Well, the regular season is done in my fantasy football league, and the playoffs start this weekend, so it seems like a good time to take a look at how the season went.

As it turns out, I did a bad job of dividing up the league. I decided on two divisions - the MSDN Division and the Raymond Chen Division (you can figure out the reason for picking those two on your own), and the MSDN division ended up with 5 teams with a record of 9-4 or better. Chen's best team was 9-4, and only had one other team above .500.

The way the playoffs are set up with Foxsports' fantasy football is a little odd to me. There are six teams in the playoffs, but it's not divided up as three from each division. It's the division winners, and then the next best 4 teams. So the MSDN division has five teams in the playoffs, and the Chen division only has one. Each division winner gets a bye, which makes sense.

Anyway, here's the teams that made the playoffs, and who they are in real life (if I know them).

1. Prod's Squad (10-3 /?Power Ranking: 1): One of my best friends. He ran all over the league with the help of Shaun Alexander, Mike Vick, and Larry Johnson. He also gets the award for most points scored in one week - he scored 170 points, where as the most from week to week was usually around 110-120.
2. Belding Horsepower (9-4 / PR: T2): Prod's brother. Also a good friend of mine. He should have been 10-3, but he forgot to set a lineup in week one, and scored 0. He's also the sole team from the Chen Division. He's got Peyton Manning, but will be hurting because his top back is Westbrook.
3. Bengals (9-4 / PR: 6): I have no idea who this is (I don't think). He (or she) was in the league last year too, I believe, and did good last year too. As I said in the past, wide receivers were going to be king because of the way I set up the league, and he's got quite a few good ones.
4. 42k Gold (9-4 / PR: T2): This is another team that I'm not sure who is, but I think was in the league last year. Riding Carson Palmer and Edgerin James, this team looks good going into the playoffs.
5. RossCode Razors (9-4 / PR: 4): This is me. I was 4-4 and went on a five game winning streak to make the playoffs, aided by one of the only trades in the league. I started with Culpepper and Brian Griese as quarterback (both on IR now), so I traded away Curtis Martin for Eli Manning. At the time, it looked like a pretty even deal. Now, it's a lopsided deal in my favor. By the way, I've been?in the playoffs six of the last seven years - and the one year I wasn't was because I wasn't in any leagues.
6. The Knuckleheads (9-4 / PR: 5): Our QA guy at NuSoft. He got lucky and ended up with both LaDanian Tomlinson and Drew Brees. It's tough not to make the playoffs with those two!

So this week, it's the Bengals against The Knuckleheads and 42k Gold against the RossCode Razors. Prod's Squad and Belding get a bye. Fox Sports system is nice because it gives you breakdowns of what would have happened if you played each team every week, so in the first matchup, The Knuckeheads would be 9-4 had the played the Bengals every week. As long as L.T. plays this weekend, they should get the win.

In the other game, it sure looks like I'll be packing up my team and going home, only to wait for next season. I'd be 3-9-1 if I played 42k Gold every week. That's not a singing endorsement of how my team will perform this week. Granted, I've only had Manning for a few weeks, and before that, I basically didn't get any points out of my quarterback.

It's too bad that the most exciting part of the football season coincides with the end. The 20 weeks of football season just isn't long enough!

?Apparently, I wasn't the only one who did good last week. Given that 12 of 16 favorites covered last week, the oddsmakers took it in the shorts last week. That's too bad! Speaking of Vegas, I've always wondered why they don't have a pro sports team, and listening to ESPN radio this morning, I actually heard what I think the reason is - no major sport wants a team where the focus would be on the odds. Any team in Vegas would have that focus.

Anyway, that's not what I'm here for. Let's look at this week's games.

• Chicago vs. Pittsburgh (-6) (30.5 O/U): Ok. Pittsburgh has a three game losing streak, and apparently Roethlisberger's thumb is about to fall off. Chicago has an eight game winning streak. Yet, Pittsburgh is the favorite - and not just the favorite, but by 6 points!
• Cleveland vs. Cincinnati (-12) (43 O/U): 9 of 16 games have a spread of more than a touchdown. If this holds, this weekend should see a plethora of blowouts! This one should be.
• Houston vs. Tennessee (-6.5) (44.5 O/U): Houston can't win. Why? They want Reggie Bush!
• Indianapolis (-8) vs. Jacksonville* (42 O/U): This is just about the only decent game this weekend. There's other good games, but this is the only one that has the combo of scoring and good teams.
• New England (-3.5) vs. Buffalo (37 O/U): New England won't miss the playoffs this year, but playing the other AFC East teams shouldn't count! They basically get in by default.
• Oakland (-2.5) vs. New York Jets (37 O/U): The Jets really need to start blowing some games, don't you think? Would Lienert or Young look good in a Jets uniform? I'm not confident that Pennington will be back, and even if he is, will he stay back?
• St. Louis* vs. Minnesota (-6.5) (45 O/U): I'm officially on the Vikings bandwagon, although I'm pretty sure Vikings used ships.
• Tampa Bay vs. Carolina (-5.5) (37 O/U): The other solid match up of the week - except there won't be much scoring here.
• New York Giants (-9) vs. Philadelphia* (37 O/U): Philly should have just stayed the course and lost the NFC title game last year. Now, in order to fill their role, I think the NFL offices require that the Super Bowl winner misses the playoffs in the next season. One more note: I think the Eagles should "listen" to Owens and give him a reprieve on his deactivation. McNabb is gone, and now Westbrook is done for the year too. I think it's time to activate Terrell and make him play! Oh the irony!
• San Francisco vs. Seattle (-15.5) (43 O/U): After the 42-0 drubbing the Seahawks gave to the Eagles, does anyone doubt they won't do the same thing against the 49ers?
• Washington (-3.5) vs. Arizona (40 O/U): I have troubles having any kind of excitement about this game. I'm sure it matters to someone. Just no one I know.
• Baltimore vs. Denver (-14) (40 O/U): Denver should slaughter the Ravens.
• Kansas City vs. Dallas (-3) (43.5 O/U): K.C. isn't a favorite? Really? [NOTE: everytime I say this, the favorite comes out on top. I'm sure this week'll be no different.]
• Miami vs. San Diego (-13.5) (44.5 O/U): Tomlinson is hurting. Do you even bother playing him? And if you go up early, why bother keeping him in?
• Detroit vs. Green Bay (-5.5) (36 O/U): The Frozen Tundra! That's about the only draw for this one.
• New Orleans vs. Atlanta (-10.5) (43.5 O/U): Just one more MNF premiere match up, right? I can't wait for the ability to change this game!

Check back early next week for results.

I wrote a brief blurb about the Lions' unceremonious dismissal of Steve Mariucci a while back, but I have more to say, so I'm going to do just that. I'm a little unorganized in my thoughts on this - there's so many angles to the whole story. Regardless, I still think Mariucci didn't deserve to be fired. Since I'm not organized on my thoughts, I'll just throw things out and see what sticks.

Matt Millen is 20-55 since joining the Lions. Mariucci is responsible for the last 15 of those wins, and he did it?in less time than it took the first 5 wins to happen.

Millen was against drafting Joey Harrington, but only did it after the insistence of the Ford family.

Mariucci's hands were tied last season in respect to playing Harrington - the Fords insisted on it.

Word is that Mariucci isn't a great coach when it comes to developing young players. When he took over in San Francisco, he had Young and Rice as leaders. After some of the vets left the 49ers, that was when things started to slip a bit. Maybe. Maybe it was the addition of T.O. that caused the strife in S.F. I hear he's not a great team player.

Speaking of T.O., I saw an article comparing Dre Bly and Owens. But there's a difference: Bly is right!

Jeff Garcia's only been around for a year, and he already can tell who the problem is.

