So I just realized that Tigers season is only 5 days away.
Next Monday at 4pm the Tigers take on the Royals and the two best pitchers in the AL square off.
Can't wait.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The Package
Okay, so here's how I imagaine the conversation went:
Damon and Carlton: "Hey guys, great work last week with Ab Aeterno! It was one of our best episodes ever, the fans loved it! As a reward, we decided to give the entire crew of LOST the week off, and we contracted some high school kids to write and produce the next episode! Our only stipulation was that it's a Sun/Jin episode and they show Desmond in the last ten seconds. Enjoy the vacation!"
And behold, we the fans were stuck with the unbearably unoriginal 'The Package." As Crazy Keith pointed out, the episode reeked of Season One - we had Sun planting tomatoes, Jack diagnosing people, the Kwons' troubled romance, and the clincher: Jack trying to make someone feel better. We even had the most pointless plot twist in LOST history: Sun suffers from aphasia and forgets how to speak English. Terrible.
In the flash-sideways, we were left wondering how many times Keamy has to die before he stops appearing in the show, and how many times Sun's dad is going to ruin her life before it stops being surprising (wait, it was never surprising). The big 'shocker' was that Sun and Jin weren't married in the F.S., but if you paid attention in the Season Six premiere you already knew that (the guy at the airport called Sun 'Ms. Paik,' and they weren't wearing rings on the plane). So basically, we got to see Mikhail again, and oh yeah, Sun got shot, (but I'm sure she'll be fine) and she's pregnant.
On the island, Widmore's crew shot little darts at everyone in Locke's camp and then took Jin over to room 23 - where Carl was being brainwashed in season 3. Jin is led to Charles Widmore and showed pictures of Ji Yeon, his never-before-seen 3 year old daughter. You've got to commend Jin for keeping his part of the Kwon story emotionally charged and really carrying the team; Sun sucks. Widmore tells Jin that the reason he came to the island is to make sure the Man in Black never leaves the island, because if he does the world as we know it will cease to exist. I assume that's why Widmore has been trying to find the island for years, but then why all the obsession with killing Ben if he knew that Smokie was the real problem? When Jin asks how they're going to stop Flocke, Widmore says it time to see the Package.
Cue the suspense.
My guesses were that The Package was either Desmond or Aaron, and a small chance for Walt.
And right at the end of the episode, the high schoolers fulfilled their stipulation and showed the "uniquely and miraculously special" Desmond Hume, from the perspective of swimming Sayid.
So that's pretty much it. Oh, and Richard's plan is to destroy the plane so Flocke can't leave the island. However, Jack's idiotic plan is to board the plane and fly away. Jack, you're a moron.
Next week is called 'Happily Ever After,' and is almost sure to be a Desmond episode based on the preview. I hope it is for two reasons:
1. Desmond episodes are always awesome. He's an interesting character and a GREAT actor.
2. It delays the inevitable and horrible Hurley episode for at least another week.
Alright, well happy Easter everyone. peace out and go pacman jones.
Damon and Carlton: "Hey guys, great work last week with Ab Aeterno! It was one of our best episodes ever, the fans loved it! As a reward, we decided to give the entire crew of LOST the week off, and we contracted some high school kids to write and produce the next episode! Our only stipulation was that it's a Sun/Jin episode and they show Desmond in the last ten seconds. Enjoy the vacation!"
And behold, we the fans were stuck with the unbearably unoriginal 'The Package." As Crazy Keith pointed out, the episode reeked of Season One - we had Sun planting tomatoes, Jack diagnosing people, the Kwons' troubled romance, and the clincher: Jack trying to make someone feel better. We even had the most pointless plot twist in LOST history: Sun suffers from aphasia and forgets how to speak English. Terrible.
In the flash-sideways, we were left wondering how many times Keamy has to die before he stops appearing in the show, and how many times Sun's dad is going to ruin her life before it stops being surprising (wait, it was never surprising). The big 'shocker' was that Sun and Jin weren't married in the F.S., but if you paid attention in the Season Six premiere you already knew that (the guy at the airport called Sun 'Ms. Paik,' and they weren't wearing rings on the plane). So basically, we got to see Mikhail again, and oh yeah, Sun got shot, (but I'm sure she'll be fine) and she's pregnant.
On the island, Widmore's crew shot little darts at everyone in Locke's camp and then took Jin over to room 23 - where Carl was being brainwashed in season 3. Jin is led to Charles Widmore and showed pictures of Ji Yeon, his never-before-seen 3 year old daughter. You've got to commend Jin for keeping his part of the Kwon story emotionally charged and really carrying the team; Sun sucks. Widmore tells Jin that the reason he came to the island is to make sure the Man in Black never leaves the island, because if he does the world as we know it will cease to exist. I assume that's why Widmore has been trying to find the island for years, but then why all the obsession with killing Ben if he knew that Smokie was the real problem? When Jin asks how they're going to stop Flocke, Widmore says it time to see the Package.
Cue the suspense.
My guesses were that The Package was either Desmond or Aaron, and a small chance for Walt.
And right at the end of the episode, the high schoolers fulfilled their stipulation and showed the "uniquely and miraculously special" Desmond Hume, from the perspective of swimming Sayid.
So that's pretty much it. Oh, and Richard's plan is to destroy the plane so Flocke can't leave the island. However, Jack's idiotic plan is to board the plane and fly away. Jack, you're a moron.
Next week is called 'Happily Ever After,' and is almost sure to be a Desmond episode based on the preview. I hope it is for two reasons:
1. Desmond episodes are always awesome. He's an interesting character and a GREAT actor.
2. It delays the inevitable and horrible Hurley episode for at least another week.
Alright, well happy Easter everyone. peace out and go pacman jones.
Monday, March 29, 2010
The Sad Story of Pacman Jones
Adam "Pacman" Jones was born in 1983 in Atlanta. His father was shot and killed when Adam was 4. He was raised by his mother and grandmother, and was one heck of a football player. He was recruited to the Univesity of West Virginia as one of the best high-school cornerbacks in the country, and was also All-American in basketball and track. His mother nicknamed him Pacman when he was a baby because "he drank milk as fast as the little pacman ate those dots," and the nickname followed him through life.
At West Virginia, Jones was Honorable Mention as an All-American defensive back and punt returner following an outstanding junior season. Jones only missed one game in his 3-year college career, and that was to attend the funeral of his grandmother. In 2005 he was the first defensive player drafted, fifth overall by the Tennessee Titans. At the draft, he wore a custom-made t-shirt with his grandma's face on it.
Despite several off-the-field incidents, the Titans were willing to draft Jones so highly because his speed and defensive instincts were uncanny. After a brief contract dispute that held Pacman out of most of training camp, he played a successful rookie season for the Titans, and followed that up with a great sophomore season. In fact, in 2006 he emerged as one of the NFL's best shutdown cornerbacks, intercepting 4 passes, deflecting 14 more, and also adding 62 tackles and a sack. On top of that, he led the NFL in yards per punt return with 12.9. Pacman found the end zone four times in his second NFL season, three times on punts and once on an interception return.
Titans' defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz believed that Pacman Jones could be an essential building block for one of the NFL's best defenses.
But then, as Pacman's extracurricular problems added up and his many malices became known,
he faced suspension from commission Goodell. Titans' General Manager Floyd Reese admitted that Jones was everything they hoped he would be on the football field, but was "nothing but a disaster" off the field. For legal troubles that included marijuana possession, cocaine possession, physical, verbal, and sexual assualt, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, speeding, reckless driving, and spitting on a woman, Pacman Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season.
During that time, Jones's life and football career unraveled. He joined the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Foundation; he joined the rap group Posterboyz; and in February 2007, he was involved in an infamous event at a Las Vegas strip club called Minxx.
(FYI: Any place that's spelled with two X's is probably a good place to stay away from.)
At the Vegas club, Jones and some buddies littered the stage with hundreds of dollar bills for "visual effect." The manager of Minxx then ordered the dancers to pick up the bills, and at this point, Jones became enraged and grabbed one of the dancers by the hair and smashed her head onto the stage. A security guard intervened, and Jones reportedly threatened the man's life, while a member of Jones's entourage fired a gun into the crowd, injuring 3 people and paralyzing one man from the waist down. Jones claims he doesn't know the man who shot the gun, but everyone knows he is lying.
Jones was charged with a felony and two misdemeanors for this incident, and to make matters worse, an arrested drug dealer named Daryl Moore linked Pacman to numerous drug deals as well as allegations that he was betting on college football games in which he played.
As of present day, Jones has not been convicted for the Las Vegas crimes, the drug allegations, the cheating allegations. It's amazing how millions of dollars can buy you some pretty good lawyers. Thus far Pacman has stayed out of jail, although he was nearly arrested for assaulting a woman outside of an Atlanta strip club in 2007. Those charges were later dropped.
Jones was reinstated for the 2008 NFL season, and the Titans traded him to the Cowboys for virtually nothing.
He played 9 games for Dallas, recording 31 tackles and no interceptions, and was released by the Cowboys following a dismal 2008 season. He then signed a one-year deal to play in the Canadian Football League for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but ultimately that fell through, and Jones spent the entire 2009 NFL season off the football field.
Miraculously, he also spent the 2009 year out of legal trouble. No new arrests, no assault accusations or strip club incidents. No new problems. He truly seemed to focus on recovering his football career and his life - either that, or he got better at not getting caught. Either way, Pacman has been steadily trying to reclaim his NFL career and has asked that henceforth he be called Adam, and not Pacman. He's trying to escape from his tumultous past, and that's commendable; unfortunately, when you break the law dozens of times, you can't just apologize and move on. He may be done with his past, but his past is not done with him.
ADAM has worked out for several NFL teams over the past four months, among them Detroit, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and the NY Jets. Recently, Jones was clocked running a 4.42 in the 40 yard dash, and in case you don't know what that means, that's really, really good.
So you may be wondering, loyal readers of this blog, why I have told you this story in all its graphic and terrible detail? Because, as of March 30 2010, it appears extremely likely that Pacman Jones will spend the 2010 NFL season as a member of the Detroit Lions.
The response to these rumors has ranged from joy to outrage, but before forming my opinion, I wanted to learn a little more about the Man they call Pacman. Now that I know a little more about his life, I detest and pity him all at once. He is a disgrace to men and makes me ashamed to call myself one. He is a horrible, monstrous, insiduous man and I hope he spends 10 years in prison. He deserves no sympthany or mercy. But I do have to admit, his tragic and pathetic story does make me feel sorry for him, in a small strange little part of my heart.
But anyway. The important question at hand is this:
What do I think of Adam Jones in the Lions' secondary, for the 2010 season?
The fact is, the Lions don't have a single cornerback on their roster who has NFL caliber skills. They just don't. And by bringing Adam Jones and his immense physical talents and his tremendous legal and emotional baggage on board, they are acquiring a player who would immediately be their best cornerback, and also alleviating the need to draft a cornerback in the second or third round, thus allowing them to spend that pick on either a running back or offensive lineman.
Signing Adam Jones kills a few birds with one stone.
It also gives the Lions an option besides Nate Burlseon at punt returner. Two capable return men is better than one. What if one guy gets hurt? You want Dennis Northcutt returning kicks again? I don't think so.
For the Bengals, Jets, or the 49ers to sign Adam Jones would be foolishness. They don't need him. They all have pretty solid defenses and the distraction could really hurt them. But as I've said before, the Lions have no where to go but up. They can't get worse. I'm sick of going 2-14. I'm sick of drafting in the top 5 every year. I want to go 8-8, and without a viable secondary, it ain't gonna happen. I'm sick of quarterbacks having career days against Detroit and piling up 400 yards without breaking a sweat. I'm sick of Donald Driver gaining 150 yards against our secondary. I'm sick of it! We NEED a cornerback with skills.
Pacman fits that bill.
He also comes at a cheap price. No one else truly wants him, not even the CFL. But Jim Schwartz, who coached Pacman to success in 2005 and 2006, believes this experiment can work, and I trust Schwartz. And if we can give Pacman a one-year contract for $1 or $2 million, I think we have to do it.
Yeah, I know. Pacman Jones is going to make more money in one year than I'll make in my entire life combined, and he goes to strip clubs and smokes weed and owns guns and doesn't deserve anything other than a life in jail. It's tragic. It's ridiculous. But it's the NFL. Lots of guys make more money in one year than I'll make in my entire life. Complete idiots (Ochocinco), guys with no talent (Harrington), even rapists and murderers (Roethlisberger, Ray Lewis). Heck, Darko Milicic cashed in something like $40 million and I'm pretty sure he didn't deserve more than 50 cents.
It makes me sick that Pacman Jones is allowed to walk free, play football and make millions. But I'm not naive. Plenty of guys in the NFL are just as stupid as him and do just as terrible things; the only difference is they aren't stupid enough to repeatedly get caught. It's a business, a very expensive business, and if the Lions can get a cornerback with good speed and defensive instincts for a cheaper than average price, I am all for it. He isn't a long-term solution, he isn't going to be a Pro Bowler, and I'm sure he'll have his share of bad plays and touchdowns given up.
But is Adam Jones an improvement over Anthony Henry and Phillip Buchanon? Holy crap yes.
For more on Pacman, check out this very funny video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5AnEhSD4V4.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Ab Freaking Aeterno!
Best episode of the season by a mile, and a top ten episode all time. Richard's story was finally told and Nestor Cardonell cemented himself as one of the greatest actors on LOST. The story of his past life on the Canary Islands was absolutely gut-wrenching, and we had no prior emotional investment in him or his wife whatsoever. Imagaine if Claire of Sayid or really, anyone sans Ben Linus tried to pull that off; making us become emotionally attached to a completely new character from the 1860s in just 20 minutes of screentime. Wouldn't happen. Richard nailed it.Not only was his off-island flashback a great character development story and gave the audience a far better understanding of Richard Albert the man, the on-island stuff was even better. The Man in Black/Smoke Monster was great. He almost had me convinced that Jacob was the devil and the island was hell. His deceitfulness and manipulation is second to none. Anytime Jacob and the Nemesis are on the screen at the same time, those at the best moments of LOST. Period.
One thing is for sure -Richard Albert led one sad and pathetic life up to the point that he met Jacob. And after 140 years of learning English, fashion and leadership skills, he still doesn't seem to have it all together. He still loves and misses his wife, after more than a century! Forget Desmond and Penny, Richard and Isabella is the new best love story on LOST. Thanks to Hurley's convinent ability to talk to random ghosts, Richard got to speak to his wife for the first time since she died, and he's now back on the side of Ilana and the good guys.
