. So, yes there is something worth seeing when you're stranded there. It's not that bad. Here's more of her profile.

With the seventh pick in the XFL Fantasy Draft....

My fantasy football league draft was Thursday and in the league I run and named after Vince McMahon's XFL, we kicked off our fifth season.With the seventh pick in the draft Steven Jackson fell to me and I gobbled him up. I was actually going back and forth on whether or not to take Drew Brees or Andre Johnson, but I never had to. (BTW those two went 9 and 10 of the 12-team league).
So here's how the rest of the Decatur Staleys ( to pay homage to my Bears) fell.

QB Peyton Manning, IND
RB Steven Jackson, STL
RB Pierre Thomas, NO
RB/WR Felix Jones, RB, DAL
WR Chad Ochocinco, CIN
WR Mike Wallace, PIT
TE Tony Gonzalez, ATL
D/ST Steelers
K Rob Bironas, TEN
Bench
Thomas Jones, RB, KC
Matt Ryan, QB, ATL
Devin Aromashodu, WR, CHI
Nate Burleson, WR, DET
John Carlson, TE, SEA
Mewelde Moore, RB, PIT
Chris Chambers, WR, KC


It's a decent team, we'll see how it works out. I'm going to say my second round pick of Peyton Manning will probably pay the biggest dividend and get me the most points. Has anyone been more consistent or the past few year? And on a team that doesn't even try to mess around with a running game? Yeah, he's that good.  I'll keep an eye on the Chiefs and what they do with Thomas Jones. He's been so good the past few years with the Jets, it's going to be hard to see him not start in KC. I'd say he's the starter before long there. If Charlie Weis doesn't find him a role, he's crazy.
I have another draft set for Sunday afternoon. Any tips or guys I should keep an eye on? Any great ideas for a team name revolving around Greg Olsen of the Bears or Jay Cutler? Otherwise I'm going with the Yahoo! brother team to this ESPN franchise.

Alright folks, what does every team need on the sideline? Yep, cheerleaders. Nothing would look better cheering my new team on than some cheerleaders. The Denver Broncos shot their bikini calendar before the start of the season. I'd say things turned out quite well. What do you think?