James Cochran’s Blog

Friend of the blog Porch-Dog.com posted his “2008″ NFL picks which doesn’t seem that hard since that season ended back in Feburary but I’m pretty sure he meant this current season anyway.  Now that the regular season is well on it’s way I figure I’ll throw my two cents out there.

AFC East: I know that Tom Brady is out and all but i still think the Pats can pull it off.  Could they defeat the Bills right now? Maybe maybe not.  I’m just saying I think the Pats will win more games then the Bills this season.  I’d love for the Bills to prove me wrong though.

NFC East: Hands down I’m going with the Cowboy’s on this one.  Everything is bigger in Texas.  I’d love to see the Giants pull ahead and win the division but I’m not so sure that is going to happen.  I really like Romo and I think it’s just about time for him to do great things with this team.

AFC North: Really?  I mean really?  I wish this division would be a contest and I’d really like to see the Bengals do something just so my extended family in Ohio will quit complainig about them all the time.  I’m going to have to go with the Steelers on this one.

NFC North: The Bears seem like the obvious choice here but I’m going to go with the Packers.  I like the Packers and I think it’s only because it was the team always talked about on That 70′s Show.  So there you go, for selfish reasons only I pick the Packers.  Plus I don’t like the Bears.

AFC South: The Indianapolis Colts.  Of course the Colts.  Manning is a little rusty right now but there is no way the Colts won’t when their division again this year.  He’ll get his confidence back on the road this weekend when they whoop the snot out of the Vikings.  You’ll see.  ”The Colts are going all the way this year!”

NFC South: This is so obviously the Saints it’s not even funny.  I don’t know where people are getting the notion that the Bucs will be able to do anything this year but hey, whatever.  I’d be surprised to even see the Bucs in the playoffs this year.  As a matter of fact I’m calling it now.  The Bucs will finish the season 8-8.  Still 50% pretty good right?

AFC West: While the Chargers failed to impress last year even though many thought they were going to have a huge season including the makers of Madden 08 I still think they have the ability this year.  I’m rooting for them to make it into the playoffs and hopefully be one of those teams that surprise everyone.

NFC West: The Arizona Cardinals are a professional team?  I thought that was minor leagues.  Just kidding.  I have to go with the safe bet on this one and say Seahawks.  Though I’m betting they lose their first playoff game.

AFC Championship: Colts/Patriots

NFC Championship: Cowboys/Saint

Superbowl: Colts vs Cowboys = Colts Superbowl Victory.  Can anyone say dynasty?

So there you have it.  I know I’m completely wrong on a lot of these but this is what I think.  Much of it is my emotions coming into play instead of looking at the facts, but really, who needs facts?  Especially when you’ve got heart right?

The Colts donated one million dollars to the Riley Hospital for Children yesterday.  This is a very generous contribution even if it is going to be handed out over the next several years.

Then I got to thinking.  I’m one of those people on the Colts Season Ticket Holders waiting list.  I’ve been on it for a year now and while they send me little tokens of appreciation (a key chain, a hand towel, etc..) I’m still number 4700 or so of people waiting to get their tickets.  I have two tickets I’m waiting on and I figure most people signed up for 2 or 4 or even more.  It’s $150 per ticket just to have your name put on the list.  So let’s do the math.  I’ll estimate 5000 people signed up for 2 tickets on the waiting list at $150 each.  That comes to a total of $1,500,000.

Call me cynical but I find it hard to feel good about this contribution when they donate such a small percentage and make a big to do with speeches and press coverage.  I guess it makes the city feel better for building them a new stadium for four billion dollars out of our pockets including counties in surrounding areas.  If you need the numbers I’m figuring 720 million, 120 paid by Lucas Oil and 100 paid by the Colts.  Figure in the additional 10 million dollars more it will cost to run every year compared to the yearly cost of the Hoosier Dome and things are starting to get out of control.

At least we won the Super Bowl bid right?

Ahhhh Labor Day.  A welcome day off for many.  At least in the U.S.  But what is labor day exactly?  ”A day off!”  you say.  Exactly.  It started way back in 1882 when some union workers said, “Hey!  We want a day off!”  The Central Labor Union of NYC actually said that they want, “a day off for the working citizens”.  I say thank you NYC union workers since I’ve enjoyed Labor day off most my working life.

