This blog should be sub-titled: a journal of my life in geek.
I get my geek on with things about which I am geeky: comic books, Baseball, Ultimate, science fiction, my favorite bands, books I have read and loved, and Jungian psychology to name some of the most frequently traversed subjects.
I began this project simply as a way to count my T-shirts. I own a lot of T-shirts. But how many do I have? Do I have 365? We shall find out.
When I started this blog, I thought about how each T-shirt means something to me. I bought it for a reason, after all. I set myself the task to post an entry about a new T-shirt every day as a way to simply write something every day, a warm up for writing fiction, which is my passion. Writing is like exercise. Warm ups are good for exercise. But after completing a month of blogging about T-shirts, I have learned that this blog serves as a journal; it documents my life in geek, sort of a tour of my interests in pop culture. The blog serves as a tool for self-inventory, for assessment and analysis of self and the origins of self, for stepping through the process of individuation in catalogues, lists, and ranks.
The blog also made me aware that I have some serious gaps in my T-shirt ownership, and I am in the process of collecting some new T-shirts for several of the great popular culture icons that I truly love. Stay tuned.
I was also a bit surprised that people checked out my blog and continue to check it, read it, and even comment on it. I am very appreciative of this readership. Please feel free to share your thoughts in my comments section. I will respond.
Also, please note that I have moved the original introductory text to the side bar. And now, I present to you the most recent entry of 365 T-shirts: a journal of my life in geek. Thank you for reading.
(Second Update - 1310.24. First Update - 1306.05 Originally Posted - 1304.25.)
Today is a day off for the t-shirt blogging writer. I am tired from a huge Thanksgiving dinner at the in-laws. Thus, I am posting something easy (and showing me napping). I will be back tomorrow with the Weekly Comics List and some comic book stuff, one day late, as I usually post the Weekly Comics List on Fridays.
Strangers in Paradise (SIP) is a great comic book.
Why it was so great is explained much better here at
Terry Moore is wonderful. I always read his stuff, though I have been waiting for Rachel Rising to conclude to read in collected editions. His writing may be a bit sappy, though at times just right, but his art is always impeccable.
PS: Today is my best friend's birthday. If I planned ahead, I would have posted a shirt he gave me. But I didn't. So it's random, which is fitting.
I tried to control myself. I can go a bit nuts with the images and cover gallery stuff. So here is a controlled array.
COVER GALLERY - STRANGERS IN PARADISE
COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 112 shirts remaining
Is it wrong to be more interested in football than Thanksgiving dinner?
Okay, that's not totally true.
I love the time with family.
Family time is very special.
But damn, can the Detroit Lions get a win?
I had wanted to feature a shirt today from Cornwell's Turkeyville because of Thanksgiving and turkey and all that. But they were out of damn shirts when I was there two weeks ago to review the annual Christmas show.
Alas, I am stuck sharing another Ultimate shirt from my one appearance at the classic Poultry Days tournament. Fun tournament. Miserable night trying to camp. Never again.
The other night I had a dream that I was talking with Laurie Anderson at the Dinner Party. She is the most recent addition to the party. And Bjork was there, talking to us and sharing strange art in the dream. Not sure why or how this came to me in my dream. But it seems prophetic. I have to add Bjork to the Dinner Party.
I have written many times on the subject of women and subjects related to women. In fact, most of the people at my fantasy Dinner Party are women: Suzanne Vega, Margaret Atwood, Erykah Badu, Laurie Anderson, and Marisha Pessl. I have recently written about my adoration of Veronica Mars (T-shirt #240), who would be at The Dinner Party if she were a real person and BUFFY, of course, in T-shirt #170. Also, it seems that I kind of forgot about my "Women" category, as it only has one shirt, featuring Katie Holmes, T-shirt #93. I could go on and on. Many shirts have featured women in some way or content about or created by women, such as one of my favorites in T-shirt #161 with TED talk videos by Susan Cain and Jill Bolte Taylor. And I have not even featured the two feminist shirts I own yet. So stay tuned.
