NFL Preview and Fantasy Football Strategy

Hey, this is Steve Blum, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. You are now on

the inside of what I like to call the circle

of trust. We are all connected in a great circle

of life. You know something, Bert? I think you

and I are going in circles. It feels like we're

going in circles. The Circle is now complete.

When I left you, I was about to learn you. Now

I am the master. Because it's a circle. Yeah,

we heard about the circle. Yeah, I swear. I believe

it changed. Hi, this is Chuck. This is Greg.

And this is Dan, and we are Talking in Circle,

brought to you by the GeekCast Radio Network,

the podcast where we are ready for some football.

And I know, I know sports and geeks, they don't

always coincide. You know, football and geeks

scatter like like mice when you turn on the lights.

But yeah, I don't know about that because I go

into the comic book store and I get compliments

on my Vikings cap. Yeah, that's true. There is

some crossover. There is some crossover for sure.

But we're going to do a little. We don't talk

sports here a great deal, but we're going to

do some NFL preview stuff and get into some fantasy

and really, if anything. talk about why we think

geeks should embrace sports more than they do.

Like, if you're afraid of sports, you hate sports,

and you're thinking, I'm going to skip this episode,

give it a second chance, maybe listen and see

what you think. You might be surprised. But before

we get into the NFL talk, how's the week been

going for you guys? Terrible, just terrible.

Terrible. No, I don't know. I really didn't do

anything this week other than kind of work around

the house and everything, so I didn't have much

time to do anything exciting. Yeah, it's that

time of year, spring cleaning. Well, I guess

it's false cleaning almost. It's weird that fall

stuff's already out. Like I went to get beer

the other day and they had Oktoberfest already

out and pumpkin stuff. I'm like, we can never

celebrate the time we're in. Yeah, we're always

looking to the next thing. The Halloween candy

was out literally two weeks ago here Candy corn

is disgusting, by the way You ever hear a Lewis

Black bit on candy corn? It's like, you know,

every candy corn that's ever invented was invented

like 50 years ago They've never invented Just

keep re -bringing it out because no one likes

that stuff I'd rather eat earwax. It's it's comparable

to me Yeah, that's what it was. That's to be

fair. I am a big fan of earwax. It's just like,

you know, that snack that keeps on giving. Yeah.

It's a daily dose every day. So, Greg, how's

your week been going? It's all right. I woke

up one morning to find something like really

wrong with my hand for my pointer finger down

at the bottom. kind of where it extends into

the palm of my hand. It's got an extra bump there.

It's kind of like a bone, like got extended out

more and I got like some kind of spur or something

really weird going on. You built by radioactive

spider by any chance? No, cuz I think that would

be more of a skin lumping up, but this is more

of the bone I'm not sure if it's because I crack

my knuckles all the time or what but I do that

constantly and anymore it feels like Like it

needs to be cracked, but it doesn't so I'm trying

really really hard not to crack my fingers and

it is Driving me up a wall. I still want to crack

my fingers so bad Only thing is, if you actually

did drive up a wall, you probably would crack

your finger. So it's and a lot of other things

as well. Yeah. Unless I had Batmobile from what

is it, the third or second one or where it goes

up a wall? The second one is the second one.

Yeah. Yeah. I heard this weird thing where this

doctor apparently one time he was like very old,

like in his 70s or something. And he. did like

a basically a social experiment with himself

or like across the span of his life for like

50 years or something like one hand he would

always like crack the knuckles and the other

hand he wouldn't and when he got really old there

was literally no difference between his hands

so I don't know if it varies from person to person

or if it's there's just nothing to that or what

but yeah take it ahead as you may I guess but

I'm just wondering if maybe I just took it and

cracked it too far, like pushed on the the knuckle

too far or something like that, and maybe popped

out a piece of the bone without realizing it.

So I'm not exactly sure what's going on. If there's

anybody with a doctorate out there. Go ahead.

Doogie Howser, where are you? Let me know. That

and the whole white poop situation. I'm still

waiting on to hear what that's about. Solving

Greg's problems here on Geekcast Radio after

dark. Yeah, I don't feel like going to my actual

doctor. He's kind of an asshole. Let me trust

these total strangers that listen to us. Exactly.

Yeah. Podcast today will keep the doctor away,

as they say. And I hope you don't have any medical

issues going on like I do. No, my week's been

I'm doing tons of work right now. It's our busy

season. It's I've been saying that for a while

because it has been. But it's kind of we had

a kind of a fun day today because it's really

crazy. We're working a lot of hours. We've been

doing a few things to kind of lighten the mood

a little bit. We've done different themed days

and whatnot. And today was like each row that

we worked at work day. Yeah Each row that we

work at would pick a theme and then like dress

up as that theme or something like that Like

my row we picked travel destinations So we all

dressed up as different travel destinations and

put up decorations and some people really went

crazy with it like this one row like dressed

up as like They created a story about the department

and then they all dressed up as different characters

of the department and Someone dressed up as coral

Deville from 101 Dalmatians and all the other

people were dressed up as the Dalmatians and

yeah, I work at you know a Fourth grade classroom.

Apparently, I don't know but it was a lot of

fun. It was it did light in the mood because

we're like Really intense right now. So it's

kind of nice to have this like craziness going

on So, you know I'm walking down the hallway

and I see Santa Claus and then I see someone

dressed up as a convict and then I see someone

Dressed up as one of the village people. It was

just like a normal day at work. So You know the

day I would propose right? Would it be naked

day? No, it would be Amelia Clarke day where

everybody dresses up like who we see from Game

of Thrones Yeah, I wouldn't want to dress up

as Khaleesi because that would be bad for everyone.

I Maybe dress up as one of her dragons. Oh, was

that a spoiler? You would have to sit on somebody's

shoulder the whole day of work. Yeah, or in a

cage But besides that I've been uh, I started

using this new app I'm trying to get healthier

eat healthier and exercise get back to exercise

So I started using this app called like the my

fitness pal app So I track everything I eat and

all my exercise and whatnot and i've also given

up soda Completely, which i've did it before

and then I got back into the habit of drinking

it and now i'm trying to give it up completely

So if I start snapping every so often I apologize.

It's just a lot you turn into my finger while

you're dieting. What's up? Just a lack of caffeine

intake. It's been a while since i've had real

caffeine. So Yeah, just quit and cold turkey.

And it can be tough, like crack, like crack.

I've given up crack. That's what I've done. But

now soda can be like crack just with the amount

of caffeine. It's tough. But I've been doing

pretty good. I'm in like my fifth day now. So

I don't get chips, though, like they do for the

other things. So it is not. I just have a little

countdown. Five days sober. Exactly. From soda.

From Mountain Dew. So which is just as dangerous

as anything. This is turned into the Jay and

Silent Bob get old podcast. A lot less sex talk,

though, so. Well, like you said, from you guys,

maybe not. But there is a little bit of a withdrawal

from caffeine. Like if you go from drinking a

lot to nothing, like you can get like some pretty

bad headaches and stuff. Yeah, that's basically

what I've been dealing with. So giving up caffeine.

I mean, I've had like some really low calorie

Snapple stuff, which is had some caffeine in

it, but which I'm drinking right now. So what's

that made from all the way? What's that made

from? I believe it's the best stuff on earth,

but I think that's incorrect. So that's that's

what it is. No, you're right. Yeah. But besides

all the health talk and, you know, welcome the

health podcast with. Dan, Chuck, and Greg. But

besides all that, Greg, have you been able to

do anything else? You catch up with them any

more Lord of the Rings? You've been reading anything?

I actually have gotten some reading done. No,

it's not an actual novel. It's a novel that has

been made into a graphic novel. If you've caught

any of that, if you understood any of that, which

I have said, I actually read a Neil Gaiman book.

It's like the inception of I read a Neil Gaiman

book called The Graveyard Book, and this is the

first volume of the graphic novel. So it kind

of leaves you on a little bit of a cliffhanger.

