Combat Sports v Coronavirus Round 2

We can take a deep breath for now as WWE was able to complete it's ambitious taping schedule at the Performance Center this week. While the rest of sports world is on hiatus, pro wrestling fans can count on 2 Raws, 2 NXTs, and next week's Smackdown, in addition to the Grandaddy of Em All, Wrestlemania, on both next Saturday and Sunday for the first time ever. As it stands, Friday Night Smackdown on April 10th would be the next possible live event for WWE.

The Wrestlemania card did take a couple of losses, first reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Roman Reigns cautiously bowed out of his Universal Championship main event with Goldberg due to growing concern over the coronavirus. Reigns had a much publicized battle with Leukemia in 2018, and took the smart and safer route of not performing during this time. Braun Strowman is replacing the four-time WWE Champion at Mania. I wish Reigns all the best, and look forward to seeing him perform when it is safe to do so.

In addition to Roman, The Miz is out of the Smackdown Tag Team Title Ladder Match 3 way with the New Day and Usos with an unreported illness. Andrade has also been scratched from the Raw Tag Team Title match due to an injury he sustained at Raw on Monday. Meltzer has also refuted the Reddit rumors that Kevin Owens, Edge, and Asuka were off the card as well, and confirmed their matches all took place as scheduled.

Two new stipulations were added to The Showcase of the Immortals this week. The Undertaker and AJ Styles will fight in a Boneyard Brawl, and John Cena and The Fiend's match will be in the Firefly Funhouse. This is one of the few times WWE can let matchups be a little more creative by having them take place outside the arena since there isn't a live audience that would grow restless watching a screen. I'm sure WWE post-production will be able to add a lot to these particular matches since Undertaker and Cena are no longer in their prime, as full-time performers.

NXT is making the best of a bad situation as well. With the postponement of Takeover Tampa, matches that were scheduled for that event were taped to air on the NXT TV show Wednesday Nights the next two weeks. On the April 1st episode, a Triple Threat for the NXT North American Title will take place between Keith Lee, Domnik Dijakovic, and Damian Priest. Then, on the April 8th show, the Six Women #1 Contender Ladder Match and the final blowoff of the Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano feud will take place The two and a half year feud between them has been a highlight of NXT, and it is going to be interesting to see where they go from here.

AEW is taking the chance going live for Dynamite every week still with a limited roster in Daliy's Place in Jacksonville. International wrestlers, like Pac and Lucha Bros, as well as talent from California, including the Young Bucks and SCU weren't at the show this week. This past Wednesday's show was supposed to be Blood and Guts in Newark , pour out a Lil Bit of the Bubbly for me :( but instead was highlighted by a confrontation between Chris Jericho and Broken Matt Hardy. Both these guys have great comedic timing, and it was a lighthearted moment I think everyone needed. Some of the highlights were Jericho cutting a promo on Vanguard One (Hardy's drone) and Hardy saying the empty amphitheater was filled with spirits of George Washington,Martin Luther King, and Judas.

Dana White continued his battle against the media this week with some more hilarious quotes, including a must-listen interview with Barstool Sports' Bob Fox. In spite of some the controversy the media is trying to stir up, the UFC President vows to move on with April 18th's UFC 249 card, headlined by Tony and Khabib, in a move I wholeheartedly agree with.

“I’m not telling the media anything! Fuck you! Every day when I wake up, there’s a bullshit story. Or somebody doesn’t like this, somebody doesn’t like that. I don’t give a fuck what you think. On April 18th, you either wanna turn on the TV and watch this fight, or you don’t.”

"How long are we really going to stay in our houses and hide? If the coronavirus is what's going to get me, then so be it. I mean, it is what it is. Heart disease, car accidents, cancer — the list goes on and on of all these things that kill people every year. One thing is guaranteed: We're all gonna die of something. ... You can't be somebody who's gonna hide in your house." 

Dana is working on making UFC 249 the "Baddest Card Ever", including adding fights from the previous three postponed events. A potential combination of any of the below fights would be a great way for the organization to return to normalcy, as White said he plans all events after April 18th to continue as scheduled.