GRATITUDE
Someone (Sarah Hale? She wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and is supposedly responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday.) started a tradition of listing the things each of us is thankful for at Thanksgiving.
Obviously, I am thankful for my family, my jobs, my home, and, of course, my health. I am prostate-less and cancer free with an infinitesimal chance of recurrence. I have a wife whom I love (and who loves me, which is even more incredible), amazing step-kids, wonderful pets, great parents, an amazing sister, a kind brother-in-law, a courageous and loving cousin, and so on. I have a good home, good work, school, friends, Ultimate, comic books, and gaming. I am fortunate enough to live in a world of ideas. I am healthy and have the full use of all my senses and body parts (except the one that's missing).
But I am also thankful for you readers and this blog. When I began, I did not really imagine I could meet the goal of daily posting and certainly did not imagine that I would be writing this message on day 252 of 365 days. The blog has been a wonderful journey, and I am looking forward to where the remaining days take me, take us.
But even more important than the blog itself, I am blessed with readers. I am so honored and deeply touched that all of you take some of your valuable time to check out what I am doing. I promise to make it worth your while in the remaining 113 days. I will strive to keep the content as varied as possible, though true to my particular oeuvre (lots of comic books!!). Thank you for reading my blog.
It seems that every 70 or so days (I am a bit behind on this third one) I am compelled to share what I originally wrote in T-shirt #78 - Suzanne Vega (when I also started the ongoing story the Dinner Party) about gratitude. I presented it again in T-shirt #157 - Gull Lake. Here it is again. And then, after, between pictures, a reminder of what I wrote the other day in T-shirt #250 - Winnie the Pooh: Love, love is the answer.
I am very grateful for Suzanne Vega and all that she has given me in my life, all that I have shared with her through music, what seems like deeply personal music, without knowing her at all, though feeling like I do know her, know her music.
So, each morning, I run the list of things for which I am grateful. I am not always listing musical artists, like Suzanne Vega, because I focus mostly on my family and community. Though from time to time, musical artists will drift into my consciousness, and I will thank the universe for them, infuse the positive energy of my love into the fabric of the cosmos, because, after all, we are all connected.
LAST WORD ON THE GRATITUDE THING: I got the idea for the gratitude prayer (meditation, list, incantation, catalogue, rumination, reflection, or whatever you want to call it) from a movie calledThe Secret. I am not quite promoting the movie as a "true" exposure of an actual science. In fact, many of the stories in the film are a bit fatuous. However, I like watching it. I showed it to a class (my second viewing) about a month ago, and the idea of the daily gratitude thing struck me. In the movie, one of the interviewees (I forget which one and it's not important) explained how he had a rock in his pocket. At night, he would set it on his dresser with the other contents of his pockets. The next morning, he would retrieve it and remember to list the things for which he was grateful as a daily routine, like a prayer. He had a visitor from South Africa and told the man about his rock and gratitude practice. The man called it a "gratitude rock." After returning to South Africa, he wrote his American friend and asked for some gratitude rocks to be sent to him because one of his children was very sick, and he did not have the money to seek medical care for the child. The interviewee balked at sending "gratitude rocks" because, after all, "they are just rocks," he said. But he found three nice rocks and sent them to his South African friend. Months later, the South African wrote back. The rocks worked! His son was healed and recovered. They paid for his medical treatment by selling a hundred gratitude rocks. People believed in the power of the gratitude rocks.
I found this story inspirational. I do not use a rock, but every day, I make my gratitude list. I send energy into the universe. I focus on the positive and try to limit or dismiss the negative.
In that entry on the Detroit Pistons, I was super excited for the start of the 2013-2014 basketball season and felt that my beloved Pistons were back on track to a winning season and the first appearance in the playoffs since 2009.
Since my post at the beginning of the month (November 4th), the Pistons have struggled to a 6-8 record. Although I was going to write last week, decrying their terrible play and playoff hopes that were already dwindling, we fans must remember that they were in the midst of a very tough four game road trip against Portland, Golden State, Sacramento, and the Lakers.
