Follow me on twitter @Maroonlime.

I’m getting out to Vegas in a couple of days and will be providing chip count updates via twitter.  The first event I’m going to play is the $5k NLHE tourney on June 8th.

1) I think while it’s gotten better, the game selection process for Thursday/Sunday/Monday night games can be improved upon.  The current system has both MNF and TNF games picked before the season starts and SNF games flex’d so the last half of the year, they pick out good games.

I understand there are issues with having scheduling uncertainties of not knowing exactly what day you are playing on but I think 2-3 weeks notice should be enough.

The Raiders and Browns should just never play on MNF.  I don’t believe in the “every team should get a chance to play in front of a nat’l audience” mentality. You should have to earn your right to play in these games.

2) The interface the NFL uses to display the score, time left, timeouts left, etc. can be improved upon also.  Each network uses its own system but they all seem to leave one important thing out or don’t use the space on the tv efficiently enough.  Timeouts left, down and distance, score, time left in the game, and challenges remaining (doesn’t really take up much space) should all be displayed.

Going for it is clearly the correct call.  If you punt, any live Vegas book will have a line no worse than Indy +200.  If you go for it, you win the game > 66.7% when you make it.

Here is how I would order the teams:

1) Undefeated SEC Champion

2) Undefeated Texas

3) Undefeated Cincinnati

4) Undefeated Iowa

5) Undefeated Boise State

6) One loss SEC Champ

7) One loss Texas that wins the Big 12

One loss USC

Contrary to what the ESPN analysts say, I think an undefeated Cincy, Iowa, or Boise St (this is iffy tho) gets in over a 1 loss SEC champ, 1 loss Texas big 12 champ, or 1 loss USC.  Only time will tell.

It’s really shocking how unexcited I am for this year’s superbowl considering the Steelers are one of my favorite NFL teams and have been all the way back to the Neil O, Barry Foster, and Eric Pegram days.  I also had both Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald on my fantasy team and am a huge fan of both players.  I guess it’s difficult for me to choose who to root for as I sort of like both teams.  I will be rooting for the Steelers.  I’m sure come tomorrow, I will be pretty psyched.  In the HSNL superbowl squares $1k entry pool, I went halves w/ a friend for 4 squares and 3 of them landed in the 5 column for Pittsburgh (LOL?).  So basically, I need Pittsburgh to score 35 points or to get a safety somehow to have any shot.

In poker news, I’ve started to play some HU PLO.  I still think my game needs a lot of work, but having a strong analytical background has made the transition from HU NLHE to HU PLO much easier.   I have a prop bet that will prevent me from playing higher than $10/$20 until March 1.  I think this will be beneficial for two reasons.  First, I think it will force me to play more PLO and really work at getting better.  Second, I also think it will free up some time for me to pursue some other interests.  When I’m normally used to playing $25/50 and $50/100, if I see a soft game, I almost feel compelled to play regardless of what I’m doing because games don’t run that often and you really have to take advantage of the times they do run.

One of the things I’ve decided to do during some of the free time I will have is learn guitar.  It’s really shocking that despite how much I love rock ‘n’ roll, I’ve never attempted to learn how to play guitar.  I had my first lesson on Friday and purchased a cool epiphone electric guitar.  My instructor left me with some easy popular guitar riffs like iron man, pretty woman, smoke on the water, etc.  I’ve been having a lot of fun trying to learn them and definitely see myself continuing with guitar.

I’ve maintained a pretty good gym routine since moving back to NYC.  I still am stuck at around 120 lbs.  I feel like for the past month and a half, even though I’ve gotten stronger, I really haven’t put on any weight.  I have to make a conscious effort to just eat as much food as possible at every moment of every day that I’m even remotely hungry.   I squatted 175 lbs. last week which was a personal best.    I think I can definitely do a bit more but I’ve always had some ankle flexibility issues which have prevented me from getting down low enough.  I suspect this has something to do with the fact that I am stuck sitting in a chair whenever I am playing poker.  I’ve been working pretty hard at improving my flexibility and I feel like my squat is finally good enough to load up as much weight as I can handle.  I think within a couple of weeks, I should be able to squat 200 lbs.

In DeucesCracked news, I am incredibly excited about Phil Galfond and I’s new collaborative PLO series.  If you get a chance, I definitely recommend checking out the first two episodes which are up right now.  I think there is a lot of incredible discussion and I’ve never learned so much myself from making an instructional video.

BCS Title Game – Florida v. Oklahoma (no changes)

Rose Bowl – PSU vs USC (with Oregon St. losing, USC now wins the pac-10)

Orange Bowl – Cincinnati vs. Boston College (no changes, I think BC beats Va. tech.  sorry ariel)

Fiesta Bowl – Texas vs. Ohio St. (With only one team out of the SEC going to a BCS bowl game because of Oregon St.’s loss, another spot opens up.  I think the BCS will pick OSU over Boise St. even though Boise St is ranked higher.  They are more concerned about money than picking a more deserving team)

Sugar Bowl – Alabama vs. Utah (no changes) 

The ACC is a mess and Florida is tough to call because of tough games at FSU and vs. Alabama in the SEC title game but I’ll give it a go.

BCS Title Game:  Florida vs. Oklahoma – This assumes both teams run the table which is a tough road for Florida but I think they will get it done.  The human polls already have Oklahoma ranked over Texas and I think the computers might give them the edge or make it close enough that the cumulative BCS ranking for Oklahoma will be higher than that of Texas.  Out of conference wins over TCU and Cincinnati will help their SOS.  It’s unfortunate considering Texas beat Oklahoma but that game was so long ago.  Oklahoma looked real good yesterday against Texas Tech.

