The Delayed Start of the 2015-2016 NFL Season

This NFL season has slightly dragged, hasn’t it?

Want to know why? Because it’s pointless. The season has not actually started. It does not matter what the record of your team is. It does not matter if your team is winning the division. Guess what, your season still has not started. Not for the Packers, which have compiled an impressive 6-0 record. Not for the Broncos, which have benefited from a mix of luck and being in a piss-poor division. Not for the Panthers, Jets, Steelers, or even the sneaky-good Bengals. And especially not for my Dolphins, who always finds a way to let me down.

Until the New England Patriots loses a game this season, it will not matter. The best team in the entire league can have an awful game and still manage to score 34 on the road. The best team in the entire league is second in yards per game and first in points per game. Brady is among the best in touchdowns, yards, and total rating. They have scored 104 points in their three road games. They can find multiple ways to beat you, sometimes destroy you (R.I.P. Jacksonville). Although they aren’t as offensively flashy as The Greatest Show on Turf, Peak Drew Brees Saints, or even the 2007 Patriots, nor are they as defensively destructive as Peak Gruden Bucs, 2000 Ravens, or 85 Bears, there’s a strong chance this team will walk away undefeated.

That’s right, the Patriots might win every game this season, and truly shove it to the faces of the NFL executives and Goodell. As a matter of fact I predict that the Patriots just might end 16-0 with just one or two true close scares.

There is only one truly tough game in their radar: going to New York to take on the darn Giants---the one thorn on their side. The New York Giants is the main reason why Brady isn’t wearing 6 rings. If they manage to shake off this demon and win on the road against a hostile and hopeful crowd (the fans know the Giants are a couple plays away from being a 5-1 team), then nothing will stop Brady and Friends.

The Jets? Please. The Dolphins? Nope. The Eagles? Only if Tebow was involved. The Old as Sin Denver Broncos? Not a chance. The Patriots’ biggest enemy is themselves, they can beat themselves in times when the opposing team can just tremble in fear. Did we see the awful attempt at a fake punt in the Patriots/Colts not-as-close-as-it-sounded game? That was a team throwing desperate shade to try to thwart what has become the scariest and edgiest team in the NFL. And it’s not only diluting the overall product of the NFL, but really has kept the league bottled up, waiting for them to mess up so the floodgates can open and other teams can throw their towel into the ring of Best Team.

Look at all the teams the Patriots beat last season en route to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks are shoddy and can’t protect the fourth quarter. The Colts lead their division-----with a 3-3 record and the Jaguars on their backs. And let’s not forget the Ravens, a team that dipped south so badly we forgot they were a trick play away from beating the Patriots. Baltimore is secretly immensely suffering, but since this season remains irrelevant nobody really cares. No team has improved themselves to a point in which fans, analysts, critics, and diehards truly feel like they are neck and neck against the champs.





The season begins, and there will actually be hope ONLY when the Patriots lose their first game. Until then, absolutely no point watching.

Jafar: The Best of the Disney Villains

Aladdin is finally getting that blu-ray release in the United States. Several years late, but at least it’s actually happening. Aladdin as my better friends know is an animated masterpiece I hold high and mighty and rank it as among the best Disney has ever released. In my latest rankings, it’s the fourth best Disney animated movie of all-time. The music, the humor, the characters, the action----it was all perfect. It had peak Disney Renaissance quality and peak Robin Williams mixed in for good measure. But we aren’t here to talk about Aladdin, we are here to discuss the most underrated aspect of the film.






Jafar, the all-time champ for best Disney villain.

Oh yea, better than Maleficent, Gaston, Hades, Frollo, Man, and everyone else you can throw into this conversation.

Before we even get to meet Aladdin, we see Jafar in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night. No backstory required, we already know he is bad news---especially while waiting for a murderer doing his dirty work. Who knows how many people he has killed on his way to being in that moment at that point of time? And after the “humble thief” gets buried in front of Jafar, he’s just upset because the victim wasn’t worthy of entering the cage. No remorse, no sadness, back to the business of trying to achieve his goal.

Unlike most of your villains that just slouch around and get upset over things (Ursula, just what were you doing all this time?), Jafar has clearly worked his way to the top. Becoming the sultan’s top adviser with leader-like powers (ordering Aladdin’s arrest? That’s some power) without a family connection must have taken years upon years. Want more evidence? Who could possibly have had the time to build an underground lair underneath the palace? Jafar is not after lots of money, he’s after the sultan’s throne, and position of power. And he was as far as he could possibly go without the help of some magic.

The man is absolutely driven, and was willing to take down anyone that could be a roadblock. Aladdin helps him out by entering the cave later in the movie and barely surviving by the skin of his teeth. Yet after Aladdin gives him the lamp in the midst of the collapsing cavern, Jafar was still willing to kill him—despite Aladdin never really being a genuine threat. He tries to stab him, then throws him into the cave and towards his intended death---along with Abu (that monster!) And of course, instead of remorse over potentially murdering yet another man, he’s upset because he lost the lamp.

