God created Sundays for Football and Chicken Wings.
God created Sundays for Football and Chicken Wings.
A new feature here on BushLeague will be our weekly against the spread (ATS) picks. I’ll pick each game and provide a little reasoning as to the thought process behind it. I’ll keep a running tally to see if I even know what I’m talking about. All lines are from Bovada. Without further ado …
49ers – 3 1/2 @ Rams
Trust me, I had this pick before Thursday. I actually bet $100 on the Niners ML. Not much to say besides I dont trust Sam Bradford and the 49ers OL is very, very good.
Steelers -3 vs. Vikings (London)
The Vikings D just got shredded by Brian Hoyer ( he learned from the best ) and the Browns. Though the Steelers are god awful, Big Ben still can sling it. Unless AD gets over 200 ( which is possible ) I see the Steelers winning comfortably.
Baltimore – 3 1/2 @ Buffalo
This is a tough one. The Ravens offense doesn’t inspire much hope, though, Buffalo is Buffalo. I can see EJ Manuel playing terribly, though I can also see him having a breakout game. I’ll stay away from this one but at gunpoint, I’ll take the road favorites.
Browns +4 vs Cincinnati
Upset special ! I’m riding the Brian Hoyer train. You don’t sit behind TB12 for ~5 years and not absorb some of that greatness by diffusion. Its fucking science. I may be biased forever due to South Park, though I just don’t Andy Dalton. Cleveland’s defense is nasty and I can see a Joe Haden pick 6 (or two).
Colts -9 @ Jacksonville
Not much to say here. Jacksonville blows. Colts are only trending upwards.
Seahawks -3 @ Texans
I dont understand the love for the Texans. They should have lost to SD in week one AND to TEN in week 2. I envision Seattle holding this offense to 10 points and scoring 14, or something similar. Matt Schaub is the worst QB on a playoff team.
Lions -3 @ Bears
The Bears defense is not what it used to be and the Lions offense is pretty damn explosive in that dome. With Reggie Bush seemingly 100%, I believe the Lions will explode for 30 + and win in a shootout.
Chiefs -5 vs Giants
The Chiefs have invested all their resources into their front 7. Dontari Poe is the animal they expected and Houston ALREADY has 7 1/2 sacks. They also have 2 stud DBs ( Flowers & Berry ). I dont see the Giants putting up many points with an OL that porous. Jamaal Charles is also going to have 150 + yards. The best logic ive heard for the Giants is ” Coughlin knows andy reid”. Which is not very good logic at all.
Titans – 3 1/2 vs Jets
Jets have a good defense, but their offense is just too inconsistent. Locker is actually looking decent this year, I see the Titans winning big here.
Chargers +2 vs Cowboys
Theres always one weird and terrible Cowboys loss where everything goes wrong against a mediocre team. This is that game. Phillip Rivers reincarnate continues to deliver.
Redskins -3 1/2 @ Oakland
If Washington is going to win soon, it will be this game. Fun stat: 40% of Oakland’s cap is dead money. Pretty unreal. This will be RG3’s return to grace and darling status in the media. Oakland sucks.
Eagles +11 @ Broncos
11 is a lot of points. This is the perfect backdoor cover game. I envision Eagles down 17 with 6 minutes left when DeSean Jacksson slips behind Rahim Moore for a 55 yard bomb. Book it.
Patriots +2 @ Atlanta
Gronk WILL play. Book that as well. Though, only in the Red Zone. He’ll have a 4 reception, 43 yd, 2 TD kinda game. Atlanta’s O-Line is almost as bad as the Giants’ and people continue to underrate the Pats defense. Homer pick? Probably. But I trust the Pats.
Saints – 7 vs Miami
Saints. Dome. MNF. They’re putting up numbers. Dont see Tannehill matching them score for score at all.
Thats it for this week.
Everyone knows that the Wild Wizard has been associated with many classic tracks over the years. So without further ado, here it is, my definitive compilation of the greatest classic rock songs of all time.