Dick Jauron took over as coach, but can he keep it? Does he want to?

Notice Jauron's first move: naming Garcia the starter over Harrington.

Would you make Jauron the head coach? Does it matter if they win or lose at this point?

Why fire Mariucci now? What purpose does it serve? They aren't good enough to make the playoffs, so why not let Mariucci ride it out? Isn't this just one more example of Millen's incompitence?

Should I expect to get a cease and decist from the Lions over my bad mouthing of Millen? You know, the online way of throwing someone out of the stadium for voicing their displeasure with the front office?

If you throw a fan out for holding a sign that says Fire Millen, what should you do with Garcia, who works for you and called into question whether you should have a job or not?

Now that Mariucci is out and his reputation is tarnished, would it be beyond the realm of possibilities for him to join his good buddy Tom Izzo and go to work at Michigan State? A lot of MSU fans weren't at all happy with the way John L. Smith finished up the season with some of his playcalling. Competing with U of M is key for MSU, and having a big name NFL coach would definitely help recruiting. And before you say that?suggesting this is way out there, I agree. But, so was Mariucci coming to Detroit three years ago.

Ok. That's all for now.

Another solid week. I predict positive overall numbers by the end of the year!

• Atlanta 6, Carolina 24 (-3) (43 O/U) [P: $6.54, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.90, T: $26.44]: Suddenly, Atlanta, who I thought was going to be a Super Bowl contender, is in a serious race for a wild card slot - one that will be tough - they still have Tampa Bay, Carolina (again) and Chicago left. Carolina, though, is the front runner to win their division, and could even get the coveted first round bye.
• Buffalo 23, Miami 24 (-4) (35 O/U) [P: ($10.00), S: $10.00, O/U: $9.09, T: $9.09]: Buffalo, Buffalo, Buffalo. How can you blow such a huge lead? Well, poor play. And relaxing when you see a new a young, inexperienced quarterback. Ask Houston how that worked last week when St. Louis put in an inexperience quarterback.
• Cincinnati 38, Pittsburgh 31 (-3.5) (42 O/U) [P: ($10.00), S: ($10.00), O/U: $8.93, T: ($11.07)]: Pittsburgh has a three game losing streak. Who would have guessed that? Not to mention losing at home to the Bengals! At this point, they aren't even a playoff team. And poeple thought the Indy train might have to roll through Pittsburgh in January to get to Detroit. I guess not! And Cincy has thier first winning season in a long time.
• Dallas 10, New York Giants 17 (-3) (42 O/U) [P: $6.45, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $6.45]
• Green Bay 7, Chicago 19 (-7) (30.5 O/U) [P: $3.33, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $3.33]: Chicago is quietly putting together one of the best defenses ever. While I don't mean to discount their play, but remember that this season, 6 of their games are against NFC North teams. And if you look at the teams they've played, well, for the most part, it hasn't been that tough of a schedule. Basically, the tough teams they've played are Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Cincinnati. The rest have been sub par teams. The next two weeks will be key for them: Pittsburgh and Atlanta. Beat those teams and then talk to me!
• Houston* 15, Baltimore 16 (-9) (38 O/U) [P: $3.01, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.71, T: $22.72]: Houston has the inside track on that number one pick in the draft this spring. But, they play three very poor teams down the stretch. Think about it. With a good showing, they could end up 4-12!
• Jacksonville 20 (-3), Cleveland 14 (33.5 O/U) [P: $7.04, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.17, T: $26.22]: No surprises here, really. Bad news for Cleveland - Edwards is out for the year.
• Minnesota 21 (-2.5), Detroit 16 (37.5 O/U) [P: $7.75, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $7.75]: Detroit was oh so close, yet so very far! What's going on in the Detroit front office when they are kicking out fans for voicing their displeasure about Millen having a job? What happens in two weeks (their next home game)? Will they kick out all 70,000 fans for chanting "Fire Millen"? Oh - Brad Johnson is the QB of the future!
• Tampa Bay 10 (-3.5), New Orleans 3 (38.5 O/U) [P: $5.88, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $5.88]: Wow - 13 points. I bet this was a treat to watch.
• Tennessee 3, Indianapolis 35 (-15) (50 O/U) [P: $0.71, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $0.71]: The Colts continue to roll. The next three weeks will be tough though - Jacksonville on the road, San Diego, and Seattle.
• Arizona 17 (-3), San Francisco 10 (44.5 O/U) [P: ($10.00), S: ($10.00), O/U: $9.43, T: ($10.57)]: I thought the NFC North was supposed to be the worst division, but the NFC West has one less win. And the AFC East has 3 less.
• Washington 24 (-3), St. Louis 9 (45.5 O/U) [P: $6.76, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.71, T: $26.47]: Two teams who have underperformed in my mind. Washington needs a quarterback. St. Louis, well, they're getting old.
• Denver 27, Kansas City 31 (0) (45.5 O/U) [P: ($10.00), S: ($10.00), O/U: $9.52, T: ($10.48)]: What a battle. Denver's still my pick for the division, but K.C. played them tough.
• New York Jets 3, New England 16 (-10) (41.5 O/U) [P: $2.00, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $2.00]: The weakest division in the league. They only have 18 wins among them, and considering all the intradivision play, that's pretty bad. The Jets are pining for that number one pick too. But if they got it, who would they take? Lienert or Bush?
• Oakland 10, San Diego 34 (-11.5) (50 O/U) [P: $1.50, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.80, T: $21.31]: San Diego sure looks good at times. I wouldn't want to play them in the playoffs.
• Seattle 42 (-4), Philadelphia 0 (42.5 O/U) [P: $5.56, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $5.56]: If you're a Philly fan: Ouch. 3 defensive TDs for Seattle. That's tough to come back from.

