Black Sunday

This is the worst day of sports as far as i'm concerned.  You still have a football hangover, the super bowl is still a week away, and all thats on is shitty basketball.  I think there were some NBA games of some relevance on, and I'm being told the NHL All-Star game was today on some fake channel.  I couldn't be less interested.

This week will especially suck this week because there are no controversial story lines to beat into the ground.  Sure Kurt Warner is a nice story, but his first comeback (from being a grocer) was way more interesting than this one (from backing up Eli Manning AND Matt Leinert).  So prepare for a media onslaught of garbage, verbal diarrhea, and outlandish predictions - cough - Merill Hodge - cough...

Either way, enjoy family and the return of flight of the conchords on an otherwise listless Sunday night after Dexter, Californication, Football, The Sopranos and Entourage all left Sundays hanging like a single mother raising a bastard child - too harsh?  Probably.

Double Bypass Burger

I normally stick with sports here, but when the time comes, and a moment so significant in our country takes place, I would be remiss to overlook its importance.

That's right, on a recent episode of Man V. Food on the Travel Channel, Adam Richmond heads to Atlanta Georgia to take on a 13 lb. pizza challenge, but on his trip he stops at the Vortex Bar and Grill.  A place where they have this burger, a MASSIVE coronary waiting to happen dubbed the double bypass burger.  It features an 8 oz. patty, with 2 fried eggs, 4 slices of American Cheese, 6 slices of bacon not on a bun, but on TWO GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES!  

Add a side of cheesy bacon tots and you have what I estimate as a 4,090 calorie, 344 grams of fat belly bomb.  DELISH!

Bold Prediction for a Wacky Season

My 2008 NFL season started off with a bold prediction, and rightfully will finish with one:

The NFC champion will beat the AFC champion in the Super Bowl this year.

That’s right. As improbable as it sounds, I will stand behind my prediction that either the Cardinals or the Eagles will win this year’s Super Bowl, regardless of whom they play.

And why not? This year we have seen crazier things, right? Two number six seeds might meet in the Super Bowl, and both number one seeds were eliminated in their first games. At this point, home teams are only 3-5 in the postseason, and the NFC Championship game has two participants with fewer than 10 wins for the first time in the modern era. This season, three teams with records of 9-6-1, 9-7, and 8-8 made the playoffs, but five teams with a winning record missed out, included the 11-5 Patriots.

The Cardinals looked disastrous at the end of the season, losing 4 of their last 6 games by a combined 97 points. They could not buy a close game on the east coast, let alone a win until last week’s dismantling of the league’s best home team.

The Eagles needed one of two things to happen to make the playoffs: either beat Washington in Week 16 (they couldn’t) or have Oakland beat Tampa Bay and one of the two NFC North teams lose. Miraculously, the planets aligned and Oakland overcame a late 14 point deficit to win. This alone should solidify my theory of the impossible this year.

When push comes to shove, the Steelers are the best of the remaining teams. They should theoretically win their last two games, regardless of their opponent. If the Ravens were to knock them off, they clearly would have earned their spot in the Super Bowl, and will most likely be favored to finish this remarkable run on February 1st.

Everything points to an AFC champion this year. With the exception of the Giants and possibly the Panthers in the later weeks, the best teams this year have generally played in the AFC: Patriots (preseason, and made an argument late), Steelers, Titans, and Colts. Every one of those teams were battle tested all season, and none more so than the Steelers.
So why is the NFL champion coming from the NFC? Because every stated fact explains otherwise. The actuality that the Eagles and Cardinals are even playing in the NFC Championship is improbable enough given the circumstances surrounding their playoff runs.

This year, more than ever, has exemplified the parody of the NFL, as well as the excellence of competition from throughout the duration. Going into Week 16, it was possible that four Week 17 matchups would decide position or inclusion in the playoffs: Eagles vs. Cowboys, Jets vs. Dolphins, Giants vs. Vikings, Chargers vs. Broncos. While not all of these turned out deciding the fate of the postseason matchups, the possible potential of these games alone created excitement. Even two teams with no chance at the playoffs played a meaningful game, where the Lions were desperately trying to avoid being the first 0-16 team in NFL history.

All logic explains that this theory is centered around improbability, but based on everything I’ve season this season, every odd bounce, torn ligament, offseason knee surgery (or two), and incredible success of the underdogs, I leave you with this one thought:

If there was ever a season for the improbable to happen, this would be the one.

