Will Ferrell Doing Player Introductions at NBA game

Not sure if you are a Will Ferrell fan, but I am.  If you didn't hear about it yet, last night Ferrell did the New Orleans Hornets and Chicago Bulls player intros last night.  Even if you aren't a fan of Ferrell I still thought it was pretty entertaining.




I'm curious if this is going to start catching on at other NBA games.  I think we might have a couple of copycats, but I don't think this is going to catch on.  Doing it randomly and first has it's advantage because its fresh.  Plus, I don't think other people would be able to make it as funny as this.  Hope you enjoy the video.

Scalping Joe Pa Memorial Service Tickets

Not sure how many people were on Twitter this morning, but there were a lot of people talking about Joe Paterno's memorial service.  Around 16,000 tickets went on sale, and from various reports they were sold in as little as thirty seconds to seven minutes.  When I say tickets went on sale, they were actually free.

A couple hours after they were sold out, a pair of tickets went on sale on eBay with a starting bid of .99.  After a couple of minutes there were around twenty three bidders and the pair of tickets went all the way up to $400.

If you aren't a normal eBay customer or maybe even if you are, eBay has a rule in place that if tickets to a certain event are free you aren't allowed to sell them.  Well Twitter started to protest this auction and more and more people started to hear about what was going on.  It eventually got so out of hand that people were putting in absurd bids just so this person wouldn't be able to sell them or collect money.  Here's one of the screen shots after some of the bid inflation. 

Well lets just say the bidding didn't just stop at twenty five thousand dollars.  It kept going and going and going, just like the Energizer Bunny.

With the power of Twitter, people were protesting the auction.  The only thing I was thinking was what happened if someone read the wrong rule.  What if the person who was inflating this auction actually had to pay for it.  That would have been pretty funny, (not for the winner though) because it didnt just stop at fifty thousand dollars, it kept going.

In the last screen shot I got, the total price for this auction got all the way up to $90,100.  The final total I heard through Twitter was inflated to ninety eight thousand dollars.  At this point though, eBay finally caught on and ended the auction.

I really have no idea what was going through this person's head.  After looking through her eBay profile it seems like she was from California.  What is a person from California doing grabbing tickets for an event in a day or so?  She only had one intention in mind, and that was SELLING FREE TICKETS for money.  I'm kinda glad people ran up the auction.  Even though her attempt to sell them on eBay backfired, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried another website.

By the way if you are looking for tickets to the Joe Paterno Memorial I have the link to the Craigslist Ticket category for State College.  There are a good number of postings of people trying to get ride of and get tickets for the memorial.  Good luck scalping.  http://pennstate.craigslist.org/tia/

Quarter Back Comparison - Playoff Edition + Game Picks

We are only minutes away from the kick off of the NFL Conference Champion games.  I wanted to do a quick comparison between two players because it really interested me when I heard this stat today.

Which quarterback would your rather have?

Quarterback A:   4-10  34 Yards, 1 INT, 0 TD's, 5 yards rushing
Quarterback B: 10-21  316 Yards, 0 INT, 2 TD's, 50 yards rushing, 1 Rushing TD

Well some of you will be able to tell right away who one of the quarterbacks identity is, but the other one is probably a mystery.  Both quarterbacks won there first playoff game in this years post-season, with one advancing to today's game.  I know what quarterback I would take, but lets see who these quarterbacks are.

Quarterback A is Joe Flacco, quarterback B is Tim Tebow.  Now why do some people qualify Joe Flacco as an NFL quarterback, when they don't give Tebow a shot at it.  Joe Flacco is in his four year, and Tim Tebow is just a rookie.  I'm just giving you some food for thought, though the real test for Tebow will be next year.

Now onto my picks for this week.

The first game of the day is the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens.  I'm going with the Patriots on this one.  I feel like Tom Brady is on a mission this year.  The Patriots offense is just too good and I feel that the Ravens defense is way to old.  I'm feeling a blowout type game, though a playoff blowout will be about a two touchdown lead.  Patriots over the Ravens 31-17.

