I have to go in to work tonight to roll out my latest project, so this will have to be quick session of NFL picks.

MIA at HOU: HOU (Upset Special)
NO at CAR: CAR
MIN at BUF: BUF
SD at BAL: SD
AZ at ATL: ATL
DAL at TEN: DAL
IND at NYJ: IND
SF at KC: KC
DET at STL: STL
JAX at WAS: JAX
CLE at OAK: CLE
NE at CIN: NE (Mini-Upset Special)
SEA at CHI: CHI
GB at PHI: PHI

Last week I posted about my search for a portable music player. Here's the results of my research so far:

Apple iPod: Even looking at it objectively, without my natural aversion to all things Apple, this player just doesn't meet my needs. It only supports 3 common codecs -- MP3, AAC, and WAV -- and none of those are lossless. In addition, Apple has shown in the past that rather than release a firmware upgrade when new technology is available they'd much rather you throw away your iPod and buy a new one. The most disturbing thing, though, is their monopolistic use of the iPod in conjunction with the iTunes music store. Music files downloaded from other online music stores (Rhapsody, Yahoo, Napster, etc.) can be played on many music players on the market. Songs downloaded from iTunes can be played only on iPods thanks to a DRM system that Apple won't license to anyone else. Now if Microsoft, or any other company, did something like this they would be ripped apart by the open source crowd, but because it's Apple it's somehow ok. How is this any better than Microsoft including a free browser with their operating system? In the end, the only reason to buy an iPod would be to download iTunes songs, which is a desirable reason, but I'd have to install a 3rd party firmware like RockBox if I wanted to listen to any of the rest of my music losslessly.

Microsoft Zune: This is vaporware at this point, but they seem to suffer from the same problems as the iPod. Limited codecs (although they also claim that they *could* support FLAC in the future through firmware upgrades, I doubt that they will) and the same stupid closed system for downloading songs that can only be played on the Zune make this a flagrant ripoff of the iPod without improving on any of the drawbacks. The only thing that makes this even quasi-attractive is the large screen.

Rio Karma: Plays FLAC lossless audio files but is 2 years old and the company has gone out of business.

Cowon A2/iAudio X5: The winner at this point seems to be Korean outfit Cowon, whose players support FLAC, OGG, and all the standard audio files as well as allowing you to download songs from all PlaysForSure sites (MTV Urge, Napster, MSN Music, etc.). The A2 also has a gigantic screen (compared to the video iPod) and plays DivX and WMV video.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

So I'm thinking of finally breaking down and buying a portable music player, but I have a few requirements: a) is not an iPod, b) must be able to play lossless and lossy music, c) should be compatible with songs downloaded from iTunes should I choose to someday go temporarily insane and support Apple's bizarre business practices. I hear Creative has a product that may come close, does anyone else have any suggestions or does Steve Jobs have you all in his pocket?

CAR at TB: The fact that the Panthers are 0-2 is hysterical to me, and I wish they'd keep it up for another week, but Lucas is right about Chris Simms. CAR

CHI at MIN: Are both of these teams really 2-0? That can't be right, one of them has exactly one player I can name, and the other has Rex Grossman. Even though they're indoors, I'll pick the Bears to be the worst 3-0 team in the NFL. CHI

CIN at PIT: Umm, Lucas? This game is in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers absolutely *own* the Bengals. PIT

GB at DET: Haha, how quain, Lucas still thinks the Packers can win a road game when they just lost 2 straight at home. I don't care if it's the Lions, they've already lost to the Saints. DET

JAX at IND: Everyone is talking about the Jaguars and how awesome they are because they won a 9-0 game. That's a baseball score, and you're going to have to score more than 9 points to beat the Colts in a dome. IND

NYJ at BUF: I think the AFC East teams will all be done with their divisional games by Week 6. The Bills have been surprisingly decent so far, and by this time next week all the pundits will be raving about how they're a Super Bowl sleeper because they beat the Dolphins and Jets. BUF

