Podcasts: Is there anything they can't do?

Several weeks ago, I decided to watch the Acquisitions Incorporated series from the beginning up to and including the most recent content. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it's a quasi-celebrity game of Dungeons & Dragons. The core group of players consists of three online comic writers: Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, and Scott Kurtz, the writer for PvP. They have rotated in a few other "nerdy" celebrities, including Wil Wheaton of Star Trek fame, fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss, and former G4 host Morgan Webb.

As a guy who likes humor and D&D, this is basically right in my wheelhouse. I discovered it by accident some time ago while skittering around YouTube, and I was immediately enthralled. Obviously I enjoy the role-playing and fantasy aspects of the game, but what was most appealing about it was the way the players were able to play off of each other, and create not just a player-character but a true character in their roleplaying. And of course, these are all really, really funny people, so the humor is nigh-transcendent. I find myself laughing out loud more often watching/listening to them than with almost any TV show or movie I've ever seen. It's really, really exceptional.

Anyways, while I could go on and on about how great Acquisitions Incorporated is, there's a second part to this post. Acquisitions Inc. started out as a series on Wizards of the Coast's D&D podcast. The game was/is DMed by Chris Perkins, a longtime D&D creator and all-around nerd badass. So, in order to listen to these podcasts, I downloaded them through the Podcasts app on my iPhone.

Now, I've never been much of a "podcaster," or whatever the appropriate term would be for someone who listens to podcasts. There was always a lot of searching and file management involved, and I didn't want to to spend all that time and then find out whatever podcast I chose sucked. I am, by nature, very risk-averse. But now I had found a podcast that I already knew I would most likely enjoy, so it opened up my willingness to do the necessary work.

When I say "work," I mean such considerable tasks as finding an aux cable for my car, or searching for podcasts on my phone while I'm already sitting on my phone. You know, really challenging stuff.

So now we're circling back to the actual reason for this post: what podcasts am I listening to now? Well, there are four main ones I'm listening to somewhat regularly. Here they are.

Marek vs. Wyshynski
Hockey Talk

Every year, when the Capitals are eliminated from the playoffs, I find myself hungering for hockey discussion. As the playoffs progress, you get more and more invested and focused on what's going on, and then suddenly, when your team is eliminated, you're left with all of this focus and nowhere to direct it. I always end up diving into the upcoming offseason, looking at potential signings, releases, and trades that could fix whatever that year's "one big problem" was. This year, it was "skill right-winger," but that's not really important.

What's important is that there's a vacuum in my attention span, and a hockey podcast is the right thing to fill it. Local sports radio is 90% Redskins, 9% Nationals, and the remaining 1% is split between the Capitals and Wizards and whatever else is convenient that day. Marek vs. Wyshynski is a Yahoo-produced podcast that's run by a couple of die-hard hockey fans who manage to get some high-end guests to join them for reporting and discussion. It's a national show, but that's okay. I like to know what the national take is on the Capitals, and this is a perfect way to get it. They're fairly funny and pretty self-deprecating, a good entertainment combination.

The Dungeons & Dragons Podcast
D&D Talk

This was obviously going to be the first podcast I had exposure to, since it's the one where Acquisitions Incorporated could be found. But the reality is that D&D is one of the things in the world that draws my attention the most. It's cooperative, it's creative, it's got swords and spells and traps and dragons. There's a stigma out there, sure. But I'd venture to say that, with the success of the Lord of the Rings movies, Harry Potter, Felicia Day, YouTube, and Game of Thrones, we're entering a "golden age" for D&D. Or at least, that's what I like to believe.

Either way, it's got a fan in me. The D&D Podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at all aspects of Dungeons and Dragons. Obviously this includes stories about the development of the game, the evolution of rules and classes, and general tips on DMing. But it's also got information about miniatures, marketing, cross-product integration, related products, and any other sort of secondary concept you can think of. As someone who likes the idea of board games in general, it's a great window into the minds of the people who made the world's greatest board game. It's very informative, and fairly entertaining.

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy
General Nerdy Media

I actually listened to a couple episodes of GGttG a while back, but forgot I had subscribed to it on my phone. Eventually, I had some update come down and my phone said, "You don't have enough storage space to download this update." After some searching, I realized I'd been downloading every episode of this podcast for like two years. So I went through and deleted the ones regarding topics in which I have little-to-no interest, and kept the ones that piqued my interest.

