CARDRUNNERS

What a game last night. The interesting thing was in the promos for the game they were showing clips from the Bears vs. Cardinals game last year. I thought to myself, "why the hell are they showing that?" That game was a total fluke and the Cowboys are going to blowout the Bills. It just seemed like a weird game to compare the upcoming game to. I guess they knew something that I didn't. It's not like the game necessarily played out in a similar fashion, but it was a fluky game that came down to the wire. I mean, who thinks the Cowboys still win after they miss the 2 point conversion? I sure didn't. So many things had to go right. I gotta give the Cowboys credit though. Tony Romo turned over the ball 6 times and they still pulled out a victory. I dislike the Cowboys as much as any team in the NFL so I really hated how that game turned out. It does make me look more forward to the Sunday night game next week (Pats vs Cowboys).

Been quite awhile since I've played any online poker. I was playing a decent amount before Aruba, but I haven't played since I left for the trip (Sept 29th). I wasn't planning on playing any online poker in Aruba and frankly the internet connection was too bad to play on anyway. I've learned to not play on an internet connection that I think is shaky. It can cost you in two major ways. First, you can get disconnected in a large pot. Losing a big pot that you were supposed to win can really mess with your win rate. Also, it will mess up your reads. If your game is lagging every time you need to make a decision it's very hard to get into a rhythm and get reads on your opponents.

I had planned on playing a lot on Sunday, but the internet in my apartment has been down since I got back from Aruba. It's pretty frustrating. It's supposed to get fixed tomorrow, so I don't have too much longer. I'm itching to get back in the games. I might be able to get a session in today at the office. I want to put thew new converter to use in my blog.

I'm going to Iowa this weekend to see the Illini play the Hawkeyes. The Illini should definitely get the best of them. It'll be a fun game I'm sure. My brother just started going to school there this year and my roommates brother is a Junior. I've been to a bunch of big 10 schools, but I never made it up to Iowa. I've heard nothing but good things though so I'm definitely looking forward to finally checking it out.

 For all you Cowboys haters out there, this blog should be pretty entertaining.  For you Cowboys fans, thanks for sharing my pain.

This past Sunday was Week 17 in the NFL.  It was the most exciting regular season day of football I can remember as the playoff picture was still very foggy entering the day.  My Dallas Cowboys were coming off a disappointing loss to Baltimore but still controlled their own destiny, win against the archrival Eagles and make the playoffs.  Unfortunately, nothing went according to plan and the Boys lost 44-6.  It was brutal to stomach, and especially so for me.  I went with my family over to a family friend's house to watch the game.  The father is a diehard Eagles fan and made sure to show us his Donovan McNabb fathead before the game.  I could not believe how huge this thing was.  I came prepared though with not only a Marion Barber jersey that I bought 2 hours before the game but also one of my most prized possessions - a Cowboys helmet autographed by 30 some players from the '90s Super Bowl teams, including Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders, Leon Lett, Moose Johnston, and many more, plus coach Jimmy Johnson.  We had some great banter going back and forth before kickoff, and for the first 10 minutes of the game or so when it was still close, but after that it was just painful to watch and to deal with the taunting.  In true Eagles fan fashion, after the game was over he left the postgame show on for like an hour and a half, ugh.  The one funny thing about watching the postgame show was watching Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell offer his analysis.  For those who don't know, Gov. Rendell spends every Sunday during the football season in the studio with former Eagles players and coaches or whoever else discussing football.  He was nowhere to be seen when the Steelers won the Super Bowl a few years ago or when the Phillies won the World Series this year, but he loves his Eagles!  Quite humorous if you ask me.

Aside from the Cowboys game the NFL Sunday was pretty awesome, there were tons of good, meaningful games.  I'm no expert but maybe I'll do a playoff prediction blog in a few days when I have time to think about it some.  I'm sure looking forward to the playoffs even though my team came up short.

Poker's been going pretty poorly the last few days but I'll snap out of it.  I just haven't been playing focused, which is easy to do when I'm at my parents' house and don't have my setup, but I'll fix that.  I'm not too worried about it.  As an aside, the nosebleed action has been awesome to watch lately.  I don't really have any desire to play 500/1k PLO ever unless I have 5 million dollars set aside just for poker or sell off a bunch of my action, but it sure is fun to watch!  The disappointing thing is that games between 25/50 and 500/1k are pretty much dead, but I'm content grinding 25/50 at the moment.

Happy new year!

What are the most popular sports teams?    My friends and I debated this question while watching game 7 of the Bulls-Celtics series.  When I say, "debated," I mean "shouted vigorously."

The debate started when Phil claimed the Bears were the most popular team in America.  The rest of us agreed that the Cowboys were more popular, but that led to a longer discussion of who are the most well known in all sports.

Here are my guesses but a few rules first:
1) How many legitimate fans do they have?
2) Do people in another country know about them?
3) What kind of national exposure do they have?
3) How many people hate them more than any other team? (Weren't the popular kids in HS also the most hated)

MLB:  NY Yankees
           1) They're the favored team in NY, so they have a shit ton of fans.
           2) Go to an H&M in Europe and you'll see Yankees hats for sale, I have a feeling thats because people like the "N" "Y" for New York rather than the baseball team.
           3) iF its not every game they have against the Red Sox on ESPN, or the YES network, i have to read about A-Rod in the tabloids. (if I actually read the tabloids...)
           4) IF you don't love them you hate them.

NFL: Dallas Cowboys
          1) i assume alot based on how many kids bought their pull-over starter jacket in the 4th grade
          2) I'm not sure if anyone outside the US gives a shit about fOOtball
          3) They have more nationally televised games than any other team, and they didnt even make the playoff last year!
          4) If you don't love them you hate them

NHL:  haha, just kidding

NBA:  LA Lakers
          1) 8 million So Calers minus 37 Clippers' fans
          2) China gives this award to the Houston Rockets
          3) more than most
          4) I don't like them and who would ever disagree with me

Taking that flawed logic into account for each sport the winner is.... Tiger Woods... just kidding.  I'm going with the Yankees.  This answer is reasonable if the question is, "which US sports team is the most popular?"  Of course I ignored all the European soccer teams like Manchester United or Real Madrid that are more renowned worldwide than any US sports team.

What are your thoughts?

I love you,
-Matt