Khabib Nurmagomedov (c) vs Tony Ferguson
Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Tyron Woodley vs Colby Covington
Jessica Andrade vs Rose Namajunas
Jeremy Stephens vs Calvin Kattar
Alistair Overeem vs Walt Harris
Magomed Ankalaev vs Ion Cuțelaba
Uriah Hall vs Jacare Souza
Lyman Good vs Belal Muhammad

Lockdownmania

After what has been a crazy week in professional sports, with March Madness, NBA, NHL, MLB, and XFL being either outright cancelled or postponed, pro wrestling and MMA have tried their best to keep entertaining all of us. Vince McMahon and Dana White are two of my personal idols for their "show must go on" mentality and not being afraid to stand up to criticism. Those two qualities were tested perhaps more than ever this week.

Last Friday night's Smackdown began the era of no fans for either sport. While it hasn't been completely smooth, it's a welcome distraction from everything else going on. After three shows (NXT was a recap show), it's apparent WWE is attempting to book shows the same with the wrestlers playing to a crowd of empty seats. I felt that AEW's Dynamite on Wednesday was better since they sat a group of heels and faces on opposites sides of the ring to heckle and cheer the performers. AEW also moved their hard camera to face the entrance ramp, while WWE's production has stayed the same, showing the empty ringside seats. UFC's Fight Night on Saturday wasn't as unusual since it felt like a fight from The Ultimate Fighter. 

In a situation that is still fluid, reports are that WWE is planning to pre-tape several matches to air on Raw and Smackdown over the weekend, which I'm sure will be edited with some of their video packages hyping up Wrestlemania 36. 

Speaking of Wrestlemania, the Showcase of the Immortals, which was set to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on April 5th is going to be unique. Instead of holding their annual supershow in front of 80,000 screaming die hard fans, Vince McMahon made the decision to tape the show at their Performance Center in Orlando on a closed set. Not only will this be the first Mania to be held with no fans, but it will take place over the course of two nights and be pre-taped as well.

Not going to lie, my gut reaction to hearing that news was that it would be a complete clusterfuck. Raw and Smackdown matches have been tolerable at best in this situation, as crowd reaction plays a huge part in a pro wrestling match. Also, all the pomp and circumstance of Wrestlemania, the larger than life set, the over the top entrances, and who can forget pyro that put your town's shitty 4th of July to shame, won't be there this year.

However, after thinking on this a little more, it's the only logical thing WWE can do at this moment. Nobody has any clue how long it will take before things start to normalize again, especially holding a stadium event. The main event matches and storylines are set already, and I feel keeping the creative in limbo won't work either. If WWE is able to continue to hold these empty arena shows to honor their TV contracts with Fox and USA, along with the monthly network specials, getting Wrestlemania over with and chalk it up to a horrible situation is your best option.

WWE's decision to hold the show over two nights proves my thinking that WWE knows the Performance Center shows aren't great, but it's better than nothing. Watching a 7+ hour show would seem even more tedious in that regard, so spreading the event into two 3+ hour events is the best way to go.  In fact, it would've been nice to spend two nights at Metlife last year instead of being stuck in Secaucus Station at 1 AM. The postponement of the Hall of Fame and NXT Takeover also clears up more time for Network content.

The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer has reported that WWE is taping Wrestlemania this week as well, and is trying to get as creative as possible to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. They're considering going as far as taping matches at different locations with unique stipulations. Think of the Hollywood Backlot Brawl at Wrestlemania 12 with Roddy Piper and Goldust.

While no further details have come out yet, this is how a proposed card would look if they separate Raw and Smackdown matches. 

