Week 11

1. Colts – they remain unbeaten and have had a tougher schedule than the Saints.
2. Saints – Big game this week in fact make it a huge game this week and I have to say I think they will go down to their first lose of the season.
3. Vikings – This team is not getting alot of attention which is surprising with Favre in it but they continue to win and win well.
4. Patriots – Pretty much sealed up the division this weekend and can now look forward to ruining the Saints perfect start to the season.
5. Bengals - They are praying the lose to the Raiders doesn’t hurt them too much.
6. Chargers - Looked good beating up the Broncos and should win the division now.
7. Cardinals – This team still seems to surprise people even after last season.
8. Cowboys – Warning signs are up since they struggled to beat the Redskins.
9. Packers - How could would this team be if they could protect Aaron Rodgers?
10. Giants - Got the win they needed after the bye week even though they tried their hardest to lose it.
11. Eagles – The Bears game was closer than it needed to be.
12. Steelers - Must stop losing so silly teams like the Chiefs.
13. Broncos – Simms was so bad he made Orton look like Elway.
14. Jaguars - Nearly losing to Buffalo shows how bad this team can be at times.
15. Falcons – Not surprised by the news they are seeking a new kicker.
16. Ravens - They need to win a game against a good team to be taken seriously.
17. Dolphins – Still winning even with all those injuries.
18. Texans - Things looked so good a few weeks ago but know they look like the .500 Texans we all love.
19. Titans – Being winless seems like a long long time ago now.
20. Panthers – Run the ball in the red zone please.
21. Bears - They are only this high because there are so any bad teams right now.
22. Jets - Looks like a team coached by a rookie head coach and with a rookie starting QB.  Nice to see the disrespected us quote coming out this week.
23. 49ers - Smith looks ok at last.
24. Chiefs - Big win last week.
25. Raiders - Finally they have a QB who can throw the ball.
26. Bills - When do they move to Canada now?
27. Seahawks – Time to start worrying about next season.
28. Redskins – See above.
29. Lions - How do you lose so many yards and points to the Browns?
30. Rams - I still feel sorry for Steven Jackson.
31. Buccaneers - Man this team is bad.
32. Browns - and this team is even worse.

Holy Sh*t!

That pretty much sums up my feelings to week 11 of the NFL so far.  The AFC North collapse in unbelievable fashion with the Steelers losing to the mighty Chiefs, the Bengals losing to the mighty Raiders, the Browns losing to the mighty Lions and the Ravens losing to the highly impressive Colts.  And that is only one division!

Things got crazy in other places with the Redskins holding the Cowboys to 7 points with half a team, the Bills beating an improving Jacksonville and the Giants trying their hardest to throw a game away.  Yes it really has been a special weekend.

Lets start with the AFC North, out of the 4 teams that lost only Baltimore can have any pride in itself since they at least lost to an unbeaten team.  If you ever wondered about the importance of Peyton Manning then watch this game.  Yes he throw a couple of INTs but when he was in the red zone the Colts came away with TDs and not field goals something Baltimore failed to do.  The Bengals managed to give up 10 points in 33 seconds which defies logic.  Pittsburgh managed to allow the Chiefs to score 27 points and Cleveland scored hundreds but still lost with no time remaining.  This game proved yet again how important Troy Polamalu is to the Steelers, he actually defines what an MVP player means to a team.  He plays they win, he doesn’t play they lose to some awful teams.

After watching the Colts beat the Ravens I settled down to watch the Chargers destroy the Broncos.  Three points struck me from this game, 1) Simms is only on rosters because of who his father was 2) McDaniels likes to try his luck, which is something I don’t have a problem with and 3) Orton truly is the leader of the offense, as soon as he stepped onto the field the whole attitude of the team changed and he was unlucky not to get some points on the board before the rookie fumbled on the goal line.  Denver needs Orton fit for Thursday or they are going to get thrashed again.

Yes I really did enjoy the NFL this weekend and I think we could be in for an even better game tonight between the Titans and the Texans.

Live from Washington, DC these are my thoughts on Survivor Series 2009…

- Loved the opening to the show. The historical look back at past SS events was great as well as how it tied into today’s product. The production team are the MVPs of WWE, I think. They always deliver the goods. They had the three man announce team of Cole, Lawler and Striker leaving The Grish to do backstage duties. They were fine, but I miss JR. Get better, Jim.

Team Miz (Miz, Sheamus, McIntyre, Swagger & Ziggler) d. Team Morrison (Morrison, Hardy, Finlay, Benjamin and Bourne) (**1/2)
From my preview: “The heel side should win. It makes more sense. It would be foolish to have guys like Sheamus or McIntyre get pinned in a match like this.” I nailed that pretty well. Those two survived along with Miz. I was pleased that they got just over 20 minutes. Ref Scott Armstrong got legit hurt here. They showed the replay where he took a knee to the head by Sheamus although he might have slipped and hurt his own knee too. Morrison’s team of jobbers lost as expected while he squared off 1 on 3 against Miz, Sheamus and McIntyre (why does Ziggler lose so much?). I thought he might pin Miz. Didn’t happen. Sheamus got the win with his Razor’s Edge like finish that needs a name. Good booking. Predictable, but it was the right call.