Speaking of Ilana, we got to see an extension of her flash-back, where her and Jacob are speaking Russian and he asks for her help. He tells her that he needs her to protect 6 people, the remaining Candidates. We don't know why she's hospitalized or how she knows Jacob from the past, and that leads me to believe that we'll see an Ilana-centric episode eventually. Or, they could just squeeze a few Ilana clips into someone else's episode like they did in Ab Aeterno. She seems to knows her way around the Island pretty comfortably, and I'm guessing she's been there before.
A few random tidbits:
-We saw how the 4-toed statue came to be broken.
-We heard about Magnus Hanso, the captain of the Black Rock who was referenced when Widmore bought the Black Rock book at the auction in season 2 or 3. Hanso's descendants were founders of Dharma.
-"Ab Aeterno" is Latin for "from eternity," referring to Richard's agelessness.
-Richard lived in Socorro, a city on the island of Tenerife - the location of a plane crash that killed 583 people in 1977, making it the deadliest plane crash in human history.
-The dagger that MiB gives Richard to kill Jacob with, along with the instructions to "stab it into his chest before he speaks" are exactly what Dogan tells Sayid to do a few episodes ago. Both guys were unsuccesful.
-We see the white rock "inside joke" that Flocke eventually throws in the water.
To clarify the potential confusion of Richard's on-island events, I think all of the Isabella stuff we saw was a hallucination created by the Smoke Monster, similar to how he made the Losties see things in previous seasons - Jack saw his dad, Kate saw the black horse, Eko saw his brother, etc. That's why the monster stopped before killing Richard, and seemed to analyze him. It obtained a picture and a memory of Isabella, and then manifested itself as her to Richard, all for the sake of trying to use Richard to kill Jacob. Brilliant. And disturbing.
The Man in Black is definitely the most cold and calculating killer on LOST, and in this episode he really fit the bill of "evil incarnate." Certaintly, the best part of this episode, and one of the best conversations in LOST history, was when Jacob decided to let Richard in on the secret of What The Island Is. No big deal, just the key to the entire show.
CORK.
Remember way back during season one, when everyone was theorizing about what the island was, and what the show was all about. I just want to say for the record, that five years ago I was the first one who said, "Hey, maybe the island is a cork!" I totally called it. I knew the island was a cork.
Yeah...
Just to clear it up, Jacob himself is not the cork. If that were the case, evil/malovelence/hell would have spread throughout the world the minute Jacob died. The island is the cork, and the only way to un-cork the island is to kill whoever "protects" it. That was Jacob, and is now the job of whichever candidate becomes the new Jacob. (i.e. Jack). The way I see it, if Flocke kills the remaining 6, the cork is gone and he is "free." You know how Flocke keeps saying he "wants to go home" or "be free?" Does he really mean that he wants to escape the island so he can destroy and corrupt the entire world? Is he actually the devil, and he wants to bring hell to the whole earth?
Pretty dark stuff. For the record, I do not think the Man in Black is the devil persay, but rather that he embodies or symbolizes the devil. In LOST, there is no God or devil; there's only Jacob, the Monster and the island. It's an alternate world, and a sci-fi show. So I don't expect a realistic twist in the remaining 8 episodes, and I don't expect that Jacob literally is God or the Monster literally is the devil.
But the paralells are undeniably there. Jacob says to Richard "I want people to know the difference between right and wrong without being told. I shouldn't have to interfere." But as Richard points out, if Jacob doesn't interfere, the Monster will, and people won't have a chance. Sounds a little bit like the current state of humanity, does it not?
Jacob then appoints Richard an "intermediary" to speak on his behalf. As my brilliant wife pointed out, I guess that makes Richard the Holy Spirit of LOST. Now that Jacob is dead, the question is - how will the new Jacob be decided? Is it simply a matter of 'Last Candidate Standing?" If so, that means an unhappy ending for 5 beloved characters. These last 8 episodes could be a bloodbath.
Well, actually I think the next two or three episodes will be a step backwards. This Richard episode was a brilliant break from the stupid flash-sideways routine, but rest assured, those will be back this week for a Sun & Jin episode. I'm sure that episode will be plenty stupid, but at least we'll learn why Jin was locked in a freezer. And I assume we'll have a Hurley-episode shortly after that, and once that's out of the way, maybe we can have some more freaking awesome episodes, hopefully featuring Desmond, Juliet, Jacob, Ilana, the Monster, and of course Jack.
Near the end of Ab Aeterno, Hurley relayed one more message to Richard from Isabella: if you don't stop the Man in Black from leaving the island, "we all go to hell." Then we see Flocke in all his rage and wickedness watching the scene from afar and chills run up our collective spines. We're in for a pretty awesome next 8 episodes.
Which leads me to ...
Theories & Predictions
As I said already, I don't expect much to happen in the next few episodes. Off-island, we'll see some Kwon crap this week. My prediction: Jin had all that money in the airport to pay a debt he owes Keamy, but Keamy will be a jerk and lock him in the freezer anyway, and someone we don't expect will show up about halfway through the episode - since we've already seen half the cast in the flash-sideways events, the remaining possibilities include Faraday, Eloise, Pierre Chang, Naomi, Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, Goodwin, Michael (not Walt, too old), the Eyepatch guy, Widmore, Penny, Radzinsky, or maybe Juliet. But since this is a dumb Kwon episode, I don't think they'll pull out anyone cool like Faraday or Juliet; probably Radinsky and the Eyepatch or something like that. Blah. I'm 99% sure we'll see Keamy again, which is just annoying. I hate Keamy.
On-island, we'll have to see what Sun and Jin are doing since this episode revolves around them. Maybe they'll finally get off their lazy butts and go look for each other? I bet Jin would be interested to learn that he has a 3 year old daugter. But will they finally reunite this week? My guess is no, not for another 3-4 weeks. We'll see. Maybe. I'm guessing we'll probably see a bit more about Widmore and Flocke, but just a set-up for an upcoming showdown.
Overall, since Ab Aeterno was so awesome, I think the next few weeks will be weak in preparing for a kick-ass final 4 episodes of LOST.
As far as long-term theories, there isn't much to speculate about anymore. We know about the island and the cork, about Jacob and the Monster, and about the Candidates. We know the pasts of just about every important character, and the major mystery of LOST is pretty much gone.
The big unresolved issue is the alternative reality, Timeline B. Why and how does it exist? What is its connection with Jacob and the Monster? And in that timeline, why is Christian Shepherd missing, why does Jack appear to have some sort of deja vu, and why was Desmond mysteriously on flight 815? My theory: the only way to stop the Man in Black from leaving the island and effectively destroying the world, is to create a reality in which he remains trapped on the island, hence timeline B. I think Jack will have to make a choice in the closing episodes of LOST, maybe in the finale, and he will choose to accept this reality as the only 'real' reality, in an attempt to save the world from the spread of evil.
Thus, Timeline B becomes like a cork. A bigger cork.
Do I like this idea? No. Not at all. After 5 seasons of developing these characters, they're all going to change completely back to their old selves? Sounds stupid to me. But hey, if it keeps the Man in Black from destroying the earth, I guess it's the only plausible option.
Other theories and ideas - I no longer think the Man in Black is Aaron, Claire's baby. I thought about this a lot and decided that it's too late in the game for LOST to revisit the concept of time travel, which would be the only way Aaron could have been around in the 1800s and before. I DO, however, think Jacob and the Man in Black had a previous relationship before they came to the island, and were probably brothers in ancient Egypt.
Oh, one more theory. John Locke will come back to life and save the day.
That's it for now. GO MSU!
PS. I have a new favorite NBA team. The Milwaukee Bucks. Seriously. I'm rooting for them to pull a first-round upset. More on that later...
Thursday, March 18, 2010
LOST: S6 E8
ReCon
Sawyer-centric as expected.
First, the flashsideways.
Continuing with the cycle of "everything is completely f-ed up in this new timeline," Sawyer is a cop who arrests con-men. (Didn't I predict that last week?) His partner is Miles (pretty cool), and he goes on a blind-date with Charlotte (was hoping I'd never see her again).
Sawyer's a genuinely good guy in timeline B, which is cool. But he still has a deep secret about this "sawyer" guy and is still bent on revenge. These flash-sidewayses kind of feel like rewinding the show 4 seasons. Really, we're going to talk about Sawyer's revenge problem, again? Didn't we do that 10 times already.
At one point Miles mentions that his dad works with Charlotte at the muesem. So Pierre Chang is still alive? That's the second mention of a character in timeline B without showing them directly (last week, Alex mentioned her mother - Danielle).
Miles also mentioned that he has a girlfriend. Could that be someone of importance? Juliet perhaps, or Naomi maybe?
Sawyer runs into Kate at the end of the episode, which was annoying, but also potentially important. Not in an of itself, but because of the ways these flash-sidewayses keep bringing the original "Candidates" together in LA.
Jack's about to meet with Claire regarding his dad's will. Claire is friends with Kate, who's know with Sawyer. Locke works with Ben and indirectly for Hurley, and Sayid just found Jin in a freezer. Now we've just got to link the Sayid-Kwon group to the Jack-Claire group to the Locke-Ben group and everyone could be in the same place at the same time. Then Jacob could show up, and tell everyone about the other timeline, and when they don't believe him he could do something Jacob-y and then they would all have to believe him, and then we go from there. Not out of the question, right? Uhhh.. right ...
ANyway, on the island, Sawyer and Jin are hanging out in the Claire camp, waitin for Flocke's return. Flocke shows up with Kate and 20 Temple Others, and tells Sawyer, oh by the way, I'm the Monster.
So Sawyer rows over to Hydra island, where Ajira 316 landed, and finds all the bodies dead, and one girl named Zoe pretending to be the sole survivor. Of course, she was full of crap, and working for Widmore, who was hanging out in his sub.
So the question is: who killed all the Ajira people, Widmore or Black Smoke Locke? My guess: 80% Flocke, 20% Widmore.
Widmore meets with Sawyer and Sawyer cons him like he cons everyone; then Sawyer cons Flocke moments later and sets up a battle between the two powers, and his plan is to escape on the sub with Kate while Flocke and Widmore duke it out, Enemy of the State style. Kind of.
Couple problems with Sawyer's plan:
1. Why would you want to go anywhere with Kate you idiot!!!?
2. Flocke is no dummy. Something tells me Widmore and his people are in trouble.
While Sawyer was out on his recon mission, Claire tried to kill Kate, but didn't, and then Flocke reprimanded Claire, which was weird. Kate cried, Flocke consoled her, sort of, and it was all kind of strange.
The one cool conversation was when Flocke revealed a bit more about his past, telling Kate that he, like Aaron, had a crazy mother, and her crazyness led to some "growing pains." Yeah, becomming the monster, for example. This conversation in no way changed my theory that Flocke IS Aaron, but actually strengthed the theory.
Claire apologizes to Kate and hugs her, but I can't tell what Claire is really supposed to be thinking or feeling, but Emilie de Ravin is such a putrid actress and I can't even understand half the words she says.
This was another set-up episode but it did raise a few decent questions for the next few weeks.
-Who killed the Ajira people?
-What's locked in the sub that Widmore didn't want Sawyer to see?
-What is the history between Flocke and Widmore?
I'm hoping that soon enough we'll find out who was shooting at the canoe that Miles, Sawyer, Juliet and crew were in last season. We still don't know about that right? I'm guessing it was Sawyer and Kate. Maybe? Ehh, who knows.
I'll be honest, I'm pretty tired of LOST this season. Timeline B sucks.
Sawyer-centric as expected.
First, the flashsideways.
Continuing with the cycle of "everything is completely f-ed up in this new timeline," Sawyer is a cop who arrests con-men. (Didn't I predict that last week?) His partner is Miles (pretty cool), and he goes on a blind-date with Charlotte (was hoping I'd never see her again).
Sawyer's a genuinely good guy in timeline B, which is cool. But he still has a deep secret about this "sawyer" guy and is still bent on revenge. These flash-sidewayses kind of feel like rewinding the show 4 seasons. Really, we're going to talk about Sawyer's revenge problem, again? Didn't we do that 10 times already.
At one point Miles mentions that his dad works with Charlotte at the muesem. So Pierre Chang is still alive? That's the second mention of a character in timeline B without showing them directly (last week, Alex mentioned her mother - Danielle).
Miles also mentioned that he has a girlfriend. Could that be someone of importance? Juliet perhaps, or Naomi maybe?
Sawyer runs into Kate at the end of the episode, which was annoying, but also potentially important. Not in an of itself, but because of the ways these flash-sidewayses keep bringing the original "Candidates" together in LA.
Jack's about to meet with Claire regarding his dad's will. Claire is friends with Kate, who's know with Sawyer. Locke works with Ben and indirectly for Hurley, and Sayid just found Jin in a freezer. Now we've just got to link the Sayid-Kwon group to the Jack-Claire group to the Locke-Ben group and everyone could be in the same place at the same time. Then Jacob could show up, and tell everyone about the other timeline, and when they don't believe him he could do something Jacob-y and then they would all have to believe him, and then we go from there. Not out of the question, right? Uhhh.. right ...
ANyway, on the island, Sawyer and Jin are hanging out in the Claire camp, waitin for Flocke's return. Flocke shows up with Kate and 20 Temple Others, and tells Sawyer, oh by the way, I'm the Monster.
So Sawyer rows over to Hydra island, where Ajira 316 landed, and finds all the bodies dead, and one girl named Zoe pretending to be the sole survivor. Of course, she was full of crap, and working for Widmore, who was hanging out in his sub.
So the question is: who killed all the Ajira people, Widmore or Black Smoke Locke? My guess: 80% Flocke, 20% Widmore.
Widmore meets with Sawyer and Sawyer cons him like he cons everyone; then Sawyer cons Flocke moments later and sets up a battle between the two powers, and his plan is to escape on the sub with Kate while Flocke and Widmore duke it out, Enemy of the State style. Kind of.
Couple problems with Sawyer's plan:
1. Why would you want to go anywhere with Kate you idiot!!!?
2. Flocke is no dummy. Something tells me Widmore and his people are in trouble.
While Sawyer was out on his recon mission, Claire tried to kill Kate, but didn't, and then Flocke reprimanded Claire, which was weird. Kate cried, Flocke consoled her, sort of, and it was all kind of strange.
The one cool conversation was when Flocke revealed a bit more about his past, telling Kate that he, like Aaron, had a crazy mother, and her crazyness led to some "growing pains." Yeah, becomming the monster, for example. This conversation in no way changed my theory that Flocke IS Aaron, but actually strengthed the theory.
Claire apologizes to Kate and hugs her, but I can't tell what Claire is really supposed to be thinking or feeling, but Emilie de Ravin is such a putrid actress and I can't even understand half the words she says.
