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Showing posts from October, 2010
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All-Time Pick Record, 2010 NFL Week 8 Picks, College Pick, Week-in-Review

As I mentioned I would be doing last week, I have finally, once-and-for-all determined my all-time record for picks given out on the blog and Twitter. With the Phillies out of the playoffs, the Eagles on a bye week, and having recently transitioned the original Rob Q. Ink into an all sports blog, it seemed to be as good a time as any to evaluate the picks I’ve made on this site so far. Sports were dominating the blog anyway, and I think it kind of confused potential readers to have the other stuff sprinkled in. If you enjoyed my non-sports posts, I’ve created a Page 2 of my personal blogging efforts. The move may have already paid off as this week I picked up my third paid advertisement for the blogs since “moving on” from affiliate sales in August. (I kept Amazon around mostly for their graphical links to use on Page 2.) I also added two follow me on Twitter followers this week @robqblogs. (Readers can follow Rob Q Ink and Page 2 via Twitter.) Having some Excel fun and combing t

World Series Primer

Philadelphia and New York weren’t the only ones who wanted to you-know-what after the Phillies and the Yankees failed to make the World Series. Fox and Major League Baseball can’t be happy about this match-up. Texas versus San Francisco won’t be pulling too many people away from their poker games. Call me a bitter Phillies fan if you must, but I don’t see the Giants giving Texas much of a series. I still can’t even believe they’re in this Series. When Cody Ross carries a team in the NLCS, and Pat Burrell combines with him to makeup two-thirds of their outfield, it just doesn’t scream “champions.” For Texas, Cliff Lee has proven he just doesn’t lose in the playoffs. He was so far in the Yankees heads that the mere thought of him in Game 7 took them out in Game 6. Now he’s poised to pitch at least two games in the Series, most likely against Tim Lincecum, virtually eliminating the ace of the Giants. The Texas bats also knocked around the Yankees pitchers, and no team can go cold as a gr

Early Sixers, NBA Thoughts

The NBA tips off its season tonight, giving us a second major sport officially underway in what could be its final full season for a while. Like the NFL, a lockout is looming for the National Basketball Association. Apparently none of the owners in these sports noticed what happened when the NHL missed an entire season. Ironically, that would be the point – no one else noticed either. The NBA is probably the most foolish of the sports to threaten a work stoppage. Unless the NCAA plans to cancel March Madness, which isn’t happening just yet (though give them time and they may find a way to screw that up), sports fans might not miss NBA basketball at all. That said, we do have this season to watch. Normally it’s popular to dismiss the 76ers entirely right around now, but I think they just might show a few signs of life. The scary thing is that the biggest reason for that hope is a guy who want play a minute all season – their coach, Doug Collins. After suffering through Ed Stefanski at t

Ugly Weekend

In one of the ugliest sports weekends in the city for some time, Philadelphia saw the Eagles drop what was surprisingly a winnable game at halftime and the Phillies season come to an early end. I’m not very focused on the Eagles loss at this point. I think Tennessee is pretty underrated, and I really didn’t expect the Eagles to win. Turning a halftime lead into a loss that was basically a romp is disconcerting, but they have so many problems that I’m struggling to care about this season. Andy Reid has destroyed it by taking away the notion that this year is about developing Kevin Kolb, and unless the Eagles are going to sign Michael Vick to a long-term deal (which I’m not endorsing) it really doesn’t matter what they do with Vick at quarterback. They’re certainly not winning anything this season. The Phillies are the bigger issue right now. Everybody is holding Ryan Howard responsible for the loss on Saturday, which ended their season in a shocking series loss to the San Francisco Gian

Phils Survive; Week 7 NFL Picks; College Picks; Week-in-Review

A comeback of historic proportions in the making? That’s what’s on the minds of every Phillies fan tonight after a thrilling Game 5 victory in San Francisco against their ace, Tim Lincecum, and after the game we learned that our ace, Roy Halladay, had to gut it out after a “minor” groin pull early in the game. The team seemed to wake-up a little bit last night, with Jimmy Rollins stealing a couple bases, Jayson Werth popping a huge 9th inning home run, sandwiched around Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge mowing down the Giants, and even Raul Ibanez getting a couple of hits. There’s still plenty to be concerned about despite the high of last night. Both teams are batting the ball around more in the field than the batter’s box, Chase Utley looks defeated every time he swings the bat, and Ryan Howard hasn’t hit a home run in October. Most concerning for tomorrow night is still the fact that Roy Oswalt pitched in the game on Wednesday and has to go again on Saturday. But having the team back home

