Will Trent Richardson go in the 2nd round of the 2012 NFL Draft?

For reasons I will spell out in a soon-but-future blog entry, I believe Trent Richardson has to be the prohibitive favorite to win the Heisman this year. This is a continuation of the 10-year historical trend which shows that you must be (A) from a very established power-program and (B) play for a nation-championship contender and (C) be the MVP of that program. Trent is the only guy who fits the suit.

Most of the early draft boards show Trent as the #1 running back on the 2012 NFL Draft. Not the #1 pick, mind you, just the best running back. CBS Sports has him graded as the #8 overall pick in the entire draft. We know that there will be many swerves in the road between this point and that, and we know nothing of them. Still, it is a solid bet that TR will retain his top-ranking.

But this leaves open the question: Where and when will Richardson be drafted in 2012? Many great backs including Thurman Thomas have fallen into the 2nd round. Very few these days have been taken anywhere near the top.

With the massive success of undrafted free-agents like Arian Foster and LeGarrette Blount, there is more talk now that ever about how deprecated the running back position is in the NFL Draft. Former GMs like Michael Lombardi have told us many times that the RB is now a commodity position. GMs feel increasingly free to plug-n-play any sort of prospect in the lineup. There is no need to draft an RB in the 1st round or even near it.

With this as a background, consider the rumor I heard on XM radio yesterday evening: Unknown experts I am hardly familiar with stated (for all the reasons I just spelled out) their conviction that Trent Williams will go in the 2nd round of the 2012 Draft. Quote: "He may be pick 33, but he won't go before 33."

Wow... shocking... believe me, I know. Consider this: Trent's better predecessor narrowly avoided the 2nd round in this past 2011 draft. Further, 2011 gave us a very weak draft. Even so, Mark Ingram was selected just 4 picks away from the bottom of the 1st round. 2012 will be better year. If we put both of Richardson and Ingram on the same board together, I would select Ingram first.

If all this is true, it is plausible that Trent Williams will fall into the 2nd round. I had not considered this, but it is rational and plausible. Shocking none the less, I know.

I thought about the implications all night last night. If the chips do happen to fall as expected, the Rams should hold the #34 pick. We should have exercised the #2 pick on Justin Blackmon, just as CBS Sports and yours truly project. Think of the marvelous good luck we would have if Trent Williams just happens to be on the board at pick #34?

Do we snatch him with pick #34? Unless everybody in the building is on drugs, the answer is certainly yes! You know and I know that Steve Jackson is ever increasingly worn down. We have not gotten a full 16 game season out of him at anytime. Whether we deal him to a contender for his benefit is a question of internal politics in the big front office transition we face in 2012. Whatever happens, we would be stupid to pass on a potential franchise back who would do wonderful things to weaponize Sam Bradford.

Whilst I feel bad for Trent Williams, I am very excited for my team. The implications of snatching both Justin Blackmon & Trent Richardson in the same draft are fairly staggering. Provided our 3rd Rounder is a good choice, our offense could go from disgustingly weak to reasonably loaded in short measure. If we retain Bradon Lloyd, we could be ready for war in 2012.

My brother cutting Brussels Sprouts

So my brother just shared this epic video with me a few hours ago. I thought I would throw it up here on the blog.

I sharpened his Tyler Florence knives to the shaving point during Thanksgiving. This is purportedly the first time he attempted to prep anything with his Santoku after Thanksgiving. Tis a very small demonstration of my sharpening skills

He's looking a lot like Che Guevara these days.

All I want for Christmas is to see the Broncos beat down the Patriots

...with savagery and ferocity!

Oh what a bleak season this would be for me if it were not for Tim Tebow and the Broncos.  This would be the winter of my discontent.  However, the story unfolding in Denver has made it glorious summer, and all the clouds lowered upon my house, in deep bosom of the ocean buried.

It's week 14 this week, and the Broncos will host the Bears.  However, week 15 is coming, and the Patriots will visit the Broncos in Denver on week 15.  We should not overlook the Bears, but remember, this is a team that could only muster 3 points against the Chiefs.  I guess that is still three more points than my Rams scored.

Congradulations, Coach Fox!  You are the beneficiary of my Christmas wishes this holiday season.  All I want for Christmas is to see your Broncos Godzilla-press-slam the New England Patriots.  Give the following facts,

1. Robust, powerful defense.
2. A vicious straight-ahead running attack with Willis McGahee
3. Tim Tebow getting his passing confidence back.
4. Your franchise's remarkable and continued success in the 2 minute drill

 I see no reason why you shouldn't stick it to them good.  I want to see a repeat of Shannon Sharpe calling the President's office with a request for military intervention.  Why?  Because the Broncos are killing the Patriots.  Go for the jugular!  Don't call off the dogs!