AFC Championship Game Preview

Since 2001, the AFC Championship game has been arguably better than the Super Bowl every year.  Starting with the Tom Brady led Pats beating the Steelers, The "Tuck Rule" game, the Colts marching down the field and beating the mighty Patriots proving Peyton CAN win the big game...

Either way this game has the potential to fit the billing.  The Steelers are one of the more popular teams in the country, and have all the parts to be a championship team.  The Ravens have a ton of personality, and a rookie QB doing things no other rookie QB ever has.  These two teams are division rivals with a real history of bad blood, like a bounty of the head of Hines Ward...The Steelers did beat the Ravens twice this year already, one of those wins coming on a Santonio Holmes NON-touchdown.  

Unfortunately the Ravens are not at 100 percent, they will be without Samari Rolle, and Terrel Suggs is a game time decision.  You'd like to have both teams at full strength in a game like this but its pretty much the opposite, Pittsburgh hasn't been healthier all year, and the Ravens are beat up.  But where there's a will there is a way, and guys like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed don't care about any of that.  Add in a gametime temperature below 30 degrees and a forecast for snow, this one is going to be a slug fest.

What it will come down to I think, isn't Pitt wanting it more, or being healthier, its simply going to come down to running the football and getting to the QB.  Flacco has been untouched throughout the playoffs, but the Steelers will get at him with Woodley and Harrison coming off the edge.  Granted Big Ben spends his fair share of time on his back too, without Suggs the Raven pass rush suffers.

In what will surely be a battle, but wont end up as close as people think.  I put this one 21-10 Pittsburgh.  Although given my record of picks this postseason, Ravens fans should thank me.

NFC Championship Game Preview

Tomorrow is arguably the greatest day for pure football fans, the Conference Championship games.  Sure the Super Bowl is a big game, but its for the casual fan, I prefer the championship weekend myself, the championship offers games between rivals who have some history with each other.

So without further adieu, lets talk NFC Championship.  The game features two teams who by all rights shouldn't be there, the Eagles had an improbably week 17 needing a win and a ton of help to even get into the playoffs, and getting it.  The Cardinals hadn't played tough since November after wrapping up their division early, they were supposed to be a one and done.  Then they were supposed to lose to the Carolina Panthers, undefeated at home, and the Cards were without Anquan Boldin.

Well this week, Boldin is back and the Cardinals have a home game, where they play infinitely better.  The cards have done something that no other playoff team has done this year, won a game at home, and won a game on the road.  They will be ready.  Bill Simmons pointed out earlier this week that Kurt Warner promised his kids puppies if he wins the Super Bowl, and if Barak Obama showed us one thing, it's don't bet against God and puppies.  The cards will beat an Eagles team that is more banged up than letting on (Westbrook is nursing a bad hammie).  Kurt Warner has been there before, and with Boldin and the playing-out-of-his-mind Larry Fitzgerald ready to go, Cards win the game 32-24 and move on to Super Bowl XYZ (44?)

Stat of the Day

Adam "Pacman" Jones has 4 career interceptions.  Warren Sapp has 4 career interceptions.

Divisional Round - Day 2 Recap

Thank you Pittsburgh, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Thank you for preventing me from going 0-4 this weekend.  It was close, but they pulled one out for me and the Pittsburgh faithful.

The games today were well, unimpressive.  Really not terribly enjoyable games early or late.

The Giants got spanked by a Philly team that frankly, did not outplay them.  A couple of real bad turnovers doomed the G-Men as well as offensive ineptitude all afternoon.  Philly did enough to get by and travels to Arizona next week for a tough one with a team on fire.  For Giants fans, this is a tough pill to swallow, a one and done playoff performance with a team that dominated the NFC all year is certainly not what the Meadowlands faithful wanted.  I can hear the shouts for the heads of Coughlin and Eli right now.  But this game comes down to one thing, which, to abuse the metaphor grotesquely, may be the toughest pill to swallow, and that is that the Giants just flat out needed Plaxico Burress.

On to the afternoon billing.  The game started out fairly close, but a flurry of turnovers and a 3rd quarter where the Chargers had 1 offensive play (an interception) and a botched punt, IN THE WHOLE QUARTER!  Pittsburgh added a few scores and it was too much to overcome for San Diego.  The only game I got right, Pittsburgh moves on to the AFC championship to face Baltimore in a game that will definitely be better than the Super Bowl (sorry NBC).

Stay tuned for previews.