- Team Kofi had a skit backstage with my boy Christian mentioning he’s different from then. No not because he is white, it’s because he’s in ECW. He’s also the only one that’s a champion, but that would actually put over the ECW belt. Can’t do that. Christian did a R-Truth like rap rhyming fight with white as the black dudes thought it was pretty lame. Then they all drank Kool-Aid. Oh wait, that was just Mark Henry. It was decent comedy although that’s to be expected with Christian. He was funnier as a heel though. Can’t top the classic E&C stuff or his work with The Rock when he was calling himself Captain Charisma.

Batista d. Rey Mysterio (*1/4)
This was more of an angle than a match. I hate to toot my own horn, but check this out from my preview: “I would be surprised if this match is anything but a brutal beatdown victory by Batista. The strong rumor is that Mysterio’s going to need knee surgery again and it could be as soon as next week. I can see him doing a stretcher job here. It will put over Batista huge as a heel monster while Mysterio’s the perfect guy to sell a beating. What’s interesting is that this PPV is in Batista’s hometown of Washington. Are the fans going to cheer him even if he’s a heel because it’s his hometown? I think they might. I nailed this one too even calling the stretcher job. Not sure if he’s having the surgery, but I guess it’s possible. The beatdown was good with Batista hitting multiple powerbombs and also a spinebuster on a chair after the match. I liked that they want with the KO victory too. The announcers pointed out that he never went for a fall, which is a good way to put over just how much of a monster he was here. Well done. Of course, the crowd cheering for him wasn’t the reaction that Vince probably wanted. That’s what you get for turning the guy the month before they have a show in his hometown. The announcers basically ignored the cheers, which is the right move long term. By the way, when Rey was getting loaded on the stretcher guess what we heard? Yep, the dreaded SERIOUS VOICES~!

- Randy Orton talked to his team. He expected more out of them in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series. Then he told some jokes. Okay, he didn’t, but what a nice surprise that would have been, huh?

Team Kofi Kingston (Kingston, MVP, Henry, R-Truth & Christian) d. Team Randy Orton (Orton, Dibiase, Rhodes, Regal & Punk) (***1/4)
It was a good match, better than the first one. Orton pinning Henry in about a minute was fantastic. I cheered for that. The match was basically two halves with different stories. The first 13 minutes saw the elimination of everybody except Kingston, Punk and Orton. I really hope we get a Christian/Punk feud in the future because I think it could be great. The next five or six saw Punk work over Kingston while Orton stood on the apron cheering him on. They made Kingston look like the underdog in that 1 on 2 scenario, then he countered a Punk rollup with a pin while using the tights. Everybody was going nuts for that. Then Orton comes in and Kofi KO’s him with the Trouble in Paradise spin kick for the pinfall. I marked out legit. I’m a huge Kofi fan. And Orton sold it great. My prediction? I think the babyface side is going to win this one because Kingston getting the upper hand on Orton is the right way for this to go heading into what is likely going to be a singles match next month. Another one right for me. It’s nice to come up with logical booking decisions and then to see it come through. I’m looking forward to more Orton vs. Kingston going forward. It’s the best thing in WWE right now.

The Undertaker d. Chris Jericho & Big Show to retain the World Title (**3/4)
Fan: “Go back to Toronto.” Jericho: “I’m from Winnipeg, you idiot.” Best in the world at what he does. It’s true. This was my only incorrect prediction of the night. I had Jericho for the win although that was more of a desire on my part because I think it’s something of a crime to see him without a world title win this year (tag belts don’t count). This was booked pretty evenly with the announcers putting over the Undertaker’s toughness. Is that there way of mentioning that he moves slower in the ring these days? Lucky for him, Big Show was in the match too, so he wasn’t the slowest guy out there. Jericho was all over the place, doing his best to score the victory. I really liked the spot where he missed the Lionsault, then turned it into the Walls and when Undertaker was reaching up for him he kept tilting his head back. That was a little thing that he added for those of us that saw Undertaker make him tap in that same position. Well done. I love things like that. The finish was the typical triple threat deal with each guy countering something with their finish. Show knocked out Taker, then tried to pin, Jericho broke that up, then they had a little squabble, Show KNOCKED HIM THE FUCK OUT~! Show went for the chokeslam, Undertaker countered with the Hell’s Gate submission and Show tapped out like a little bitch. Solid match. I understand Undertaker winning since his next feud is probably Batista with the rumored Batista title win coming at the Rumble. The question is, what will they do at TLC before that?

- They had Josh Matthews interview Miz, Sheamus & McIntyre about their win. They all bragged basically.

Team Mickie James (Mickie, Kelly, Gail, Melina & Eve) d. Team Michelle McCool (Michelle, Beth, Jillian, Layla & Alicia) (*3/4)
It was what I expected it to be. The crowd wasn’t that into the match although that’s to be expected considering they were following a World Title match. There were lots of quick falls early. Why did they re-sign Gail only to have her lose matches on a regular basis when she’s arguably the most talented in-ring woman on the roster? I don’t understand. They had Beth do some power moves in eliminating Eve & Kelly, but then she got pinned by my beloved Mickie James-Canton. That left a two on one situation with Melina & Mickie against Michelle. I thought Mickie would score the pinfall to set up the obvious feud with Michelle. Didn’t happen. Melina got it. The match was just okay. Aside from Mickie looking lovely in a new outfit (I notice these things), I thought Eve looked fantastic too. Maryse is probably back on Raw tomorrow most likely. Looking forward to it.

- They did an interview with Batista talking to The Grish. He said he was embarrassed for Rey. I think Batista’s heel gimmick is that he doesn’t talk much. He lets his violence do the talking. Or something.

