Well, given Romo's past playoff history (remember Seattle?) it is humanly possible for Dallas to make more mistakes. Yes, so far Romo has shown marked improvement on his past December performances. But we all know the playoffs are a different beast. Until Romo actually shows he can perform at peak efficiency and win playoff games, the "can't win when it matters" tag will still apply to Romo. What helps Dallas in this year's playoffs as oppose to the past is that their running game and defense are vastly better than before and can therefore shoulder the load instead of Romo trying to do everything, which usually led to costly interceptions and turnovers. Not saying Detroit can't win but Dallas is in a much better position than in past playoff years. We'll see come game-time. As for your last point: why exactly is Carolina scary? Their defense or Cam Newton?

You mean other than my own? For a small fee I might consider it, hehe.

So weird. I haven't thought of these aging geezers in ages and then tonight I went to see "The Interview" and their gaseous song "Wind of Change" pops up towards the end of the movie and I think "What is a Scorpions songs doing in this movie?" Then I see the Scorpions thread is high up on the page here at the Forum. Synchronicity. Seriously though, that "rider" they demanded at that rock festival was ridiculous for a bunch of has-beens.

^^^ Excellent.

Already having second thoughts...chalk picks never go 100% in the NFL. There is always an upset or two along the way. But who? I am fairly confident in my Dallas (don't ask me why, given Romo's playoff no-go's) and Pittsburgh picks. That leaves the Arizona @ Carolina and Cincy @ Indy games. I may end up changing one or both of these picks. But peril abounds for such a course of action. For one thing, changing my pick to Cincinnati involves putting faith in Marvin Lewis to not be out-coached in a playoff game...a dicey proposition at best, even in the regular season. It also means counting on a ginger to lead his team to victory...ugh, that's verging on Lourdes-like faith. Arizona though, may be the safer upset pick. I mean, I know the 7-9 Seahawks beat New Orleans in a playoff game several years ago, so Carolina's sub-.500 record shouldn't be a deterrent against a team playing its third-string quarterback. Still...any team that struggles to win six games in today's NFL has some serious issues. Much more serious than a team missing its starting quarterback. Arizona may be lacking quarterbacks, but their defense still is relatively intact. I did not watch the Carolina-Atlanta NFC South-clinching game, but the lopsided score was surprising to me...it suggests that Atlanta tanked or quit on their coach/themselves. From what I have seen of Arizona, they are made of sterner stuff than the Sadlanta Frauds. But they will be on the road...and west teams going to the east coast are at a disadvantage.

Oh, I want him gone and I think eventually the hammer will fall on Tony Sporano. But I also don't want the Raiders to do what the 49ers just did...rush into an emotional decision that shoots them in the foot. Has San Francisco already forgotten the dire straits they were in before Harbaugh came in and resuscitated the franchise? Be careful what you wish for...you just might get it. It seems that with the development of Beckham and other young receivers, the Giants believe that next year will bear fruit. So yes, it looks like Tom Coughlin survives another year.

^^^ I like both versions...they are equally great in my estimation, even though their musical aims are different.

All alone at work today...get to play what I want...first five discs up in the CD carousel today: 1. Velvet Underground "Velvet Underground"...the third album in a 45th Anniversary deluxe 6-disc edition with mono mix and a live show and a book. One of my Christmas gifts this year. Disc 1: The Val Valentin Mix... 2. Steve Hillage "L" http://youtu.be/u1rxFoREQqc 3. "Music From the Films of Audrey Hepburn": 4. "Ennio Morricone: The Legendary Italian Westerns" soundtrack: 5. Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto "Getz/Gilberto":

If Jimmy is saving all the good stuff for Coda, it's going to be a 20-disc set.

But at least it's amusing BS.