TEN at MIA: The Titans may battle the Raiders all season for the coveted 0-16 record. They also may battle them for the coveted "most QBs who've taken a snap for your team in one season". MIA

WAS at HOU: Weren't the Texans supposed to be better this year now that Dom Capers is gone? I'm not sure which direction to go here, although I'm thinking that direction should be "as far from Mark Brunell as possible". HOU

BAL at CLE: I love how early in the season the talking heads rave about undefeated teams no matter how bad their opponents have been. The Ravens actually struggled at times on offense against the Raiders last week, but all during the game (yes, that game was televised here. And you wonder why people here watch rodeos?) the announcers were raving about how they're going to challenge for the AFC championship. After beating the hapless Browns, Ron Jaworski's head may explode in excitement. BAL

NYG at SEA: Is it really a good thing that Eli Manning is unable to complete passes until the 4th quarter, when the other team's defense is tired and playing prevent? I guess that's better than his brother, who is unable to complete passes in the playoffs. SEA

PHI at SF: The 49ers may have moved from the basement of the league to the stairwell, but they're still not even on the ground floor. PHI

STL at AZ: If the 49ers beat the Rams and the Rams beat the Broncos, does that mean that a local high school team could beat the Broncos? I'm not sure, but the Rams have never been a good road team. AZ

DEN at NE: Every year we have to play Denver, and every year Tom Brady loses, with the exception of the improbable Monday Night intentional safety game, and even then the Pats almost lost to Danny Kanell. DEN

ATL at NO: This is why it's the Bears that will be the worst 3-0 team and not the Saints. ATL

It's amazing how little we hear about the Jon Benet Ramsey killing now that the charges against the crazy confessor were dropped due to conflicting evidence. I guess the news media is embarassed that they once again jumped to skewer an innocent (if not slightly insane) person...or they're just biding their time until the next time Mel Gibson says something and they can unleash their 24 hour coverage of nothing. Now on to the picks.

CLE at CIN: I watched the Bengals' game against the Chiefs last week, and they didn't look too good on offense. They were definitely not the explosive team that we saw in the preseason, and this was against a Chiefs defense that will most likely finish the season near the bottom. But against the Browns, they'll be just fine. CIN

TB at ATL: One of my rules of picking is to go the opposite way if teams have surprise wins or losses in week 1. Tampa isn't very good, but they shouldn't have lost that big to the Ravens. And no one thought the Falcons would topple the highly (over-)rated Panthers. Look for this one to return both teams to normalcy. TB

BUF at MIA: The Bills defense looked ok last week against the Patriots, and the Dolphins offense looked dreadful against the Steelers. Again, look for both teams to revert back to the mean. MIA

DET at CHI: Either that was a mirage in Detroit last weekend, or the Seahawks really will have as disappointing a season as some are predicting. CHI

NO at GB: I will continue my theme and pick against the Packers, even though I have a strong suspicion that they may win this game. NO

HOU at IND: Let the media hype of the Colts and Peyton Manning begin! IND

OAK at BAL: The Raiders aren't just bad, they're comically bad. Bill Simmons calls the combination of Aaron Brooks and Art Shell the "Perfect Storm of Gambling", and he may be right. Wasn't Aaron Brooks a half-decent QB for a few years? He looks to be going the way of Kordell Stewart. BAL

NYG at PHI: The Eagles may have gotten an Ewing-Theory-like boost in losing TO, but I'm guessing the Giants won't leave Donte Stallworth uncovered all game. NYG

CAR at MIN: It's another classic revert-to-the-mean game. The Panthers may be overrated, but they're not going to go 0-2. CAR

AZ at SEA: The Seahawks will lose a game to the Cardinals this year, but it won't be this one despite how good the Cards offense looked against the patsy Niners. SEA

STL at SF: Any team with a run defense will beat the 49ers, since Alex Smith is still by no means effective. STL

NE at NYJ: Think Tom Brady has something to prove this week with Deion Branch gone? Are pundits really questioning a QB who has won 3 Super Bowl rings in 5 years just because the Pats are abandoning their "throw any old warm body out there at Corner" strategy in favor of a similar one with WRs? NE

