Thirteen games down, three to go. Week 1 of the 2008 NFL season has been absolutely spectacular. We've already seen an exciting come-from-behind victory, an absolute blowout, a shootout and a defensive grind 'em up. Can week two possibly get any better than this? Some thoughts before the Sunday night Colts-Bears game comes on: ********************** We'll get a lot more information on the injury Tom Brady sustained when they do the MRI tomorrow, and I don't expect him to miss a substantial amount of time considering ... Read More

November 25, 1993 is a very special day for me. Some might find that strange since It isn't my birthday, my anniversary or my graduation date. Others may remember it as just another Thanksgiving. Yet I will always hold that date in high regard, because that was the day that I became a Detroit Lions fan. I don't remember many details. Back in those days we would go to my uncle's house for dinner and the games would always be on in the ... Read More

Editor's Note: These brief but telling articles first ran on 6/18 and 6/22/2007. As we head toward Kickoff '08, I'd just like to point out once again that parity absolutely has NOT been affected by free agency, and that the only reason that parity has been increasing in the NFL at all is because there are new teams added on a regular basis. Your team does not have a better chance of winning the Super Bowl this year because of free agency ... Read More

Some interesting information from the Football Outsiders broke today, by way of ESPN: ...yards per carry — which indicates first-year success for lesser-known (third-round or lower, or undrafted) rookie running backs. If you want to be ahead of the pack on the next Ahmad Bradshaw or Pierre Thomas, YPC over the average seems to be a good way to go. So perhaps the pre-season really can tell us something about the regular season. I'll have my eye on this for sure. And since YPC ... Read More

We bloggers do love to talk about our sports...but how well do we play them? This contest is pretty self-explanatory: I want to know who the most athletic blogger in the world is. My assumption here is that a lot of bloggers are people with desk jobs who don't get a lot of exercise, but I hope I'm wrong. The rules are simple: 1. You must have a blog, that I can verify. 2. You must find a way to prove your athleticism...photos, videos, stat ... Read More

Somehow I completely forgot to run the final Distribution/Concentration of Power (DCOP) stats for 2007. I only had about eight weeks of data in the spreadsheet so today I finished the analysis up. It turns out that last year was a pretty historic season. The thing everyone will remember most about 2007 is obviously New England going 18-0 and then losing the Super Bowl to the underdog New York Giants. DCOP offers a perspective on the season that is very similar to most ... Read More

My inspiration for today's post: yet another shot at Buzz Bissinger by the peanut gallery over at Deadspin. We all knew this was going to crop up again. Deadspin, the unrelenting leader of the sports entertainment blogosphere, has spent way too much time criticizing Bissinger after the epic Costas Now episode when Bissinger went ballistic on Will Leitch. Basically, their argument is that Bissinger is an old fogie stuck in the Nineties and that he has no idea what blogging is or why ... Read More

Today, I've got a great example of the similarities between technical stock market analysis and technical sports analysis. Check out the Dow Jones Industrial chart for today (6/27/08): The red lines are added by yours truly. Check out the column formed by the highs and lows...beautiful. Then see the final hour or so of trading that breaks out of the column. To ME, that indicates a change in the trend. I can take the EXACT SAME kind of analysis and apply it to sports. It ... Read More

From today's "Inside the NFL" column at SI: Last year, I locked in my Super Bowl pick early and felt very good about the choice. For once, I wasn't trying to do a roster breakdown or getting myself up all tied up in strengths and weaknesses. I was looking for a team with a chip on its shoulder, one that would be coming into the season with something to prove, a hungry team, nasty, etc. The Saints were my Super Bowl winner. Then they came ... Read More

[redlasso id="073860f8-cdc3-4778-92cb-ad2d20ac545d"] This is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. I myself am a switch hitter and I'd do the same dang thing to that pitcher. Who does he think he is, throwing with both hands? Ridiculous. Thanks to Bugs & Cranks for finding this gem. Read More

Well, it's the first projection that I've seen. Article here Mike Tanier lets slip the following: Our Pro Football Prospectus 2008 mean projection for the Bears is 6.9 wins Hmmm...and here on this site, months ago, you found out that our projection was 7 wins. How nice. Still, you probably should buy the Pro Football Prospectus they're selling over there just because it's a really great read while you're on the can. I've found that I can crawl through one team's worth of information in one ... Read More

It's only the middle of June but I've been thinking about football since March (I usually go comatose for a month after the Super Bowl in order to recoup from the season). If you haven't seen them yet, make sure you check out my pre-season picks or buy a copy of the NFL 2008 PREDICTOPOTAMUS. We're about a month away from training camps and a month-and-a-half away from the first pre-season games. What better time than the present to talk about those teams ... Read More

My Steelers-Vikings Fantasy Seat is ON FIRE! The price jumped over $18.00 yesterday, giving me over $4 profit if I sell this sucker. Of course I'm not going to, as I think this ticket could hit $300-$400 when all is said and done. Heck, If the Steelers and Vikings go to the Super Bowl I'm going to be sitting on several grand if I decide to scalp the ticket once I get it. Woohoo! Read More

We all know that baseball is a sport soaked in numbers. As soon as little kids get their first packs of baseball cards they're stewing over RBIs, ERAs and Slugging %s. Since stats are such an integral part of the baseball it is only natural that it is more known for its milestones than any other sport. Baseball has all sorts of "clubs" like the 30/30 Club, 500 Home Run Club or the .300 Club. These clubs aren't really clubs; they are ... Read More

Back in March I first announced the completion of the first ever NFL PREDICTOPOTAMUS, our very own pre-season publication. It's 43 pages of technical charts and predictions that will make you look like a visionary come playoff time. If you want something more than the predictions you've found on this site, the PREDICTOPOTAMUS is for you. Ordering is a piece of cake - just send me an email at footballprofessor@gmail.com and let me know what format you want yours in. I can do ... Read More