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Get it? Because we only won a single game out of the four against Texas. Pretty clever, right? Puns! Before I get into the hits and misses of the series, I want to take a second to talk about Time Warner Cable. If you remember from an article last year, they suck. Actually, I might have written that a few times over the last couple years. Since I live in California, there aren't a lot of Mariner games to be seen on TV. I imagine that is true for anywhere other than Seattle. So, every year, I purchase the MLB Package, which is supposed to show every baseball game throughout the season. Granted, there are a few blackouts for local television, but since the Mariner's aren't the local team, that rarely affects me. So, two days after spending $170 on the package, Game 3 versus Oakland wasn't on any of the channels. Not blacked out...just not listed. Anywhere. Naturally I was irked, so I called into customer service. The call was awesome.
TW Customer Rep: How may I help you
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Well, not the entire series. Half an opening series in Japan. Actually, there were a few exhibition games too. But we're not going to cover those. Which is good, since writing things like "The Hanoi Tigers beat the Mariners by ten" would get kind of depressing. But hey! We have baseball again! Seattle played the first two games of their season against the Oakland A's in wonderful Japan. Might I add these were considered home games for Oakland, which sucks for them, but is pretty cool for us sice the 40,000 or so that were in attendance were all rooting for Ichiro and the Mariners pretty heavily. Or as heavily as fans in Japan are able to get for a baseball game featuring two pretty awful teams. After two games, the Mariner's are 1-1 and tied for first place. Momentum! Lets get to the Hits and Misses...
Hit: Ichiro. Four hits in his first meaningful game in Japan in twelve years. That guy is amazing. It's sad to think we will probably only get a few more years of watching him play. Enjoy it while you can
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Where even Alex Smith is better than TJax
Only 3 more games left in the football season, unless you count the Pro Bowl (which you shouldn't), and there's a good chance that we'll be looking at a Bos-NY championship. Which really sucks. Let's just say I'll be rooting for the Ravens and Niners. The Cuz bought a house this week (congrats!) so he had to literally phone in his picks while he was getting the new place up and running. Onto the picks...
Baltimore @ New England
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Same Three, Different Picks
New Orleans @ San Fran
Elliott: Drew Brees is on fire. Yes. Alex Smith is still Alex Smith. Yes. But do you know what the record of playoff teams who are coming off of a 1st round bye? They're like 120-40 (I honestly have no idea, I just know they win like 75% of the time). So even though they're at home, the Niners are underdogs. I say that pisses them off and they show up to play. Remember, they had one of the top defenses this year. Look for them to give Brees fits
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After my guest writer posted an impressive 14-2 last week, I thought it was only appropriate to invite him and The Cuz (from past articles) to help with the playoff picks. And, yes, I felt like Wally Pipp last week. Enjoyed the time off only to find out that my replacement killed it. Whatever, onto the picks:
Saturday games:
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Got a text from our resident picker asking me to post this week's pick column.
No problem, I said. But I don't want to embarrass you - you have a pretty good record, no?
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Quick Picks for Week 16
Quick picks for the games to day. It's Christmas Eve, you should be out shopping anyways. Or wrapping. Or whatever it is you do for the few hours before getting together with your family. The point is not all of us have our shopping done, and maybe some of us were a little pressed for time with the games being on Saturday this week. So, quick picks. If you want a bigger breakdown of the games, you can always come find me at the mall. Thanks to all of our readers this year and I hope all of you have a happy holiday weekend!
Colts over Texans (Anyone else see Manning grinning wildly on the sidelines during that Colts comeback
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Where the Hawks are one Hanie away from .500
Before getting to the picks, I wanted to write a couple things about Christopher Hitchens. As I'm sure you're aware, he died yesterday after battling cancer for the last year and a half. For those that haven't read Hitchens, you should. Hitchens was a polarizing person; one that could spark debate based on his name alone. God is Not Great, the book about his views on religion, is an excellent read. You don't have to agree with what he writes, but there is something refreshing about someone who can argue and defend his points with such startling intelligence. I remember watching Hitchens on The Daily Show when he was plugging his new book Hitch-22. Jon Stewart asked him why he would write his memoirs so soon (he had just turned 60). Hitchens replied (and I forget the exact quote) "Is it too soon? Maybe, but there's no point in leaving it till it's too late now is there?" He would be dead less than 2 years later.
Christopher Hitchens may have been controversial, but he wasn't dumb. You might not agree with everything he said; I certainly don't; but make no mistake: Christopher Hitchens was one of the most brilliant minds this world had to offer. A man who had travelled all around the globe and had a glimpse of the different cultures and traditions this world has to offer. These experiences gave him a well-rounder view on everything he wrote. In the latest Vanity Fair he wrote a piece (which you can read here, taking on Nietzche's famous quote "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger"; pointing out its absurdity when applied to a man losing a battle with cancer. He also writes about the fear of losing his ability to write (and with that, probably "the will to live"). That whole section is made more poignant with the realization that it would be the last thing Christopher Hitchens will ever write
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Because I can't rave enough about Sports Night
I know I have written about it before, but Sports Night really is one of the all time great television shows. Once I finally start my running diary of sitcoms (it'll happen any day now!) I plan to still have Sports Night in my top 3 shows of all time (I'm assuming Whitney won't make it to my top 3, although it might not be on the air when I am finally able to start that column). There is an episode of Sports Night where the crew is waiting for a group of climbers to reach the top of Mount Everest. Everyone is working overtime and with a blizzard hitting the area, no one can get food. At the end of the episode, Dan remembers that he has half of a sandwich in his office and runs up to retrieve it. Once there, he notices a homeless man standing in the corner of his office, trying to keep warm from the snow. Dan tells the homeless man that he can stay in Dan's office and eat the sandwich while they are waiting for the climbers to reach Mt. Everest. The homeless man pulls out a knife, walks towards Dan, and cuts the sandwich; giving half back to Dan. As they sit there, polar opposites sharing some food, they watch the climbers reach the top of the mountain on a video feed. Dan turns to his new friend and says "Look what we can do" (instead of reading all of that, you can just watch the clip here. I probably should have mentioned that earlier).
I've been at a Christmas party all night and that clip has been running through my head. But I wasn't thinking of Sports Night, I was thinking of the movie I watched this morning. Hugo. I spent a good portion of the night dying for someone to ask me about recent movies I had seen. Hugo overall is an excellent film. The reason you should go is the cinematography. I personally can't stand 3-D movies and for the most part just because they were in 3-D (except for Avatar, which I avoided because I had already seen Dances with Wolves). What Martin Scorsese does with 3-D might be the most genius use of the technology that has ever existed. There was scene after scene of incredibly beautiful images that just jumped off the screen. Words can't do it justice. After a screening earlier this year, James Cameron himself called it a "masterpiece" and said it was the "best use of 3-D" he'd ever seen. James Cameron is dead on. I've written about Da Vinci before, and how amazing it is when you truly see greatness. Scorsese's use of 3-D falls in that category
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Winless In Seattle's Blogs
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Winless In Seattle
Steve Sauro
Elliott Smith
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