Brock Lesnar v Drew McIntyre - Raw Mens Title

Becky Lynch v Shayna Baszler - Raw Womens Title 

Charlotte Flair v Rhea Ripley - NXT Womens Title

Edge v Randy Orton

AJ Styles v The Undertaker

Seth Rollins v Kevin Owens

Goldberg v Roman Reigns - Smackdown Mens Title

Bayley v Sasha v Naomi v Dana v Lacey v Tamina - Smackdown Womens Title

The Fiend v John Cena

Elias w/Gronk v Baron Corbin

Sami Zayn v Daniel Bryan

Otis v Dolph Ziggler

Seeing the cards on paper, the Raw side looks much stronger, so I would advise against doing this. I'm curious if we will also see any of the postponed Takeover matches added to this card. Also of note, the annual Mens and Womens Battle Royals have been scrapped for social distancing guidelines. I will be back with a full preview of Wrestlemania as we get more details. 

For MMA fans, this week was more par for the course of the crazy sport we love so much. From the early days of an event moving overnight from New York to Alabama due to the state athletic commission banning the sport, to as recent as UFC 232 in 2018 having to move an event from Vegas to California on a weeks notice after Jon Jones had one of his many issues with picograms, along with plenty of hiccups in between. Dana White and the UFC brass were finally dealt a roadblock they couldn't move.

After holding Saturday's UFC Brasilia card without fans, Dana White promised fans the fights would continue until government restrictions made it impossible. Today's scheduled London show was going to be moved an Indian Reservation in the US where the Athletic Commission's won't have as much authority. They were even working on replacing London native Leon Edwards from the main event against Tyron Woodley, with Colby Covington. White also planned on holding the March 28 and April 11 shows at the UFC Apex, a personal studio inside company's Headquarters in Vegas. However, a few days after President Trump banned all gatherings of more than 10 people, making the shows impossible.

The next scheduled event, UFC 249 is headlined by the superfight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. UFC fans have been waiting five years for the "cursed" fight, as the matchup has been scrapped four times before due to injuries after it was announced. Dana White promises fans the event is sill on for April 18th, even if it isn't the US. White's relationship with President Trump can hopefully be enough to find a loophole for this event.

The backlash of the MMA media from those comments led to another great Dana White diatribe on Friday:

“Think about this: Go online and look at some of these people – and this isn’t a knock, this is just a fact: The weakest, wimpiest people on earth cover the biggest, baddest sport on earth. What do you expect them to say? What do you think they’re gonna say?

I have over 350 employees who work for me. Multi-billion-dollar companies are laying off all their employees right now. We haven’t laid off one person at the UFC. And every fighter that fights for me will fight three times this year. Our schedule will go on. Everybody’s gonna get paid, and we will figure this out, and we will be the first sport back on. And, uh, fuck that shit. Everything will go on.”

I completely agree with Dana. The holier than thou attitude of some MMA media members can get overbearing sometimes. These are professional cage fighters, their occupation is much more dangerous than any potential virus. I'm crossing my fingers we still have a great scrap to preview in four weeks.

The Notorious Return and Championship Sunday Predictions

Sports fans love a good redemption story, and Conor McGregor has a chance to write the first chapter tonight in Vegas at UFC 246. After winning nine of his first ten UFC fights in a 3 and half year span, and skyrocketing to superstardom, the Irishman has dealt with a lot of adversity both inside and outside the Octagon. After defeating Eddie Alvarez in UFC's debut event at MSG in November 2016, which was arguably one of his best performances, Conor has only fought twice. After losing to Floyd Mayweather in August 2017 in a boxing match, he lost to Khabib in October 2018 following an ugly feud.

While I agree, that McGregor let the fame and his partying ways get out of hand, I question the validity of the sexual assault accusations thrown his way. Say what you will about Dana White and the UFC brass, but they've had a history of acting swiftly against fighters accused of domestic violence. On top of that, do you really think ESPN, which is owned by Disney, didn't do their due diligence before this fight in the #MeToo era? 

The Conor that we're seeing now appears to be grown up and humbled by everything that has happened in the past three and half years. His interview with Ariel Helwani McGregor was much more subdued. He seems very focused on his training and is talking about his 2020 season, where he hopes to fight at least three times. Fighters are still lining up to call him out, hoping for a "red panty night".