KC at DEN: The Broncos looked deliciously bad last week against the Rams, but they seem to do much better at home. Look for Jake Plummer to rebound against a bad defense. DEN

TEN at SD: This is the kind of game that Marty Schottenheimer frequently loses, but I just can't see the Titans winning with no playmakers on offense. SD

WAS at DAL: I watched the first half of the Dallas game last week and they completely dominated. Then I shut it off and turned it back on at the end of the game and they were getting trounced. What happened? Drew Bledsoe happened. DAL anyway

PIT at JAX: The team that Dallas dominated in the first half last week? Jacksonville. And they didn't just look bad, they were downright inept on offense. I don't care if they ended up winning, I can't forget the inept. PIT

I like Lucas' idea, so I will try to add some pundits like Peter King and Bill Simmons to the pickboard on the left. So far we're all getting beaten by Peter King, which is sad, but if I knew that Daunte Culpepper would show up to the game looking like a skeleton (or Jay Fiedler) then I never would have picked the Dolphins.

BAL at TB: As much as I love football and look forward to the start of the season, matchups like this remind me that it's not all gumdrops and candycanes in footballland. The word on the street is that Brian Billick is on the hot seat, and it's about damn time. TB

ATL at CAR: I really think the Panthers are overrated, with everyone in the world thinking they'll win the Super Bowl, but the Falcons haven't had a direction as a team since Jamal Anderson and the Dirty Bird. CAR

DEN at STL: Lucas and Bill Simmons have much more faith in the Rams than I do, but the Broncos are definitely not a dome team. STL

BUF at NE: I side with Deion Branch in his salary situation, since NFL players have no guaranteed contracts and he has completely outplayed his rookie deal, but how does it possibly benefit his career to sit out the season? NE

PHI at HOU: Now that the Eagles don't have TO, no one seems to care about them anymore. Something tells me that one of these seasons not having a running back or wide receivers will hurt them. Upset Special! HOU

NO at CLE: I was hoping Lucas would be suckered in by the Saints hype, but clearly he's not ready to pick them on the road either. CLE

SEA at DET: Rams games aren't nearly as entertaining without the insane Mike Martz at the helm, so it's good that he's found a home in the most dysfunctional franchise in the NFL. SEA

NYJ at TEN: It will be a long season for the weak-armed Chad Pennington. TEN

CIN at KC: Apprently Lucas wasn't paying attention when the Bengals players did everything short of punching a police horse this past offseason. The Chiefs are in a decline, but not quite yet. KC

CHI at GB: Part of the reason I won last season was always picking against the Packers while Lucas foolishly stuck to them through every ill-advised interception. CHI

DAL at JAX: It's time for the TO crazy train to leave the station! DAL

SF at AZ: The Cardinals are overrated, but the Niners are a trainwreck. AZ

IND at NYG: I don't know if I'll be able to stand watching this game with all the gratuitous sucking up by the announcers to the entire Manning family. I'll go with the Manning with the funnier commercials, since it's not January yet. IND

MIN at WAS: Taylor! Betts! Mark Brunell's Reanimated Corpse! It's the NFL on ESPN! WAS

SD at OAK: Speaking of franchises that are deep in their own crapulence, the Oakland Raiders are choosing to start Aaron Brooks at quarterback rather than Jeff George. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. SD

Could it be it's that time again already? I would have forgotten had it not been for Lucas' post. So here is tomorrow's pick, and hopefully I remember to do this weekend's picks as well.

MIA at PIT: And the football season starts with...Charlie Batch! It's hard to feel bad for ROFLsberger, since it was his own cockiness that caused his difficult offseason, but it's disappointing that the first NFL game of the year, which in the past has been a rematch of the AFC or NFC championships games, is so...eh. Fumbles McCulpepper isn't nearly as entertaining without Randy Moss around, and Ricky Williams is nowhere to be found. Meh. MIA