My sincere apologies for getting this out late this week but I’ve been sick, Shawshank and the girls have been sick and it’s been just awful. Throw in the fact that my computer is currently down and it’s made for one hell of a week. And speaking of awful weeks, Week 5 wasn’t kind to a lot of people here at the Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest. But Jerridee had a great week, leading the way with 69 points and vaulting into first place. She was one of only four people this week on the positive side so let’s take a look at how the week played out, the overall standings and get ready for Week 6.
Week 5 Results
Jerridee: 69
Denny Luis: 41
PJ: 33
Chad D.: 31
Anthony D.: -15
Poljak: -21
Ed M.: -21
Luke: -25
Art: -27
Andy N.: -31
Jay: -33
Jack: -37
Overall Standings
Jerridee: 159
Jack: 87
Chad D.: 71
PJ: 57
Denny Luis: -5
Andy N.: -9
Art: -15
Poljak: -21
Anthony D.: -57
Jay: -81
Luke: -87
Ed M.: -135
Week 6 Matchups
15. Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers
14. Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions
13. Jacksonville Jaguars at Chicago Bears
12. Atlanta Falcons at Seattle Seahawks
11. Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins
10. Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders
9. Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints
8. Baltimore Ravens at New York Giants
7. Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans
6. Cleveland Browns at Tennessee Titans
5. Cincinnati Bengals at New England Patriots
4. New York Jets at Arizona Cardinals
3. Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers
2. San Francisco 49ers at Buffalo Bills
1. Pittsburgh Steelers at Miami Dolphins
My picks for the week are: DAL-DET-CHI-SEA-PHI-OAK-CAR-BAL-IND-CLE-NE-ARI-DEN-BUF-PIT
Welcome to Week 4 of the Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest here at Binge Media. I’ve gotta say that this was a really horrible week for just about everybody. Of the 11 people that participated this week, only two came out on the positive side and that would be Jack, who vaults back into first place in the overall standings, and Mr. After Midnight himself, Denny Luis. As far as the rest of us go, it was absolutely dreadful. I honestly just want to move on from last week so let’s just take a look at the standings and get to the Week 4 matchups.
Week 3 Results
Jack: 24
Denny Luis: 24
Chad D.: -20
Jay: -24
Art: -32
Ed M.: -42
Andy N.: -50
Jerridee: -50
Luke: -52
PJ: -58
Anthony D.: -64
Overall Standings
Jack: 70
Andy N.: 34
Jerridee: 30
Denny Luis: 26
Art: 26
Chad D.: 18
PJ: -2
Jay: -24
Anthony D.: -40
Luke: -52
Ed M.: -108
Week 4 Matchups
15. Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers
14. New Orleans Saints at San Diego Chargers
13. Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars
12. Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons
11. Oakland Raiders at Baltimore Ravens
10. Cleveland Browns at Washington Redskins
9. Los Angeles Rams at Arizona Cardinals
8. Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears
7. Seattle Seahawks at New York Jets
6. New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings
5. Miami Dolphins at Cincinnati Bengals
4. Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans
3. Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers
2. Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots
1. Denver Broncos at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
My picks for the week are: PIT-SD-IND-CAR-OAK-WAS-ARI-DET-NYJ-MIN-CIN-HOU-DAL-NE-DEN
Welcome to Week 3 of the Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest. It was another interesting week here at Binge Media as our ten participants went 50/50 on positive and negative points. Jerridee led the way this week with a solid 58-point effort that enabled her to jump into second place in the overall standings, a mere four points behind Andy N., who had a nice week with 52 points of his own. Last week’s leader, Mr. Jack Valley, went in the opposite direction this week, coming in last place with -26 points, but remains right in the middle of the pack in fifth place. As for me, I’m right back where I began at the start of this thing, cancelling out my positive six points with a negative six this week and still sitting in second-to-last place, leading only last year’s third-place finisher, Ed M., who bettered his total last week by fifty points but still wound up on the negative side for the week and remains in the cellar at -66. Here’s how Week 2 played out for everyone and the overall standings.