Drum rollllll.... :cheer: Hooray for jb126! Winner for the second consecutive year and winner of the inaugural PottedPlant Memorial NFL Pool. ebk and Strider won the final week with 13-3 records. Winner of the "Little Engine That Could" award is zepscoda, who although in last place for most of the season, kept plugging along and never gave up...and lo and behold, he passed LedZeppfan77 in the last week to rise out of last place. Which means LedZeppfan77 gets the "penthouse to the cellar" award for going from first place in Week 1 to the bottom in Week 17. Everyone won at least one week during the season...yes, even you mack! I forgot to credit you with a weekly win when you tied with Anjin-san in Week 5 at 13-2. The top 4 finishers of the season all won at least 4 weeks. Anjin-san was tops with 5 weeks won. jabe, mack, and paul carruthers were the singular week winners. zepscoda had both the best and the worst weekly record of the entire pool...a season high 14-2 record in Week 15 and a season-low 3-13 in Week 2. Only two participants managed to avoid any sub-.500 weeks the entire season: jb126 and mack. The best week of the pool was Week 15, when we were all a collective 152-56. The worst week was Week 2, with a dismal 95-113 total. jb126 and Strider tied for the most weeks with double-digit wins (10 or more), with 12 weeks each. LedZeppfan77 had the fewest weeks of 10 or more wins...only 4 weeks. Week 17 Results ebk: 13-3* Strider: 13-3* Anjin-san: 12-4 in_the_evening: 12-4 jb126: 12-4 paul carruthers: 12-4 Walter: 11-5 zepscoda: 11-5 apantherfrommd: 10-6 Bong-Man: 10-6 jabe: 10-6 mack: 9-7 LedZeppfan77: 8-8 Final Season Standings After 256 Games (Ranking...name...record...weeks won...win percentage...best record...worst record...weeks with 10+ wins...weeks under .500) 1. jb126: 177-78-1**** .693...13-3 (Week 15)...8-8 (Week 2)...12 weeks 10+ wins...no sub-.500 weeks. 2. Walter: 171-84-1**** .669...13-3 (Week 15)...6-8 (Week 11)...11 weeks 10+ wins...1 sub-.500 week. 3. Anjin-san: 169-86-1***** .662...13-2 (Week 5)...5-11 (Week 2)...10 weeks 10+ wins...2 sub-.500 weeks. 4. Strider: 168-87-1**** .658...13-3 (Week 14 and 17)...6-10 (Week 2)...12 weeks 10+ wins...2 sub-.500 weeks. 5. paul carruthers: 164-91-1* .642...13-3 (Week 15)...7-9 (Week 2)...9 weeks 10+ wins...2 sub-.500 weeks. 6. apantherfrommd: 163-92-1*** .638...12-2-1 (Week 6)...6-10 (Week 1)...8 weeks 10+ wins...1 sub-.500 week. 7. ebk: 160-95-1*** .626...13-3 (Week 15 and 17)...6-10 (Week 1)...7 weeks 10+ wins...2 sub-.500 weeks. 8. Bong-Man: 160-95-1** .626...13-3 (Week 14)...5-9 (Week 11)...8 weeks 10+ wins...2 sub-.500 weeks. 9. in_the_evening: 156-99-1** .611...12-4 (Week 13 and 17)...4-12 (Week 16)...10 weeks 10+ wins...2 sub-.500 weeks. 10. mack: 153-100-1* .599...13-2 (Week 5)...7-7-1 (Week 6)...5 weeks 10+ wins...no sub-.500 weeks. 11. jabe: 152-103-1* .595...12-4 (Week 14)...5-8 (Week 4)...7 weeks 10+ wins...3 sub-.500 weeks. 12. zepscoda: 150-104-1** .587...14-2 (Week 15)...3-13 (Week 2)...8 weeks 10+ wins...2 sub-.500 weeks. 13. LedZeppfan77: 149-106-1** .583...12-3 (Week 12)...5-8 (Week 4)...4 weeks 10+ wins...2 sub-.500 weeks. Thank you for participating. Hope to see everyone back again next season...along with some new faces. Come on down redrum and Sathington! Now, everyone over to paul's playoff pool thread.

Thanks Paul for taking the reins on this one. Carolina Pittsburgh Indianapolis Dallas

One of my faves...anything with Barbara Stanwyck is worth watching. Love that dame. Not familiar with this one...please clue me in when you get a chance?

Dallas will destroy Detroit. Arizona@Carolina is a little more evenly matched, but unless Carson Palmer comes back, I see Camolina prevailing.

The movie is alright but the book is far better. The movie spends far too much time on red herrings (is he a spy? his being gay) and not enough on the nuts and bolts of how they cracked the code and the far-reaching implications of the machine he created. Good cast for sure...Cumberbatch good as always, and Kiera Knightly hasn't been this good in ages. But Matthew Goode stole the show for me...he was outstanding.

An absolute favourite is kind of hard to pick off the top of my head...plus, there are still some films from this year I have yet to see: "American Sniper", "Big Eyes", "The Gambler", "Foxcatcher". But a quick Top 10 list of movies from this past year would look like this: "Only Lovers Left Alive", "Interstellar", "Fury", "Locke", "Under the Skin", "The Theory of Everything", "We Are the Best!", "Birdman", "Gone Girl", "Boyhood". "Wild", "Whiplash", "Nightcrawler", "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies", and "Guardians of the Galaxy" are all bubbling under the top 10...and might have even made the list if I had made it another day. I have nothing against Johnny Depp, Debbie...he has been great in the past from "Edward Scissorhands" to "Benny & Joon" to "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" to "Ed Wood" to "Dead Man" to "Nick of Time" to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" to "Finding Neverland". But starting with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels he has shown a distressing trend of portraying the same Tim Burton-esque freaks. "Dark Shadows"..."Lone Ranger"...the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland". It is like he won't do a role if he can't put on make-up and wear a weird hat, and his performances are all full of the same tics and mannerisms so that one role bleeds into the other so it is like he is doing the same schtick over and over. Bring back the old Johnny Depp and I'll be happy to watch him. But sad to say, while he wasn't bad as The Wolf in "Into the Woods", it still was too much of the 'same old, same old' that he has been doing lately...the two Princes were far more interesting as characters and their songs were better. I would rather have had Rob Marshall restore the missing scenes involving the Princes that were in the original musical.