Everything begins tonight with a bout against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. Cowboy has been fighting under the Zuffa banner since 2007, and owns the record for most wins, finishes, and bonuses in UFC history. The 36 year old was seeing a career resurgence before losing his last two fights to Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. In spite of all his successes, Cerrone is 0-3 in championship fights, and was never able to get over the hump of taking out a top dog. Cerrone is the perfect opponent for a returning McGregor, as he also would rather take part in a firefight than a grappling match, and he has shown a history of struggling against southpaws.

While this is a very winnable fight for McGregor, it won't be a cakewalk. It is smart from a business standpoint to let the Irishman get his feet under him against a grizzly veteran before moving on to the elite of the lightweight and/or welterweight division. I feel like the Vegas odds are pretty fair at -295 for McGregor tonight.

Unfortunately, outside of the main event there isn't much to get too excited about tonight. Only one other fight on the main card,  the co-main of Raquel Pennington +111 and Holly Holm,  is between two top 15 ranked fighters. I personally feel like Holm is still overrated after her knockout win against Rousey, and Rocky offers some good value. In other notable action, Anthony Pettis is moving back down to lightweight in the pay-per view opener as a live +185 dog against Diego Ferreira. In the featured prelim bout, future women's flyweight star, Maycee Barber, 8-0 with 7 stoppages, is a -1,000 favorite against Roxanne Modafferi.

Titans +7 and Under 52.25 - Mike Vrabel followed a huge upset win over mentor Bill Bellichick by taking out the Super Bowl favorite Ravens. Meanwhile, Kansas City, who benefitted from a first round bye thanks to the Dolphins in Week 17, slept walked through the first quarter and still beat the Texans by 20. As unlikely as it seemed a few weeks ago, the Chiefs get to host the AFC Championship game in Arrowhead tomorrow. 

This game will one of two ways, either Tractorcito can get going against the Chiefs 26th ranked run defense while Tennessee controls the clock and limits how long has Mahomes has the ball. Or, the Chiefs get to an early lead and force Ryan Tannehill to beat them. The Titans have personally made me a  believer, and while I think the Chiefs still find a way to win, I'm taking the Titans getting a touchdown.

Chiefs 24 Titans 20

Packers +260 and Over 46.5 - On November 24th, the Niners gave Rodgers and the Packers a drubbing on National TV, 37-8. Now, the two teams will rematch in the NFC Championship Game after winning at home last weekend. This is very reminiscent to me of the 2011 Divisional Round game between the Jets and Patriots. Rex Ryan buried the game ball after an embarrassing Monday Night loss in the regular season and the Jets upset the Pats in Foxboro. 

I find it hard to believe that Rodgers and Matt LaFluer haven't been stewing about that loss for almost two months hoping to get their chance at revenge in January. I think we see a vintage Rodgers performance along with Davante Adams continuing his dominance of the past four weeks. If Green Bay can take the Niners off their offensive schedule and force Jimmy G to make plays late in the game they can win on Sunday, and getting us a Super Bowl matchup of Mahomes-Rodgers.

Packers 31 49ers 24

Crazy Eyes, Danny Fumbles, Mono, and Black Cats - A Year in New York Football

Can you believe it's Week 17 already in the league where they pay ...... fah play. Unfortunately, in East Rutherford, it's another season where no meaningful games were played in December. For Gang Green, it's the ninth straight season without a playoff appearance, and could be the fourth consecutive year with double digit losses. Big Blue meanwhile, have only sniffed the postseason once in the past eight years, and have lost over 11 games the past three seasons.

I can't wait for this decade to finally end on Tuesday. Since Costa's in the Cage is read by both Woody Johnson and John Mara (especially after I begged the Jets to draft Dashaun Watson) I know my plan to turn both franchises will be on their respective desks before kickoff tomorrow. Since the Jets won the Snoopy Bowl this year I'll cover them first.