Results Summary

• Picks (this week): 12 - 4 (75.00%) - Winnings: $16.54: Not much winnings, despite picking 3 out of every 4 games correctly. Money lines make it?tough to make any money!
• Picks (season): 122 - 70 (63.54%) - Winnings: ($72.35): Working my way back to 0. Slowly, but surely.
• Spread (this week): 13 - 3 (81.25%) - Winnings: $100.00: A huge week here...
• Spread (season): 95 - 92 (50.80%) - Winnings: $30.00: ...because it put me positive overall!
• Over/Under (this week):?9 -?7 (56.25%) - Winnings: $15.27: Not too bad here either. Espei
• Over/Under (season): 92 - 95 (49.20%) - Winnings: ($70.81): Working my way back to a positive number here too.
• Total Weekly Winnings: $131.81: I think this is my biggest week yet!
• Total Overall Winnings: ($113.16): One more like this week, and I'd be making money!

More picks on Thursday.

RossCode Weekly #028 - Week of 11.27.2005

Intro - 0:00
Download this episode -?36:12 /?17.4 MB
Subscribe to RossCode Weekly

Previously on RCW - 1:11
Cingular to be rebranded to AT&T?(#024)
FCC 911 deadline passed and Vonage isn't compliant?(#020)

Oops - 2:28
I forgot to mention that Google Base launched!

News & Views - 3:33
TiVo enables ad seeking
TiVo saved $5,000,000 in unredeemed rebates
TiVo adds online services
TiVo adds iPod and PSP support to TiVoToGo
Networks are not happy about TiVo adding PSP and iPod support
FCC recommends cable providers provide channels a la carte?
Cable Companies get unusual ally in a la carte channels
AT&T to have 1,000 channels in 18 months
Verizon announced Cellphone TV Network
NHL announces mobile content package
UWB and WiMax meeting about UMA technology
Skype 2.0 in beta
Gmail adds virus scanning
Yahoo Mail adds RSS aggregator
Yahoo will provide content for Clear Channel Kiosks in malls
Windows Live adds free email hosting
XBox 360 launched
XBox 360 crashes and overheating reported
New Orleans launches free WiFi
Feedster to announce the "Feed of the Year"

