Sportscaster

Everyone has their own idea of how the Playoffs will pan out.  I must admit I have a history of being wrong which means, technically, I always know who is going to win, whoever I think is going to lose. 

So below, you will find my version of what is going to happen in this year’s NFL Playoffs, with a brief explanation of each game. 

I welcome discussion and debate as to your thoughts, of course.

NFC Wild-Cards (team in bold wins)

Atlanta Falcons at Arizona Cardinals

Matt Ryan has played great football all season long, and the media has anointed him as the reason for Atlanta’s success, him or Mike Smith that is.  The reason the Falcons will win this game happens to be the REAL reason for their team’s success this year, Michael Turner (the best free agent pick up last year hands down).  He is the leagues second leading rusher and as anyone who knows football will tell you, you can’t win in playoffs without a running game…and guess who doesn’t have one…the Cardinals.

Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings

Momentum can be a hell of a catalyst in the NFL and I can’t imagine any team picking up more of it than the Eagles after absolutely destroying the Cowboys to get in the playoffs.  The Vikings have the best RB in the NFL in Peterson and they are playing at home but you have to think McNabb is just too high after a win like that to come back down.

AFC Wild-Cards (team in bold wins)

Indianapolis Colts at San Diego Chargers

Peyton Manning is now back to his old self just as I predicted he would be.  After missing training camp it took some time to get his timing back with his teammates now that he has, look at that 9 straight wins.  Manning is unquestionably the best leader in the NFL and most valuable player to his team, Colts win.

Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins

It should be an interesting game.  The Dolphins solid offense against Ravens solid D and Ravens weak passing game against the Miami’s weak passing D.  Pennington’s accuracy wins out and Flacco’s youth is exposed as the Dolphins win at home.

NFC Divisional Playoffs (team in bold wins)

Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants

The Giants will prove that Plaxico Burress once and for all in a playoff atmosphere that they do not live and die by Plaxico Burress.  Not to mention the combination of Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward will overwhelm the Eagles defense, giving Eli Manning plenty of room to work with, which similar to his brother, is not a good thing for Philly fans.

Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers

Great match-up, this will be the third time these teams have played each other this year, they split the first two.  The difference will be Carolina’s stingy defense at home shutting down Turner’s ability to change the game.  Carolina wins a close one.

AFC Divisional Playoffs (team in bold wins)

Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans

Tennessee’s anemic passing offense and inability to come from behind will be end their season as Peyton gets the Colts off to a much needed quick start on the road.  Manning’s team is getting hot at precisely the right time of year.

Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers

Despite the Steelers having the more talented team, and probably the best defense in the NFL, a banged up Roethlisberger (including a concussion suffered in their season finale) and a underachieving Willie Parker won’t be able to put up enough points to come away with a victory.  One big play is going to determine this game, don’t be surprised to see it come from Ted Ginn Jr. who has been playing well as of late. 

NFC Championship game (winner in bold)

Carolina Panthers at New York Giants

DeAngelo Williams has become a machine, a touchdown machine to be more precise.  With at least 1 TD in 8 of the Panthers last 9 games (and probably one in their win over Atlanta) he has become automatic.  And in the playoffs big plays, especially in the running game can demoralize a team.  While Jacobs is bound to score, it’s likely to be a 2 yard push into the end zone.  Williams is more likely to be a back breaking 65 yarder following a Giants field goal, the kind of play that can win you a game on the road.  The Panthers make only their 2^nd Super Bowl appearance.

AFC Championship game (winner in bold)

Indianapolis Colts at Miami Dolphins

I feel like every time I get to a Colts game I find myself writing “Peyton Manning” every other word, but guess what, Peyton Manning is that good as far as I’m concerned and yet again he will be the reason the Colts make it back to the Super Bowl as he shreds apart a Dolphins secondary which was untested by the Ravens and Steelers.

Super Bowl XLIII

Carolina Panthers vs. Indianapolis Colts (In Tampa, FL)

One of the best offensive rushing teams (Panthers) against one of the worst rushing defenses (Colts) and one of the best passing teams and quarterbacks in the game (Colts/Manning) up against a middle of the pack pass defense (Panthers) it should make for quite an exciting game.  Surprisingly, I would think the score will be lower than you would think.  The Panthers will try and pound the ball and keep possession of the ball while Peyton probably won’t take many home run shots down field and just methodically move the ball.  Time of possession will be important but turnovers will most likely determine the winner and with both teams on the positive side (Ind: +9 Car: +6) one big play this time on the defensive side wins this game.

My Super Bowl pick: Indianapolis Colts

Some quick thoughts on what’s wrong with the BCS.

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Every Saturday morning I wake up to an alarm.