Week 2 Results
Jerridee: 58
Andy N.: 52
Art: 30
Chad D.: 30
PJ: 14
Anthony D.: -2
Luke: -6
Ed M.: -8
Denny: -10
Jack: -26
Overall Standings
Andy N.: 84
Jerridee: 80
Art: 58
PJ: 56
Jack: 46
Chad D.: 38
Anthony D.: 24
Denny: 2
Luke: 0
Ed M.: -66
Week 3 Matchups
16. Minnesota Vikings at Carolina Panthers
15. Cleveland Browns at Miami Dolphins
14. Houston Texans at New England Patriots
13. San Diego Chargers at Indianapolis Colts
12. Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals
11. Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
10. New York Jets at Kansas City Chiefs
9. Baltimore Ravens at Jacksonville Jaguars
8. Pittsburgh Steelers at Philadelphia Eagles
7. Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints
6. Washington Redskins at New York Giants
5. Oakland Raiders at Tennessee Titans
4. Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
3. Chicago Bears at Dallas Cowboys
2. San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
1. Arizona Cardinals at Buffalo Bills
My picks for the week are: CAR-MIA-HOU-IND-CIN-TB-NYJ-JAX-PIT-NO-NYG-OAK-GB-DAL-SEA-ARI
As usual, be sure to make your pick for EVERY game in the comments section below. Good luck.
Welcome to Week 2 of the Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest. I gotta tell you that I’m a bit disappointed in the turnout thus far but I thank all of those that actually took the time out of their day to join us. If you’re still looking to get in, you can do so as I don’t require you to play each and every week but there will be certain points added before the last week of the season for those who play often so if you’re looking to join us, go ahead and make it this week. With all of the close games in the NFL in Week 1, it’s hard to say how things are going to shake out for the rest of the year. During our Week 1 here at Binge Sports, Jack took a big chance on his Patriots and it paid off for him as he continues his big week that included kicking my ass in the opener of the Binge Fantasy Football League. As defending champion here, I was looking for a better showing as I start the defense of my title but I’m currently sitting in second-to-last place. The crazy thing is that last year’s third-place finisher, Ed Minkowski, had the worst week he’s ever had in this contest and is the only one in negative points (sorry to call you out, Ed) so I guess it could have been worse. But as we saw on numerous occasions last year, the standings around here can turn around in an instant. And speaking of which, here’s how things played out in Week 1.
Jack: 72
PJ: 42
Andy N.: 32
Art: 28
Anthony D.: 26
Jerridee: 22
Denny Luis: 12
Chad D.: 8
Luke: 6
Ed M.: -58
If you’re new to the contest, all you have to do is pick the winner of EVERY game (no point spreads here) and type it into the comments section at the bottom of this page. It’s just that simple. With that being said, here’s your Week 2 matchups.
16. Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans
15. Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins
14. Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers
13. Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings
12. Philadelphia Eagles at Chicago Bears
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Arizona Cardinals
10. New York Jets at Buffalo Bills (Thursday Night Game)
9. Tennessee Titans at Detroit Lions
8. Jacksonville Jaguars at San Diego Chargers
7. New Orleans Saints at New York Giants
6. Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns
5. Atlanta Falcons at Oakland Raiders
4. San Francisco 49ers at Carolina Panthers
3. Miami Dolphins at New England Patriots
2. Indianapolis Colts at Denver Broncos
1. Seattle Seahawks at Los Angeles Rams
My picks for the week: KC-DAL-PIT-GB-CHI-ARI-NYJ-DET-JAC-NO-BAL-OAK-CAR-NE-DEN-SEA
Football season has returned and with the arrival of the new NFL season comes an all-new Binge Sports NFL Pick ‘Em Contest. If you played last year, welcome back and if you’re joining us for the first time then just welcome, I guess.
As a reminder or an introduction depending on which group you’re in, here’s a quick rundown of how I do things around here. It’s actually quite simple. As you’ll see below, the NFL matchups for the week are numbered 1-16. That’s the point value of each game. If you’re wondering how I choose which games get which value, that’s actually quite simple as well. Each week I hit a random NFL Power Rankings board and get the number for each team. I then take the difference between the two and there you go. For instance, the 1-point game this week is the Seahawks and the Dolphins. Seattle was ranked #6 while Miami was #26. I also bump up the home team one spot in every game, meaning there was a difference of 21 between those two teams. In this week’s 16-point game between the Patriots and Cardinals, the difference was only 2. If the difference is the same in multiple games, I usually just go with a coin flip to assign the value to that game. So there you go.
