Bet the Mortgage Now!!!

Rejoice! The kickoff to the 2012 NFL season is right around the corner – let's say that corner is Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern – so I've done what many nut ball pro football maniac fans do at this time of the year… I've made a bunch of picks that most likely will turn out dead wrong.

I'm not really impressed with my picks. They're so vanilla. So boring. I really wanted to pick the Bears to win Super Bowl XLVII, but I just don't see them beating out the Packers, whom I've picked to… ah, just read the picks below.

One more thing: you know the Patriots, whom for some reason have the easiest schedule in the league this year – for the second year in a row, if I remember correctly – will be in the playoff mixing bowl. (What?) Who's going to compete with New England in the AFC East? The Jets and their wild feline running game? Give me a break.

Oh, and you'll notice I have the Cowboys making the playoffs as a wild card. I'm not I sure I believe that to be true. That may just be 8-year-old me talking. Man this Roger Staubach jersey is really getting tight.

Here's to a cheerful new season!

NFC East

Eagles

*Cowboys

Giants

Redskins

NFC North

Packers

*Bears

Lions

Vikings

NFC South

Falcons

Saints

Panthers

Bucs

NFC West

49ers

Seahawks
Saints
Rams

AFC East

Patriots

Bills

Jets

Dolphins

NFC North

Ravens

*Steelers

Bengals

Browns

AFC South
Texans
Titans                                       
Colts

Jaguars

AFC West

Broncos

*Chiefs

Chargers

Raiders

* Wild Card

NFC Championship

Packers over Cowboys

AFC Championship

Ravens over Broncos

Super Bowl XLVII

Ravens over Packers

What's Up with Agnieszka Radwanska?

Following her Wimbledon semifinal win over Angelique Kerber on Thursday, Radwanska suffered a coughing fit and was forced to leave her post-match news conference. And now, just a day before her showdown with butt-kickin' Serena Williams, Radwanska has canceled her pre-finals conference with the media.

Will she be able to play against Serena on Saturday? Oh, sure she will, but how effective can she be? The thoughts of standing on the business end of a Serena Williams serve would give me fits way beyond coughing. 

Here's an interesting note: Radwanska is the first Polish woman to reach a grand slam final since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska was a runner up in the 1939 – holy cow, that was 73 years ago – French Championships. I gotta find a photo of Jedrzejowska.

You Want Info on Fog in Liverpool? There's a Blog for That

Over on The Rainout Blog, a project I've been playing around with for the past six years – or has it been seven? – I've written a brief note today about the fogging night in Liverpool and the gloriously beautiful snow game played in Manchester Saturday. Carry on.

Oh, and yes, I hope to begin posting soon about my upcoming book project. Stay tuned.

(Did I just write "stay tuned"? Yuck! So cliché.) 

Tired Excuses

Wait! What?

Referees get tired too?

Yep. That's what Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini said last week after his club exited the Carling Cup following a loss to Liverpool.

''The refs sometimes are tired - to play every two or three days is difficult for the players, and for the referee. The referee is like me, like the players. They can be tired sometimes.''

If this is true – who am I to second guess Mancini – perhaps Premier League refs need to find themselves a better fitness program, just like National Football League officials did several years ago when they hired this dynamic fitness and nutrition duo I wrote about last week.

The husband and wife team conducted a 10-game study on NFL officials a few years go, and data showed the league's officials ran an average of 6.1 miles per game. It was far more, they said, than anyone, officials included, guessed before the study was completed.

I wonder how many miles the average Premier League referee gallops per game. I'm sure this number has been calculated, but I haven't found such data in my few minutes of searching.

However, I did find this Guardian story from March 2010 about football (soccer, whatever) referee Peter Walton, who said he trains four days a week to keep in match condition.

The interview is fun, and it's particularly interesting to learn what Walton sometimes eats for breakfast. Ummmm, baked beans!

  

Lost in Space Writing

I took this photo last night. No, I didn't.
It's from National Geographic/Getty Images 

After talking an hour with a physics/astronomy professor yesterday, I now know that I know nothing, absolutely nothing, about our galaxy.

I'm almost embarrassed by how little I knew and how wrong I was about all the things I thought I knew. Does that make sense?

Ok, that's all I have to say about my lack of galactic knowledge, but I can say I am making a little progress toward getting started on my book, which – I'll give you a little hint here – has nothing to do with the Milky Way or space in general.

People who know me know I'm a bit of a sports guy, and yeah, my book is going to be sports related.

What? That's not enough of a hint?

Ok, I'll also say that I love baseball, and while I do hope to work on a baseball writing project soon, my book will be all about a particular football game. I may even narrow it down to a book about one single play. Imagine that.

I've talked with a few people about the book, and they all seem excited and eager to help. So, I hope to get started on more formal interviews in the next couple of weeks and then be able to provide more information on this blog throughout the interviewing, research and writing process.

Now, back to writing about galaxies, dark matter, intergalactic space and such.

Why do I ever doubt Novak Djokovic?

Getty Images

Ok, I don't think I really doubted the Djoker, but I had tremendous confidence in Rafael Nadal entering the Australian Open Sunday. I'm no expert tennis analyst, but watching Nadal this year made me think he had taken his game to an even higher level, if that's possible. 

He seemed to me – a tennis novice – to be hitting the ball with more force than usual as he tirelessly disposed of opponents.

And heading into Sunday's final, Djokovic was coming off an impressive but exhausting five-set, five-hour win over Andy Murray in the semifinals.

I know the Serb is super fit, but some experts were questioning his stamina during the Murray match.

Rafa, looking like Superman with a racquet, combined with questions about Novak's ability to bounce back from a grueling match led me to believe it was Nadal's turn to finally get the best his rival.

And as usual, I was so wrong.  

Before I Stab My Ears with a Q-Tip

I don’t want to get my hopes up, but earlier today I think I heard an NPR anchor say today is the last day of the fundraising drive!

If there’s a God, it will be over the next time I click my FM dial though the 80s and lower 90s.

Oh my goodness gracious!

Don’t get me wrong. NPR is great. I listen every day, but the constant pleas for donations get a little ridiculous sometimes.

Has the NPR money drive always been so aggressive?