And essentially what takes place is this whole

family gets murdered except for this little baby,

like really tiny little baby in a crib. Jumps

out of the crib and then walks off towards this

graveyard. He was legit so far Yes, seems totally

legit. Is this little baby Stewie? No, it's not

Stewie does not have a football type of head

even though that would totally go with today's

podcast But he escapes and so the the guy that's

killed the rest of his family is like, oh crap

But he's used to tell himself. He's still got

time and everything So we only hear about him

every once in a while, like little whispers in

the back of the storyline that progresses through

the rest of this book. But the little boy walks

out to the graveyard and is found by the ghosts

that live there. And the one ghost didn't have

any kids when she was alive, so she wanted to

adopt this little boy and everybody's like no,

you can't adopt a little boy can't live in the

graveyard and then what about his parents and

everything and the ghost of the boy's mother

appears and is like Help my baby. We've been

murdered and then kind of fades away before they

could get rest of the story. So there's the big

hubbub in the graveyard about whether he should

be allowed to But they can't get him any food

because they're not out of the graveyard. So

there's a whole bunch of rules set up. But there

is a vampire that's allowed to stay there. So

he's kind of the boy's guardian. So the vampire

essentially becomes his guardian because figure

of death comes in and tells the people of the

graveyard that he's got the little boy's got

free range of the graveyard. And essentially

for the rest of the book, it's you're kind of

going along. seeing how this boy grows up. It

doesn't have a whole ton of action, but there's

interesting aspects of learning the whole culture

of the dead and different like vampires, werewolves,

stuff like that. And you find out about different

realms. So it's kind of an interesting take on

all these different horror tropes. but kind of

levels them back to something that maybe us living

people could kind of relate to through experiencing

it with... The boy's name is Bod, by the way,

because his name is Nobody. His name is Nobody

Owens. Nobody knows? Yep. And so it gets shortened

to Bod. And so he learns all these fun things

about... the graveyard and being dead and all

this other stuff. So I thought it was an interesting

take and it's written by Neil Gaiman. So it's

got to be good. It's like Smuckers. I'm just

waiting for the time Neil Gaiman teams up with

Gizmo del Toro and then like the geek community

just implodes on itself. So, yeah, they're having

like virgin nerd virgins or orgasm in older places.

You said that. It's really good, and I think

the artwork's really good for each different

chapter of the book. They give you different

artists throughout, which I don't normally care

for, but the artwork was really well done and

kind of similar all the way through. You could

see kind of the people all came from at least

similar styles. but the artists are, if you know

them, because I haven't heard any of these guys,

Kevin Nowlin, P. Craig Russell, Tony Harris,

and Scott Hampton, Galen Showman, Jill Thompson,

and Stephen or Stefan B. Scott. So would you

say this is more like a comedic take or is it

more straightforward? Well, there's a little

bit more comedy. There's got some little comedic

moments. It's not really a comedy, though. You're

just kind of going through this boy's life. It's

not really a horror because you're not getting

really scared by anything, but there's kind of

horror elements to it. There's a little bit of

adventure, but it's just neat kind of figuring

out the culture of the dead, I guess you would

say. So when reading the graphic novel, does

it have you at all interested in actually reading

the physical novel, the Getting like the information

and it's a complete story and everything I feel

like but I feel like if I went to the book that

there would definitely be more description going

on of some things and a little bit more detail

Going into what's going on maybe but the visuals

in this book Fill it out for the most part But

it would be interesting to see all the the little

details because it is kind of Had to be translated

from Neil Gaiman It's novel form into graphic

novel form because they are two different types

of Media if you ask me plus it's Neil Gaiman

once again So I think go into book you get his

his more of his language into it and more of

his his flavor into the mix Yeah, I know Marvel's

done that a lot with different novels and classic

novels. They did a lot with some Stephen King

books as well, whether taking it in. Yeah, I

read some of the Marvel illustrated classics.

I was reading the H .P. Lovecraft and that got

me into Lovecraft a little bit. And I think the

Marvel editions were better because H .P. Lovecraft

has a little bit more of a Whimsical language

going on there that can be hard to understand.

I think sometimes I went through some of the

stuff for Stephen King like his stand the stand,

which is a book I really like a lot and the graphic

novel was pretty good It's just such a long story

to do That's a really long comic. I never finished

it all but And also wanted to check out the Wizard

of Oz books, which I've heard are really good

Yeah by Scottie Young Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love

his artwork. I forget who who who wrote that,

but I'm a big fan of his artwork and I'm always

checking out his his blog. And he has a new he's

doing the rocket, I believe is his. Yeah, that's

actually pretty good. He does the he does the

writing and he does the pencils. And I believe

somebody else thinks maybe and somebody else

does the colors and. The lettering but but that

was actually pretty good. I'm about two issues

into that and that one's been a lot of fun so

far Yeah, very cool. Very cool. I did get to

watch two things that I'll touch upon rather

quickly The first one was the movie done by John

Favreau Most recently the guy who directed Iron

Man and Iron Man 2 and that is chef He kind of

went back to his more indie roots and did this

movie about him as a as a high -powered chap

And after a certain incident with a critic, he

ends up kind of having to reevaluate what he

does and kind of start all over. And it's very

much a mirror, I think, of his actual movie career.

He says a lot about criticism in general in this

movie because he has a huge issue with this food

critic. You also you have this owner of the restaurant

who's telling him what to do and doesn't give

him any freedom. You can definitely see that's

probably him working with franchise movies and

being told what to do and not having any freedom

and. Going back and being more independent and

be able to do what he really truly wants to so

there's definitely a mirror there from real life

and And story and honestly just a really sweet

movie. There's not much conflict going on. It's

it's a lot of people call it very food porn ish

because the way it shoots its food does and it's

interesting because when it starts off Like I'm

not a foodie by any means. I'm kind of simple

when it comes to food, but like the food he creates.

It's just like it's Fun to watch and see being

put together. I know Chuck with you being an

engineer You might just enjoy like the engineering

angle of it and just how all these little bits

are kind of put together and How it becomes this

this piece of food and it almost looks like too

good to eat. You're like, it's I just like the

food network So this is this is aces for me right

off the bat Yeah. And so he starts off there

and then it gets into more like a food truck,

which then it gets into food that I'm like, that

food looks delicious because it's just like sandwiches

and, you know, Cubans and whatnot. So it's it's

a fun film. It's really lighthearted. Some good

comedy in there as well. John Fabo does a really

great job. It's nothing overly serious. It's

a really good movie thing to watch with a lot

of people because it's just it's it's a general

comedy, nothing. To abstract by any means is

in like nice little indie. It's like a feel -good

film. It doesn't get a little bit too Say a little

bit melodramatic at the end But the heart of

the story is like this is father trying to connect

with his son and it works out pretty well a lot

of like a lot of stuff in there about Social

networking and whatnot through Twitter and a

lot of Twitter jokes, which are what you can

take early, but it's a good film I definitely

would recommend it especially if you drag like

Food network. I'm sure you would get a lot a

lot of enjoyment out of it. Just watching all

the food He made because it's really shot. It

shot. Well, it's really it's well directed. So

It might be besides Iron Man like fabulous best

directed film. So so it's fat Favros stars in

the movie too. He just directs it He stars and

directs. I shouldn't have mentioned that. Yeah,

he's a lead actor It's it's funny though because

I feel like it's his like his dream because his

ex -wife is sophia varguera from modern family

His like girlfriend is Scarlett Johansson. I'm

like, OK, Jon Favreau. It's like, I mean, I get

like being a good cook is, you know, you have

a lot of luck there, but let's let's let's be

let's let's squeeze the brakes a little bit.

Your girlfriend, Scholar Johansson, and then

your your ex wife is Sophia Vergara. I don't

know about that. Just imagine him directing the

second Iron Man when Scarlett Johansson came

in. Thank God and he's mine. He's on the director's

chair just like drooling all over himself when

scarlet's on set I will say there's like no like

makeout scenes or anything like that So he at

least didn't like, you know objectify them in

any way It's funny though because like it does

feel like he did get all of his friends to be

Little bit parts like Dustin Hoffman shows up

Robert Downey jr. Shows up like every small part

is some like huge actor So for an indie film,

it's really star -studded. So did did Vince Vaughn

make an appearance at all? No, he didn't surprisingly

I was waiting for it to happen. They never made

it to Vegas though. So maybe that was It's a

good film. I definitely would recommend it. It

should be on DVD and blu -ray rather shortly.

So And the next film I won't say much about because

there's not a great deal to say about it not

because it's bad just because it's a very Interesting

concept film and it's starting like one of the

men of the years like one of the biggest hottest

names and like acting right now and geeked them

and that is Tom Hardy and I don't know if you

have you guys heard of the film block at all

Okay pop and lock we're dancing. Yeah, it's exactly

that tom hardy starts starts as a dance instructor

And the youth center is going to be shut down

Unless he can win the pop and lock contest Luckily,

no i'm joking I would love to see bain and uh

in a dance contest speaking of bain anyone see

the image of That was like floating around the

internet of during The filming of Dark Knight

there was a wedding happening and then you see

like uh, Tom Hardy walking down the street in

his bane gear He's just like hanging out like

waving to the people at the wedding party It's

just it's just really awkward and funny to look

at but I digress Now the movie lock it is it

came out a little early this year. It's coming

out on dvd in blue right now And it's a really

simple story. It's a really simple concept but

sometimes when that symbol comes it can be complicated.

