American Idol

Well, another year has come and gone with American Idol.

We saw two new judges, one that added very good insight (along with a lot of beauty) and another that added no insight, but a lot of wit and charm.

I was always amused at listening to people that said the show was in trouble with Simon leaving. It is easy for me to say now, in retrospect, but I just didn’t get it. Were people really that impressed by Simon, but further, did they tune in primarily to see what the judges said? Why watch the show, then? First and foremost it is a singing contest.

But further, Simon duped people into thinking he was better than he was. People made him the authority and that mindset seemed to influence others into believing he was brilliant in evaluation performers.

He is a talent scout; not a musician. He is good (not great) at recognizing talent. But hey, how good, could he have been if he originally said no to Chris Daughtry going on to Hollywood?

AI will endure for a long long time. It does not matter who the judges are.

How the NFL will shape up this year

Division Winners:
AFC: Baltimore, New England, Indy, San Diego.
NFC: Atlanta, NY Giants, Green Bay, San Francisco


Wild Card:
AFC: NY Jets, Cincinnati
NFC: New Orleans, Minnesota

Super Bowl:
New England over Green Bay

Biggest surprise AFC: New England. Okay, okay I know what you are thinking. How can these guys be a surprise? Well, for one thing everybody is picking the Jets to win the division. New england played a tough schedule last year and still won 11 games. Of course, when they were plastered by the Ravens in the playoffs, many said their decade long reign was essentially over. The Pats are still alive and well. Their defense will be average, but their offense will be league's best

Biggest bust AFC: Tennessee. As much as I like Jeff Fisher, the OL (one of their perceived strengths ) has some question marks, and something tells me that Vince Young will still be a bust.

Biggest surprise NFC: St. Louis. Nowhere to go but up, I think Bradford will be decent, their OL improved, and Steven Jackson still a great runner.
They could win their division at 8-8. Some places have them as high as 20 to 1 to win their division.

biggest bust NFC: Dallas. Their OL also has some question marks, and the playmakers on offense and defense don't seem to correlate with expected wins.

Over/unders on seasonal wins I like the most: (odds will vary by site, I found these on World Sports Exchange)
Seattle under 7.5 (-170)
Dallas under 10.5 (-130)
San Diego under 10.5 (+100)
New England over 9.5 (-140)

Divsion winner: In the NFC West, I love St. Louis at 20 to 1.

Each week, I will post my Carib picks, along with a sentence or two about the game.