After dumping a man who somehow had less charisma than a bag of milk, the Jets handed the keys of the franchise over to banished former Dolphins coach Adam Gase. Jets fans wanted Mike McCarthy, bro, and were even more furious after an introductory press conference where it looked like Gase was having his testicles electrocuted while having to watch every Jet failure from the past 50 years. Things settled down going into the draft, where the Jets picked Quinnen Williams with the third pick.

Being the dumpster fire front office we're known for, the Jets couldn't let things go smoothly into training camp. After we signed CJ Mosley and Lev Bell, the Jets fired GM Mikey Mac. Soon after, Joe Douglas was in charge and ready for the season. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall to know what really happened that led to hostile takeover by Gase. My best guess is that the Jets always wanted Douglas, but he had prior commitments where he couldn't leave the Eagles until after the draft.

With all that in the past, we were ready on Week One to potentially compete for a playoff spot this season. In true Jets fashion, it took three quarters for it all to fall apart. After jumping out to a 16-0 lead against the Bills, CJ Mosley got the AIDS and we lost 17-16. A few days later, it came out that Sam Darnold would be out a month with mono, after kissing too many girls under the Seaside Boardwalk.

A once promising season was 0-4 and then after a shocking win against Dallas in Darnold's return was quickly 1-7 after seeing ghosts on Monday Night against the Pats. A win against the Little Giants though sparked the Jets to make a little run, who are currently on a 5-2 run that has given gullible  Jets fans like myself promise going into next season.

We enter this offseason with a little more stability, much to the chagrin of some Jets fans (bro), Gase will be back next season, and he's ready to work together with Joe Douglas to fix some glaring holes on our roster. I personally don't hate Gase, but am not convinced he will be the guy who can turn the ship around either. However, in Sam Darnold's best interest, it would be best to not have to learn another playbook next season.

The Jets are near the middle of the pack with $60 million in cap space before making any cuts (Trumaine Johnson, Avery Williamson, and Quincy Enunwa to name a few), and currently hold the 10th overall pick. They also hold the Giants 3rd round pick, giving us four picks in the Top 75 of the draft.

After almost trading him at the deadline, I'd make resigning Robbie Anderson a top priority this offseason. Rumors are he's looking for around $10 million per year, and while he isn't a top reciever he has great chemistry with Darnold. If you can team him up with Jerry Jeudy or Ceedee Lamb, and use the rest of the draft and cap space to sure up the o-line and bring in a pass rusher the Jets would be in great shape for the future. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to give Jamal Adams a long term deal to make up for almost trading him at the deadline. He's the leader of the defense and should retire a Jet.

Enough about the Goddamn Jets. Get your popcorn ready, it's time to talk about the losers on the other side of Jetlife Stadium. After finishing 8-24 the past two seasons, the Giants needed a major rebuild to begin competing in 2019. Instead, GM David Gettleman made several strange decisions. The G-Men also made a huge mistake shunning the Sports Pope when he called them out on their foolish maneuvers.

Trading Odell Beckham to Cleveland wasn't bad in a vacuum, getting back Jabril Peppers and the 16th overall pick in the draft is a pretty fair value. Making the trade after signing him to a big contract the past offseason, that led to $16 million in dead cap space however is a different story. They also thought that 31 year old Golden Tate would help ease the loss of Beckham, but he's quickly become an afterthought in the offense. Drafting Daniel Jones with the 6th pick has seemingly worked out during an up and down rookie season. However, much like the Beckham trade there's a flip side of this decision. Keeping Eli Manning and his $17.5 million salary and benching him two games into the season is foolish given the other glaring holes on this roster.

The Giants of 2019 looked very similar to the old Giants in the first two weeks of the seasons, with an anemic offense and swiss cheese defense. This led to the decision to bench veteran Eli Manning and start rookie Danny Dimes. Shurmur and Gettleman looked like geniuses and were smirking smugly after Jones led the team to wins in Tampa and at home against the Skins. The win against Tampa was bittersweet as Saquon Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain that made him ineffective for the remainder of season. The Danwagon derailed almost as quickly as it accelerated.