Anyways, the podcast. It's run by two authors who I know nothing about. They apparently do mostly short stories and anthologies, with some other composition mixed in there. They seem to have read most books between them, and obviously there's a lot of overlap as well. They're definitely nerds, and they have a style of laughing and talking that's somehow both awkward and condescending at the same time. It's like if you were to walk into a darts tournament and there were a couple of darts aficionados hamming it up for the general darts fans. It's like, okay we get it, you know a lot about darts. Maybe scale back the insane talk about release angles and whatever.

Anyways, while the guys are a little bit smug on certain topics, the topics themselves delve into a lot of content I love hearing about. From Game of Thrones to Star Wars to Left 4 Dead, there's a lot of stuff that's both nerdy and mainstream, and I enjoy hearing people tackle it. They are able to make a lot of nerdy references, many of which I get, and because it's a podcast, they can approach topics from creative angles if they choose. Overall, I do enjoy the podcast, though I think I'd enjoy it more if it were run by gamer guys instead of book guys.

Drive to Work
Mark Rosewater's Magic the Gathering Podcast

After I started listening to the other podcasts for a while, I knew there was one that I wanted to check out. Spoiler alert, it's this one. Many of my fellow "Good Point Bros" have mentioned the podcast in the past, and now that I was listening to some, it was finally time to check it out.

And I love it.

The basis for the podcast is that you're basically riding with Mark Rosewater (head designer of Magic the Gathering, basically the king of Magic) on his drive to work. He records the podcast literally on his drive to work, so every episode is about thirty minutes. Rosewater's passion for Magic is evident with every sentence, and his gift for working his passionate creativity into the structure of acceptable Magic cards has got to be one of the most important pieces of why Magic has grown so much over the years.

The content of the podcasts (at least so far, I've only listened to a few) focuses on Magic sets and concepts from the past, and talks a lot about the evolution of that particular set/mechanic/card. The second episode (which is when I knew I was hooked) was a quick run-through of the creation of Zendikar, possibly my favorite set. Rosewater talks about the original idea of the set ("lands matter"), and how that idea evolved into Landfall, full-art basic lands, Ally cards, and the specific equipment in the set. It's just amazing fun to hear the process from a guy who was there firsthand, and as someone who dabbles in game development, I find it inspiring.

What Else Should I Listen To?

Obviously I've only begun to scratch the surface of what's out there. A friend recommended RadioLab, a science-ey podcast that touches on a wide variety of topics. Another friend (or twelve) immediately suggested Serial. I know it was a phenomenon, so I suppose I'll check out at least the first episode at some point. And my cousin Mike is always trying to get me to listen to Comedy Bang Bang. From the few clips he's played for me, it does seem pretty funny, so maybe now that I've got the whole setup, I'll finally give it a whirl.

What else should I listen to? If you've got any suggestions, I'm all ears. Leave notes in the comments section below!

Killing the Radio Stars

I listened to about twenty minutes Chad Dukes' radio show last week. I've never particularly cared for him, but I have a 25 minute drive to the rink for work, and I only get about seven channels on my radio, so I take what I can find when it comes to sports talk radio.

Anyways, I was listening, and he was talking about something or other, I don't remember what, and I noticed I was getting agitated at random moments during the broadcast. The noteworthy part of this experience was that my spurts of disgust weren't in response to a particular position or topic. After a few minutes, I realized that I was reacting to his words, the actual words. Chad Dukes (and, I've been realizing, countless other radio sportscasters) lapses into cliches on a regular basis. You don't notice them regularly because you're not looking for them, and they certainly sound like normal discussion. But the content is as worthless as when you said "um" or "ah" during high school speech class.

They're not just any cliches though. You would expect sports-based cliches, like "give 110%" or "taking it one game at a time." But these aren't limited to sports; you'll hear them from anyone in any line of work. And they make my skin crawl.

Some examples, just from the past week:

• for all intents and purposes
• any way, shape, or form 
• by any stretch of the imagination
• be that as it may
• goes without saying
• things of that nature

As I said, Chad Dukes is far from the only culprit here. I've heard this type of filler from almost every non-news sportscaster I've listened to recently. Herman Edwards, Kevin Sheehan, even Grant Paulsen, who I mostly enjoy, strays into this "no man's land" of discussion on a regular basis. And now that I'm acutely aware of it, I have trouble getting past it when it arises.

These are verbal crutches that all of us use, because we're not comfortable sitting with silence while we search for the right words. But it's that discomfort that creates the problem in the first place. If we'd just not start talking until we had our words ready, we'd be good.

There are two guys who notably avoid this problem in two different ways.

Dan Patrick doesn't use any of the above filler phrases. The way he avoids them is that he embraces silence. If you tune in to Patrick on a given day, there's the chance that you initially think your radio's busted, because there's just a lot of dead air when he's on. It's not bad, per se, but there's a limit to how much dead time you can have before you sound like a douche, (see Jim Rome. By the way, Rome has insane amounts of dead air and uses the crutches above. It's amazing people like him; it's literally amazing).

But the guy who does it right on all accounts is Tony Kornheiser. He uses silence occasionally when he's trying to decide what to say. But by and large, he simply provides interesting, useful commentary for virtually every second of his radio or television segments. He obviously knows a ton about sports, he has definitive and well-described opinions, and he's funny. On top of all that, he doesn't waste any time with those horrible nothing phrases above.

How? It's pretty simple actually. He was an English major. His command of the English language is superb, and he's able to craft his messages without any of the nonsense we hear from so many other places. He also probably doesn't give a damn about anybody anymore, so he's not worried about what comes out of his mouth. Intelligence, wit, and candor, that's what Kornheiser gives you.

Anyways, I hope I didn't ruin sports radio for you by pointing this out. But if I did, it'll just be my rebuttal to my college buddy Adam Marino, who ruined Steal My Sunshine for me by telling me to just listen to the wood block. It never stops; it's the same beat the whole song.

Also, I just found out that the music video is terrible. So sorry about showing you that, too.


Note: When I started this post, it wasn't supposed to be a Kornheiser lovefest. Truthfully, he wasn't even in the initial concept of the post. That's just where the path led. Also, Kornheiser doesn't have Twitter, so I linked his Wikipedia page.

A New Feature?

As you may remember, I have a distinct sentiment when it comes to Lavar Arrington and his suitability as a radio host. If you don't remember, and choose not to click the link because you're lazy, let me sum it up for you: I think he's terrible.

What's kind of amazing is how frequently he says something irrational, obnoxious, or downright wrong. So amazing, in fact, that I'm debating adding a new feature to our blog here, where I listen to the Lavar Arrington Show for 30-60 minutes a day, and coming on here to offer you my analysis. I could use an outlet for relieving some stress, so I'm going to consider it.

And, at least for right now, I'm going to offer you another of their gems; and yes, I'm lumping in his co-host Chad Dukes, who stood by Arrington's argument that, wait for it...

"...Donovan McNabb deserves consideration as NFL MVP."

I pride myself on having pretty intelligent readers, so I'm sure you don't need me to outline why this is ludicrous, but on the off chance you're unsure, or aren't much of a football fan, or are Lavar Arrington, let me give you all the data you'll need.

The first point Arrington brought up was that McNabb has offered leadership that the Redskins haven't seen in a long time. I agree. That doesn't make a player the league MVP; that can make him the team's MVP. Furthermore, I think you'd be hard-pressed to say LaRon Landry hasn't been at least as important to the Redskins' success as McNabb.

Which brings me to Lavar's second point: the Redskins' "success." The team is 3-2. We're all glad they're 3-2, somewhere between glad and ecstatic, but still, they're a single game above .500, and they haven't played in a game yet that we didn't have to watch to the very end, except for the beating we saw our team get in St. Louis. Let's not talk about McNabb leading the team to the promised land just yet.

I will give Arrington a little bit of credit, though. The one point he was halfway willing to concede was that McNabb's stats aren't the best in football. Well, thanks for almost yielding that point, Lavar, but because it's the strongest evidence out there for why someone else should be the league MVP, let's have another look at those pesky "statistics." And, for kicks, we'll only look at quarterbacks, even though there are players at other positions who warrant more consideration than McNabb.

The quarterbacks whose teams have the best records in the league:

• T1 - Mark Sanchez, New York Jets (4-1)
• T1 - Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens (4-1)
• T1 - Jay Cutler/Todd Collins, Chicago Bears (4-1)
• T1 - Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons, (4-1)
• T5 - Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1)
• T5 - Matt Cassel, Kansas City Chiefs (3-1)
• T5 - Tom Brady, New England Patriots (3-1)
• T5 - Ben Roethlisberger/Charlie Batch/Dennis Dixon, Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1)

Then there are ten more teams tied for 9th at 3-2, a group that includes McNabb as well as Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Matt Schaub, and Vince Young, as well as the two-headed monster of Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb.

The quarterbacks with the highest passer ratings in the NFL:

1. Tom Brady, New England Patriots - 109.0
2. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles - 108.8
3. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers - 105.4
4. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts - 102.6
5. Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears - 102.2
6. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buffalo Bills - 99.9
7. Kyle Orton, Denver Broncos - 97.8
8. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints - 95.7
9. Vince Young, Tennessee Titans - 95.1
10. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys - 92.7

I could keep going until we got to McNabb, but for two reasons, I won't. First, I'd have to go all the way down to twenty-first, which puts him in the bottom half of eligible quarterbacks. Second, I'd have to put Seneca Wallace on the list ahead of McNabb, and I made a blood oath to never make a list that highlights Seneca Wallace as a good football player.

Is McNabb doing well? I have to say yes. He's opened up the long ball like we haven't seen here since we were dabbling with Jeff freakin' George. Redskins football has become more exciting than it's been in a long time, the team looks like they can play with most other teams, and there's no doubting that McNabb is a valuable locker room and press room guy. But an MVP? God no.

My biggest problem with his performance this year is that the Redskins aren't scoring points. They have the ninth-worst scoring offense and the second worst third down conversion rate in football, despite having the seventh-most prolific passing attack in the league. That means they're never marching down the field (which any fellow Skins fan knows as well as I do just from watching the games); they make a couple big passes downfield each game, and get a touchdown or two off of them. But mostly, they come up short.

Here's some interesting information. As I said, the Redskins have the seventh highest pass output per game in the NFL. The Redskins average 88.6 yards per game on the ground; the six teams ahead of them in passing output average 84.4 rushing yards per game. But here's the remarkable stat: Washington converts just 26.2% of their third down attempts, yet none of the other six teams has a conversion rate below FORTY PERCENT. But sure, that's an offense that deserves an MVP candidate.

To be fair, here are my personal top ten MVP candidates today:

1. Peyton Manning, Colts - 1609 passing yards, 11 TD, 2 INT
2. Tom Brady, Patriots - 911 passing yards, 9 TD, 2 INT
3. Mark Sanchez, Jets - 902 passing yards, 8 TD, 0 INT
4. Clay Matthews, Packers - 21 tackles, 9.0 sacks, 1 FF
5. Arian Foster, Texans - 718 total yards, 5 TD
6. Philip Rivers, Chargers - 1759 passing yards, 11 TD, 4 INT
7. Osi Umenyiora, Giants - 13 tackles, 6.0 sacks, 5 FF
   
8. Kyle Orton, Broncos - 1733 passing yards, 8 TD, 3 INT
9. Michael Vick, Eagles - 799 passing yards, 6 TD, 0 INT, 187 rushing yards, 1 TD
10. Adrian Peterson, Vikings - 585 total yards, 3 TD

Donovan McNabb would be somewhere around 25.

Someone Get LaVar Arrington off My Radio

I've had very little nice to say about LaVar Arrington since about three years into his tenure as a Washington Redskin. He was a disappointing high draft pick, and perhaps served as a warning to other teams regarding early linebacker picks. Their skills don't always translate to the NFL, as they rely on being faster than college running backs, and strong enough to take them down.

But I can get past a bad draft pick. He didn't work out, that's alright, it happens. I wouldn't be talking about Arrington today if that's where it stopped. But he's got his own radio show in the DC area. It's on from 2 PM - 6 PM, afternoon drive time, which means someone decided he was one of the best options they have, and whoever that is should be fired.