Though the Pistons only won one of those four games, fans should revel in how close the game against Portland was: a 109-103 loss. The Pistons hung with the Trailblazers--one of the toughest teams in the West--all the way, matching them score for score. The Pistons trailed 58-55 at half. All the stats were very close as the Pistons matched the Trailblazers in field goal percentage, rebounds, assists, and actually got to the line more times than Portland, thus showing that they can control the game better, drawing fouls more than they commit fouls.
Though they won the Sacramento game, it was hardly a blowout. In the other two games, the Pistons were blown out by Golden State and an LA Lakers team that has no business being as good as it is without Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash. The Pistons have a rematch coming against the Lakers, at home, which will set that situation to right.
The Pistons are playing well enough, but they need to do a little better to close out games. Though they won the first home game against the Knicks after returning from the road trip, they dropped back-to-back home and away games against the Atlanta Hawks. They should have and could have won both of those games. Since then, the Pistons have won two in a row against the Brooklyn Nets (who are awful despite having many "name" players) and the Milwaukee Bucks, which are a mess.
The Eastern conference is shaky. Though Indiana and Miami dominate the top of the standings, the rest of the conference is up for grabs. Damn Miami has soared to an 11-3 record since I last wrote, when they were 2-2. Despite being the rivals of the Pistons, and despite that Brawl at the Palace (long a thing of the past now), I really like Indiana, and I am rooting for them to win it all, especially if the Pistons do not. I think the Pistons are playoff bound if they can continue to play halfway decently, but I hold no hopes that they can win the championship next year (for this 2013-2014 season). Then again, I said the same thing in 2004.
When I wrote my last post on the Pistons, T-shirt #228, I made predictions for the playoffs. I am revising those predictions. I picked New York and Brooklyn out of the East, but I am dubious that they can make it. If the playoffs started today, the East would be match ups of Indiana, Miami, Atlanta, Toronto, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, and Washington. But its a close group. Phillie, Boston, and Orlando would all be one game out of the playoffs if they happened today. Cleveland and Brooklyn would be two games out. Even New York and Milwaukee are not that far out.
I like Charlotte making the playoffs. I also think Washington has a good shot, but I did not have Atlanta in my original list, and I think they will be there. Chicago will struggle without D. Rose, but I think they have enough talent to make the playoffs; though given the way they have played in the last four, maybe not. After a month of the season, I just don't see Brooklyn and New York getting to the playoffs with the way they are playing now. Though of the two, Brooklyn has the better shot, I think, simply because of the talent level.
I had Toronto in my list. But I am going to stick with Brooklyn and replace New York with Atlanta, which is hardly surprising. I expect Charlotte to fade, but I would love to be wrong about that. Washington could be a dark horse, and if Chicago fades, look for the Wizards in the playoffs. So my OFFICIAL LIST of predictions (modified which is sort of cheating after a month of the season) is Indiana, Miami, Atlanta, Toronto, Phillie, Chicago, Detroit, and Brooklyn.
It's the Western conference where I voted with my heart and not my head. I want San Antonio to buckle and not make the playoffs. Given that they are the number one team in the West right now with a 13-1 record, tied with Indiana for best in the NBA, indicates that they will likely make the playoffs assuming there is no catastrophe. I would still like to see them fail. I cannot think of a team that I dislike more.
If the playoffs started today, the West would be filled with San Antonio, Portland, OK City, LA Clippers, Houston, Golden State, Dallas, and Denver. I had all these teams except I had the Lakers and the Timberwolves instead of the Spurs and the Nuggets. Obviously, the Spurs are going to make it assuming there is no rash of injuries or massive collapse. Popovich is just too good as a coach, and they have enough talent to succeed. Damn them. I see the Timberwolves beating out both the Lakers and the Nuggets for that last spot. Portland, Golden State, OK City, and the LA Clippers could be the Final Four, but the Spurs are a tough team to beat, obviously and could upset my predictions again.
