What? Goo-lay!!

So a couple quick-hit thoughts from the weekend...

1.) Congrats to the Indianapolis Colts, and thanks for winning me $75.

2.) I accurately predicted the Colts winning the Super Bowl from the beginning of the playoffs, although I thought it would have been against the Saints. How, when faced with seemingly superior opponents did I know the Colts would win it all?? Simple - I used the "Mom's Conspiracy Theory Theory" (or MCTT).

While watching the USA women's soccer team defeat the Chinese team in 1999 (the famous Brandi Chastain "bra game" - which was an overrated moment in my opinion), my mother remarked - "It's fixed!! Of course the American team is going to win!!" I laughed it off, and then the USA team won on penalty kicks. I thought..."hmmm..."

The MCTT is based on the premise that the outcome of sporting events is preordained by what would make the best media story. After Chastain's bra, several events occurred which cemented my adherence to the MCTT. Two notable examples:

2002 - Still reeling from the events of 9/11, the New England PATRIOTS win the Super Bowl over the heavily favored St. Louis Rams (thus winning me $50). This had the triple effect of having a very American-named team win, allowing a historically putrid franchise to score the upset, and introducing GQ Cover Boy Tom Brady to the media stratosphere.

2004 - Down three games to none to the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox proceed to win eight straight games to claim their first World Series title since 1918. This was exactly one year after both they and the Chicago Cubs famously choked in hilarious ways (Bartman and Grady). Evidently there was some kind of curse or something. Anyway, so the (media) pressure was on, and the Sox win. The world sighs as we can finally stop hearing about Babe Ruth and Bucky Dent and blah blah blah blah blah. The "Curse is Lifted" story reigns supreme.

Anyway, just a couple examples, but I was pretty convinced that Peyton Manning vs. Hurricane Katrina would be what we were subjected to this year. But, what with Reggie Bush falling to them in the draft, Drew Brees saving the Saints from a season of Daunte Culpepper, and Marques Colston becoming the steal of the draft, it would have been a bit much. So, instead, we got Peyton's legacy vs. Rex's payback for killing my fantasy team. What, you weren't aware of that part of the story???

Anyway, along those lines, here are The Disgruntled Investor's Sports Predictions for 2007:

-MLB - Chicago Cubs win the World Series
-NFL - Chicago Bears (led by Rex Grossman, who is a late season replacement after Griese and Orton mysteriously suffer knee injuries simulatenously) win the Super Bowl
-NBA - Some team wins, Mark Cuban complains, Latrell Sprewell owes child support
-NHL - .........

3.) I hate hate hate hate hate hate all of the hype surrounding Super Bowl commercials. Guess what the worst part of watching TV (and now going to the movies) is?? COMMERCIALS. So now that becomes a big media event because a.) the games are usually boring unless your team is in it [or the MCTT comes through] and b.) Cindy Crawford and some talking frogs caught the world's attention?!?! What I hate the most is the next day at work/school/prison yard - "Hey, did ya see the commercials?? The horse kicked a football. Hee."

Having said that, the Robert Goulet commercial was hilarious.

4.) On the investment front, two new developments have emerged. One, I've decided to sell the second place I had bought a year ago (i.e. not the one I tried to sell last summer). Currently, I'm planning on trying to sell it to an investor - right now my realtor is "looking into that. " If there is no movement on that front by mid-late March, I'm going to look into putting it on the market, something I'm not really wanting to do. I'd prefer not to pay my own mortgage on it, like I did with the other place. Anyway, I'll be posting updates on that as it progresses. As opposed to the other place, all I need to do for this one (besides the usual touching-up), is replace the carpets and paint the kitchen. Hopefully this property will not be smoted like the last one. The second development is I've decided to use the $400 I inexplicably received from my dad at Christmas to invest in individual stocks, something I've actually always been interested in. So, I'll be following the progress of those as well. The two I've chosen are Cisco and The Knot (which is an online wedding supplies/services site). Both are reporting their earnings this week, and both are rated pretty high by the pros. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

Sorry to bore you all with all that - to make up for it, and to celebrate my favorite commercial of the Super Bowl, here's this: