Episode 174 - 2015-16 UEFA Champions League Picks

One thing is for certain with this year's UEFA Champions League: Tim will not be picking Liverpool.

Recently, the Champions League group stage draw was announced.  Here are the guys' orders of finish (remember, top 2 per group advance to knockout phase, 3rd place team goes to Europa League):

Group	Mike's Order of Finish	Tim's Order of Finish
Group A	Real Madrid Shakhtar Donetsk Malmo PSG	Real Madrid Malmo PSG Shakhtar Donetsk
Group B	PSV Eindhoven Wolfsburg Man United CSKA Moscow	Man United PSV Eindhoven CSKA Moscow Wolfsburg
Group C	Atletico Madrid Galatasaray Benfica Astana	Atletico Madrid Benfica Galatasaray Astana
Group D	Juventus Man City Sevilla Borussia Monchengladbach	Man City Sevilla Borussia Monchengladbach Juventus
Group E	Barcelona Bayer Leverkusen Roma BATE Borisov	Barcelona Roma Bayer Leverkusen BATE Borisov
Group F	Arsenal Bayern Munich Olympiacos Dinamo Zagreb	Bayern Munich Arsenal Olympiacos Dinamo Zagreb
Group G	Porto Chelsea Dynamo Kiev Maccabi Tel Aviv	Chelsea Dynamo Kiev Porto Maccabi Tel Aviv
Group H	Zenit St. Petersburg Valencia Lyon Gent	Valencia Gent Zenit St. Petersburg Lyon

Champions League winner:
Mike: Juventus
Tim: Real Madrid

The picks are set.  Who gets the batsu game?



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Episode 173 - 2015 NFL Picks (AFC)

Today, we do our AFC picks:

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks
AFC North	Pittsburgh	Baltimore
AFC South	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
AFC East	New England	New England
AFC West	Denver	Denver
Wild Cards	Cincinnati Houston	Pittsburgh Miami

AFC champions:
Mike: Indianapolis
Tim: New England

Super Bowl champions (and batsu game teams):
Mike: Green Bay over Indianapolis
Tim: Green Bay over New England



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Episode 172 - 2015 NFL Picks (NFC)

We're now in Year 3 of the podcast!!

It's time for our NFL picks.  As always, we start with the NFC:

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks
NFC North	Green Bay	Green Bay
NFC South	New Orleans	Carolina
NFC East	Philadelphia	Dallas
NFC West	Seattle	Seattle
Wild Cards	Arizona St. Louis	Philadelphia NY Giants

NFC champions:
Mike: Green Bay
Tim: Green Bay

Next time: AFC.



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The Open Pyramid Project: Open Pyramid Project Collaboration With the USFA

The Open Pyramid Project: Open Pyramid Project Collaboration With the USFA

Exciting news today about the Open Pyramid Project, the special soccer standings that Mike has been working on this year in an attempt to introduce promotion and relegation to American soccer.

The OPP system is being adopted by the United States Football Association (USFA), which is a non-profit startup for an alternative to the US Soccer Federation (USSF).  Additionally, Mike has officially been named Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the USFA.

We encourage you to follow the USFA on Twitter (@the_USFA) and the hashtag #AFedForAllClubs.

English Football is Back!

English football season starts this weekend, and Mike will be making some predictions.  Here they are (minus the cups), and keep in mind that this is part serious, part what Mike would like to see:

Premier League
EPL Champions: Arsenal
EPL top 4: Man City, Man United, Liverpool

Dream relegation from EPL: Chelsea, Man United, Tottenham
Actual relegation from EPL: Sunderland, Watford, Leicester

FL Championship
Promoted to EPL: Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Blackburn Rovers
Relegated to FL1: Birmingham City, MK Dons, Charlton Athletic

League 1
Promoted to Championship: Wigan, Bradford City, Peterborough
Relegated to League 2: Blackpool, Shrewsbury, Millwall, Scunthorpe

League 2
Promoted to League 1: Notts County, Luton, AFC Wimbledon, Carlisle
Relegated to National League: Hartlepool, Barnet

National League
Promoted to League 2: Cheltenham, Gateshead

Episode 171 - Early August Potpourri

We are once again recording using BlogTalkRadio.  Today's topics of conversation:

• Tim wanted to discuss the Milwaukee arena situation, which is directly related to...
• An update on the St. Louis stadium situation as well as the LA NFL situation (there will be NFL football in Los Angeles in 2016, and it will be the Raiders and Chargers returning to the city which hasn't had football in over two decades).
• Tim talks about some baseball trades that took place.
• Mike gives a brief update on the Open Pyramid standings (hint: Sporting KC are at the head of the table).
• Tim mentions the death of a certain pro wrestler.
• Mike updates us on Ichiro's quest to 3,000 hits.

We also renew our call for a permanent primary co-host.  It's a non-paying job, and the requirements are as follows:

• Must live in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
• Must have a working knowledge of sports, including football (NFL and some college), baseball, basketball (NBA and college), hockey, and soccer (especially English football and UEFA Champions League).  Knowledge must go beyond local teams.
• Must be available to meet up for recording sessions at least twice a month (during which we record multiple episodes of the podcast).
• Must be willing to accept light punishment (for batsu games) in the event they lose a prediction.

If you are interested, contact Mike.  The best way is via Facebook, but he will also accept email and tweets (@skidawgkc22).

Fair use: in honor of their 15 years of bungling of the Chargers' stadium needs and the populace stating they would rather keep the world-famous San Diego Comic-Con over the NFL team, we close with "San Diego" from South Park, followed by Ichiro telling Bob Costas about "August in Kansas City."



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