Phils Pushed to the Brink

An ugly loss has pushed the Phillies to the brink of elimination, down 3-1 to the San Francisco Giants. Last night’s loss is still stinging as we approach the first of what we hope will be three must-win games. I’d like to feel like the Phillies at least have the three best pitchers any team can have lined up to go in this situation. Yet, in a flurry of stupid moves last night, Charlie Manuel used Roy Oswalt in relief leaving open the question of who exactly would pitch Game 7 if the Phillies get that far. I didn’t mind Manuel pitching Joe Blanton last night with the logic of not pitching Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt on short rest. So why pitch Oswalt two days after he started? Reports are he’d already thrown his side session earlier in the day. While Manuel cost the Phillies the game and likely the series last night, he wasn’t alone. He took Blanton out too soon creating the need to eventually go to Oswalt. Jimmy Rollins looks absolutely awful. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard

Phillies Split Home Games, Eagles Win

So much to talk about, so much to react to from the weekend: • Only Andy Reid could take the joy out of Kevin Kolb having a second consecutive solid game and leading the Eagles to back-to-back wins. Instead of feeling good about watching the young quarterback of the future finally getting a chance to develop, fans get to hear Reid assure everyone that he will be going back to the bench in favor of Michael Vick, who in all likelihood won’t be back next year. • You gotta love Roy Oswalt blowing through a hold up sign, scoring from second on a base hit, and sparking the Phillies to a critical Game 2 win. He showed more heart on the base paths than anybody in a Phillies uniform all year. This team needs to be able to run the bases, play “small ball,” whatever you want to call it, if they’re going to win the World Series, and it’s amazing that a pitcher is the one guy who did it. • The minute I saw Ryan Howard on the Fox broadcast of the Eagles game, I knew someone would have a problem with

Week 6 NFL Pick, College Pick, Eagles Thoughts, Week-in-Review

A brutal Twitter pick on the 49ers cost me a second consecutive winning week in terms of points. Baseball and a Monday Night Football pick on the Jets kept things respectable at an overall 5-5, but it was for -15.95 points. Things have been especially tough on the blog, so there’s not much to say except that it’s time to turn things around. Here’s my picks for the week: Auburn -3.5 over Arkansas (10pts. to win 9.52) Steelers -13.5 over Browns (10pts. to win 9.52) Titans -3 over Jaguars (10pts. to win 10) I know it’s early for a Monday night pick, but the lack of “juice” made me jump on it. Normally, I would never pick a double-digit NFL game, but the Browns are practically forced to play rookie quarterback Colt McCoy. That’s a disaster waiting to happen against Pittsburgh’s defense. I’ll have a pick on tonight’s ALCS game, and picks throughout the week on Twitter . Eagles. I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to think about the Eagles right now. Kevin Kolb put up some decent numbers las

2010 NLCS and ALCS Predictions

Baseball is the only thing keeping my picks since the start of football season from being an embarrassment. If I was a bit smarter, I’d probably stay away from football altogether. I swept the NLDS and ALDS with the Phillies and the Yankees, including a game day parlay. Luckily, I listened to my gut, and stayed away from the other two series. I liked Tampa Bay and Atlanta, but not enough for a pick. Atlanta had limped into the playoffs, and I just didn’t want to pick against Texas’ pitching. The adage that pitching is everything has certainly held up. I’m not a baseball aficionado, but if the four teams left don’t have the four best pitching staffs in the majors, feel free to name the other. My thought has been that the Phillies and the Yankees were headed for a rematch in the World Series since the Phils caught fire in September – not exactly a novel thought, I realize. I’d love to say that I see nothing to change my mind, but the truth is that I don’t see enough to change my mind. T

Phils Advance, Eagles Win . . . But Who Could Focus?

If you have two quarterbacks, do you really have one at all? If you try to watch two games at once, do you really see either one? I had the “last channel” button on the remote working overtime last night, flipping back and forth between the Phillies and Eagles games. How TBS couldn’t somehow avoid having the Phillies on against the Eagles boggles the mind – don’t these networks want the markets of the teams they’re airing to watch their broadcast? I try to offer something a little different from the media when I write about a game. Unlike other bloggers, I don’t think anybody is getting their game report from me (or any other blog). But it’s tough to pick up on nuances of a game when you’re constantly wondering what’s going on in the other game. If you follow my Twitter picks, and luckily only a few people do, you know I was confident the Eagles were going to lose last night. And, quite frankly, if Alex Smith didn’t disappear after the first drive of the game until the fourth quarter,

