The Basement View

2017 Week 4 picks Last week just wasn’t a good week. It was a weird from the matchups on the field, and seemingly every bad quarterback played well and won the game for their team. This week is no different, because we really don’t know who is good or bad yet because of the holes that each team has. Only having 3 correct picks, that has to go down as my worst week every picking games. I will be better this week and with the weeks to come because of 3 right is just awful. Part of me just wants to throw away that week and never think or speak of it again because Blake Bortles looked like Tom Brady against Baltimore, the Jets won 20-6 over the Dolphins, Case Keenum beat Tampa Bay, and Chicago walked-off against the Steelers in OT. If you bet last week, you literally couldn’t have more against you. I don’t really like this week and will pull a Francesa and blame my performance on the games this week if I pick poorly. 

Decent ending to a great week of football. The Cowboys were supposed to win this game with no question about it. With the talent that the Cowboys have on their offense, this game should have been a blow-out. This game was an underwhelming Dak and Zeke game as a whole. The fact that Dez Bryant only had 12 yards and 2 catches in this week is worrisome to me about how actually effective he in this day in the NFL. The Cardinals are not a talented team and should be a bad team because the fact they haven’t done anything to change the team. Arizona was one of the worst teams in the NFL last year, they didn’t change much in free agency, didn’t draft well, and Carson Palmer got a year older. They are supposed to be bad, it would be surprising if they were actually contending. A game ball is supposed to go to the best player in a game, and it is extremely rare that the best player is on the losing team. But, since Dak only went 13/18 for 183 yards and 2 touchdowns. Zeke rushed the bal

Yesterday, was well to say the least interesting. From what President Trump said about the players of the NFL, and would continue to say throughout the day when players, coaches, and owners linked arms and kneeled for the National Anthem. What was also interesting and seemingly took over the narrative of Week 3 of 2017 was the way that the players, coaches, owners, and teams as a whole responded to such comments.  There are too many great and powerful quotes to repeat in this column, but the response from the players just kept getting more and more powerful as the games went along. Week 3 also served as the ground breaking for sports and politics being intertwined until at least Donald Trump exists the office of President of the United States. However, maybe the best thing of all was not the sound bites about what happened at a rally in Alabama the Friday before, nor the examples of league wide unity, but the escapism that this great game can give us. You see, what the President o

Honest Review #2.3: WE AREN’T WINLESS A win is a win in the NFL. No matter how ugly or pretty they are as long as there is a “1” in the win column that’s all that matters. For fans of the NFL it’s always a good day when your team wins. I said last week that the Jets showed some hustle throughout the game and fight later in the contest, but they had to clean up some things. I also said that EVERYTHING had to go right for the Jets, and I was right about that. Yes, the Jets played well. From special teams, to offense, to defense they all contributed to this win. Josh McCown went 18/23 for 249 yards and a score. Bilal Powell ran the ball for only 34 yards on 15 carries but jumped into the endzone for the Jets second score. On defense the Jets had 3 total sacks and Terrence Brooks picked off Jay Cutler twice during today’s ballgame. Jamal Adams absolutely played out of his mind with a sack, 2 total tackles, and a few big hits and pass break ups. It was an all-around great game fo

What is going to have to happen next to get Major Baseball to listen? This past Wednesday, Yankee third baseman Todd Frazier hit a missile into the stands in the bottom of the 5 th that hit a little girl watching the game along the third base line. This ball should not have even gotten close to the little girl in the first place. Major League Baseball has been progressive with race movements, big contracts, bringing the game to other countries, and player safety, why can’t they think of fan safety at the same time. At Yankee Stadium there is a prompt on the screen in between multiple innings that says “please be aware during batting practice, warm-ups, and the game experience for flying bats, fragments thereof, and balls. If you are worried about your seat location, please contact a stadium official.” However, sorry to the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball that is just simply not enough. And that is because sometimes there is just simply nothing you can do. The ball

Where was this game last year? I know that is so bizarre to say, but this game was a game of the year candidate this early in the year. This game is what you want in a football game. The Rams and 9’ers brought everything to the table that 30 other NFL teams couldn’t bring through the first two weeks. It had my absolute two favorite things in football; good line play and good special teams. Now, it is the Rams and 49’ers so they had plays and penalties that you expect from the lesser teams. However, they did show some pieces of becoming good football teams. Sean McVey and Kyle Shanahan look like they have a culture in the works in their respective organizations and showed in Prime-Time that they could be good NFL head coaches. McVey ultimately got the road win, but that is not all what matters here. Both teams fought like they were playing in the Super Bowl and it generated an atmosphere that the NFL world just gravitated around. This game is what the Prime-Time schedule the la

It is the time of year where the MVP and Cy Young award races expose their heads a little more. They are still on the back burner because of the playoff race, but it is that time of year. This time of year is like April in the NBA for Major League Baseball. You have a small sample size of games to give voters recency bias. Just like the NBA in the MLB this year for both leagues there are two candidates that easily can win this award. In the American League; you have Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees. In the National League, you have Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins and Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies. Unlike the NBA there is no other legitimate players to steal votes away these four players in each league. Every sport has their new school defenders against the old schoolers. In Baseball, it is more of a personality problem (similar to the NFL) and whether or not players should be allowed to celebrate when something big happen

Week 3 Picks Not a bad week at all last week going 9-7, but it can get better. For a week that I just didn’t like from a line standpoint, I did well. Most of the lines last week didn’t make any sense, but this week they do, and it will be more difficult to make money this week. There are a ton of west coast teams coming east this week and I hope I picked the right teams that will just have jet lag and not show up. I will update the Minnesota-Tampa Bay game once a line is announced. Vegas seems to just be waiting to hear the word about Sam Bradford before they hand out a line. Regardless, let’s make some money this week! 

Football has just been bad… Last night was a decent game until the very end with some sloppy play from the Giants. I took on the Giants problems on my podcast. The Thursday, Sunday, and Monday Night schedules have not nearly as good as we hoped they would be. Thursday has never been good, but the Monday and Sunday night games have not been what we hoped they would be. With the ‘9ers and Rams playing on Thursday it won’t change immediately, but hopefully it will change before the end of the season. There will be many football fans flatlined by the end of the year if the Prime-Time games will continue be as lack luster as they have been. Getting to the game last night, it was a good road win for the Detroit Lions and just a bad loss for the Giants. Absolute fantastic game from Detroit ruining the 10 th anniversary of the 2007 Super Bowl winning team. Matthew Stafford had a good not great game going 15/21 for 122 yards, and 2 touchdowns while running 3 times for 23 big yards. But,

The football equivalent of this week of football would be garbage time. What a great week for the kickers this week (sorry Younghoe Koo), there was 4 teams who didn’t score a touchdown yesterday afternoon. Even though I didn’t spend any money to watch football yesterday, I want my money back. Right now, there is no point in watching football from a casual fan stand point. The Sunday Night schedule, which was the best schedule that showcased the best overall games has been an absolute wash. I don’t know how to fix this truly. I can only hope it gets better… Getting to the good stuff on this bad week of football, the game ball. And, the Week 2 Sunday game ball goes to the goat, the greatest of all-time, the New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. After the Pats and Brady played the most un-patriot like game of the Brady-Belichick era, and followed it up with a 36-20 trumping of the Saints. In this 36-20 win Brady went 30-39 passing, for 447 yards, and 3 touchdowns. I said it la

Honest Review #2.2: Where was Heidi when you needed her? As expected, the Jets laid an egg in Oakland against a Super Bowl contending team in the Raiders. Derek Carr didn’t light the stat sheet with yardage but he meticulously picked apart this Jets defense that didn’t even record a quarterback hurry or a hit on Derek Carr all day. The defense hustled but looked as if they didn’t want anything to do with this Raiders offense. Now that could be due to the way the game was being called by the officials, but not showing much fight until the game was out of hand is just one reason why teams will just have their way with gang green this year. The offense, well it was pretty much all Jermaine Kearse. Jets fans knew what Kearse could do before Mike Maccagnan pulled the trigger to bring him to Gotham. Kearse looked good, he played 49 of the Jets 54 offensive snaps for 4 catches, for 64 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Other than that, the Jets just didn’t know what to do on offense. I don’t

Where the game of baseball is right now from a journalistic stand point is at a level that I have never seen before. From what has happened this season post All-Star break with Aaron Judge, the emergence of Rhys Hoskins in Philadelphia, the near collapse of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and of course the 22-game winning streak (and counting) in Cleveland with the Indians. The writing that has come with all of this is just so enjoyable as a baseball fan. Where it will go from here with the baseball playoffs racing toward us faster than Barry Allen. What will happen with the baseball writing as the best baseball is showcased in the playoffs? Also, will it just stop at the end of the World Series or will it continue into the 2018 season? This whole “fascination with baseball” started last year when the Chicago Cubs starting to make a World Series run late last September. The game hit an apex that it didn’t hit at any point since the turn of the century. Eyes were put on the sport that

Well ladies and gentlemen we are back to the dumpster fire that is Thursday Night Football. I am lucky to have had the slugfest in the Bronx to take me away from the terrible game that was broadcasted in Cincinnati last night. One combined touchdown between the two teams for the entire game, and there are still problems with the NFL scheduling for these Thursday Night games. I’ll get to the game ball quickly because well there weren’t many to choose from. A road win in the NFL is a road win no matter how pretty or ugly the game is. This game was good for the old-time NFL fans who love smash mouth football and low scoring games. As a hybrid old school and new school fan, I was bored to tears with this performance last night, but it was a great defensive performance. So naturally, you have to give the game ball to a defensive player. So, the Week 2 game ball is going to Houston Texas Cornerback Kareem Jackson. Jackson got hurt in the game, but lead the Texans in tackles with 5 total

2017 Week 2 picks Week 2 Picks The dreaded one point miss on the cover just sunk my record for Week 1. My Week 1 record was 6-9 thanks to a backdoor cover by the Los Angeles Charges (that will never not be weird). Hopefully, Week 2 will be better than Week 1 because Week 1 is the hardest week to pick games because you are basically just guessing of past performances. So, if you are betting with my picks, here are what you have this week.  

