Mike's Week 10 Power Rankings

One fan base is asking what happened, the other is asking what's going to happen. Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers continue asking themselves 'what's wrong with us' after failing to win the division last year and clearly struggling in 2011 as well. The fumble in week 9, and a career-high 3 interceptions (two returned for GB Touchdowns) had Rivers shaking his head in disgust, and all but sealed a 14th straight victory for the Packers going back to last year. Aaron Rodgers, on the other hand, is on the path to having one of, if not the, best season for a QB in NFL history. The Packers are 8-0, have the best player in the league, and still don't think their playing up to their potential. The defending Super Bowl Champions are proving to the rest of the league they were worthy of the Lombardi Trophy last year, and are daring any other team to try to take it away from them. 

Almost equally as exciting, we have the 7-1 San Francisco 49ers and rookie coach Jim Harbaugh already close to locking up their first division title since 2002. The Niners look like the only real threat to the Packers in the NFC, and are bringing back the thrill that is San Francisco football.

1. Green Bay Packers (8-0) -- Forget just the Super Bowl, could this team be the first to go 19-0. The '72 Dolphins may be putting the champagne away for a while but first the Pack needs to get past Detroit in weeks 11 and 17.

2. San Francisco 49ers (7-1) -- Jim Harbaugh has shown Stanford wasn't just dumb luck and that some college coaches can be successful in the NFL. 

3. Baltimore Ravens (6-2) -- Two wins against their bitter rivals in Pittsburgh have the Ravens walking on cloud 9, but they still have to get the job done and wrap up the Divisional Title to take the kings' seat in the AFC North.

FDS Video Games Tourney: Speed Racer Division

Welcome back, after an exciting NFL Sunday, to our FDS Best Sports Game tournament! Today I’m posting the results of the Speed Racer Division which is comprised of the 3^rd ranked games in each category. Fight Night Round 4 narrowly beatout NFL Blitz to win the Thundercats division, and I suspect each division’s final will be similarly close. Tonight I bring to you the results of the Speed Racer Division, and the second member of our Best Sports Game tournament’s Final Four.

But first, an overview of the competition.

How it works: Through feedback from friends and family and hopefully some of you, games will advance through their brackets until I have reached a single game that will be crowned the Fourth Down Stand Sports Game Champion. I will create a post about one division every day, reviewing key ‘games’, announcing the winners of each round and finally crowning a divisional champion. Thursday November 10 I will write about the Final Four, and will crown the Fourth Down Stand Sports Game Champion on my birthday—Friday, November 11.

The following are the divisions, named after a few of my favorite childhood cartoons.

The Speed Racer Division:

NFL 2K5, Playstation 2, 2004 (3)                           vs.

MLB High Heat 2003, Xbox, 2003 (3)

Andrew's Week 9 Power Rankings

We're about halfway through the season now and some surprise teams are still hanging around, which tells me that they're for real. We have the big dogs up near the top again as well like we expected, so the 2nd half of this year should bring a pretty exciting finish. See where I have the surprise teams and the teams we expected to be good ranked in this week's edition of my Power Rankings.

1. Green Bay Packers (7-0) - The Pack will stay at the top until they lose. And probably after that, too.

2. San Francisco 49ers (6-1) - If you read my post about the Kardashians, you'll know how I feel about this team. Super Bowl contenders.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2) - This team has found it's identity again - Big Ben chucking the ball all over the field.

4. New England Patriots (5-2) - I still believe in this team. Well, I still believe in Tom Brady.

5. Baltimore Ravens (5-2) - Big matchup against Baltimore this week will prove who one of the top teams in the AFC really is.

FDS Video Games Tourney: Thundercats Division

As you all know after reading the rules and overview of the Fourth Down Stand Sports Game Championship posted yesterday, I am holding a tournament to determine the best Sports Video Game of all time. Today marks the first day of what should be a very exciting and amusing week of posts filled with flashbacks of neon signs, leg warmers, Starter Jackets and over-played Madonna tracks. So sit back, relax and enjoy a free trip down memory lane.

Note: If you really want the full experience of this series, put on your parachute pants and throw this on repeat in the background.

How it works: Through feedback from friends and family and hopefully some of you, games will advance through their brackets until I have reached a single game that will be crowned the Fourth Down Stand Sports Game Champion. I will create a post about one division every day, reviewing key ‘games’, announcing the winners of each round and finally crowning a divisional champion. Thursday November 10 I will write about the Final Four, and will crown the Fourth Down Stand Sports Game Champion on my birthday—Friday, November 11.