During a nine-game losing streak, Jones had nine interceptions and twelve fumbles. The Giants infamously had a 12-3 lead against the Cowboys before a black cat appeared on the field, as Dallas went on to win 37-18. After Daniel Jones suffered an injury during the Week 13 loss against the Packers, Eli Manning returned had a feel good win against the Dolphins in Week 15 snapping their losing skid. In typical Giants fashion, the good vibes ended during last week's win against the Redskins, which big blew their chance at Ohio State linebacker Chase Young. The Giants can finish the season on a high note playing potential spoiler to the Philly Scumbags.

Owner John Mara enter the offseason with a lot of big decisions to make. Coach Pat Shurmur is going to be let go on Black Monday, and I feel like Gettleman should join him on the unemployment line. It would be foolish to say Gettleman has been a total failure in his two years, drafting the future of the offense in Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley, and Darius Slayton. However his ego and grating personality has run it's course in New York. Gettleman may be a good scout of talent, but his decision making has put the Giants in a big hole. 

I went through this with the Jets last season, where Woody should've let Mike Mac go with Todd Bowles and start fresh. You don't want to follow the Jets pattern of dysfunction. Instead, let your new GM decide which head coach he wants to hitch his wagon to, with big names available include Mike McCarthy and Riverboat Ron.

The Giants have $66 million in cap space and currently hold the 4th overall in the draft. Their offensive line is still an issue and the defense almost needs a complete overhaul, giving up the 4th most points in the league this season (417). For now, Giants fans need to wait a few more days to see if John Mara makes the correct decision on Black Monday.

2019 NFL Season Winding Down and College Bowl Picks

Don't cry because it's over smile because it happened.

The 2019 NFL season begins to wind down, almost all of the playoff spots have been locked up, and now several teams are left playing for seeding. This makes gambling on Week 16 and 17 especially tough, since you need to see what is still motivating these players on teams that are out of the race. Vegas knows this as well, and you will see some inflated lines. I'm here to help you pick out the best spots to bet this week.

Texans -2 at Bucs - Kicking off the Saturday slate, is a great game to help you build your bankroll going into the rest of the weekend. Houston bounced back from their shocking loss to Drew Lock and the Broncos with a dominant performance against their division foes, the Titans. Despite the 24-21 final score, Houston dominated that game from bell to bell. Jameis Winston is having one of the strangest seasons in NFL history, and you never know if he's throwing an 80 yard bomb or will get strip sacked. This game will be a little different since he is without both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, take the Texans -2 and don't overthink it.

Bills +6.5 at Patriots - Bills Mafia locked up a playoff spot with a win over the Steelers, but need to win out and need the Pats to lose out to win the AFC East. New England, on the other hand, is staring down the barrel at having to play in the Wild Card round for the first time in a while. The first time these two teams met, it was a close, hard hitting defensive battle. Since then, the Patriots offense has sputtered as Father Time has possibly caught up with Brady. Buffalo should stay close enough to cover the number.

Jets +3 vs Steelers - The Steelers were dealt a tough blow with the loss to Buffalo at home Sunday night. Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph have been the benefactors of the return of the Steel Curtain defense, as Pittsburgh has gone back to being a defense-first team. Lev Bell's honeymoon in New York was short, with rumors already swirling that Gang Green wants to trade the former Pro Bowler. I feel like Bell will want to show the Black and Yellow they made a mistake not paying him, and Gase will be happy to oblige with plenty of carries. It would also would be smart to avoid Darnold having to throw too much against a ball-hawking defense. The Jets still seem to be competing for Gase, and I see them playing spoiler Sunday.

Ravens -10 at Browns - Baltimore has won 10 straight after getting embarrassed at home 40-25 by these same Cleveland Browns. That was also the highlight of the Browns season, that has blown up in Freddie Kitchen's face. Lamar Jackson will avenge the loss and the Ravens roll.