As for the Detroit Pistons, I am rocking my favorite Pistons shirt in these pics with my favorite Pistons hat, the Breast Cancer Awareness fund raising hat produced by Detroit's WB Channel 20.
The Pistons meet the Chicago Bulls tonight at the Palace. The Bulls have basically the same record as the Pistons at 6-7 (Pistons are 6-8). Though the Bulls have lost Derrick Rose for the season and Jimmy Butler is injured, they still start Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, and Luol Deng, three of the best players in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls have not won since November 18th in a win over the Charlotte Bobcats. Though they managed to deal Indiana its only loss of the season on Nov. 16th, they have lost four straight to Denver, Portland, the LA Clippers, and the lowly Utah Jazz, who are only 2-14. Here's hoping that the Pistons can capitalize on a reeling Chicago Bulls team and get a third straight win!
HERE'S MY OTHER PISTONS CONTENT
in case you are too lazy to click the category to the right.
I started this entry back in July, and it's been sitting on my computer ever since. This is why I am in shorts in the pictures.
I love Winnie the Pooh. Disney Pooh. Milne Pooh. Doesn't matter.
I love POOH.
I did discuss this affection some in T-shirt #166.
I feel that Today is somewhat of a milestone as the number 250 has some significance.
So, today, I wish to share a few thoughts on intersections between Jungian thought, Tao te Ching, and Winnie the Pooh.
Somewhat coincidentally but also by design (teleology?), I am teaching the power point in my mythology class tonight that I am shown teaching in these photos.
If you have not read The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, and you have any interest in either Tao te Ching, Winnie the Pooh, or both, then I recommend you read it immediately.
Today, I wish to share thoughts punctuated by a series of photographs that comprise some of my favorite ideas in the whole world.
The best reaction to all situations is LOVE. But it is so hard to function this way.
It is so much easier to judge and to be angry, frustrated, annoyed, to give into one's stress.
But I keep trying.
If this statement about love as the right reaction to the universe makes you think of "Love is the Answer," then check the video I posted in T-shirt #166.
When I started this entry back in July, this woing toToday,he start text: Apparently, some of my students check this blog to see what I am doing. I really am working when I say I am working. Honest. For the last two days, I have worked on the blog throughout the day because I need to get to work and keep making progress with the work or I will not meet the deadline. The blog can be like a black hole. If I start working on it with the intention to finish it, I can easily get sucked into another universe, and once I emerge, I have not completed nearly enough work.
Things have not changed much since July. I work many hours. I work on the blog off and on throughout the day in an attempt to multi-task, though by nature I am not a multi-tasker.
The blog CAN be like a black hole.
I continue to experiment with how to better manage my time.
Jung came up with the idea of the Collective Unconscious to explain his idea of archetypes. He had no other explanation for the recurring predisposition toward images and image patterns by people with no communication with one another, with cultures that did not have interaction with one another.
George Lucas adapted Jung's Collective Unconscious as the Force in the Star Wars movies.
I like both versions of these ideas.
I believe firmly in the interconnectedness of people and things, of the universe.
WE ARE ALL CONNECTED.
MAGIC SOUND FABRIC - WE ARE ALL CONNECTED
Can we tap into another realm of consciousness with the Collective Unconscious? Through the interconnected fabric of consciousness, can we see the thoughts of others? Can we experience prophecies of the future? Or are the prophecies an overlap? The echoes of other consciousnesses?
ARCHETYPE: an archetype is not an image. It's a pre-disposition to an image. It's a projection of content into an imagined form. It's filled by our consciousness.
Archetypes are "universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious and are the psychic counterpart of instinct. They are autonomous and hidden forms which are transformed once they enter consciousness and are given particular expression by individuals and their cultures. Being unconscious, the existence of archetypes can only be deduced indirectly by examining behavior, images, art, myths, religions, or dreams. They are inherited potentials which are actualized when they enter consciousness as images or manifest in behavior on interaction with the outside world.
