NFL Week 10: Rounding the Corner

So, I'm finally back and able to catch my breath and post. Yes, the

honeymoon (Capri and the Amalfi Coast in Italy) and wedding were amazing - I do hope to have photos to post by this week. As mentioned below, I also started what appears to be a great job last week as well, so it's been hard to catch my breath and play around with iPhoto, etc.

But yesterday, I essentially took the day off (from...um, responsibility, I suppose) and watched a full slate of football, aside from the evening game. Let me tell you - while I loved the wedding and Italy, I did miss the National! Football! League!

The story, I suppose, is that in two games - Cincy vs. SD and Pitt-NO - four allegedly good defenses allowed a preposterous amount of yardage and points. That's very true. Suprising and true, and god only knows who the elite teams are these days. Marty Schotteheimer did everything possible to lose that game, but despite Carson Palmer's heroic day (and yes, I traded for him in fantasy football on Thursday), the Bengals couldn't seal the deal. I blame Chris Henry, my teams' namesake, for dropping a TD in the endzone. Curse you, Chris Henry!

(Memo to Marty Schott - this is your All-Pro tight end. USE HIM.)

The other story could be that the 49ers have now won two games in a

row, largely on the strength of their defense. That's a bizarre

sentence to write these days, so it's worth repeating. The 49ers have

now won two games in a row, largely on the strength of their defense.

Sure, the Lions and Vikings have problems but they are - at the least

- two average offenses, if not better. And the 49ers, especially the

emerging Brandon Moore, shut them both down. That's GOOD stuff. I'll

be at the Stick (call it what you will, but it's the Stick) on Sunday

to watch them retire Jerry Rice's number. Sure, with the Seahawks in

town and a returning Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselback, it's a tough chore, but the crowd should be very much into the game. Looking forward to it.

And yes, I know all about the 49ers proposed move out of SF. I'm

obviously not happy about it, but the NFL is a business. If John York

wants to screw over fans that badly, he should be allowed to do so.

BUT, if he moves the team south of, say, Palo Alto, he can't call them

the "San Francisco" 49ers. That's my rule. And I will get vocal about

it. I know the Giants and Jets play in New Jersey - that's NJ and NY's

problems for letting that happen. I don't know what the A's are going

to be called in Fremont, but if Oakland lets them go by Oakland, then

they are wimps. If the 49ers have to change their name to something

pathetic like "Northern Californian 49ers" or even San Jose 49ers, (no

offense to San Jose - okay, a little offense) then perhaps this is

what should give them pause about the 'logic' of such a move.

OK, off the soapbox.

An interesting thing here - going into tonight's game, Bryan Dorfler's

"Van Buren Killers" and Russ Launer's "Hail to the Skins" both are

tied with 10 wins and both picked TB to beat the sperad. That's not so

interesting except that I hate them both for getting so many wins.

What is interesting is that Russ literally picked every underdog.

Across the board. And he's at the top of the standings. So for

everyone who poured over their picks this week, yes, we should all

feel like we wasted those minutes of our lives.

Real quickly, here's who won weeks I haven't commented on:

Jon and Karen Montbach's Mooncusser won Week 7.

Scott Schwartz's Judge Ito won Week 8.

Jenn Cuthill (on fire of late)'s Ben Toothlessberger won Week 9.

Folks, I'm going to shoot out checks to all of you shortly. More later...