Back from the dead

More or less. I still don't really have anything to say until I go to Europe in May since I live a very uneventful life. So since it is nearing the end of spring more or less, I figure I'll chime in on all the different TV shows I watch and their seasons so far

Sunday:

• Mad Men (9pm, AMC in the Fall): By far the best season of the 3. The finale was one of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen and I cannot wait for its return this summer
• Breaking Bad (9pm, AMC in the Spring): Unfortunately, I'm still in the middle of season 2, so I can't yet comment on season 3.

Monday:

• Chuck (8pm, NBC): So far, season 3 has been great. I really hope there is a 4th season with how much fun this one has been. 5 episodes left and I really hope that the ratings get it back for next year
• How I Met Your Mother (8pm, CBS): Season 5 has been....ok. It hasn't been bad at all, but there haven't been too many truly memorable episodes. There have been a lot of good ones, and a good amount of not so exciting ones, so when put together the season hasn't struck me as too legen.......
• Big Bang Theory (9:30pm, CBS): Season 3 has been probably the best so far. The characters are much more tolerable and less creepy and annoying. It is still a corny show, but I don't mind watching it when it's on

Tuesday:

• Scrubs and Better Off Ted: They had good runs, I'm going to miss them. (I'm assuming Scrubs is finally done, I haven't heard anything to indicate otherwise)

Wednesday:

• The Middle (8:30, ABC): I like this show a lot. It is probably the one I'm least dedicated to, but still worth watching once a week.
• Modern Family (9pm, ABC): One of the 2 best new comedies on TV this year, and I am a big fan. The first season has been great, especially because it is one of those shows with little plot to really follow along with.
• Psych (10pm, USA): Another great season. Probably the one I've liked the least with the cases being just too out there, but the finale was so intense that I cannot wait for season 5 to start up this summer.
• South Park (10pm, Comedy Central): Amazing as always. The 200th and 201st episodes were just classic and no less witty than ever before.

Thursday:

• Community (8pm, NBC): The other great new comedy, which I am also hooked to. This one is much cornier than Modern Family, but still very witty with all of the references in it. The cast is wonderful, almost in an Arrested Development or Office way where you can't believe that this is how they are acting.
• Parks and Recreation (8:30, NBC): I only just now started to watch this show. The 4 or 5 episodes I have watched have been GREAT. I regret not giving it more of a shot last year and I'll be sure to catch up this summer.
• The Office (9pm, NBC): Season 6 has been the worst one since the 6 episode first season. Michael is just annoying and too much this year. Jim and Pam have been a nice story all year, and really the whole other cast has been as well. However, the Michael heavy episodes have made me just want to yell at him to "Shut the fuck up" because of how much he is messing everything up

More to come soon once all their finales happen.

...dary

Remember the "Al"amo

"Guys, this game is great. We should all blog about it"

Or "Don't catch the Al", or "Odd Card Al". Whatever you want to call it, it is the new, greatest game from the people who brought you "Can Defense".

The rules are simple: if you draw a card that is a "3", you must funnel and/or shotgun and/or take a shot. For a more detailed version of the rules, look at what Rob said about it. He beat me to it and clearly put in more effort. But Al said everyone should blog about it, so here we go.

Optional rule: if a 3 comes up, you grab your drink in your left hand, raise it, and turn to the person to your left. You point at them and say "Lo-babies!". Sounds gay right? Well guess who made this rule in "Asshole". Al! Cowboy never fails to disappoint.

MLB Predictions: National League

NL East
1. Phillies
2. Braves
3. Marlns
4. Mets
5. Nationals

• The Phillies remain not only the best team in the east, but the best team in the NL. Winning the division will be no problem with returning stars Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino, and Raul Ibanez. Big years are not necessary from Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz and Pacido Polanco, as the other hitters will do a fine job picking up any slack. Newly acquired Roy Halladay will have a monster year, so whatever the bullpen situation is with Brad Lidge and company won't matter too much.
• The Braves will be back in second, behind a good starting staff and good enough bullpen. Their lineup isn't the best, but will get the job done. Jason Hayward OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• The Marlins have 2 things going for them: Good young starters and Hanley Ramirez. Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad are good young arms, who will do a good enough job to get wins. Ramirez is very good, but the rest of their offense isn't much of a factor. Sure, Dan Uggla and Jorge Cantu have pop, but they're both horrible at defense and strike out a ton.
• The Mets are going to have another terrible season. I'm talking sub-.500. Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Daniel Murphy, and Kelvim Escabar are all ALREADY hurt. Jason Bay gives them new power, but he will do horrible in Citi Field and hit around .250 with 27 homers and 92 RBI. David Wright needs to become a #2 hitter as he doesn't have the power for Citi. Also that starting rotation is god awful. Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz are still free agents.....
• The Nationals are much better this year, but still not too great. They can honestly capitalize on the Mets struggles, and 4th is a possibility.

NL Central
1. Cardinals
2. Brewers
3. Cubs
4. Reds
5. Astros
6. Pirates

• The Cardinals look to repeat the division crown, led by sluggers Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. With a 1-2 punch of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, who their other starters are doesn't really matter. Plus, closer Ryan Franklin is pretty good at the back end of the pen.
• The Brewers are largely improved, and should come in second this year. 3-4 hitters Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder will have monster seasons again, making up for the lack of other offense. The pitching staff isn't too bad, with a rotation of Randy Wolf, Doug Davis, (real) Dave Bush, Manny Parra, and their ace, Yovani Gallardo. With a closer like Trevor Hoffman, the Brew Crew is pretty set.
• The Cubs have the second or third best team in the NL on paper, but alas...they are the Cubs and will never win again. With a line up that includes sluggers Alfonso Soriano, Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and scrappy hitters Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot, Kosuke Fukudome, and Geovany Soto, they should be set to score runs. But last year, Ramirez was hurt, Lee did great, and Soriano sucked. Carlos Zambrano is yet to have that amazing year he was set to have, and their number 2 starter is Ryan Dempster. Also, closer Carlos Marmol has never done well, and no reason why that should change.
• The Reds, Astros, and Pirates are 100% irrelevant, so I'm not wasting my time

NL West
1. Dodgers
2. Rockies
3. Giants
4. Diamond Backs
5. Padres

• The Dodgers had a pretty bad off season, but their young starts Andre Etheir, James Loney, Matt Kemp, Jonathan Broxton, Chad Billingsley, and Clayton Kershaw are just going to be even better this year. You can add Russell Martin to that list if he didn't suck now. Manny Ramirez can still hit, so don't forget about him out there too.
• The Rockies surprised everyone last year, and have a great chance to come in first again this year. I'm not sold on pitchers Jorge De La Rosa and Ubaldo Jimenez, but both pitched very well last year and can repeat that success. The Rockies lineup is underrated aside from short stop Troy Tulowitzki, with good players in Brad Hawpe and Carlos Gonzalez. Like Manny, Todd Helton can still hit pretty well, so don't count him out to contribute to the success.
• The Giants have a great pitching staff with Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez. Brian Wilson is solid out of the pen, which the team needs. This is because Barry Zito is one of the worst pitchers in the game and it makes me so happy to see him fail. Who would have thought Tim Hudson would ever be better than Mark Mulder and Zito combined. The Giants also have offense. Well, their offense is named Pablo Sandoval. The other 7 guys are either over the hill or just not good anyway.
• The Diamondbacks could be contenders, but not without a healthy ace in Brandon Webb. With Dan Haren and Edwin Jackson, the D-Backs have a great rotation to go along with a horrible offense. Justin Upton is pretty good, but no one else really is.
• The Padres are Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell. No one else is worth mentioning, not even to criticize.

Playoffs:

• Phillies over Rockies in 4
• Cardinals over Dodgers in 4
• Phillies over Dodgers in 5
• Phillies-Yankees repeat (no prediction there)

Awards:

• MVP: Albert Pujols (2nd and 3rd picks: Prince Fielder and Andre Ethier)
• Cy Young: Roy Halladay (2nd and 3rd picks: Dan Haren and Tim Lincecum)

MLB Predictions: American League

As I do at the end of every spring training, it is time to my my predictions of the standings and playoffs for baseball.