As a matter of fact, Jafar nearly killed our hero five times: stabbing, throwing into cave, drowning, shipping him off into God-knows-where, and lastly in the final battle. If it weren’t some ingenuity and Aladdin’s friends, the story would have definitely ended sooner. Of course it’s a Disney movie and happy endings are always guaranteed----except for Fox and the Hound (I’m still not over it). Nonetheless, “How many times do I have to kill you, boy!!” is hands-down the best villain line Disney has ever created. In Aladdin, Jafar was always lurking in the shadows, which makes him a bona-fide threat at all times.

Jafar is the only Disney villain to actually have a good share of success before his eventual defeat (Nobody mention Scar, did he honestly better his situation? Not really, they were all going to soon die of starvation). He did indeed achieve the goal of being sultan, made Jasmine a sex slave, became a sorcerer, and even the most powerful genie in the universe (that last part was short-lived). Jafar is also one of the few villains to actually have an awesome sidekick, as Iago is no slouch either.





Oh yea, he also turns into a freakin’ snake. I’m done.

Predicting the 2015 MLB Playoffs (Trying To)

Predicting the baseball playoffs is absolutely next to impossible.



The talent pool is so deep, and to be honest every team in the postseason has a legitimate shot. In the American League, we can argue for the experience of the Yankees, the youthful energy of the Astros, the high energy of the Royals, the offensive juggernaut known as the Blue Jays, and the diet coke version of the Jays known as the Rangers. Each of them can make some serious noise.

Then there’s the even crazier National League. Do you pick the youthful and deep Mets? The German-like machine known as the Cardinals? The Dead Sea depth of the Pirates? The addicting youth of the Cubs? Or the microscopic ERA of the Dodgers? Unlike other leagues, every team that enters the postseason truly earns it, and 2015 is a majestic season so chock-full of awesome players it is hard to keep track of it all. For crying out loud, we had a pitcher throw two no-hitters yet not even wind up in Top 3 voting of the Cy Young in his own league. All I do know is expect long series, expect long games, and except a bunch of close games.

Even both Wild Card games might go the distance, even though I see both the Cubs and the Astros escaping by the skin of their teeth. What would I like to see in the World Series? Simple answer: the Blue Jays and the Cubs----give it a great America’s Team vs. Canada’s Team vibe. It would be brute offense against the cleverness of Cubs management. The ratings would be astronomical, even if most of it won’t be acknowledged (Nielsen Ratings don’t count Canadian viewership). But I don’t see either team truly going the distance, both winding up short in the championship series.



My prediction for the 2015 World Series is: The Kansas City Royals vs. The New York Mets.



Overall game is what will drive you in, having one overwhelming strength and trying to downplay the weaknesses will not help out this season. The Royals can pitch, they can steal, they can hit, and have a lights-out bullpen in the later innings when the going gets tough. Couple that with special home field advantage, a likable manager that seems to make all the right moves, and the momentum from the magical 2014 run should be enough to propel them to the Series yet again. They also carry the underdog edge that will be beneficial to the young squad that hasn’t really been respected---leading to some random conflicts early in the season.

The New York Mets have so much pitching they won’t know what to do with it---hell they hardly handled it well back in August when the innings were piling up. Imagine the concept of Matt Harvey being a bullpen pitcher to throw 2-3 innings of lights-out baseball. We also have Colon, Syndergaard, and DeGrom to choose from. Mix that in with a hot Flores, a red-hot Cespedes, sneaky-good Duda, great defense, and the incredible come-from-behind abilities and this makes the Mets arguably the toughest out in the National League---even if they aren’t as deep as the Cardinals and the Pirates.

If I’m wrong, it won’t really be a shock. The Blue Jays are more than capable of stopping the Royals, and the NL Central division alone has three squads with better teams and better records than the Mets. But the Mets got lucky because in the end of the opening round bloodbath, they would only have to deal with one NL Central team. Survive the Dodgers, and throw the kitchen sink against the NLCS opponent—because odds are they will be harder than anything that comes out of the American League. I still don’t really believe in the Cardinals, and I struggle to figure out why exactly. Maybe it’s the lack of star power, maybe it’s the influx of injuries. Every stat will tell you an NL Central team will walk into the World Series---I have a gut feeling that the Mets and their easier road will sneak in.

Back to the American League, the Yankees, Astros, and Rangers just don’t have the depth or the intimidation of the Royals and Blue Jays. The one guarantee I can give you is that the Royals and Blue Jays are going on a 7-game death battle in the ALCS, and it won’t be pretty because of their previous animosity towards each other. Home Field is important, which is why the Royals will triumph…



….and thanks to the All-Star Game (That issue will be discussed another day), this is why they will win the World Series in November. It will require lots of games, lots of innings, and lots of tension. It will be a great mix of fun, frustrating, and intense. At the end of the day, I can see the Royals surviving it all.



But its baseball. I’ll probably be wrong.