NASCAR, Here I Come
I’m on my way to North Carolina this weekend to attend the Bank of America 500 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. This will be my second visit to the track in Charlotte. A few months back, I took a lap around the track with Martin Truex Jr. as part of a Toyota-sponsored event. This time around I’m heading to Charlotte courtesy of Valvoline, and I’m going to experience a live NASCAR race for the first time ever.
I’ve never considered myself a big NASCAR guy. I’m more of a football, baseball, soccer and situational Olypmics sports enthusiast. But from everyone I’ve talked to, attending a live NASCAR event is supposed to be fun as hell. It’s going to be loud and there will be drinks involved. How bad could it be?
Oct 14th
WOWee ONE Portable Speaker Review
We all carry tons of music around with us. Whether it’s on a laptop, tablet, iPod or smartphone, it’s not unusual for people to have gigabytes worth of their favorite tunes with them at all times. Plugging in a set of headphones and blasting your favorite songs is all well and good, but sometimes you want to share your music with the people around you. Sometimes you want to bump your music to the world.
That’s why God invented portable speakers. But not all portable speakers are created equal. Some are small, tinny and cheap. Others are expensive, difficult to lug around and require a wall outlet power source. It’s not really practical to bring an iPod docking station to the beach. Sometimes you just want an easy-to-carry, compact size portable speaker solution that has its own power source.
Enter the WOWee ONE portable speaker. This little, cell phone-sized device is the coolest thing to happen to portable music since the boom box. What’s so great about it? Well unlike most portable speaker solutions, the WOWee gives you the gift of bass – crisp, clean, wonderfully thumping bass. The speaker plugs into your audio device with a standard headphone plug and uses patented gel technology to turn any flat surface into a makeshift subwoofer.
Sounds weird, huh? It is kinda. The WOWee can be placed on different surfaces for different bass-thumping effects. Plug it in, hold it in your hand, and you have a little speaker with minimal bump. Place it on a flatsurface – a table, a box, your car bumper, a cooler, the arm of a couch or chair – and you get unique bass results. It’s actually really fun to play around with different surface areas to see what kind of bass comes out. It’s also rare to have a little speaker put out quality lows in the 40 Hz – 20 kHz sound range.
The WOWee ONE is rechargeable via USB. There’s no on/off switch, you just plug it into an audio jack and it lasts up to 10 hours per charge. The thing looks and weighs about the same as an iPhone, so you can slip it in your pocket for easy transport.
The uses for quality portable beat-bumping are endless. You can easily manage music at work, at home, at a party, outside, on-the-go. You get the idea. If you love blasting tunes on the fly and you appreciate the low end of the sound spectrum, drop the $79.99 and pick one of these up. It’s totally worth it.
Oct 7th
Week 5 NFL Picks
At Indianapolis -2.5 Kansas City
Someone’s gotta win this game. I thought Painter settled down and looked half-decent against Tampa Bay on Monday. He deserves to get the nod even if Kerry Collins is healthy. The Chiefs have improved steadily since their first two blowout losses to start the season. This will likely be a close game where the under is the most enticing play. Edge goes to Indy’s pass rush and a home crowd hungry for a W.
Pick: Colts -2.5
At Minnesota -2.5 Arizona
Both these teams have looked atrocious this year. The winless Vikings have blown leads and the Cardinals just can’t seem to get a rhythm going on offense, even with the great season that Beanie Wells is turning in. I’d stay away from this game cause either side you choose is bound to let you down. I’m not picking a McNabb team to win anything ever again. If you have to make a pick here, go with the Cards.
Pick: Cardinals +2.5
Philadelphia -2.5 At Buffalo
Despite the painful offensive showing against Cincy, I still love these Bills. The Eagles are bound to turn things around, but all’s not right in Philly. I like a rebound win for the Bills over a back-to-the-wall win from the Eagles.
Pick: Bills +2.5
At Houston -6 Oakland
The loss and Andre Johnson is brutal, but lucky for Kubs and company, Arian Foster is back to his 2010 form. The Raiders are tough football team capable of competing for the AFC West crown, but they’re outmatched here. Houston builds on last week’s win against the Steelers and wins easy at home.
Pick: Texans -6
New Orleans -6.5 At Carolina
This game screams over, and you just know how this one will play out. The Saints will jump out to an early lead and Brees will look dominant. The Panthers will start slowish and then start playing a little looser as they realize their down. Then, the Cam Newton garbage time express will arrive in New Orleans. The Panthers will rack up crazy numbers while the Saints go into their typical mid-to-late game funk. In the end, Brees finds away to maintain the score separation and the Saints end the game with more points on the scoreboard.
Pick: Saints -6.5
At Jacksonville -2.5 Cincinnati
Yea it’s only Week 5, but don’t look now, the Bengals have the best defense in football! The Bengals aren’t going to ride their staunch D, decent ground game and solid rookie QB/WR combo to the playoffs, but they’re going to win games like this.
Pick: Bengals +2.5
At Pittsburgh -3 Tennessee
The Steelers are broken. Pouncey’s hurt. Mendenhall is likely out for this game. James Harrison is out for awhile with a busted face/eye socket. Big Ben should play, but he can’t sustain anymore d-lineman lunching at his knees this year. The Titans are benefiting from a strong defense and steady play at quarterback. I expect the underachieving Steelers to step it up this week and get the most out of their makeshift o-line and battered roster. Isaac Redman will run hard and make the most out of his first start. The Steelers will find ways to get point on the board and edge out the Titans at home.
Pick: Steelers -3
At NY Giants -10 Seattle
Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz are suddenly a dominating one-two punch. Eli Manning has looked sharp the past two games; he’s thrown six TDs and zero interceptions the last two weeks. If Eli Manning can maintain this career-year pace this week, the Giants should have no trouble beating the Seahawks by a couple scores in the Meadowlands.
Pick: Giants -10
At San Francisco -3 Tampa Bay
The 49ers are legit. They’re 4-0 against the spread this year and they’ve earned the right to be home favorites this week. Tampa Bay’s a weird team to judge. They thrive on little dump passes, bruising short-to-medium range runs and solid 4th quarter closing skills. But they still haven’t looked all that impressive. San Francisco is playing inspired. Frank Gore’s back, Harbaugh’s all fired up and even the much maligned Alex Smith has looked more comfortable the past couple weeks. Add in a stingy defense and you got the recipe for a potential division championship.
Pick: Niners -3
At New England -9 NY Jets
The Pats defense is as terrible as their offense is awesome. It’s really a crazy contrast. New England had the worst defense in the league before they lost standout LB Jerod Mayo. The Jets have their own set of problems. They can’t run the ball and Sanchez just isn’t getting the protection he needs to succeed through the air. You just know Rex is gonna whip these guys into shape this week. I’d feel much more comfortable picking the Pats with a friendlier spread. I really don’t see this turning into a blowout, but I can’t pick against New England’s explosive offense.
Pick: Pats -9
San Diego -4 At Denver
As much as I love Eric Decker, I can’t really get behind the Broncos on either side of the ball, even at home. This is one of those classic AFC West matchups that I have no interest in watching. I don’t know what it is about Chargers games, but they just always feel like the most boring games of the day on Sundays. It’s gotta be that way.
Pick: Chargers -4
Green Bay -5.5 At Atlanta
The Falcons have trouble stopping the pass. The Packers can score at will through the air. We all know that the Falcons play better at home, but that’s not enough of an edge for them to take out the high-octane champs. Green Bay gets the best of the Falcons in a shoot out.
Pick: Packers -5.5
At Detroit -5.5 Chicago
The Lions hype won’t stop this week or next. This team’s just way fun to watch. Nasty big guys upfront on both sides of the ball, dynamic QB play, come-from-behind victories, Megatron dominating in triple coverage, what more could you want?
Pick: Lions -5.5
Last Week: 10-6
Season: 36-26-2 ATS
Oct 5th
iHip Headphones Review
Zeikos electronics is teaming up with former NFL great Carl Banks to promote a new line of licensed, limited-edition MLB and NFL iHip music accessories. You can pick up a pair of iHip headphones or earbuds and choose between 61 different team logos. If you’re looking for an affordable gift to give to your favorite sports fantastic, iHip gear could be a great choice.