The Cold Wars - 17:13
Firefox 1.5 released
Microsoft to offer Office XML format to standards body
Microsoft and AOL to interop on IM
AOL releases Triton
Google adds click-to-call
Microsoft launches Fremont
BitTorrent and MPAA reach agreement
Blu-Ray?may cost more than expected
China has permission for their own next gen DVD
Holographic storage blows away Blu-Ray and HD-DVD
RIM settlement ruled invalid
Patent office rejects NTP patent
Apple has a long term agreement for Flash memory

The Grapevine - 27:58
New Mac Mini will be a Media Center
Apple set to roll out Video streaming for Front Row 2.0
Fox execs open to iTunes deal
Google and CBS joining forces on video
Google going after classifieds
Microsoft readying an emergency IE patch?
Vista to be released in August?
No Vista Beta 2 this year

Bonehead of the Week - 31:48
Podcast hijackers
Online Camera retailer does the ole bait and switch
Drinking and OnStar don't mix

Contact / Feedback - 34:50
weekly @ rosscode.com
(206) 424-4RCW (4729)

Production Notes
Background music provided by Chronos (Introvert 4) and the Podsafe Music Network.
Hosting of RossCode Weekly is provided by OurMedia.org.
Would you like to sponsor RossCode Weekly? Contact me at sponsor @ rosscode.com.

Here's week 13's picks. Too much to do to dwell too much on this!

• Atlanta vs. Carolina (-3) (43 O/U): This should be a good game. The three points is basically for home field advantage. Still, I think Carolina can pull it out.
• Buffalo vs. Miami (-4) (35 O/U): How do you judge a game that is basically an audition? Neither of these teams are going anywhere this year, so this might as well be a preseason game for next year.
• Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh (-3.5) (42 O/U): There are some great match ups this week, considering how late in the season it is. Will Roethlisberger be as rusty as he was last week, or was the rust just an excuse because of how good the Indy defense played? This should be a high scoring affair, but the Steelers already beat them once?- in Cincy. Why would that change when they're in Pittsburgh?
• Dallas vs. New York Giants (-3) (42 O/U): This is the premiere match up in the NFC. Win or lose, both teams still have a chance to make the playoffs (and probably will), but more importantly, it gives the winner an inside track in the East.
• Green Bay vs. Chicago (-7) (30.5 O/U): Who knew these teams would be in just about the opposite position as they were last year at this time?
• Houston* vs. Baltimore (-9) (38 O/U): Another battle of auditioners.
• Jacksonville (-3) vs. Cleveland (33.5 O/U): As bad as losing Leftwich must be for the Jags, getting Cleveland as your first opponent is about as good as you can expect.
• Minnesota (-2.5) vs. Detroit (37.5 O/U): How will Detroit react to the firing of Mariucci this week? Will they rally behind Jauran or will they collapse, like the Lions we know and love?
• Tampa Bay (-3.5) vs. New Orleans (38.5 O/U)
• Tennessee vs. Indianapolis (-15) (50 O/U): Remember when this was a rivalry? Back when McNair had the weapons and was a weapon himself?
• Arizona (-3) vs. San Francisco (44.5 O/U): The best of the NFC West!
• Washington (-3) vs. St. Louis (45.5 O/U): This is interesting. The Redskin defense vs. the St. Louis offense. That means it'll be the Washington offense or the St. Louis defense that's the difference in this one!
• Denver vs. Kansas City (0) (45.5 O/U): This is the other great match up in the AFC. Denver has been dominant, but it's in K.C. This should be a hard fought, physical game with lots of running. I wouldn't be shocked to see three 100 yard rushers.
• New York Jets vs. New England (-10) (41.5 O/U): This used to be a key match up, but without Chad Pennington, and Curtis Martin looking old, it's not quite what it used to be.
• Oakland vs. San Diego (-11.5) (50 O/U): Is this a rivalry? I would guess it is, albeit a lopsided one. Of course, it was lopsided in the past too - except Oakland probably dominated the Chargers, who, until recently, were the most inept team in the league.
• Seattle (-4) vs. Philadelphia (42.5 O/U): This should have been a great MNF game. It should have pitted the perenial top NFC team with the up and comer from the West. As it is, watching the Eagles this year has been kind of like watching a train wreck.

Come back next week to see how I did!

There's nothing quite like Thanksgiving weekend for football! Falling asleep on the couch watching the Lions get slaughtered year after year. You can't beat that!

• Atlanta 27 (-3), Detroit 7 (42 O/U) [P: $6.67, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $6.67]: A lot happened here. Detroit couldn't do anything. Someone should have told them to eat the turkey AFTER the game. I was traveling during this game, which was probably just as well. Everyone I talked to who watched the game said it wasn't even worth it. Then what does Detroit go and do after a poor on-field performance? They fire their coach. Yeah, the fact that they've lost more games than any NFL team since 2001 (which, by the way, is three years before Mariuchi took over) is completely the coach's fault. Matt Millen (who got a five year extension thsi year) had nothing to do with it. Oh, and it's all Mariuchi's fault that Harrington at times can't hit the side of a barn with a pass. Can you tell that I don't think he should have been fired? If the Ford family wants to start cleaning house, start at the top and get rid of the other M & M brother.?Still, now that the deed is done, the bigger question is will Mariucci land another head coaching job? No other former Lion coach has - ever. I think Steve will be the first, though.
• Denver 24 (-2.5), Dallas 21 (41.5 O/U) [P: $7.63, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.01, T: $26.64]: At least the other Thursday game was a little more exciting. This started a string of OT games from NFC East teams, and none of them ended the way the NFC East teams would have hoped for. This is going back a way, but how bad did Clarett have to be that Shanahan didn't think Clarett could run? He can take just about any back and turn him into a 1000 yard rusher. Need evidence? If it wasn't for Bell and Anderson, Ron Dayne, who was a bust in New York, would probably be a 1000 yard rusher this year. And this week, he got his chance - and made the msot of it, getting the big run that sealed the deal in OT.
• Baltimore 29, Cincinnati 42 (-9) (37 O/U) [P: $2.08, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.62, T: $21.70]: The stats look (oddly) similar between these two teams. Both teams had 3 passing TDs and a 100 yard rusher. But Cincy capitalized on their opportunities. They had 22 picks and an extra rushing TD. No defensive minded teams here!
• Carolina 13 (-4), Buffalo 9 (36.5 O/U) [P: $5.56, S: $0.00, O/U: $9.52, T: $15.08]: Buffalo was very close to getting this one! One drive for Carolina turned this one around, and got them the W.
• Chicago 13, Tampa Bay 10 (-3) (33 O/U) [P: ($10.00), S: ($10.00), O/U: ($10.00), T: ($30.00)]: Despite playing in the NFC North and taking a lot of knocks for that, the Bears defense is stellar. They are playing better than the '85 Bears, which is what everyone in Chicago compares any good defense to. If they had a good offense (one not led by a rookie quarterback), they could be battling the Colts to be the last undefeated team.
• Cleveland 12, Minnesota 24 (-4) (39.5 O/U) [P: $5.10, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $5.10]: So, Culpepper's out for the season, you're stuck with your backup QB, and you get on?a winning streak. Does that mean that Culpepper won't be back next year, or that they'll be interested in trading him? I doubt it, but it's an interesting thought. Think about him going to reunite with Moss in Oakland. They both strive together, and Collins isn't exactly getting Moss the balls he needs. That would be a very good Oakland offense!
