If you're interested in[COLOR=blue] [B]music[/B][/COLOR], and not [COLOR=red]watered-down, mass-produced, corporate [B]non-music[/B][/COLOR], look into the Shortlist Prize or the Mercury Prize.

Also, visit [B]Metacritic[/B] (great Web site) for the collected [B]best-of-2009[/B] lists from about [B]40 respected music publications[/B]:

[URL]http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2009.shtml[/URL]

Thank you for reading. :hattip:

Wildcard weekend looks to hold two things:  some exciting football, and some very difficult capping.  For one thing, you're dealing with three rematches from Week 17, in which you're faced with the matter of extracting real data from illusion.  Were these division winners holding back?  Were they playing it safe?  Or did we just see some major holes and some upsets in the making?

In a tough weekend of football to cap, one of the eight plays (of the four sides and four totals) appears to hold some great value: Over 43 in Patriots/Ravens.

This low number is all about illusion.  Pats/Ravens, a January game in Foxboro... going to be all about defense, right?  A slugfest between perennial contenders and two of the better D's of the past decade?  Wrong.  Neither of these defenses is what they were even a year ago.  The Ravens are dealing with injuries in their defensive backfield, not to mention age.  And the Patriots are dealing with youth and inexperience in theirs.  Every at least mediocre quarterback in the NFL has carved them up this year  The Pats also have injury concerns with Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren, the heart of their defensive line.

And still more illusion:  The Pats won't move the chains without Wes Welker.  Wrong again.  In some ways, losing Welker could even help the Pats.  Great as Welker was this season, Brady would fall in love with him, and a once unpredictable offense turned into the Brady-to-Welker show.  The Pats are now forced to spread the ball around again, like some earlier Pats teams who had great success.  The Ravens have no film on how the Pats will move the ball this weekend, because nobody does!  It's likely the Ravens will double-cover Moss and force the Pats to show they can still use the underneath game to beat them.  Even without Welker, Brady has an array of weapons to choose from, including Wes-Welker-clone Julian Edelman.  He may be inexperienced, but he's already impressed teammates with his quickness and moves, causing them to dub him Welker's "Mini-Me."

What about the winter conditions in Foxboro?  All you need to do is look at the 59 points the Pats dropped on the Titans in the snow earlier this season.  Unless there are 40-mph wind gusts taking away these passing games (not in the forecast), weather will not be an issue.  It's always overrated.

Oh, and did I mention the Ravens' three solid RBs now that Willis McGahee has shown he's still got it?

Even if one of these two talented offenses gets shut down to the tune of, say, 17 points, there's a terrific chance the other one will easily get up over 26.

The Pats/Ravens Over 43 is your play of the weekend.

 

 

They just interviewed him on NFL Network.

Not only does he not understand fan criticism of giving up on a perfect season, but he has the gall to admit that the team DID care about records, just two DIFFERENT ones!!!

Most consecutive wins, which they succeeded in passing the Patriots for.

And most wins in the decade.

Once they got those, it was all about prudence to make sure players didn't get hurt.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Will anyone ever talk about those records?! Sure, they are nice, but he thinks those are bigger deals than being the first and maybe only 19-0 team in history?

What a moron!!!! And he's acting surprised the fans all hate the decision because he says they made it clear what they would do this during the week. Bill, you could have put up [B]billboards[/B] with the decision; people hate it because it was a horrible decision and deprived your team of a shot at greatness!!!!!!

Pro Football talk noted earlier this morning how Cincinnati can oust the rival Steelers (whom they lost to in their only playoff game in the last 17 years) by losing on Sunday. I'll take it a step further ...

As of this moment, the Jets are the fifth seed, and the Bengals are fourth, so if things remain the same, then the two teams will meet again during wild-card weekend. If Cincy loses Sunday, it's likely that will happen. And there are a few reasons why this scenario is preferable from the Bengals' standpoint.

First, it means playing a rookie quarterback in...

Every day we have these contests, SBR is all about contests. And then if you're good enough or lucky enough to win, you get "PRIZES." $500, $175, $1725, $250, whatever.

But nobody ever talks about the [B]rollover mess[/B].

I want to know how many of our winners are [COLOR=red]EVER GETTING A DIME[/COLOR].

I want to believe it's possible, so let's hear some success stories! If you're a winner, please be so kind as to give us some SPECIFIC EXAMPLES. e.g., "Yeah, I won $500 in the WagerChief contest, I put it all on the Colts, won, then lost $500 on the Knicks, then won $500 on the Mavs, then won again on Kentucky and there was my 4x, so I took out the $1,500."

Or even if you lost... I just want to hear some real-life stories of what happens AFTER all our contests end.

Thanks a lot!! :cheers:

I know it's a miniscule percentage of threads in here that aren't rife with sarcasm, but I am legitimately curious about this topic... occupation tells a lot about someone.

So can we give it a go? Let's learn a little about our SBR brothers and sisters.

Acceptable answers for this thread include, for instance,
-I'm a software engineer at a design firm.
-I'm a welder.
-I'm a retired fireman.
-I'm an admissions officer at a college.

Unacceptable answers for this thread include:
-I makes me some MONEY, yo.
-Professional gambler
-Full-time poster and whack-off champion
-Gangster/Gangsta/Mafioso

I'll start. I'm a presently unemployed copy editor/writer, mostly in...

I know Bill or Lou or somebody said it's a random generator and there's no tilt in the software to f--k you, but I seriously doubt that, because this is [B][COLOR=black]RIDICULOUS[/COLOR][/B]....

I play the six-deck BJ...

I have now had a zillion by-the-book double-down situations, and I have never -- NEVER -- let me say that again... [B][I]NEVER...[/I][/B] been dealt a face card. It's RIDICULOUS!!!! There should be a million face cards in six decks!!!!!

It's gotten to where I [I][B]dread[/B][/I] the same deals you [I][B]DREAM OF[/B][/I] in a real casino, because I [B][I]KNOW FOR A FACT[/I][/B] the thing is going to give me a 3, or a 6, or a 2, or a 7, or a 5, and I will then lose to a dealer 20. IT IS FRIGGIN' RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[COLOR=red][B]FUKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/B][/COLOR]

A Score in the final 2 mins of 1st half
[LIST]
[*]Yes -200
[/LIST]:lock2: :lock2: :lock2: :lock2: :lock2:

Lay that chalk for easy money!!!

San Diego St
(1-0, 0-0 away)

Saint Mary's
(1-0, 1-0 home)

[*]ESPN
[*]2:00 AM ET :laugh: