connoisseur series500

Yeah, it's kind of new. Lots of Thursday games now.

Can't beat an Italian at his own game!

Yes, I would have done the same thing. Van B is from Canada and their sports pages are probably full of curling news and such. He might not be aware of Thursday NFL!

Week 14 results: Soulstation1 SD MIN CHI NO IND TEN NYG GB NYJ NE DEN MIA ARI PIT BAL CAR 39 13 vajerzy SD MIN CHI NO IND TEN NYG GB NYJ NE DEN MIA ARI PIT BAL CAR 34 13 Van Basten II SD MIN CHI NO IND TEN NYG GB NYJ NE DEN BUF ARI PIT BAL CAR 30 12 Connoisseu SD MIN CHI ATL IND TEN NYG GB NYJ NE DEN BUF ARI PIT BAL CAR 52 11 Aggie87 SD MIN CHI NO IND TEN NYG GB NYJ NE DEN BUF ARI PIT BAL TB 49 11 Noj - MIN CHI ATL IND TEN NYG GB NYJ NE DEN MIA ARI PIT BAL TB 47 10 Edward Tak SD MIN JAC NO IND TEN NYG GB NYJ SEA DEN BUF ARI PIT WAS CAR 49 9 Year to date: Connoisseur series 500 13* 11* 12 9 7 8 11* 10 8 10 9 10 11 11 140 Van Basten II 12 7 12 8 10* 8 9 9 9* 12* 10 9 10 12 137 vajerzy 11 7 13* 8 9 9 8 10 8 10 10 7 12* 13 135 Aggie87 11 8 11 7 9 8 8 8 9 11 11* 8 9 11 129 Noj 7 7 12 9* 7 7 7+ 9 8 11 11 11* 6 10 122 Soulstation1 7 8 9 7 6 8 8 11* 6 11 9 10 9 13* 122 Edward Tak 11 8 12 8 7 10* 9 9 8 8 7 6 6 9 118 Race is still up in the air. I made a couple of dumb picks for the week. I meant to select NO, but somehow discovered I had selected ATL instead. That cost me a game. I'm sure others make such mistakes as well. I can still screw up, guys; plus Van B and Vajjy are pouring on the pressure!

Happy Birthday Ghost!

Right there with ya, buddy. Except we dont' have a first round pick this year, thanks to the acquisition of Roy Williams, who they don't really even try to throw to anyway. Well, at least the 49ers will be going somewhere. They might go 8-8 this season!

It's all about reloading for next year. If the Pats make the playoffs, they drop in the draft round a little bit. The team is competitive year in and year out. If there are so many injuries this year then their chances in the playoffs are nonexistent. I'd prefer to let them sit it out, and save the player's bodies for a few more games. Years and years of playing extra games takes a toll on the players. We're going nowhere this year.

Cowboys played a great game, as Agg says for three quarters, but they ran up against a very good Pittsburgh squad at home. Might have been difference if "beast" Barber were playing. Damn, more injuries for the Pats. I wish they would lose a game soon so they don't make the playoffs. Otherwise, they'll have to comb the retired list for replacements. Pats have been decimated by injuries. Looks like Bruschi is out now for an extended period. He can join his fellow linebacker Adalius Thomas on IR. Damn, we've lost everybody. I wish we could just pack it in for the season and look for next season with a fist full of draft picks. Injuries have done us in this year. I know it's part of football, but some teams are cursed worse than others.

I'll have a glass of scotch and toast your dad's birthday and memory tonight.. One very cold winter night I stayed at his place on a trip back from either Baker's or Cliff Bells and when I went to my room there was a lovely bottle of scotch and a scotch glass and a bottled water waiting for me on the night stand. Your dad was the quintessential host and a great hang.. I sure miss him. beautiful memory!

Still time left to change your pick if you want, Agg.

I guess we can't be surprised. Must be big money in it. People should consider collecting old paper money. I've collected it from various countries throughout my life, and I think it is easier to tell counterfeit paper money. Of course, technology is improving which allows people to be more effective counterfeiters. Caveat emptor!

The Steelers rarely let go of players who are in their primes, unless there are some extenuating circumstances. Perhaps they didn't trust Plaxico's character and decided to let him walk. Another good player still in his prime they let go was Chris Hope, safety, who now plays for the Titans. I usually trust the Steeler front office when it comes to personnel decisions. They are one of the best in the league along with the Colts and Patriots.

One of my favs. as well.

Week 13 results vajerzy TEN DAL ARI CAR BAL NYG TB BUF IND NYJ MIA SD KC PIT MIN HOU 43 12 Connoisseu TEN DAL PHI GB BAL NYG TB BUF IND NYJ MIA SD OAK PIT MIN HOU 52 11 Van Basten II TEN DAL PHI GB BAL NYG TB BUF IND NYJ MIA SD OAK PIT MIN JAC 34 10 Aggie87 TEN DAL PHI GB BAL NYG NO BUF IND NYJ MIA SD OAK NE MIN HOU 49 9 Soulstation1 TEN DAL ARI CAR BAL NYG NO BUF IND NYJ MIA ATL OAK PIT CHI JAC 45 9 Edward Tak TEN DAL PHI GB BAL WAS NO BUF CLE NYJ STL SD OAK PIT MIN JAC 49 6 Noj - - - GB BAL NYG TB BUF IND NYJ MIA SD OAK NE MIN JAC 45 6 Vajjy was the week's winner, and he picked up a game on me in the year to date standings. Spread between first and second place was widened by one game. Still anybody's game before the season ends. Year to date: Connoisseur series 500 13* 11* 12 9 7 8 11* 10 8 10 9 10 11 129 Van Basten II 12 7 12 8 10* 8 9 9 9* 12* 10 9 10 125 vajerzy 11 7 13* 8 9 9 8 10 8 10 10 7 12* 122 Aggie87 11 8 11 7 9 8 8 8 9 11 11* 8 9 118 [b]Noj 7 7 12 9* 7 7 7+ 9 8 11 11 11* 6 112 Edward Tak 11 8 12 8 7 10* 9 9 8 8 7 6 6 109 Soulstation1 7 8 9 7 6 8 8 11* 6 11 9 10 9 109

I was a big fan of Enid Blyton's book. Then I loved the Happy Hollisters (forgot the author.) When I got to high school, I liked reading Joseph Conrad and Stephen Crane. In college, I simply read everything. I still like reading.

Happy Birthday John!

Have to see what Vajerzy says, but it looks like Nojjy will end up one less than the lowest placed person this week. This is according to the CBS site.

How do I keep track of that? Does the site do it automatically? Shame you missed your picks. We are so used to gross mismatches on T-giving that the picks are virtual gimmes. The 8:30 game will be a tough call though.

nah!

Interesting quotes: Here's a portion which supports my argument regarding the bloodthirstiness of the game: But chess has a third--and unique--characteristic that is particularly fatal. It is not just monomaniacal and abstract, but its arena is a playing field on which the other guy really is after you. The essence of the game is constant struggle against an adversary who, by whatever means of deception and disguise, is entirely, relentlessly, unfailingly dedicated to your destruction. It is only a board, but it is a field of dreams for paranoia. One comment regarding chess as strategy as brought up by Papsrus: good players put themselves in the game because there isn't a single strategic path. Often there are several routes and the route taken ultimately is an individual one which expresses you as a thinker. Chess has its techniques as well, just as tennis and fencing do. These are learned from books and prior experience; but strategy is not a technique. It can be very individual. Perhaps the game attracts nutcases. I can believe that; but there's no doubt that it intensifies madness if it doesn't create it from scratch. Akiba Rubinstein went off into madness after playing the game for several years. He may have been predisposed but chess sure led him to it. Again, you've got an opponent who threatens your view of life. It leads to paranoia in general.

