And Another Thing ...

One more prediction and one quick rave as we head into the weekend ...

First, the rave. The NHL board of governors has decided to change the schedule up again. I know that 99.99% of people are now saying "the NHwho?". But this is important. It's a lot easier to market stars like Sydney Crosby coming to town than it is to sell an eighth game each year between Detroit and Columbus. The new schedule will allow the Original Six teams to actually face each other more than once every three years and revive some old rivalries that were canned to try and create new ones. I'm usually very negative on Bettman and his gang of weenies, but on this one, they got something right. Two thumbs up.

Now for the Prophecy ...
In between college football games this Saturday, try to check out the coverage of Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The coverage is on NBC from 4:30 - 6:00 pm ET. I'm predicting that Macca (Chris McCormack) will win the men's race in a time around 8 hours and 15 minutes ahead of Craig Alexander of last years dream team Tri Dubai. I'll go with an upset on the women's side ... maybe Chrissie Wellington of the UK over our proud Canadian Samantha McGlone! Okay ... so the race was a month and a half ago and these prophecies are obviously right ... my blog, my rules. Just check it out. This is an awesome event where you get to see thousands of incredible people put everything they have on the line for 8-9 hours (or up to 17 for the age-group racers!). Get inspired!

Weekend Prophecies - Dec. 1-2

Here’s what you can expect from the Weekend Prophecies here at the Wing: a selection of the NFL picks during football season (probably seven or eight games), random forecasts of other games and events throughout the rest of the year, and all of my twisted logic behind the picks. Will I be right? Don’t bet on it. Will I be chock full of excuses as to why I was wrong? That’s a safer bet! And will I gloat about being wiser than Carnac when I have a hot weekend? Absolutely. So, without further adieu, here are my picks for week 13 in the NFL.

Cowboys over Cheeseheads – yeah, the game was last night, so I’m one for one. I can pick retroactively. My blog, my rules.

Titans over Texans – can I pick both teams to lose? No? Okay then, Haynesworth is coming back from injury but likely won't be 100% so Tennessee’s defense will still be hopeless. Houston will be able to run all over them with … wait a second … with who? They haven’t got anyone you say? Yeah, okay then, I'll pick the Vince Youngs.

Rams over Falcons – Bulger’s concussion problem has ruled him out. Therefore, which Detroit Lions castoff QB do I choose? Gus Frerotte or Joey Harrington? Hmm … the guy that fumbled to blow a shot at beating Seattle or the guy whose passer rating was less than 40 last week? Well, it’s in St. Louis at least. I suppose I’ll take home field advantage.

Lions over Vikes – This is your first look at me picking with my heart instead of my head. The Leos suck, I know that. But seriously, do you think Minnesota can repeat that performance from NY? I sure don’t. And Detroit's got to put together another decent game sometime. Right?

Eagles over Seahawks – Seattle are total frauds. They haven’t beaten a team with a winning record and they should have lost to St. Louis last week (yeah, I had picked the Rams … I’m bitter). I know Philly doesn’t have a winning record either, but they sure hung tough against Team Perfecto last week.

Broncos over Raiders – I just hope that Oakland doesn’t have anyone to return kicks. How did Sauerbrun not get cut this week? Guess they couldn’t find anyone else to kick it down the middle of the field and flop in front of the returner while he gains several hundred yards.

Bengals over Steelers – this is my upset special for the week. All of Pittsburgh’s losses have come to sub-500 teams and Cincy showed that they do actually remember how to play with the win over the Titans. It’s supposed to be sloppy again at Heinz Sunday night, so this one could be must-miss TV on NBC, just like the Monday night slog-fest.

Tune in Monday when I’ll make excuses for having most of the above completely wrong and I’ll try to predict how quickly the game between the Pats and the Ravens becomes a walkover. You can also look forward to a rant about the BCS next week with College Football wrapping up on the weekend. No one knows who’ll play for the crown yet, but you can be certain that there’ll be controversy!

Welcome to my Virtual Man Room

Allow myself to introduce… myself. I’m a random schmuck from Canada who can’t get enough of sports. All sports. I am a hockey player, a golfer, a triathlete, a skier, and a snowboarder, just to name a few. And I’ll try just about any other sport you want to throw at me. I watch too much football and can’t change the channel during the NHL playoffs. I get caught up in the craziness of the first weekend of March Madness and then count down the next couple of weeks until the Masters. Basically, I’m a certifiable sports nut.

My fiancée, Captain Pants as she shall be known herein, made the suggestion that perhaps I should start blogging my rants and other thoughts on sports. I have a feeling that she just wanted to stop being the outlet for all of them, but regardless, I liked the idea. So here I am, with a new blog for the world to see my occasionally humble opinion of everything athletic and its culture.

What might you expect to find here? I’ll likely rant on random topics as they arise on the sports horizon (like for instance, the size of Barry Bonds’ head). And I’ll rave about the patience of my dear fiancée as she tolerates the constant stream of sports on the TV. I haven’t worked out the rest yet, but amongst my rants and raves, I’ll post some links to others' opinions that strike me as interesting, and it will probably include my predictions for the weekend in sports on Fridays, followed up by something on Monday where I either gloat or generate excuses for how I couldn’t possibly have been expected to know what would happen. I do know that my goal is to provide some insight, to occasionally entertain, and to introduce you, the reader, to sports that you might otherwise have ignored (see: triathlon et al).

Finally, I have the benefit of not having editors to pass these commentaries through. That will inevitably not be a benefit from time to time. I am not unbiased, nor will I always try to be. I’m a Detroit sports fan having grown up nearby and will therefore cheer with the Red Wings and suffer with the Lions. That’s just the way I roll.

Come back often! I hope you enjoy.