"Strictly speaking, Jungian archetypes refer to nuclear underlying forms or the archetypes-as-such from which emerge images and motifs such as the mother, the child, the trickster and the flood amongst others. It is history, culture and personal context that shape these manifest representations giving them their specific content. These images and motifs are more precisely called archetypal images. However it is common for the term archetype to be used interchangeably to refer to both archetypes-as-such and archetypal images" (Jungian Archetypes, Wikipedia, 2013).
The image of Horus is purposeful in the power point as is my inclusion of the Eye of Horus here on the blog.
The Collective Unconscious and its archetypes must be taken on faith. There is no proving their existence through epistemology.
But we can see it working. We can set forth its workings, set forth the evidence and prove its existence like we would prove anything in a court of law. We can observe it to work and presume how it works and why it woeks, much like we feel we understand the migration of birds. Instinct drives us. Instinct drives birds. Instinct and the Collective Unconscious are one.
Study of Jung branches off from the standard story-type archetypes, such as child hero, wise old man, or trickster, and informs the archetypes of a man's feminine side (Anima), a woman's masculine side (Animus), and the dark side in us all (the Shadow).
But these "archetypes" do not exist independently of us. We fill them with content from consciousness. We project them onto actual people or actual images in the actual world. The archetype is the pattern, the similarity between different people's dark sides, different child heroes in different stories. But they are all different because we are all different, because different stories are different.
We must remember this.
We must make our own myths.
Everyone has the same questions. What is the meaning of life? What is after death? And everyone must find his or her own answers or live with the uncertainty. But people do not like uncertainty. People like certainty. People do not like long quests. People like short trips and then packing away what is over and done with. But the world, the process of individuation to become a self, is not a short trip.
It's a long trip.
What a long and strange trip it has been and will be.
But we must all make our own journey and find our own answers in what Jung called THE PROCESS OF INDIVIDUATION.
Jung considered individuation, a psychological process of integrating the opposites including the conscious with the unconscious while still maintaining their relative autonomy, necessary for a person to become whole.[4]
Individuation is a process of transformation whereby the personal and collective unconscious is brought into consciousness (by means of dreams, active imagination or free association to take some examples) to be assimilated into the whole personality. It is a completely natural process necessary for the integration of the psyche to take place.[38]
Besides achieving physical and mental health,[38] people who have advanced towards individuation tend to be harmonious, mature and responsible. They embody humane values such as freedom and justice and have a good understanding about the workings of human nature and theuniverse.[4]
Carl Jung wrote much of his work in German. Difficulties for translation arise because the German word Seele means both psyche and soul. Jung was careful to define what he meant by psyche and by soul.
I have been compelled, in my investigations into the structure of the unconscious, to make a conceptual distinction between soul and psyche. By psyche, I understand the totality of all psychic processes, conscious as well as unconscious. By soul, on the other hand, I understand a clearly demarcated functional complex that can best be described as a "personality". (Jung, 1971: Def. 48 par. 797)
[The translation of the German word Seele presents almost insuperable difficulties on account of the lack of a single English equivalent and because it combines the two words "psyche" and "soul" in a way not altogether familiar to the English reader. For this reason some comment by the Editors will not be out of place.]
[In previous translations, and in this one as well, psyche– for which Jung in the German original uses either Psyche or Seele– has been used with reference to the totality of all psychic processes (cf. Jung, Psychological Types, Def. 48); i.e., it is a comprehensive term. Soul, on the other hand, as used in the technical terminology of analytical psychology, is more restricted in meaning and refers to a "function complex" or partial personality and never to the whole psyche. It is often applied specifically to "anima" and "animus"; e.g., in this connection it is used in the composite word "soul-image" (Seelenbild). This conception of the soul is more primitive than the Christian one with which the reader is likely to be more familiar. In its Christian context it refers to "the transcendental energy in man" and "the spiritual part of man considered in its moral aspect or in relation to God." . . . –Editors.] (Jung, 1968: note 2 par. 9)
So the goal of Psyche, the word Jung used for "all the psychic processes," in other words, the person, the personality, the self under development, is to find wholeness, balance, to realize the self, the center wholeness in us all.
