It's That Time Of Year...The First Annual WYDU Preseason NFL Predictions

I wake up pretty early in the morning and the change of the season is starting to be felt in the early morning air. The air is crisp, no more seventy degrees at 6a.m., the sun isn't already over the horizon and my car has a little moisture on the windows. In a couple of days, it will be September and autumn will be right around the corner. I must say if someone put a gun to my head and told me to pick my favorite season, I'd have to say the Fall. There is something about the changing of the season from a hot summer time, to the crisp autumn air. There is something about the trees changing color. I love waking up on a fall weekend and feeling the cool air and seeing the change all around me. Most off all though, fall means its football time!

I like to call myself a baseball guy. I played it from the time I was six until high school. But something about football that is just an "event" of sorts. Just this week, I've been playing Madden on my down time (hence the lack of posts). I had my main fantasy football draft this week, a league that is in eighth year. I'm listening to the a live stream on the internet of the Boise State football game as I write this. Football is just a huge sport in the states. We love our football. Saturday you get up and watch some college football. If you are lucky enough to live in a college town, its even more major.

Unfortunately, when I was a Boise State student, they were still a Div 1AA school (lower than now for those of you who aren't into the college football scene). Boise though, has always been a football city. Bronco football is a major thing in Boise, even in those days. Boise State is the only school in NCAA that has the luxury of winning a Junior College National Championship, a Div 1 AA Championship and a BCS Bowl game win. We'd tailgate our asses off, then drag our drunk asses into the stadium and make our way to the top, where we could drink our contraband alcohol we had snuck in with us. Things have changed since then. I just talked to my parents, who still live in Boise and they have said the town is shutting down tonight to watch the game, a game against a 1 AA school. People are Boise State crazy. Trust me, Saturday's will be major event at Bronco Stadium and Lyle Smith Field this fall after their Cinderella win last year in the Fiesta Bowl.

Then you have Sunday's. That is NFL time. There is nothing better than dragging your hung over ass out of bed around 10 a.m., jump in the shower to wash off the night before's mess off of you and throw on your teams shirt or sweat shirt and either join a buddy at his house (if you down have Sunday Ticket yourself, like me) or you hit up your favorite Sports Bar watering hole. Every game counts, maybe thats why each game is so important. Your team goes on a two game losing streak and all of sudden they are facing an uphill battle. It's just a great way to spend a Sunday. Probably why any girl I date must at least understand that.

As much as I like to call myself a pseudo hip-hop critic/historian, I also like to claim I know a thing or two about football and the NFL. Like any guy that thinks he knows his football, I'm going to play pseudo sport writer and give you the first annual WYDU NFL Football predictions. The NFL is pretty hard to predict from year to year. There is alway some good team that ends up flopping (the Steelers last year) and you have some team no one expected to do shit comes out and surprises everyone (New Orleans Saints), so yeah, basically I'm covering my ass already.

WYDU Presents - The First Annual NFL Preseason Predictions

AFC East
New England Patriots 11-5
Miami Dolphins 9-7
Buffalo Bills 8-8
New York Jets 6-10

Patriots geared up over the offseason for a serious playoff run. They shored up a questionable WR position by adding Donte Stallworth and malcontent Randy Moss. If Moss and Brady mesh, watch out. They also added free agent prize, ILB Adalius Thomas, a great catch to use in their 3-4 Defense (biters). Only thing suspect about them the secondary.

The Dolphins have to be somewhat better than last year. Trent Green should be an improvement over the scrubs they used last year at QB and new coach Cam Cameron should bring the most out of RB Ronnie Brown. They also claim one of the best defensive players in DE/LB Jason Taylor. Should be interesting to see what Free Agent signee Joey Porter brings to the table.

The Bills should improve with QB JP Losman improving over the season last year and add in long threat WR Lee Evans and rookie RB Marshawn Lynch to the mix and the Bills have as good of a chance as they've had the last couple years.

The Jets bring in new RB Thomas Jones, who did excellent with the NFC Champion Chicago Bears and with a solid O-Line, the Jones has a chance to have a stand out year. Pennington is stil a question mark at QB, but a decent defense should keep the Jets close in games.

AFC North
Baltimore Ravens 10-6
Pittsburgh Steelers 10-6
Cincinnati Bengals 9-7
Cleveland Browns 5-11

In a division where I hate every team except the obvious one, its hard to say any team is going to beat the Steelers. As much as I hate it, I still believe the Ravens are the cream of the crop, although I question how much more McNair has left in the tank and the durability of new RB Willis McGahee. But when you have a defense such as the Ravens, you don't need more than a couple touchdowns or so a game.