Incidentally, a quick trivia question for you: Who was the top rated passer (by QBR) in the NFL on week 13 on the 2011 NFL Season? Nope, it wasn't Aaron Rodgers. It was Tim Tebow.  Aaron had a QBR of 106.159, which is fantastic, by the way.  On the other hand, Tebow shot 158.19.  He was a fraction away from the cap.  He almost had a perfect game.

I told you he could pass.  Beware:  Tim is getting his passing confidence back.  Y'all are in trouble now.

Two terrible suggestions for the Rams

Lately, two terrible suggestions for future moves have being sloshed about loosely in public.

Some have suggested that the Rams should select Andrew Luck if we should be so fortunate as to win the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes. The second terrible suggestion is that we can or will use EVP Kevin Demoff's family connections to get former Titans coach Jeff Fisher in the building.

I shit upon both suggestions, straight-up and no chaser. Shakes, nates, bollocks, nay, no, never, forget about it!

Fortunately, I think both propositions are completely irrelevant to the true situation. We have two victories, the Colts have none. I think the Colts will cruise to the #1 slot. We may well win the #2 slot. This is more than fine with me. It spares us from the morons who would give up on Sam Bradford already. Further, it gives us plenty of picking power to grab Justin Blackmon, the proper target of our draft.

I think Kevin Demoff is on his way out, ergo there is little chance his family connections will be involved in the new coaching search. Rule out Jeff Fisher. He's going to San Diego where he will enjoy a perfect Gemini/Sagittarius alliance with Philip Rivers.

If we are going after one of the so-called 'top coaching candidates', I would like that to be John Gruden. This would entail a reversion to the WCO, but worse things have happened. Gruden is the only so-called A-Lister that I would endorse.

2011 NFL Season, Week 12 Results

So, I forgot to post my prediction results from last week slate of NFL games.  Here they are.  My record was 13-3, which is pretty good, but not sensational.

I still did very well, especially when compared with the ESPN crew.  However, they are catching up.  Mark Schlereth beat me with a record of 14-2.  Good job, Mark!  Both of us missed on the Rams, incidentally.  Several dudes managed to tie my record of 13-3. This would include Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter as well as the Pick'em gambling service.  You can see all the results here.

Hendry's coin did not fare very well this week.  Th coin was 9-7.  Yes, this is a winning record, but the coin did not beat a single human prognosticator at ESPN.  It got close to Golic, but he was still better by one game.  Here are the results of the coin toss.

The Girevik shall train according to Wendler's 5/3/1 system

The term Girevik is Russian for "Kettlebell-man" or a guy who trains with Kettlebells.  As I have so often mentioned in recent days, I am totally in love with Kettlebell training right now.  My hand is so numb I can hardly feel it, but I am getting used to it.

When we say strength, we mean Kettlebell.  When we say Kettlebell, we mean strength... comrade.

Nothing will get you heart rate higher than a good CrossFit kettlebell race for the most reps in a timed interval.  Unfortunately, there is a problem with this scheme.  It doesn't seem to me that this scheme will do much to drastically improve your raw strength.  As usual, this is not a one-stop solution.  It is a big part of the solution, but not the whole solution.

Enter Jim Wendler and the 5/3/1 training system.  Wendler's 5/3/1 system is the greatest system yet devised for increasing raw strength.  I know.  I've not yet finished two weeks of it, and my raw strength is returning by leaps and bounds.  Nothing else I've tried has had this effect.

What is the Wendler 5/3/1 training system?  What is this system all about?  In the simplest form, the system consists of the following edicts:

1. Do only the large compound body movements: Bench, Deadlift, Squat, Clean & Jerk, Snatch.
2. Do an exploratory operation to discover you maximum one-rep weight in each lift.  Prepare to be embarrassed.
3. You perform 5 reps with 70% of your max weight
4. You then perform 3 reps with 80% of your max weight
5. You then perform 1 rep with 90% of your max weight

There is much more too it than that.  I won't spoil his book by representing his 4 week scaling system.  This is the easiest and simplest teaser I can give you.  Buy the book.

How well is the teaser working for me?  Well, let me tell you about it.

Despite my recent shoulder injury, I cleaned and jerked a 100 pound barbell this evening for a single rep.  That was after doing one jerk and 5 presses with 80, and another jerk and 3 presses with 90.  This effort wasn't particularly hard either.  Next time, 110 is the single-rep target.

I was surprised.  Two weeks ago, I couldn't raise my right hand above my shoulder...  at all... with an empty hand.  One week ago, I couldn't put 40 over my head.

This isn't just recovery from injury either.  The same effect is being documented in my dead-lift.  Two weeks ago, 135 pounds put a little too much strain on my lower back and midsection for a single rep.  Today, I pulled 185 for a single rep.  I should have pulled it three times.  It was too easy.  Next time, 215 is my single-rep target.  I can tell that the bar is going to get real heavy real quick.

