THROWING KNIVES: WE'LL FIND OUT

by BD, Epic Carnival

True story, I fell asleep in this very chair this morning while preparing to type. Really puts a stamp on what was a long and wet night of work for me. Hope you're all having much dryer, quality days at your place of business. The big debate this morning seems to be, predictably, just who is the better team: New England or Indy? You have to like New England, but that's going to be one hell of a game. Speaking of the Pats, is this the week they fail to cover the spread? They're giving 16 to the 'Skins. They'll still probably cover as I expect the D to force Jason Campbell into plenty of mistakes. Sadly, with Warner and Hasselbeck on bye I'll be starting Campbell...heh. Will the 'Phins or Rams go defeated? I'm doubting it, mainly because neither is in a particularly great division and will steal one of those games. I mean c'mon, the 'Phins get to play the Jets and Buffalo both. Lots of talk about the Lions legitimacy locally. I'm not buying it, and I've heard that pessimistic stance. Anyhow, I'll be tossing out the second part of my NBA preview today featuring the Central and Pacific divisions. Today I've got Nikki Belucci for you, the hottest DJ (to my knowledge) on the planet.

Relax, We'll Find Out
I understand it's the media's job to debate which team is better, and so on and so forth. But, all of this Pats-Colts over saturation is making me want to stab someone. They play in less than two weeks. It's not as if they won't meet until January. When the match-up does happen though, how can you not like the Pats? The Colts best shot is to control the clock and keep Brady off the field. Otherwise it'll be another day of Moss and Welker TD's as the Pats win by at least 10. Anyhow, enough guessing, we'll find out soon enough.

NBA Preview Part Deux
Expect the final two division later this week and the final preview next Tuesday. Just in time for the first legitimate game.

Central Division Projected Order of Finish
Detroit
Chicago
Cleveland
Milwaukee
Indiana
Projected Playoff Teams: 3

A lot of people are talking about LeBron and the spear parts, but the team will regress as long as Pavlovic and Varejao aren't playing. The Cavs will still make the playoffs, but they've got no shot to knock off Boston or Detroit, and probably not Chicago, either. Chicago's still trying to find some offense in the front court, and until they do I'm not sure they're going to threaten Detroit unless they do. Detroit is still the class of the division for the regular season, but that's not going to save Flip's job. They've got to get back to the Finals and the youngsters must get time in the process. Otherwise, there'll be a new coach in Motown next season. As far as Milwaukee and Indiana are concerned, I have no idea which team will finish last. On one hand, you'd think Jermaine O'Neal alone can keep the Pacers out of the basement. But, does he even care anymore? On the other side, you could say the same of Michael Redd, who has a better supporting cast that includes an improving young front court. Thus, I'm rolling with Indiana as the division cellar dweller this season.

Pacific Division Projected Order of Finish
Phoenix
Golden State
LA Lakers
Sacramento
LA Clippers
Projected Playoff Teams: 3

Phoenix should run away with the division once again as the Warriors and Lakers fight for second place. This year it'll be G-State taking home that crown as they should be even better despite the loss of Jason Richardson. Why? Chemistry, with a full off-season with Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington in town this team should play even better together. If you need another reason the Warriors will finish 2nd, their's this: The Lakers key acquisitions this off-season were Javaris Crittenton and Derek Fisher. Not quite what the game's best player was hoping for, but us haters couldn't be happier. If your wondering why the Clips have fallen below a very bad Kings team, it's simple. Elton Brand ruptured his Achilles and could miss the entire season. As for Sacto? Two interesting things: Can Kevin Martin become a superstar in the league? And which will be traded Ron Artest or Mike Bibby? And where to? All signs point to Bibby, but I've got no idea where he could go.

Revisiting Expectations
I have no idea how I forgot this yesterday, but here's a look at how I did hypothesizing this past weekend.

Cleveland Wins Series 4-2. - Uhh.. No.
Michigan State almost knocks off OSU. - Technically this is right.
Florida will beat Kentucky. - Yup.
Illinois gives Michigan their first conference loss. - Almost, but Illinois choked it away.
Cincinnati finally shows up and wins big over the Jets. - 7 isn't big enough.
New England wins by over 16.5 again. - Yup.
Larry Johnson cruises past 100 rush yards for the second strait week. - Yes Indeed.

Weekend Box Office Top 5
1. 30 Days of Night - This looks worth checking out.
2. Why Did I Get Married? - I'll pass.
3. The Game Plan - I was shocked people were seeing this to begin with, but still?
4. Michael Clayton - Worth a look, haven't seen it yet.
5. The Comebacks - As a sports fan I'll check this out, but I'm expecting it to suck.

How in the hell did The Game Plan and The Comebacks out draw We Own The Night and Gone Baby Gone? I have no idea, but I'll definitely say the general public has horrendous taste. I got to see WOTN and it's a solid little film, I couldn't hear a lot of it so it's a little fuzzy. But, I'd still recommend giving it a look. By the way, as far as I could tell the Eva Mendes nudity was left on the cutting room floor.

Television
Heroes was decent, but outside of the Parkman/Dad portion and Peter/Elle (Kristen Bell) their wasn't a lot going on. Parkman's Dad gave us quite a bit to think about as he informed Matt that his powers go well beyond just reading minds. To the point that he can trap people within the nightmare's. Something he managed to do to Matt and Nathanas he fled. Matt made the first step in this progression as he sent a bit of a psychic message to Nathan to break out of the illusion. Peter's story got interesting as well, Elle was introduced and appears to be the source of Peter's new power we first seen when he was found at the end of the first episode. She seems to be working for the company and answers to her "daddy." Whether her father is Bob, or not remains to be seen. I have a feeling since we didn't get any confirmation that Bob was her father it's someone else. Elle cooked Ricky before daddy ended her hunt, but their's no doubt she'll be back and I have a feeling it'll be in Montreal as that's likely where Peter is headed. Other than that stuff, Suresh made a bad decision taking Molly to the company. Monica got her welcome to hero-hood from Micah as he helped her cope with what she was going through. And HRG is in the worst visual representation of Ukraine I've ever seen. Overall, a decent, but not great episode. Though things are definitely about to heat up.
Rating: 7/10

Scoreboard - October 23rd - 2007

NFL
Colts 29, Jags 7