The self is the end product, the balanced, whole, transformed, transcendent being.
The Buddha.
The gestalt of ultimate apotheosis.
All spirit. One with God.
All of which brings my content sharing to the subject of Winnie the Pooh.
The Winnie the Pooh stories are consciousness at work, the Process of Individuation at work.
The One Hundred Acre woods is the unconscious. Christopher Robin is the psyche under development to become a self. All the characters and elements of his unconscious are the parts of his psyche that must be brought into balance to emerge as a whole and unified self.
Perhaps Pooh is the end result.
Pooh just is.
Pooh is totally a right-brained being.
We are all much too left brained in our society with its rules and prisons.
We all should be more like Pooh.
Pooh is the UNCARVED BLOCK.
The Taoist idea of the Uncarved Block is called P'u. Much like "Pooh."
Coincidence or proof of the Collective Unconscious?
"Things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when simplicity is changed" (Hoff, pg. 10).
The secret of the Uncarved Block? LIFE IS FUN.
Pooh proves that the Pooh Way is the true way when lost in the woods with Rabbit. Rabbit is very left brained. Pooh is not. Pooh finds home when he stops looking for it. It's this counter-intuitive thinking that is endemic of the Uncarved Block.
Just be.
Let the natural forces of the universe guide you.
Be like water.
FLOW.
The Greatest Good is like water... Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
The greatest good is like water
which benefits all life without trying to
It resides in the purest mountain snows
and dwells in the lowest of places
Thus it is like the Tao.
-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
from wikipedia;
Lao Tzu, aka Laozi and many others, was a philosopher of ancient China and is a central figure in Taoism or Daoism. Lao Tzu literally means "Old Master." He is revered simply as a wise man in philosophical forms of Taoism, but revered as a god in religious forms, much like The Buddha is regarded differently by the religious and philosophical schools of Buddhism. According to Chinese tradition, Lao Tzu lived in the 6th century BC and is traditionally regarded as the author of the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching), though its authorship has been debated throughout history.
The above is my own translation of his teaching on water being the greatest good. No, I don't speak any form of Chinese, but from going over many other different interpretations, I believe this is what Lao Tzu was saying;
that we all should strive to be ourselves, without ego getting in the way, to mix among all walks of life both rich and poor, both good and bad (whatever that means) and in between. And that by truly being ourselves, we'll actually be helping everyone around us without even trying (sort of like Forrest Gump.) Perhaps by losing the ego and letting go, we'll allow Spirit to work through us, thus being like the Tao or The Way.
I also believe if you read between the lines in the teachings of Jesus Christ, you'll find a lot of similar themes. Some scholars argue that Jesus appears to have studied Buddhism during his "missing years" between the ages of 20 and 30. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
This is one of my favorite Ultimate t-shirts. I have always been a strong supporter of women in sports and in Ultimate in particular. I bought two shirts of this print run, one with and one without the phrase on the back. I have worn this shirt many times both while playing Ultimate and not to show my support for women in the sport.
The phrase on the back comes from the male idiom: "teabagging." When a male player "tea bags," he jumps up over another player for whom the jumping player's testicles will dangle in the victimized player's face like tea bags. Well, as the women of the University of Michigan Ultimate team reasoned, women do not tea bag. So what's the equivalent? Hence: "wanna see me pop tart?" I think you can suss it out.
Below, you can see a picture of me wearing the shirt during a day of playing Ultimate. Our 2002 Masters team Grey Area at either Centrals in May or Sectionals in September. I am not sure which.
This morning I had a discussion with Ivan over the meaning of the word "bollocks," which we agreed is a great and all purpose word. I did not realize exactly how all purpose, and so I present some of its purposes here.
