http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/ChrisDimino/home.aspxChris Dimino's Blogen-usCopyright 2010, WQXI-AMWed, 08 Sep 2010 18:43:53 GMTTue, 17 Aug 2010 18:07:47 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comOne of the biggest differences between college and NFL Football games is the ability to look at the college schedule and know that storylines and meaning exists before Snap No. 1. Go look at the 2010 NFL schedule and tell me what has you excited. The Falcons vs. New Orleans (twice) looks important and worth looking forward to locally. I know that the NFL East round-robin looks good. Donovan McNabb vs. the Eagles twice. Dallas vs. them all is good. Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore smells like a slugfest two times over. New England gets Indianapolis again in November. Vikings vs. Saints as long as Favre is playing (sorry, but love him or REALLY hate him, it is a completely different game to open the season if "love me please" Brett isn't under center). I have my eye on San Francisco this year. The Jets are a blowhard attraction. Young QBs across the league (Bradford/Tebow/Leinart/Kolb/Stafford) ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10132478cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10132478Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:07:47 GMTIt's the time of the year where everyone attempts to bang out something original when it comes to the local NFL team. Matt Ryan needs to be better in Year 3. Michael Turner needs to stay healthy. John Abraham and the rest of his defensive friends must record more than last years' league-low 28 sacks. Pass defense needs to be better than 28th in the league. Minus-3 turnover ratio not close to good enough. Blah blah blah ... Been said. Been written. How about taking a look at the starting QB's the Falcons will be facing in the first half of the 2010 season if things play to form. I also will throw a GOOD NEWS (GN) or BAD NEWS (BN) in terms of the matchup for Atlanta for each. WEEK 1 With Ben out for this one on Heinz Field it looks like ... Byron Leftwich. Please God, let ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10129717cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10129717Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:10:59 GMTAnd by "around here," I mean here, there AND everywhere when it comes to the world of sports and its periphery. From the curious to the unexplainable to outright stupidity of it all, I present to you some of the things that have me scratching my head: 1. He had the panties in his lap? 2. This whole thing -- if you are a Hawks fan, make sure you're sitting down. And not eating or drinking. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arn-tellem/a-robust-cup-of-joe_b_635159.html?view=print Highlights of this nonsense: "With two defenders all over him, Joe Johnson, all 6'8" and 225 pounds of him, leaped, spun and chucked in a line drive. Three seconds later he stole the ball and was double-teamed in the low post with no escape route humanly possible. So Joe did something inhuman -- making a 180-degree turn and lofting a perfect lob pass to a teammate beneath the rim." EDITORIAL -- "chucked in ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10124335cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10124335Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:12:27 GMTIt will not sit on a shelf next to the best works of Shakespeare or Tolstoy. Pearl Buck isn't worried that "The Good Earth" just got voted off the island. I don't think "Call me Graeme" will replace "Call me Ishmael" in literary history. If Dickens was writing the definitive book on Pebble Beach 2010, it might have opened: "It was the worst of times, it was the worser of times." I have NO problem with a guy we know next-to-nothing about winning this tournament. That, by itself, might have been a rally-around type story.   First European to win in 40 years. Instant national hero. Dad in the house on Father's Day. Pub and drinking references everywhere. Hell, the guy was talking to the camera and the world as he was walking up to finish the most important hole he will EVER play. Wished me and you a Happy Father's Day ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10120059cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10120059Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:03:17 GMTWith all that is going on in the sports world -- College Football expansion and re-alignment ... the Braves' climb to first place ... NBA Finals and impending free agency, the "story" I'm thinking about the most is the 2010 WORLD CUP. I mean it. I have NO idea how it will go. Don't know more than 10 guys playing in it. Can't ignore the world BILLION though. As in how many people will be watching -- maybe. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/why-fifas-claim-of-one-billion-tv-viewers-was-a-quarter-right-438302.html I think the thing that interests me most is the fact that the hero or goat of this whole thing will be known by most of the world -- fame or infamy on the line brings a heightened pressure to this whole thing. Winning for God and country raises the stakes to the ultimate. Here's how I envision soccer; give me this and I am in. Greatest Save Ever http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opVb89Cmrtk&feature=related Need ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10117319cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10117319Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:31:16 GMTIt will take a little bit of your time (it's worth it), a little bit of your emotion (it's worth it) and maybe a little bit of your money (cup of coffee-type money -- it's worth it). Yes, you are coming late to the party. The good news is that it doesn't matter. If you missed the book, it's OK. Still out there for you. Read it. Today. Missed the movie? Rent it. Yesterday. Didn't know there was a TV show? You're not alone. Knew but didn't care? Shame. Make it right. I'll start this whole process by saying that the only other Holy Trinity of book/movie/tv show that I know of that reached "the masses" and worked was M*A*S*H. And truth be told, by the time the TV show became a hit, it was nothing close to the tenor of the book. Dark satire elements remained (buried deeper with a ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10112569cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10112569Wed, 12 May 2010 13:56:27 GMTWill they or won't they? It's the $100 million question -- and $100 million questions aren't asked that often. It's one of the greatest hooks in all of sports. Him vs Him. With both "Hims" being worthy of top billing. Legacies more than money at stake. Not easily done with ungodly numbers like that. It seems simple. Pick a night in November and kick the hell out of each other. Do things that, in the street, would get you thrown in jail for a good amount of time, but in the ring will get a lot of us to pay $59.95 to watch. A maximum of 36 minutes that will make both of you richer than the day before, by a lot. Second-grade math will tell us that both of you will make more than a million dollars a minute. I'm starting to sweat a little just thinking about it -- ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10111433cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10111433Wed, 05 May 2010 14:02:20 GMTPeople Magazine just came out with it's 2010 version of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." I have not seen the issue or the "list," although I did hear they went with an uninspiring pick of Julia Roberts at No. 1.   I HAVE seen it over the years and I figure there is a tried-and-true system for devising this thing. It's actually pretty simple -- every, and I mean EVERY, pick falls into one of a few simple categories, governed by one overriding "rule." They will NEVER pick someone who makes most of their money by taking off ALL their clothes. They WILL pick people who take off MOST of their clothes a lot of the time (Supermodel/Victoria's Secret type) and will occasionally pick someone who took off their clothes and then the world saw it; see a Kim Kardashian "I saw the video and so did you" ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10110750cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10110750Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:15:43 GMT1. St. Louis (1-15) - Sam Bradford - QB 2. Detroit (2-14) - Ndamukong Suh - DT 3. Tampa Bay (3-13) - Gerald McCoy - DT 4. Washington (4-12) - Jimmy Clausen - QB 5. Kansas City (4-12) - Russell Okung - OL 6. Seattle (5-11) - Eric Berry - DB 7. Cleveland (5-11) - Jason Pierre-Paul - DE 8. Oakland (5-11) - Bruce Campbell - OL 9. Buffalo (6-10) - Anthony Davis - OL 10. Jacksonville (7-9) - Derrick Morgan - DE 11. Denver (from Chicago 7-9) - Bryan Bulaga - OL 12. Miami (7-9) - Sergio Kindle - OLB/DE 13. San Francisco (8-8) - Taylor Mays - S 14. Seattle (from Denver 8-8) - C.J. Spiller - RB 15. New York Giants (8-8) - Rolando McClain - LB 16. Tennessee (8-8) - Joe Haden - DB 17. San Francisco (from Carolina 8-8) - Anthony Davis - OL 18. Pittsburgh (9-7) ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10108952cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10108952Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:04:15 GMTFinally! The 2010 Atlanta Braves start it up this week, and there is no shortage of storylines. Bobby's last year (he swears). Chipper bouncing back. If not he says it's HIS last year (he swears). The Heyward kid (I'm hoping to hunt down a few things about him - read or heard anything?). A clean-up hitting 1st baseman (who's never played 1st) that you're paying about 2 million to (big money in our world - not really in theirs) who might be the key to this whole thing. Plenty more beyond that. The BIG PICTURE story is this. Does it end at 4? Has this team done enough to bring October baseball back to this city for the first time since 2005? "Team" in this case is management - not ownership. I don't even know who the owners are. I know what it says on the deed. LIBERTY MEDIA. I'm ...http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10105943cdimino@790thezone.com (Chris Dimino)http://www.790thezone.com/blogs/chrisdimino/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10105943Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:41:40 GMT