Cowboys -2 at Eagles - This is a de facto playoff game, with the winner getting the NFC East crown. This has been a tale of two seasons for Dallas, who are 7-7 in spite of two 3-game losing streaks. The 'Boys are still the more talented team than Philly, and are 4-0 against their Divisional opponents this season, and Jason Garrett is 7-2 lifetime at the Linc. Carson Wentz has had a nightmare season this year, with seemingly every wide receiver going down at one point in the season. The Bird Gang won't have a Merry Christmas, and might be booing Santa Clause again after this one.

Chiefs -6 at Bears - The Chiefs are starting to get their mojo back as Tyreek Hill and Patrick Mahomes are getting healthy again. I've seen Mitch Trubisky too often in prime time games this season, and his interception at midfield last week ended all hope of the Bears making it back to the postseason. KC might also be playing for a bye if the Pats lose Saturday.

Packers +5.5 at Vikings - This isn't the same Packers team that we're used to, and I'm starting to think Rodgers is regretting chasing Mike McCarthy out the door for Matt LaFleur. Despite all that, Kirk Cousins is 0-8 on Monday and the Vikings might be without Dalvin Cook. This line seems to be a little too high, after the Vikings steamrolled the Chargers last week.

BONUS PICKS

Going rapid fire with some of my favorite Bowl picks up to next Saturday. I love Bowl season, as you really need to look into outside factors (motivation, coaching changes, player suspensions) almost as much as the X's and O's.

12/21 Boise State +2.5 v Washington
12/23 Marshall +17.5 v UCF
12/24 BYU -2 v Hawaii
12/26 Lousiana Tech +6 v Miami
12/27 UNC -4.5 v Temple
          Wake Forest +150 v Michigan State
          Oklahoma State +7 v Texas A&M
          Iowa -2 v USC
12/28 Penn State -6.5 v Memphis
          Iowa State +3.5 v Notre Dame

Clemson -2 v Ohio State - Clemson has been quietly been beating teams in the ACC as Trevor Lawrence has yet to lose in his college career. The Buckeyes were blown out 31-0 the last time they faced the Tigers in the Playoffs, and I'm going with Dabo Swinney to win it again.

Oklahoma +17.5 v LSU - I bought the 3.5 points on Pointsbet to drive the line up to 17.5 at -150. LSU and Heisman winner Joe Burrow will win this game, but I like Oklahoma with the backdoor cover.

UFC Card of the Year?

Tonight's UFC 245 event, the last pay-per view event of 2019 is stacked. This is the first time since UFC 217 where three titles are up for grabs, as well as two UFC legends looking to see where they fit in the 135 lb weight class against two of the sports most exciting young prospects. Dana White said in an interview the promotion had to move their annual year-end show a few weeks to make up for ESPN's airing of the College Football Playoffs.

I'm not going to break down the X's and O's of the fights (I'd highly recommend Luke Thomas' Youtube page), instead I'd like to share my thoughts on some major topics as we close out 2019 and look ahead to 2020 in the world of UFC.

• Tonight's Main Event, Covington vs Usman, doesn't feel as big as I thought it would outside of the MMA bubble. Not sure if Colby's MAGA character is starting to feel forced and not as clever as the likes of Chael Sonnen, or if the Conor-Khabib rivalry got so ugly that fans don't want to see things get as heated outside of the Octagon again. I'd like to see Jorge Masvidal get a title shot against the winner.
• If Holloway can get past Volkanovski in the co-main, it's getting harder to find potential opponents for "Blessed" at Featherweight. Zabit Magomedsharipov and Yair Rodriguez didn't look ready for Max in their last fight, and I would love to see a number one contender bout between them.

• Champ-Champ Amanada Nunes is riding a nine-fight winning streak, and has cleaned out Women's Bantamweight and Featherweight. It seems to early to throw Ketlen Vieira or Aspen Ladd in the cage with her.
• Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber are in their second decade of their MMA careers and looking for a spark of what made them future Hall of Famers against two up and comers. Marlon Moraes is trying to bounce back from his loss against Henry Cejudo and is welcoming Aldo to 135 pounds. Petr Yan is 5-0 in the UFC and a win against Faber will put him on the fast track to title contention.