2017 Week 1 Monday Game Ball Monday Night Football strikes again… Not being able to watch the Saints-Vikings game (but going back and watching some of the tape) the first Monday Night Game was a complete wash like they were last year. However, the Broncos-Chargers game saved us for now. From not using Adrian Peterson being used only for 9 offense plays all game, to Coby Fleener leading the Saints in catches and yards, to Adam Thielen torching the “new” Saints defense, and of course the 473 yards combined between the back-field battery unit of Bradford and rookie running back Dalvin Cook. I hope the rest of the Monday Night schedule isn’t like this Saints game. I know it’s only Week 1, but the Saints defense looks like they will cost New Orleans two games at the start of the season. The Chargers (The Los Angeles Chargers) and Broncos had one of the best Monday Night games’ in recent memory. What this game can be broken down too is “Philip Rivers in the 4 th quarter in De

2017 Week 1 Sunday Game Ball With the Sunday Night game winding down, it is time to give my first Sunday game ball of the year. However, to be honest, the games that were played throughout Sunday weren’t really that good. Aside from Atlanta sacking Mike Glennon on the last play to save the game for the Falcons, the shootout in Detroit, and that weird game in our Nation’s Capital, football was a snooze fest today. You don’t believe me? The Jets-Bills, Panthers-9’ers, Jags-Texans, and the two big wastes of time the Packers-Seahawks game, and of course the Giants-Cowboys game. Seriously, if you didn’t have the Redzone channel, today was such a boring day of football. I mean it was fun because Week 1 but once that glittery bow was torn off, the product on the field was just on par with 2016. Hopefully this will change in Week 2 with the Prime-Time games, because if it doesn’t I feel just jump down deep fantasy football rabbit holes, buy the Redzone channel on my phone, and enjoy wat

Honest Review #2.1: And so it begins Well, Happy New Year to all football fans around the country and around the world. Like any start in any of the four major sports in the U.S. the Opening Day of the sport is always filled with optimism because any year can be your team’s year. Unfortunately, for the Jets; like many before it—this is not our year. With a lack luster performance (to be nice about it) the Jets fall to 0-1 on the young season. This team as expected has a ton of holes and no clear solution on patching those holes to at least look competitive in 2017. From not using Bilal Powell pretty much at all in the first half, to only rushing for 36 yards, turning the ball over twice, and going 4/14 on third down. Let’s not forget that Josh McCown went 26/39 for 187 yards and two interceptions. Since the end of the game I have tried to understand why Bilal Powell only got 7 carries for the entire game, and for the life of me I cannot figure it out.  Powell was the mos

2017 Week 1 Thursday game ball The return for the third year of one of my original series on this blog. I am so excited for football season to start and have storylines that produce the ebbs and flows of the 2017-18 season. And, with what happened last night in Foxborough was almost Shakespearian. From the Tom Brady’s human performance, to the resurgence of Alex Smith, and the coming out party for Kareem Hunt. First, with Tom Brady, this is one of his only performances throughout his career that shows that he is in fact human. Brady went 16/36 for 267 yards, with no touchdowns, and no picks. This performance wouldn’t have received as much attention if it didn’t come on the heels of the greatest comeback in Super Bowl and possibly NFL history. It also doesn’t help that Tom Brady’s name is Tom Brady. There will be a ton of speculation in the media today of “is Brady done” or “is this the end for Tom Brady?” Let me say the same thing that I said this past February in the Super Bowl

Week 1 picks Week 1 picks 2017 I am back for Year 3 of me picking against the spread. I was lights out last year picking games against the spread. This is my favorite time of the year with both college and pro football starting up, basketball and hockey are about a month away, and Major League Baseball is getting closer and closer to playoff baseball. So without further ado; here are my Week 1 picks for 2017. 

A step in the right direction What an interesting weekend for the Jets football possibilities. The Jets started Labor Day weekend by trading away the headache formally known as Sheldon Richardson for a second-round pick and Jermaine Kearse. Since the Jets drafted him 13 th overall in the 2013 draft, he has been more of a headache player than the Super Star that Jets fans hoped he would be. After a good rookie season with 78 total tackles and 3.5 sacks, Richardson had an incredible sophomore season with 67 total tackles and 8 total sacks. Then in 2015 Richardson had an episode in the offseason that cost him 4 games at the beginning of the year. Since he had raced 103 MPH with a gun and marijuana in the car he has fell off the face of the earth. In 11 games after the suspension he had 32 tackles and 5 sacks. Even with my concerns I thought Richardson could be a valuable piece to this defense with a move to right outside linebacker. I thought if Bowels puts him into coverage on so