My strength is returning.  Right now I am pretty excited.  This is far and away the most exciting development since my weight loss terminated some 6 or 7 weeks ago.

Incidentally, my weight seems to be holding steady at 185.6 right now.  Ergo, a heavy-cream Mac-N-Cheese isn't hurting me much.  If anything I look a little too tallow and frail right now.  None of my new acquaintances can believe I was ever a fat guy.  They just don't see me that way.  They think I am kinda skinny.

I need to transition completely to a strength/muscle building program, complete with higher caloric intake.  You must eat, or you will become skinny and have no respect.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

So, I have a very funny little diddy about Synastry for you today.  I just finished watching Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. As you may or may not know, this is an early 2010 movie that has made its way to HBO recently.

I found myself strangely transfixed by this movie, unable to get up off my ass and begin my workout day.  I also found myself ignoring the SEC Championship game, preferring to watch this movie instead.  I never, never, never do such a thing.  To make this phenomenon even more peculiar, this is a semi-cheesy kids movie.  Not the sort of thing I will spend time watching.  I had to admit, I was having a very good time with it.  I just liked it for some reason.

As I usually do, I went to IMDB just a few moments ago to have a look at the cast synastry.  Something was going on there that made a questionable story project very palatable to me.  I figured it was good team work brought to you by good synastry.  Well, let me tell you what I found.

1. Logan Lerman, the star in the title role, is a January 19, 1992 Capricorn kid.  I have mentioned on this blog before that my highest possible Capricorn score in this lifetime just happens to be January 16, 1992 Capricorn girl.  Logan was born just 3 days off the maximum theoretical point.  This still yields him remarkable synastry scores versus me.  This is probably why I had no difficulty accepting him in the title role, and found him instantly likable.
2. Alexandra Daddario, the #2 role and Logan's love interest/side kick, just happens to be a March 16, 1986 Pisces girl. I have mentioned 100 times on this blog that Kepler and Sirus project the March 12, 1986 Pisces girls as the highest of all possible total combined scores versus me in this lifetime.  Young Alexandra was born just 4 days off the maximum theoretical synastry point in my life.  This still yields her remarkable scores.  This must be why I found her very likeable, and was sweating bullets when she was in trouble in Medusa's garden.
3. Brandon T. Jackson, the #3 character, just happens to be a March 7, 1984 Pisces guy.  1984 is not a good year for me and Pisces, this according to Sirus and Kepler.  Still, there is a basal affinity between me and most Pisces.  This is why I was willing to overlook and even enjoy some aspects of his cheezy part.  It's not his fault they wrote a whacky role for him.
4. Of course, Uma Thurmon is a Taurus girl, born April 29, 1970.  I don't have wonderful scores versus Uma, but I have always liked her work.
5. Then we have Rosario Dawson.  It was not until this moment that I discovered she is May 9, 1979 Taurus woman.  That's one day away from the girl I know at work; the who I have compared to Ideal Trine Companion A.  Of course, this means Rosario Dawson compares very favorably to  Ideal Trine Companion A.  In fact she is better, because she has the ideal Mercury position in Taurus.   Wow... what a surprise!  Rosario and I have a boat load of scores in the 200 range.  'Tis a pitty I have not met her.
6. Pierce Brosnan is also in this movie, and he just happens to be a Taurus guy also.  Pierce appears in a teacher/trainer role, and he seems to favor student Logan quite a bit in this movie.  I found it believable.  It seemed natural.  It should, a Taurus teacher will usually favor a Capricorn kid.
7. For Poseidon, the director picked a Leo guy named Kevin McKidd.  For Hades, he picked a Libra dude named Steve Coogan. 

So are you ready for the cherry on top?  Here is the unifying thread that ties the whole puzzle together.  The director of this movie is Chris Columbus, a September 10, 1958 Virgo boy.  Incidentally, he's birthday buddies with my sister, born Sept 10, 1963.

So Mr. Columbus, a Virgo, picks a bunch of Capricorns, Taurus and Pisces people to feature in his movie.  For a couple of important god-like figures, he reached for a Leo and Libra.  These are the guys next door in the Zodiac, and folks we are very well disposed towards.

I must say, he picked a very good team that I liked.  He did what I would have done.  He picked the ones he liked best.  Further, both his taste and mine are hilariously predictable based on the basic theory of synastry.  We don't even have to reach for the advanced stuff.

One more interesting fact:  Most of the other important characters, particularly maternal and paternal characters are played by Aries folk.  I too, have very high synastry with the Aries people.  I don't know why that is, as Virgo and Aries exist at a 150 degree angle known as the inconjunct, or the broken angle. This means we have nothing in common.  Still, I've got mega-scores versus Aries.  I suspect Chris Columbus does also.