• New England 16, Kansas City 26 (-3) (51 O/U) [P: $6.85, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $6.85]: People talk about the NFC being weak, yet no one's really talking about the AFC East. New England, after losing, is 6-5. And leading the division. There are four wild card contenders with better records than that! Kansas City's one of them.
• San Diego 23 (-3), Washington 17 (43 O/U) [P: $6.29, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $6.29]: So is San Diego. And they beat another NFC East team in OT. I did see something that shocked me though - a semi-celebration from Tomlinson. Nothing over the top, but it was different to see him do that. Combine that with his slowing down on the OT touchdown, and it was a different L.T. Of course, his 180+ yards and three TDs was normal.
• San Francisco* 22, Tennessee 33 (-7) (42.5 O/U) [P: $3.08, S: ($10.00), O/U: ($10.00), T: ($16.92)]: How do people watch games like this?
• St. Louis 33 (-3.5), Houston 27 (45 O/U) [P: $5.88, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.52, T: $25.41]: I couldn't believe this one was this close! The Texans were up 24-3 at half time and blew it. Oddly, the St. Louis comeback kept them in the running for the NFC West title - not that they really have a chance, but it's still technically possible. What a great performance from a quarterback with no experience!
• Jacksonville 24 (-3.5), Arizona 17 (41 O/U) [P: $6.02, S: $10.00, O/U: $0.00, T: $16.02]: Jacksonville has a fairly easy schedule from here on out (except Indy), but will that be enough to offset the loss of Leftwich for a few weeks? Probably. They should finish the season 4-1, but anything is possible, right?
• Miami* 33, Oakland 21 (-7) (42 O/U) [P: ($10.00), S: $10.00, O/U: $9.26, T: $9.26]: Meaningless games in week 12. Both ways - neither team is a playoff team, and neither has a chance at the first pick in the draft. It must be hard to get up to play.
• Green Bay 14, Philadelphia 19 (-3.5) (42 O/U) [P: $5.10, S: $10.00, O/U: $9.52, T: $24.63]: Mike McMahon can lead the Eagles to victory without their best receiver, yet Detroit got rid of him and kept Joey Harrington. Hmm.
• New York Giants 21, Seattle 24 (-4.5) (47.5 O/U) [P: $5.24, S: ($10.00), O/U: ($10.00), T: ($14.76)]: The third and final NFC East team to lose in overtime, and they shouldn't have. Field goal kicking bites them - three misses late in the game. And people say that kickers aren't part of the team. I bet New York realizes they're part of the game, and not in a good way.
• New Orleans 21 (-2), New York Jets 19 (37 O/U) [P: ($10.00), S: $0.00, O/U: $9.26, T: ($0.74)]: Here's two teams heading in the wrong direction. At least one of them has some hope of getting their quarterback back next year. The other is?stuck with the one they have.
• Pittsburgh 7, Indianapolis 26 (-7) (47 O/U) [P: $3.08, S: $10.00, O/U: ($10.00), T: $3.08]: Indy set the tone early and never looked back. Does Indy have a weakness? I think Pittsburgh has one of the best, physical?defenses the Colts will see all season, and they dismantled them, showing they can not just play a physical game, but win a physical game. Not to mention, they are the first non-Patriot team to beat Roethlisberger, who looked just a little bit rusty coming back from injury.