AL EAST
1. Yankees
2. Red Socks
3. Rays
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays

Thoughts:

• The Yankees seem like the favorite again as their line-up gained a nice increase in speed and defense with Curtis Granderson, and the pitching staff looks stronger with Javy Vazquez's return to the Bronx. Power was lost with Matsui leaving, and veteran leadership of Johnny Damon will be missed, but the team seems just as good as the team that won it all last year.
• The Red Socks probably made the best signing, adding John Lackey to complete a 1-2-3 punch of himself, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester. With their rotation very good, the problem becomes health and power. Dice-K, Wakefield, Beltre, and Ortiz are not as youthful as they used to be and need to stay off the DL for the team to win. Youkilis and Martinez look to be the power in the line up with the loss of Jason Bay, and their roster is a bit cramped with Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell limited to useless back-ups. Expect the Socks to the the Wild Card
• The Rays didn't have the most eventful off season, adding really only power hitting Hank Blalock and closer Raphael Soriano. Neither are too impressive, but can certainly help the team. The Ray's key is the development of players who were break-outs next year. The team needs bigger years from youngsters Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett, Evan Longoria, Jeff Neiman, and David Price. With good seasons from "veterans" Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford, Dioner Navarro, BJ Upton, and James Shields the Rays can certainly contend.
• The Orioles had a pretty solid off season, adding closer Mike Gonzalez, and newly-positioned Miguel Tejada and Garett Atkins. With top hitters Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, and Nick Markakis, plus youngsters Matt Wieters and Nolan Reimold, the O's have a pretty decent lineup. Their staff is very weak however, but looks to develop over the course of the year.
• The Blue Jays just got bad over the off season. They traded lone-star Roy Halladay and how only really have washed up Vernon Wells to market. Good years from Aaron Hill and Adam Lind don't look like sure things, and even then won't be enough. With no offense or pitching, look the Jays to do nothing this year

AL Central
1. White Sox
2. Twins
3. Tigers
4. Royals
5. Indians

• The White Sox got better this off season, adding Juan Pierre and losing the much older Jermain Dye. With a healthy Jake Peavy on that solid staff and a still good line up, expect the White Sox to be back where they were a couple years ago.
• The Twins would have been my favorite to win the division, but the loss of closer Joe Nathan is big enough to put them down to second at best. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jim Thome, Mike Cuddyer, and Jason Kubel are great power options, but the rest of the order has little to write home about. A solid pitching staff or the Twins, but not good enough to do much.
• The Tigers continue to get worse. Their pitching staff has holes and question marks on anyone not names Justin Verlander. Their pen improved with the addition of Jose Valverde, but their starting staff is just too inconsistent. Their lineup is much different this year without Curtis Granderson, and is simply too old. Magglio Ordonez and Johnny Damon are too old to be productive in Comerica Park, Carlos Guillen is so far over the hill, and Brandon Inge isn't good. Miguel Cabrera is excellent, but not enough to save the Tigers from another disappointing year.
• The Royals have Zack Greinke and Joakim Soria and that is it. They brought in Rick Ankiel to steroid up the line up, but with useless players like Jason Kendall in there too, the Royals look to once again be irrelivant.
• The Indians are god awful once again. Shin-Soo Choo led the team in every major offensive category last year, largely due to injuries to Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore. Even if healthy, those two are far from enough to save the Tribe, who has no pitching at all. I mean, did anyone even know that Jake Westbrook was still alive?

AL West
1. Angels
2. Mariners
3. Rangers
4. A's

• The Angels may have lost John Lackey, Vlad Guerrero, and Chone Figgins, but they still have the most dependable team in the division. A solid staff of Jered Weaver, Scott Kazmir, Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana, and Joel Pineiro is probably the deepest starting staff in the AL. Brian Fuentes is overrated but good enough as the closer to keep their Angels staff their key to success. Big years from Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales, and also their middle infielders are needed to succeed.
• The Mariners added Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins who both complete 1-2 punches at the top of the rotation and lineup with Felix Hernandez and Ichiro Suzuki respectively. But, Lee is hurt, as is Erik Bedard, and the Mariners offense won't be enough to overtake the Angels yet.
• The Rangers had a big year last year, and added Rich Harden and Vlad Guerrero who are old but still good enough. They traded long time ace Kevin Millwood, and are simply too dependent on Nelson Cruz and Michael Young to have as good of years as they did last year. Also, stars Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler are injury prone, so they're simply not reliable enough to contend with the top of the division.
• The A's are horrible. I don't even need to elaborate further. God awful.

Post Season:

• Yankees over White Sox in 4
• Red Socks over Angerls in 5
• Yankees over Red Socks in 7

Awards:

• MVP: Evan Longoria (second and third choices: Justin Morneau and Mark Teixeira)
• Cy Young: Felix Hernandez (second and third choices: Jon Lester and Mariano Rivera)