Since there is no show this weekend, here are my week 12 picks

Thursday
NE @ DET- New England, Detroit will keep it close, but the Lions will fall short with Brady and the Pats.
NO @ DAL- New Orleans, With Bush returning, the Saints will bring the Cowboys back to earth.  At 7-3, the defending champs are pretty underrated.
CIN @ NYJ- NY Jets, T.O. was pretty accurate after Sunday's game, the Bengals are "terrible".

Sunday
GB @ ATL- Atlanta, both teams have been playing great over the past month, as they both bring 4-game winning streaks into the Georgia Dome.  I'll take take Atlanta based on the fact they are in the Georgia Dome, where the dirty birds are 5-0 this season.  But this can go either way.
PIT @ BUF- Pittsburgh, Buffalo has played great, but the Steelers are one of the NFL's best teams, and despite their 2-game winning streak, the Bills are still one of the NFL's worst.
CAR @ CLE- Cleveland, Carolina is a mess right now, how long it takes to explain what is wrong in Charlotte depends on how much time you've got.
TEN @ HOU- Houston, they return home after almost beating the Jets in the Meadowlands, while Tennessee is coming off a home loss to Washington, and another Vince Young episode.
JAX @ NYG- NY Giants, the Giants need this win after losing 2 straight in the division.
MIN @ WAS- Minnesota, happy to have Childress gone, Minnesota will come out flying.  Don't be surprised to see the Skins down 28-0 after one quarter for the 2nd time in 3 weeks.
MIA @ OAK- Miami, the Dolphins play their best football on the road, and I just can't get myself to believe in the Raiders.
KC @ SEA- Seattle, Kansas City isn't a bad team, but will show they're growing pains in Qwest Field, where the Seahawks are always tough.
TB @ BAL- Baltimore, Tampa Bay beats up on the bad teams, with their 7 wins coming against teams with a 16-44 record, and 3 losses coming against teams with 22-8 record.  Baltimore is in that 22-8 category.
PHI @ CHI- Philadelphia, Michael Vick or Jay Cutler? choice seems like a no-brainer to me.
STL @ DEN- Denver, St. Louis is yet to win on the road this year in 4 games, don't expect them to win a Mile High, a very tough place to win if you're not the Broncos.
SD @ IND- San Diego, most years I would pick Indy coming off the loss to New England, but this Colts team doesn't scare me like they have in recent years.  The Chargers on the other hand, put the fear of God in me, especially the way Rivers is playing.
SF @ ARI- Arizona, I have given up on the 49ers, just too many problems and have seem to have packed it in.  Singletary's days in the bay are definately numbered.

Relevancy: The one thing missing in an ESPN MNF broadcast

During the Monday night football game this past Monday, which involved the Eagles shlacking the Redskins 59-28, the good people at ESPN once again had to remind us of Michael Vick's troubled past, which involved prison time for Vick on rackatering and dogfighting charges.  How much did that have to do with the Eagles victory Monday, a game in which Vick had a career performance? The answer- NOTHING.  Here are some relevant facts: 20 completions on 28 passes, 333 passing yards, 4 passing TDs, 80 rushing yards on 8 carries, 2 rushing touchdowns, 59 points by the Philly offense led by Vick.  Looking beyond the game, Vick is 4-2 in 6 games played, a 115 QB rating (1st NFL), 1350 passing YDs, 11 TD, 0 interceptions.
So am I saying Michael Vick is a good person, or should be forgiven for what he did? By no means at all.  He killed countless animals, lied about it, and never really showed any remorse.  However, you don't need to be a good person to be a good player.  Thats what he is, a good quarterback, and that does not make him a good person.  He has been playing great, therefore he deserves the accolades that come forth to him, which could be quite a bit of hardware if he keeps playing the way he does.

MLB posteason superlatives and some bold 2011 predictions

AL MVP
Joe Mauer (MIN)- In the second half of the season he was the best player in baseball, and in the second half the Minnesota Twins were the best team in baseball.  Do the math.  My biggest apology to Josh Hamilton of course, who also made a strong case.
NL MVP
Joey Votto (CIN)- Had that breakout season everybody was waiting for, and the breakout season of .324-37-113 took him out of the shadows of Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, and he established himself as the premier 1B in the NL central, and propelled the Reds to their first division crown since 1995.
AL CY Young
Felix Hernandez (SEA)- One of the high points of an atrocious 2010 Seattle Mariners Campaign, he had his best season yet, setting career highs in ERA (2.27), Complete Games (6), Innings Pitched (249.2), Strikeouts (232), and WHIP (1.057).  All this after an impressive '09 season, where I also felt he was the Cy Young winner.
NL Cy Young
Roy Halladay (PHI)- Had an amazing 1st year in the NL, living up to all the hype, pitching his way to a 21-10 record, a 2.44 ERA, 250 IP and 219 strikeouts, one of those 21 wins being a complete game.
AL Rookie of the Year
Neftali Feliz (TEX)- Played a big role in the improved Texas bullpen, emerging as a lights out closer, saving 40 games and finishing 59, which lead the majors.
NL Rookie of the Year
Buster Posey (SF)- From the time he was called up in late May, he was the big bat in the SF lineup, and they probably don't win the World Series without him.  Possibly the clone of Joe Mauer.
AL Manager of the Year
Terry Francona (BOS)- If anyone said the Sox would win 89 games with two starting outfielders, the whole right side of the infield, both catchers, and two starting pitchers missing considerable time with injury, they would have been called crazy.
NL Manager of the Year
Bud Black (SD)- Took a team with very little talent in San Diego and somehow got them to win 90 games.


