Hahaha...CBS just showed the last time Buffalo was in the playoffs: the Music City Miracle game when Tennessee beat Buffalo on a miracle kickoff return. Bwahahaha!

Lamb is good. Lamb chops. Lamb curry. Lamb vindaloo. Crown rack of lamb. I'm on my fifth bloody mary watching football...and munching on onion rings and vegetable crudites and roasted pepper hummus.

Come on Raiders! Orton ain't got nuthin'! Beat that ball-less Bill into the turf!

Smart play by Imdy actually...they fooled the Cowboys and had it for a first down. The Indy player just flat out dropped it. A game changer for the Colts turned into a game changer for Dallas.

Colts epic fail on fake punt. Dallas gets ball in red zone. First play Dallas TD!!! 14-0 Cowboys early.

Get these damn morning games over with already. All the afternoon games have started and Baltimore-Houston and Minnesota-Miami are still dragging on. Hate to say it but I'm paying more attention to Indy@Dallas than Buffalo@Oakland.

The Rams are not moving back to L.A. No team is. It's a mirage the NFL uses to extort new stadiums from other cities."Build us a new stadium or we'll take your team away and move them to L.A." Rick, get ready for Silver and Black and Blue pain! Haha.

May the spirit of pottedplant curse you. J/K. Any other changes you wish to make? No, it's too late to change your San Francisco pick.

Poor Redrum. His 49ers keep collapsing in horrorshow fashion. San Francisco had a 20-point lead on San Diego and still blew it. Yet another home loss...move back to Candlestick fellas! Rick, come on down to the Black Hole. Today's special...Buffalo burgers. We're gonna grind your Bills up.

I may be garbage but I assure you Darlene Love is not.

Duck and rajas con queso tamales. Shot of tequila and beer.

Bully for Walter, Jr.! Swimming is great fun...one of my favourite activities and I loved being on the swim team when I was a kid. Good luck to him in future meets. Already been to three Christmas parties myself in the past week...with one more to go. Bon Voyage, Holly! Sincerely, Fred.

A reminder to those who haven't made all their picks to at least get your picks for Saturday's games in by morning. You can pick Sunday's games later if you are pressed for time, but get your Saturday game picks in before kickoff.

Bloody English. I guess the BBC was too busy shoving Cliff Richard down your throat. Bloody Aussies. The people who gave us the didgeridoo. Finally, someone who knows a classic when he hears one. Sure, much of the holiday music played in offices and on the radio is treacly garbage. But Phil Spector's Christmas album "A Christmas Gift For You" is a stone solid classic, along with "A Charlie Brown Christmas", and the Christmas albums from Nat King Cole, Mel Torme, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. It is a shame Darlene Love and the Ronettes and the Crystals and other artists that were in the Phil Spector stable aren't more known outside the U.S. But that is what is great about the documentary "20 Feet from Stardom". It shines a light on those like Darlene Love who have been out of the spotlight for too long. And Jay Thomas once again knocked the meatball off the Christmas tree! Most excellent, indeed, ebk...and fortunately, I also caught the last Craig Ferguson show with that great opening bit (with Sex Pistol Steve Jones on guitar). I wasn't even aware that it was Craig's last show...I knew he was leaving but I thought it would be next year around the same time as Dave. I'll miss the wacky Scot...and his robot Geoff. Jay Leno once again showed he is much better as a guest than a host of a talk show. It was reminiscent of his funny appearances on Dave in the 1980s when Dave was on NBC. Oh, and thank you, ebk, for posting Darlene's first performance on Letterman from 1986. Love how bare and stripped down it is compared to now...and Sid's and Will's hair. The end of an era.

You mean our Sam? Well, hip-hip-hooray and glory be. Happy Birthday to the Webmaster Sam! For all you've done and continue to do, this birthday toast is for you. May you have a most excellent Celebration Day, eh!

You're awesome dude! Now I have something to listen to while wrapping Christmas presents later tonight.