This was another set-up episode but it did raise a few decent questions for the next few weeks.
-Who killed the Ajira people?
-What's locked in the sub that Widmore didn't want Sawyer to see?
-What is the history between Flocke and Widmore?
I'm hoping that soon enough we'll find out who was shooting at the canoe that Miles, Sawyer, Juliet and crew were in last season. We still don't know about that right? I'm guessing it was Sawyer and Kate. Maybe? Ehh, who knows.
I'll be honest, I'm pretty tired of LOST this season. Timeline B sucks.
Tebow
As the NFL Draft nears, the biggest storyline, for some preposterous reason, is Tim Tebow.
When will he be drafted? Where will he go? First round? Second? Even later?
Everyone seems to have an opinion about this, and I am no different. Here it is: as an NFL quarterback, Tim Tebow stinks.
I don't think he's a valid NFL backup, and I'm certain that he isn't and never will be a valid starter. I'm not even convinced he's a decent third-string QB.
College success doesn't equate to NFL success, particularly at the quarterback position, particularly coming out of a college-style offense, particularly in the SEC, and even more particularly, from the Univesity of Florida.
Look at Rex Grossman. Danny Wuerffel. Brock Berlin. Remember Ingle Martin? Probably not. What about Jesse Palmer? Besides being the Bachelor, he didn't have much of a career.
Tebow is no different. He had loads of success in college, won a title and a Heismann, and wons lots and lots of games. He has tons of success. But so did JaMarcus Russell. Matt Leinart. Vince Young. Joey Harrington. Did I mention, JaMarcus Russell?
In college, mobility is key. If you have mobility and a few good intangibles, you're king.
In the NFL, you need a quick release, accuracy, and most importantly, good decision-making. And you need all of those things in about half the time while mosters like Ray Lewis are trying to kill you.
That's why smart NFL teams draft "NFL-ready" quarterbacks - guys like Matt Ryan or Sam Bradford, who played at colleges that used a pro-style, two-RB backfield set. Tim Tebow is the opposite of "NFL ready."
Scouts and analysts say: "Give him a chance." "He's a good kid." "He's tough, coachable, determined and really nice."
How does that make him any different from me?
Look, if I'm drafting in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th round or even later, the issue isn't simply: Tebow's there, should we take him?
It's not just a draft of quarterbacks. Every team in the NFL has needs, even the Saints and Colts. If the Lions are picking in the 5th round and Tebow is still there, I could care less. We have needs in the secondary and could use depth on both lines, and I'll take depth over a media circus 7 days a week.
I heard Colin Cowherd say on the radio today that Tebow is a poor-man's Vince Young. From a physical standpoint, I couldn't agree more. Young is a crazy man and Tebow is a great kid, but that's beside the point.
Both guys have good mobility and speed, a trait that means little in the NFL if you can't throw the ball. Both guys have slow and awkward releases. Neither guy is comfortable in a collapsing NFL pocket, which leads to slow decision-making, which leads to sacks and turnovers. Tebow and Young both have bad accuracy AND below average arm strength.
And Tebow is a poor-man's Vince Young.
The point is, whichever team drafts Tebow in April will make a nice kid's dream come true, give him millions and give a warm fuzzy feeling to millions of football fans. They'll also be making a stupid mistake and missing out on dozens of actual NFL-caliber players.
And I hope it's the Steelers.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Thoughts On Fantasy Football, 2010
Let's start in the NFC East.
The Eagles dumped Brian Westbrook, which effectively turns LeSean McCoy into a viable #2 RB with #1 upside. McNabb's status is up in the air, but he'll probably stay put and remain a decent QB in the 7-10 range. DeSean Jackson is a low-end #1 fantasy WR and Celek is a 6-10 tight end. Maclin is a good sleeper.
Doesn't look like anything will change with the Cowboys offensively, which means Romo, Austin and Witten are all great options. Austin could produce as a top 5 WR, but will probably be drafted as a receiver in the 10-12 range. RB is a muddy mess; Choice is probably the best back on the team, but he gets the fewest touches. That's one platoon that I would stay away from. Roy Williams isn't worth mentioning.
New York has changed the defensive quite a bit, but remains Eli's team on offense. Which in my mind, means no one on the Giants is an enviable fantasy option. Steve Smith is probably a 15-20 WR, and Jacob and Bradshaw are both #3 RBs until one of them gets hurt.
Washington is a wildcard. Their 2010 quarterback situation is up-in-the-air, but it will probably be Jason Campbell again. They want Sam Bradford, but it seems that so do the Rams. Will they draft Claussen 4th, or is that too early? (Probably too early). They signed Larry Johnson to try to compete with Portis, but I still expect Portis to get 75% of the work and be a #2 RB. Stay away from all their receivers, and draft Cooley as a 6-8 TE.
NFC NORTH
Green Bay is a powerhouse offense in 2010, led by Aaron Rodgers - a top 3 fantasy QB. Jennings and Driver are both #2 WRs, and Ryan Grant is a #2 RB. It's a highly balanced offense with only one fantasy star, and that's the quarterback. JerMichael Finley may be a top 10 TE whom you can wait to draft until very late.
The Bears will be your typical Mike Martz offense in 2010 - tons of yards, tons of turnovers. I won't be drafting Jay Cutler because I can't stand his stupid guts, but if you want 380 yards, 2 TDs and 3 INTs a game, he's your guy. Johnny Know is a good #2 receiver this year and I love Greg Olsen as a 7-8 tight end. Matt Forte - wait until at least the third round.
The Lions have been active all offseason, which is great, but they still aren't ready to be a team with many fantasy players, except of course Megatron. Burleson is a nice #4 receiver I guess, and Kevin Smith isn't the worst #3 running back in the world, although he'll miss the first few weeks of the season, and possibly more. Matt Stafford? No way. Pettigrew? Maybe if your starter has a bye and the matchup is right.
I'm not wasting any words on Brett Favre until August. Adrian Peterson is the #2 running back on my list and I love Sidney Rice no matter who plays quarterback. Harvin's an alright #3 WR.
NFC SOUTH
Obviously, Drew Brees will be the most highly drafted non-RB in just about every league. He's a statistical super-star. The rest of the Saints, however, all come with questions. Colston is more of a #2 WR than a #1, and the rest of the receivers are inconsistent, because Brees spreads the ball around so brilliantly. Reggie Bush is a below-average RB unless your league rewards receptions.
What about Matt Ryan this season? Last year, he and Roddy White (and Michael Turner) all fell short of fantasy owners' lofty expectations. It'll be tough for him to recover from a mini-sophomore slump, but I think he'll settle in as a low-end #1 QB. As for Turner and White, I'd say they're both low-end #1 guys as well. Put it this way: if I'm drafting #12 (for the third year in a row!) I won't be ticked off if I get Turner the Burner. Tony Gonzalez's stock has dropped, but he may be a value pick now in the 8-10 TE range.
Carolina is an offense to avoid in 2010. Matt Moore will be an improvement over Jake Delhomme (it'd be impossible not to be), but that doesn't mean the passing game will be anything better than 25th in the league. This is still a run-dominated team, and the backs will be splitting carries pretty evenly. I like DeAngelo as a 1,200 yards, 6 TDs guy and Stewart for about 800 yards and 10 TDs; neither is better than a top 15 RB. Steve Smith is getting older and has some injury issues and off-the-field issues that scare me off.
Tampa Bay may be the worst offense in the NFL in 2010. Josh Freeman will get the start, Derrick Ward and Cadillac Williams will take turns sucking at running back, and Raheem Morris will be fired (and put out of his misery). Antonio Bryant, who wasn't that good in the first place, took off to Cincinnati and they don't have any legitimate wide recievers anymore. Brutal.
NFC WEST
I'll start with Arizona, even though they are no longer the team to beat in the division. Losing Boldin hurts, and losing Warner kills. Losing two key defenders doesn't help either. I wouldn't draft Matt Leinart unless ... well, for any reason. Fitzgerald is still a #1 WR of course, but he drops from #2 to about #8 on my list. I hate their running game, although Wells will probably surpasss Hightower and become an okay #3 guy.
San Fran is intriguing, because of how awesome Vernon Davis was last season and the potential that Michael Crabtree possesses. But is Alex Smith the guy again? Now that Shaun Hill is in Detroit, he has to be. I don't see him playing great, but 7-9 could easily win this division, so San Fran won't be panicking to draft a QB. Expect offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye to use plenty of Frank Gore (he's a top 5 RB), and don't draft Davis with expectations of last years' 13 TDs. Crabtree is the wildcard. I wouldn't take him as any more than a #4 WR.
Matt Hasslebeck's future with the Seahawks is in question, and they have the #6 pick in April's draft. Claussen is an option, as is running back CJ Spiller. But if OT Russell Okung falls to them, I think they'll take him and let Hass have another season. Seneca Wallace is gone, and so is Nate Burleson. That leaves TJ Houshmandandy as a pretty decent #2 WR. As for the rest of the Seahawks, don't bother. (Unless they draft Spiller, which makes things interesting.)
The only Ram worth mentioning is obviously Steven Jackson, and the question becomes: how high is too high to draft a great player on a horrible team? He does everything for St. Louis and plays every down like it counts, but he's also been injured several times in the past few years. I LOVE him as a #2 RB, but wouldn't trust him as a #1 until maybe the 9th or 10th pick in the draft. If the Rams pick Bradford #1, he's not a fantasy option, but it does help Donnie Avery move from a #6 WR to a #5 WR.
AFC EAST
Brady, Moss and Welker are still great, and if you think otherwise, you're a fool. That said, I won't be drafting any of them after Brady screwed me in BOTH leagues last season. Actually, I would draft Welker as a #2. Not Moss though; his age scares me. I'll let someone else pick him in the second round. As always, don't even pay attention to their RB and TE situations.
The Jets are very interesting. They just picked up LaDanian Tomlinson for about the same amount of money they weren't willing to pay Thomas Jones. Very strange. That offensive line is outstanding, so whoever is the starter week 1, whether its Shonne Green or LT, is worth a shot as a 10-15 RB. But they do like to platoon. I like Sanchez as a player, but not a fantasy guy yet. Braylon Edwards is a low-end #2 WR and Dustin Keller is a low-end #1 TE.
Once again, Miami lacks the wide receivers to do anything other than befuddle teams with their Wildcat antics. Ronnie Brown is a great low-end #1 RB and Ricky Williams is at least a #3 RB, maybe a low #2. Chad Henne? No thanks. Ted Ginn Jr? I don't think so.
It doesn't appear that the TO experiment worked too well in Buffalo, and their offense is in absolute shambles. Don't look at anyone. Unless they draft either Spiller or Best with the 9th pick, in which case that person might be interesting.
AFC NORTH
Anquan Boldin is probably the biggest free agency splash in terms of fantasy. He becomes a low-end #1 WR on Baltimore, and also raises Flacco into relevance as a good #2 and decent #1. Ray Rice is the #4 guy on my RB board, but I think I'd draft him 5th overall, behind Brees. Derrick Mason is an okay #3 receiver for some consistent 50 yard games.
The situation in Pittsburgh is contingent upon whether or not Rapist Roethlisberger goes to jail. If he plays the season as I expect he will, he's a low-end #1 QB and Holmes and Ward are both good #2s. Mendenhall is a pretty low #2 RB - that offensive line stinks. I'd pick the Steelers defense in the top 5 and Heath Miller is a 8-10 TE. If Ben goes to jail like he deserves, Charlie Batch (who, ironically, has a degree in Criminal Justice!) becomes the starter. That drops Holmes and Ward to #3s at best, crushes Miller's value into nothingness, and also knocks Pittsburgh out of the playoffs for a second straight year. I can only dream...
Cleveland has cleaned house and ridded themselves of both Anderson and Quinn, receiving a fullback from the Broncos and a sixth-round draft pick in return. They added Jake Delhomme and Mike Holmgren's favorite player, Seneca Wallace. The two will compete for the starting gig, and that's a lose-lose situation if I've ever seen one. Look, when Parcells went to 1-15 Miami he turned them around in one season with some brilliant GM skills. People are expecting Holmgren to do the same in Cleveland, but he's up against too many obstacles, the key being that he's simply not the genius that Parcells is. No one involved in the Cleveland passing game is worth a pick; but it may be wise to gamble late on Jerome Harrison as a #3 or 4 running back. I mean he did rush for over 500 yards in the Browns' last three games of 2009.
Cincinnati is a bit of an enigma, pending Ochocinco's unpredictably stupid antics. The Dancing With the Stars star may not be keen to come back to Cincy after Bryant signed, but will anyone else take him? It would have to be a team that's used to media circus and needs a WR. Maybe Buffalo? Washington? Chicago? Oakland? Who knows, I'd personally like to see him playing for the CFL. Carson Palmer's really no better than a #2 fantasy QB in 2010, and I don't like Cedric Benson until at least the 4th round.
AFC SOUTH
Peyton Manning is a safe first-round pick and a very legitimate #2 QB off the board, although I might take Rodgers ahead of him for the upside. Reggie Wayne is as safe a #1 WR as you'll find, and Dallas Clark is the #1 TE on my board. After that, the Colts become a tough team to figure. Will Anthony Gonzalez steal the #2 WR job from Garcon and Collie? Will Donald Brown take the starting RB gig away from Addai? We won't really know until the season starts, but I think yes on both accounts.
The #1 player drafted overall in most fantasy leagues will be Chris Johnson, and shoot, why not? He's this decade's Barry Sanders. He's absolutely unbelievable. There's nothing else to get excited about in Tennessee, but I think he's a lock for 1,500 yards and 10 TDs even with no help. I, personally, would probably take AP over Chris Johnson simply to play it safe, but you can't go wrong either way. As far as Vince Young, don't think about it. None of those receivers are worth much either, and the tight ends play in a platoon so I wouldn't go for either guy.
My #3 overall player on the board is TD machine Maurice Jones-Drew. I always seem to overhype Jacksonville each offseason, but this year I really think they'll click. Not 12-4 or anything like that, but a solid 9-7 or so and some monster games from MJD. David Garrard has really reached his ceiling - a middle-of-the-road QB. He's not getting any better. But he's not bad; he's safe; and most importantly for fantasy pruposes, he does not get in MJD's way. I don't like MSW (Mike Sims-Walker) very much, but he's probably an okay #3 WR for now.