John Cena d. Shawn Michaels & Triple H to retain the WWE Title (***3/4)
I got the match at ***3/4 out of 5, which is what I expected for it. It went 21 minutes. That was fine. They followed the WWE formula for triple threat matches to a tee. They had HBK superkick HHH early on to take him out for a bit, then they had it just Cena vs. HBK for a while. Just as Cena was going to finish him, Hunter saved Shawn and then put him through the announce table with a spinebuster. Ouch. Now it was Cena and HHH’s turn to fight with Michaels breaking that up. They then did a three person submission spot, which was okay, but the crowd wasn’t that into it. See what I mean about the WWE formula? The crowd knows the finishers are coming. They did a triple KO spot with HBK & Cena trying to pin HHH after hitting finishers, but that only got two. The crowd did react to that one. As for the finish? Let’s go back to my preview one last time: I think Cena wins clean with the Attitude Adjustment probably on Michaels. Well, I was right about Cena winning and hitting the AA on Michaels, but he ended up pining HHH, who was knocked out after HBK superkicked him. He kicked him while HHH was going for the Pedigree. That’s how they book a lot of these triple threats. Finisher on finisher on finisher. It’s too repetitive. I’m fine with Cena winning. It’s nice to see a champion actually retain. I’m not sure if it’s going to lead to DX splitting up soon, but if it is the beginning of a heel turn for HHH then I will strongly support it. For those wondering, Cena’s now 6-0 at Survivor Series (thanks to Travis for that research). I’m not sure if they’ll even mention that, but it’s worth noting.

The show ended with Cena on the ramp with the belt in hand.

Three Stars of the Show
1. Shawn Michaels – He was the glue in the main event. He hit a lot of superkicks, didn’t he?
2. Kofi Kingston – His star continues to shine brightly. I’m very excited about his future.
3. Rey Mysterio – Really did a great job of selling the beating. If he does have the knee surgery soon I’ll miss him.

7 out of 10.

The show was good. Not the best PPV of the year (Summerslam), yet it was still one of the better ones. The results of the matches were predictable (I got 5 out of 6 correct), but that does not make it a poor show in any way. It was right for Kofi, Sheamus, McIntyre and Miz to the be the stars of their matches. They’re part of the future. I’m not that crazy about Undertaker and Cena retaining the belts, but at the same time I’m the guy that wrote a column bitching about all the title switches. I’d like to say thanks to WWE for not booking title changes here. It’s refreshing to see that they’ve actually come to their senses just a little bit.

There are a lot of questions that can be asked after this show: What’s next for Orton vs. Kingston? What about the futures of both DX and Jerishow? Is Batista vs. Undertaker next? Who’s next for Cena? Will tonight’s strong performances lead to sustained pushes up the card for Miz, Sheamus and McIntyre? I think we’ll get some answers on tomorrow’s three hour Raw. With the Royal Rumble fast approaching it’s getting to be that time of year where it’s the best time to be a WWE fan. They need to deliver the goods going forward to not only keep the interest of those of us that are watching, but also to bring back viewers that may have stopped watching.

——

Remember to check out the blog here for a blog exclusive post from Sunday morning where I wrote about the Hulkamania tour, UFC from Saturday night and a quick comparison of WCW to TNA. The blog’s been doing while. I appreciate the support. I promise even more content in the future as I start posting some of my older work there too.

I’ll be back on Tuesday for the Raw Deal. It’s a three hour Raw with Jesse Ventura as the guest host. My column could be posted later than normal due to the longer show although I might sacrifice my writeup for it. Three hours is a lot to write about. We’ll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading.

John Canton – oratoryjohn@gmail.com
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Indianapolis Colts to beat the Baltimore Ravens
This will be another tough game for the Colts but they have the offence to cope with all the schemes that the Ravens will bring. They will need another huge game from Manning and either Wayne or Clark but these players are capable of producing big numbers every week.

Dallas Cowboys to beat the Washington Redskins
For some reason I think that this will be a lot closer than many people think since I was impressed with the Redskins last week and totally unimpressed with the Cowboys offence last week. Plus the Redskins have a pretty good record in recent years down at Dallas. Look for Santana Moss to have his usual big game versus the Cowboys secondary but I still think Dallas should be good enough to win this game.

Detroit Lions to beat the Cleveland Browns
Surely even the Lions can beat the Browns, since they are easily the worst team in the NFL right now.

Green Bay Packers to beat the San Francisco 49ers
The Packers showed they still have enough quality to win against tough opposition last week and the 49ers are nowhere near as good as the Cowboys are. So I will be looking for the defence of the Packers to have another big game and for Rodgers to get some more points on the board.

Jacksonville Jaguars to beat the Buffalo Bills
The Bills finally did the right thing and fired Jauron but that isn’t going to instantly make this team any better though you may get the odd player uping their game to show off to the new coach. Not so sure about them signing Brohm either but I’ll wait a while before passing judgement on that. MJD and the Jags should have more than enough to beat the Bills.

Pittsburgh Steelers to beat the Kansas City Chiefs
This is an ideal game for Pittsburgh after their huge loss to the Bengals last week. Playing the Chiefs should allow them to get ahead early and let their defence have some fun. I will be looking for big games from Mendenhall and Roethlisberger.

Minnesota Vikings to beat the Seattle Seahawks
Favre and co will be looking for another win this weekend versus a poor Seahawks team. Percy Harvin will also be looking to impress yet again.