We received a set of headphones and earbuds that both featured the logo of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The headphones are medium-sized. They’re not too small that they slip off your head, but they’re not so big that you feel like a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. The DJ-style, headphones fold up for easy storage and feature bright colors to go along with the authentic team logo of your choice.
One interesting thing is that the headphone cord comes with an extra input for another audio source. The extra line-in is a bit presumptive, but appreciated nonetheless. If you want to share some tunes with someone, they can just plug right into the extra line and tune in to what you’re blasting. These aren’t crazy high-end headphones. You won’t fine top-of-the line noise cancellation or other super sexy features. But you can rock your team pride at an affordable price. And really, that’s all you can ask for here.
The earbuds lean a bit towards the low end of the sound spectrum, but that’s not likely a problem if you like your tunes with some bass. The earbuds come with extra earplug inserts, so you can adjust the size of the plugs to fit your specific inner ear size preference.
iHip music accessories range in price from $14.99 to $99.99. If you want to show your support you’re your favorite NFL or MLB team, the simple, colorful music accessories provided by iHip will give you a functional and flashy way to display your team pride.
Oct 4th
Guinness Black Lager Is Awesome
I was sent a bottle of a new Guinness beer – Guinness Black Lager. It’s a black colored beer that’s supposed to be served cold. It was billed as light, but I had my doubts. Regular Guinness can serve as a meal replacement, so Guinness Black Lager, how light could it be?
Well when I tried that thing, I couldn’t believe it. Seriously. It’s better than advertised. You’re supposed to drink it right out of the bottle, so I did. As soon as that sweet, frosty light/black combo hit my lips, that bottle was toast. It had no chance. Stout – 1, new bottle of Guinness Black Lager – zero.
So what does this thing taste like? Well for starters, it’s super refreshing. I like Guinness on occasion, but I wouldn’t call myself a habitual stout drinker. The beer bares my name so you’d think it’d be a match made in heaven, but I don’t always like the heavy, not-so-brisk taste that comes with stout beers.
That’s why I’m such a big Newcastle fan. It’s really not that heavy. All that “lighter side of dark” talk rings true with Newcastle Brown Ale. If you like the invigorating effect of a cold Newkie, you’ll definitely dig this new Guinness. It’s a fantastic extra-cold beverage; black beer that drinks like a light lager but still has distinctive malty undertones and full-bodied flavor.
Now when I say light, I don’t mean low-cal. I just mean not heavy and overbearing. I could care less about the calories with this black lager. It’s just too damn good.
Now maybe it was the presentation or the special delivery (the bottle of Guinness Black Lager that I received came in a fancy box with its own coozie bottle cooler jacket), but the next time I see this beer — in the store, at a bar — I’m definitely going to reach for it. If you like dark beer flavor without the heavy, heavy impact, you’ll enjoy this new Black Lager from Guinness.
Oct 4th
PERT Plus Giveaway
Summer is over and everyone’s back to school or back to a regular, vacation-less schedule. As we get into the first few weeks of the Fall season, routines are being reestablished and free time is quickly becoming sparse for everybody. To get you through the daily back-to-school or back-to-work grind, we’re giving away a PERT Plus prize pack to one lucky reader.
Why shop around for different hair products when you can pick up a single, 2-in-1 solution that works for men and women? Guys, you know you’d never condition your hair unless the conditioner was already included in your everyday shampoo choice. And ladies, why do you need to fill the shower with five different bottles of hair washing product? Why not simplify your shower routine and minimize your hair care shopping hassles? You can jumpstart this effort by scoring a PERT Plus prize pack that includes:
- 2 bottles of PERT Plus
- PERT Plus branded baseball
- PERT Plus t-shirt
- PERT Plus USB drive
Do enter the giveaway, just like us on Facebook and send us an email below telling us why you need to simplify your hair care routine. We’ll pick a winner at random next week. Good luck!
Oct 4th
Week 4 NFL Picks
At Dallas -2 Detroit
Like everyone else, I’m fully committed to the Detroit Lions. Megatron’s caught two TDs in each game this season. The Cowboys barely beat the Redskins. Romo’s missing Miles Austin and the Dallas ground game isn’t going anywhere. I’ll take Stafford and company to keep the hype machine rolling.
Pick: Lions +2
New Orleans -7 At Jacksonville
Brees is totally dialed in this year. He’s completed 68.5 percent of his passes for 1,059 yards, nine TDs and two picks. That comes out to an average of 8.1 yards per pass and a passer rating of 109.7. The Jags strength is their defense, but I don’t think they’ll be able to stop the second most potent offense in the NFL.
Pick: Saints -7
At Philadelphia -9 San Francisco
The Eagles are 1-2 and staring up at three 2-1 teams in their division. Vick is going to play, but it’s McCoy and the ground game that have been the strength of this offense so far this season. The Niners are allowing only 62.7 rushing yards per game (third best in the league). The Eagles are desperate for a W, but San Francisco is 2-0-1 ATS this year. I think the Eagles will win, but I’ll take the 49ers and the points.
Pick: Niners +9
Washington -2 At St. Louis
The Rams are still searching for their first win, while the Redskins are coming off of their first loss of the young season. If the Rams want to win, they better do it now. The next three games include trips to Green Bay and Dallas and a home game against the Saints. I say the Rams put it together at home with Steven Jackson back on the field.
Pick: Rams +2
At Cleveland -1 Tennessee
Ever since the Browns let me down in Week 1 of my survivor league, I’ve been finding ways to hate this team. Tennessee may have lost their best wide receiver, but they still have a hungry running back who’s ready to earn his paycheck. Plus, I’m really surprised by the way that Hasselbeck is playing. He’s completing 69.6 percent of his passes and averaging over 300 yards per game. Add in a much better defense and the edge goes to the Titans.
Pick: Titans +1
Buffalo-3 At Cincinnati
I like Cincy’s D, but I love everything about the Buffalo offense. Fitzpatrick, Stevie, Chandler, Nelson, Fred Jackson leading the league in rushing. The Bills are my new favorite team. I’ve saw them give up big leads to Oakland and the Pats, but this offense has proved that it can move the ball when it wants to.
Pick: Bills -3
Minnesota -2 At Kansas City
The Chiefs made it interesting there for a bit last week against the Chargers. The Vikings have turned three first half leads into an 0-3 start. I think Minnesota will find a way to play 60 minutes and win this weekend.
Pick: Vikings -2
At Chicago -6.5 Carolina
One week, the Bears are amazing (Week 1), the next week (Week2-3), they just can’t get it done. The Panthers can’t run the ball or play defense, but Cam Newton’s keeping things interesting. Chicago doesn’t seem to keen on running the ball at all. It might be a good week to rethink that strategy. The Panthers are giving up 117 yards per game on the ground. It’s not easy taking the Bears here, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Pick: Bears -6.5
At Houston -3.5 Pittsburgh
Damn the Steelers looked terrible on Sunday night when they barely escaped with a win over the Colts. And the Texans almost pulled off the upset against the Saints. I really hate picking against the Steelers, but it’s kind of hard not to in this situation. Arian Foster is back. Pittsburgh’s ground game is sluggish at best and their o-line is a mess. I’m still not buying into this the Steelers defense is too old business, but I think the Texans get the edge here, especially at home.
Pick: Texans -3.5
Atlanta -4.5 At Seattle
Seattle plays well at home. Atlanta plays poorly on the road. But who are we kidding? The Falcons are just a better team. If they can get Turner involved early and often, Matt Ryan will have an easier time delivering a road win.
Pick: Falcons -4.5
NY Giants -1 At Arizona
The Cardinals have problems. Their defense is atrocious and they only managed one offensive touchdown against the Seahawks last week. Meanwhile, the Giants, despite having tons of injuries, have rebounded to a nice 2-1 start after losing the opener in Washington. Eli’s gotten better each game. G-Men win in the desert.
Pick: Giants -1
At San Diego -7 Miami
Desperation time just got even more desperate for the Dolphins. Daniel Thomas is doubtful for Sunday’s game in San Diego. The Chargers don’t look like an elite team so far this year, but you don’t have to be elite to beat the Dolphins.
Pick: Chargers -7
At Green Bay -12 Denver
I don’t care how high the spread is here, the Packers are going to crush the Broncos.