Results Summary

• Picks (this week): 13 - 3 (81.25%) - Winnings: $38.58: It's getting easier to pick the winners each week, but the oddsmakers agree - which is why the money lines are making it tough to be profitable. I picked over 80% right, and only got less than a 25% return.
• Picks (season): 110 - 66 (62.50%) - Winnings: ($88.89): I'm working my way back to the black. At this rate, I'll be back in black by week 17.
• Spread (this week): 11 - 3 (78.57%) - Winnings: $80.00: Another big spread week for me. I could be positive next week!
• Spread (season): 82 - 89 (47.95%) - Winnings: ($70.00): Only down by $70.00 Not bad, considering that at this point, I would have put down more than $1,700. That's a loss, but of only 4%. That's better than tech stocks in '02.
• Over/Under (this week): 7 - 8 (46.67%) - Winnings: ($14.29): I go back and forth on this. Some weeks are good, and some are bad. Usually, bad weeks happen when I pick the games correctly, and good weeks happen when I screw up my game picks. This week, I did great picking games, and therefore, my over/under picks are bad.
• Over/Under (season): 83 - 88 (48.54%) - Winnings: ($86.08): I don't think this one will go back in the positive this year.
• Total Weekly Winnings: $104.29: Another great week. Hopefully, I can keep it up.
• Total Overall Winnings: ($244.97): If I got three more weeks like this one, then I would be positive for the season. That would be huge!

Let's keep it going. I'll make more picks on Thursday.

...the triumphant return of Digital Pontifications!

Back before I took a position at Sagestone (now NuSoft Solutions), I used to travel to Boston on a weekly basis. I stayed right downtown, and everything was within walking distance. We used to walk up to the North End for dinner on a regular basis. For those that don't know, the North End is a section of Boston that has a lot of small Italian restaurants that are all great, despite most of them basically being little "hole in the wall" type places. ?

Despite going to different restaurants every night, there was one place we had to stop to every night: Mike's Pastry. They have great pastries - apparently, they are famous for cannoli's, but I usually had the cheese cake. My wife went there with me on one of my trips, and everytime I went back after that, she'd always ask if I was bringing her anything. I did once, and the stewardess in Detroit even knew about Mike's. It truly is legendary.

And now, if you want, you can order online. It's not cheap, and frankly, the prices seem prohibitive to me - 10 cannolis for $25, but shipping is $45. Ouch. It was good, but not quite that good!

Although it might be worth it for some cheese cake...

I got a license for VMWare at Tech Ed this summer, and I even saw news of the free tool to convert VPC disks to VMWare disks, but never got around to trying out VMWare - until now. I had a need - I needed to be able to communicate with a USB device for my latest project, and Virtual PC doesn't support that yet.

So, I dug up my license for VMWare, downloaded and installed it. Then I took my base VPC image, and converted it over. Seemless. It took about 20-30 minutes and ate up my CPU to translate it, but other than that, it was painless.?I fired it up, and it worked without issue!

So, now I get to compare the two.

Let's start with what I like about Virtual PC over VMWare:

• I like the keyboard shortcuts better. I know, that's minor, but I have a global shortcut for play/pause and next/previous for Windows Media Player, and the keyboard shortcuts work when Virtual PC has the focus. They don't work in VMWare.
• Mouse positioning doesn't matter under Virtual PC. If the window has focus, you're working in the virtual machine. VMWare relies on where your mouse is - if?I move my mouse out of the window that VMWare is running in, then the focus (for things like Alt-Tab) is on the main machine, not the virtual one. I don't think I should have to worry about where my mouse is - if a window has focus, it should be teh controlling window.

Now, here's why VMWare is better than Virtual PC:

• VMWare seems to outperforms Virtual PC. When I use Virtual PC and debug in visual studio, it seems to lag when I step through the code. With VMWare, there's not really a noticeable lag.
• The keyboard shortcut to release focus of the virual machine is nice. Given that the global shortcut to pause WMP doesn't work, it's nice to be able to release focus and then Alt-Tab to it. I'm a keyboard guy so it's important to me to be able to quickly get from program to program, and VMWare allows me to do that. Virtual PC (at least that I can find) doesn't.
• VMWare supports USB devices. Virtual PC has promised support in the future, but since the future isn't now, and I need USB support, well, VMWare wins.

Those are the things I've seen so far. I know there are other differences, but they are negligible. Overall right now, I'm happier with VMWare than Virtual PC, but I'm continuing to use both for now. The fact that I can convert a Virtual PC image to?a VMWare image is also very nice!