Literally the story starts off, and I don't want

to give too much away because there isn't a lot

of plot here so the more I say the more I give

away, but basically the story starts off with

Tom Hardy. He plays this character Locke and

he's a construction worker and he's starting

in the car. He's in the car and he's about to

take a left -hand turn and eventually changes

mind and he ends up making a right -hand turn

and he starts driving. and he has a giant bug

on the back of his neck exactly and then monsters

come now he starts driving and mine was a doctor

who reference by the way he kind of went with

it and it was kind of like that so he drives

into the TARDIS and then the song screwdriver

and then the I don't know but anyways so he And

he has a destination to get to and the entire

movie is him going to this destination and it's

him going through this series of phone calls

to basically try to fix Get everything corrected

find It's I don't want to give away too much

But there's issues that pop up and he has to

try to fix all these issues by the time I get

to this destination So the entire movie 99 %

of this movie takes place in this car some shots

from the outside and whatnot But it is like it

is just gives you an understanding of how great

an actor Tom Hardy is because it works completely.

It's never overly dramatic. It's well paced.

It's really interesting. I mean, I know some

people might get bored because literally it's

just a dude having a conversation, which might

sound pretentious, but it works and it's really

well directed because the space is used really

well. It's a really great camera work within

the car outside the car. So it's really well

directed to some great lighting techniques. And

it's kind of interesting how they made it. Basically

what they did was a Tom Hardy drove this because

it almost happens in real time Tom Hardy did

this route like three times and During the driving

people would call in from the studio And they

would have these conversations and on the GPS

you would have all these lines So it was it was

basically happening as as is so it was just interesting

that this was all just kind of happening the

way it happens in the movie So it's just a really

cool concept and i'm i'm interested in concepts

like this i'm a sucker for like movies that take

place in one location or in one day and this

does both and again, it's really Resting upon

tom hauling shoulders. She just does a really

great performance. So I would say it's not nearly

as accessible as something like chef but if you're

into kind of movies that are You know, they like

to do some interesting things change things around

definitely check it out So if you're a huge tom

hardy fan, I would also check it out So he's

it's interesting too because like he can really

give huge performances like really big characters

with a lot of emotion And that's characters not

in this necessarily like that. He's more subdued,

but it's done. Well, so I probably made a lot

of people really disinterested in it and some

interested in it, which is I think I don't know

the way you do is is he naked at any point during

this movie like he was in uh bronson He's not

naked. He's full. Thank god then then that should

attract tons of people because it was scary to

see his penis during uh bronson Yeah, you got

naked a lot in that movie. Yes. He did it was

chuck. Have you seen it? No Don't because it

was It was it was kind of crazy silly Like just

out there and plus you see his junk a lot I'd

see I like Bronson but also Nick and Nicholas

wouldn't Wendy Griffin is probably one of my

favorite directors right now So I do enjoy his

style, but it is really it is a wonky film for

sure But it's I could it could turn off a lot

of people because it's really it is out there

in a lot of different ways But yeah No pun intended.

You understand why he's called Tom Hardy. Anyways,

I think he should be named Tom Smalley. Oh, jeez.

Yeah, you say that now. Moving along now. But

we're going to take a quick break right now and

we come back. We'll be getting into some NFL

talk. So getting geared up for the NFL season,

which is only honestly a few days away. Kinda

crazy, so we'll see you in a bit. Download this

show on iTunes or at simplisticreviews .blogspot

.com. I'm sure your insurance company will cover

that. No, they won't. No, they probably won't.

Every week on the In Session Film Podcast, you

can expect to hear reviews on all of the latest

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week. We'd love to hear from you. All right.

And welcome back. And before we get into our

talk about football, we got we got some winners

to announce of our own here. A few weeks ago,

we had our infamous action hero draft and we

got a lot of great feedback. So very happy to

see that a lot of great a lot of votes and the

claim who won Chuck. Greg or myself, so it was

actually quite a tight race. It came down to

the nitty gritty here and a lot of votes too.

Yeah, a great deal of votes. So. But there can

only be one champion, so we'll go through this

and Greg and I unfortunately came in second and

third place. We were only one vote apart, but

Greg had 31 % of the vote and I had. 32 percent.

How the mighty have fallen. I know, I know. And

then, of course, that means the winner winner

chicken dinner goes to that of Chuck with the

whopping 37 percent of the votes. So apparently

Chuck just entered the porno. No, it was a it

was a club for for winners. Strip club for winners

and they're in the champagne room. So Greg chuck

any speech or anything like that or well, I'd

like to thank you know, everybody that voted

for me and Like to thank my my action heroes

for for having good reputations and good movies

in the past Pulled it up there for you. They

put their they put it on the line and yeah pays

def clutch players you know, they they came through

and accounted and You know, they really really

put me over the top But see, more importantly

than winning this, though, that means I get the

first pick in the next draft we do. Nice, nice,

nice. And of course, of course, this is probably

the biggest thing that's happened to Jean -Claude

Van Damme in quite a long time. So yes, yes.

Maybe he can afford a haircut now. Or dinner.

It's probably more. I feel like when he gets

a haircut, it would like hurt him and he'd be

like. You lose his power. He would not be able

to do the splits. You would just see him, you

know, looking at two chairs that are slightly

apart with a really sad look on his face. It's

like I can't wait to see him like if he's like

85 years old and he can like still do a split

or something. My legs may be broken, but hopefully

hopefully his hips don't just give out while

he's doing the split. But mad props to Greg for

doing those awesome movie posters that definitely

put a pretty sweet accent on the whole deal there.

So, oh, yeah, those are those are very nice.

Very nice, for sure. Better than most. Most real

real movie posters you see nowadays, honestly.

So, yeah, I actually do think it beat out some

of those. Very cool, Greg. Very cool. Thank you

for that. We really I gave Greg a lot of work

to do and he pulled through, so. Appreciate that.

I always do Very nice. But again what we were

here for and that is of course the whole NFL

football season starting and then just a few

days after this episode drops and I thought we

just started the conversation just you know Casually

out of it. We've talked about sports a little

bit, but not a great deal. So Let's start with

with you know, how big of football fans are we

have we been a football fan of our life? Has

something we recently got into? Now Chuck, I

guess I'll start with you because we know when

we did our Part of your six episode one of the

people that you would invite was damn Reno So

we know you're a huge Dolphins fan. So what kind

of got you into the whole? Phenomenon and religion

that is football well, I guess like Basically,

football became a love of mine because of my

dad. My dad was a huge dolphin fan, so I kind

of like watch games with him growing up. And,

you know, I just became the next generation of

dolphins fan. And he actually has a his his story

is more interesting than mine of how he started

liking them. He was telling me when he was a

kid, he never really paid attention to football

that much. And. In 1972, the Super Bowl was between

the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Redskins.

And my dad and my uncle, they had never really

paid attention to football. But for some reason,

they bet on this game and they each picked a

particular team. And my dad happened to take

the Dolphins and my uncle took the Redskins.

And my dad got the better end of that deal that

particular year because the Finns won and became

the only team to ever go undefeated in the Super

Bowl era. So pretty interesting story about how

he came to like them. He followed them, you know,

ever since then. My uncles followed the Redskins

ever since then to this day. So pretty cool there.