This thread is dedicated to ebk, who shares my passion for Darlene Love. For those of us that have been watching for the last 30 years, Darlene Love's annual performance of "Christmas(Baby Please Come Home)" on David Letterman's Holiday show the Friday before Christmas is just as much a treasured Christmas ritual as "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "It's A Wonderful Life", and Glühwein. Tonight is the Friday before Christmas, which means it is time to set your tivo or dvr for the Late Show with Letterman on CBS tonight. Alas, David Letterman is retiring next May, which means this will be his last Holiday show and Darlene Love has intimated that she won't do this for anybody else's show. http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/12/15/watch-darlene-love-sing-christmas-baby-please-come-home-on-letterman-over-the-years/ CBS has posted a nice tribute video to Darlene Love comprising all her past appearances on Dave's show: http://youtu.be/RfurmGiKZ5k I can guarantee you I will be crying buckets tonight.

I haven't even heard the Tempe '77 show and yet it has been ingrained in my brain as being terrible so I avoid it, haha. I don't like many of the 1980 shows because I hate the stage gear the band was using at that time and the coldness of the soundboards...and the raggedy "White Summers" that kill all momentum. Jonesy's Alembic basses and Yamaha keyboards really sound cheesy and dated...but not as dated as Plant and his harmonizer. Cringe. Horror. Bonham's drums sound the best out of all four musicians...his technique was really tight by this point. When he wasn't falling down-drunk, that is.

Fleetwood Mac's legendary Boston Tea Party shows of February 5, 6, and 7 1970 have had various releases over the years since first coming to light in the 1980s, most of them only partial and incomplete. Finally, a three cd box set has been released by Snapper that collects all the known tracks in the proper order and with great sound. http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/fleetwood-mac-boston-3cd-set/ I am listening to disc one right now, which has stunning versions of "Jumping At Shadows" and "Rattlesnake Shake". I have said it before and I will say it 'til the day I die...if all you know about Fleetwood Mac is the mid-70s pop era when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band, then you don't really know the real Fleetwood Mac. The Fleetwood Mac of Peter Green and his guitar cohorts Danny Kirwin and Jeremy Spencer. Out-of-this-world playing. http://youtu.be/ZTBppNm1tKc

Man, there were a lot of hard picks this week. Thursday Dec. 18 Jacksonville...which team will tank the the best to assure them of the #1 draft pick? Saturday Dec. 20 San Francisco...come on, San Francisco, show some pride! Philadelphia...wouldn't it be something if Philly goes into a tailspin and loses their last 4 games of the season? Sunday Dec. 21 Carolina Detroit...these are the games Detroit has to win if they want to be in the playoffs. Baltimore Miami New Orleans New England...trap game for the Patriots? Ummm, maybe for a quarter or two...but then, the Brady Bunch will storm back. Pittsburgh Green Bay St. Louis Dallas...like San Francisco and New Orleans, Dallas has been surprisingly beatable at home this season. If Murray is definitely out for this game, I might change my pick to Indy before game-time. Oakland...Oakland has nothing to play for except the role of spoiler, so how sweet it would be if we could help keep Buffalo out of the playoffs. Get ready for pain, Buffalo. Hehehe. Seattle...H-U-G-E game this Sunday night in prime time...not a good time for Arizona to have to break in their third-string quarterback. Monday Dec. 22 Denver...Cincy is one of those teams that are up-and-down from one week to the next...last week they were up so now it is down.

Oooh, my ears. Good god, it is like bad Asia. Oh wait...that's redundant.

A 3-piece? I guess that eliminates Kansas, Electric Light Orchestra, Shooting Star, and Dexy's Midnight Runners. It's not Jean-Luc Ponty, is it?

^^^Me too, Deborah...Elvis Presley's Christmas Album is a perennial on my stereo. Christmas is also Nutcracker time...as in Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" ballet. Yes, that is Kevin Kline narrating.