So what you’ll need to do each week (I do not require you to play every week but if you do there will be bonus points added to your score near the end of the season) is pick a winner (no point spreads) for EVERY game for the week. Some allow you to choose which games you want to pick but I like to go with the “go big or go home” kind of thing. If you get it right, you get the points for it. If you get it wrong, then those points are subtracted from your overall score. Scores are tallied for the entire 17 weeks of the regular season. I’m still in the process of figuring out exactly what the winner will receive this year, but trust me, it’ll be something worth the few minutes each week to make your picks, which MUST BE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE. And that’s it. Pick your winners. Type them in the comments section and you’re all set. Matchups for each week will be released on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week and picks must be in by the time that particular game gets started. If you want to make a Thursday pick and come back and do the rest later, I’m cool with that just as long as every game gets picked for the week.
Here’s a look at Week 1.
WEEK 1 MATCHUPS
16. New England Patriots at Arizona Cardinals
15. Buffalo Bills at Baltimore Ravens
14. Cincinnati Bengals at New York Jets
13. Carolina Panthers at Denver Broncos
12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
11. Pittsburgh Steelers at Washington Redskins
10. Cleveland Browns at Philadelphia Eagles
9. Detroit Lions at Indianapolis Colts
8. Chicago Bears at Houston Texans
7. New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
6. Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers
5. Oakland Raiders at New Orleans Saints
4. Minnesota Vikings at Tennessee Titans
3. Green Bay Packers at Jacksonville Jaguars
2. San Diego Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs
1. Miami Dolphins at Seattle Seahawks
My picks for the week are: ARI-BAL-CIN-CAR-ATL-PIT-PHI-IND-CHI-DAL-SF-OAK-MIN-GB-KC-SEA
Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know that the Binge Sports Movie Commentary series is supposed to continue this week with Remember the Titans, but if you’ve listened recently then you’d know that in lieu of that, we’ve decided to try and better last year’s debacle of broadcasting the draft of the first season of the Binge Fantasy Football League. Lesson learned.
With that being said, we tried again and went bigger and yet smaller this time around. Gone are our guests from last year (they certainly did nothing wrong) and I’ve painfully invited the Binge Bowl champ, Jack Valley, to join me as we make our picks for the upcoming year while simultaneously watching and attempting to do a commentary of Draft Day, which I’ll openly admit does get lost in the shuffle a bit here. But no worries, I still make some dynamite Tom Welling calls so you can tune in just for that. So sit back (or stand depending on your stance on Colin Kaepernick) as the show opens with the national anthem and goes from there. Enjoy.
The Binge Sports Movie Commentary series rolls on in two weeks with Necessary Roughness. BAKULA!!!
It has been a rough week here at Comic Binge HQ in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our city suffered one of the worst sports losses in recent memory, if not all of memory, and we are still dealing with the aftermath. Our city, our players, our team, our fans, are all being called thugs and classless. We really don’t care all that much, but the fact of the matter is, we were playing a team that is all of those and some. I won’t call players or fans out as a whole for being classless, but the coaches and type of football the Steelers play is straight up trash. The fact that our hometown boy Vontaze Burfict is being called out for being a murderer, piece of shit, etc. really is upsetting, because that fool Antonio Brown is no better than him. He’s just a damn good football player, they both are. Sure, Burfict’s a bit rough around the edges, and he seems to be at the bottom of a lot of bad plays. The dude just tackles, and he’s ruthless. He’s not out there to make friends, he’s out there to win. There are a few instances where he has been caught doing some less than favorable things, but who hasn’t in the NFL that’s worth anything for their play? All we really want in Cincinnati is to be treated fairly, but that will never happen because we’re just the little brother in our conference. Steelers fans will continue to shout “Stairway to 7 baby!” like the fucking tools they are, and we’ll continue to sit here and mope about how we’re all classified as thugs because the Crosstown Shootout drew blows and bows some years ago now. And the Ravens still wear purple, while the Browns wear brown, so they take care of themselves for all I care. Cincinnati is known as a thug city now and forever it seems, and it’s really unfortunate because it’s pretty much not true. We love our teams, and we stick by them… most of the time. I know I do. I will stand by Burfict, and his play. He plays like any other team would want their best defensive player to play, and I don’t care what anyone says otherwise. We’re still hopeful we’ll have a playoff team next year, and McCarron did a hell of a job for Andy Dalton coming on late this year. The team will be picked apart during the offseason, but WHO DEY will do what they can to make it back and hopefully win one of these playoff games for once. However, I digress because you guys are here to read about comic books, not my orange blood and tears so here goes!