I kind of just took up the mantle, you know,

watching games with him and stuff. And of course,

I had the pleasure of Watching Dan Reno play

in my era since he kind of like broke onto the

scene right around the time I was born so I've

never gotten to enjoy a Super Bowl victory in

my time yet, but just those moments of watching

Reno work his magic were quite memorable and

you know, I Really enjoy watching the games with

my dad and everything and it's a lot of fun,

you know win or lose definitely more fun if we

win, but Yeah. Yeah, it's one of those things

where You lose that sunday and then like the

rest of your week is kind of like Just doesn't

feel right. You're just like, uh, yeah I know

it's like it's just weird it sucks you right

in and You know on the on the weeks you get a

win. You're just like pumped. You're like you're

excited in every other aspect of your life and

When you lose you're like, oh man sucks I'm not

going anywhere. You know if like the giant I

i'll get into what I to my team, but yeah if

like You know they lose and then you're just

not you're i'm just gonna stay away from espn

for that week i'm just wearing it all off because

I want to relive the highlights of them losing

over and over again, which for me My story is

very similar to chalk and the fact that like

you like chalk I became a fan because of my my

father my dad was a big giants fan and that kind

of Came down to me which was interesting cuz

none of my other siblings on the last of five

kids were really into football But for whatever

reason I've always been into sports as a kid

played it a lot I mean I that's all we did during

the summers play football or baseball and that's

in even in high school and whatnot played a lot

of sports So got into football a great deal and

it's been a giant friend my entire life. It's

been an up -and -down season unfortunately, unlike

Chuck or I since I should say fortunately like

Chuck unlike Chuck I Had the pleasure of watching

my team when the Super Bowl twice in the last

few years You know, which one of the greatest

Super Bowls ever in 2008 as they beat, you know

18 wins the one giant loss against the those

those pesky New England Patriots and then again

Just just for the fun of it. They did it a few

years later, but last year Unfortunately, not

so much, you know starting oh and seven. It was

a tough year. It was a tough year, but But yeah,

it was the same thing like my dad got into it

and I've kind of it's one of those things you

kind of can bond over still now that I live in

Baltimore my dad lives in My dad was still isn't

ran. He still he sends me their schedule He honestly

when recording this the Giants are playing right

now in the preseason game And he's texting me

updates as if I couldn't find them out myself

But you know, I have what that's why he tends

to test me the score He emails me or he doesn't

email me. He mails me all the articles about

the Giants and whatnot So it's interesting. It's

it's keeps me up and whatnot. It's just something

else Go ahead. I'm sorry. I was just gonna say

that's all that's all fun stuff, you know, like

just the the Bonds that build like you're saying

the camaraderie like great stuff Chuck and I

we've been friends since second grade and a lot

of that was playing football and football like

he's done the Chuck's been a Dolphins fans for

as long as I can remember that's always been

a huge thing and We when we were in college,

we went to go see Dan Marino get inducted the

Hall of Fame Which was which was great to see

and i'm not a dolphins fan but it was you know

I had to be a dolphin fan on that day because

i've always been a damn reno fan since he's from

western pi and whatnot the pride of pride of

pittsburgh, but uh But yeah, so it's always been

a cool thing to talk about and we've got in the

fantasy which we'll get into a little bit But

greg, I know your your Route to football was

a lot different than ours. So what kind of got

you into football? I know you're not into it

as much as we are but I know you've kind of gotten

into it more in the last few years Yeah, I got

into it back in the day through my next -door

neighbor who was my best friend and I mostly

did it to be in and cool and have something to

talk to him about and Mostly it was Me with the

the apparel wearing and not so much watching

the games But back then I was a Dolphins fan

like Chuck has been but I was a Dolphins fan

because my neighbor was a Dolphins fan and then

I kind of Fell out of it and like fell out of

the the friendship with him for the most part

I still see him every once in a while Maybe I'll

see him again at the Baltimore comic -con because

I saw him there last year Which is weird because

we're both from Scranton and uh, I should mention

this is always this ongoing joke We've been having

for a long time with greg is that nowhere to

where we go He runs into somebody he knows like

literally one time when we're in a cornfield

in a corn maze It's like greg runs into somebody.

It was just his ongoing joke and I live in Complete

darkness to he found the person that he knew.

I live in Baltimore. I go to the Baltimore comic

-con I don't run into anybody. I know really

you did. I did Yeah, of course though Chuck Eric

Greg you we go to Antarctica and it'd be like

hey Greg. It's like I'm not that social either.

My social life has been kind of dwindling lately

So I it's a lot harder for me to find people

that I know at this point So I think you guys

are safe in Antarctica you never know you never

know but uh i i kind of dropped out of football

even more after the friendship kind of broke

up but uh then i started hanging out with you

guys and you guys talk a lot of sports and everything

and then we started up the fantasy football league

and everything and i started watching the games

because i was invested in it through the fantasy

football stuff and i had to learn everything

and I've become a little bit more educated and

I actually picked out my own favorite team for

myself this time around. I mostly picked them

out because my favorite player is Adrian Peterson

and that's because I drafted him as my running

back the first year I played and it was his rookie

year and he did freaking phenomenal. So that

just totally got me on his side and totally got

me into the Vikings. The team hasn't been really

great through the years. Been better some years,

but a lot worse other years. And pretty much

AP just carries the whole team on his back for

the most part. Yeah, they had that one year where

they were so close to winning the Super Bowl,

but Favre had that awful interception and then...

The was it the Saints ended up going or the Packers

field which which it was that year, but I don't

remember either But yeah, I remember that that's

when they still had What the hell's his name

as the coach and I think that was like the year

after that. He got fired his head coach Yeah,

yeah, it I don't know. I think the Vikings might

be decent this year. I don't think they'll be

as Bad as they were last year. Yeah, but they

they still have Castle as quarterback. I don't

understand that at all. They drafted a quarterback

first round and they are still using like one

of their three quarterbacks from last year. So

I'm not I say give it like four games. I'm sure

after that, Teddy Bridgewater will start. I'm

Castle's pretty good quarterback, though. Yeah,

but he did horrible last year. It was him and

three other quarterbacks and all of them did

horrible. Yeah, you'll see. It's like giving

it to somebody that you know what I mean by giving

it to somebody that he's got this position starting

position. Yeah, I mean, they have to earn it,

though, through training camp and preseason and

everything. So I mean, that's kind of telling

me that Bridgewater isn't quite ready yet. He

earned it, Chuck. Let me tell you. Yeah, I'd

put the work in I'm winking while I'm saying

these emphasize words Yeah, it's stuff with like

rookie quarterbacks because you have some that

you'll you'll let them sit for a while some that'll

start right away, but Some with mixed success

like rd3 was great his rookie year and then he

hasn't done well since and I think Castle is

gonna be better this year He's in the system

for a little bit longer. He's not he's coming

in with a better. He's got a better offensive

coordinator now, so With I think it's a nerve

Turner if I'm not mistaken. So I believe so who's

not a great coach, but he's a great coordinator

So I think he'll I think he's not a great coach

after all those years in San Diego. No No, no

not so much but all those menial key years in

San Diego and I Still don't know how he held

that job for so long. You talked about someone

doing favors. I think that might have been it

but You touched upon fantasy football Which I

think is a great segue into what we can get into

next and I know like I when I started the episode

I talked about how a lot of geeks hate sports

and I can understand that there's issues with

it But I think inherently there's something about

fantasy football that I think even geeks can

get behind I think it's like the ultimate role

-playing game. Really? You have a team you have

different attributes. You have to put there's

a lot of strategy to it. So Do you guys think

that someone who maybe isn't into football, Greg,

I guess I can start with you because you weren't

into football, but fantasy football got you into

it. So what about fantasy football that kind

of became appealing? Well, it was definitely

a chance for me to talk to you guys over long

distances. That was before the podcast of trying

to keep up with you guys. It was fantasy football

and that only comes around once a year. So that

was a great thing. But nerd -wise, it does kind

of play a lot like a kind of a Dungeons and Dragons,

except you really don't have anything to level

up with. And you can get really nerdy and you

can put all the math into it of adding up all

the points and assigning points for different

accomplishments and add those points up, which

math nerds can really get into and accountants

can do on their free time. there's there's something

for that but if you're not into that don't worry

you could do it on the computer like we do and

the computer does all the addition and subtraction

for you um so that it kind of runs a little bit

more like the video game skyrim um where they

do skyrim or fallout so you got that kind of

nerdy aspect plus it's like that but you don't

have any control over the player so that's the

little bit of the downfall of his of it. You

don't really get to choose like what those characters

quote unquote do, but you do get to pick your

lineup. I have tried to convince others with

this argument, other nerds, because I did play

D &D for a little bit. I was terrible at it,

though. Fantasy football is a lot easier. So

if you're a nerd that wants to play Dungeons

and Dragons, but it's too complex for you, fantasy

football might be your route. Yeah, and just

to give you some, you know, to put that in perspective,

Greg, who probably was in the football at least

out of nearly everyone in the league has won

twice. I've never won. Chuck, have you won once?

Right. Yeah. Yeah. We've been doing it since

I don't know. It's been about seven years now

or so. Yeah. And we had one guy win that never

logged into the site. Our friend and we've talked

about a few times and this year we actually have

we usually do a 10 team league this year. We

have 12 Players and we have actually added a

few new additions of some podcast people JD from

in session film DJ and Matt from simplistic reviews

So that's kind of cool to expand it even further.

So little interleague play there. Yeah. Yeah,

I've been on in session film I haven't been on

simplistic reviews, but DJ and Matt have been

on MR weekly a few times so their their broadcast

is great. So it'll be fun We'll sure we have

some we've already started a little bit of a

twitter war Uh, you know seeing who what will

happen to the person that loses I think dj said

that the person who loses needs to watch you

you uh, you'll uh, what's that guy's name? Uh

bull yoink bull or whatever that horrible director

who does video game movies. Oh, oh shit. What's

his name? It was close enough with that. I think

people understand. Yeah, he's an awful director

is one of his movies reviewing it. So well Which

would be awful. So I've actually watched a couple

I haven't reviewed them, but I have watched a

couple of those I think the one he mentioned

was rampage, which I don't think is based off

a game It's his original property, which is even

scarier because that dude is He he makes awful

off movies. He makes awful decisions Yeah, but

but yeah, I think And Chuck, I mean, I guess

I'll go to you next, because you were in the

fantasy football before I was and you kind of

got me into it. And honestly, before I got huge,

huge, I think you you kind of you started off,

I think just doing it on your own. So what kind

of attracted you to fantasy football? I guess

it was just something that like it was an offshoot

of actual football. So I just wanted to check

it out. And I'm always into anything to do with

the NFL. Like I watch a lot of. you know, the

shows during the season, like some of those shows

they have on ESPN. I listened to a lot of sports

radio and, you know, when that started coming

out, I was like, oh, you know, this sounds interesting.

It's another way to connect to the game for me.

And it was just a hobby of mine that was so like,

I guess, kind of consuming that, like kind of

like comics, like you just want, you just want

to check out more stuff like, you know, like

expand into other branches, kind of like, you

know, Comics goes into like animated movies and

TV shows and regular movies and stuff. So you

want to kind of expand your horizon. So I guess

it was something like that. But yeah, I enjoyed

it right from the get go. I'm a big fan of like

games of strategy and stuff like that. And it's

basically like a chess match. You know, you're

you're trying to pick your line up based on who

you're playing and. How your guys have been playing

and stuff like that? So there's certainly a lot

of luck involved, but yeah, definitely a lot

of strategy, too Yeah, I mean that's the thing

with so much on it outside your hand something

like an injury if your first draft pick is gets

injured then you're like, oh geez and We when

we did we've done the action hero draft within

the superhero draft and sometimes like honestly

I think one of the funnest things of the end

of fantasy football is the actual draft. I think

that yeah Yeah, that is and it's just really

exciting in that Is kind of it is exactly that

is a fantasy draft Which goes very much like

the the two drafts that we had on our podcast

Yeah, you have all the players although off all

the skilled position players available and you

try to combine to make the ultimate team A lot

of cursing as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Unlike with

the action hero draft and the superhero draft

the people that you you're trying to select are

very more finite So and like Greg mentioned Andrew

and Pearson and like, you know a lot of people

want him because he's amazing and he's of like

we mentioned the biggest badass and the planet

right now, but based upon our rankings, so That's

a lot of fun in itself. Just trying to create

that ultimate team. There's a lot of rivalry

there too and It's interesting too as I like

what if you're a fan of nfl football and your

football team is crapping the bed Well, at least

you have fantasy to to you know, go back on the

bad thing is if both are crapping the bed Then

it's just like a double whammy and it's like,

oh jeez. It's awful. So But yeah, another another

thing that I always liked about it was uh You

know, I get greg kind of alluded to it earlier

just to keep it in touch with some friends getting

reacquainted the camaraderie stuff like that

and then you know winning and you get the bragging

rights and everything and some some leagues even

do trophies and stuff like that which we were

kind of thinking of getting into and It's just

a lot of interaction and a lot of fun Yeah, it's

just if your person that likes competition and

I think I definitely am and fun in that aspect

of it, you know And it is a lot more fun when

you're doing that people that you know, I've

done it with fun fantasy football with Some of

the with just some of the general leagues where

it's like no one you really know. And that's

that's OK. It's not nearly as fun. And once you

started this league up, we got a lot of it more,

a lot more exciting, a lot more on the line.

When, you know, the person that you're losing

to is going to be like, so how last we go. But

that's a good point, actually, because it is

kind of boring if you're playing people you don't

know. Yeah, so i've done and actually i'm a commissioner

to league because i'm the commissioner our league

And I also have a work league that I do which

is gonna be created. There is only one league

I know you're cheating on us for another league.

It's it's only you know, it's not anything serious

No, it's I don't like them like that. I don't

like it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean

anything but it's Now it's like a 16 team league,

which is gonna be crazy Yeah, so that's that's

when the slim pickings happen and that's what

also the fun happens and and two it's if you're

in work and it's funny because I feel like it's

a thing that you can talk to with a lot of bosses

this football and then something you can build

some good camaraderie with and it's definitely

a good bonding experience in that end, but Yeah,

it depends on your workplace I would say but

For I know my workplace is a lot of football

fans and honestly like there's more women football

fans and guys football fans their passion tends

to tends to override the guys Which is interesting,

but it's I mean I live in Baltimore so it's a

huge Ravens like crazy central town or a lot

of purple everywhere and It's disgusting because

it's the Ravens, but I don't know why I just

I've tried to like the Ravens on so many occasions

I'm like, okay, I'm gonna root for them in the

city. I'm gonna and I just can't I just I don't

know what it is. I don't know what it is It's

just something about them. Just it just bugs

me like I can root for the Orioles I appreciate

the Orioles, but the Ravens it's just they disgust

me. I don't know but But yeah anything else about

fantasy football? All I mean, there's a lot of

strategy to it too. And like we mentioned like

you can spend hours upon hours I listen to some

fantasy football podcast but people spend like

literally hours a day or you can literally just

set your league 15 minutes before kickoff and

often it's that person that wins so and what

up Exactly Greg. Yeah, so I actually used to

do a lot of work with mine But lately it's been

kind of dwindling off and I just do it at the

last second mom People are drafting. Yeah, cuz

you know after the draft you have your waiver

pickups people get injured You try to get the

next guy to break that's gonna break out before

he does So it's a lot of like it is a lot of

strategy thought of like picking it up and there's

been It's interesting because you see a lot of

people trying to take fantasy football and fantasy

sports and try to do it in other areas like This

is thing called the box office game That is it's

like a stock market game with box office dollars,

which I tried which is not nearly as interesting

when it's It just doesn't work as well something

about fantasy football and it makes games mean

something that you would otherwise care nothing

about like uh, you know, the browns are playing

the uh, The cleveland browns are playing cincinnati

bangles nine times out of ten I would not care

at all about that game, but I have aj green so

now i'm gonna be interested in this game because

I want to see how many points he's gonna get

me so and we've seen like All TV ratings have

been dropping but TV ratings for football have

been increasing a great deal because of fantasy

football So I would say like honestly if you're

a geek and you've been thinking about it, try

it out I would say try it out with some friends

if you can because it's a lot more fun that way

or if you want to general Try it out. It's a

good time. I honestly just it's just It's interesting

is it's it's a strategy game. There's a lot of

strategy to it But the end of the day you have

very little effect on how well your team does

so It's super frustrating and super satisfying

at the same time. Yeah, definitely. There's a

there's a lot of strategy just in the like fact

of how many points each position get like there's,

you know, certain positions are better than others,

like obviously running back and wide receiver

and stuff like that. And and then it's tricky

when you're drafting because you. There's there's

certain running backs and in quarterbacks that

are worth taking high and there's some that aren't

So it's kind of like if those ones those certain

ones are gone, you know, maybe then you pick

a couple wide receivers or something so there's

a lot of like There's a lot of strategy there

and trying to figure out what you're gonna do

Yeah, and some people can go crazy with it and

then other people who can just you know Not show

up to the draft and let the the program pick

it for them and end up with a good team. So yeah,

it's It's interesting too because he talked about

that and then something like oh this this player

ranks higher than this other player But his position

is a lot thinner So maybe I should go with a

wide receiver here because the next wide receivers

three times. It's worse or There's a lot of strategy

thing there too. It's a jury So are there any

like? Quick tips or anything like that. You would

say if someone's starting fantasy football for

the first time today Anything you think like

you're just some basic golden rules. They should

follow to make their lives easier Pay attention

to the buys Good points good points. I feel like

not a lot of people do that and then it comes

time Where they have a lot of people on by like

they'll have like five or six people on a buy

and that's something you should really should

have kept track of When you were drafting to

be quite honest, yeah It's tough. I've done that

It's tough call because you you know you get

the benefit of having those good players for

every other game But you know for that one week

when they're off you really suffer. Yeah, it's

almost like do you say? Okay, that's one week.

I'm gonna be done, but then every other week.

I'm gonna be good So you kind of almost plan

it to like, okay, this is gonna be my dive week,

but everything else i'll be okay with so Yeah,

and I would say regarding I do think paying attention

to bias is huge But I would also say don't pay

a huge amount of attention to schedule overall

Because a lot of people will say like oh they

have a really tough schedule Well with the nfl

a really tough schedule on september 1st is a

lot different than a really tough schedule on

december 1st Exactly. So that team that was amazing

last year May not nearly be as good the year,

you know the the next year after that So don't

pay a huge amount of attention the schedule because

that that can drive you crazy You think like

all they're playing all bad teams and then that

bad team in Super Bowl that year So it does happen.

