230. August 1, 2002 - outside the Dayton Marriott:
231. I went 3-3 on my fearless predictions yesterday, but I was pretty close on a couple scores!! - tonight's prediction - Virginia Tech 40, Michigan 31
232. here is a fan of the Wyoming Cowboys:
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| This is a good look!!!! |
233. The stock picking page will be posted by tomorrow morning - thanks to everyone who submitted picks, if you have not submitted yet, you have until 9:30 am EST to submit - my 5 picks are M, PPP, BAC, EBAY, and MT
234. Taken from Mo Egger's blog yesterday - I thought that this was very well done about the Bengals:
I'll take it.
I'll take it because griping about what the Bengals didn't do yesterday is decidedly less fun than celebrating what they did all season. Sizing up their chances in the playoffs beats trying to figure out the mental capacity of the clowns officiating yesterday's game.
I'll take it because backing into the playoffs beats finishing a losing season with a pointless and unsatisfying win.
I'll take it because if you would've presented this scenario to me in August - The Bengals go into the final few weeks needed a series of things to happen to get the postseason, and they actually do happen - I would've given you money if you could've somehow guaranteed it.
I'll take it because I usually spend the week leading up to the playoffs picking a team to adopt for a month, and jealously watching from afar as the privileged 12 start the second season with clean slates. I have a pretty good idea of who I'll be rooting for this year.
I'll take it because I've put up with the 3-13's, the 4-12's, and the 7-9's. I'll take it because I've sat through games in November and December that meant nothing, I've endured teams that never really got started, and seasons that finished with me wondering why I ever decided to root for this team in the first place.
I'll take it because no one will really remember that the Bengals went 9-7 and not 10-6. No one will remember Ray Rice outrunning Bengals defenders, or Jermain Gresham being stripped of the football, or Nugent's miss, or really anything about yesterday's game. We won't remember the final score in the final game, we will remember the final result of the final week.
I'll take it because since I started rooting for the Bengals on some fall day in 1985, they've played in exactly seven postseason games. The Ravens have played in seven since 2008. The Steelers have played in 17 since 2002. When the Bengals approach numbers like that, I'll react to postseason berths with indifference, not now.
I'll take it because the Bengals are in and the much-hyped Jets are out and the predictably disappointing Cowboys are home. The Bengals are in and the embarrassing Colts aren't. Andy Dalton plays football next week while Carson Palmer plays golf. The Eagles might be the best team not in the playoffs and the Bengals may be the worst team in them, but I'll take what I'm enjoying in Cincinnati as opposed to the carnage their sorting through in Philly.
I'll take it because the postseason appearance helps affirm what this season has been, one of massive improvements and refreshing changes for an entertaining team that deserves to be rewarded with chances to play on. And I'll take it because I have this season in its proper perspective. The Bengals are far from a great team, not quite yet ready to play with the big boys, and the playoffs are just a step on the long journey to where I want them to be.
I'll take it because right now the Bengals are as many wins from Indy as the defending AFC champs, the Denver Tebows, the celebrated Saints, the feared Falcons, and the out-of-their mind Lions.
I'll take it because the Bengals third playoff game since 1990 has a chance to be their first postseason win since then. The Texans are tough, but hardly dominant, and the Bengals did outplay them for 45 minutes less than a month ago.
The way they did it might be been anticlimactic and slightly deflating, and we might not like everything about the way they're playing. But given how Bengals seasons usually end, and how completely deflating the final week of the season often is, I'll take it.