Pick: Packers -12
New England -5 At Oakland
This is the trickiest game to call this week. New England has the best air attack in the NFL by far (540.33 passing yards per game). Oakland has the best ground game (185 rushing yards per game). New England can’t stop anything on defense. They’re the worst team in the league at surrendering passing yards. Oakland’s D isn’t that great against the run, and they’re not all that great against the pass either. It really comes down to offensive strength vs. offensive strength. The Raiders will play keep away while the Pats will get points off of almost every drive. In the end, Brady’s arm outperforms McFadden’s feet.
Pick: Pats -5
At Baltimore -3.5 NY Jets
Ray Rice is the real deal. You saw what he did against the Steelers. This guy is matchup-proof. Sanchez and the Jets are averaging 27.7 points per game, and all that offense is coming through the air. Shonn Greene’s not getting it done and LT can’t be expected to carry the load. The Ravens will make sure that the Jets ground game doesn’t get going. If they can force Sanchez into making a couple bad plays, they should be able to take care of business at home.
Pick: Ravens -3.5
At Tampa Bay -10 Indianapolis
I’m never betting against the Bucs again, even when they’re favored. The Colts played with pride last week, but Curtis Painter’s not gonna get it done.
Pick: Bucs -10
Last Week: 7-9
Season: 26-20-2 ATS
Sep 30th
National CofFREE Day at 7-Eleven Tomorrow
It’s National Coffee Day tomorrow, and 7-11 is celebrating by running a National CofFREE campaign. On September 29, participating 7-Eleven stores in the US and Canada will offer free medium cups of coffee from 7am to 11am. You can grab a free cup of coffee, a latte or a capucino in the morning tomorrow at no charge, folks. If you get your early morning coffee fix going on the regular, do it for free tomorrow. At least until supplies last.
Sep 28th
Killer Elite Review
A few weeks ago I went to a screening of Killer Elite. I went in expecting to see a Clive Owen movie with Jason Statham in it. But really, it was a Jason Statham movie with Clive Owen in it. That’s pretty much the best way to describe it. Less Inside Man and Children of Men. More Transporter 3 and Crank 2.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Jason Statham movies. You know how they go. Statham always looks a little worried, but deep down he knows, and you do too, that he can pretty much kick anyone’s ass in any situation. Statham dreams of a normal life with peace and quiet and a decent relationship, but you both know that won’t work out for the guy. He’s just too damn good at kicking ass, so he has to stick with the job.
There’s some quality action in this movie. The Clive Owen vs. Jason Statham brawl in the hospital is pretty intense. You got some sweet car chases, a couple crazy shootouts and entertaining death scenes. If you isolate the action, it’s hard to complain about this film. It delivers on pacing, on elaborate assassination plots and the whole cat and mouse chase thing. All that stuff works really well.
But then you get into the actual characters. Now this is supposed to be based on true-ish events, so the opportunity was there to build out these characters into interesting, layered people. That didn’t happen though.
Yvonne Strahovski is a prop in this movie. She plays Statham’s love interest and spends most of the film aimlessly walking around Paris. At the end of the movie, you know nothing about her; why she’s around in the first place, what she’s into, what she doesn’t like. I’m pretty sure if you paid me 50 bucks at the end of the movie to tell you her character’s name, there’s no way I could have done it.
Same goes with De Niro. He plays this father figure/super-assassin type, but really, he comes across as a tired old man doing a not-so-great impression of Robert De Niro. He just doesn’t have it anymore. I realize that we can’t expect a Heat-type performance here. I really wasn’t setting the bar too high. But De Niro just comes across a sad, fatigued, campier version of himself. Homey needs a vacation or he needs to get more selective with his roles.
Even amidst this Statham-driven world of super-action and underdeveloped characters, Clive Owen still shines. I’m totally biased here – I love the guy – but he was the best part of the film. If the lead role went to Owen, it’d be a totally different movie. He gets plenty of face time (even with that porn stache), and he makes the most out of it.
To enjoy this film, you just have to know what you’re walking into. It’s not a layered story about political intrigue, deep characters and interwoven agendas. It’s a Statham movie where villainous henchman run around saying stuff like “Remember, the only rules are, there are no rules.” (Seriously, that happened).
If you suspend your critical judgment, need for character development and just go into it looking for some action – real, elaborate, well-paced assassin/cat-and-mouse action – then you can just sit back and have fun with a not-so-serious movie.
Sep 28th