Atlanta Falcons to beat the New York Giants
Matt Ryan and Roddy White will have been looking forward to playing this banged up Giants secondary all week and I just don’t see things getting any easier for Eli and the Giants.

New Orleans Saints to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Yes Josh Freeman has played well so far but the Tampa defence is still not good enough to cope with an offence like the Saints. Well done Reggie Bush last week who showed so of the magic that made him such a high draft pick.

Arizona Cardinals to beat the St Louis Rams
Kurt Warner will show the Rams fans why his new team has been compared to his Rams team in the past. Fitzgerald will look to have a big game. Only question remain is whether or not the Cardinals can slow down Jackson who is playing great.

San Diego Chargers to beat the Denver Broncos
Denver is in free fall and the Chargers are on the charge. Then you add in the fact that Orton is unlikely to start and this looks like an easy victory for Rivers and co.

New England Patriots to beat the New York Jets
The Jets early season form is a thing of the past and they just don’t look like a team that can go to New England and get a result.

Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Oakland Raiders
Finally Tom Cable did something right in Oakland and that was to bench the biggest draft pick for ages, JaMarcus Russell. Yet again Russell has shown that arm strength just isn’t that important in the NFL. Cutler and Russell seem to be fighting to be the next Jeff George. The Bengals while beat up will easily take care of this poor Raiders team.

Philadelphia Eagles to beat the Chicago Bears
Cutler is a joke and the Eagles are playing well so this should be an easy win for the Eagles plus all of Cutlers bad games have come during evening games.

Tennessee Titans to beat the Houston Texans
Now if the Titans wear their old uniforms for this one will the locals know who to support? The Titans are on a roll and I expect them to keep it going with a win versus the Texans. Though this could turn into a bit of a shoot out.

1. Indianapolis Colts – Staying perfect and playing in great game means this team is easily number 1.
2. New Orleans Saints – Experts have been saying for a while this team is struggling but at the end of the day they are still perfect.
3. Minnesota Vikings – You can only beat the teams that are put in front of you.
4. Cincinnati Bengals – Another great performance against a divisional rival means this team deserve to be this high.
5. New England Patriots – Looked good for 3 quarters versus the Colts but need to finish games.
6. San Diego Chargers – Could take over the divison lead with a win versus Denver.
7. Arizona Cardinals – Finally they win at home.
8. Pittsburgh Steelers – Huge game to lose on Sunday and yet again it showed how important Polamalu is.
9. Dallas Cowboys – Romo and the offence looked really really bad on Sunday night.
10. Denver Broncos – Orton being hurt actually showed how much they need him.
11. Green Bay Packers – A good win versus the Cowboys showed there is still life in this team.
12. Baltimore Ravens – The Bengals actually helped the Ravens by beating Pittsburgh.
13. Houston Texans – A must win game versus the Titans soon.
14. Jacksonville Jaguars – MJD is playing well and this helps the team to win.
15. Atlanta Falcons – They need a healthy Michael Turner.
16. New York Giants – Their position actually improved without playing.
17. Philadelphia Eagles – They need to win a game again soon.
18. Carolina Panthers – Panthers are finally running the ball well.
19. Miami Dolphins – Brown will be badly missed.
20. San Francisco 49ers – Defence is playing well.
21. Chicago Bears – Cutler continues to struggle and looks like a waste of several draft picks.
22. New York Jets – The defence is struggling and it is hurting this team.
23. Tennessee Titans – One of the hottest teams in the NFL at the moment.
24. Washington Redskins – A good win versus Denver shows that this team can actually play.
25. Seattle Seahawks – This team continues to struggle.
26. Buffalo Bills – Sacking Jauron should have happened in the last off season.
27. Kansas City Chiefs – This team needs to move on from the whole Larry Johnson incident.
28. Oakland Raiders – Russell must be just about be done as starting QB, yet another great draft pick by Davis.
29. St Louis Rams – They keep playing hard and so that is a good point.
30. Detroit Lions – A chance to win another game this week versus the Lions.
31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Josh Freeman is a plus point for this team.
32. Cleveland Browns – This team is probably worse than the 08 Lions and that is saying something.

The Cincinnati Bengals own you

The Bengals are for real and Chad Ochocinco didn’t even pay me to say that. Cincinnati went on the road and beat Pittsburgh 18-12 this afternoon — a defensive slugfest with the only touchdown coming on a 96-yard kickoff return by Bernard Scott late in the first quarter. Shayne Graham and Jeff Reed each had four field goals, though Reed’s feat is a bit more impressive considering he was likely drunk.

Cincinnati improves to 7-2 with the win, including 4-0 against division powerhouses Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Have they proven themselves legitimate contenders? Well, it would seem that way, but since they’re still the Bengals, they might have to win it all to make believers out of most. Still, nice to see them go in and leave a mark on a division mostly run by the Steelers and the Ravens the past 131 years or so.

Elsewhere, it was a another rough week for my boy Kyle Orton, who threw for 193 yards and two touchdowns in the first half before leaving with an ankle injury and watching his Bronco mates fall to the dreadful Redskins, 27-17. No word on the extent of the injury, which was suffered on a scramble late in the second quarter. The loss was Denver’s third straight after starting 6-0.

Other scores from Sunday: Carolina 28, Atlanta 19; Miami 25, Tampa Bay 23; Minnesota 27, Detroit 10; Jacksonville 24, NY Jets 22; New Orleans 28, St. Louis 23; Tennessee 41, Buffalo 17; Kansas City 16, Oakland 10; Arizona 31, Seattle 20.