Being a Steelers fan (duh), I might be a little biased. I have some questions about the new coaching staff. When the Rooney's, who I admire greatly, let all the established staff leave to the new Pittsburgh west (Arizona) and brought in a new guy and not only a new guy, but someone you hasn't even had a lot of experience coaching in the NFL period. They have the potential on offense if Big Ben bounces back to his previous stature after a down year last year. Santonio Holmes came on strong toward the end of the year to be a nice compliment to Hines Ward. Willie Parker is a game breaker who can bust a long run at anytime. The D was kind of down last year, and Joey Porter felt the wrath and was let go in the offseason. The Steelers went out and drafted two OLB (the key to their defense) in the first and second rounds, Lawrence Timmons out of Florida State and LeMarr Woodley out of Michigan who could both factor in greatly before its all said and done with. The Steelers star defensive player, Troy Polamalu, just signed a contact extension during the off season, thankfully. The CB's are suspect, although if Ike Taylor returns to form and Bryant McFadden continues to develop, they could be strong at the postion.

The Bengals faltered last year after a strong '05 season and winning the division (which doesn't mean shit, since the Steelers won the Super Bowl), but fell off when they faced a first place schedule. The offensive is top notch, if they can keep everyone out of jail. The defense is suspect, and will be their downfall.

The Brownies, oops, I mean the Browns seem to improve every off season, yet they can't seem to pull it together. They bring in Jamal Lewis, who if he has anything left, will be an upgrade over last seasons running game, but then again, a dead corpse would be better than what they had last year. The Brownies....dammit, the Browns had a great draft in picking up stud O-Lineman Joe Thomas with their number five overall pick then QB sensation, Brady Quinn, with their second pick of the first round. Braylon Edwards and loud mouth Kellen Winslow could give the whoever starts at signal caller for the Browns some great targets.

AFC South
Indianapolis Colts 12-4
Jacksonville Jaguars 10-6
Tennessee Titans 8-8
Houston Texans 6-10

Its hard to argue against the defending Champion Colts, they lost a few key pieces from their Super Bowl team, but they still contain enough weapons to play against anyone on any given weekend. Peyton Manning is someone who I want to hate, but I have to admit, I enjoy most of his commercials and his Saturday Night Live guest host appearance was classic. Manning is the cream of the crop when it comes to QB's and he still has Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison after losing third WR Brandon Stokely. Joesph Addai figures to be the feature back after gaining over a 1,000 yards on the ground as a rookie.

Jacksonville is another one of those teams that wins with its defense. They do contain fantasy darling Maurice Drew-Jones and 3rd year WR Matt Jones could breakout this year as well on offense. It's the defense though that gets the recognition on this team.

The Titans came on very strong at the end of last season on the back of rookie QB Vince Young. If Young stays healthy, they could have a shot at a wildcard, but Young has the dreaded Madden curse hanging over his head. Is it real? I'm not sure, but I don't think Sean Alexander, Donovan McNabb, Marshall Faulk, or Michael Vick would ever want to be on it again. Maybe they were playing out of their asses at the end of last year, but Young seems to have some magic to him. They'll need Young to be his best with a running game consisting of Chris Brown and Twinkie boy LenDale White.

The Texans continue to improve, but I'm not sure how good newly signed Ahman Green will be and they have an unproven QB in Matt Schaub who they picked up from Atlanta in the off season.

AFC West
San Diego Chargers 12-4
Denver Broncos 10-6
Kansas City Chiefs 5-11
Los Angles Raiders

The Chargers just have too many weapons on offense AND defense for anyone to over take them, as long as new coach Norv Turner doesn't try to do too much and fuck them up.

The Broncos have a young, unproven QB in Jay Cutler and while Travis Henry could be the stud RB they have been missing the past couple years, there are a lot of question marks involved with the o-side. The defense has look pretty lack luster in the pre season with a new D-Coordinator, it might take a while for the talented bunch to get it right. They promise to be more aggressive on defensive so we'll see. I'm still calling my shot and saying: Steelers 27 Broncos 14 on Oct 21st Sunday Night game.

Chiefs have Damon Haurd at QB, journey man Damon Haurd. They can expect nine in the box to stop Larry Johnson at all times. Its going to be a long season.