First, here are the divisions, named after a few of my favorite childhood cartoons and followed by the results of the Thunder Cats Divisional Games.

The Thundercats Division:

Round 1:

NFL Blitz, Nintendo 64, 1998 (4)                          vs.

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB, SNES, 1994 (4)

While Ken Griffey Jr. was both Andrew and my favorite athlete growing up, there’s no denying the impact that NFL Blitz had on arcades and living rooms everywhere. Real smash-mouth hits, lightning-fast gameplay, no penalties and players that looked like they roided up with Tokka and Rahzar from TMNT II all made Blitz an overnight sensation. The commentary was hilarious, the hits provided hours of fun, and gamers of all ages loved it. The Blitz franchise became wildly successful, but inevitably died off. Just as it was beginning to look like a one-hit-wonder, Blitz: The League debuted for Xbox and brought the bone-crushing hits to life, along with a much-needed jolt to Midway Games.

FDS: Best Sports Video Game Tournament

A few short days ago, Andrew suggested we make a list of our top 10 sports video games for the site. We discussed dozens of games, some of which were our favorites while growing up, and some we just distinctly remembered because we rented and conquered them over the course of a week. While many were good, some were on our lists because they actually revolutionized the video gaming industry, and in some ways, changed the courses of our lives.  I had a few chuckles, and remembered “the good old days” (playing Super Nintendo for hours on end in grade school), but decided to leave the subject for just Andrew to write about.

That all changed Thursday night in three short words - Batman: Arkham Asylum.

This game, while obviously not sports related, has raised the bar. The gameplay is seamless, the graphics are insane, and the controls are surprisingly intuitive. As you glide around Arkham City, the prison city built at the center of Batman’s fictional Gotham City, you see subtle hints telling you which sections of the prison are controlled by which villains, and begin various side-missions that you will need to finish in order to achieve 100% completion in the game. I’ll take just a second here to note that while the side-missions are plenty, they are far from repetitive. They are actually quest chains, such as answering random payphones you find ringing, solving puzzles that the Riddler created for you, or studying crime-scenes and victims whom have been slaughtered by a secret villain to discover later.

NFL Contenders - Kardashian Style

DISCLAIMER: This gets pretty raunchy and completely inappropriate in parts and will definitely be offensive to some people. You’ve been warned, so don’t tell me I crossed any lines. I saw those lines, looked at them, and stepped right on over.


We're about half way through the NFL season, and I think we have a pretty good idea of what teams can win the Super Bowl and what teams can't. That's what this post will be all about: separating the 32 NFL teams into divisions based on their chances of winning the Super Bowl.

In honor of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries recent divorce, I'll name my divisions after the Kardashian family, but including Kris who, of course, is no longer a part of it. Hopefully it ends up sounding more funny than stupid, but who knows. I'll give it a whirl anyway. Oh yeah, and I left out Rob.



The Kendall and Kylie Kardashian Division
These teams are definitely showing potential, but they’re just not ready yet. We don’t feel comfortable picking them to be the best, because they’re just too inexperienced. They’re still young, and it’s a little weird that we’re even talking about them being good in the first place. We’ll just have to wait a few more years until it’s politically correct for us to say they can be winners.

The Detroit Lions
Youngest hottie: Calvin Johnson

Mike's Week 9 Power Rankings

Hello hello ladies and gentlemen! I apologize for the absence over the past few weeks but I have been in the middle of a big move to the Windy City of Chicago and Andrew has been busy on a second honeymoon at Disney. Now with both under our proverbial belts, we should be able to post much more often! I'm going to get back to it with my power rankings for week 8. I'm posting on my iPhone so I apologize if the format is a little sloppy.

1 - Green Bay Packers - The Packers had a bye this week which should be good for any lingering health issues they may have had. Look for a rejuvenated Packer team to take it to a reeling San Diego one.

2 - San Francisco 49ers - They're 6-1 for the first time since '98, back when they were tied for my favorite team. It certainly looks like the Harbaugh's know how to make successful football teams.

3 - Pittsburgh Steelers - The Steelers are playing like a team with a chip on their shoulder. After their dismal showing in week 1 they have proven they have what it takes to represent the AFC in XLVI.

4 - New England Patriots - The patriots stumble again this week and their secondary have a lot of questions. Tom Brady is a monster but without help from his defense they will have a hard time winning the East.

5 - Baltimore Ravens - Ray Rice is one of the best backs in the league with a powerhouse defense to keep him on the field. Joe Flacco has left much to be desired but if they can overcome Pittsburgh in week 9 they have a solid shot at a division title.