The game of your lifetime comes tonight, with Brian Hoyer and the Pats in Indy to face the undefeated Colts. Enjoy it, because Monday night is a stinker, with Cleveland hosting Baltimore.

Did someone question your manhood on the bench so decided to throw the ball like a big boy and completely miss a wide open Eddie Royal. Were you playing keep away? Are you sick of Touch Downs? Thanks douche. I’m back to the anyone but Orton bandwagon. My four-year old nephew Alexander the Great just called you a fag and got sent to his room.
He stood up for his beliefs and I support him fully. He’s a political prisoner right now. He knows he was right. I’m gonna go sneak him a cookie.

Broncos are really damn good man…FUMBLE FUCK!!!!!!!!. I swear I was just about to write that they are back on track. Someone is fucking with me man.

Big Ben had his way

First my Raptors, then my Kyle Orton — it was an all-around ugly Monday night that started so, so promising. Orton and the Broncos dropped their second straight tonight after starting 6-0, 28-10 at home to Big Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers.

I only saw bits and pieces of this one, but the numbers suggest Orton had by far his worst outing of the year: He entered with just one interception thrown all season but tossed three picks tonight — one that was taken back by Tyrone Carter for a second quarter score. Pittsburgh got three second half touchdown passes from Roethlisberger, including a pair in the fourth to help put the Broncos to bed. Rashard Mendenhall had another nice game for the Steelers, rushing for 155 yards.

Losses to Baltimore and Pittsburgh are nothing to be embarrassed about, and the Broncos played better than the scores would suggest in both games. Still, if they get into the playoffs, those are the types they’ll have to win, especially home games like tonight’s. Come on neck beard, let’s get it going!

Freeman fared a little better than Trent Dilfer did in the same digs

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into today’s game with Green Bay 0-7 and decided to bust out their peach throwbacks — the same uniforms they wore in a historically brutal era that included the NFL’s only winless season. It must’ve had some sort of reverse effect though — they rode an impressive performance from rookie quarterback Josh Freeman and made a fourth quarter run to come out with a 38-28 win.

Freeman, grabbed 17th overall out of Kansas State in this year’s draft, threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start, including a seven-yarder on fourth & 4 with just under five minutes to give Tampa Bay the lead. Tanard Jackson put it to bed with an interception return on Green Bay’s ensuing drive — the third pick of the day thrown by Aaron Rodgers.

Elsewhere around the league, the Bengals officially established themselves as legit (well, I’m believing it now, at least) with a nice 17-7 home win over the Ravens. Cincinnati made another big defensive stand and Cedric Benson continued his resurgence, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown. Not sure what this was all about, but Mr. Ochocinco busted out some dolla bills for good measure.

Other scores from Sunday: Atlanta 31, Washington 17; Arizona 41, Chicago 21; Indianapolis 20, Houston 17; Jacksonville 24, Kansas City 21; New England 27, Miami 17; New Orleans 30, Carolina 20; Seattle 32, Detroit 20; San Diego 21, NY Giants 20; Tennessee 34, San Francisco 27.

At press time, Philly holds a 13-10 lead over the Cowboys in the third quarter of the Sunday nighter. Also, stay tuned for the crown jewel of the week tomorrow night — Kyle Orton and the Broncos are home to face the Steelers, and you can bet I’m going with the neck beard.

Original image

Ortonized image

Actually, Dr. Seuss’ Horton heard a Who, but I heard about the Orton technique quite some time ago and finally decided to give it a try.

The technique is named after Michael Orton, a professional photographer who published an article about it in Popular Photography years ago. The Orton technique allows the photographer to create an ethereal, dreamy vision which elicits much more of an emotional response than a regular photograph. I shot some fall foliage shots near Steelville, Missouri last weekend that I thought might be good candidates for the technique. I found some instructions which Darwin Wiggett published in his article, “Orton Imagery – A ‘How to’ Guide for Photographers” which can be found under instructional articles on the Nature Photographers Network.

The basic idea is this: take your shot, overexpose it, duplicate it, blur the duplicate then sandwich them together.

More specific instructions (using Photoshop):

1. Open the image and make a duplicate (Image>Duplicate) then close the original. You should NEVER make any changes to your original file. This applies to any photo processing you are doing.
2. Overexpose the image (Image>Apply Image) and change the blending mode to “screen” and opacity to 100%. The opacity of course can be changed and if the photo is especially light or dark to begin with, you may have to tweak the percentage.
3. Duplicate the overexposed image (Image>Duplicate).
4. Now tile the windows so both images are on the screen at the same time. Blur the second image (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur). In the dialog box, change the pixel setting. The higher the setting, the blurrier it is. I used about 25-30 on the shots I tried, but it can be set anywhere from 15 to 50. You just have to experiment to see what works.
5. Select the “move” tool, hold down the “shift” key and use the mouse to drag the blurred image onto the sharp one. Make sure the image edges are aligned correctly.
6. In the layers palette box, change the blending mode from “normal” to “multiply.”
7. Flatten the layers by pressing “CTRL+E”.
VOILA! You have an Orton image.
It’s really a very easy process and results in an image that is dreamy and very painting-like. You can rest assured I’ll be experimenting with this a lot more from now on.

Original image

Ortonized image

Photographed by aussiegall

I had to get out of the house today so while it was dry I popped down to Auburn Botanical Gardens and had a walk and took some pictures. This is the Japanese Garden. The water is a toxic green colour at the moment as they have put something in it to treat the algae.