The top WR on my fantasy board is Andre Johnson, and it would take a lot for that to change. Back-to-back 1500 yard seasons with at least 8 TDs and 100 catches. You only get that production from a handful of running backs. He's a first-rounder. Steve Slaton on the other hand, had an absolutely miserable 2009 and might not even be the starter for 2010. Kris Brown, Ryan Moats, Adrian Foster ... blah. Who knows what to make of the RB situation there. Owen Daniels is a very safe TE pick who you can get after the first 4-5 studs are gone. I'm not sold on Kevin Walter. As for Matt Schaub, he's not the QB I want, but if I wait to draft a QB until round 6 or 7, I'll grab him then and be moderately happy.
AFC WEST
Starting with the Chargers, the obvious fact is that this is no longer LT's team - it's Phillip Rivers' team. To emphasize that point, the Chargers let Tomlinson go and now Darren Sproles value is quite high. He's got Chris Johnson like potential; not as great a player, but better offense. The problem with Sproles will be the passing game doing most of the work in San Diego. But I do like Sproles as a very decent #2 RB. Rivers is a top 5 QB in my mind, and I love Gates as my #2 TE off the board, and Vincent Jackson as a low-end #1 WR or a great #2.
Denver is having Brandon Marshall problems for the third straight offseason, and I doubt that he'll be on the roster come August. And considering the amazing disappearance act from Eddie Royal last year, I don't know who will catch the ball in Denver. Stokely, Gaffney, Lloyd? Not a great crew. On top of that, Brady Quinn was brought in to compete with Kyle Orton. In a looks competition, I'd go with Quinn in a heartbeat; in a football battle, it's probably still gonna be Orton. Moreno has decent value because no one is expecting much from Denver, but they do have one of the league's best offensive lines, anchored by Ryan Clady- the best LT in the NFL according to most experts.
Kansas City brought in Thomas Jones, but it's hard to imagine he could start over Jamaal Charles, after Charles-in-Charge went for an insane 1130 combined yards in his 8 starts last season (in other words, just a shade better than Chris Johnson's yards-per-game average.) I know. Wow. But keep in mind, that was a lot of garbage time at the end of the season and Charles was probably overachieving. Still. Charles is a third round pick, maybe second. Thomas Jones is really nothing more than a handcuff. As for the Cassel to Chambers connection that was so deadly at the end of 2009, I'm not buying it. I still like Dwayne Bowe as a low-end #2 WR.
Last but not least, the Oakland Raiders. Okay, last and least. Will it be JaMarcus Russell, or Charlie Frye? Or will Al Davis be smart and start Bruce Gradkowski from week 1? Will Heyward-Bey even get a chance to prove why he was the 7th overall pick last year? Can we expect anything from McFadden, other than another injury? Will they draft the fastest player in the NFL draft with their 8th overall pick? (probably). The only guy I like in Oakland is Zach Miller, and that's as a low-end #2 TE.
So that's all I got for now.
Stay tuned for something about LOST.
Happy St. Patricks Day
The Eagles dumped Brian Westbrook, which effectively turns LeSean McCoy into a viable #2 RB with #1 upside. McNabb's status is up in the air, but he'll probably stay put and remain a decent QB in the 7-10 range. DeSean Jackson is a low-end #1 fantasy WR and Celek is a 6-10 tight end. Maclin is a good sleeper.
Doesn't look like anything will change with the Cowboys offensively, which means Romo, Austin and Witten are all great options. Austin could produce as a top 5 WR, but will probably be drafted as a receiver in the 10-12 range. RB is a muddy mess; Choice is probably the best back on the team, but he gets the fewest touches. That's one platoon that I would stay away from. Roy Williams isn't worth mentioning.
New York has changed the defensive quite a bit, but remains Eli's team on offense. Which in my mind, means no one on the Giants is an enviable fantasy option. Steve Smith is probably a 15-20 WR, and Jacob and Bradshaw are both #3 RBs until one of them gets hurt.
Washington is a wildcard. Their 2010 quarterback situation is up-in-the-air, but it will probably be Jason Campbell again. They want Sam Bradford, but it seems that so do the Rams. Will they draft Claussen 4th, or is that too early? (Probably too early). They signed Larry Johnson to try to compete with Portis, but I still expect Portis to get 75% of the work and be a #2 RB. Stay away from all their receivers, and draft Cooley as a 6-8 TE.
NFC NORTH
Green Bay is a powerhouse offense in 2010, led by Aaron Rodgers - a top 3 fantasy QB. Jennings and Driver are both #2 WRs, and Ryan Grant is a #2 RB. It's a highly balanced offense with only one fantasy star, and that's the quarterback. JerMichael Finley may be a top 10 TE whom you can wait to draft until very late.
The Bears will be your typical Mike Martz offense in 2010 - tons of yards, tons of turnovers. I won't be drafting Jay Cutler because I can't stand his stupid guts, but if you want 380 yards, 2 TDs and 3 INTs a game, he's your guy. Johnny Know is a good #2 receiver this year and I love Greg Olsen as a 7-8 tight end. Matt Forte - wait until at least the third round.
The Lions have been active all offseason, which is great, but they still aren't ready to be a team with many fantasy players, except of course Megatron. Burleson is a nice #4 receiver I guess, and Kevin Smith isn't the worst #3 running back in the world, although he'll miss the first few weeks of the season, and possibly more. Matt Stafford? No way. Pettigrew? Maybe if your starter has a bye and the matchup is right.
I'm not wasting any words on Brett Favre until August. Adrian Peterson is the #2 running back on my list and I love Sidney Rice no matter who plays quarterback. Harvin's an alright #3 WR.
NFC SOUTH
Obviously, Drew Brees will be the most highly drafted non-RB in just about every league. He's a statistical super-star. The rest of the Saints, however, all come with questions. Colston is more of a #2 WR than a #1, and the rest of the receivers are inconsistent, because Brees spreads the ball around so brilliantly. Reggie Bush is a below-average RB unless your league rewards receptions.
What about Matt Ryan this season? Last year, he and Roddy White (and Michael Turner) all fell short of fantasy owners' lofty expectations. It'll be tough for him to recover from a mini-sophomore slump, but I think he'll settle in as a low-end #1 QB. As for Turner and White, I'd say they're both low-end #1 guys as well. Put it this way: if I'm drafting #12 (for the third year in a row!) I won't be ticked off if I get Turner the Burner. Tony Gonzalez's stock has dropped, but he may be a value pick now in the 8-10 TE range.
Carolina is an offense to avoid in 2010. Matt Moore will be an improvement over Jake Delhomme (it'd be impossible not to be), but that doesn't mean the passing game will be anything better than 25th in the league. This is still a run-dominated team, and the backs will be splitting carries pretty evenly. I like DeAngelo as a 1,200 yards, 6 TDs guy and Stewart for about 800 yards and 10 TDs; neither is better than a top 15 RB. Steve Smith is getting older and has some injury issues and off-the-field issues that scare me off.
Tampa Bay may be the worst offense in the NFL in 2010. Josh Freeman will get the start, Derrick Ward and Cadillac Williams will take turns sucking at running back, and Raheem Morris will be fired (and put out of his misery). Antonio Bryant, who wasn't that good in the first place, took off to Cincinnati and they don't have any legitimate wide recievers anymore. Brutal.
NFC WEST
I'll start with Arizona, even though they are no longer the team to beat in the division. Losing Boldin hurts, and losing Warner kills. Losing two key defenders doesn't help either. I wouldn't draft Matt Leinart unless ... well, for any reason. Fitzgerald is still a #1 WR of course, but he drops from #2 to about #8 on my list. I hate their running game, although Wells will probably surpasss Hightower and become an okay #3 guy.
San Fran is intriguing, because of how awesome Vernon Davis was last season and the potential that Michael Crabtree possesses. But is Alex Smith the guy again? Now that Shaun Hill is in Detroit, he has to be. I don't see him playing great, but 7-9 could easily win this division, so San Fran won't be panicking to draft a QB. Expect offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye to use plenty of Frank Gore (he's a top 5 RB), and don't draft Davis with expectations of last years' 13 TDs. Crabtree is the wildcard. I wouldn't take him as any more than a #4 WR.
Matt Hasslebeck's future with the Seahawks is in question, and they have the #6 pick in April's draft. Claussen is an option, as is running back CJ Spiller. But if OT Russell Okung falls to them, I think they'll take him and let Hass have another season. Seneca Wallace is gone, and so is Nate Burleson. That leaves TJ Houshmandandy as a pretty decent #2 WR. As for the rest of the Seahawks, don't bother. (Unless they draft Spiller, which makes things interesting.)
The only Ram worth mentioning is obviously Steven Jackson, and the question becomes: how high is too high to draft a great player on a horrible team? He does everything for St. Louis and plays every down like it counts, but he's also been injured several times in the past few years. I LOVE him as a #2 RB, but wouldn't trust him as a #1 until maybe the 9th or 10th pick in the draft. If the Rams pick Bradford #1, he's not a fantasy option, but it does help Donnie Avery move from a #6 WR to a #5 WR.
AFC EAST
Brady, Moss and Welker are still great, and if you think otherwise, you're a fool. That said, I won't be drafting any of them after Brady screwed me in BOTH leagues last season. Actually, I would draft Welker as a #2. Not Moss though; his age scares me. I'll let someone else pick him in the second round. As always, don't even pay attention to their RB and TE situations.
The Jets are very interesting. They just picked up LaDanian Tomlinson for about the same amount of money they weren't willing to pay Thomas Jones. Very strange. That offensive line is outstanding, so whoever is the starter week 1, whether its Shonne Green or LT, is worth a shot as a 10-15 RB. But they do like to platoon. I like Sanchez as a player, but not a fantasy guy yet. Braylon Edwards is a low-end #2 WR and Dustin Keller is a low-end #1 TE.
Once again, Miami lacks the wide receivers to do anything other than befuddle teams with their Wildcat antics. Ronnie Brown is a great low-end #1 RB and Ricky Williams is at least a #3 RB, maybe a low #2. Chad Henne? No thanks. Ted Ginn Jr? I don't think so.
It doesn't appear that the TO experiment worked too well in Buffalo, and their offense is in absolute shambles. Don't look at anyone. Unless they draft either Spiller or Best with the 9th pick, in which case that person might be interesting.
AFC NORTH
Anquan Boldin is probably the biggest free agency splash in terms of fantasy. He becomes a low-end #1 WR on Baltimore, and also raises Flacco into relevance as a good #2 and decent #1. Ray Rice is the #4 guy on my RB board, but I think I'd draft him 5th overall, behind Brees. Derrick Mason is an okay #3 receiver for some consistent 50 yard games.
The situation in Pittsburgh is contingent upon whether or not Rapist Roethlisberger goes to jail. If he plays the season as I expect he will, he's a low-end #1 QB and Holmes and Ward are both good #2s. Mendenhall is a pretty low #2 RB - that offensive line stinks. I'd pick the Steelers defense in the top 5 and Heath Miller is a 8-10 TE. If Ben goes to jail like he deserves, Charlie Batch (who, ironically, has a degree in Criminal Justice!) becomes the starter. That drops Holmes and Ward to #3s at best, crushes Miller's value into nothingness, and also knocks Pittsburgh out of the playoffs for a second straight year. I can only dream...
Cleveland has cleaned house and ridded themselves of both Anderson and Quinn, receiving a fullback from the Broncos and a sixth-round draft pick in return. They added Jake Delhomme and Mike Holmgren's favorite player, Seneca Wallace. The two will compete for the starting gig, and that's a lose-lose situation if I've ever seen one. Look, when Parcells went to 1-15 Miami he turned them around in one season with some brilliant GM skills. People are expecting Holmgren to do the same in Cleveland, but he's up against too many obstacles, the key being that he's simply not the genius that Parcells is. No one involved in the Cleveland passing game is worth a pick; but it may be wise to gamble late on Jerome Harrison as a #3 or 4 running back. I mean he did rush for over 500 yards in the Browns' last three games of 2009.
Cincinnati is a bit of an enigma, pending Ochocinco's unpredictably stupid antics. The Dancing With the Stars star may not be keen to come back to Cincy after Bryant signed, but will anyone else take him? It would have to be a team that's used to media circus and needs a WR. Maybe Buffalo? Washington? Chicago? Oakland? Who knows, I'd personally like to see him playing for the CFL. Carson Palmer's really no better than a #2 fantasy QB in 2010, and I don't like Cedric Benson until at least the 4th round.
AFC SOUTH
Peyton Manning is a safe first-round pick and a very legitimate #2 QB off the board, although I might take Rodgers ahead of him for the upside. Reggie Wayne is as safe a #1 WR as you'll find, and Dallas Clark is the #1 TE on my board. After that, the Colts become a tough team to figure. Will Anthony Gonzalez steal the #2 WR job from Garcon and Collie? Will Donald Brown take the starting RB gig away from Addai? We won't really know until the season starts, but I think yes on both accounts.
The #1 player drafted overall in most fantasy leagues will be Chris Johnson, and shoot, why not? He's this decade's Barry Sanders. He's absolutely unbelievable. There's nothing else to get excited about in Tennessee, but I think he's a lock for 1,500 yards and 10 TDs even with no help. I, personally, would probably take AP over Chris Johnson simply to play it safe, but you can't go wrong either way. As far as Vince Young, don't think about it. None of those receivers are worth much either, and the tight ends play in a platoon so I wouldn't go for either guy.
My #3 overall player on the board is TD machine Maurice Jones-Drew. I always seem to overhype Jacksonville each offseason, but this year I really think they'll click. Not 12-4 or anything like that, but a solid 9-7 or so and some monster games from MJD. David Garrard has really reached his ceiling - a middle-of-the-road QB. He's not getting any better. But he's not bad; he's safe; and most importantly for fantasy pruposes, he does not get in MJD's way. I don't like MSW (Mike Sims-Walker) very much, but he's probably an okay #3 WR for now.
The top WR on my fantasy board is Andre Johnson, and it would take a lot for that to change. Back-to-back 1500 yard seasons with at least 8 TDs and 100 catches. You only get that production from a handful of running backs. He's a first-rounder. Steve Slaton on the other hand, had an absolutely miserable 2009 and might not even be the starter for 2010. Kris Brown, Ryan Moats, Adrian Foster ... blah. Who knows what to make of the RB situation there. Owen Daniels is a very safe TE pick who you can get after the first 4-5 studs are gone. I'm not sold on Kevin Walter. As for Matt Schaub, he's not the QB I want, but if I wait to draft a QB until round 6 or 7, I'll grab him then and be moderately happy.
AFC WEST
Starting with the Chargers, the obvious fact is that this is no longer LT's team - it's Phillip Rivers' team. To emphasize that point, the Chargers let Tomlinson go and now Darren Sproles value is quite high. He's got Chris Johnson like potential; not as great a player, but better offense. The problem with Sproles will be the passing game doing most of the work in San Diego. But I do like Sproles as a very decent #2 RB. Rivers is a top 5 QB in my mind, and I love Gates as my #2 TE off the board, and Vincent Jackson as a low-end #1 WR or a great #2.