It is all over but the shouting. Doesn't matter what happens in the afternoon games...there is no way anybody can catch jb126 now. Sooooo.... CONGRATULATIONS TO jb126!!!! Winner for the second year in a row...she's kicking our arses, fellas! Brett "pottedplant" would be proud...and her Saints won their last game of the season to end on an up-note. Final numbers and tallies to come later.

^^^ Don't wait until after the New Year? You guys are tough, haha.

I almost made a cheap joke...but thought better of it.

Precisely why I picked Buffalo today...I knew New England was going to rest tons of starters and not have any incentive to win. Good on your Cowboys for scalping Redskin ass today, Chuck! They are getting hot at the right time. No "Go Raiders" from you?

jb126, Walter, Bong-Man...GET YOUR PICKS IN BEFORE 1:00p.m. EST Sunday! Hard to believe the season is over already. Sunday Dec. 28 Baltimore Dallas Indianapolis Houston Kansas City New York Jets Minnesota Buffalo New York Giants New Orleans Atlanta Green Bay Oakland San Francisco Seattle Pittsburgh

Kings feasted on shark meat tonight.

One thing you learn when you watch enough sports is that teams that consistently lose do so for a reason. Sure, there may be some bad luck or bad calls by the refs that go against them, but by-and-large, losing teams lose because they consistently make dumb mistakes and shoot themselves in the foot with bad performances, bad coaching, bad thinking. Exhibit #1 this week: Detroit Lions. How long have we waited for the Detroit Lions to step up their game and rise to the next level and become the winners that we heretofore have believed to be commensurate with their talent level? Five years? Ten years? Twenty? But maybe we have deluded ourselves into thinking Detroit's talent is all that great to begin with. With the obvious exception of Megatron. Here's the rub, though...talent alone isn't enough to win in today's NFL. You need to be smart, too. And here is where Detroit's decades of futility comes to the fore, just like the Cubs, the Browns, the Vikings, and all the other perennial losers in American sports...these teams lose and lose because they always make the dumb play, the dumb mistake. They simply can never get out of their own way, even when it looks like there is finally light at the end of the tunnel...someone will act like an idiot and snuff the light out. Detroit's idiot last week was Dominic Raiola. Now, Detroit goes into their biggest game in years...a division-title-on-the-line matchup against Green Bay at frigid Lambeau Field...without their starting center. Other than Quarterback and blind-side tackle, no player is more important to a team's offensive success than the starting center. He is the one that starts every play with the ball and has to ensure a smooth transfer of the ball to the QB, he usually directs the blocking assignments, and is the glue that holds the offensive line together. If the line doesn't do its job, the glamour boys can't score touchdowns. Want to know how important losing your starting center just before a big game is...just ask the Oakland Raiders. On the eve of Super Bowl XXXVII, Raiders center Barret Robbins disappeared and the Raiders had to play the Super Bowl with the backup. It was a disaster from the very beginning. So, say goodbye Detroit to your chance to win the division...Raiola just shot your team down. That is what losing teams do. You don't see teams like Green Bay, New England, Pittsburgh make these boneheaded decisions that cost their team on the eve of a big game. The clarion call of the fan is "Wait 'til next year!" This was supposed to be the Lions' year. But it won't be...and it won't be next year, either. They and their fans, as all fans of stupid teams must endure, are eternally doomed to say "Wait until next year."

I enjoyed it for the most part...especially the first two-thirds. Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt, and Chris Pine were top-notch. The "Agony Song" duet by Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen was the comic highlight of the film. Christine Baranski and Tracey Ullman lended their usual talents. But Director Rob Marshall made some crucial cuts to the musical that I feel hurt the film in the long run, sapping the ending and the point of the musical. His directing style needs to settle down...it is too busy and distracting. According to the credits, here are the songs from Sondheim's original musical that were cut for the film adaptation: "I Guess This Is Goodbye" "Maybe They're Magic" "Our Little World" "Maybe They're Magic (Reprise)" "First Midnight" "A Very Nice Prince (Reprise)" "Second Midnight" "Act One Finale (Part 3)" "Act 1 Finale (Part 4)Ever After"(Instrumental heard in film) "Act Two Opening (So Happy)" "Agony" (Reprise) "Any Moment (Part 2)" "No More" (Instrumental heard in film) "Act Two Finale (Part 1)" It doesn't wreck the movie completely, but it could have been so much better, in my opinion, if he had trusted the source material more...and given us more Chris Pine and less Johnny Depp. It seems I am not alone...this was in the Washington Post yesterday: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/12/26/how-disney-wrecked-into-the-woods/

Happy Birthday Tanya! May you hit a bulls-eye with your presents today. Best birthday wishes and cheers to you!