While this is very different from the old Writer’s Strike, the results are the same… you may not be able to have the unlimited entertainment that you once had.

Basically if Viacom and Time Warner do not reach a deal by midnight tonight (in about four hours) then you will be losing a dozen or so networks from your Time Warner cable. Including Comedy Central, VH-1, MTV….

Really, doesn’t affect me besides The Daily Show and South Park which I watch… but South Park is on repeats and The Daily Show can be watched online for free soooooo….. don’t really care….

As long as I still get my Lost in a few weeks, then they can go back and forth all they want.

Here are my predictions for this year’s NFL Playoffs

AFC Wildcard
#6 Baltimore Ravens over #3 Miami Dolphins
#5 Indianapolis Colts over #4 San Diego Chargers

NFC Wildcard
#6 Atlanta Falcons over #3 Arizona Cardinals
#5 Philadelphia Eagles over #4 Minnesota Vikings

AFC Divisional
#1 Tennessee Titans over #6 Baltimore Ravens
#5 Indianapolis Colts over #2 Pittsburgh Steelers

NFC Divisional
#1 New York Giants over #6 Atlanta Falcons
#2 Carolina Panthers over #5 Philadelphia Eagles

AFC Championship
#5 Indianapolis Colts over #1 Tennessee Titans

NFC Championship
#2 Carolina Panthers over #1 New York Giants

SUPER BOWL

CAROLINA PANTHERS OVER INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

I know it might seem odd that I picked my two girlfriend to make the Super Bowl, but if you take the way back machine you can see that I picked the Colts to lose in the Super Bowl preseason. I also successfully predicted Tom Brady would miss a start, but missed poorly on the Bills defense and Reggie Bush. Not to mention a ton of other teams.

So there you have it, let’s fight it out.

On the left is Lyndon Johnson, then Reagen, then Clinton. And on the right is the the future crush of your tweener, President-Elect Barack Obama.

The world was shocked and appalled today when the latest episode of Law & Order: SVU did not involve a single rape.

The episode, entitled “Tuesday”, showed Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson sitting in the precinct filing paperwork and having no reported crimes. At one point “Fin”, played by Ice-T, was frustrated when a Snickers bar he got from the staff break room was caught and would not fall. He proceeded to inform the Captain whom said he would alert maintenance.

Creator Dick Wolf described the episode as “Ripped straight from the real world. This is almost an identical replica of a Tuesday in a New York City station.”

While previous episodes have been filled with sexual assaults and abused woman, the only real danger a woman came across in this episode was when Detective John Munch spilled his coffee and created a slipping hazard.

RAINN, the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network, immediately launched an attack at NBC and the show’s producers. “The complete ignorance of the dangers in this world is frightening and heartbreaking. Law & Order has always been a long standing ally in our fight to alert the world of the continual unending danger of being raped. To show that you could go survive 60 minutes without any of these occurring is disingenuous to the American public.”

NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker promised that the next episode, slated to be called “Rape-pocalypse”, will return the show to it’s original format.

If you are under the age of 21, do not post pictures of yourself drinking alcohol on Facebook and/or Myspace.

Bonus points of idiocy if you include captions such as “I was so wastedddddd” or “Don’t remember this!”

MTV has decided to give the guys (and few girls) at CollegeHumor their own television show. I’ve always enjoyed their comedy shorts, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with a full half hour.

JoePa is staying at State. Just agreed to a three year contract extension with the Nittany Lions. Pretty awesome I think. He keeps Penn State on the map and is a great recruiter. Everyone should be honest and realize that his staff is doing the majority of gameplanning, play calling and adjusting anyway. So the argument that we need “fresh blood” in there is ridiculous. This team was one 4th down stop in Iowa away from a national championship appearance.

Glad to keep you around Joe.

As anyone who has ever met me knows, the Buffalo Bills are my undying passion in the sports universe. With their loss today they are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Therefore, for the remainder of the year and the playoffs I will need a short-term girlfriend fling team to cheer for. Here are my candidates, in no particular order.

Tennessee Titans (12-2, 1st place in AFC South)
PRO: Winning team, unexpected success from preseason, strong uniform colors, Penn State alumni QB
CON: A first round bye, expected success in postseason, bad memories of defeating Buffalo

New York Jets (9-5, T-1st place in AFC East)
PRO: Unexpected success from preseason, New York team
CON: Brett Favre, Swept Buffalo this year, Brett Favre, Annoying fans, Brett Favre

Atlanta Falcons (9-5, 1 GB for NFC Wildcard)
PRO: Cinderella team of the year, rookie QB, Already been cheering for Roddy White all year, Michael “The Burner” Turner
CON: Might miss playoffs, NFC Team

Pittsburgh Steelers (11-3, 1st place in AFC North)
PRO: Local fans, exciting defense, Hines Ward’s smile
CON:Local fans, spelling Roethlisberger