Attack on Titan has been recommended to me a countless number of times. I’ve seen its popularity surge since I originally saw a really cool poster of the anime show on Netflix one afternoon when I was looking at anime titles to check out. I have yet to watch the show, but I feel that I am more compelled to now after reading the first tiny volume of the book. One of my reoccurring problems with manga is that the stories seem to be so drawn out. I’m not sure what comes first in the process of making anime and manga, but it certainly seems like one is usually based on the other and this results in the superiority of one over the other. In this case, I feel that I may have a better time with the anime. However, the book starts with several main characters that help to tell the story of the city our people are engulfed in. There seems to be a sense of wild serenity, if that makes any sense, as the surroundings quickly unravel as the chapters progress through the story. What I like her a lot is the concept. The Titans attacked these people years ago, and they’ve built giant, sturdy walls to keep the Titans out. Based on the maps provided in the book though, they are completely surrounded by what appears to be Titan wasteland. We have no idea yet where these Titans come from, what they truly want or can do. What we do know is that the wall was built to keep them out, until now. There is a larger King-like Titan that is threatening the very existence of our people within the walls. It attacks and breaks through the first wall of the city, which we then learn is one of many that the people have built so that they can fall back to a smaller, but again safe city. Based on how many manga books there seem to be, and anime episodes, I’m not entirely sure how this story can get any deeper or fleshed out. The live-action movie looks pretty intense, solely for the grotesque depictions of the Titans and the likely stressful struggle that we’ll see take place on screen. I can’t really decided if I want to just pick up the anime and try it, because that seems to be the main medium of the story that is popular, or if I want to try and squeeze the manga books for the details. Regardless, there is a great, different type of concept here that features really gross creatures in the Titans, but if manga is not your thing like it isn’t with me, this book is going to change your mind.
Next up this week were the comics that were created by Felicia Day in order to further develop her web series, The Guild. For those of you who may not be familiar with The Guild, or have not watched it, I cannot recommend it enough. It’s one of those series that has been on my list to purchase since listening to her audio presentation of her book You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost). Felicia Day is quite possible one of the coolest geek chicks working today in the field, because she’s truly authentic. Sure, she is kind of cute for fanboys and I think it’s just because that authentic fandom of hers cannot be torn down as being fake or to be popular. She is truly awesome, and her book proves as much. However, The Guild is not only a truly original and unique show, but is hysterical. Having spent a lot of time in group chat programs playing computer games in my teenage years, I was really familiar with the culture of gaming that she was trying to have her story take place in. This was the show though, and the book isn’t quite the same. What works really well for The Guild in motion picture form, doesn’t really work well for still picture form. Granted, the sense of humor and style of Day is still there, but it’s just not quite as magical as it is when she is performing it all live, especially with her great cast of characters. The first volume sort of delves into Codex’s early times of becoming a gamer. Struggling with her life full of bad relationships, she is searching for a place where she can be herself. Lots of great drama ensues as she becomes fully invested in the life of Codex, and not her personal life outside of the game. The surrounding cast of characters are a hoot too, especially one who is pregnant and trying to manage her life otherwise while still being a game addict. The second volume gives more time to the supporting characters, and telling their origin stories much like a comic book would. I liked both books, but the first one had Felicia’s brand written all over and inside of it, which made it a few steps above the second volume. You still get great characters, and great humor, but without her as present it sort of took away what I love so much about The Guild. If you’re a fan of the show, I would recommend these books, but if you haven’t seen it I would start there first in order to find out if you need these books or not.