I I do have a couple things to add. I mean obviously

like I mentioned the Your running backs and your

wide receivers are gonna get you the most points

a couple of select quarterbacks like Peyton Manning's

and Drew Brees and stuff like that but your like

your kickers and your defenses are not as important

as far as the draft goes like pick them last

because they score the least amount of points

but you don't have to worry so much about knowing

what who all the good ones are because all the

sites that do this they really make it easy for

the players like everything is ranked they give

you like there's links to like advice and everything

on like who to pick and stuff. So it's it's really

like simplified for everybody. Yeah. To the point

where there's a ton of people out there that

play fantasy football that know nothing about

football and they have a lot of fun doing it.

What up when I started? You learn as the season

goes on, as you're invested. And then one thing

I would say also is throughout the year, pick

up free agents throughout your season. Go with

the hot player because you're allowed to drop

players from your team and pick up other guys

that no one has. So if there's a guy that's playing

really well, no one has, pick him up. Because

if he's doing well, more than likely his team

is going to be... Using them a lot too in real

life So, you know go with the hot player and

pick those guys up and play them for a couple

of weeks And if they fade off drop them pick

up another hot player, you know, yeah. Yeah,

very true Some things I would mention is don't

let fandom get in your way. So by that I mean

I'm a huge giant fan Guess what? I'm not gonna

do draft Eli Manning Because I know that yeah,

I want him to succeed in real life, but him succeeding

in fantasy are two different things So don't

draft your people who are big fans of this a

certain team So they want to draft all those

players don't do that because sometimes you end

up over valuing players on your favorite team

because you think they're better than they really

are so so is it is it a bad idea that I I don't

pick up anybody from the New England Patriots

because I hate them well, I I do the same thing.

That's a little different. I think that's I think

that's I think that's a little bit more acceptable.

So between us, we have three championships, so

we can't be doing that much wrong. Yeah, that's

right. Enough for you. That's my final advice.

Don't draft anyone from the Patriots and you

will be fine. Yeah, I I understand that more.

Hate the Eagles. I don't know if I've ever drafted

an Eagles player I honestly probably would though

like if I had the opportunity to draft McCoy

I probably would it depends more so on the player

like I would never draft the Shawn Jackson because

I hate that guy So I would like even if he succeeded

I'd feel dirty about it. So I wouldn't do it.

I just need such an awful human being Did he

ask out Rihanna or something like that he was

creeping around her limo at this one event He

sounds like it he sounds I don't know. I saw

it on tv the one day Uh, but yeah, that's huge

keep painted into the waiver wire. There's a

lot of you'll see a lot of um A lot of the sites

do like the hot pickups for that week definitely

look at that if you're drafting player that gets

hurt a lot like uh Running back that's prone

to injury Often draft their backup late late

rounds and also I think the biggest thing is

just have fun with it. So Be willing to trade

players be willing to pick things up like just

have fun with it Some people I think don't do

any type of trading or anything like that because

they're just they're too scared But end of the

day just have fun with it. So, you know if you

want to try to Be your GM and not do anything

and just keep your team. That's fine but I think

it's a little bit more enjoyable when you try

to Put up a perfect trade that you end up getting

good value for and stuff like that So I think

that's you just just enjoy yourself. So and trash

talk trash talking is always great, so Too prevalent

with a trash talk except for when my brother's

girlfriend came in Just randomly started doing

it to people she had no idea who they were I

Think this year will have more though with more

people. So it will see we'll see yeah, it'll

be fun but yeah, so Be interesting to hear a

lot of people's fantasy football stories. I know

there's some craziness I think some people go

to some extents and regarding fantasy football.

There's a great show centered on it called the

Lee that Greg I know I Love that. I'm so behind

on watching it, especially since it went to FX

X whatever the fuck that is But I I try to keep

up with it on Netflix But they haven't updated

it in forever and it is the fucking funniest

thing ever You don't even need to be into fantasy

football to get the jokes that are going on Yeah,

and there's also a lot of great fantasy football

podcasts that you can check out. I don't need

to Tell you what they are except but I mean a

lot of ESPN has a good a few good ones too that

That are enjoyable to listen to you get advice

for so and ESPN 18 channels They always have

different fantasy football shows going on all

the time. So and there's a lot of different places

that do fantasy football We tend to do it on

Yahoo. I know ESPN is another big one We I would

say sick away one year. We did it an EA sports

like website and that was awful. Don't do it

on there Think they're done already. I don't

think they do it anymore. Yeah, that was that

did not go Well, and there's a few others but

and I don't know but it's a good time I will

say I'm I'm really excited to get it started

I'm looking forward to the draft. It should be

a big contest. So But now that we talked about

fantasy football, let's throw some projections

out there with the real NFL football And we're

not gonna go in great detail We're just gonna

I know nothing. We're just gonna keep it basics.

Let's just think of this way We're just gonna

think about Super Bowl champions who is gonna

be facing off in the Super Bowl if you want to

throw out Who we think might be MVP we can do

that too And if you think there's any teams that

will be the worst in the league or some surprise

teams in any way super form so so Chuck I guess

I'll start with you here any projections you

have for this upcoming NFL season Yes, let's

see Let's just start with here. I'll do my Super

Bowl last. I'll kind of build up the suspense.

I guess I'll start with my MVP of the season,

which will be different from my MVP of the Super

Bowl. But that's usually the MVP of the season

is like the best overall player in the league,

technically the most valuable to his team, but

usually the best player in the league. And I

think it's going to end up being Alessandro McCoy

this year, the Eagles, thinking he might have

a huge year. I don't know. It's kind of going

out of the limb, but we'll see. And I guess some

disappointments, which isn't necessarily the

worst teams in league, but just ones that I think

are supposed to be decent or are supposed to

be good. But I think they're going to kind of

drop off. And I think some of those are going

to be teams like the Carolina Panthers. I'm thinking

they might drop off a little bit. The Cowboys,

I really don't see them going anywhere this year.

Sorry, that was me clapping. Dan likes that one

because they're in the Giants Division. Yeah,

they lost some key guys on defense there. They

already had, I think, the 32nd ranked defense

last year. Yeah. And they lost a couple of guys.

So they, you know, hopefully you don't make a

lie out of me, but I think they're going to be

terrible. And Tony Romo is my favorite player

because. Yeah, in the fourth quarter, he. ends

up switching teams somehow and throws the balls

to the other team. And I think the Cardinals

who were actually like a surprise last year who

were really good, I think are going to be a bit

of a disappointment this year because they lost

some really key guys on defense, some star players,

and I think that's going to hurt them a lot.

And maybe somebody like Kansas City too, I think

they might fade off a little bit. But surprises,

I got to go with my Dolphins. You know, I think

I think they might sneak in into the playoffs

as the last wild card there, possibly. I think

the Bears are going to be pretty good. They're

going to be a lot improved from last year. I

think the Texans are going to be very improved

after winning only two games last year. So there's

a couple of surprises that I think might not

necessarily be in the top tier, but I think will

be better and surprising people. Greg, anything

for you? I know you don't. The Raiders are going

to suck, of course. I think that's a given. They

pretty much suck every year. Yeah, I don't know.

I think San Diego now with a new head coach might

make some improvements here and there. I think

the Steelers are going to kind of stay where

they are at this point. Yeah, I agree with them.

I don't think they're gonna do any vast improvements

because I didn't really see anything that they

did during the offseason that would have improved

the team. I think that stays about where they

are. I think Jets are going to be a disappointment

again until they get rid of... Until they get

rid of Rex Ryan. That team just hasn't... Done

anything to really improve themselves. I think

they they stayed with everything they had last

year And I think they're just gonna like change

stuff up coaching wise. I guess He does he did

jack shit with Billy though I mean the biggest

pick up is probably Eric Decker, but I don't

think Eric Decker is it now You see he's not

gonna make that his the greatest thing about

Eric Decker was the Peyton Manning Yeah, and

they picked up Chris Johnson who I think is I

don't know. I think he's a little overrated and

not. He is overrated. I think he picked a good

corner, Browner. Yeah. Well, Carter back doesn't

make up a whole good team, so they're going to

have to get rid of Rex Ryan this year. I was

surprised he stayed around for as long as he

has. I'm really surprised about that. I'm praying

and hoping that the Patriots do just as good

as they did last year because they weren't that

that great. They made it. Yeah, but they haven't

done as good as they have been. They haven't

been this epic team that they have been previous

years. I just really want them to drop away off.