CLASSIC ROCK
The Beatles – I’d piss too many people off if I left the Beatles off my list. They’re the most talented and influential band of all time, enough said. There are so many great Beatles songs out there its hard to make a list but here are my favorites… Helter Skelter, Glass Onion, Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey, Birthday, Back in the U.S.S.R, Dear Prudence, Sexy Sadie, Why Don’t We Do It In The Road, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, and of course, While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
Jimi Hendrix– The Beatles are the most talented musical group of all time, but not even Paul McCartney or John Lennon (George was an under-appreciated songwriter and everybody knows Ringo was half-retarded) match the individual ability displayed by Jimi during his short career. Castles Made of Sand, Hey Joe, Wind Cries Mary, Fire, Little Wing, Easy Rider, Voodoo Child, If 6 was 9, Manic Depression, and obviously the cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower are just a few testaments to Jimi’s undeniable greatness.
The Rolling Stones– The Stones were undoubtedly less talented than the Beatles, but they were about 50x more badass. If Keith Richards had been in The Beatles, Paul McCartney would have pulled a Keith Moon within 3 weeks. My favorite Stones’ tracks include Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, Beast of Burden, Angie, Gimme Shelter, Miss You, Moonlight Mile, Terrifying, Under My Thumb, and Sympathy For the Devil.
Led Zeppelin– Zepp might possibly be my favorite band of all time. They rock as hard as anybody, ever, and that bluesy jazzy style they get into hits the right spot for me every time. If you want to hear some great of the greatest Rock of all time, listen to Ten Years Gone, Sick Again, Dancing Days, Over The Hills and Far Away, What is and What Never Should Be, Tangerine, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, The Wanton Song, When The Levee Breaks, Street Corner Girl, All of My Love, D’yer Mak’er, Dream On, Fool In The Rain, In the Evening, Kashmir, No Quarter, The Ocean, Ramble On, The Rain Song, Trampled Under Foot, Good Times Bad Times, and Since I’ve Been Loving You. If you aren’t into Zeppelin, I implore you to listen to My favorites – The Lemon Song, Darlene, Traveling Riverside Blues, Houses of the Holy, and Poor Tom. If you still don’t dig Zepp after hearing those there is a serious problem with your ear drums and you should get yourself checked out by a psychiatrist immediately.
Pink Floyd- Speaking of psychiatrists, the most interesting band to make the list is Pink Floyd, by a landslide. Lots of musicians are ‘crazy,’ but Syd Barret literally went insane while in the band, occasionally tripping so hard that he forgot how to play music. Bush League doesn’t condone the use of drugs, but if you are going to take them anyway, you should be blasting some Floyd and fucking around with lasers while you do. This band certainly isn’t for everyone, but they’re best pieces are truly genius. Money, Wish You Were Here, Breathe, Time, Learning To Fly, Comfortably Numb, What Do You Want From Me?, Have A Cigar, Dark Side of The Moon, Young Lust, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, and the entire Animals album are as good as it gets. If you like Floyd’s stuff, I highly suggest you check out David Gilmour’s solo album On An Island. (I usually find – and I’m sure most of you agree- that once an artist has left the band that made him or her famous that they purposefully distance themselves from that band’s sounds in order to form a new, unique identity. The result is that the new music sucks because the artist doesn’t want to do what made him or her successful in the first place. This is not the case with David Gilmour… listening to On An Island is like discovering a bunch of great Floyd songs that you’d never heard before.)
The Who- The Who are one of the most influential bands of their generation, probably second to the Beatles. Even though I consider them classic rockers, they introduced punk music to the world. They also invented the Rock Opera with their classic album Tommy, and drummer Keith Moon is the poster-child for dying like a rock star should. He overdosed on 32 alcohol-withdrawel pills at Buddy Holly’s birthday party, which was hosted by Paul McCartney. Someone should tell Cypress Hill that’s how you ‘party like a rock star’. Baba O’Reilly, My Generation, Won’t Get Fooled Again, and Who Are You are loved worldwide, but my personal favorites are Eminence Front, Bargain, Behind Blue Eyes, and I Can’t Explain.
The Doors – As long as we’re on the subject of partying/dying like a rock star, it’d be a crime not to mention Jim Morrison. People are Strange, Peace Frog, The Spy, Break on Through, Light my Fire, and Riders on the Storm are just a few of the masterpieces Morrison wrote before his untimely passing.
Neil Young – My boy Neil Young makes the cut despite his god-awful voice. Neil is a guitar legend and his solos on songs like Down by the River, Cortez the Killer, The Loner, Southern Man, Like A Hurricane, and My My Hey Hey are unmatched. It turns out Horse with No Name is not actually by Neil Young, but it’s a dope song and it sounds just like him so whatever. Also Fuck You Greg Kasparian for not liking Neil Young. Here’s a video of Greg twerking.
Credence Clearwater Revival – John Fogerty and CCR jam out with that classic southern rock sound. They actually weren’t Born on the Bayou, they’re from southern California, but the music is good enough that I’ll let them pretend they’re good ol’ southern boys. Fortunate Son, Hey Tonight, Suzie Q, Down on the Corner, and Have You Ever Seen The Rain are great. And CCR’s cover of Marvin Gaye’s Heard it Through The Grape Vine might just be the single greatest jam of all time.
Eric Clapton – Clapton is a god. Layla, Cocaine, I Can’t Stand It, White Room, and Crossroads are my favorite Clapton/Cream originals. I also think his covers of Bob Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff and The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps are better than the original versions, if that is even possible.
The Clash – Gotta love the clash, their hits are so catchy and I always dig the upbeat bluesy vibe they give off despite being a punk group. Everybody loves Rock the Casbah, London Calling, Should I Stay or Should I Go, and I Fought the Law. I’m also a huge fan of Tommy Gun and Train in Vain.
Dire Straits – Dire Straits never get the love they deserve. Sultans of Swing is the only song people remember them for, but Follow Me Home, Wild West End, and Once Upon A Time in the West are criminally underrated rock songs.
Eagles – Hotel California, Take it Easy, Life in the Fast Lane, and The Long Run.
Tom Petty- Won’t Back Down, Saving Grace, Running Down A Dream, Don’t Do Me Like That, Mary Jane’s Last Dance.
Beach Boys – tons of classics. I personally love Sail On, Sailor, which not everybody knows.
The Kinks – All Day and All of the Night, Lola, Waterloo Sunset
ZZ Top– La Grange, Tush, Sharp Dressed Man
Carlos Santana – Evil Ways, Black Magic Woman
Steve Miller – Fly LIke An Eagle, The Joker, Jungle Love, Take the Money and Run, Keep on Rocking Me Baby
Lynard Skynard – Simple Man is their best song no matter what anyone says, then Tuesday’s Gone, Gimme Three Steps of course Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird, in that order
Elvis Costello – Pump It Up, Watching the Detectives
Sex Pistols – Anarchy in the UK, God Save the Queen, and Holiday in the Sun are brilliant and I don’t even like punk music.
Doobie Brothers – Black Water, Long Train Runnin‘
Ladies and Gentleman, The Bush League has returned with a fuckin’ vengeance.
As always, we’re going to bring you our freshest take on what’s going on in sports and the rest of the world, which I assure you is a ton of shit… Football is in full swing already, Baseball playoffs are right around the corner, the NBA and NHL are gearing up for their seasons to start. And most importantly, our crack writing staff is going to quit smoking pot so we can bring you the absolute best coverage of those things.
If the news that we’re back isn’t enough to make you shit your pants, we also have another MAJOR announcement that is sure to wreck your bowels. I’m proud to announce that as of today, September whatever-the fuck-day-it-is, that Bush League Music is officially open for business. In addition to our award-winning sports coverage, we’re going to be bringing you the most banging tracks that have ever existed. It’s gonna kick ass.
You’re welcome world