The other game up today is going to be a good one between the New York Giants and the San Fransisco 49ers.  If someone would have told me a couple of weeks ago that this was going to be the game I would of picked the Giants, but after watching last weeks 49ers game I am a believer in how good there defense is.  I think this is going to be a closer game then everyone thinks.  I also believe Alex Smith might make a mistake late in the game.  Even though I feel like the 49ers have a slight edge I still like how Eli Manning is playing and I'm going with him this weekend.  I'll take the Giants winning a close one over the 49ers 28-24.

Lebroning

Darren Rovell on WhoSay


Since I recently started writing on my blog again, I missed Tebow Mania. So, I figured better late then never to write a story about it. Today while reading through my Twitter feed I found this picture of Lebron James doing what is now known as "Tebowing". The person who tweeted it was @darrenrovell, who is a must follow if your a sports fan.

This picture of Lebron was last season when the Heat knocked the Celtics out of the playoffs.  What do most people think of this breaking development in the Tebow saga.  Well I'm not exactly sure because this photo hasn't circulated around enough.  I wished I lived in Denver because I would go down to Mile-High Stadium and ask Tim Tebow if he ever saw Lebron doing this.  I'm also not sure why it didn't take off when Lebron started doing it?  Is Tebow more of a polarizing figure?  All of these questions would have to be investigated, but I'll leave that up to you.

So, no matter what happens with the Broncos this season I'm positive that we haven't heard the last of Tebowing or Lebroning for that matter.  It's time to just sit back and watch Tebow go to work.  He isn't the best quarter back in the league, but he definitely is one of the more exciting players to watch.  For fans of Tebowing make sure you check out this website tebowing.com which will help you kill a couple hours of free time

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Fantasy Football Week 16 - Championship Edition

So, week 16 is finally here.  Millions of people around the country will be playing either in the coveted championship round or those dreaded consolation games.  Well no matter which of the two you are playing this week I'm here to help you out.  I'm not going to say I'm a fantasy expert, but I believe I'm near that level.  Since this is the first week I'm doing this, I'm going to give you two players at each position to start.  Also, anyone can say Mike Vick or Tom Brady is going to have a good week.  So, I'm looking at players in the position who you could go to if your in a bind or maybe he is your only option.

Quarter backs:

John Skelton:  The first quarterback I'm taking this week is John Skelton.  Skelton hasn't done that bad in the last couple of weeks in relief of Kevin Kolb (concussion).  The Cardinals quarterback looks like he will get to improve on his week 15 stats: 313 yards passing, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception.  The Bengals have a pretty decent defense, but I'm sensing that these two teams might be getting into a shootout.  For this week though feel good in starting him and look for him to pass the three hundred yard mark again.  I'm feeling around 350 yards passing, 2-3 touchdowns and one interception.

Kyle Orton:  Getting waived from Denver, to beating Green Bay last week Orton is back in the fantasy world.  Last week, even though he didn't have any touchdowns, he threw for a respectable two hundred and ninety nine passing yards.  I look for him to get over three hundred again and possibly even add a couple of touchdowns.  Let's face it, the Raiders rushing defense is pretty good.  If the Chiefs saw how the Lions carved up the Raiders defense, they will look to air it out with Orton.  Look for him to get over the 350 passing mark and scoring two touchdowns in the process.

Running backs:

Sammy Morris:  Well if there is one thing that we have learned over the season, its that Felix Jones is an explosive running back, but he also gets injured a lot.  Last week, after only being signed for three days Morris got twelve carries for fifty three yards.  Look for Morris to get even more carries this week because Felix Jones is nursing a hamstring injury.  Also the other thing that is looking good for the Cowboys running backs, is they are facing a bad rushing defense, the Eagles.  Even though they have been doing better recently on defense, they still gave up seventy three yards on the ground to Shonn Greene last week.  I see Morris getting possibly close to a hundred yards and even making it into the end zone as he gets more familiar with the playbook.

Kahlil Bell:  I am a huge Kahlil Bell fan, I mean how can't you be?  That name is just awesome.  Well back to relevant facts.  After Matt Forte went down a couple of weeks ago, you figured Marion Barber would be running away in this back field.  But, after Barber was Tebowed it looks like Bell is the better option and is getting more touches in this offense.  Last week, Bell had fifteen carries for sixty five yards and five passes for forty three yards and a touchdown.  Not only is Bell starting to get more carries then Barber, but Bell is also the primary third down back.  Go with Bell this week when they face a really bad defense in Green Bay.  Look for Bell to easily get over one hundred yards and at rack up some passing yards.