LaVar is awful. He comes across as naive and foolish, and he's just about the worst interviewer I've ever heard. Some commentators will offer leading questions; LaVar outright answers his own questions, then says, "Right?" He basically instructs his interviewee to use as many cliches as possible. His radio partner, Chad Dukes, has some more sense than Arrington, but he encourages LaVar enough that he's complicit in this crime. And make no mistake; what LaVar Arrington does to his radio listeners is criminal.

The worst part of it all is that I think Arrington is just not all that familiar with today's NFL. Just yesterday, the discussion focused on DeSean Jackson's comments about being happy that Donovan McNabb was out of town. That kind of discussion, a division rival talking smack about your quarterback, that's easy radio fodder. Arrington managed to make himself look like an idiot. First, he referred to McNabb's replacement as Schaub. Three times. Matt Schaub is the starting quarterback for the Houston Texans, and is fairly accomplished. Kevin Kolb is McNabb's replacement in Philadelphia.

If that were the only mistake he made, while silly, it could be chalked up to misspeaking once, then repeating the misspeak. But just a minute later, this exchange took place between LaVar and Dukes:

L: "How many teams are in the NFL? Thirty-five?"
C: "Thirty-two."
L: "Yeah, I guess there would have to be an even number."

Congratulations, LaVar Arrington. You've established yourself as the least qualified sports commentator in the Washington, DC area. Seriously, how many teams are in the NFL? I'll give you a clue, LaVar. No teams have been added to the league since you stopped playing football less than five years ago.

I mean, come on, this is the guy's job. If there's one expectation about a former NFL player when it comes to his radio show, it's that he'll be able to speak with some expertise about the NFL. I can accept that he's not a hockey expert, and doesn't know much about baseball, but he'd better know the NFL up and down.

I don't mean for this post to make you think I dislike LaVar Arrington as a person. He seems like a fine person, fairly good-natured, and while I personally don't care, he's got a history of being very charitable. But companies shouldn't (and overwhelmingly don't) employ people because they're good people. They employ people because they're good at their job. And LaVar isn't.

Quick Predicks

Apologies for not having a radio show this week, but since I was so successful last week, I figured I'd better at least throw some predictions up here, to let the world correct itself. I'd hate to have the world balance out by me getting canned or breaking my arm or something.

Jets at Colts

The Jets were considerable underdogs each of the first two weeks of the playoffs, and they pulled out a couple of nail-biter victories. This week, they're again facing a tall order, going into Indianapolis to face the #1 seed in the AFC. I have a hard time seeing New York being the team to stop the Colts, but I had a hard time seeing them beating the Chargers, too.

I think the difference here is that the Colts have Matt Stover, a kicker who thrived on being counted upon for years in Baltimore. Shayne Graham and Nate Kaeding were both good kickers on teams that historically have put up a ton of points. Stover had to kick for that classic Ravens team with the great defense and an anemic offense. He's capable of making kicks when points are hard to come by. I think it'll be closer than the 8.5 point spread I'm seeing, but I do think the Colts will pull it out.

Prediction: Colts 20, Jets 15

Vikings at Saints

In the interest of full disclosure, I will remind all of you that the Vikings are my second favorite NFL team (behind the lowly Redskins). That said, I still think it's reasonable to expect Minnesota to win this game. I know that Percy Harvin is still uncertain for the game today (though it's looking more and more like he will be able to play), but even if he doesn't, the Vikings still have plenty of weapons on offense, just like the Saints.

But you can't say the same about the Saints' defense that you can about the Vikings. Minnesota's front four might be...check that, is the most prolific in football. Kevin Williams and Pat Williams are so adept at stuffing the run that Leslie Frazier's linebackers can be used to fill in other gaps. And Jared Allen, while one of the most costly acquisitions in NFL history, has proven to be worth everything the Vikings gave up to get him. It's still not easy to root for longtime Packer Brett Favre, but as long as he's wearing purple, I'll forgive him his past transgressions.

Prediction: Vikings 30, Saints 22

Perfection?

Jim Caldwell's got nothing on me. Check our radio show from last week if you don't know what I'm talking about.

What to look forward to from Joe and Joe Sports this fall...

