Hop's Thoughts

Before you go shaking your head about my predictions and saying "what does he know that I don't know?" Let me tell you one thing.  I picked six of eight division winners last year and literally one game in the AFC and one in the NFC was the difference between me having seven of ten playoff teams and having nine.  Every year I use the same process to make my regular season predictions, but this year, I'm using the Las Vegas over/under wins in predictions process.  This is my way of separating the 7-9, 8-8 and 9-7 teams.  Due to using this added information, I don't have any teams going worse than 5-11 and none better than 12-4, which is most likely not going to be the case, due to the inevitable injury bug.  For instance, Minnesota was 10-6 last year, but they are a 4-12 team without AP and I don't think he's making it through this season unscathed.  Same as Washington with RGIII.  On the other hand, I'm giving Murray on the Cowboys the benefit of the d...

I have been called a movie snob, a food snob and an elitist.  Is it wrong to be bothered by the acceptance of mediocre and calling it greatness?  If I go to dinner, I don't want the $24 steak I can make better at home for $9. I want the 45 day dry aged porterhouse for $90. If I sit down to be entertained, I don't want two hours of bad acting, CGI effects and a plot twist I saw coming a mile away.  I want to get up from my chair (or bed) sweating, panting, mind racing a mile a minute. I want horror to send me dashing into the shower, scrubbing the stench of death from my body.  I want psychological thrillers to send me walking aimlessly at 2am looking for an answer. I want my belly to hurt, not from copious amounts of popcorn and soda, but from side splitting humor.  I want to walk away from the screen questioning life, not just the movie I've just seen. Recently, I've come across a ton of movie buffs on Twitter.  I've enjoyed hearing their views and I'm g...

Many people will be doing their fantasy drafts this weekend and while I don't pretend to be a guru by any means, I've had a decent history in drafting. I will also tell you right off the bat why I am not just another blowhard....I don't play fantasy football anymore.  Ever since I gave it up, I seem to be a freaking rocket scientist.  Last year, here were my sleeper wide receivers. Cecil Shorts, WR, Jax - 55rec, 979yds, 7tds Torrey Smith, WR, Balt - 49rec, 855yds, 8tds Brandon LaFell, WR, Car - 44rec, 677yds, 4tds I also told everyone who passed on a RB in the first two rounds to grab C.J. Spiller from Buffalo, who ended the season with 1200+ yards and six tds, but averaged 6.0 YPC. He also caught 40+ passes for over 400 yards and another 2tds.  I was however wrong on Jake Locker stepping up, but he didn't play every game, so I'll give myself an incomplete. So here are my sleepers, followed by my potential good and bad. QB Cam Newton - passing stats shoul...

Apparently, my not being a parent means that I know nothing about parenting in some people's eyes.  Ironically, the number is about five times of people who have commented on my random blogs that I actually know what the hell I'm talking about.  Here's my resume.  I was the model student until about 7th grade. Then I became a complete slacker. Passing, but barely and rarely attending school. Then I took standardized tests and aced them, but seemed to manage to piss everyone on in the process. Did it hurt me?  I don't know.  I didn't get much out of high school from an intellectual or social angle, so I'm going to say no, but I do know that my earlier years were a pleasant game of give and take that molded who I am today.  I'm not going to get too deep, but just make some short recommendations based on my experiences and things I have seen over the years that are big issues with both parents and kids. Dress - This is tough. You want your kid to fit in, but...

Can you imagine being a young impressionable black kid of about 10 years old and watching MLK and others on this day in 1963.  Can you imagine being a 60 year old black man today, seeing how little has changed? You can not say you are 100% against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and then sit there and tell me you're Pro-Life. Minimum wage is $4 per hour less than the wage needed to be above the poverty line. That's $4 an hour. $32 a day. $160 a week. $640 a month. $8320 a year.  For many, that's what they spend on their yearly vacation. People yell at me when I put down our judicial system. They say "Innocent until proven guilty!"  A man who was recently kicked out of a sex offender rehab program admitted to raping a teenage girl.  The judge said she "controlled the situation as much as he did" and was "old beyond her chronological age." He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.  The girl killed herself, because of the attack.  Oh yeah, th...

Recently there was a movie called The Purge which detailed a country where crime was nonexistent because of one night of anarchy and chaos.  This is my dream for Facebook.  That one day, everyone would be completely anonymous.  I think about what I would do.  Remember, Facebook is technically all my "real friends." As of today, this would be my list. I would call out all the racists who feel the need to post every meme of a black kid killing a white person ever since Trayvon Martin was murdered. I would call out all the hypocrites I know who openly cheat on their significant others, some married and praise how special they are on Facebook. I would bash the fuck out of every mother who bought their teen a pair of pants that say "Juicy" on the ass, but find Miley Cyrus offensive.  Double bashing if they wear a matching pair. I would question every parent who allows their high schooler to post pictures of themselves drinking, smoking and half naked in the...

It's amazing how much martinis are like one night stands. Despite them not being very complicated, we seem to take so much time and care to make them. We start them slow and finish them fast. Where as mixed drinks are like our relationships, where we add this and add that, basically knowing that the base is there and whatever we put into it will be enough to do the trick. Regardless of whether we sip them or gulp them, we always seem to try to get everything out of one before we go for another. So often requesting something different.