holy shit, is it 5776 already?

To celebrate, I went down to my local kosher deli and picked up one of these. Got a little frustrated when they wouldn't serve a chocolate milk on the side. What ever happened to the customer is always right? 

I'm pretty excited because this will be the first year I see the Chiefs play in the Super Bowl.

goddamnit flacco

Chiefs go from 12th to 7th in FiveThirtyEight's formula.

This was a huge win. First, it's a road win. If you go 7-1 at home, 4-4 on the road, that's playoffs. So starting 1-0 on the road is a great start to going 4-4 on the road.

The Chiefs have the home opener against the Broncos on Thursday night. Win that one, take the division lead and things are looking good.

Illinois is ranked 37th in the Coaches Poll

Been a while since there's been any good news to report on Illinois Football. I realize they've played crap teams, but they've looked a lot worse playing crap teams in years past. They open as 7.5 point underdogs on the road at North Carolina.

just bought flight + tickets to see chiefs in super bowl 50

More Rocket League

So my last post was five separate highlights, this is the end of one game. The games are 5 minutes long: we pick up the action up 4-3 with just over a minute to go. Be sure to stick around for the goal at the 2:30 mark, which I think is might highest difficulty shot in the game so far.

Big Ten Commercial

I think this is the best University/Conference commercial I've ever seen. They sure could have shown more Illinois stuff though, give us the Morrow Plots, State Farm Center, something...

Rocket League Highlights

Long-time viewers will know that I've been uploading Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars highlights since 2008. Well, there's a sequel on the PS4 which may or not have been the main reason I got the system in the first place. It's called Rocket League and it's basically exactly the same foundation with a new look and some new modes, including a season with playoffs. Here are some plays from my first week.








So they notify you when you get a save, which is what it sounds like. There's a separate notification for "epic saves" which occur on the goal line. Here's an example:



So this was a championship game in the playoffs after a 9-week regular season. Tied with ten seconds to go.

Madden 16: PS4 Highlight

So I got a PS4. One of the cool features is how easy it is to record and share gameplay moments. Also, it's not an output of a replay editor--it's literally as I saw it on my screen. So in the clip below you can see how I start the play as Derrick Johnson and then switch--as Manning starts his throw I hit switch hoping to take control of someone in the secondary, but it briefly switches me to #70 Mike DeVito--and then at the :05 mark I switch to Eric Berry. You can see the route I take to get the ball. And then at the :09 mark you can see at the top of the screen that it credited me with a "user pick"--(meaning that I controlled the interception as opposed to controlling a different player while the pick happens.)




Bonus Fun Fact: At the very end of the clip you can hear the announcer say: "The Chiefs will use a timeout here, early in the second half." Obviously, the clock was already stopped on a change of possession and I had no interest in stopping the clock anyways. I accidentally called timeout trying to hit the share button.

Man vs Machine: 2015 NFL Predictions vs Five Thirty Eight [A Modern Day John Henry]

On September 5th, I made my team-by-team NFL predictions.

A few days later, FiveThirtyEight released their own, based on ELO ratings.

Since their link will be updated throughout the season, I'm posting their original numbers (I found a cached version before the Patriots' win over the Steelers on Thursday night) below. I will do standard rounding on their predictions.

Five Thirty Eight Original 2015 NFL Predictions

AFC East
Patriots 11-5
Bills 9-7
Dolphins 8-8
Jets 7-9

AFC North
Ravens 9-7
Steelers 9-7
Bengals 8-8
Browns 6-10

AFC South
Colts 10-6
Texans 9-7
Titans 5-11
Jags 5-11

AFC West
Broncos 10-6
Chiefs 8-8
Chargers 8-8
Raiders 5-11

NFC East
Cowboys 10-6
Eagles 9-7
Giants 8-8
Washington 5-11

NFC North
Packers 10-6
Lions 9-7
Vikings 7-9
Bears 6-10

NFC South
Panthers 9-7
Saints 8-8
Falcons 8-8
Bus 6-10

NFC West
Seahawks 11-5
Cardinals 8-8
49ers 8-8
Rams 7-9

I think it would be interesting to calculate both:
1. Total number of games actual vs predicted
2. Number of teams closer

Skateboarding: Night 4

So I swear, this ramp feels a lot steeper than it looks. The first two nights I was on my board, I couldn't do it. I would jump off before I fell. The third night I had to find a different spot because the lights weren't on at this one. But it felt pretty good to hit this tonight--a clear sign that I'm making progress.

And since Niraj asked last time, the logo at the end is Element. They make the deck I bought and they have a team that does rad shit like this.

2015 NFL Predictions

AFC East
Patriots 12-4
Dolphins 10-6
Bills 7-9
Jets 4-12

AFC North
Ravens 11-5
Steelers 11-5
Browns 9-7
Bengals 7-9

AFC South

Colts 12-4

Texans 8-8

Jaguars 5-11

Titans 3-13

AFC West

Chiefs 10-6

Broncos 10-6

Chargers 8-8

Raiders 6-10

AFC Playoff Seeds

1 Patriots

2 Colts

3 Ravens

4 Chiefs

5 Steelers

6 Broncos

NFC East

Eagles 11-5

Giants 9-7

Cowboys 8-8

Washington 2-14

NFC North

Packers 13-3

Vikings 9-7

Lions 6-10

Bears 4-12

NFC South

Saints 9-7

Panthers 8-8

Falcons 7-9

Bucs 5-11

NFC West

Seahawks 13-3

Rams 8-8

Cardinals 7-9

49ers 4-12

NFC Playoff Seeds

1 Seahawks

2 Packers

3 Eagles

4 Saints

5 Giants

6 Vikings

AFC Conference Championship

Patriots over Ravens

NFC Conference Championship

Seahawks over Eagles

Super Bowl

Seriously, a rematch of last year? That's not going to happen. Let's go with Packers over Chiefs, a repeat of Super Bowl I. 

Pondering NFL predictions. I feel like the Broncos will go 10-6 or 11-5. Chiefs could go anywhere from 7-9 to 13-3. 9-7 or 10-6 feels pretty safe...11-5 or 12-4 seems really optimistic, but it could happen. It feels totally possible for the Chiefs to win the division, but after what I just broke down, do I have think the Chiefs actually end up with a better record than the Broncos?

Skateboarding: Night 1