The Raiders just suck, I don't know what else to say. They have a decent corp of WR but I don't think JaMarcus Russell will matter much this year and I think Dante Culpepper is washed up. They might have a decent running game with LaMont Jordan and Dominick "DUI" Rhodes. The D isn't all that bad either, but who am I kidding, they'll suck

NFC East
Philadelphia Eagles 10-6
Dallas Cowboys 10-6
New York Giants 9-7

Washington Redskins 7-9

The Eagles are always a challenger for the NFC title race. After last year's run with QB Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb comes back from an ACL tear to lead the talented Eagles team. One must question the release of defensive leader Jermiah Trotter, but the D should be stout enough to get it done in a rather diluted NFC.

I thoroughly HATE the Dallas Cowboys, I always have, so it gave me no greater joy than to watch them lose the way they did last year in the playoffs. I'm still not sold on Tony Romo, and the son of Bum Phillips is a horrible coach, but owner Jerry Jones just wanted a puppet that he could control after headstrong coach Bill Parcells had the reigns for the last couple years.

Can that punk Eli Manning withstand the pressure of New York (and no Dino, I do not look like Eli)? No, I'm not a big Eli fan, I thought the way he handled the whole draft thing was a joke a few years back. Fuck him and the Manning family for that shit. The Giants seem to be a middle of the road team that could challenge for the NFC East title if Eli and bonehead Plaxico take it to the next level. I kind of expect big things out of big guy Brandon Jacobs.

The Redskins bring in an inexperienced QB this year to go with a decent WR corp and decent RB's in Betts and Portis. The QB position could take some time to level out as Jason Campbell is a fairly raw talent.

NFC North
Chicago Bears 10-6
Detroit Lions 9-7
Minnesota Vikings 5-11
Green Bay Packers 4-12

The Chicago Bears were somewhat of a surprise last year, and I still wonder what they will be like against a first place schedule. Questions abound with Wrex Grossman at the QB spot. Also, will Cedric Benson be able to carry the world load? With all the questions surrounding the offense, the defense is one of the premier units in the league and will once again carry the Bears.

The Lions figure to be better with an extra year under OC Mike Martz's system. Yes, they have Jon Kitna at QB, but Martz made a star out of a Arena Football QB in St.Louis. They have a good WR crew and although I'm usually not fond of rookie WR's, Calvin Johnson could be the real deal.

The Vikings appear to be in a mess. They possess a mediocre defense, a young QB who doesn't even have that much potential and a rookie RB that could be a star....if he stays healthy. And with the Vikings passing game, the run back tandem of Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson could be carrying the workload.

What was Bret Favre thinking? He wanted to come back to this? Not only did they not get better in the off season, they potentially got worse. They lost Ahman Green (okay, no big loss there), although rookie Brandon Jackson could be a good one. The WR corps isn't all that great and second year man Greg Jennings fell the fuck off after a great first couple weeks. The defense is nothing to write home about either. It could be a looooong season for the Pack.

NFC South
New Orleans Saints 10-6
Carolina Panthers 5-11
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5-11
Atlanta Falcons 2-14

The Saints were the nations darlings last season after coming back to a city that the government ignored after Hurricane Katrina. Drew Brees shocked NFL insiders and arm chair QB's alike by coming back from shoulder surgery stronger than ever. Coupled with a stud 7th round pick rookie WR in Marques Colston and soon to be super star (if he isn't already) Reggie Bush, the offense could put up some serious numbers. The defense lacks a little, but in the NFC, it won't be enough to keep the Saints from making a serious run in the playoffs

The rest of the division with Carolina, Tampa and the ATL are not nearly in the same league as the rest of the NFC. Carolina is questionable with, well, just about everything. Tampa Bay is bringing in a QB old enough to remember the when they had leather helmets and just doesn't seem like a good fit to coach John "Chuckie" Gruden's system, but what do I know? I'm just an idiot on a computer. Atlanta's season got drowned liked one of Vick's dogs (booooo I know, bad joke). It's not because Vick is such a great QB, but there are so many things a defense has to take in account when Vick is back there that they don't when ummmm, Joey Harrington is back there. ATL is a running team, and are built for that, although Dunn is up there in age and I'm not sure Norwood is a feature back and they are going to be facing eight men in the box all season long.

NFC West
Arizona Cardinals 10-6
Seattle Seahawks 10-6
San Fransico 49er's 9-7
St. Louis Rams 7-9

I'm picking the Pittsburgh Steelers of the West aka the Arizona Cardinals to be the surprise team this year. They had all the intangibles in place for the most part before Ken Whisenhunt was brought on, but I believe Whisenhunt will take QB Matt Leinart to the next level to compliment probably one of the most talented group of WR in the NFL. The O-Lin is shakey, but assistant coach Russ Grimm, a former "Hog" himself, will make it better than what it is. The D is consistently getting better and with potential big time players such as Karlos Dansby and Adrian Wilson and a hybrid of a 3-4 defense, the Cardinals are poised to FINALLY make a move in the NFC West.