Denver is having Brandon Marshall problems for the third straight offseason, and I doubt that he'll be on the roster come August. And considering the amazing disappearance act from Eddie Royal last year, I don't know who will catch the ball in Denver. Stokely, Gaffney, Lloyd? Not a great crew. On top of that, Brady Quinn was brought in to compete with Kyle Orton. In a looks competition, I'd go with Quinn in a heartbeat; in a football battle, it's probably still gonna be Orton. Moreno has decent value because no one is expecting much from Denver, but they do have one of the league's best offensive lines, anchored by Ryan Clady- the best LT in the NFL according to most experts.
Kansas City brought in Thomas Jones, but it's hard to imagine he could start over Jamaal Charles, after Charles-in-Charge went for an insane 1130 combined yards in his 8 starts last season (in other words, just a shade better than Chris Johnson's yards-per-game average.) I know. Wow. But keep in mind, that was a lot of garbage time at the end of the season and Charles was probably overachieving. Still. Charles is a third round pick, maybe second. Thomas Jones is really nothing more than a handcuff. As for the Cassel to Chambers connection that was so deadly at the end of 2009, I'm not buying it. I still like Dwayne Bowe as a low-end #2 WR.
Last but not least, the Oakland Raiders. Okay, last and least. Will it be JaMarcus Russell, or Charlie Frye? Or will Al Davis be smart and start Bruce Gradkowski from week 1? Will Heyward-Bey even get a chance to prove why he was the 7th overall pick last year? Can we expect anything from McFadden, other than another injury? Will they draft the fastest player in the NFL draft with their 8th overall pick? (probably). The only guy I like in Oakland is Zach Miller, and that's as a low-end #2 TE.
So that's all I got for now.
Stay tuned for something about LOST.
Happy St. Patricks Day
Just a Formality, Really
While downloading and filling out my 2010 NCAA Bracket, I realized something.
College basketball is the sports equivalent of saying "Nice to meet you," when you meet someone who you'll probably never see again, and really couldn't care less about.
We watch and cheer and obsess and even take off work, but really, do we care? Do we really know anything about any of the teams, except that Duke is good, and any seed higher than 4 is bad?
Filling out my bracket, I realized that my knowledge of the 2010 season can be boiled down into five points.
1. John Wall plays for Kentucky, and he's really good
2. Evan Turner is on Ohio State, and he's good too
3. Kansas is really good this year, apparently
4. Notre Dame has a white guy named Luke ... not sure if he's good or not.
5. Tom Izzo coaches the Spartans.
And that's it. I know Duke and Syracuse are #1 seeds, and the Big East is apparently stacked. I know Purdue's best player is hurt and they're screwed. But in general, if college basketball is on the radio, I change the station.
In fact, I think most of us do.
But once March 15th rolls around, we become maniacal. Filling out brackets, researching the rosters of New Mexico and Xaiver and convincing ourselves that we are informed because of something we heard Digger Phelps say on TV. Falling in love with some random team like Murray State because their coach's wife has cancer, even though I couldn't guess whether Murray State is east or west of the Mississippi.
A couple years ago, I became obsessed with the Winthrop Eagles. I became facebook friends with over 100 guys named David who attended Winthrop, just for the heck of it. They were invincible; in the regular season, they went something like 35-1. In the tourney, they lost their first game. Stupid.
College basketball is nothing like the NFL or NBA, where my opinions are informed and usually pretty brilliant. Not even like the MLB, where I have some idea what's going on. I probably know more about NASCAR than college basketball, and I hate NASCAR. College basketball is the friend that you don't really like and don't really hang out with, and March Madness is like spending a month straight with that friend and being forced to be BFFs, because nothing else is on TV and eveyone else is doing it. You have to pretend to be obsessed, because otherwise your friends will make fun of you for not being 'a real sports fan.' Really? Watching a sport I don't care about is what makes me a real fan? But then once we get to the Final Four, we can't wait to ditch our stupid friend and watch some playoff hockey or golf.
I know, college basketball is raw and more exciting and the players actually care, because they're not getting paid. That's the argument against the NBA. I can't disagree, the NBA is full of millionares who want to get paid and laid. But you know what, it's also full of the world's best basketball players, and when I watch college hoops, I see nothing but slop. Turnovers, transition passes that go flying into the crowd, missed 3-pointers clanking off every corner of the rim. The thirty-five second shot clock. Give me a break.
--
For the record, I've got three #1 seeds and Villavona going to the Final Four, and KU over UK in the Finals. My upset specials are Siena and Houston to the sweet 16.
And next year, after Wall and Turner are drafted 1 and 2, I will be back to not knowing the name of a single player in college basketball.
Nice to meet you.
College basketball is the sports equivalent of saying "Nice to meet you," when you meet someone who you'll probably never see again, and really couldn't care less about.
We watch and cheer and obsess and even take off work, but really, do we care? Do we really know anything about any of the teams, except that Duke is good, and any seed higher than 4 is bad?
Filling out my bracket, I realized that my knowledge of the 2010 season can be boiled down into five points.
1. John Wall plays for Kentucky, and he's really good
2. Evan Turner is on Ohio State, and he's good too
3. Kansas is really good this year, apparently
4. Notre Dame has a white guy named Luke ... not sure if he's good or not.
5. Tom Izzo coaches the Spartans.
And that's it. I know Duke and Syracuse are #1 seeds, and the Big East is apparently stacked. I know Purdue's best player is hurt and they're screwed. But in general, if college basketball is on the radio, I change the station.
In fact, I think most of us do.
But once March 15th rolls around, we become maniacal. Filling out brackets, researching the rosters of New Mexico and Xaiver and convincing ourselves that we are informed because of something we heard Digger Phelps say on TV. Falling in love with some random team like Murray State because their coach's wife has cancer, even though I couldn't guess whether Murray State is east or west of the Mississippi.
A couple years ago, I became obsessed with the Winthrop Eagles. I became facebook friends with over 100 guys named David who attended Winthrop, just for the heck of it. They were invincible; in the regular season, they went something like 35-1. In the tourney, they lost their first game. Stupid.
College basketball is nothing like the NFL or NBA, where my opinions are informed and usually pretty brilliant. Not even like the MLB, where I have some idea what's going on. I probably know more about NASCAR than college basketball, and I hate NASCAR. College basketball is the friend that you don't really like and don't really hang out with, and March Madness is like spending a month straight with that friend and being forced to be BFFs, because nothing else is on TV and eveyone else is doing it. You have to pretend to be obsessed, because otherwise your friends will make fun of you for not being 'a real sports fan.' Really? Watching a sport I don't care about is what makes me a real fan? But then once we get to the Final Four, we can't wait to ditch our stupid friend and watch some playoff hockey or golf.
I know, college basketball is raw and more exciting and the players actually care, because they're not getting paid. That's the argument against the NBA. I can't disagree, the NBA is full of millionares who want to get paid and laid. But you know what, it's also full of the world's best basketball players, and when I watch college hoops, I see nothing but slop. Turnovers, transition passes that go flying into the crowd, missed 3-pointers clanking off every corner of the rim. The thirty-five second shot clock. Give me a break.
--
For the record, I've got three #1 seeds and Villavona going to the Final Four, and KU over UK in the Finals. My upset specials are Siena and Houston to the sweet 16.
And next year, after Wall and Turner are drafted 1 and 2, I will be back to not knowing the name of a single player in college basketball.
Nice to meet you.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Lost Thoughts: S6 E7
Dr. Linus
Another letdown.
I didn't completely hate the episode, but I wouldn't rate it any higher than a 7 out of 10. In fact I think the only good episode so far this season has been the first one. "Lighthouse" and "Substitute" were okay. But these flash-sideways things are becomming more and more ridiculous, and this episode was more character development than anything else. Which is great, but it's a little too late in the game for that.
That being said, at least it focused on Ben's character, and not someone stupid. (Like Kate, Claire, Sun, or basically any of the women on the show). It was amazing how Ben Linus basically transformed from super villian to likeable good guy in just one episode. Amazing acting job by Michael Emerson. As always. But yet again, those dumb sideways flashes were distracting and time-consuming and completely irrelevant.
Timeline B
90% of the flash-sideways was a nostalgic waste of time. We saw a lot of Arzt and Alex, and a little of Roger Linus and a cameo by Locke. Ben spent the episode trying to bring down the corrupt principal and take his job. He almost succeeded, but instead sacrified the job promotion for Alex's well-being. Awwwww.
There were a few nuggets of worthwhile information in the Sideways, but not many. The key was the conversation between Ben and his dad.
Ben says he feels like a loser and wishes he could have made something of himself. Roger says that's why he joined the damn Dharma Initiative and went to "that island." Then he says "Who knows what you could have become if we'd stayed?"
That was the first reference to the island in Timeline B, and confirmed what we already though: that the Jughead explosion in 1977 is what caused the island to sink. My question then, would be this: shouldn't anyone who was on the island in 1977 be dead? Wasn't Ben on the island at the time of the explosion??? Wasn't he in the Others' camp recovering from a bullet wound? Also, shouldn't Roger Linus be dead? Or is one of the many changes in Timeline B include that the Linuses left the island earlier than they did in the original timeline?
Here's another question: In Timeline B, are Jacob and the Enemy dead? Did they die in the explosion? Probably not, but possibly. Ehh who knows.
The point is, flash-sideways = stupid and let's move on.
Ben, Ilana and the Beach
Ilana finds out from Miles that Ben killed Jacob, and she says that he (Jacob) was like a father to her. Then she makes Ben dig his own grave, which he does for about 45 minutes of this episode. You can tell Ben isn't excited about dying, and at one point The Monster shows up and basically tempts Ben to kill Ilana, offering him "leadership of the island." He knows what to tempt Ben with (power), and almost succeeds in killing Ilana. But Ben has a sudden change of heart, and opens up to Ilana about Alex's death and his sad, miserable life.
How heartbreaking was it when Ben said he would go with Locke, because "he's the only one who will take me." Seriously, Michael Emerson is the best. I was near tears. Ilana allows Ben to live and stay with the good guys, and the parallels between Locke as the devil and Jacob as God continue to become more and more aparent.
While Ben was digging, Ilana spoke briefly to Sun and made a pretty important statement. There are only 6 candidates still alive. Who are they, you ask?
Well, for sure Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, and Kwon (Sun, Jin, or both?). Presumably, the other two are Kate and Sayid, but now that Sayid is 'claimed,' does he count? Is it possible that Ben, Richard, Miles, Frank, Widmore, or anyone else could be the 6th candidate? Maaybe. But I think it's Sayid.
Another letdown.
I didn't completely hate the episode, but I wouldn't rate it any higher than a 7 out of 10. In fact I think the only good episode so far this season has been the first one. "Lighthouse" and "Substitute" were okay. But these flash-sideways things are becomming more and more ridiculous, and this episode was more character development than anything else. Which is great, but it's a little too late in the game for that.
That being said, at least it focused on Ben's character, and not someone stupid. (Like Kate, Claire, Sun, or basically any of the women on the show). It was amazing how Ben Linus basically transformed from super villian to likeable good guy in just one episode. Amazing acting job by Michael Emerson. As always. But yet again, those dumb sideways flashes were distracting and time-consuming and completely irrelevant.
Timeline B
90% of the flash-sideways was a nostalgic waste of time. We saw a lot of Arzt and Alex, and a little of Roger Linus and a cameo by Locke. Ben spent the episode trying to bring down the corrupt principal and take his job. He almost succeeded, but instead sacrified the job promotion for Alex's well-being. Awwwww.
There were a few nuggets of worthwhile information in the Sideways, but not many. The key was the conversation between Ben and his dad.
Ben says he feels like a loser and wishes he could have made something of himself. Roger says that's why he joined the damn Dharma Initiative and went to "that island." Then he says "Who knows what you could have become if we'd stayed?"
That was the first reference to the island in Timeline B, and confirmed what we already though: that the Jughead explosion in 1977 is what caused the island to sink. My question then, would be this: shouldn't anyone who was on the island in 1977 be dead? Wasn't Ben on the island at the time of the explosion??? Wasn't he in the Others' camp recovering from a bullet wound? Also, shouldn't Roger Linus be dead? Or is one of the many changes in Timeline B include that the Linuses left the island earlier than they did in the original timeline?
Here's another question: In Timeline B, are Jacob and the Enemy dead? Did they die in the explosion? Probably not, but possibly. Ehh who knows.
The point is, flash-sideways = stupid and let's move on.
Ben, Ilana and the Beach
Ilana finds out from Miles that Ben killed Jacob, and she says that he (Jacob) was like a father to her. Then she makes Ben dig his own grave, which he does for about 45 minutes of this episode. You can tell Ben isn't excited about dying, and at one point The Monster shows up and basically tempts Ben to kill Ilana, offering him "leadership of the island." He knows what to tempt Ben with (power), and almost succeeds in killing Ilana. But Ben has a sudden change of heart, and opens up to Ilana about Alex's death and his sad, miserable life.
How heartbreaking was it when Ben said he would go with Locke, because "he's the only one who will take me." Seriously, Michael Emerson is the best. I was near tears. Ilana allows Ben to live and stay with the good guys, and the parallels between Locke as the devil and Jacob as God continue to become more and more aparent.
While Ben was digging, Ilana spoke briefly to Sun and made a pretty important statement. There are only 6 candidates still alive. Who are they, you ask?
Well, for sure Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, and Kwon (Sun, Jin, or both?). Presumably, the other two are Kate and Sayid, but now that Sayid is 'claimed,' does he count? Is it possible that Ben, Richard, Miles, Frank, Widmore, or anyone else could be the 6th candidate? Maaybe. But I think it's Sayid.
Here's a question that's killing me: Why doesn't Sun ditch the beach and go look for Jin? She left her daughter in Korea and rode a crashing plane just to find Jin, and know that she's on the same island as him, she's just gonna kick back on the beach and wait for him to find her? Really Sun?
Meanwhile, Miles spent the beach time digging up graves and stealing stolen diamonds from Nikki and Paulo. Whilst Frank continues to strut around with his dumb jokes and witty banter. I just have a nagging feeling that both of those dudes are just a few episodes away from sudden death. Especially if they aren't candidates. I'll be sad if Miles dies, and neutral if Frank does.
The pretty cool clifhanger of this episode was seeing Charles Widmore's sub about to beach itself on the island. The obvious question is: how did Widmore find the island, after 30 years of trying? Did Eloise help? Is anyone else noteworthy in the sub with him? Eloise? Des? Penny? I sure as heck hope Desmond is, but unfortunately, I don't think he is.