We all walk in our little worlds with our little personal viewpoints. Sometimes these viewpoints are challenged in discussion, and it might lead to some degree of reevaluation. But it is also easy to make excuses. "She didn't quite get my point," or "it's too hard to put into words." But people can carry these viewpoints throughout their entire lives undisturbed through their endeavors at work, in the home, or in competition. But when you play serious chess, and invest your sum total of experience and beliefs into it (as serious chessplayers do) then your world gets rocked in a major fashion when you lose. You cannot make excuses or rationalize it away. There is something WRONG with you in some way. You must acknowledge that your opponent is superior to you. You can still rationalize to some extent: "my concentration wavered briefly and I lost but I had the better game," or "I lost the game in time pressure but my game was better," etc. We all can make excuses. I'm just saying that these excuses hold little water in the game of chess. It's all about you in a deep fundamental and profound way. People who deceive themselves with excuses, don't last long in serious competition. I'm not saying that chess is greater than anything else. I stand by my statement that it is as bloodthirsty as boxing. There is also a remarkable similarity between the two sports. Posters here are arguing that you get physically hurt running into Ray Lewis or whatever. So what? That's not my argument. Chess is violent even if it is mentally violent. It is so violent that many of its best players became insane.

Unique? No way. Batter vs. pitcher in baseball. Golf. Tennis... Fencing, ... True enough, but the investment of self in a boxing bout or chess match is greater than in the other sports. You can lose a tennis match or fencing match without having to question who you are fundamentally, or at least the question isn't as profoundly personal. When you lose a chess match at the highest levels, you cannot walk away without some damage about who you ARE. I imagine fencing is technique and willpower. Tennis the same. Pitching the same. A loss in either of these games/sports doesn't lead you to question who you are in the most profound fundamental way. There is a difference. In that sense, chess is even more brutal than boxing. You don't separate your view of the world from your chessgame. It is all connected. You don't separate who you ARE from your chess game. That's why tennis players don't go mad. Chessplayers do. There is less or little separation between the sport and who you are. I have more separation because I am not a professional; but I do invest a lot of who I am when I play a rated game. As a result, there is some psychological damage afterwards. In boxing, it's a little different, as you invest yourself physically in the most fundamental way. I suppose football might be similar, but you've got teammates and coaches involved. It's not the same one to one nakedness.

I think you're missing Dan's point, not vice versa. He doesn't think chess is a gentlemanly game played by aristocrats. He thinks chess is a game. Period. What you are describing applies to ALL games, sports, etc. whether you approach them that way or not. When I was a kid a lot of people refused to play Monopoly with me, because when I played I was out to completely humiliate my opponents. It's the only way I knew to play. But I didn't delude myself into thinking I was playing a bloodthirsty sport. No you miss the point. You can lose a game of monopoly and walk away ego intact the next day. Same with a basketball game or whatever. But boxing and chess are different. You are forced to rebuild yourself--something intrinsic within yourself afterwards. When you lose a game of chess after investing your ego and years of study and belief in your thought processes, you are forced to reevaluate the way you think. It is very painful and sometimes violent. This is so because you can't blame a teammate for losing or blame fate, or blame luck or whatever. Boxing and chess are unique in the sense that you are thrown out there to face yourself and your opponent in the battle. Luck and the help of teammates are absent. I believe these two sports are very similar, only one is physical and the other mental. Suppose you were forced to reevaluate your entire 40+ years of thinking, Moose. How would you feel? Well chess does that. I'm not at the highest levels. I can lose a game and walk back to my daily life, but I'm not a chess professional. It would be different if I was. Chess professionals have learned to be as objective about themselves as much as possible, but often they go mad after their career ends (as Bobby Fischer did.) And if they don't go mad, they certainly become strange and eccentric and definitely not "normal."

You're not convinced. Well that's okay. I know better because I participate in it, and have felt and given out the violence. btw, they don't look at each other in part due to the guarding of one's own ego. You don't want to show fear or hesitancy to your opponent. Incidentally, I'm a good chessplayer, but if I were to face either of these players in a rated game, I would be so afraid that I would likely be already beaten before sitting down, just as Marvin Hagler or Mike Tyson had already beaten their opponents before the fight started. Same intimidation.

Here's a great video that illustrates my point. This is a blitz game played between two grandmasters. It isn't as openly emotional as the Krush-Zatonskih game, but the testosterone is flying bigtime. The two not only look like they want to tear off the other's head but actually try to through chess moves. Take note that at the :58 second mark of the video, Akhobian grabs a queen in anticipation of an eventual pawn promotion. Nakamura glares and says, "you kidding?" and grabs one as well. Tell me these guys aren't bloodthirsty, Dan.