Dallas Cowboys (9-5, 1st Wild Card in NFC)
PRO: The most SportsCenter coverage, Jessica Simpson shots during playoffs, The support of Marion Barber the first and second
CON: Terrell Owens tears, Jerry Jones old man creeper smile

Miami Dolphins (9-5, 1st place in AFC North)
PRO: Chance to go from worst to first in one year
CON:Hate them more then any other team in the entire world in any sport ever ever ever

No, I think I have narrowed it down. One team from each conference:

My AFC Adopted Team is… the Indianapolis Colts (10-4)

The Colts were an expected front runner early in the year but struggles have forced them to fight back into contention. They’re now a near lock for one of the wildcards, which is a new position for them. Usually they’re the team with the bye and the homefield. The underdog role for Peyton intrigues me and their offense is exciting to watch.

My NFC Adopted Team is… the Carolina Panthers (11-3)

The Panthers have a great running back duo in DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, which I love. They also have a strong defense and an exciting number one receiver in Steve Smith. They were one of my greatest girlfriend teams ever when I followed them on their Super Bowl run, to eventually fall to the Patriots.

Doesn’t McDonalds know that negative campaigning backfired for John McCain? Their spokesperson says its all in “good fun”, but Starbucks sounds pissed.

I say Starbucks comes out with their own billboards, “We don’t deep fry our lattes.” or “We’ll never ask if you want fries with that.” I think the back and forth would bring publicity and would bring in the fun. Right now it makes McDonalds look like a bully and Starbucks look like a pretentious dweeb.

A healthy competition in the public eye makes people take notice and want to take sides. People love conflict and the “looking at a car crash” idea could benefit both companies. Look at the Beer wars between Miller Light and Budweiser from the last few years, both help each other because it still promotes name recognition of each.

So I say, hit ‘em back Buxy. Go over to Oak Brook, IL at Micky D headquarters and put up a billboard saying “Stick to Burgers. Let the experts handle this.”

This is real. Yeah, really…

While this type of thing really follows my previous thoughts on 24 hour protests, it’s interesting none the less. Someone doesn’t show up for work, tomorrow you ask if they were sick, and they say “No, I’m a lesbian.” Fun watercooler talk.

Going to be awkward for anyone who is legitimately sick today though and doesn’t go into the office. Are they puking or quietly coming out?

So after the much publicized departure of Jay Leno, being replaced by Conan O’Brien and then Conan being replaced by Jimmy Fallon… It turns out the only thing that is really changing is the time slot.

Leno will begin airing his show at 10 PM now, Conan at 11:35 as usual, then Jimmy at Conan’s old spot at 12:35. So there is no real change at all, just tossing Jimmy in between Conan and Carson Daly.

For NBC, it’s cheaper to air a talk show at 10 PM then try to push these unsuccessful dramas in recent memory. I suppose now they can spread out their primetime lineup over the whole week to provide a decent show every night. It’s definitely a risk, but they are America’s Late Night Leader.

I took great pride in having not thrown up since prior to moving to Pennsylvania. It showcased my iron stomach, my generally healthy lifestyle, and my will to overcome obstacles.

However, last night it was just all too much and like Cal Ripken Jr once did… I threw up.

Not to go into details, but the culprit most certainly was the All-American Burger at Texas Roadhouse. It tasted great and I enjoyed it, but I guess a part of it had gone bad or something. The good news is I felt great afterwards and went to sleep in time to be awake and drive Dean to work this morning.

I don’t think this experience will effect me like the Kentucky Fried Chicken incident of 1993 at my Dad’s office, as in I am not holding a grudge against the Roadhouse. I’d gladly go there again… probably just order something else.

After some random discussion with Casey yesterday and a quick google search, we were able to rediscover one of the lost treasures of my youth: All-Stars to the Rescue. One of the absolute greatest anti-drug cartoons ever. Combine a bunch of famous cartoon characters, throw in some over the top drug stereotypes and let it ride for 32 glorious minutes.

While some other websites may have announced their own “word of the year,” I feel the choice was obvious for mine. No other word could emcompass what has happened over the past 12 months then Change.

The entire primary process, election process was all about a changing of the guard. A change of leadership, a change of direction. Nobody really knew what needed to be done, they just knew that something had to be.

So while all the candidates fought that their change was the right change, the corporations were looking for some loose change in the terms of government bailouts. While Wall Street got its couch cushion change, it appears that the auto industry will need to change their ways or else they may be changing employment status.

Not just nationally, but in my own personal life change has played a key role. While I didn’t change jobs like I had applied for all year, I may have changed my attitude towards my current one for the better. I also changed cars, changed friends, changed to this new web site, changed blog designs, changed relationship status, and changed dogs.

Some change was great, like the unexpected 5-1 start for the Buffalo Bills. Other change was pretty disheartening, like the Bills now being 6-7.

One thing is sure though, things are different then they were 365 days ago.

Are they better? Yes and no.

Would I change any of them? Definitely not.