Divisional Round - Day 2

Anybody else really dig that "Feeling Kinda Sunday" commercial?  I dunno, maybe its just me but between that and the "Had a Bad Day" nfl.com commercial and of coors all the non-Barry Switzer coors light "Hey Coach..." commercials, I'm really digging the advertising as of late.

On to the games.  If yesterday was The Sizzler, today is Peter Luger's, yesterday was Gennesse, today is Budweiser, yesterday was the Mets, today is the Yankees....ok you get the point.  Today's games showcase the two powerhouse teams, in my opinion, The Giants and The Steelers.

The Giants face a tough and hungry Philadelphia Eagles team who for the past few weeks have been playing a very dangerous brand of football, with McNabb and Reid essentially fearing for their lives, they have been playing/coaching like a man with nothing to lose, and thats a dangerous type of person to go against.  Fresh of their dismantling of the Minnesota Vikings last week, the Eagles come into the Meadowlands ready.  The key to stopping the Eagles is to, not stop him, because thats impossible, but minimize the damage done by Brian Westbrook.  Last time these two faced off, Antonio Peirce was assigned to spy him all game, didn't work.  Westrbook went off for 131 rushing yards and another 72 in the air, two touchdowns and 39 touches on the day.  Nice job Peircey... The Giants will need to establish the run early on, and keep Philly guessing, if Manning is forced into 5 step drops again and again, he will get slaughtered, the key is get those yards on 1st and 2nd down so those pass rushers can't tee off.  I like The Giants 27 - Eagles 24.

The afternoon game pits the pesky, left for dead San Diego SUPER Chargers and boy genius Norv Turner, against the Steelers, with defensive player of the year James Harrison and Big Game Big Ben.  I know that the Chargers snuck one by Peyton and the Colts last week, but without LT their rushing attack doesn't stand a chance, I don't care how "elusive" Darren Sproles is.  Troy Polamalu will find him, and he will destroy him.  A guy like Sproles can only take so many big hits, and there will be so many.  Look for a safe game from Big Ben, with no turnovers, and the Pittsburgh D to shutdown any hopes of San Diego running the ball.  I like Steelers 24 - Chargers 17.

Divisional Round - Day 1 Recap

OK.....so I went 0-2 on yesterdays picks.  Why would you listen to me now?  I don't really know, but yesterday wasn't really my fault, I got some things right.  The Tennessee - Baltimore game was low scoring and a pretty good game, Joe Flacco was a little bit more poised than I expected, but the game was won by Tennessee turning the ball over in the Red Zone like a bunch of goons and Kerry Collins tossin em up like a Brett Favre wannabe that he is.  

Arizona came to play, again...Larry Fitzgerald is out of his mind crazy stupid good.  He catches anything...literally anything.  There should be a stat that is the opposite of a drop, if a drop is one you're supposed to catch and you dont, they should have a stat for the ones you aren't supposed to catch and do...we'll call it a Fitz.  Anyway, as advertised, Jake Delhomme (insert play on words of his last name -homo, etc. here) was atrocious.  You can't turn the ball over 6 times and expect to be close, even against Arizona at home.  I feel bad for Carolina fans right now having to watch that.  Oh and insult to injury, it was Delhomme's birthday, hopefully someone bought him the last 5 seasons of 24 on DVD so he can avoid the HOURS and HOURS of ripping he is going to get from basically every imaginable media outlet.

Divisional Round - Day 1

Interesting slate of games this weekend, particularly today.

The big bear is hungry!

The afternoon game pegs the hottest team in the AFC against the team who lead the way all season.  Baltimore travels to Tennessee to take on the well reseted Titans for a chance to go to the AFC championship game.  Tennessee hasn't spent a day out of first place all year, and with Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch returning to action, presumably at full strength, Tennessee looks ready.  Don't sleep on the Titans here, they have a coach, Jeff Fischer, and a quarterback, Kerry Collins, who have been there before, both playing in a multitude of playoff games.

Sure Baltimore has a big D, but they are a turnover based team, if they don't score twice defensively, they will not win this game.  Tennessee does not turn the ball over frequently and I'd put more faith in Kerry Collins than rookie Joe Flacco who has shown some life, but is only playing in his 18th NFL game.  I say Tennessee 17 - Baltimore 10.