– License

1. Saints

They look scary on offence with so many weapons and nowadays they have a decent defence with Sharper looking like he will intercept a ball almost every game.  Remind me alot of the Colts on their Super Bowl run.

2. Colts

Manning looks good, Wayne looks good and they have a nice 1-2 running game with Addai and Brown.  Also helps the rest of the division is pants at the moment.

3. Vikings

Nothing seems wrong with this team and they would be 1 or 2 on my list is because Brett Favre has blown up late in the season for the last two years.  This team needs home field advantage in the play offs since Favre doesn’t like the cold weather.

4. Broncos

They are unbeaten, they look good on defence and Orton is winning games without doing anything fancy.  They also have a easy division and should have the division wrapped up pretty soon.

5. Giants

Yes they got spanked by the Saints but they have a banged up secondary and no every team has Drew Brees at QB.  Need to get more pressure from there front 4 so they don’t need to blitz so much.  The next 3 weeks will show for sure if they are a Super Bowl contender or not.

6. Falcons

A big win versus the Bears shows that Matt Ryan can take this team a long way.  Having Tony Gonzalez in the red zone helps alot too.

7. Patriots

Tom Brady and the offence had fun versus the Titans and now they must show they can do this week in and week out.

8. Bengals

Losing to the up and down Texans this week have seriously hurt this teams reputation and losing Odom for the season will hurt them more.

9. Steelers

They have started winning again, Mendanhall is running the ball well and Big Ben is putting up career numbers plus Troy is back on the defence.

10. Packers

There are alot of teams at 3-2 in the NFL and this is probably the one I personally wouldn’t want to be facing.  They have the potential to put up big numbers on offence and a defence that can cause some damage.

11. Cardinals

Arizona are starting to function on offence and because of their division they have a chance of getting in the play offs again with a .500 record.

12. Bears

Surely fans must be asking why they wasted so many picks on Cutler when Orton is winning with a Broncos team that doesn’t seem that much better on paper.  I think that if this team fails to make the play offs this year Lovie Smith is gone.

13. Ravens

They looked good the first 3 weeks and average the last 3 weeks.  Maybe they should have kept Stover has the kicker.  Defence needs to start playing better.

14. Eagles

One week they are destroying teams and next week they are losing to the Raiders.  This lose could come back to haunt them.

15. Cowboys

Romo needs to be more consistent and the defence needs to start making plays.

16. 49ers

Still not sure Shaun Hill is the answer at QB.  The team needed the bye week after being ripped a new one by Atlanta the other week.

17. Texans

So inconsistent it is unbelievable!  Great catch by Daniels this week though.

18. Jets

Sanchez is turing the ball over far too much for this team to win.  They are based on the old Ravens which is a strong defence and a QB who protects the ball.  They lose either of these things and they aren’t going to win games.

19. Jaguars

So inconsistent it is unbelievable!  Maurice Drew-Jones rushed well this week but will he do next week?

20. Dolphins

Henne played well versus the Jets but asking him to play like that all season may be asking too much.  Expect lots of Wildcat for the remainder of the season.

21. Chargers

Rivers and Merriman spend far too much time mouthing off at opponents rather than focusing on their own play.  Norv Turner can’t last another year in San Diego.

22. Seahawks

Just have too many holes at the moment to win on a consistent basis.

23. Bills

Trent Edwards getting hurt won’t help this team.  Actually surprised how bad this team have been this season.  Yet another coach that must go at the end of the season.

24. Panthers

Too tough a division for a team that is plainly not playing that well.

25. Raiders

Nice win this week but who really cares about this team anymore.

26. Redskins

Zorn is gone soon and so this team needs to find a head coach who is going to stay in place for 3 or more years and make a difference.  They will draft a QB with next years first round pick.

27. Lions

Out of all the teams in with only 1 win this season this is the only one that looks like it has some talent on its roster.

28. Chiefs

Yes they beat the Redskins but this isn’t something to brag about these days.

29. Browns

Cleveland don’t look any better under Mangini.

30. Titans

Jeff Fisher is too good a coach for this team to keep playing this badly.

31. Rams

They had a chance to win on Sunday bit blow it, story of their season so far.

32. Buccaneers

Man this team down right stinks.  The Pats will look forward to playing them next week in London.

Eddie Royal takes it home

Remember when the Broncos snuck by the Bengals in Week 1 on that fluke tipped passed in the final minute, and how just about everyone (with seemingly good reason) dubbed it a battle of the league’s two worst teams? Well, Cincinnati bounced back, winning four of five before losing at home Sunday to the Texans. The Broncos, meanwhile, stayed undefeated tonight with 34-23 road win in San Diego, matching Minnesota’s 6-0 record atop the NFL.

A pair of return toucdowns by Eddie Royal kept Denver in it at halftime, and a second half light show by the great Kyle Orton was enough to erase a three-point deficit en route to the win. The quarterback, previously famous for his wild partying habits and neck beard, threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Tight end Tony Scheffler caught the first of Orton’s scores — a 19-yarder in the third quarter — and raced 52 yards to set up a late Brandon Stokley score to put the game out of reach.

The Broncos’ defense, which came in having given up a league-low 43 points in five games, kept the Chargers out of the end zone after halftime, surrendering just a Nate Kaeding field goal midway through the third. Philip Rivers was sacked four times in the second half alone, including twice by Elvis Dubervil, giving him a league-best 10 through six games.