Like, I hope they just... I think it'll be a

descent. I don't think it's going to be as vertical

descent as you're hoping for, Chuck. I think

it's a slight descent. I don't want to curse

it. I don't want to... Bill Belichick will look

as scummy as usual. It looks like frigging hobo

during every game. He went for the Bill Belichick

podcast. It's all mumbling. Turn your speakers

up, people. I got nothing to talk about. Yeah,

well, we'll just keep going. Yeah. And I think

for my last one I'll say that San Francisco isn't

gonna be as good even Even as good as last year,

which wasn't that great. I can agree with that

Yeah, they they lost a huge amount of defensive

players. I think they just lost another one the

other the other day for injury So I I agree.

I don't think San Francisco really is gonna be

what they were Yeah, they just had that one good

season and that was kind of miraculous. I think

Yeah, I think they'll still be there but not

necessarily I don't think they'll be nearly they

won't go to the championship game like to the

last year They were in the championship game

for three straight years the NFC championship,

but they're like the new Eagles But yeah, so

some of mine I think regarding disappointments.

I actually think the Kansas City Chiefs are gonna

Take a step back this year. I think last year

was kind of like a Like a fluke a fluke year.

I I just don't see them having the same success

As they did previously I think their schedule

is a little bit tougher. So I I don't I think

they'll still be decent Maybe make the playoffs,

but I think they were you know only lost a few

games last year and I don't see that happening

Some other items for some good surprises. I think

the buccaneers will actually maybe even win that

division that they're in That division is always

all over the place and they've made a lot of

good moves. They have a better quarterback now.

They have a strong running game, a good defense,

a young team that's been improving, some good

weapons. So I think the Buccaneers are going

to be one of those teams to look out for. I think

Greg is on the money with the 49ers. Their defense

has just been so decimated. with people leaving

an injury that and that's been their crocs that's

really what's been keeping them around with their

defense and their running game and Frank Gorge

is on the year older so and I think Kaepernick's

kind of lost that Superman appeal that he's had

for a while I think is like he's just not been

as a dynamic of a player so I don't see them

doing as well. I do think the dolphins will do

better this year. I think Tana Hills is improving

as a quarterback. I think Mike Wallace with another

year in that system is gonna probably have more

of a presence now. So I think that that is a

possibility. I think the Giants will probably

be pretty awful this year. As much as I would

love to say that's not the case. I just don't

see them doing very well. And I do agree with

Chuck that the Eagles are probably gonna Have

another strong year under their belt and McCoy

is a good choice for an MVP But honestly, I think

my choice because I think the team that's really

about to break out is that of the Indianapolis

Colts I think Andrew Luck is just he's ready

to become a superstar and I think that's the

year this is the year that it happens and then

I see him walking away with the MVP and I know

a lot of talk is going to people like RG 3 and

Gino Smith and whatnot, but I think luck is really

Head and shoulders above all of them and he also

looks like the caveman from Geico So I was gonna

grow a neck beard So that also helps him a great

deal. But now I think the culture gonna be great

He's got a lot more weapons Hakim next who has

been kind of awful for the Giants last year I

think though he might show some promise for the

for the Colts and maybe a new team will help

him out a little bit Maybe Trent Richardson would

actually you know not suck as bad as he did last

year But yeah, I don't know nothing else. I think

I don't know if there's it will be any other

huge changes I think I hoping the Falcons they

have a huge bounce back here. I think last year

was just With injuries they kind of you know,

they had they ran ran into a few things But yeah,

I got asked a big question here. Yeah that ESPN

seems to be revolving around like the Sun Brian

that is how is Johnny Manziel gonna do he's gonna

get water and he's gonna watch from the sidelines

Yeah, I think he's gonna be a he's gonna be a

pro bowler at um, you know holding the clipboard

What playing Madden on his like phone while he

watches? I think I think he might get in the

game a little bit after a few Games because I

think the fans will be demanding it, but I don't

see him being a great quarterback Especially

not right away, but he just seems like he he's

too quick to scramble. You know what? I mean,

he doesn't go through his reads and everything

but he to me seems like another like like a Tim

Tivo in a lot of ways where He's just not I don't

know. He doesn't seem as he seems not to have

the physical skills of someone like an Andrew

Locker He's a lot of he's really fast and quick

but so is everyone in nfl like he's not outrunning

someone like jason peter paul or You know some

of the quicker the jj wad or some of these people

like he doesn't I think he's gonna kind of come

and go and if the history of the browns quarterbacks

tells us anything it's that They are the browns

Kind of compare him to somebody like Vince Young

like I think like maybe I'll have one good season

Yeah, and then spend a few as a backup and then

he kind of like won't hear much out of him anymore

I mean, hope it might be a I think he'll be a

better fantasy quarterback than real -life quarterback.

This will get a lot of rushing yards But I just

don't I don't think it'll be very accurate or

he'll be able to Stand up the physicality of

the NFL game. He just I don't know I just don't

think he has it in him like that and I think

he's a lot of hype and not much else Who knows

I could be? Completely dead wrong because you

know he might turn out to be like a Doug Flutie

or something like that and just be that's true

Just be money, but we're even like it like I

drew breeze who a lot of people But I don't know

to me. I just I don't think he's worth the hype

that he's getting so I don't think I think great

Blake Bortles is gonna be a better quarterback

than he will be but he just doesn't have the

the hype behind him like I think they're really

good Chuck in the Canadian League. Well, they'd

be with that guy from the wrestling football

league. Oh, the XFL. XFL. Me. The one guy's name

was he hate me. Oh, my gosh. Oh, the XFL. Man,

that lasted a long time. Yeah. You ever watch

that? I think it wouldn't know a year game of

that one year. It was. They had like a lot of

interesting ideas and some of ideas that the

NFL actually took like the The camera that they

use now like the overhead camera that that was

actually started with the XFL But besides that

it was really stupid I could be wrong here But

I feel like a lot of that was Vince McMahon's

ego of thinking it could overtake the NFL in

popularity or something Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, it's

crashed and burned like horribly Definitely.

It looks like high school games to be quite honest

They had a few decent players like tommy maddox

like I think that he won a super like the whatever

bowl for the xfl and he ended up coming into

the league and doing pretty well for the steelers,

but It it yeah got the xfl. I've not thought

about that in a long time He hate me became,

you know, he changed his name to he unemployed

All right, so now the moment of truth who we

pick in for the super bowl The who's playing

and who's winning uh truck we started with you

last time. So let's start with you now Who are

you going with? Well, I'm going to go with the

sexy pic that everybody's kind of on right now.

I think the Denver Broncos are going to be back.

I can't go against Peyton. The guy is just like

incredible. And even though he's like the end

of his career, he's somehow like in his prime.

Like the guy is just insane right now. He's operating

on a whole other level, even above Brady, in

my opinion. But I like the Broncos and make it

back in the AFC. There's a lot of stiff competition

the AFC like You know Greg mentioned the Patriots

might be falling off a bit. So I'm looking at

teams like the Bengals and the and the Colts

like Dan mentioned They're gonna give some some

pretty good competition there in the AFC but

like Denver to make it back and I think I'm really

gonna go out on a limb for my NFC pick because

We mentioned, you know, the 49ers dropping off

I don't like Seattle to make it back. It's just

so hard to get back there. And I think they they

were a very good team last year, but I think

they got a little bit lucky, too. And I think

I'm going to go with the New Orleans Saints from

the NFC, which I could be. That's a very dangerous

pick because that I feel like that's a team that

could like be really good or totally suck. Yeah.

So if they get home field, they're nearly on.

Like unbeatable, but yeah, I think their division

is going to be pretty tough this year. They were

in the playoffs last year. I know, like I mentioned,

I think Carolina is going to be a bit of a disappointment.

So I think in my opinion, New Orleans takes that

division this year and they were in the playoffs

last year. They lost to Seattle. So I think I

think maybe they kind of get over that hump and

make it back to the Super Bowl. But I look for

I look for Denver to win it all. I think. Probably

not gonna happen, but it makes the most sense

to me right now and I'd pick Peyton for the MVP.

So Alright, I'll go to me next or I'll go to

myself next and I'm gonna like you ran the The

broncos bandwagon i'm gonna keep with my colts

theme and i'm gonna say the colts go go all the

way this year I think I mean I could see the

broncos going I think it's tough to repeat even

going again twice and I think with well west

walker being hurt. I think that might be I think

that might hurt the broncos a little bit and

they also brought in a lot of defensive players

And they also lost but they lost andrew's rogers

cramardi, which I think was a huge key to their

defense So I think his presence is going to hurt

them a great deal in the secondary So I think

that i'm going to go with the colts. Like I said,

I think andrew luck is it's his time And for

the nfc and this is going to hurt a lot and it's

going to hurt a great deal But the more the more

I look at it just if the when you look at like

who has the best path to it Who's in the weakest

division? Who has the best chance of winning

that division and who was the most successful

last year? I got it. I got to go with unfortunately

this hurts a lot, but I got to go with the eagles

Uh, yeah, I just think In all honesty nfc east

is probably the weakest division in football

right now and they're clearly the best team So

that if you win your division, you know, that's

a playoff spot. So that's huge I think that's

going to be key I think the other divisions nfc

a little bit more a little a little stricter

tougher. So I think that's going to be easier

for the Eagles to get home field advantage, which

doesn't mean as much nearly It doesn't mean as

nearly as much as it used to but it at least

gives you that buy and their offenses is dynamic

Their defense is rather strong. They're really

balanced team. So and if I'm wrong, thank you

god, so But and I'll but I'll pick I will pick

the Colts to win it all so interesting so So

Greg, what about yourself? Well, I think the

Broncos will make it back Don't ask me why I'm

I'm going with gut feeling don't take any of

the stuff that I'm saying seriously and then

and so for the NFC I'm thinking That the Green

Bay Packers are going to make a comeback Don't

know why they just are You sound like an analyst

for ESPN that's right i do um did you did you

discount double check that yes i did discount

double check that and uh while i'm working at

espn i'm making out with aaron andrews and i

think uh taking probiotics yes taking probiotics

up the butt oh god i heard that about her i think

i thought that has the reverse effect i'm not

sure uh no for aaron andrews it's going to have

the exact opposite effect um and i'll take uh

the broncos and uh payton uh being mvp finally

getting it all right so we got we got broncos

and wow i forgot to use that chuck the broncos

in the new orleans for chuck we got the colts

and the eagles for me and the broncos and the

green bay packers for greg so it'd be kind of

cool to see how well that plays out who wins

we'll show mine not well at all Both are solid

teams, I would say. So I'm not feeling great

about mine either. I may be letting my emotions

get in the way of it, but I really want to see

Peyton get another Super Bowl. But I'm just hoping

I'm thinking pessimistically that if I pick the

Eagles, that they will be the worst team in the

NFL. So and then be like, oh, darn, I got that

one wrong. That's a shame. Never mind. I changed

my mind. It's gonna be the Raiders versus Carolina

Panthers Now Raiders Raiders Rams, that's what

it's gonna be Well, i'm sure we'll keep you updated

and i'm sure You'll hear us talking fantasy football

throughout a little bit throughout the year as

you know We get get some of our matchups though

But before we bring this episode to a close,

we like to end each episode with a letter And

this time, Chuck, you are up. So what is your

letter about this week? My letter is pertaining

to an event that we're all going to be attending

this coming weekend. And that, of course, is

the Baltimore Common Convention. Nice. I know

we're all looking forward to that a great deal.

It's always a good time. So I thought I would

just. write a letter to the organizers of the

Baltimore Comic Convention. Chuck's gonna get

us kicked out before we even get there. No, it's

a very positive, very positive letter. I really

like what they do there. And I've read some articles

about them and stuff like that. And they're very

well received and well respected in the convention

community, so to speak. So here's my letter.

Dear Baltimore Comic Con. Being the avid comic

book fans that the three of us are and since

we will be attending the convention this very

weekend I wanted to take an opportunity to thank

all of you for putting together such a terrific

and truly authentic comic convention You are

one of the few large conventions left in America

that is focused on comic books and their creators

None of the hoopla none of the distractions of

celebrities actors or big -budget movies It truly

is a living, breathing tribute to the people

who work so hard every day to put out top -quality

funny books. And a tribute to the fans as well.

With no big distractions, fans can really focus

on meeting and talking to their favorite writers

and artists and hitting all the great comic -related

panels. It's a great opportunity to get a small

peek into the world that is behind the universe.

This, in the 15th year of the event, is the first

time the con has been extended to three days.

by demand of the fans, of course. The attendance

has been increasing at the Baltimore Comic Con

with almost every subsequent year, so of course

the next logical step was to offer an extra day

for comic goodness. Thank you for keeping your

finger on the pulse of the driving force of the

industry, those loyal and fun -loving fans. The

continued success of this con is a testament

to the popularity of the comics themselves. not

just the summer blockbusters and the famous actors

and wrestlers and directors. And the growing

success of the event is proof that the industry

is far from dead, but rather more alive than

it's ever been. Of course, Hollywood has brought

in some new fans, but more and more are beginning

to see the magic that started it all. For me

personally, it was my first chance to meet one

of my favorite writers and artists, Jim Starlin.

In the coming event, holds many opportunities

for me to meet some more of my favorites, something

I wasn't sure that I would ever get the chance

to do. I know all three of us here on Talking

in Circles enjoy this con a great deal and we're

looking forward to this weekend very much. So

again, a big thank you to the organizers of the

Baltimore Comic Con and thanks for keeping the

focus on what it's all about, the creators and

the fans. Sincerely, the crew from Talking in

Circles. And, uh, of course I'd like to add if,

if any listeners out there get a chance, you

know, the, the weekend of September 5th, uh,

2014 or any other year for that matter. Uh, and

you love comic books from any publisher. I highly

recommend stopping by the Baltimore Comic Con.

It's, it's really an epic, uh, comic centric

convention that, that won't disappoint for sure.

I mean, there's. There's just so much focus on

the creators and the comics and the you know,

the panels are the direction of where Comics

are going in the future. So it's it's really

like an authentic comic convention, which is

very refreshing Yeah, definitely and also thank

you to Baltimore comic -con because it kind of

made us official because we actually will have

press passes this This con which is kind of cool,

which you know Don't know how hard it is to get

it for Baltimore Comic -Con But hey, they're

nice enough to give them so we're nice enough

to to respond with a thank you and you might

be thinking oh that's the only reason you're

saying good things about them, which is not the

case because I never expected to get that and

We've been going there. This is our second year.

Honestly, and it's just you talk to anyone and

honestly the point of Baltimore Comic -Con it's

one of the best ones to go to just because like

Greg like Chuck mentioned very much is comic

centric and A lot of great writers and artists

and it's just it's a really cool environment

overall. So I can't believe they think we're

pressed though Hey, you know Hey, we got a lot

of influence. You know, we got we have an ever

-increasing audience here, you know Very true.

Very true. So but yeah, if you're if you're in

the area definitely hit us up I should be worried

wearing one of greg's talking in circles t -shirts

with has my face on it Which is a little bit

narcissistic, but you know Hopefully I will have

them done by then, because I didn't make them

yet. This is actually, when we're recording this,

is the 28th of August, and I'm going to be working

on it this weekend. And it's my first time doing

screen printing, so hopefully I have it done.

Well, you should be able to notice our faces

from our orange logo, so there's really no excuse

there. I'll have to make my hair spiky all the

time so people recognize it's me. We have to

match it with facial hair too that we have in

that picture. All right, so anything else before

we bring this episode to a close? Nah, I'm good

here. I'm good. All right. Well, that'll bring

it to the end of this week. We appreciate those

that stuck out and listened to football talk

for a while. We promise we won't do it every

week, but occasionally, you know, you got to

throw it a little bit in there. But if you want

to get in contact with us, there's tons of different

ways you can comment on the episode post by going

to geekcastradio .com. or nerdly .co .uk. You

can also email us at feedback at geekcastreader

.com. We're on Twitter and Facebook. Just search

Talking in Circles, TCRN. I'm also on Twitter

at movierevolt. And Greg, what is your Twitter

name? It is at thecreateforge. And Chuck is again

only on Twitter in spirit. So that'll be it for

this week. We'll be back next week. Same time,

same channel, same podcast feed. But for now,

this has been Chuck. This has been Greg or Tom

Hardy with a bigger downstairs area. It's got

a big basement. And this has been Dan. We've

been talking in circles. We will see you next

week. I stir a lot of stuff in my basement. Did

you do some remodeling down there? No, no remodeling.

No, I don't play those type of games. I like

to keep it original. OG. Is it finished off?

Do you keep it well -maintenanced? Yeah, it's

finished. I need to go down there and dust a

little bit, though. I think that would... Get

some cobwebs, huh? Yeah, just a little bit. They

need to be taken out a little bit. Does the carpet

in the basement match the drapes? Is that the

thing? Yeah, I have a low -cut shag carpeting

that I try and keep it at. I try and go with

more natural colors, but I do match the carpets

and drapes and I... What's that, Chad? Hope you

got a de -zermitifier. It usually gets pretty

damp down there. Yeah, yeah, I have the doors

open at all times to keep the air flowing through

really nice. And I keep the windows open and

just try and keep things loose down there and

feeling good. Does anyone live down there at

all? Two guys live down there. They're kind of

big guys. They're big, but they drag their feet

a lot. Just two sweaty guys. Yep. It'll happen.

It'll happen. They're very sensitive about things,

so you can't say anything to them. They get really

testy. They do.