Now you must understand that it took 12 years before Congress made it an official holiday.  In 1894 they finally said, “Hey, it’s the 90′s.  Lets take a day off.”  This started a long tradition of congress taking a day off.  Mostly physically but much of the time mentally.

Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September.  This year it is September 1st which is nice because we didn’t have to wait most of the week until we took the day off.  However, the problem lies in the fact that most people mark this as the end of summer.  Instead I’d rather think of it as the beginning of Football season.  The NFL as well as the NCAA start their season now.  NFL will have their first real game this Thursday when Washington faces the Giants.  Go Giants!

So thank you to those Americans that came before me allowing me to have the eight hour work day, picnics, and the start of the regular season(NFL).

I’m not sure if Quinn Gray or Jared Lorenzen knew they were only going to be playing for the Colts during the preseason or not.  If not I think they just got blindsided as the Colts, as usual, have cut down to their two QB roster.  Once again Peyton Manning and Jim Sorgi have won those spots despite their injuries.  In a way that’s good news for this Colts fan since it most likely means Manning is ready to start but I still would have liked them to keep a third QB just in case.  As much as I hate to think about it Manning can’t play forever.  Like Favre though, I guess he can always try.

They also cut Kenton Keith who I thought did a good job as Addai’s backup last year.  Nothing like the Rhodes/Addai duo in the 2006 season but good none the less.  Of course Rhodes is back this year as Addai’s backup so I’m hoping to see another great running season which may be necessary since Manning has been out of practice for awhile and I’m sure his timing is going to be off for at least a couple of weeks.

They’ve kept Tamme the TE which I think is awesome.  Dallas Clark is one of my favorite players of all time and Tamme seems to play and make plays so much like him.  I think Manning is going to utilize these two guys in the secondary over and over again until something downfield opens up for the big play to Harrison or Wayne.  If Tamme can play anywhere near the level of Clark we are going to see an amazing year this year.

I’m looking forward to this season more than any other so far.  We have the new stadium.  We have some great players.  And we have the same chance to make the playoffs as every other team.  Hopefully they continue to focus one game at a time.  Go Colts!

Here is the breakdown of Colts players and those waived courtesy of IndyStar.com:

Roster breakdown

Here’s a position-by-position look at the Colts’ 53-player roster:

Quarterback (2):

Peyton Manning, Jim Sorgi

Running back (3):

Joseph Addai, Dominic Rhodes, Mike Hart*

Wide receiver (6):

Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Anthony Gonzalez, Roy Hall, Courtney Roby, Pierre Garcon*

Tight end (4):

Dallas Clark, Gijon Robinson, Jacob Tamme*, Tom Santi*

Offensive line (9):

Jeff Saturday, Ryan Diem, Tony Ugoh, Charlie Johnson, Dan Federkeil, Corey Hilliard, Mike Pollak*, Steve Justice*, Jamey Richard*

Defensive line (10):

Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, Raheem Brock, Ed Johnson, Keyunta Dawson, Darrell Reid, Josh Thomas, Marcus Howard*, Eric Foster*, Curtis Johnson*

Linebacker (6):

Gary Brackett, Freddy Keiaho, Clint Session, Ramon Guzman, Philip Wheeler*, Jordan Senn*

Defensive back (10):

Bob Sanders, Antoine Bethea, Marlin Jackson, Kelvin Hayden, Tim Jennings, Dante Hughes, Keiwan Ratliff, Matt Giordano, Melvin Bullitt, Jamie Silva*

Specialists (3):

K Adam Vinatieri, P Hunter Smith, LS Justin Snow

Physically Unable to Perform LIST (2):

G Ryan Lilja, LB Tyjuan Hagler.

* — denotes rookie.

Waived

QBs Quinn Gray and Jared Lorenzen, RBs Kenton Keith and Chad Simpson, WRs Devin Aromashodu, Onrea Jones and Sam Giguere, DL Joe Bradley, Jeff Charleston, Dan Davis, Colin Ferrell and Ben Ishola, OL Tala Esera, Darren Marquez and Michael Toudouze, DBs Brannon Condren and Brandon Foster, TE Tyrice Thompson and LBs Victor Worsley and Kyle Shotwell. Roster breakdown