The Start of A New NFL Season, and TV

Every year the excitement I feel for the start of the NFL season grows. Tonight, the Patriots beat the Colts in a great game, which had its share of scoring, defensive plays, and ridiculous turnovers. I only watched the second half straight through, as the first half was spent flipping between the game and The Apprentice second season opener. I am a realitytv junkie, as much as I love pro sports, NFL included, I also love my The Real World, Survivor, The Apprentice, on down the line. In fact I'm going to make a list of the best Reality TV shows at the end of this post.
Briefly about the game and season: Three redzone turnovers will do you in every time, especially on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions. Who gets the goat award for the Colts? Vanderjagt, while not aware of the fact that I drafted him on my fantasy team, did not disappoint my fantasy football history by missing the long field goal at the end. James' fumble at the goal line, however, wins the award for me. 142 yards is great for Edge, but that fumble changes everything. Not very clutch. The game was a great start to the season, with the two teams playing at a high intensity level and a New England crowd that came across loudly emotional during the second half. Tennessee and Miami had their game moved to Saturday, giving the NFL another standalone game to build huge ratings on, if they make it a national telecast, whcih appears unlikely.
I can make predictions on this log and prove my mastery of NFL knowledge. A few games this week, to begin, and if it's a good time I'll pick 'em all next week. Week One:

• Philadelphia over NY Giants: Biased opinion, but after losing three straight openers, the Eagles want to show they are for real this season by putting former grocery store clerk Kurt Warner back on the bench, where he will inevitably end up this season.
• Atlanta over San Francisco: I like a healthy Michael Vick this season, and Jim Mora, Jr. makes his head coaching debut against the team he was with last season. SF will have to exploit the Falcons' secondary troubles, and I don't think that Tim Rattay to Brandon Lloyd is going to get it done, yet.
• Kansas City over Denver: I'm staying away from the easy ones this week. Sunday night games are usually great matchups, and I predict a lot of points in this one. KC has enough offensive weapons (Green, Holmes, Gonzalez) to overcome the lack of a dominating receiver. Dante Hall provides the special teams fireworks that gives the Chiefs an edge over the Plummer led Broncos in Denver on Sunday night.
• St. Louis over Arizona: OK, I'll take an easy one. Last season, Week one there was one knockout pick. One guaranteed winner, and that was the Dolphins at home over the Texans. Whoops. This year the stone cold mortal lock is going to stand, as a lighter Orlando Pace steps back on the Rams O-Line and lets Marshall Faulk run all over the Cardinal defense.

Let's move from one list to another, as I give a brief list of the best Reality TV shows (in my opinion, of course):

1. Survivor: I did not want to like Survivor, but all it took was one episode of voting someone off the island to hook me in, and I dont think that I've missed an episode since.
2. Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Shallow 2nd choice? Perhaps, but creating a reality show from two other reality shows was a stroke of genius, and the Challenge gives a good look into the world of reality television relationships, while also fostering a strong sense of competition.
3. The Apprentice: I loved the first season. The best part of every episode is not the board room necesssarily, but the cut scene where The Donald gives us, the viewers, a little insight into what it takes to succeed in business and win the task. The board room is great, also, and the cattiness and characters developed over the season were very strong.
4. Paradise Hotel: One of the most ridiculous shows that I have ever seen, I watched this one religiously. The tension and in-fighting amongst the cast was the best I have ever seen. Better than any Survivor, or even Real World. The concept was to survive as long as possible in paradise without being eliminated by not having a partner of the opposite sex to share a room with. Oh, I'll make a special Paradise Hotel post at some point to really analyze a great program.
5. The Real World: My favorite was Seattle. They are all great, even if the most recent editions have scaled back on the character development. This season should be great, if for no other reason than it is in Philadelphia.

Thats enough for one post.