It's September, and football seasons have just kicked off. Baseball's regular season is screaming towards the finish line, and while St. Louis has the NL Central wrapped up, most of the other playoff spots are still up for grabs. College and pro basketball are on the horizon, and the NHL has already started having preseason games. Early autumn is perhaps the most exciting time in sports, and we're happy to say that it will also be an exciting time on Joe and Joe Sports.

If you've been a frequenter of our blog, you know a few things:

• You know that we're better writers than a lot of bloggers. Rather than quick blurbs with PhotoShopped pictures of players' heads on animals' bodies, we try to give you in-depth analysis that reads more like an article than a rant. We won't stop doing that.
• You know that we love baseball. We love the one-on-one competition between pitcher and batter, and we love the over-arching strategies that surround that competition. You can look forward to our postseason picks, both for the MLB playoffs and for the various award-winners in baseball for 2009. And I could maybe see us having another argument or two.
  
• You know we love our home teams. You've probably seen that I've revived the Redskins Report Card feature, and I'll keep that going all season again. Meanwhile, I know my partner in crime has been working on a post about his beloved Cleveland Browns. As different as our two cities might be, we share a fatalist desperation that all true sports fans should feel. I'll let him tell you about his when he's ready.
• You know it's been forever since we had a radio show. We know it, too.
• And lastly, you know that we're conceited, self-absorbed, arrogant bastards. Oh. Well, if you didn't, you do now.

We'll have all of that and a whole lot more as the leaves begin to change. Got any ideas or requests? Email us at joe.joe.sports@gmail.com.

2009 NFC East Preview

I know you wish we would do an NFL preview radio show as we have in the past, but we're trying to focus our efforts into the blog right now. We do have a radio show in the works, though; it's an old gimmick with a new flavor, and we're looking forward to releasing it when the time is right.

For now, please enjoy our team-by-team breakdown of the NFC, starting with perhaps the most unpredictable division.

NFC EAST

Dallas Cowboys (2008 Record: 9-7)
Key Additions: LB Keith Brooking, DE Igor Olshansky
Key Subtractions: WR Terrell Owens, CB Adam Jones, S Roy Williams

The loss of Owens is going to have a huge impact on this team. The question, though, is whether it's a positive or negative impact. My instinct is to say a negative impact, but who really knows? There's no question that, as the one true team sport, football demands a level of trust in your teammates, and Owens isn't exactly a model citizen.

I am a little perplexed at the offseason moves, though. Lose T.O., add two new starters to your front seven on defense? The Cowboys must be expecting a lot out of guys like Miles Austin, Patrick Crayton, and Martellus Bennett. It could work out, if the defense really improves, and if Tony Romo can be a star quarterback without his star wide receiver. Certainly Jason Witten and Roy Williams aren't slouches, and Marion Barber is surprisingly effective out of the backfield for a big running back. Still, Owens was their most dangerous receiver, and without replacing him, the pressure on everyone else is substantial.

Projected 2009 record: 6-10

New York Giants (12-4)
Key Additions: LB Michael Boley, WR Hakeem Nicks
Key Subtractions: RB Derrick Ward, WR Plaxico Burress, WR Amani Toomer, S James Butler,

Plaxico Burress may have shot himself in the leg, but his absence crippled an otherwise solid passing attack. The Giants drafted Hakeem Nicks in the first round, but the more logical replacements for Burress' production are Domenik Hixon and Steve Smith. No, the other Steve Smith. Eli Manning should thank his stars that Brandon Jacobs is back, and appears healthy.

Perhaps the most important "acquisition" will be the return of Osi Umenyiora, the Giants' premier defensive end. He and Justin Tuck are the bookends of one of the strongest defensive lines of the past decade. They're so good, they make an average secondary look exceptional. Unfortunately, the Giants will be relying on their defense more than previously, and I expect that, eventually, those corners will get exposed. Eventually like, this year.