A few episodes ago, Jacob mentioned bringing someone to the island. Was it Charles? Is Widmore really a game-changer at this point? He's not a candidate, and his money won't help them defeat Flocke. What good is he? Especially now that Jacob is dead and the Others don't really exist, and Ben has turned and become a good guy, what is Widmore really going to accomplish? Is he just going to join the good guys and fight Flocke? I don't see him getting along to well with the Beach crew.
Richard, Jack, and Hugo
Jack and Hurley encounter Richard, who lies to them and leads them to the Black Rock. He confirms that he was once a slave on the ship, something we already knew, but he made it even more clear. Then he explains one of the show's biggest mysteries: why he doesn't age.
Answer: because Jacob touched him.
But wait a minute ... Jacob also touched Jack, Kate, Hugo, Sawyer, both Kwons and Sayid. Are they ageless, and immune to self-inflicted deaths?
Remember when Michael was trying to kill himself in Season 4, but couldn't? Is this the exact same situation? Ergo, Michael was touched by Jacob? Obviously, the dynamite experiement proved that Jack (and anyone else Jacob touched, presumably) can't end their own life. This way, whichever candidate stays alive and becomes the new Jacob will live forever on the island.
But my question is, how is it that Jacob and the Enemy are ageless? Who touched them? Or are they really the embodiments of higher powers, like God and Satan or something like that?
I have this nagging feeling that they are brothers though.
Anyway, Richard failed to die, and has really become a sad figure of hopelessness after years of being the bad-ass mystery man. The three of them walked back to the beach and joined forces with the rest of the good guys.
I don't know about you, but I dont think Jack is going to take orders from Ilana very easily, even though she clearly knows what's going on, and he has no idea. Is anyone going to fill Sun in that they were in the 1977 for the past few weeks? Doesn't that seem important?
Bah. too much going on. next week episode is called RECON.
My guess is it's about Sawyer. Partly because he hasn't had an episode yet, and partly because the word 'Con" is in the title. I think Flocke will use him to spy on the beach, and hopefully, if we're lucky, Jin will tag along, find Sun, and we'll have the happy reunion. In his flash sideways, I can only speculate what crazy thing we'll learn about Sawyer.
His parents are still alive. He's married to Charlotte. He works for the FBI and arrests con-men for a living. Who knows. All I know is that I really, really, really want to see Juliet in his flashsideways. And I want to hear her say that line about coffee and going dutch. Then we finally have a link between the Timelines.
posting this at 3:40 pm, pay no attention to whatever time the timestamp says
Meanwhile, Miles spent the beach time digging up graves and stealing stolen diamonds from Nikki and Paulo. Whilst Frank continues to strut around with his dumb jokes and witty banter. I just have a nagging feeling that both of those dudes are just a few episodes away from sudden death. Especially if they aren't candidates. I'll be sad if Miles dies, and neutral if Frank does.
The pretty cool clifhanger of this episode was seeing Charles Widmore's sub about to beach itself on the island. The obvious question is: how did Widmore find the island, after 30 years of trying? Did Eloise help? Is anyone else noteworthy in the sub with him? Eloise? Des? Penny? I sure as heck hope Desmond is, but unfortunately, I don't think he is.
A few episodes ago, Jacob mentioned bringing someone to the island. Was it Charles? Is Widmore really a game-changer at this point? He's not a candidate, and his money won't help them defeat Flocke. What good is he? Especially now that Jacob is dead and the Others don't really exist, and Ben has turned and become a good guy, what is Widmore really going to accomplish? Is he just going to join the good guys and fight Flocke? I don't see him getting along to well with the Beach crew.
Richard, Jack, and Hugo
Jack and Hurley encounter Richard, who lies to them and leads them to the Black Rock. He confirms that he was once a slave on the ship, something we already knew, but he made it even more clear. Then he explains one of the show's biggest mysteries: why he doesn't age.
Answer: because Jacob touched him.
But wait a minute ... Jacob also touched Jack, Kate, Hugo, Sawyer, both Kwons and Sayid. Are they ageless, and immune to self-inflicted deaths?
Remember when Michael was trying to kill himself in Season 4, but couldn't? Is this the exact same situation? Ergo, Michael was touched by Jacob? Obviously, the dynamite experiement proved that Jack (and anyone else Jacob touched, presumably) can't end their own life. This way, whichever candidate stays alive and becomes the new Jacob will live forever on the island.
But my question is, how is it that Jacob and the Enemy are ageless? Who touched them? Or are they really the embodiments of higher powers, like God and Satan or something like that?
I have this nagging feeling that they are brothers though.
Anyway, Richard failed to die, and has really become a sad figure of hopelessness after years of being the bad-ass mystery man. The three of them walked back to the beach and joined forces with the rest of the good guys.
I don't know about you, but I dont think Jack is going to take orders from Ilana very easily, even though she clearly knows what's going on, and he has no idea. Is anyone going to fill Sun in that they were in the 1977 for the past few weeks? Doesn't that seem important?
Bah. too much going on. next week episode is called RECON.
My guess is it's about Sawyer. Partly because he hasn't had an episode yet, and partly because the word 'Con" is in the title. I think Flocke will use him to spy on the beach, and hopefully, if we're lucky, Jin will tag along, find Sun, and we'll have the happy reunion. In his flash sideways, I can only speculate what crazy thing we'll learn about Sawyer.
His parents are still alive. He's married to Charlotte. He works for the FBI and arrests con-men for a living. Who knows. All I know is that I really, really, really want to see Juliet in his flashsideways. And I want to hear her say that line about coffee and going dutch. Then we finally have a link between the Timelines.
posting this at 3:40 pm, pay no attention to whatever time the timestamp says
Monday, March 8, 2010
Kyle Vanden Bosch
I could go on and on about how this is the biggest off-season pickup the Lions have made in literally a decade. How desperately we needed a pass rusher, and how we landed a top 10 defensive end in the NFL. How Vanden Bosch and the DT we take #2 overall will take our defensive line from worst in the league to at least average. (I hope it's Suh, because KVB, like Suh, went to Nebraska.) I could ramble about how freaking HUGE this is, because we've been relying on the bumbling Jared DeVries and Dewayne White for WAY too long and finally have a dominant, double-team drawing, mismatch-creating physical freak of nature on the defensive end, a guy who has 37 sacks in the last 5 seasons, twice as many as Jared DeVries racked up in 10 seasons. But instead, I'd like to say a few things about Kyle Vanden Bosch that you might not know, but will certainly impress you.-He graduated from Nebraska with a 3.82 GPA and a Bachelors in Finance. (So he's not a dummy)
-He went to three Pro Bowls with the Titans.
-While at Nebraska he was nicknamed The Tazmanian Devil.
-He wears red contacts during games to appear more intimidating.
-He has participated in charity wrestling events. As in the fake, stupid, chair-smashing kind of wrestling.
-He's getting 4 years and $26 million from Detroit, which is a really great deal.
-He was captain of the Titans defense and brings sorely needed leadership to the Lions D.
It's been a really busy free agency for the rest of the NFL so far, and I'll wrap that up in a second. First, a couple more notes about the Lions' other moves.
We traded with Cleveland to acquire DT Corey Williams (21 sacks and 200 tackles in his 6 year career) and traded with Atlanta to nab CB Chris Houston (3-year vet and nothing special). Both guys may actually end up with starting jobs. Williams fills the void left by Grady Jackson, who was released, and Houston is really the only option at CB right now. Buchanon, Henry and James are all gone. Eric King is the only CB remaining who started even one game last season. Who else do we have? Ramzee Robinson? Kevin Hobbs? We NEED to draft a cornerback in April. Second round or maybe third, but no later.
Offensively, the only move was a re-signing of Jon Jansen, but I doubt he'll start over Gosder barring injury. He might be moved to LG, but probably not. Unless we draft a startable lineman, or find someone else in free agency, it looks like we're stuck with: Backus-Rameriz-Raiola-Loper-Cherilus. Not great ...
But remember, Brandon Pettigrew is huge and should serve as a 6th lineman on running plays.
Okay, on to the rest of the NFL action ...
-Biggest winners: The Ravens. Their receiving crew went from possibly the worst in the league to pretty respectable. 50 year old Derrick Mason no longer has to be the #1 guy now that Anquan Boldin is there. This helps Flacco a ton. Ray Rice is there too. Watch out AFC North.
-Biggest losers: The Cardinals, no question about it. Warner retired, Boldin left, Dansby and Rolle left too. By my count, that's 4 of their 6 best players. The NFC West is completely up for grabs, and might be won by a 6-10 team.
-Best signing: Julius Peppers to the Bears. Sure, he got paid $91 million dollars, but he might actually be worth it. The Bears D was crap last year and now has an elite pass rusher, which we know cures all ails. Unfortunately, Urlacher will get all the credit for Peppers' sacks.
-Most overrated signing: Chester Taylor to the Bears. He's a backup RB on a Mike Martz offense. So, he'll touch the ball ... what, 30 times all season? On a related note, when you combine Martz and Cutler, aren't you guaranteeing at least 30 INTs in 2010?
-Most underrated signing: Aaron Kampman to the Jags. Great player to an already underrated team. I'm already looking ahead to the AFC Wildcard picture and saying 'The poor Texans just missed it... again.'
-Other important signings: Dansby to the Dolphins. Very good linebacker to replace big-mouth Joey Porter.
-Dunta Robinson to the Falcons, Antrel Rolle to the Giants.
Two NFC playoff-hopefuls get shutdown cornerbacks. Cards and Texans both take a step backwards.
-Gary Brackett re-signed by the Colts. Seymour franchised by the Raiders. Wilfork franchised by New England.
-Scott Fujita - left the Super Bowl Champion Saints to go to the lowly Browns. Why the heck would you do that?!?
That's all I got. Peace out.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Nate Burleson
The Detroit Lions made a considerable splash on the first day of NFL free agency, addressing their need of a #2 wide-out to play opposite Calvin Johnson. Former Seahawk and Viking Nate Burleson was signed within three hours of free agency to a 5-year contract worth $25 million, $11 million of which is guaranteed. 
The Lions obviously have their share of defecincies on both sides of the ball, and it has been a debate since December how pressing the need is for depth at the 'skill positions.' I am of the opinion that Detroit needs to fix the un-sexy positions, starting with the secondary and defensive line, before they throw tons of money at the so-called 'playmakers.'
Perhaps the best way to really know what Nate Burleson is like as a player is to ask Seattle Seahawk fans. Since I don't know any, I checked out a few random Seattle blogs. I found the general concensus to be this - they want him to stay, but don't want to pay him too much. (Leave that to the Lions). Here's a blurb of some random comments from Seahawks fans:
- "Nate ain't great but he's good"
- "A helluva teammate and great community guy"
- "He's been our most dependable receiver and our best return man. I don't see how the team can afford to let him go"
- "Who cares. Nate is fragile and drops too many passes"
- "Nate's a good reviever and a GREAT teammate"
- "Might not be the most explosive receiver out there, but he's crafty and can pick up first downs almost at will"
- "Good guy, but not really all that good. Plus injury prone to boot. Detroit overpaid"
Two other things I learned:
one, Seahawk fans HATE Deion Branch with a passion,
and two, that have very little respect for the Detroit Lions.
Overall, this move does bolster the offense from about a C- to a C. Stafford now has 3 legitimate, reliable weapons, one of which is a superstar, so he's almost out of excuses. The offensive line gets a lot of crap, but if you watched closely in 2009, the O-line was not the primary problem on offense. They really weren't. The running game was bad, but that was due in part to defenses giving no respect to Stafford, which was due in part to the Lions having only one dangerous receiver. So yeah, this really might have been a brilliant move by the Lions' management, if Burleson pans out. The $25 million dollar question is: how big of an 'if' is that.
My prediction for 2010: Burleson barely beats out Bryant Johnson for the #2 WR job, catches 13 balls for 108 yards and 0 TDs, and then suffers a season-ending injuy in week 4.
Sorry to be a downer, but I'm still a Lions fan.
(PS - posting this at 5 pm, timestamping at 11:30 am)
The Lions obviously have their share of defecincies on both sides of the ball, and it has been a debate since December how pressing the need is for depth at the 'skill positions.' I am of the opinion that Detroit needs to fix the un-sexy positions, starting with the secondary and defensive line, before they throw tons of money at the so-called 'playmakers.'
On one hand, I do like this signing because it means the Lions won't be wasting a draft pick on a reciever (like they did last year with Derrick Williams). But on the other hand, I'm not thrilled for two reasons, both of which have to do with money.
Reason number one: quite simply, we're paying too much. $11 million guaranteed for a 28-year old going into his eighth NFL season with a history of knee problems? His career stats, averaged over a 16 game season are about 46 catches, 630 yards, and 5 touchdowns. In other words, just a little tiny bit better than Bryant Johnson was last year.
And reason number two: Burleson signed with Detroit for the wrong reasons. He was looking to get paid, and that's it. I know you can't really blame him, the NFL is a business and he's a professional, and he has to "take care of his family". But it does make it difficult to trust a guy who is clearly more interested in money than winning. Put it this way: his likelihood of suffering a serious injury early in the season just went through the roof.
One thing I don't have a major issue with is Burleson's talent. He's got good hands and great speed. He's a little on the smaller side, but he can turn a small play into a big play using his speed. Burleson can be used in the slot and split out wide interchangably. Everyone's going to be talking about how he's being re-united with Linehan, his former coordinator in Minnesota, but everyone said the same thing last year about Daunte Culpepper, so let's not get too excited about that. Perhaps the most important thing is this: Burleson is one of the better punt returners in the NFL. And that's something the Lions have lacked and seriously missed since Eddie Drummond.
Am I concerned that a receiver who relies on his speed and not his size becomes less effective as he nears his 30s? Of course. But look at Randy Moss. Joey Galloway. Steve Smith (the Carolina one). They all had good seasons past their 30th birthday. Burleson isn't exclusively a burner either; he's got the ability to be a possession receiver.
Also, Burleson was named the Best Dressed Player in the NFL in 2006 by Maxim magazine. Here he is accepting 'The Ed Block Courage Award,' which sounds like a joke but is a real thing.