Rose Bowl:  Penn St. vs. Oregon St. -  A rematch of a blowout game early in the season.  I think Oregon St. wins at home against Oregon to clinch the Pac-10.  They have been playing better of late and I think this game will be more competitive than people think.

Orange Bowl:  Boston College vs. Cincinnati – This might pair up two of the weakest BCS teams in history.

Sugar Bowl:  Alabama vs. Utah -  I think Alabama will definitely maintain a strong enough ranking to get an at-large bid and Utah gets an automatic one.

Fiesta Bowl:  USC vs. Texas:  I think both teams get the nod over OSU and Boise St. for the final at large bids.  It makes sense to schedule these two teams together considering the rematch implications and the fact that this will probably shape up to be the second best game after the title game.  I could also see them flip flopping USC and Utah.  It’d be a nice change of pace to see USC face an SEC squad.  I’m sick of seeing them beat up on overrated Big-10 teams.

I stumbled upon the BCS page and it’s pretty hilarious.  They seem to be trying to get as many pro-BCS/anti-playoff articles written as possible.  The following article is pretty pathetic in that the only arguments he makes for the BCS all assume that a playoff would use the current system in determining who the top 8 teams are: 

 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2008-11-17-college-playoff_N.htm

So buddy, what’s a bigger problem…

Teams being snubbed from playing in the title game or teams being snubbed from being one of eight playoff teams?

Right now we could have a scenario where Texas plays for the national title without even PLAYING in the big 12 title game (Florida over Alabama and Missouri over Oklahoma would probably cause this).

We also have a virtual impossibility of a non-BCS school ever having a shot to play for the national championship.

I think it’s kind of cool that Barack Obama is lobbying to get a playoff system in place.

Edit:  I didn’t look at any other predictions until after I published this but it looks like CBS’s predictions match mine – http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/bowls/predictions

Some guy voted for the 2008 NL Cy Young and had Brandon Webb, Johan Santana, and Brad Lidge as his top three.  Tim Lincecum (pretty clearly the best pither in the NL in 08) was not in his top three.

 http://www.faniq.com/blog/Tim-Lincecum-Wasnt-A-Top-3-NL-Pitcher-According-To-Chicago-SunTimes-WriterIdiot-Chris-DeLuca-Blog-14059

Somehow, four people voted for Roy Halladay over Cliff Lee for the 2008 AL Cy Young.  We need to hold these sportswriters who vote accountable.  There should be some formula where if your votes deviate too significantly from the mean, you lose your eligibility to vote the next year.

I don’t know if these guys are just flat out stupid or if they have an agenda.  Either way, we don’t want them ruining important awards that get handed down according to a vote.

Election Coverage Thoughts - 

I think election coverage can be significantly improved.  I’m watching CNN right now and they are showing some demographic trends in particular states and overall in the US.  These are things such as how high income residents or how certain age groups are voting.  The problem is, as interesting as this data might be, the CNN “analysts” don’t give us the impacts of this data.  They need to compare these stats with what was expected with the latest predictive polls.  Please tell us who is outperforming predictions with this data. 

 The Mets -

 I was very depressed for about a week or so after their last regular season game.  I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to actually watch any of the playoff games.  I got over it and ended up watching most of the playoffs.  The Phillies winning the world series brought back some blues but I’m fully recovered and looking forward to 2009.  My biggest worry is that the Mets do too much to try and fix their bullpen.  I think especially in big markets like New York, the front office feels excessive pressure to fix what is wrong even if the proper fixes aren’t available.  The Jason Isringhausen for Billy Taylor trade comes to mind.  I’m all for the Mets going after some premium relievers but if these relievers aren’t out there, there’s no point in spending money on guys who probably are no better or worse than the guys we have right now.

 Health -

I’ve been working out 4-5 days a week for the past couple of months and have been pretty consistently exercising for about a year now.  My goal is to put on about 2 lbs. of muscle per month.  From what my trainers have said and what research I’ve done on the internet, this should be doable.  It’s difficult for me putting on weight with my lifestyle, vegetarian diet, and metabolism but over the past 2-3 years I’ve gone from about 105 to 121 lbs.  I’m going to keep a regular log of what I weigh and how much I can lift.  If you’re a fitness guru, I’m definitely interested in any input you may have.

I’ve had a nagging right shoulder injury for the past few years.  It’s almost definitely a result of a lot of baseball/football throwing and tennis serving.  It doesn’t bother me for anything I do in the gym or any daily activity.  It aches after a while if I throw a baseball or football around though.  It’s also slightly less flexible than my left shoulder.  I finally decided to get it diagnosed and had an MRI done.  The radiologist who read the MRI said he thought I had a tear in my labrum and thinning of my rotator cuff.  My orthopedist disagreed and said he didn’t see a labral tear.  He recommended physical therapy twice a week for four weeks to see if it improves.  Surgery is an option but I’m almost convinced I won’t go that route.  Full recovery time after surgery is about 3-4 months and that would probably affect my life more than not doing anything.  I’m also worried about whether or not my shoulder will be 100% after surgery.  It seems like every baseball pitcher is never the same after shoulder surgery.  I’m not exactly a competitive baseball pitcher but given that my shoulder doesn’t affect me in day to day activities, I don’t want to risk surgery.  Anyone have experience with a SLAP tear?