One New York Life

No, I’m not going to talk about the Mets until they’re no longer in first place. So… football season’s all that’s going on.

YOU HEAR ME? IT’S ALL THAT’S GOING ON!!!

Bears -3 at Lions: The Lions defense stinks and gave up 56 points last week. The Bears defense is missing five starters. The Bears have also had a brutal schedule. Griese’s going to play a conservative game as to be the anti-Rex. This has upset written all over it in several different languages. Lions outright.

Rams +11 at Cowboys: I don’t think the Rams can win, but I think they can keep it within 10. I hate huge spreads and there’s a ton of them this week. Rams +11.

Raiders +3.5 at Dolphins: The Raiders are back to getting points. Legitimately, I do think they have a shot to win this game, but I’m also pretty sure the Dolphins have to buck the trend and win here at some point. I hate picking field goal spreads, but that’s what I’m going to do. Raiders +3.5.

Texans -3 at Falcons: The Falcons still have not given me a reason to pick them. Even though picking the Texans as a favorite still kills me. The Texans lost last week which means they’re no longer due for a let-down game. Texans cover.

Jets -3.5 at Bills: Since the Patriots apparently crush the souls out of teams and give them a one-week hangover, Jets cover.

Packers -2 at Vikings: I guess I have to start taking the Packers seriously… I really didn’t think I’d have to do this year. At some point I’m going to have to take Steve McNair’s cyborg title and hand it over to Brett Favre… but with all the media saliva on him already, I don’t know if there’s any room for me. However, the Pack’s due for a let-down game. Divisional game against a tough defense. Vikings outright.

Ravens -4.5 at Browns: I think the Browns are starting to get a little over-rated considering they’ve been playing teams with no defense to speak of. The Ravens aren’t one of those teams. I said last week that I hate picking against the Ravens with more than 3 points as they only beat the Cardinals by 3. I’m going to do the same thing this week. Browns +4.5.

Seahawks -2 at 49ers: The first hint here is that the Seahawks are away. The second is that the Niners are not horrible. Seattle is still a mediocre road team. Niners outright.

Broncos +9.5 at Colts: Just when I say I don’t really want to pick the Broncos anymore they go and give them 9.5 points. I like the Broncos in most situations with that many points, so I’ll take it again here. Broncos +9.5.

Chiefs +12.5 at Chargers: I get that this spread is supposed to indicate the Chargers are due to crush an inferior team. Baby steps, though. I don’t think I can legitimately pick the Chargers to cover 12.5 at this point. Chiefs +12.5.

Steelers -5.5 at Cardinals: Are the Steelers due to play ANY A-teams this season? The Cardinals did manage to keep it close last week off a great little relief appearance by Kurt Warner. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly the hook appears this week. Cardinals +5.5.

Bucs +2.5 at Panthers: Jeff Garcia Bandwagon. ‘Nuff said: Bucs outright.

Eagles -3 at Giants: Well, the Eagles put up 56 points last week and the Giants held the Redskins offense to nothing in the second half. I’m also going to this game since the Giants have apparently been depressing enough that they’re releasing tickets to ticketmaster. Face value Giant tickets and I’m in. Giants outright.

Patriots -7 at Bengals: Until the Patriots stop crushing teams by 25 points, I’m not picking against them without a college spread…. which they almost had last week and STILL covered it. Patriots cover, 50 total points.

Speaking of fake listings… I came across an apartment on craigslist a couple of days ago for an apartment on the Lower East Side for $1850/month. This is not completely unreasonable as transportation on the LES kind of blows.

There was no contact info on the post so I e-mailed the link given in the listing. Someone responded to me within an hour giving me a link NYC Rent No Fee.com. The gimmick: register as a member for the low, one-time fee of $49.99 and you’ll be allowed to view all their listings. A quick Google search determined that, once you pay the fee, none of the apartments they list exist (shocking) and the give you a long list of no fee apartments in like… Bushwick.

I e-mailed a response asking if the scam really worked more than it didn’t. I’m still waiting for a reply.

I really dug Cheers and Frasier growing up, so I was happy to see that Kelsey Grammer finally got another gig. Even if he would be playing Frasier Crane on television again, I figured I liked Frasier enough that I’d give it a shot.

Back To You is your standard fare television sit-com set in the newsroom of a television studio. Kelsey Grammer plays Chuck Darling, a news anchor who left his anchor job in Pittsburgh 10 years ago to take a promotion. Eventually, he gets all the way to Los Angeles television before he has a Go F*ck Yourself, San Diego moment. After getting fired, the Pittsburgh television station he left 10 years ago welcomes him back. He returns to find Kelly Carr (played by Patricia Heaton) still womanning the same co-anchor desk he left her with 10 years ago. What he didn’t know is that the one-night stand he had before he left resulted in a baby, played by a fake fifth grader.
Pros

• It’s funny. It made me laugh. I didn’t watch it with a blank expression.
• The newsroom setting should keep it from getting stale. New people can be swapped in and old people swapped out without a lot of explaining.
• Heaton and Grammer had good chemistry in the first episode and each has enough baggage to fill a cargo hold. They work well together as they both have really good timing and delivery.
• Fred Willard!

Cons

• The supporting characters are horrifically stereotyped. The hot Latina weather girl makes jokes about how much she loves sex and how hot she is. There’s only so much mileage the writers can get out of these people.
• I hated Deborah on Everybody Loves Raymond. It got to the point toward the end of the show when I couldn’t even watch it anymore because of her. Later, when Robert’s wife turned out to be Deborah Jr, I could stand it even less. Patricia Heaton might be a really nice person in real life, but I can only see her as the over-reacting, nagging shrew she played on Raymond and, apparently, she plays the same character in this show.
• One can almost plot out the major plot points of the entire series between the two main characters already. They were separated for 10 years and have a 10 year old daughter together. There’s going to be the “job offer in another city” episode, the “will they or won’t they” episode, the “she’s dating another guy and I don’t like how he’s treating out daughter” episode, the “she finds out he’s her father” episode, etc, etc. If they keep the interim episodes funny, this doesn’t matter so much.

Final Thought: It’s a paint-by-numbers sit-com, but for the moment I like it. The DVR has nothing going on Tuesdays at 8pm so it’s attained series recording status. However, I could very quickly drop it if there’s a conflict.