The night game has Arizona traveling to the east coast to take on Carolina.  Arizona has been unsuccessful all year (0-5) traveling east, including a week 8 loss to the Panthers in Carolina.  Kurt Warner may have found new life, but Anquan Boldin is questionable to play which will certainly hurt the Cards dangerous passing game.  It's no secret Carolina prefers to run the football and run the football some more, and then run it some more after that.  Arizona was able to stifle Michael Turner last week, but I don't see them stopping the relentless thunder and lighting attack of D'Angelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.   As long as Jake Delhomme doesn't turn the ball over more than twice, I don't see Arizona winning.  I'd take Carolina 31 - Arizona 28.

The BCS National Championship (sorry Utah)

Tonight will officially put an end to the seemingly endless college football bowl season.  The Florida Gators led by former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow will match up against reigning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford.  The last time Heisman trophy winners faced off in a national championship game was when USC's Matt Leinert led the romp of Jason White's Oklahoma Sooners.

Unfortunately for the Sooners, tonight should shake out in a similar fashion.  Look for the Florida defense to give the Sooners fits all night, this aint no Big 12 shootout tonight.  Florida 34 - Oklahoma 18.

REALLY?? starring Andy Pettite

So news broke today that FORMER Yankee starting pitcher Andy Pettite has turned down the 1 year $10million offer from the Yanks.  I can't imagine him turning it down for any other reason than retirement, although an official announcement hasn't been made.  If he does decide to go to another team for more money, expect Yankee fans to be pisssssssedd.  

A little surprised by this story, and look for more to develop soon.

Yankees Rotation (now featuring Joba Chamberlain)

The biggest improvement clearly came in the way of the two hottest pitching free agents around, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.  Sabathia is a clear ace, immediately he will be the top of the rotation and if he doesn't win 20 games i'd be shocked.  Anytime a pitcher gets signed for so many years there is cause for concern, but CC has shown thusfar he is capable of a heavy workload.  Burnett worries me a bit,  his three good years in his career were two contract years and an arbitration year.  Hopefully his humility is genuine and his former tutor Roy Halladay taught him the true zen of pitching.  

The signing of CC shows that Brian Cashman and the Yankees did have a plan when they didn't pull the trigger on a Johan Santana trade.  I'm not saying CC is Johan, but he is as close as it gets with plenty of upside.

Joba moves to a solid rotation spot which to me isn't even an argument anymore.  You want a guy with this kind of talent pitching 200 innings as opposed to being an 8th inning guy and only pitching 70, it's a no brainer.  More outs...less runs scored...more wins, end of story.  Plus the bullpen is pretty solid and doesn't need Joba.  Mo is still automatic, and Veras, Bruney and Ramirez should shake out the late innings.  Dave Robertson showed a ton of promise and youngster Phil Coke may see some innings sooner rather than later.

The rotation how I see it....

1. CC Sabathia

2. Chien-Ming Wang

3. AJ Burnett

4. Joba Chamberlain

5. Pettite/Hughes/Kennedy

The rotation is built strong, and will compete for the best in baseball.  The thing to look at here is that 1-3 and 1-4 we match up with anyone, so the curse of first round eliminations may be behind us.  This is a very strong playoff type rotation that also has the depth to make it through a 162 game season.

The question mark comes at the 5th spot.  As of now Andy Pettitte hasn't accepted the Yankees offer and all indications are that the Yanks are ready to move on.  This leaves the 5th spot up for grabs, it should be a nice competition in spring training between Kennedy and Hughes, and Dan Giese, who showed he could pitch in the big leagues in spot starts last season.  No matter what, we can't do worse than we did last year with Kennedy and Hughes so odds are one will emerge as a 10 game winner.  My money is still on Hughes, but we'll see how it shakes out.

AL All-star team (aka The New York Yankees) - Hitters

With the impending finalization of the Mark Teixiera megadeal, the time is right for a post on the New York Yankees.  The Yankees spent the offseason cleaning up the free agent market after purging a few "dead weight" type contracts (Pavano, Giambi, Abreau, Pettitte, Mussina to name a few) freeing up a seemingly endless stream of cash.  This cash was turned immediately into the top two free agent pitchers on the markey, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, and the best 1st baseman not named Pujols, Mark Teixiera.

Yankee haters may cry foul...but they are playing by the rules and there is no question the Yankees are good for baseball.  The complaint isn't that the Yankees are putting millions upon millions into the on field product, the complaint is that other owners can't keep up with what the Yankees spend on players and still maintain a constant flow of millions into their own personal accounts.

Here's the opening day lineup, the way i see it...