Wide Receivers:

Darrius Heyward-Bey:  DHB as they call him in Oakland looks to be back to the number one receiving threat in this offense.  He started out of the gates pretty fast with Jason Campbell and slowed recently with Carson Palmer under center, but he is starting to show the skills of a first round draft pick.  Last week against Detroit he had one hundred and fifty five yards and a touchdown.  He had some impressive catches burning a defender for a huge gain.  Look for DHB to get into the end zone again this week and rack up one hundred and twenty five yards against Kansas City.

Santonio Holmes:  I was a big fan of Santonio coming in this year.  He put up pretty solid numbers last year, despite missing four games to start the season.  So after drafting him in two of my leagues this year I was totally disappointed.  He hasn't been as big of a factor as I thought with dropping some easy touchdown passes and his QB missing some wide open throws in his direction.  Though I have a feeling he is going to step up this week against the Giants.  I'm feeling Holmes gets over seventy five yards and gets a touchdown.  He doesn't dissapoint his owners this week as he has done in the past.

Tight Ends:

Vernon Davis:  I can't believe that I am putting him in this fantasy must start list.  I personally don't like Davis at all, because he has let me down to much this year.  I had him on one team, but I haven't started him since week 5.  This tight end is also very inconsistent in real life, but also for me in madden.  To my suprise he actually showed up last week with six receptions for seventy two yards and a touchdown.  I think he will most likely be in the fifty to seventy yard range again.  I have a feeling he might walk away at the end of the game with one or two touchdowns.

Brent Celek:  I'm not sure where he has been all season, but it seems like he's starting to heat up.  After torching the Jets for five receptions and one hundred and fifty six yards Celek is in for another huge week.  Not only does Dallas not have a secondary, they will be focusing on Jackson, Maclin, McCoy, and Vick more then him.  He should be wide open all day and get close to a hundred yards.

Kickers:

Sebastian Janikowski:  I love this guy.  Not only has he been the best kicker in the league for the last couple of years.  I believe he might be one of the best kickers ever.  He has one of the biggest legs I have seen in a while.  So far this year, he has hit six field goals of fifty yards or more.  The person leading in that category is the next person up in my fantasy breakdown.    He attempted a sixty five yarder this weekend and if it didn't get blocked, it was probably going in.  He would be my number one kicker this week.  I love me some Sea Bass.

David Akers:  This is the man who is leading the NFL in fifty plus yarders made.  Also on Monday he passed Jerry Rice as the 49ers all time leading score in a season.  The stats speak for themselves.  Akers is having a great first season, coming from the east coast to the west coast.  Your starting Akers if you have him on your team.

Defense:

Washington Defense (Vs. Minnesota):  What is not to love about this team, well I mean besides Rex Grossman as there quarter back.  But lucky for us, sexy rexy doesn't play on the defensive side of the ball.  The redskins defense is filled with play makers.  The defense is the main reason why they have been in a number of games this season and why they beat the Giants last week.  I'm starting this defense and I'm feeling good about it.  Christian Ponder is a little banged up and he only threw for one hundred and twenty yards against the Saints last week.  I thought everyone could move the ball against the Saints.  Well getting back on track, the Redskins defense should have a easy time against Ponder and with an ailing Peterson.  I'll take this defense all the way.

Philadelphia Defense (Vs. Dallas):   Lets stay in the NFC-East by picking the Eagles.  Their defense was atrocious early on in the season, but they finally were able to right the ship.  This Eagles team looks completely different and is rushing the quarter back really well.  Jason Babin is a sacking machine as he looks to add on to his league leading 18 sacks.  Tony Romo is a pretty solid quarter back, but he reminds me of turnover machine Rex Grossman.  I think the Eagles are going to get around two to three turn overs and another five plus sacks.  Look for the Eagles to put the nail in the coffin early in this game.

Hope you enjoyed my fantasy preview for this week.  I will have a shorter one next week because most people don't play into week 17.  If you have any questions on who to start, just comment on this post and I will get back to you.  Good luck this weekend.  Hopefully the more fortunate will come away wins in there championship games. 