• Frankie Edgar's decision to fight the Korean Zombie next weekend at featherweight instead of waiting for his scheduled debut at bantamweight against Corey Sandhagen in January is peculiar. In an interview on Luke Thomas' Sirius XM show, Edgar said he's been looking to get back into the cage before the end of the year and feels great. He reached out to Dana once Ortega was injured and had to pull out of the fight. Ironically, Edgar was scheduled to fight Zombie last November before pulling out with an injury. I don't see how waiting a month would really make much of a difference, but I'm not a professional athlete. It seems to me that Edgar feels like Holloway is going to lose tonight, and a win against Zombie will be enough to get his 4th crack at the Featherweight crown. Either way I feel like Edgar is in a tough position as he enters the twilight of his legendary career. He's good enough to beat almost any contender, but isn't at the elite level to add a second championship to his record.

• UFC kicks off 2020 with Conor McGregor making his long awaited return at UFC 246 against "Cowboy" Cerrone. While this isn't an easy fight, this is a smart fight for Conor. Cerrone won't be afraid to stand and bang with him, which will lead to an entertaining fight. I just hope McGregor's past is behind him and see him make the walk to the cage several times this year.
• UFC 247 will feature Jon Jones defending his belt against Dominick Reyes who is one of the last remaining contenders for the Light Heavyweight belt. I'd be surprised if "Bones" doesn't go to heavyweight soon.
• I wonder if we'll really see Khabib-Ferguson at UFC 249 in Brooklyn. Dana White's white whale fight, that has fallen apart four times appears to be jinxed. I won't believe it until Bruce Buffer announces their names in Barclays Center.

Bad Motherfuckers and NFL Week 9 Picks

UFC 244 emanates from the Mecca tonight, with an electric main event for the "Baddest Motherfucker in the Game" Title. Stockton's favorite son Nate Diaz takes on "Street Jesus" Jorge Masvidal in what has the potential to be a Fight of the Year candidate. The whole fight just feels fun. From Nate's callout after UFC 241, to the creation of an actual BMF Title Belt, the UFC is catering to what the fans want to see.

This event marks the 11th UFC event in New York state following a two-decade ban and will be the fourth annual November trip to the World's Most Famous Arena. UFC 205 in 2016 and UFC 217 in 2017 rank in the top 5 live sporting events I was in the building for, ughkay.

Going down memory lane, Dana White brought out the big guns for MMA's debut at MSG. Khabib Nurmagemedov and Frankie Edgar had to fight on the prelims of the event that featured EIGHT current, former, or future champions (Edgar, Khabib, Tate, Weidman, Jedrzejczyk, Woodley, Alvarez, McGregor). The night culminated with the crowning of the first Champ - Champ when McGregor knocked Eddie Alvarez in the second round.

UFC 217 didn't have the pomp and circumstance of 205, but it can be argued the Triple Main Event can't be topped. It all started with Rose Namajunas' shocking knockout of Joanna, and was followed by the grudge match that ended when TJ Dillashaw knocked out Cody Garbrandt (a result that has seemed to derail Cody's career). Then, in the return of the undisputed GOAT, GSP submitted Michael Bisping.

UFC 230 didn't have as much heat as the two event that proceeded it, with a Heavyweight main event of DC and the Black Beast, but it did feature the third UFC fight of current Middleweight Champ Israel Adesanya.

I'll be watching the action tonight from my couch tonight, but I was able to attend the UFC 245 Press Conference and the UFC 244 Weigh-Ins from the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The BMF fight does feel like a much bigger fight than I ever anticipated, as Diaz and Masvidal have done a great job of building their brand by just being themselves. "I'm not surprised Motherfucker"

Week 9 Picks

Last Week: 1-5
Season: 19-23

After last week, I'm officially off the Jets and Bears bandwagon. They've both burned me way too many times this season.

Texans -2.5 v Jaguars (London)

Colts ML @ Steelers

Seahawks -6 v Bucs

Raiders -2.5 v Lions

Packers -3.5 @ Chargers

Patriots - 3.5 @ Ravens