Lastly this week is the first volume of All-New Captain America, which sees Falcon take up the mantle of Captain America after the events of the Marvel NOW! Captain America title, which I still am a huge, lone supporter of. This book was pretty good. It wasn’t great, but the change of pace with the main character gave it a little something extra. Sam Wilson’s backstory quietly unfolds at the beginning and end of each issue, and we see just a bit more about what makes him the best choice to be Captain America. It’s kind of the usual stuff, in terms of why he is a man of pure integrity and justice, but what else can you expect from Marvel other than the usual. A plot to further the Nazi bloodline unfolds, as the All-New Captain America sets out to stop the blood from spreading. Again, the story wasn’t anything too great for me either, and kind of typical. Baron Zemo and others have developed a way to take a kid’s pure, evil blood and spread it upon the world so that they can no longer have families and will be the new host of this evilly, pure evil blood. It was the equivalent to having nuclear weapons spread throughout the world, bombs, plagues, viruses, you name it. Nothing new here, but what was new was pretty cool. It was the beginning of the fifth issue, though I had sort of gotten some vibes earlier on in the book, that really did me in for liking Sam Wilson as Cap. We see an American citizen talking about the new generation, and that essentially we’re just handed things and we take them as is. He’s being super nostalgic about the old Captain America, and that Steve Rogers cannot be replaced by some guy who talks to birds because who cares about that. But I saw subtext, of the unwillingness for stubborn old fools like this to embrace the All-New. He talks to birds, but the embodiment of America is a bird, in the image of a Bald Eage. And I saw some subtext about racism, because Sam is black and the guy who was complaining was white, clean shaven, and appropriately dressed in what looked like an orange jumpsuit. This really solidified my belief that I was again reading something that despite having a typical plot, had some resemblance to our current state in America. This is what I loved about the Captain America book for Marvel NOW!, and now I may have to like this book as well. Remender and Immonen do an excellent job of taking our country’s current state, and applying it to larger than life comic stories such as this one. There were several other moments in the book, but the beginning of the fifth issue really stuck out to me as characterizing Sam’s struggle as Captain America, but also America’s struggle as it continues to evolve, much like the mantle that was formerly held by Steve Rogers. This is a must-read for fans of Captain America.
I almost feel bad….almost. The inaugural Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest has come to a close and after 17 grueling weeks, we have a winner. Drumroll please…..and the winner is…..me. I honestly do feel bad for Art. He’s led this thing for a few weeks now with some great picks, but just had a disastrous final week. But hey, coffee’s for closers. Seriously though, it actually did come down to the final game of the season to decide the overall winner. The Packers-Vikings game was the 16-point game this week and I took Minnesota because I knew it was the only way I could win and they came through with a big victory on Sunday Night Football. Had Green Bay won, Art would have won by 18 points. Rounding out the podium is Ed Minkowski, who led the overall standings for a number of weeks this season. Thanks for playing along, Ed.
As I suspected, a lot of people didn’t show up for Week 17, but let’s take a look at what happened in the final week and the final standings as well.
Week 17 Results
Luke Norris: 70
Denny Luis: 50
Andy Nemenoff: 40
Ed Minkowski: 38
C209G: 28
Nick Fortuna: -16
Art1318: -26
Final Standings
1) Luke Norris: 455
2) Art1318: 409
3) Ed Minkowski: 373
4) Episode IV: 310
5) Denny Luis: 287
6) Anthony D: 195
7) Andy Nemenoff: 187
8) TM: 141
9) Chad D.: 101
10) Nick Fortuna: 69
11) Harwood: 46
12) Eric King: 40
13) Chad F.: 30
14) PJ: 26
15) C209G: 9
16) Poljak: -20
17) Bri D.: -104
I’d like to thank all of you that took time out to play in this first year of the Binge Sports Pick ‘Em Contest. I’m sure this will be back next season. I’d also like to hear from those of you that participated. Did you enjoy doing this? Is there something you’d like to see added…perhaps some kind of bonus for playing every week or something like that? Feel free to leave your comments below and you can always hit me up with questions or get the latest updates on Twitter @BingeSports and @THElukenorris. Congratulations once again to…..well, me.