After a Week 7 bye, things get interesting for the Broncos — a road date with the Ravens, followed by a Monday nighter at home against the Steelers.

A couple of weeks ago I took a solo road trip from northern Minnesota to Oregon.  I had been really looking forward to the trip, until the weather turned nasty.  I left in the rain, which continued much of day one to Dickinsen, ND.   It was quite frustrating, as I drove through some gorgeous country – such as Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park – but could see very little of it due to the pouring rain.  Not only did I not want to get out of the car to take photos, but the ones I did turned out to be mainly gray.

The next day I drove through not only rain, but snow flurries from Billings to Butte.  Later in the day, however, the sky began to clear up.  Unfortunately, by that time I was driving through flatlands again.  However, as the sun began to set, the countryside lit up.  Suddenly this deserted farm came into sight just off the freeway, and I just had to pull over.   I shot these three photos from the shoulder of the freeway, through the passenger side window:

Not being one who can leave well-enough alone, I decided to try out an Orton layering technique on this shot of the barn.  The Orton technique – in very general terms – is where an out of focus copy of an image is layered over the original layer to achieve a painted effect.

I really like it, but most people seem to prefer the original.

The third day of my trip I had nice weather, but not many opportunities to stop and take photos.  Freeways are not typically conducive to photography, however you can’t beat them for speed.  I did stop and take the obligatory photo of Multnomah Falls, and also grabbed this shot of a tunnel leading from the parking lot to the Falls:

I think the reflective nature of the tunnel makes a cool optical illusion.

So, while not my ideal photo excursion, the road trip was not a complete waste. And, of course, I did get home…

Brady and friends, planning to build a snow fort

Further proof Kyle Orton and the Broncos are the greatest thing the NFL has going: The Patriots, who Orton beat 20-17 last week, crushed the Titans 59-0 today. If little Tom Brady could throw a league-record five touchdowns in the second quarter, imagine how many Orton could’ve thrown. Seriously though, that’s the biggest margin of victory I’ve seen in my whole life.

Brady’s second quarter barrage staked the Pats to a 45-0 halftime lead — the largest at the break in NFL history. After scoring on the opening drive of the third quarter, the gracious Bill Belicheck decided the lead was safe enough to call on his backup, Brian Hoyer, who engineered a scoring drive his first time out. Brady finished with 380 yards and six touchdowns — three to Randy Moss, a pair to Wes Welker and one to Kevin Faulk. Laurence Maroney added 123 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

While Brady was busy making quick work of the hapless Titans, another pretty boy AFC East quarterback saw his hot start go up in flames — the Jets’ Mark Sanchez threw five interceptions in a 16-13 overtime loss to the powerhouse Bills. Buffalo’s Trent Edwards went down with a first quarter concussion, but that didn’t stop Terrell Owens from shredding the Jets’ defensive secondary to the tune of 13 yards on three catches. Good luck with that career after your one-year contract runs out, T.O.!

Other scores from around the league: Houston 28, Cincinnati 17; Green Bay 26, Detroit 0; Jacksonville 23, St. Louis 20; Minnesota 33, Baltimore 31; New Orleans 48, New York 27; Pittsburgh 27, Cleveland 14; Carolina 28, Tampa Bay 21; Kansas City 14, Washington 6; Oakland 13, Philadelphia 9; Arizona 27, Seattle 3; Atlanta 21, Chicago 14.

By the way, Orton & co. are in San Diego to face the Chargers tomorrow night. Let’s see what happens!

Week 5 showed some interesting things in the NFL starting with the Bengals proving they are for real after beating the much fancied Ravens in Baltimore.  Yes they needed help from Ray Lewis but yet again Carson Palmer showed he is still a quality QB.  Cincinnati are one miracle play away from being perfect.

Though speaking of the week 1 loss to the Broncos brings us nicely onto Denver.  This team was written off at the start of the season but McDaniels, Orton and a quality defence has shown that this team has a good chance of making the playoffs.  Orton hasn’t done anything pretty but he hasn’t done anything wrong either.

Week 5 also showed that the NFC East is between 2 teams Philly and NY since both the Redskins and the Cowboys really are just not that good.  Although the Cowboys won they only beat the Chiefs and Washington, in fact let’s not even go there since it just upsets me.

Buffalo and Cleveland could just be the two worse teams to have played in the NFL and to say that the game on Sunday was dreadful would be an understatement.  6 – 3?  I have been to higher scoring football games (that is proper football!)

The Colts and the Giants both look good and I expect that you properly won’t get very good odds for a Manning bowl in Miami at the end of the season.  Both the Manning brothers are also clear MVP leaders along with Jared Allan of the Vikings.

Finally week 5 showed that a lot of teams are still searching for an identity.  Take Jacksonville and Seattle for two good examples.  Either these teams are either good or rotten but they are hardly good or rotten two weeks in a row.  Look for the Jags to bounce back this week and play well and if you do fantasy football but little Jones-Drew in your team since he should see a lot of the ball versus St Louis.

Photographed by khairilfz

An Hdr and a heavily photoshopped image in Infrared and B+W – All faked to look surreal. Postprocess experiment.