Perhaps the best way to really know what Nate Burleson is like as a player is to ask Seattle Seahawk fans. Since I don't know any, I checked out a few random Seattle blogs. I found the general concensus to be this - they want him to stay, but don't want to pay him too much. (Leave that to the Lions). Here's a blurb of some random comments from Seahawks fans:
- "Nate ain't great but he's good"
- "A helluva teammate and great community guy"
- "He's been our most dependable receiver and our best return man. I don't see how the team can afford to let him go"
- "Who cares. Nate is fragile and drops too many passes"
- "Nate's a good reviever and a GREAT teammate"
- "Might not be the most explosive receiver out there, but he's crafty and can pick up first downs almost at will"
- "Good guy, but not really all that good. Plus injury prone to boot. Detroit overpaid"
Two other things I learned:
one, Seahawk fans HATE Deion Branch with a passion,
and two, that have very little respect for the Detroit Lions.
Overall, this move does bolster the offense from about a C- to a C. Stafford now has 3 legitimate, reliable weapons, one of which is a superstar, so he's almost out of excuses. The offensive line gets a lot of crap, but if you watched closely in 2009, the O-line was not the primary problem on offense. They really weren't. The running game was bad, but that was due in part to defenses giving no respect to Stafford, which was due in part to the Lions having only one dangerous receiver. So yeah, this really might have been a brilliant move by the Lions' management, if Burleson pans out. The $25 million dollar question is: how big of an 'if' is that.
My prediction for 2010: Burleson barely beats out Bryant Johnson for the #2 WR job, catches 13 balls for 108 yards and 0 TDs, and then suffers a season-ending injuy in week 4.
Sorry to be a downer, but I'm still a Lions fan.
(PS - posting this at 5 pm, timestamping at 11:30 am)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
LOST: S6 E6 - Sundown
First off, what a rascally move by the producers. The first five episodes paralleled the lineup from season 1 exactly, leaving us to all assume this would be a Sun-centric episode, and then with it being named 'Sundown, I was all but certain.
But alas, it was Mr. Jarrah who was featured in both the flash-sideways story and primarily on the island. In fact, Sun and Jin we're only seen for about 5 seconds each.
I'll break this recap into 3 parts: the Sideways, the Island, and Extra Random Info.
Flash Sideways: Sayid
It starts the way we thought Sayid's no-crash story would be. He's got flowers. He's at someone's house. It's Nadia. It's true love at last! .... No, wait ... Nadia is married to Sayid's brother. Ughh come on!
Remember, that's Sayid's same brother from the S5 episode "He's Our You." The brother who was too big of a weenie to kill a chicken, and now he's married to the love of Sayid's life. And poor Sayid seems to be genuinely still in love with her. He's even carrying her picture around with him, which seems to make his brother uncomfortable, but makes Nadia swoon.
The basic premise of Sayid's flash sideways is this: his brother owes money to a bad guy (who we find out is S4 villian Martin Keamy) and Sayid doesn't want to get involved, but has no choice when the bad guys hospitalize Sayid's weenie of a brother. So Sayid goes to see the bad guys, shoots and kills them all in cold blood, and then finds Jin in a freezer.
Jin says in Korean: "Don't Kill me. Please let me live." Sayid says "Who are you?" and Jin says "No English." The only real question from Sayid's utterly worthless flash-sideways is: why is Jin in Keamy's freezer? And even that isn't a big exciting mystery. Sayid's flash-sideways was 100% useless, as was Jack's, and Locke's, and Kate's. Next week looks like Ben's episode, and if it's a worthless Flash Sideways explaining how he became a high school teacher in LA, I wont be thrilled. And then of course we'll have the token appearance with 15 minutes left in the episode. Who will it be? ... maybe Widmore. Or Eyepatch. Or whoever. Unless it's pertanent to the actual Island timeline, I won't be worried about it.
On the Island
There was some real kick-ass stuff going on - finally! - on the island. It began with a long and pretty awesome fight between Sayid and Dogen, which was sparked by Dogen admitting that it would be better if Sayid were dead. I would take offense to that statement too. Dogen somehow wins the fight against Mr. Invincible, but instead of killing him he stares at a baseball and gets distracted. Weird.
Sayid is banished, but before he can leave Flocke sends Claire into the temple with a message for Dogen: "He" wants to see you. Dogen is nobody's fool, so he unbanishes Sayid and employs him to kill Flocke with a dagger. I swear, Dogen is the stupidest guy in the world ... how did he become the leader of the Temple folks with ideas like that? I could have told him that didn't have a chance of working.
Sayid is eager to prove that he is a good person (the battle that's been raging inside of him since he was a boy) so he takes on the task. Meanwhile, Claire is SUPER creepy and is placed in a pit, probably to keep her inept acting skills from being seen by too many people. Kate, who adamantly was NOT headed back to the temple last week, heads back to the temple. She runs into dumb luck by finding Claire there, but like a moron, she can't pick up on the clues that Claire is clearly off her rocker, so Kate basically says "Please kill me, I'm an idiot." It's like the writers know at this point 99% of LOST watchers hate Kate, and want to see her die, so they keep giving us these close calls to get our hopes up. Sadly, it's not going to happen. She'll be with Jack when the series finale comes along, of this much I'm sure.
Sayid finds Flocke, but stabs him in the chest a second too late. Dogen tells Sayid he must stab him before Flocke (who Dogen describes as 'evil incarnate') can open his mouth. Mission not accomplished. Flocke calmly removes the dagger from his chest, and seems almost amused. He then goes on to manipulate Sayid pantsless with Satan-like temptations and questions.
Here's a thought: you know how Dogen talked about the 'darkness' inside of Sayid, and how it couldn't reach his heart or he would be 'claimed' forever? Maybe the darkness (aka Flocke-ness) reached his heart when Flocke spoke to him? Kind of a wobbly theory, but it's better than no connection at all. I'd rather close off two minor questions with this connection than leave little dumb questions looming. The facts are, like it or not, now Sayid is now straight-up evil, and he is Flocke's loyal minion.
(As Aaron Vanderzon said: Sayid and I are no longer friends.)
So Flocke sends Sayid back to the temple with a message: Jacob is dead, and y'all are screwed. They freak out (which I don't understand, because they already knew Jacob was dead) and scatter around while Lenin (who I always want to call Doonesbury) tries to calm them down. But then the cool part happens.
Sayid goes to see Dogen and ask him why he sent him to kill an un-killable guy. Dogen brushes off the question and nostalgically stares at his baseball. He then begins to ramble about his drunk-driving accident which killed his 12 year old baseball-playing son, and Sayid is nice enough to listen to the whole story before he attacks him from behind and drowns him in the dirty pool. Lenin runs up, panicking, and shouts at Sayid "You idiot, Dogen was the only one keeping 'him' out." Sayid promptly slits his throat and says "I know."
Whoa.
Couple thoughts and questions about this. Why was Dogen's life keeping the FlockeMonster out of the temple? Because he was the leader? Because of some sort of Jacob-rules-truce? And is Sayid acting out of free will here, doing what Flocke told him so that he may see Nadia again some day? Or is his concept of free will gone and he is now basically an obedient robot killing-machine? It seems like the later, but I'd hate to see Sayid reduced to that. This episode really made me hate the Monster/Flocke for the first time, which I guess is a good thing since he's the main antagonist.
Moments after Sayid slaughters the two Temple leaders, the Black Smoke Monster invades the Temple and mercilessly kills all Others in his path. The only ones who survive are Kate (of course) and Miles and the Others who heeded Sayid's warning and joined the dark side.
It was cool to see Ilana bust into the scene with Ben and Sun and increasingly-annoying Frank. That chick knows what's going on and saved Miles life in a big way.
Best part of the episode: Ben running back to the pool room where Sayid is sitting, saying there is still time to escape. A sinister Sayid replies "Not for me" and smiles a creeeeepy smile, which causes Ben to pee himself and walk out of the room. I love Michael Emerson.
After Smokie has crushed everyone in his path, he turns back into Locke and struts confidently out of the Temple, flanked by his recruits of evil, Sayid and Claire. Kate is joining the crew too for some stupid reason. Why desn't Flocke just kill her?
Meanwhile Ilana led Frank, Sun, Ben and Miles through the secret exit and is now headed (I presume) to meet up with Jack and Hurley at the lighthouse. Sawyer and Jin are not seen in this episode, but likely hanging out in the jungle waiting for Flocke to return. Thus delaying the Kwon reunion AGAIN. But we will see another stupid Kate-Sawyer reunion, for the 50th time.
I have no idea where the show's going to go from here. The temple is pretty much decimated. The Others are all crushed or have joined Flocke. Ilana seems to be the only hope for Team Jacob, and we don't know anything about her.
What's Flocke's next move? He keeps talking about getting off the island, but Richard and Dogen told us that he wants to "kill everything and everyone on the island." No question anymore that he's evil. Now my question is whether he is suppose to resemble Satan, or whether he actually is Satan.
Who is Jacob bringing to the island? Desmond? Aaron? Widmore? What's Richard doing now?
My prediction is that Mr. Eyeliner's days are numbered. The Rules say that Flocke can't kill him, but now that he has a small army - two of which are crazed killers - I'm guessing Flocke orders Richard's execution just as soon as he can find him.
Who's going to assume leadership of the good-guys crew? Ilana or Jack? That's going to be a power struggle for sure. Jack doesn't like the idea of following orders, even if he has NO idea what's going on and is talking to the lady who somehow knows EVERYTHING.
Next week's episode is called 'Dr. Linus,' so if it's not a Ben-centric episode I don't know anything anymore.
Random Stuff
Not a lot of cool secrets in this episode. Pretty plot-driven for once.
The "Catch a Falling Star" song made another appearance, the third time in LOST. Except now it's been sung by psycho Claire.
Sayid tried to kill Flocke with the knife-to-the-chest method, the same way that Ben killed Jacob. It should have worked, because Ben was baptized in the pool of Jacob, just like Sayid was baptized in the pool of the Nemesis. (Thus the 'loophole.') Why didn't it work? Because Flocke spoke to Sayid first? No, because Jacob talked to Ben first. I really don't know. This is possibly a hole in the plot that won't really be explained.
There's a ton of juxtaposition between Sayid's two storylines. Being asked to kill people. Refusing. Doing it anyway. His inner battle between good and evil. Good story-telling technique.
That's pretty much all I got. Not a bad episode, but still not the Season Six epic we've been expecting.
PS - even though I am posting this at 3:55 pm - the timestamp says 10:50 AM. nice.
But alas, it was Mr. Jarrah who was featured in both the flash-sideways story and primarily on the island. In fact, Sun and Jin we're only seen for about 5 seconds each.
I'll break this recap into 3 parts: the Sideways, the Island, and Extra Random Info.
Flash Sideways: Sayid
It starts the way we thought Sayid's no-crash story would be. He's got flowers. He's at someone's house. It's Nadia. It's true love at last! .... No, wait ... Nadia is married to Sayid's brother. Ughh come on!
Remember, that's Sayid's same brother from the S5 episode "He's Our You." The brother who was too big of a weenie to kill a chicken, and now he's married to the love of Sayid's life. And poor Sayid seems to be genuinely still in love with her. He's even carrying her picture around with him, which seems to make his brother uncomfortable, but makes Nadia swoon.
The basic premise of Sayid's flash sideways is this: his brother owes money to a bad guy (who we find out is S4 villian Martin Keamy) and Sayid doesn't want to get involved, but has no choice when the bad guys hospitalize Sayid's weenie of a brother. So Sayid goes to see the bad guys, shoots and kills them all in cold blood, and then finds Jin in a freezer.
Jin says in Korean: "Don't Kill me. Please let me live." Sayid says "Who are you?" and Jin says "No English." The only real question from Sayid's utterly worthless flash-sideways is: why is Jin in Keamy's freezer? And even that isn't a big exciting mystery. Sayid's flash-sideways was 100% useless, as was Jack's, and Locke's, and Kate's. Next week looks like Ben's episode, and if it's a worthless Flash Sideways explaining how he became a high school teacher in LA, I wont be thrilled. And then of course we'll have the token appearance with 15 minutes left in the episode. Who will it be? ... maybe Widmore. Or Eyepatch. Or whoever. Unless it's pertanent to the actual Island timeline, I won't be worried about it.
On the Island
There was some real kick-ass stuff going on - finally! - on the island. It began with a long and pretty awesome fight between Sayid and Dogen, which was sparked by Dogen admitting that it would be better if Sayid were dead. I would take offense to that statement too. Dogen somehow wins the fight against Mr. Invincible, but instead of killing him he stares at a baseball and gets distracted. Weird.
Sayid is banished, but before he can leave Flocke sends Claire into the temple with a message for Dogen: "He" wants to see you. Dogen is nobody's fool, so he unbanishes Sayid and employs him to kill Flocke with a dagger. I swear, Dogen is the stupidest guy in the world ... how did he become the leader of the Temple folks with ideas like that? I could have told him that didn't have a chance of working.
Sayid is eager to prove that he is a good person (the battle that's been raging inside of him since he was a boy) so he takes on the task. Meanwhile, Claire is SUPER creepy and is placed in a pit, probably to keep her inept acting skills from being seen by too many people. Kate, who adamantly was NOT headed back to the temple last week, heads back to the temple. She runs into dumb luck by finding Claire there, but like a moron, she can't pick up on the clues that Claire is clearly off her rocker, so Kate basically says "Please kill me, I'm an idiot." It's like the writers know at this point 99% of LOST watchers hate Kate, and want to see her die, so they keep giving us these close calls to get our hopes up. Sadly, it's not going to happen. She'll be with Jack when the series finale comes along, of this much I'm sure.
Sayid finds Flocke, but stabs him in the chest a second too late. Dogen tells Sayid he must stab him before Flocke (who Dogen describes as 'evil incarnate') can open his mouth. Mission not accomplished. Flocke calmly removes the dagger from his chest, and seems almost amused. He then goes on to manipulate Sayid pantsless with Satan-like temptations and questions.
Here's a thought: you know how Dogen talked about the 'darkness' inside of Sayid, and how it couldn't reach his heart or he would be 'claimed' forever? Maybe the darkness (aka Flocke-ness) reached his heart when Flocke spoke to him? Kind of a wobbly theory, but it's better than no connection at all. I'd rather close off two minor questions with this connection than leave little dumb questions looming. The facts are, like it or not, now Sayid is now straight-up evil, and he is Flocke's loyal minion.
(As Aaron Vanderzon said: Sayid and I are no longer friends.)
So Flocke sends Sayid back to the temple with a message: Jacob is dead, and y'all are screwed. They freak out (which I don't understand, because they already knew Jacob was dead) and scatter around while Lenin (who I always want to call Doonesbury) tries to calm them down. But then the cool part happens.
Sayid goes to see Dogen and ask him why he sent him to kill an un-killable guy. Dogen brushes off the question and nostalgically stares at his baseball. He then begins to ramble about his drunk-driving accident which killed his 12 year old baseball-playing son, and Sayid is nice enough to listen to the whole story before he attacks him from behind and drowns him in the dirty pool. Lenin runs up, panicking, and shouts at Sayid "You idiot, Dogen was the only one keeping 'him' out." Sayid promptly slits his throat and says "I know."