A highly flexible term commonly used by the English.
1. something rubbish
2. a falsehood or series of lies
3. something great
4. the best possible
5. testicles
6. exclamation on making a error.
1. That Mel Gibson movie was a load of bollocks.
2. That Tony Blair is talking bollocks.
3. That curry was the bollocks!
4. That your wife is the dog's bollocks when it comes to cooking!
5. Then she kicked him in the bollocks.
6. Bollocks!
Just a few quick notes on what is happening with the blog. According to my stats overview, my blog scored an all time in page views for Saturday November 23rd at 443 views. I find this to be extraordinary. The Wonder Woman post immediately started to score many views. But the "Advice from a Volcano" post (T-shirt #241) continues to score an incredible number of views with 110 alone on Saturday. I don't understand it, but I am happy about it.
Off to work.
COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 116 shirts remaining
I am writing this as the Detroit Lions play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are currently winning 21-17, but Stafford has thrown two interceptions.
I realized I did not have a Lions shirt, so I bought this one the other day.
This is a must win game as the Lions should have won last week against Pittsburgh, and they are in a tie for first in the NFC North with the Chicago Bears with the Green Bay Packers only one game back, though currently losing at home to the Minnesota Vikings.
The most important thing for me as a fan is for the Lions to win this game today. But the second most important thing is for them to win by 10 or more points.
You see, I pick games by the point spreads with a small group of friends, one of whom I have never met in person, and the group has never met each other in person. The common element is me as I know all of the core group of four, but there's a fifth guy who is a friend of one of the others, and he's the one I have not met in person.
The Bucs just took the lead on a heave of a pass by the rookie quarter back. Damn.
So far on the season, I am 74-82-7. I have won among our group four times but only once as a solo win. The leader, Jason, is 80-75-7, followed by my friend Dave Mandrick at 77-78-7, my friend Bill at 76-79-7, and I am tied with Bill's friend Jay.
Okay, so as I was saying, I pick by spreads. Here's my picks today. So far I am doing all right, though in the time it took my to write this, the Lions lost.
2013 WEEK TWELVE SPREADS1/2Chris Jason Bill Jay Dave
Thursday game
New Orleans [-8] at Atlanta - NEW ORLEANS :-(
SUNDAY 1 p.m. games
Tampa Bay at Detroit [-9] - DETROIT LIONS [I agree that this is a big number for Detroit but at home? I think they can]
Jacksonville at Houston [-10 1/2] - JACKSONVILLE [Another big number but I was tempted to go Texans to turn it around at home, but nah...]
Minnesota at Green Bay [-3 1/2] - GREEN BAY [I can see this going either way but at home I give Green Bay the edge]
San Diego at Kansas City [-5] - SAN DIEGO [I think the Chiefs win but this may come down to a field goal]
Carolina [-3 1/2] at Miami - PANTHERS [Though Miami surprised us last week the Panthers are too good for it to happen again this week]
Pittsburgh at Cleveland [-2] - STEELERS [Tough choice. I like the Browns at home and by only two? I almost went Browns]
Chicago at St. Louis [-1] - RAMS [yes, my sort of upset of the week. At home and favored because of what they did last week IN Indiana]
NY Jets at Baltimore [-4] - RAVENS [Jets just screw me over all the time]
4 p.m. games
Tennessee at Oakland [-1] - RAIDERS [I am tempted to go Titans but Oakland has been looking good and at home by one? yeah]
Indianapolis at Arizona [-2] - COLTS [Also tempted to go Cardinals as people undervalue them even though they are favored but after last week's beat down I expect the Colts to be pissed off]
Dallas at NY Giants [-2 1/2] - COWBOYS [They may not win but I am betting on this being close]
8 p.m. game
Denver [-3] at New England - BRONCOS [yeah, nuff said]
Monday game
San Francisco [-4 1/2] at Washington - 49ERS [This might surprise everyone with the Redskins keeping it close or even winning but I am not betting on it]
Here's my last message about our picks.