Projected 2009 record: 8-8

Philadelphia Eagles (9-6-1) Key Additions: QB Michael Vick, WR Jeremy Maclin, RB LeSean McCoy
Key Subtractions: S Brian Dawkins, RB Correll Buckhalter

Regardless of personnel, there were two things you could count on from the Eagles for the past decade: they were going to throw the ball a lot, and they were going to blitz all the time. The passing of defensive coordinator Jim Johnson (rest in peace) obviously leaves a void in the hearts of veteran Eagles, but I have faith that we'll see the same aggressive play from Philly defenders this season as we've always seen. Dawkins' departure leaves a big hole in the middle of the defense, though, and it's up to second-year player Quintin Demps to fill it. Good luck, kid.

Offensively, the team looks even better than last year. DeSean Jackson is a year older and should be just as explosive. Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook remain the focal points of the offense, but Vick and McCoy give the Eagles more weapons. Anybody want to bet against the Eagles having the most plays of 50+ yards this season? They could be an awesome team to watch. Plus there's always the chance someone from PETA goes ape and jumps Vick coming out of the tunnel. So, multiple reasons to watch Eagles games this year.

Projected 2009 record: 12-4

Washington Redskins (8-8) Key Additions: DL Albert Haynesworth, LB Brian Orakpo
Key Subtractions: DB Shawn Springs, DE/LB Jason Taylor

The Redskins return their offense virtually 100% intact, which could be good, could be bad. Jason Campbell is in the last year of his contract, so he's playing for a contract. Santana Moss and Chris Cooley are two of the more consistent receivers in the conference, but someone else has to step up to take some heat off of them. I'm looking at you, second-year receivers Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, and second-year tight end Fred Davis.

Haynesworth signed a $6 billion contract, so Washington fans are expecting a lot out of him. The secondary will suffer without Springs available to play all positions, but between Carlos Rogers and DeAngelo Hall, there's at least plenty of talent at cornerback. The 'Skins were 6th in the NFL in points allowed, but 28th in sacks. Increased pressure on opposing quarterbacks could turn Washington into a powerhouse defense. Hopefully Haynesworth's wallet doesn't weigh him down.

Projected 2009 record: 9-7

Mike and Mike Are Both Whiny and Stupid...Today

I listen to Mike and Mike (no relation to Joe & Joe) most mornings on my drive in to work; yes, like my partner in crime, I've got much too glamorous a lifestyle to pay for with just one job. And I like Mike and Mike, generally. They usually keep a pretty good focus on sports and don't stray into pop culture. They don't talk too much about golf (which as you might already know, I think is a waste of time), and they do talk about baseball, which I like.

Anyways, I tuned in this morning, and found them discussing the Detroit Lions. They talked about how bad they are, and they are bad. Are they historically bad? Maybe. There are some positions that you can have an elite player at where he can carry a bad team; quarterback and defensive end come to mind. But as good as Calvin Johnson is, it's virtually impossible for a wide receiver to carry his team. So yes, the Lions are bad.

But that's not what made me talk about my friends Mike and Mike in such a foul way. Mike Greenberg suggested that the NFL was foolish for sticking with the tradition of scheduling the Lions in a Thanksgiving game every year. The two Thanksgiving games are nationally televised and get very high ratings, and Detroit is a terrible team. It was for these two reasons that Greenberg believed the league should schedule a different game. Mike Golic was in immediate agreement, which should've sounded warning bells to Greenberg.

The fact is, those two reasons tell you precisely why Detroit is the perfect team for a Thanksgiving game. Everyone has their own traditions on Thanksgiving, but a common denominator for most sports fans is to watch football. Those sports fans will watch pretty much any NFL game you put in front of them, partly because they like sports, and partly because it's tradition. The number of people who would shut off a Lions game just because it's the Lions is pretty small. So you put your worst teams out there when you know people will watch anyways. It's a simple business decision.

But what's worse is that Mike and Mike should know this already, from firsthand experience. Two years ago, they did the Monday Night Football contest between, wait for it...the Cardinals and the 49ers. This season, they did Denver versus Oakland. They know how it works. The NFL puts some games on national TV that they know involve teams that won't be very good, because they're the biggest dog in sports TV. Everyone watches the NFL, and if there's only one NFL game on, everyone will watch that game. So enough with the whining, whinies.

Oh, and this season, Detroit's Thanksgiving game is against the currently undefeated Tennessee Titans. People will watch.