Week 5 NFL Pick, College Pick, Week-in-Review

I dared you to follow me on Twitter last week, and I said I was doing better with game day selections as opposed to my weekly post. You didn’t believe me, did you? Well, last Friday’s picks were a weak 1-2 for -20.95 points. Only Alabama saved me from going winless, and I was 0-2 in the NFL. But I caught fire on Twitter, going 2-0 on Saturday with Notre Dame and Iowa in a parlay for +13 points. Monday night I added the Patriots for +9.09. Wednesday night I posted a Phillies/Yankees parlay for +7.29. Last night I posted Nebraska for another +4.55. That’s 6 straight on Twitter, for +26.64. I’ve had to get a little bit more organized to keep track of my picks, so a “week” will run Thursday through Wednesday in deference to football. So, last week I was a strong 6-2 on games, but only +8.43. I’m still down -39.31 since football started, but my win/loss record jumps to 10-10. I’m already off to a nice start this week, and if Roy Oswalt comes through tonight, my Phillies/Yankees series parl

Halladay Dominates Again

In some ways I wonder if Philadelphia fans, including myself, know how to react to what’s going on with the Phillies these days. As I read the blogs and listened to sports radio after Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter in the first game of the opening round of the playoffs last night, I felt like people wanted more from the moment than they can really feel. Don’t misunderstand me, I get how incredible this guy is on the mound. I don’t ever expect to see a Phillies pitcher, or quite frankly any pitcher, throw a perfect game and a no-hitter in the same season again. The scary thing for the rest of the National League is that one game into the playoffs there’s a real sense that it’s a foregone conclusion that the Phillies are going to be in the World Series. Just listen to Orlando Cabrera whine about the umpire helping Halladay get the no-hitter, and it’s pretty clear that the Cincinnati Reds are done. They just got no-hit, they are crying about it, and, oh, by the way, they’re facing Roy O

2010 MLB Playoff Predictions

I have some mixed emotions entering into October baseball predictions this year, not only as a Phillies fan but as a guy who jumped on the Yankees way too early. On July 9, everybody on ESPN was certain that the Yankees were trading for Cliff Lee until, you know, they didn’t. The Rangers scooped him up, and I looked like a chump for grabbing the New Yorkers at the “steal” price of +250 for 50 points to win 125. It’s not a terrible pick, but when it’s considered that they are essentially getting the same odds now, I didn’t make a great move. (For the record, I wasn’t the only dope. The odds dropped to +125 a few hours later and stayed there for a while.) I’ll stand by the pick, and, again, it’s not exactly a bad pick. I know Minnesota looks great and Tampa Bay actually beat the Yankees in the division. If I’d held off, I would take the Phillies to win it all, but I’m just not going to waste points. So, let’s deal with the first round. I like the Rays and the Atlanta Braves to advance ov

Disgusting Loss

Andy Reid should not have been allowed to come out of the tunnel for the second half of yesterday’s game – at least not as the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Jeff Lurie talks about being the gold standard, aggressive, wanting to win multiple Super Bowls, and yet has allowed Reid to run his franchise into the ground. What happened at the end of the first half last night was an absolute embarrassment to a franchise that gives a damn about winning. Sadly, the Eagles don’t fit that description. No, they’re apparently perfectly satisfied with Andy Reid’s weekly admission that he needs to do a better job. I watched my nephew play pee-wee football on Saturday and another one play tee ball on Sunday, and it’s not hyperbole to suggest that I saw more comprehension of their respective sports from the 10 and 5-year-olds than the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles displayed. Vinnie the Crumb said it on the 97.5 post-game show, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s time to forklift Andy Reid out of

McNabb Returns, Week 4 Picks, and a Quick Week-in-Review

I caught the Eagles game on Sunday, but just didn’t have the energy to write a post-game review. Michael Vick is looking good against garbage, and as usual everybody is getting way too excited. This week is the over-hyped return of Donovan McNabb. The fact is that it will be the last time the Washington Redskins are relevant all season. They have one of the worst pass defenses in the league, and McNabb is still McNabb. So, I’m skipping right to my picks. Another brutal week dropped me to 4-8 and -47.74. I came back a little bit for myself on some last-minute picks, so I’ll be throwing some “day of” picks on Twitter when the mood strikes me. Follow me at http://twitter.com/robqblogs . . . if you dare. Here are the picks I’m starting with: Philadelphia -5.5 over Washington (20pts. to win 19.05) Chicago +4 over the Giants (20pts. to win 19.05) Alabama -8 over Florida (20pts. to win 19.05) Week-in-Review: • Let me make this simple: LeBron James is a moron. I realize he was just answering