NFL picks, week 9 & baseball managerial movement

Hey kids...
I made it a point to not forget about posting my football picks for you handicappers (Hi, Georgie) but before I get into that, here's some news on some baseball manager appointments.

Congratulations to Willie Randolph, who became the 18th manager in New York Mets history, and the first black manager in New York baseball history (which is long and storied. This includes the Yankees!) To read the story on Randolph's hiring, click here...
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20041104&content_id=909829&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp

or click here for "Randolph has his moment in the sun."-
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20041104&content_id=909990&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp

Randolph interviewed yesterday with Mike & the Mad Dog (http://wfan.com/chrismikeaudio/)
of WFAN radio, New York City (http://www.wfan.com). Click on these links to check out the leading authority in New York Sports.
As a side-note, Mac & Sid are pretty cool too. http://wfan.com/suzynjodyaudio/

Interestingly, the day after the Mets announce Randolph's hiring, the Arizona Diamondbacks, or as I like to call them, the Arim-a-zona Ass Cracks fired manager Wally Backman after only four days on the job. What the hell?!?! To add insult to injury, he was replaced by Bob Melvin, a former bench coach with the D-backs who was fired as manager of the Seattle Mariners just days after the season ended for being horrible at managing a baseball team.
Here's the link to the story...
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20041105&content_id=910511&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp

This is ridiculous. Okay, so Backman has a criminal record; a very, very minor criminal record at that. He has already paid his debt to society. And okay, so Backman filed for bankruptcy a few years ago. Just because he can't manage his money doesn't mean he can't manage a ball club. And the Arim-a-zona brain trust (I use the word brain with a grain of salt) claimed at first that they didn't know about his past but were going to stand by him anyway, and then they fired him.
I submit to you that this is a bad move because the main idea of major league baseball is to win baseball games. This is big business, not a big sandlot.
This sudden excercise in morality can hurt the D-backs in the long run.
I mean, they claim they did not know of his past? For Christ's sake- the man had been working in their minor league system, as a manager, and was very successful.
His Lancaster Jethawks had the best record in the California League last year and was one game from the Cal-League championship. They lost to Modesto in five games. HEY DIAMONDBACKS, HERE'S SOME ADVICE: Do a friggin' background check on the guy before he enters your system if you're gonna make a big deal about somebody's past mistakes. DUH!!
And Bob Melvin? HELLO, DIAMONDBACKS, ANYBODY HOME? This is a guy who had a Mariner team with a 93-69 record in 2003, and turned it into a 63-99 team the following season. We're talking track records, people- C'MON!!!

Oh well, eff the D-backs and everything else that comes from the desert.

Here are the NFL picks for week 9 and the regular rules apply.
Good luck handicappers...

Arizona over MIAMI *
Kansas City over TAMPA BAY
Oakland over CAROLINA *
DETROIT over Washington *
SAN DIEGO over New Orleans
DENVER over Houston
BALTIMORE over Cleveland *
CINCINNATI over Dallas *
New York Jets over BUFFALO
Philadelphia over PITTSBURGH *
NEW YORK GIANTS over Chicago
Seattle over SAN FRANCISCO *
New England over ST. LOUIS

and Monday night-
INDIANAPOLIS over Minnesota *
tie-breaker at 61.

That's all for now kids, don't forget to visit eBaum this week (http://www.ebaumsworld.com)
and consult previous posts for the nationally televised Ashlee Simpson screw up, the infamous Yankee fan video, and other stuff.

Don't take any shit from anybody.
m.