The Seattle Seahawks are just good enough to make their presence known as well. You have to think with Sean Alexander being off the cover of Madden that he should return back to dominate RB status and Hasselbeck is just good enough to get over the hump.

The Niners are also another team to watch. Alex Smith keeps getting better and Frank Gore stepped up to be one of the better RB's in the NFL last year. The defense is somewhat questionable, but has some quality players that could make San Fran another "surprise" team this year.

In St. Louis, the Rams are kind of a hard team to judge. Bulger is a good QB when healthy and Steven Jackson is one of the top two or three when it comes to RB. The defense has always been somewhat shaky and in a division with some prolific offenses.

Wild Card
Steelers vs Patriots - Pats
Broncos vs Ravens - Ravens
Cowboys vs Cardinals - Cowboys
Seachickens vs Saints - Saints

Divisional
Pats vs Chargers - Chargers
Ravens vs Colts - Colts
Saints vs Eagles - Eagles
Cowboys vs Bears - Bears

Conference Championships
Colts vs Chargers - Chargers
Eagles vs Bears - Eagles

Super Bowl
Eagles vs Chargers

Super Bowl Champs
San Diego Chargers

Music.....Reeeeeee-Ups

45 King Presents The Flavor Unit (Tuff City, 1990)

01	Flavor Unit Assassination Squad
	Featuring - Apache , Double J (2) , Lakim Shabazz , Lord Alibaski , Queen Latifah Producer - 45 King, The
02	Lyrics In Motion
	Producer - 45 King, The
03	I Feel Like Flowing
	Producer - 45 King, The
04	Top Gun
	Producer - 45 King, The
05	Passin’ The Mike
	Producer - 45 King, The
06	What It Takes To Be A Rapper
	Co-producer - Mighty Maestro, The Producer - 45 King, The
07	Hands Of Fate
	Producer - Lakim Shabazz
08	Crunch Time
	Producer - Mighty Maestro, The
09	Smooth Yet Hard
	Producer - 45 King, The

Beat Factory Presents Rap Essentials Volume One (Beat Factory Records, 1996)

A1	Rascalz	Fitnredi (4:29)
		Producer - Kemo
A2	Concrete Mob	Boiling Point (3:17)
		Producer - Scam (3)
A3	Down To Erf	Learn To Earn (3:25)
B1	Kardinal Offishall	Naughty Dread (4:24)
		Producer - Kardinal Offishall
B2	Black-I	No Lawz (4:23)
B3	Wio-K	Sunlight (3:42)
C1	Red Life*	Who's Talking Weight (Remix) (3:46)
		Producer - K-Note
C2	Dan-E-O	Dear Hip Hop (3:24)
C3	Scales Empire	Bright Lights, Big City (4:00)
D1	Choclair	Twenty One Years (4:17)
		Backing Vocals - K.C. Thomas Producer - Day
D2	Citizen Kane (2)	Structure, Foundation (What's The Plan) (3:14)
		Producer - Erf Productions
D3	Ghetto Concept	U.L. (4:24)

Percy Miracles - The Ladies Champ (Roy Lee's Records & Tapes, 2005)
1. Sweet Percy
2. Dance Floor
3. Miss Eda
4. Back To The Motherland
5. You Can Be
6. You'll Never Change feat Poohnany & Big Trick

Street Fighter Original Soundtrack

1. Street Fighter - Ice Cube

2. Come Widdit - Ahmad/Ras Kass/Saafir

3. One On One - NAS

4. Pandemonium - The Pharcyde

5. Street Soldier - Paris

6. Something Kinda Funky - Rally Ral

7. It's A Street Fight - The B.U.M.S.

8. Life As.... - LL Cool J

9. Do You Have What It Takes? - Craig Mack

10. Straight To My Feet - Hammer/Deion Sanders

11. Rumbo N Da Jungo - Public Enemy (Chuck D)/The Wreck League

12. Rap Commando - Anotha Level

13. Worth Fighting For - Angelique Kidjo

14. Something There - Chage & Aska

Digital Underground - Sons of The P (Tommy Boy, 1991)

1. The DFLO Shuttle
2. Heartbeat Props
3. No Nose Job
4. Sons Of The P
5. Flowin' On The D-Line
6. Kiss You Back
7. Tales Of The Funky
8. The Higher Heights Of Spirituality
9. Family Of The Underground
10. The D-Flowstrumental
11. Good Thing We're Rappin'

Ras Kass & DJ Lt. Dan - On The Run