1. Johnny Damon, LF

2. Derek Jeter, SS

3. Alex Rodriguez, 3B

4. Mark Texiera, 1B

5. Hideki Matsui, DH

6. Jorge Posada, C

7. Robinson Cano, 2B

8. Nick Swisher, RF

9. Melky Cabrera, CF

A quit rundown, spots 1-4 speak for themselves...basically a lock, the only difference being the occasional day off for Damon with him as DH, he's still the best leadoff option.  Something that does still concern me is that A-Rod will still be the guy that has to drive in the big run.  He is going to see the best pitches he could ask for...however if he fails to drive in the run, Tex is not beyond taking a walk in a big situation, and with only Hideki Matsui protecting him, he likely won't see anything too spectacular to hit.  Depending on how Jorge's shoulder is and how consistently he is in the lineup, we may see a juxtapose between him and Matsui at 5/6.

I may be asking too much of Cano in the 7 hole here.  Although he may not replicate his 2007 season, I can't see him doing as poorly as he did last year...so assuming he levels out somewhere in between, he should be solid.  Swish is a big mystery to me, he had the lowest BA in the league last year but he is a money ball guy, he should see a lot of pitches and walk...if he hits 20 hr's I'd be elated.  Cabrera is in the same boat as Cano...he finished last season in the minors and hopefully has had a wakeup call.  In actuality he is only keeping the spot warm for Austin Jackson, so any production between him and Brett Gardner, as well as a plus arm, should be fine for the 9 hole.

Wildcard weekend does not disappoint...(unless you are a colts, vikings, dolphins, or falcons fan)

Greetings...it's been a while.

By the looks of things, I can see you aren't happy.  Afterall who could blame you, your team has gotten so far...struggled mightily to get into the postseason, a true honor these days....

Anyway, the journey to the post season is long and hard...you rooted, you cheered, you cringed, and when the regular season ended, you celebrated, a postseason birth.  And now, for three unlucky teams, and one really REALLY unlucky team, the season has ended abruptly.

It's ok, I feel your pain, I am a J-J-J-...I can do this, I am a J-J-J-, alsmost got it, J-J-Jets fan.  In the words of the joker, here we go.  Enjoy this San Diego Chargers Cheerleader for the moment.

First thing's first...

Arizona Cardinals 30 - Atlanta Falcons 24

This game really caught me by surprise, the Cardinals came out of the gates looking hungry and playoff ready, no one saw that coming considering the way they stumbled into the post season having clinched so early on.  Dominique Rogers-Cromartie was all over the field collecting 10 tackles and a pick.  Kurt Warner connected with Larry Fitzgerald on a big flea flicker early in the first and Arizona was able to run the ball with a resurgent Edgerrin James and hold off Matt Ryan and the unusually inconsistent Atlanta offense.

Arizona faces an interesting matchup with Carolina next week, if they are able to stop the run the way they did against Atlanta, then they can really do some damage.

San Diego Chargers 23 - Indianapolis Colts 17

In the night cap for Saturday's festivities, the game proved to be more tightly contested than some may have originally thought.  There were two real heroes in this one.  First off, in typical January fashion, LT was nowhere to be found again.  Well LT be damned, in steps the diminutive former K-State star, Darren Sproles with the game of his life.  When all was said and done he had 328 total yards, and two touchdowns including the game winner in OT.  The other hero in this one was SD punter Mike Scifres, with a Madden-like 6 punts inside the 20 yard line and an average of 57 yards per punt, even 310 yards of Peyton Manning gold wasn't enough to overcome.  This was a field position battle all night and it was won by the Bolts.  They now move on the face the Steelers in Pitt where they will certainly be the biggest underdog of the weekend.

Baltimore Ravens 29 - Miami Dolphins 9

Not much to this game, a less than pedestrian performance by the comeback player of the year Chad Pennington and a swarming Ravens defense was able to collect 4 picks including 2 by Ed Reed.  Miami was never able to overcome the turnovers and Baltimore ran away with this one.  Offensively Baltimore was atrocious,  Flacco connected on only 9 of 23 passes.  If they don't get at least 1 defensive TD per game, they don't stand a chance.  Next week at Tennessee should be a fun one to watch at the very least.

Philadelphia Eagles 26 - Minnesota Vikings 14

In a game that had Giants fans surely holding their breath, the Eagles showed that they are making a serious run at the NFC this postseason.  The Eagles turned the ball over twice but Asante Samuel's pick six in the second quarter proved to be enough, as icing on the cake, Brian Westbrook took a screen pass 71 yards for the score, proving once again that he is the most important player on the hottest team right now.  Look for them to give the Giants a lot of trouble next week in the Meadowlands.