MOVIE REVIEW "Burn After Reading"  by Mike Smith
LA FLORIDIANA The Fight For Sanity in Insane Times  by Will Moriaty
ODDSERVATIONS DVD Grindhouse: "Murder Mansion" (1972)  by Andy Lalino
FILM BIZ 101 If I Had An Idea....  by Corey Castellano
RETRORAMA DVD Review: “Psychotronica Collector’s Set”  by ED Tucker
GROWING UP FANBOY The Star Wars Years  by Chris Woods
SPORTS TALK Bucs Drop One To The Saints .... Rays Falling From Grace? Can’t Be! .... Stick A Fork In Him .... Week 2 Nfl Picks .... .... .... .... by Chris Munger
MATT'S RAIL Toga, Toga, Toga, Toga .... Happy Birthday Sag .... ....  by Matt Drinnenberg
MIKE'S RANT My Dad .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... And The Oscar For 1997 Should Have Gone To...  by Mike Smith
LETTERS
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Bucs Drop One To The Saints
We’ve been here before. A quarterback that played one good year, and the next year, you want to ring his neck. Bucs QB Jeff Garcia will be sitting on the bench because “his head isn’t in the game” - says coach Gruden, so don’t believe it when they tell you that Garcia is out because of his ankle. His ankle is fine, but his head is not. Fact is Jeff Garcia is a 38 year old journeyman QB that’s never found a home, it was supposed to be here in Tampa, but that could be out the window, while Brian Greise will try to lead the Bucs to a victory over the Falcons. With the loss to the Saints, the Bucs are already behind in the division race, sitting at the bottom, and every other team (CAR, ATL, NO) is 1-0. The curse of the NFC Division Title lives on. The Bucs were expected to take the division this year, but that’s simply not in the cards anymore with New Orleans looking as strong as ever, Carolina is back on the rise, and the Falcons have seemingly rebuilt overnight. This is going to be a very tight division this year and the Bucs have no time to be screwing around with a QB controversy. Garcia is mad he didn’t get his $1Mill last year because he was benched to prevent him from getting hurt, regardless Garcia was mad and that’s why he threw the Wild Card game against the Giants away, then he wants an extension. Sorry but a playoff loss (and a poor a performance in the loss) isn’t what I would consider worth a resigning. Garcia is a stingy player, and the Bucs should trade him away or cut him, he’s not the answer for the Bucs anyway and never was, he was just the best one available at the time when the Bucs had Bruce Gradkowski as the starter. I would’ve signed anyone at that point too. Nevertheless, Brian Greise is the starter (again) and he should be right now. Garcia expects to be well paid for sitting on the bench and pouting like a little girl. Have we reached a point to where we are going to run him out of town faster than Trent Dilfer? I think so.

Rays Falling From Grace? Can’t Be!
They had a great season. Even if they don’t win the division, the Rays have shocked the world already with the feats they have accomplished this year. After leading the Red Sox in as much as 5 ½ games this year, now its going down to the wire for the division title, with under a quarter of a season the Rays have been looking in bad shape recently. It’s looking up though, after that 14 Inning game against the BoSox was a light and the end of the tunnel, and the Sox are starting to not like the Rays very much, they just cannot get past them. It’s now up to the Rays to take out the Yankees as they meet up in a double-header on Saturday.

Stick A Fork In Him
He’s done. The 2007 NFL League MVP and the quarterback that led the most feared offense in the NFL, Tom Brady is out for the year. This is terrible news for Patriots’ fans and really bad news for anyone who has him on their fantasy team. The Patriots now will be led by Matt Cassel, who has little to no NFL experience, and the last game that he started was a high school playoff game. Cassel has been handed the keys to the fastest car in the league, and shouldn’t do too bad. This reminds me of how Brady entered the league, he came in to play after Drew Bledsoe was injured. At the time, Brady had no NFL experience either. Keep in mind that the Patriots have the easiest schedule in the league (for some reason), and if Matt Cassel has any spec of a good arm on him they should be alright.

Week 2 NFL Picks
Last week was an anomaly in the NFL, as every single team projected to win coming of last year’s performances fell down hard, which led me to a winning picking week, but not by much I was 4-3 in my picks but I hope to be 7-0 this week. It was a weird week and only looks to get even weirder.

TB 23 ATL 20 OT?
Matt Ryan will be the starter for the Falcons as they roll into the only stadium with a big pirate ship in it, and it’ll be tough. Quarterbacks that are new to their team and playing against the Bucs’ defense usually have the worst game of their career. The Bucs are coming off of a loss to New Orleans, and will have a new quarterback in Greise. Look for this one to be a tight one, but the Bucs are at home, and should pull this one out but Michael Turner will be the x-factor. If the Bucs get hit in the mouth by a good runner the defense tends to weaken up and after Turner’s performance last week, the Bucs could be in deep dookie.

SD 24 DEN 35
San Diego is shockingly 0-1, Tomlinson is out, Cromartie out, Merriman out. The Chargers are hurt, and the Broncos are on fire. This should be a high scoring game as both teams have great offenses. Look for Denver to take this one.

BAL 21 HOU 7
The Baltimore Ravens are not the same team that they were last year, new coaches, new players, and a rookie starting QB. Meanwhile, the Houston Texans are in rebuilding mode (again) and show no sign of surprising anyone this year. My pick: Baltimore.

NYG 28 STL 10
It’s really bad in St. Louis, and has been for a while. Since their loss in the Super Bowl to the Pats the Rams have been just awful and there doesn’t seem to any light at the end of their tunnel. The Giants however, are short a d-line, but won their first game. My money is on the Giants winning this one.

IND 31 MIN 20
One of these teams will be 0-2. Considering the success of both teams it’s a shock that both of them are 0-1. But if there is anything that I’ve learned over the years, Week 1 means nothing. I’ll go with the Colts in this one.

NE 20 NYJ 13
Brett Favre is 5-0 against teams that have a new starting QB, but that was in Green Bay. Favre is now going to experience the Jets-Pats rivalry but when he sees it he wont be playing against Tom Brady. I know that you shouldn’t bet against Brett Favre, but I can’t get over the fact that Randy Moss is out there too. I’m going to pick the Patriots in this one even with Cassel as their starter, just because of Moss.


PHL 24 DAL 23
Aahh, rivalry football. All the Owens - McNabb talk will be flying around and this one should be a really good game. The Eagles are no slouch this year and Dallas looks like a team that is hell-bent on buying a Super Bowl. I’ll go with the Eagles here because McNabb is on fire right now.

Well thanks for reading number 23, check back next week for 24!