Apparently Comcast is going to be rebranding itself as “Xfinity”. We are all of course to believe that this has absolutely nothing do with the general connotation of the word Comcast being something akin to “terrible service.”

What we can all really expect from this rebranding is nearly spelled out by Marc Brownstein:

“Verizon has FiOS. Comcast now has Xfinity. It’s rebundling it in a high-tech package. You are rebundling an improved product, an enhanced service,” said Marc Brownstein, president and chief executive officer of the Brownstein Group, a Philadelphia brand communication, public relations, and advertising firm.

When you read that sentence about “You are rebundling an improved product…” just imagine that you are the subject and what he is really saying is that “you will be paying more money for an ever so slightly enhanced service with a different name.”

They also have a clever and vacant holding page for a new website. Is it just me or does this look like the cover of a Jehovah’s Witnesses pamphlet? Seriously. All they need is a little Jesus on those clouds.

Dear Comcast: Good luck making people like you more once you’re called Xfinity. Here’s a tip, if your services still cost a fortune and barely work, and your customer service is atrocious on top of that, that new name will be just as dirty as the old one.

All season long I’ve been picking my weekly winners (minus week 1 and most of the Thursday night games) here on NerdStarGamer. It’s been fun and challenging. More challenging in the actually doing it part than the picking.

This all started last year when I got fed up watching those guys on the football shows picking teams. Have you ever noticed how poorly they pick? It’s probably more a statement about how unpredictable football is as a game than about their actual knowledge. Regardless, I decided to do my own picks this season. I estimated that I could pick about two thirds of the games right.

So How Did I Do?

I’ve you’ve been keeping track all season, you’ll likely already know the answer. But for those of you fresh out of the gates, I’d say I did pretty good. Anything over 50% counts right? For each week I picked all but one of the games normally. I’d save one game to do a totally ridiculous pick, called See If It Sticks®. Those of you that have ever read King Kaufman’s column on Salon.com should be familiar with the idea (since I kind of stole it). I actually did decent on the See If It Sticks® picks until the end of the regular season when I started picking blindly against the Colts every week. I do dislike them so much.

Anyway, for the entire regular season, including my See If It Sticks® picks, I finished 154-83. That works out to just under 65% (I think). So I didn’t quite make my goal of picking two thirds of the games correctly, but I got real close. Better luck next season. I finished my See If It Sticks® picks at a paltry 6-9. Bad news bears.

Enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend. I will be cheering loudly against the Colts. But beyond that, wouldn’t it be great if New Orleans won?

At last, here are my results for my week 17 picks, several weeks late.

Indianapolis √ at Buffalo
Jacksonville at Cleveland √
Chicago √ at Detroit
San Francisco √ at St. Louis
Pittsburgh √ at Miami
NY Giants √ at Minnesota (See If It Sticks®)
Atlanta √ at Tampa Bay
New Orleans at Carolina √
New England √ at Houston
Green Bay √ at Arizona
Washington at San Diego √
Tennessee √ at Seattle
Baltimore at Oakland √
Philadelphia √ at Dallas
Kansas City at Denver √
Cincinnati √ at NY Jets

Hmmm. Not so great that week. Started out good though. That makes me 9-7 for the week and I missed my See If It Sticks® pick.

All I can really say about this is “Wow.” And also, maybe someone has too much time on their hands.

• Pure CSS3 AT-AT Walker

San Diego √ at Tennessee

Buffalo √ at Atlanta

Hehe. Last time I pick Bills.

Kansas City at Cincinnati √

Oakland at Cleveland √

I love it when I pick bad teams to win and they do!

Seattle at Green Bay √

Baltimore √ at Pittsburgh

Close one here.

Houston √ at Miami

Jacksonville at New England √

I say trap game for Patriots. Hopefully the pull it out.

Tampa Bay at New Orleans √

Unbelievable.

Carolina √ at NY Giants (See If It Sticks ®)

Detroit at San Francisco √

St. Louis at Arizona √

I’m going to be pissed if Arizona blows this one. Apparently some teams are even worse than the Lions.

NY Jets at Indianapolis √

Wow. Didn’t see that coming. I’m glad they lost, but I wish Peyton had been playing in it.

Denver at Philadelphia √

Letdown for Philadelphia? I don’t think so.

Dallas √ at Washington

No reason for Dallas not to get this game under control.

Minnesota √ at Chicago

Minnesota slumps to new lows.

Results

Interesting week. Some close loses. I came out 11-5. Not so bad. I got my See If It Sticks®. That makes me 145-76 and 6-8 for See If It Sticks®.