Howard Eskin Spotting

Howard Eskin, a Philadelphia sports talk show host legend, ended his reign after twenty-five years in September.  Most people including me, have been wondering what he has been doing with his free time.  Besides filling in on WIP and NBC-10, I figured he had to be up to something.  Well I was filming a concert last week and thought the conductor looked a little familiar.  I'll let you be the judge tho.






I'm not sure if it's just me, but I think strangers always look like people I know.  Even though you never see his face, I believe Howard has a twin.  Most people are thinking right now why is he writing about Howard when there are other sports topics to cover.  Well, lets start this story a couple of years back, when I was just a kid.

All the way back in 1998, when I was a whopping ten years old.  My dad took me to my first football game ever and it was the Eagles vs Cardinals.  We were in the parking lot starting to walk up to the stadium when a golf cart goes by and my dad tells me, that is Howard Eskin.  I remember hearing him vaguely on the radio, but at the time I really could care less who he was.

Fast-forward to 2010, I was interning at NBC-10 and he walks into the room.  Since I'm into sports more then I was back then, it was a shock at first.  Seeing someone on television and hearing them on the radio for so long is shocking at first when you seeing them in person.  After awhile we started talking and he was just like any other co-worker.  One night we happen to be walking out to our cars and I asked him if I could sit in on his radio show to see what it was like.  He said that he had no problem with it.  It was awesome to see how everything worked at the radio station and see what it was like on the other end.

I learned a lot from Howard over those three months in the summer.  The biggest thing that I learned from him was how to select highlights.  As an intern at NBC-10, I watched Sixers, Phillies, and Eagles games almost every night.  I then cut highlights for the producers to eventually use in the news broadcast.  One weekend when the main sports producer was out, we had a news producer, Howard and me to run the sports segment.  I was looking at highlights like I always do and logging them into the system.  This night we were going to showcase how Roy Halladay was dominating the game by having a strike out montage.  I logged all of his strikeouts and the producer put them all together.

As Howard was looking through the highlights he asked us why we put Halladays strikeout of an opposing pitcher in the strikeout montage.  I didn't even think about that.  As Howard says "I think I could strike out a major league pitcher".  That is one of the many things that I have learned from him.

Sorry for the Howard crush if it seems like that, but I will always be a fan of him and wish him well at everything he gets into.

Rooting for the Eagles ... I mean Redskins ... Errr Giants ????

Were you one of the thousands of Eagles fans this weekend rooting for the Redskins and Buccaneers to pull out upsets?  Well if you were you weren't allow.  After a season most Eagle fans want to forget, there still is a slim chance, a glimmer of hope that the Eagles will be post-season bound.  After week 15 the Eagles find themselves behind the Cowboys and Giants in the NFC East.

A couple of weeks ago the Eagles seemed dead in the water.  But now, they have a new lease on life as they hustle towards the finish line.  With the Raiders late game collapse at home, the Lions have eliminated the Eagles chances at the wild card.

I was watching that game on NFL Redzone, and one thought came to mind.  The Raiders were playing just like the Dolphins did on that 2-point conversion that Tim Tebow ran in.  EVERYONE knew exactly where Denver was going, why didn't they pick up on that.  Now back to the Raiders game.  If you had to pick one player on the Lions to save the day or to catch a huge pass who would it be?  Well, once again EVERYONE knew that player is Calvin Johnson a.k.a. MEGATRON.  So on the final drive Megatron had catches of twenty one yards, forty eight yards, and then a six yard TD pass.  Not to mention he also drew a pass interference call for seventeen yards.  How do the Raider not double team, triple team, or stick all eleven guys on him.

Back to the Eagles playoff hopes.  Now, that the Lions have knocked them out of the wild card they have only one shot of making it into the playoffs.  The Eagles need to win there last two remaining games, @Cowboys, and Redskins at home.  If they accomplish that, they would then need some luck to make it in.  They need the Jets to beat the Giants this week, and then they need the Giants to beat the Cowboys in week 17.  If all of these games go the Eagles way, then they would be the NFC East Champions with a 8-8 record.

As Eagles fans, we hate every single team in our division.  Though in week 15, most of us were rooting for the Redskins.  This will continue this week when we cheer for the team we just destroyed in the Jets to beat the Giants.  Then it will all come down to the Giants beating the Cowboys in week 17.  I don't know about you, but those Packers and 49ers fans have it easy.