Joe & Joe Sports Radio Show

To all of you fans of the radio show, don't worry, we haven't forgotten about it. We're focusing our efforts on the blog right now, as you may have been able to tell by the dramatic increase in the frequency of posts. All of us here at the blog are excited about what's going on in sports these days, and we've found that we're more effective at getting our excitement out in blog form rather than radio form.

That being said, we're working on topics for future radio shows, and while we still don't have one scheduled for anytime soon, you can rest assured that the radio show will return sometime before the end of the football season. If you've got any specific topics coming up that you'd like to discuss, drop them off in the comments. We've got the staff looking into a couple of segment ideas, sort of like our Stay the Course/Blow 'em Up segment in our NBA Offseason Preview show, as well as reviving some old stuff like the Over-Under segment, and doing some email on the air.

All of this comes together into us saying, "Stay tuned."

Radio Show - AFC Preview

We had our first new radio show in a while last night (after a few scheduling conflicts), offering our preview of the AFC. It was generally a show of agreement, where both Joe's felt pretty similarly about how teams will fare. As always, you can listen to the episode through the widget at the top right of this blog, or you can go to our home on TalkShoe and download this and any past episodes.

Our NFC preview show will likely be next week, leading up to the opening game of the 2008 season, Giants/Redskins a week from Thursday. Go Skins!

Radio Show

We posted a new radio show last night. Topics of conversation were:

• Who was the better all-time defensive lineman: Michael Strahan or Warren Sapp?
• How much credit can we give Tim Donaghy's allegations of misconduct in the 2002 NBA Western Conference playoffs?
• Can the Lakers come back to win the NBA title? (Obviously this has become easier to answer today)

We've gotten pretty good at keeping our shows under an hour now, so you have no excuse to not listen....oh hell, you've got plenty of excuses, but listen anyways.

Due to Technical Difficulties....

...our show last night was canceled. Someone lives in an apartment building that gets affected by thunderstorms. We're hoping to get a show in tonight or tomorrow night, but schedules are tight, so unfortunately we can't make any guarantees except this: there will be more shows.

Someday. :)

Show Scheduled: June 3, 2008

Get ready for a Joe & Joe Short tonight, focusing solely on the NBA Finals. We'll talk about the matchup, give our predictions, and maybe look back a little bit at the classic Lakers/Celtics matchups of the 1980s. Not unlike Michael Ian Black, we love the '80s.

Show starts at 8:00 PM.

Show Scheduled: May 20, 2008

We'll be doing a full Joe & Joe Sports episode tomorrow night, starting around 9:30. Potential topics:

• NBA conference finals matchups
• Who to hold on to and who to cut loose in early fantasy baseball

Use the widget to the right, or click here to check out past episodes, and to tune in tomorrow night!

NL Delay

We apologize to all of our loyal fans for our delay in getting National League preview shows recorded and available for download, but a few mitigating factors this weekend/week have created some difficulties, not the least of which is my own relocation from Altoona, PA to Gaithersburg, MD. We apologize for the delay and hope to get at least one show up later this week. As my living situation stabilizes, we'll figure to get back into our normal groove of a show every 1-2 weeks.

Thanks for keeping up with Joe & Joe Sports, and we look forward to giving you our often entertaining and occasionally correct analysis very soon!

NL Preview Shows

Our National League preview shows will be this weekend. We're going to do back-to-back shows on Saturday, covering the East and Central divisions, then wrap up with our favorite division, the West, on Sunday evening. It's going to be a mad dash to the end of spring training, and we're happy that you're coming along with us for the ride.

As always, past shows are available for listening through the widget at the top right of this blog page, or on our TalkShoe home page. So if you missed the American League preview shows, or just never got around to our Super Bowl wrap-up episode, feel free to check it out at your leisure. You can even download the mp3 files and put them on your iPod or on a CD and listen to them while you drive, jog, work, whatever!

Looking Forward

We won't be having an NCAA Hoops show this week. Our hope is to try to do a brief one sometime next week or next weekend, but the reality is that we may not get to it until Final Four weekend, as baseball has got most of our focus right now.

Our American League preview shows are available for download on TalkShoe, so you can listen to them at your leisure. You can also use the widget to the right to listen right on this web page; just remember that if you leave the page, the show stops playing. :)

National League preview shows will be next week, and we'll post a message here when we set the dates and times.