Side note I: Remember how well those Texans were dealing with losing their quarterback?
Side note II: I will be away from my minute-to-minute duties for most of this holiday weekend. Happy everything to all who’ve made this site their home. We’re braving a shit month but we shall rally and rebound. (And the Weekend Show will continue throughout the offseason.)
Da Picks Contest – Semifinals
We’re down to the final four. This week’s rules are altered slightly.
- Each of the contestants must select three games on Saturday.
- You also must pick the Bears v. Packers Sunday night game.
- The tiebreaker: Josh McCown’s passer rating.
The Lines
CHIEFS -2 Raiders / Broncos -3 BILLS / TITANS -7 Jags / BENGALS -4 Cardinals / PATRIOTS -9.5 Dolphins / RAVENS -12.5 Browns / JETS -3 Giants / REDSKINS -6.5 Vikings / PANTHERS -7.5 Bucs / LIONS -2.5 Chargers / 49ers -2.5 SEAHAWKS / COWBOYS -1.5 Eagles / PACKERS -13 Bears / SAINTS -6.5 Falcons
My Five Favorite Christmas Films of All-Time
#5. Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas. The 1977 Jim Henson-produced TV special is one of the more endearingly simple holiday films you’ll ever see. It also has a few classic Paul Williams tracks. For a great clip, click here.
#4. The Nightmare Before Christmas. Give me this modern masterpiece over that weird, stop-motion Rudolph film where he goes to an island of “misfit” toys and there’s the gay kid in the box. Sure I like hearing Burl Ives sing Silver & Gold but I’d take just about anything by Danny Elfman has ever made over it.
#3. A Christmas Story. I blame the TNT network for this film’s fall on my list to the third position. I just can’t handle the round-the-clock airings that seem to start sometime in late September. Still, think of the iconic imagery from this movie: tongue on the frozen post, stocking lamp, “you’ll shoot your eye out”, the bunny costume…etc. A classic film for any season.
#2. Scrooged. George C. Scott was a great Scrooge. So was Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Carol. But Bill Murray begins developing the hard-edged character with a hole to fill that he perfected in Groundhog Day here. His Scrooge is a bastard and comes to learn the meaning of love and Christmas by getting the shit kicked out of him. Ain’t that the way it should be?
#1. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. And it ain’t even close.