Whoa.
Couple thoughts and questions about this. Why was Dogen's life keeping the FlockeMonster out of the temple? Because he was the leader? Because of some sort of Jacob-rules-truce? And is Sayid acting out of free will here, doing what Flocke told him so that he may see Nadia again some day? Or is his concept of free will gone and he is now basically an obedient robot killing-machine? It seems like the later, but I'd hate to see Sayid reduced to that. This episode really made me hate the Monster/Flocke for the first time, which I guess is a good thing since he's the main antagonist.
Moments after Sayid slaughters the two Temple leaders, the Black Smoke Monster invades the Temple and mercilessly kills all Others in his path. The only ones who survive are Kate (of course) and Miles and the Others who heeded Sayid's warning and joined the dark side.
It was cool to see Ilana bust into the scene with Ben and Sun and increasingly-annoying Frank. That chick knows what's going on and saved Miles life in a big way.
Best part of the episode: Ben running back to the pool room where Sayid is sitting, saying there is still time to escape. A sinister Sayid replies "Not for me" and smiles a creeeeepy smile, which causes Ben to pee himself and walk out of the room. I love Michael Emerson.
After Smokie has crushed everyone in his path, he turns back into Locke and struts confidently out of the Temple, flanked by his recruits of evil, Sayid and Claire. Kate is joining the crew too for some stupid reason. Why desn't Flocke just kill her?
Meanwhile Ilana led Frank, Sun, Ben and Miles through the secret exit and is now headed (I presume) to meet up with Jack and Hurley at the lighthouse. Sawyer and Jin are not seen in this episode, but likely hanging out in the jungle waiting for Flocke to return. Thus delaying the Kwon reunion AGAIN. But we will see another stupid Kate-Sawyer reunion, for the 50th time.
I have no idea where the show's going to go from here. The temple is pretty much decimated. The Others are all crushed or have joined Flocke. Ilana seems to be the only hope for Team Jacob, and we don't know anything about her.
What's Flocke's next move? He keeps talking about getting off the island, but Richard and Dogen told us that he wants to "kill everything and everyone on the island." No question anymore that he's evil. Now my question is whether he is suppose to resemble Satan, or whether he actually is Satan.
Who is Jacob bringing to the island? Desmond? Aaron? Widmore? What's Richard doing now?
My prediction is that Mr. Eyeliner's days are numbered. The Rules say that Flocke can't kill him, but now that he has a small army - two of which are crazed killers - I'm guessing Flocke orders Richard's execution just as soon as he can find him.
Who's going to assume leadership of the good-guys crew? Ilana or Jack? That's going to be a power struggle for sure. Jack doesn't like the idea of following orders, even if he has NO idea what's going on and is talking to the lady who somehow knows EVERYTHING.
Next week's episode is called 'Dr. Linus,' so if it's not a Ben-centric episode I don't know anything anymore.
Random Stuff
Not a lot of cool secrets in this episode. Pretty plot-driven for once.
The "Catch a Falling Star" song made another appearance, the third time in LOST. Except now it's been sung by psycho Claire.
Sayid tried to kill Flocke with the knife-to-the-chest method, the same way that Ben killed Jacob. It should have worked, because Ben was baptized in the pool of Jacob, just like Sayid was baptized in the pool of the Nemesis. (Thus the 'loophole.') Why didn't it work? Because Flocke spoke to Sayid first? No, because Jacob talked to Ben first. I really don't know. This is possibly a hole in the plot that won't really be explained.
There's a ton of juxtaposition between Sayid's two storylines. Being asked to kill people. Refusing. Doing it anyway. His inner battle between good and evil. Good story-telling technique.
That's pretty much all I got. Not a bad episode, but still not the Season Six epic we've been expecting.
PS - even though I am posting this at 3:55 pm - the timestamp says 10:50 AM. nice.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
timestamp thing is wrong
just to prove that the timestamp thing is wrong on this blog, i am posting this at 2:30 pm and its going to say its like 10am.
Monday, March 1, 2010
too early for the NFL Draft??
April 22nd isn't that far away is it?
The Lions are picking #2 overall, and then have key selections at 34, 66, and 97.
Just like last year, when I rightly argued that the Lions should have taken either Curry or Smith instead of Stafford, I will pour hours of thought into the #2 overall pick and decide what I think of Suh, Okung, McCoy, and anybody else who warrants mentioning. A few months ago I was sold on Suh, but I don't want the Lions to pick him just because Mel Kiper tells them to. That's what happened last year when we shot ourselves in the foot and threw away $70 million dollars on a kid who's never going to play in a single Pro Bowl or Super Bowl. Last year I said, "Let's take Jason Smith, and then next year when we're drafting in the top 5 again, we'll take either Bradford or Claussen." It was too damn easy, and of course the Lions execs had to mess it up.
If Stafford had stayed in college and was going pro on April 22 (like he should have), he'd be a mid to late first round pick. He would probably end up being a back-up somewhere like Cincinnati or Houston. He wouldn't be picked ahead of Bradford or Clausen. That's a fact. He doesn't have the release, the accuracy, the footwork, or the track record of those guys. He has the arm strength, but that's about it.
He also doesn't have the intangibles. Leadership. Moxie. Poise. Etc.
But whatever. Let's forget about the Staff-infection and move on to 2010.
Who should the Lions take at #2 is a question which is of course contingent on who the Rams take at #1. Unlike last year, we don't have control of our own destiny.
For the Rams, there are three choices:
1. - Take the best player available, Ndamukong Suh.
2. - Take the QB of the future, Sam Bradford.
3. - Trade with a team who wants a QB of the future.
Option #3 sounds unrealistic, but there is one possible suitor with the money and the balls to go after Bradford at #1. And that's the Washington Redskins, who are slotted to pick #4. If they're smart, they'll wait paitently and hope St. Louis takes Suh. The Lions, at #2 ,and the Bucs, at #3, aren't picking quarterbacks. The Skins might get their guy at #4. And if the Rams do take Bradford, the Skins could have Clausen for $10 million less, and then they're not mortgaging their futures on an injury risk.
But Dan Snyder isn't always smart (see: Adam Archuleta, Brandon Lloyd, Antwaan Randel El, Andre Carter, Albert Haynesworth, etc.) but he does love to spend money. So there is a concievable chance that he pulls a trade with St. Louis, and sends the draft into a tizzy. Well, maybe not a tizzy. All he would do is draft Sam Bradford, which honestly, might be extremely smart. I'd rather have him than Stafford in less than a second, and that's with the injured knee and all. He's a real pro. He's got "it." The same "it" they said Matt Ryan had when he was at Boston College. You can just tell which QBs are meant to be NFL QBs. Maybe NFL GMs can't tell, but I can tell. Bradford is one. Clausen, maybe not. Stafford, no.
Right now, the Rams are doing the smart thing, which is weighing their options and hoping for a trade. Suh is great, but nobody wants to pay anybody #1 overall pick money no matter how great any player is, and giving that kind of money to a defensive lineman is especially tough to swallow. They're hoping for a trade with Washington, and if they don't get it, I'd say they are 60% Suh, 40% Bradford. They know they aren't winning more than 4 or 5 games with Marc Bulger at QB.
So based on the Rams' options, the Lions have a few choices when they are on the clock at #2.
If the Rams or Redskins take Bradford, the Lions can:
1. Draft Suh
2. Draft someone else
3. Desperatey try to trade, unsuccessfully
If the Rams take Suh, the Lions can:
1. Draft Gerald McCoy
2. Draft someone else
3. Desperatey try to trade, unsuccessfully
So basically, our options boil down to this: take a defensive tackle (which we need) or take someone else. And in the interests of building a successful team and saving some cash, the "someone else" would be either an offensive lineman or a pass rusher. A left tackle, or a defensive end.
The top left tackles are Anthony Davis from Rutgers and Russell Okung from Oklahoma State. (Pettigrew's alma mater). Davis is heavier, shorter, and stronger; Okung is taller, faster, and lighter. For the zone-blocking scheme that the Lions think they are running, Okung is the better fit. If the Lions do take a left tackle, it presents the same issues that were presented last year by the prospect of taking Jason Smith. What to do with Jeff Backus? Move him to guard? Move him to left tackle and bench Gosder? Move Gosder inside? It's a tough call, and ultimately unimportant as I highly doubt the Lions will take a left tackle, mostly because there isn't a Jake Long in this draft who is clearly head-and-shoulders better than the rest of the pack. We might be able to take a startable O-lineman with the 34th pick, which we might if we take defense #2.
The top pass rushers in the draft include Jason Pierre-Paul from South Florida, Derrick Morgan from Georgia Tech, and Carlos Dunlap from Florida, who was ranked a lot higher before he was arrested with a DUI. I'm not crazy about any of these guys; Pierre-Paul is too much of a mouthful, and I do like Morgan a lot, but would feel better drafting him in the 7-10 range as opposed to #2 overall.
So to make a long story short, we're pretty much between Suh and McCoy. If Suh goes #1, we take McCoy; if not, we take Suh. I don't really want to give a defensive tackle $35 million in guaranteed money, but there isn't really a clear third option for the Lions, except for an unlikely trade with someone who does want Suh badly enough to break the bank.
Blah. Looks like another dreary NFL draft for Detroit. In other news, it's almost baseball season!
The Lions are picking #2 overall, and then have key selections at 34, 66, and 97.
Just like last year, when I rightly argued that the Lions should have taken either Curry or Smith instead of Stafford, I will pour hours of thought into the #2 overall pick and decide what I think of Suh, Okung, McCoy, and anybody else who warrants mentioning. A few months ago I was sold on Suh, but I don't want the Lions to pick him just because Mel Kiper tells them to. That's what happened last year when we shot ourselves in the foot and threw away $70 million dollars on a kid who's never going to play in a single Pro Bowl or Super Bowl. Last year I said, "Let's take Jason Smith, and then next year when we're drafting in the top 5 again, we'll take either Bradford or Claussen." It was too damn easy, and of course the Lions execs had to mess it up.
If Stafford had stayed in college and was going pro on April 22 (like he should have), he'd be a mid to late first round pick. He would probably end up being a back-up somewhere like Cincinnati or Houston. He wouldn't be picked ahead of Bradford or Clausen. That's a fact. He doesn't have the release, the accuracy, the footwork, or the track record of those guys. He has the arm strength, but that's about it.
He also doesn't have the intangibles. Leadership. Moxie. Poise. Etc.
But whatever. Let's forget about the Staff-infection and move on to 2010.
Who should the Lions take at #2 is a question which is of course contingent on who the Rams take at #1. Unlike last year, we don't have control of our own destiny.
For the Rams, there are three choices:
1. - Take the best player available, Ndamukong Suh.
2. - Take the QB of the future, Sam Bradford.
3. - Trade with a team who wants a QB of the future.
Option #3 sounds unrealistic, but there is one possible suitor with the money and the balls to go after Bradford at #1. And that's the Washington Redskins, who are slotted to pick #4. If they're smart, they'll wait paitently and hope St. Louis takes Suh. The Lions, at #2 ,and the Bucs, at #3, aren't picking quarterbacks. The Skins might get their guy at #4. And if the Rams do take Bradford, the Skins could have Clausen for $10 million less, and then they're not mortgaging their futures on an injury risk.
But Dan Snyder isn't always smart (see: Adam Archuleta, Brandon Lloyd, Antwaan Randel El, Andre Carter, Albert Haynesworth, etc.) but he does love to spend money. So there is a concievable chance that he pulls a trade with St. Louis, and sends the draft into a tizzy. Well, maybe not a tizzy. All he would do is draft Sam Bradford, which honestly, might be extremely smart. I'd rather have him than Stafford in less than a second, and that's with the injured knee and all. He's a real pro. He's got "it." The same "it" they said Matt Ryan had when he was at Boston College. You can just tell which QBs are meant to be NFL QBs. Maybe NFL GMs can't tell, but I can tell. Bradford is one. Clausen, maybe not. Stafford, no.
Right now, the Rams are doing the smart thing, which is weighing their options and hoping for a trade. Suh is great, but nobody wants to pay anybody #1 overall pick money no matter how great any player is, and giving that kind of money to a defensive lineman is especially tough to swallow. They're hoping for a trade with Washington, and if they don't get it, I'd say they are 60% Suh, 40% Bradford. They know they aren't winning more than 4 or 5 games with Marc Bulger at QB.
So based on the Rams' options, the Lions have a few choices when they are on the clock at #2.
If the Rams or Redskins take Bradford, the Lions can:
1. Draft Suh
2. Draft someone else
3. Desperatey try to trade, unsuccessfully
If the Rams take Suh, the Lions can:
1. Draft Gerald McCoy
2. Draft someone else
3. Desperatey try to trade, unsuccessfully
So basically, our options boil down to this: take a defensive tackle (which we need) or take someone else. And in the interests of building a successful team and saving some cash, the "someone else" would be either an offensive lineman or a pass rusher. A left tackle, or a defensive end.
The top left tackles are Anthony Davis from Rutgers and Russell Okung from Oklahoma State. (Pettigrew's alma mater). Davis is heavier, shorter, and stronger; Okung is taller, faster, and lighter. For the zone-blocking scheme that the Lions think they are running, Okung is the better fit. If the Lions do take a left tackle, it presents the same issues that were presented last year by the prospect of taking Jason Smith. What to do with Jeff Backus? Move him to guard? Move him to left tackle and bench Gosder? Move Gosder inside? It's a tough call, and ultimately unimportant as I highly doubt the Lions will take a left tackle, mostly because there isn't a Jake Long in this draft who is clearly head-and-shoulders better than the rest of the pack. We might be able to take a startable O-lineman with the 34th pick, which we might if we take defense #2.
The top pass rushers in the draft include Jason Pierre-Paul from South Florida, Derrick Morgan from Georgia Tech, and Carlos Dunlap from Florida, who was ranked a lot higher before he was arrested with a DUI. I'm not crazy about any of these guys; Pierre-Paul is too much of a mouthful, and I do like Morgan a lot, but would feel better drafting him in the 7-10 range as opposed to #2 overall.
So to make a long story short, we're pretty much between Suh and McCoy. If Suh goes #1, we take McCoy; if not, we take Suh. I don't really want to give a defensive tackle $35 million in guaranteed money, but there isn't really a clear third option for the Lions, except for an unlikely trade with someone who does want Suh badly enough to break the bank.
Blah. Looks like another dreary NFL draft for Detroit. In other news, it's almost baseball season!