– License

Thought #1 – Hobos around the world spent this weekend mourning the wasteful lose of hundreds of gallons of booze as 3 of the four MLB playoff series wrapped up. The Dodgers, Angels, and Yankees all swept their respective opponents over the weekend and then proceeded to jump around, hug each other, and shower themselves with various types of alcohol so much so that I wondered if I was watching a team who just won a first round playoff series or a Real World Miami reunion, oh Tek-Money what ever happened to you. Seriously though, doesn’t this seem to be a little much? I mean a week ago the same celebrations went down for simply making the playoffs, you’ve barely had enough time to sober up. And what exactly are you celebrating? Making to the next round? Show me the ring you get for that. I’m pretty sure I didn’t see the Celtics going Animal House on themselves last year when they beat the Bulls. Also don’t remember the Steelers popping corks after beating the Chargers last year. Listen, its good to be happy, its good to celebrate, but just like my 8th grade football coach used to tell guys when they scored touchdowns, act like you’ve been there before. So Major League Baseball, act like you’ve been there before, which by the way, you were last weekend.

Thought #2 – Why on earth is the MLB against replay? Two plays were horribly miscalled this weekend, both of which could have very quickly been reversed with a simple replay system. Are we still playing that “human error adds to the purity of the game” card here? How exactly does getting calls wrong make things pure? I mean doesn’t it make it kind of worse seeing how a guy like me can sit on his couch a thousand miles away and watch your professional umpires blatant mistakes over and over? That’s like saying we shouldn’t have an appeals process because it ruins the purity of our court system, ridiculous. The other argument is that it will slow down the game. You’re right baseball, Heaven forbid that a baseball game last 4 hours and 10 minutes instead of just the normal 4 hours. Pretty sure if I can tell in about 30 seconds that a call is wrong, a pro should be able to as well. Plus, am I supposed to feel good, even when my team loses on a bad call, just because I got to crash a half hour earlier or catch the last 15 minutes of CSI? Come on baseball, show a little effort here.

Thought #3 – If you are a struggling NFL team you know what you need to get? Some former Chicago Bears. Chicago is apparently playing the role of the set up man in the NFL these days, priming players, letting them sow their wild oats, and then shipping them off to get hitched by the next pretty thing that gives them a look. Kyle Orton threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns against the Pats, while fellow former Bear and party boat expert Cedric Benson became to first back to put up a hundred years on the Ravens defense. All I can say is that I really hope the Redskins make a push to get Devin Hester.

Thought #4 – I know West Virginia fans have their own post-game celebration of burning large amounts of furniture, and while I don’t really get it, it’s your deal so I let it go. Now as for your pregame routine, I believe some of you alumni are taking it a bit to far. Hopefully by now you saw former Moutaineer fullback Owen Schmitt go WWE on his own head before the game Sunday. The guy looked like he had just come out of a cage match with Ric Flair, and this was before a single snap. Nice WVU alum, way to represent. Now enjoy watching your laz-e-boy go up in flames.

Quick NFL thoughts: The Broncos and Bengals are more legit than we thought. The Pats and Cowboys aren’t. Tom Brady is very worried about his knee. A Manning verses Manning Super Bowl is very likely, and I’m pretty sure Mike Singletary made Dre Bly cry, more on that later.

Kyle Orton and his candy cane socks got the best of the Patriots Sunday

Don’t think it can get any better than the Red Sox getting swept from the playoffs? Well, how about that AND the Patriots losing? Kyle Orton and the Cinderella Broncos took care of the second half of the deal, knocking off the Pats 20-17 tonight in overtime.

Orton completed a career high 35 passes for 334 yards, including a pair of 11-yard touchdown strikes to Brandon Marshall. Marshall’s second score came with less than six minutes remaining and forced overtime, where a Matt Prater field goal was the difference.

Elsewhere, in the possible Game of the Year, Cleveland starter Derek Anderson completed 2-of-17 passes for 23 yards to lead the Browns to a 6-3 win over the Bills. Yep, that’s not a typo — two competions for 23 yards and a win. Cleveland recovered a Roscoe Parrish fumble deep in Buffalo territory to set up an 18-yard Billy Cundiff field goal to win it in the last minute. Terrell Owens, by the way, caught four balls for 44 yards.

Other scores from around the NFL: Pittsburgh 28, Detroit 20; Dallas 26, Kansas City 20 (OT); Minnesota 38, Worst Team Ever (aside from the Bills and Browns) 10; NY Giants 44, Oakland 7; Philly 33, Tampa Bay 14; Carolina 20, Washington 17; Cincinnati! 17, Baltimore 14; Atlanta 45, San Francisco 10; Seattle 41, Jacksonville 0; Arizona 28, Houston 21.

-Randy Orton Vs John Cena/Title Vs Permanencia en RAW-60-Iron Man

-Fatal For Way por el World HeavyWeight Championship-Undertaker Vs CM Punk Vs Rey Mysterio Vs Batista

Claro esta que por ahora la lucha mas aburrida es la  de Cena/Orton ya es aburrido un single entre ellos pues tener a 2  luchadores que en cuanto a repertorio de moves es desatrozo, tenerlos en un Iron Man de 60 minutos sera un aburrimiento total.Los Iron Man son combates donde deben luchar dos tecnicos(ejemplo el mejor Iron man de la historia fue el HBK Vs Bret Hart, ambos 2 de los wrestlers mas tecnicos y completos de la historia del wrestling)o por lo menos que tengan una amplia gama de Moves.Cena tiene bastantes y muy buenos, pero Orton es un luchador cero en sumisiones y no ejecuta buenos ataques aereos desde las esquinas desde 2005.

El combate por el titulo promete, es un combate fresco y podrian haber  2 nuevos campeones que serian los favoritos del publico, Rey Mysterio & Batista.