Okay, so last week I laid a verbal assault on FOX’s Frank Caliendo for going 1-3 on his NFL predictions.
But I’m a fair guy and since I barraged him last week, it’s only right to give him credit for a job well done last Sunday.
Here are Caliendo’s picks from Week 2:
- Ravens over Raiders
- Broncos over Chiefs
- Vikings over Panthers
- Buccaneers over Falcons in his upset special
So, Calinedo turns things around by going 3-1 this week, but lets be honest – his only decent pick was Minnesota over Carolina.
He went against a team that didn’t score a point in week one (Oakland) to another who was playing Damon Huard at quarterback (Kansas City). His upset special fell flat and now that’s back-to-back weeks he’s picked against Atlanta.
I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to ride this disaster all year long…
Caliendo’s record after two weeks: 4-4, 1-1 on his “upset special”
Wait a minute…? Is this clown picking ‘em straight up? No spread?
If that’s the case and he’s only .500, that’s freakin terrible. I would argue that any sports fan of reasonable intelligence could pick at least 60% of NFL games with no spread involved…
I’m sticking with you Stalter, for my picks of the week. Although you kind of got hammered last week.
Frank Caliendo is a comedian, not a tout. Don’t expect too much from this guy.
JP,
I know he’s only a comedian, but they hyped him up in week one and he blew it…it’s all in fun!
-Anthony-
I think Jimmy Kimmel started this on Fox. I think they don’t use a spread so the average viewer thinks that he’s great at picking games. But mainly he’s on there to shoehorn that John Madden impression in.
What pregame do you usually watch? I usually watch ESPN. I like Berman, Steve Young, Tom Jackson and Mike Ditka. Michael Irvin is an idiot, but you can’t win ‘em all. I watched a little of the Fox pregame and it was weird not to see JB there.
JP,
That’s a good question; I flip through them all, because I like the different opinions.
I used to only watch ESPN…but now I think Berman is a shell of his former self (I don’t know, something has just been off about him for a couple of years now).
After watching ESPN one Sunday in college, I figured out its format for the NFL pregame stuff:
A. Hype up the good teams…I mean really, really hype them up
B. Completely make fun off the bad teams including, but not limited to: jokes, verbal bashes on coaches and lowlights of bad plays
C. Have a “what has happened to…” segemnet (i.e. What has happened to Brett Favre or what has happened to the 49ers, etc.)
D. Cover the games that “don’t matter” for about :37 seconds.
E. Go over the top with the decent games on the schedule
I just think it’s ridiculous that they’ll spend 37 seconds on games that don’t hold a national appeal with the show that’s on for two hours (used to be 2.5 hours if I’m not mistake).
Cover each game for five minutes and then move on to your other segements…that’s my opinion.
-Anthony-
Those are some good points. I think I just feel more comfortable with ESPN than the others. I do like Young, but now they’ve got him out of the studio and they rely on Michael Irvin a lot (why, I do not know) so it’s definitely not as good as it used to be. I still like Berman – his schtick got old and he’s not as funny as he once was for that reason, but I like him more than JB or that new guy on Fox.
I’ll keep watching ESPN for now, if only to hear Tom Jackson ask Irvin, “are you retarded?” again…that was great.
The bigger games probably deserve more play than the less appealing games, but 37 seconds isn’t enough. I do like that ESPN covers the whole league, while Fox and CBS usually only talk about the games they have that day. So if I want to hear about four big games, two on Fox, two on CBS, ESPN is probably the best place to be.