NFL Tallies 2013
I love this close season with our picks!! I also love that I recovered from two horrible weeks to have a winning week, especially because I changed my Monday night pick to Carolina at the last minute. I should listen to the gut. That's the lesson here. Though the gut failed me with KC, the Chargers, the Packers, the Jaguars, and most importantly THE LIONS. Terrible.
Crazy ending. Jay, Dave, and I tie for first with records of 7-5-3 for the week. Bill and Jason tie at 6-6-3 for second. Three of us gain one game on Jason and Bill and we are all close, the largest margin being six games.
In points, Bill, Jay, and Dave are all tied with 43 with Jason and me just behind at 42.
Some good games for Week 12, especially an easy pick for Thursday night!
Smoodles Doodles!
-cbt
You have read my comments about playing fantasy sports before. I would also like to share my Week 11 update from our KUDL football league as I beat the top team last week, and I am proud.
Hey Christopher,
You have just been sent the following note from Baby Fish Mouth (Christopher) in the Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football league named KUDL Football (70932)...
Greetings KUDLers, Though many of the games from last week have playoff implications and good elements to feature, I have to lead this week with a big YIPPEE because my BABY FISH BEAT LOUNGING LEOPOLD!!!!
My Baby Fish handed Lindsey's Leopold just her second loss of the season, and we clinched our PLAYOFF BERTH! Though I do not usually crib from the Yahoo recaps, it expresses our come from behind victory, so well. In short, going into Monday's game, Baby Fish were down 208-194. The Fish rallied and schooled to a 215-208 win. Yahoo: "Baby Fish Mouth (6-5, 2,420.00 points) stole one from Lounging Leopold (9-2, 2,564.00 points) 215.00 - 208.00 in a back-and-forth battle. They were led by Drew Brees who had 50.00 points. Baby Fish Mouth scored first and went into Sunday in front 26.50 - 0. They lost the handle after the early Sunday games and trailed 98.50 - 86.00. After the late Sunday games, the lead went back the other way 183.00 - 146.00. By the end of the Sunday night game, the lead flipped yet again and Lounging Leopold went up 208.00 - 194.00. Baby Fish Mouth finally took the matchup in a Mondaynight comeback, led by Brandon LaFell with 14.50 points. With this win, Baby Fish Mouth clinches a playoff berth. "
First place doesn't change with this win. Leopold still regins supreme at 9-2. But Favre and Zissou (who both won) are breathing in her fur one game back at 8-3. My Baby Fish are solidly in fourth now at 6-5.
Lightning lost this week to Favre, but Dave clinches a playoff spot in fifth place, just one game off Baby Fish at 5-6, and with the distinction of having beaten my Baby Fish two weeks ago.
Other news from last week is Favre who logged the biggest margin of victory of the week with a 63 point win over Lightning. Though this victory does not win biggest margin for the season, which so far also goes to Favre for a 115 point win over Discount in Week Three.
Mosquitoes are in sixth right now and can clinch a playoff spot this week despite playing Leopold. Seventh place Discount would need a win over my Baby Fish and Mosquitoes loss. Likewise, Foamy who plays Favre would be in the same position, though Foamy holds a tie break advantage having logged his second win of the season in a strong 275.5-218 win last week over Discount. Even with either Foamy or Discount winning, I think Mosquitoes are a virtual lock for the sixth spot.
Playoffs start Dec. 3rd with six teams, five of which have clinched.
Right now, Leopold and Favre would have first round byes with Baby Fish meeting Lightining and Zissou play Mosquitoes (assuming they clinch). But this could change. Zissou has a shot at second. If Leopold were to lose again (unlikely), things could get crazy. Lightning could flip with Baby Fish in the 4th and 5th slots, but this would do little to affect playoffs.
As always, I hope you are all having as much fun as I am.
New Orleans vs. Atlanta tonight. Make sure the players you active are active and VOTE MATCHUPS before the games are locked down.
T-shirt #253 - Strangers in Paradise
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