AL First Team
C- Joe Mauer (MIN)
1B- Miguel Cabrera (DET)
2B- Robinson Cano (NYY)
3B- Adrian Beltre (BOS)
SS- Derek Jeter (NYY)
LF- Carl Crawford (TB)
CF- Josh Hamilton (TEX)
RF- Ichiro Suzuki (SEA)
DH- David Ortiz (BOS)
LHP- David Price (TB)
RHP- Felix Hernandez (SEA)
RP- Rafael Soriano (TB)

NL First Team
C- Brian McCann (ATL)
1B- Joey Votto (CIN)
2B- Martin Prado (ATL)
3B- Ryan Zimmerman (WAS)
SS- Troy Tulowitzki (COL)
LF- Carlos Gonzalez (COL)
CF- Marlon Byrd (CHC)
RF- Corey Hart (MIL)
LHP- Clayton Kershaw (LAD)
RHP- Roy Halladay (PHI)
RP- Brian Wilson (SF)

Biggest Suprise Team
San Diego Padres- Not a great lineup outside A-Gon, but the pitching staff was the NL's best, with no real big names.  Got to give credit to Bud Black, who I feel did a marvelous managing job, despite losing first place in the NL West during the last week of the season.

Biggest Disappointment
Seattle Mariners- After acquiring Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee in the off season, this team looked like a possible contender.  Their pitching was not bad, but their lineup was maybe one of the worst in major league history, and its hard to win games when you can't score runs, no matter how good your staff is.

Breakthrough Player
Jose Bautista (TOR)- Went to Toronto, a swing-away savvy club, and had a 50-homer campaign.  He just ended up going to a place that would allow him to reach his full potential, with the Jay's style catering to his type of talent, a raw power type of guy.  It probably also helped that he was playing for a team other than the Pirates.

Biggest Disappointing Player
Curtis Granderson (NYY)- To his credit, he did miss time with injury and still hit 24 home runs.  But .247, 67 RBI, 76 runs, slugging .468 and a .792 OPS sums up a very disappointing first season in the Bronx for Grandy.  I really thought he would be a guy who could hit 40 homers, drive in 100 with the lineup he was in.


Best Trade
Cliff Lee to Texas- The trade looked like a near disaster going into the playoffs, but this team does not make it to the fall classic without this guy at the top.  Texas need an ace, and they sure got him.  Now can they resign him?

2011 Predictions
- The Pittsburgh Pirates will once again be terrible
- Mike Quade will have one of the worst jobs in sports as the manager of the Cubs
- The Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles will be baseball's two surprise teams
- Cliff Lee will be in pinstripes, Joba Chamberlain will not
- The LA Angels will take the AL West division crown back to Anaheim
- Neither Texas nor San Francisco will return to the playoffs
- Jacoby Ellsbury will not play more than 18 games next season as the Red Sox left fielder, but will play 150 in center.  Carl Crawford will be the guy in left.
- The AL East will once again be the class of MLB
- The ASG will be in Phoenix, and ESPN will stuff the politics behind the Arizona immigration law down our throats, as if that actually has something to do with baseball
- Spring Training will be overshadowed by March Madness and Barack Obama's perfect bracket- its good to know theres at least one situation where the guy actually has a clue about what he's talking about
- A-Rod will do something stupid and make the whole country forget about the antics of Brett Favre and LeBron James.
- Ratings in September and October will be the highest its been in a while.  Selig can thank Roger Goddell for that one.

Curt Young will be a good fit for the Sox

Unfortunately, John Farrell has moved on to Toronto.  There is no doubt he has done a great job as pitching coach, with his best accomplishment being his involvement in the development of Lester and Buchholz.  The new guy in Boston is Curt Young, who is not a bad pitching coach either.  Actually, you might say he is a very good one.  He spent the last 7 seasons as Oakland's pitching coach, where he has flown under the radar as a result of the A's not being that great, but just like Farrell, he has done an exceptional job of developing young pitchers.  During his time as pitching coach in Oakland's system which stems all the way back to 2000 (spent 4 years as PC in the minors), 2 Oakland pitchers have won ROY (Huston Street in 05 and Andrew Bailey in 2009), and 2002 Cy Young Winner Barry Zito came up through the Oakland system under his watch.  He also played key role in the development of Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden, Gio Gonzalez, Dan Haren, Joe Blanton, and Rich Harden, all of whom have developed into respectable MLB starters in his time in Oakland.  All things aside, this is a man who is well-respected throughout baseball, and knows how to develop young arms, which the same person we have come to know John Farrell as over his 4 years in Boston.