I’m not getting up at 8:30am to get ready for work, it’s not to go running on the damp pavement, like in those Nike commercials either, I’m not even going to leave my house.

You are probably reading this thinking it’s about football, college football to be more specific.  It’s not.  I’m not getting up to watch Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit ramble on.  They barely even talk football these days, it’s just feature after feature.  Players who overcame adversity…Coaches who worked their way up and are now in a title hunt…Teams who are talking about why they are going to win this weekend.  OH, you think your team is going to win?  Wow, SHOCKER.  Just show me highlights, tell me who’s playing and what channels I can watch the games on.  I really don’t need to know anything else.  (*sidenote*-remember the days when Sportscenter showed highlights of games, play after play, stat after stat, and interviews with coaches after games.  Features weren’t around and none of the previous day’s games went without highlights.  Now…they skip entire sports sometimes just because.  What the hell happened?!)

The reason I wake up on Saturday mornings is simple, soccer, and not just any soccer but the BEST soccer in the world, European soccer.  Those of you who are soccer fans and I know you are out there, you know what I am talking about. 

Major League Soccer (MLS), the United States professional league just isn’t the same.  That is not to say we have no talent in our country or that the professionals in our country aren’t any good.  The reality of the situation is all the money, all the tradition and all the best players in the world play in Europe and will, forever. 

This isn’t so much an editorial piece as it is a persuasive one, my hope is that those of you who are reading this who don’t watch soccer or care about it, will begin too, here’s why.

There is just nothing else like it, it is truly athleticism in it’s purest form.  Those of you whose perception of soccer has been shaped in the United States just have no idea what soccer is supposed to be, it is NOT the MLS version that’s for sure.  It is for the world’s ultimate athletes. 

You can be short or tall, fast or quick, powerful or graceful, doesn’t matter.  The best soccer players in the world come in all shapes and sizes.  But make no mistake about it, there are no David Wells on the pitch, the average midfielder is going to run 8 miles a game, constant movement with bursts of exceptional speed and power throughout. 

People, especially those unfamiliar with soccer, say “It’s too slow, nothing happens!” to this I respond usually with a roll of the eyes.  There is nothing mundane about watching a European soccer game.  Every single player of the field is absolutely the best in the world at what they do.  The ball is merely an extension of their body, they literally have control over a ball, it’s unbelievable.  Serioulsy, tell me that’s normal? (hint-wait for the replay) 

Try hitting a trash can with a soccer ball in a full sprint from 40 yards away…damn near impossible and yet that is as regular as a hand off to Clinton Portis would be when you are watching Inter Milan @ AC Milan on a Saturday morning.

To understand the beauty of the game and the skill with which it is played at that level you must have an appreciation for what you are watching. 

Honestly, it’s not like watching the NFL, which has a cartoonish quality to it now…We are watching about 6’5” 300 pound monsters hitting each other, What?!  That is huge…go stand in line in Starbucks, Hell, walk through a grocery store…you know what the odds are of finding ONE person over like 6’3” are …not good at all.  I watch every NFL game I can, but I’m not going to lie if in 10 years everyone is 6’10” and 350 pounds it just won’t be fun any more.

Even the NBA has become ridiculous on some level…OH WOW…did you see that dunk by LeBron?!  Yea sure, it’s amazing but if I was 6’8” 250 I could dunk pretty easily too.  I’m not playing down his athleticism by any means, the guy is a FREAK athlete (All-State High School football player)…but at some point you have to lose a little interest in a game that basically real people can’t play. 

My favorite soccer player is Francesco Totti, he is 5’ 11” 170 pounds and 32 years old.   

Manchester United, Roma, Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Ronaldinho, Francesco Totti, Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, Ibrahimovic, Leo Messi look these up, watch some highlights, educate yourself and then tell me you aren’t impressed.  So do yourself a favor and set your alarm clock to 9am this Saturday. 

…and we’re back…

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Tom Brady hurt his leg and OOOOH Yeah?!  There were also others playing football as week 1 in the NFL wound down to a close.

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Fantasy football seems to have become more popular than the games these days…I find myself hearing someone say “how many yards did Reggie Bush run for yesterday?” more often than I hear “Hey?! Do you know if you the Redskins won yesterday?”  This is just one example of perhaps the beginning of the destruction of REAL football fans.  Now obviously, there is fantasy baseball, basketball and so on but I am going to focus this discussion on football which is probably the most popular of all the fantasy sports anyway.  I have a friend who recently asked me to participate in a fantasy football league for this upcoming NFL season…seeing how I am broke and bored I accepted the invitation, which for all intents and purposes would me a hypocrite and my thoughts on the subject a moot point…nevertheless I shall continue as I tend do when told to stop talking. First off, there is a big difference between the two “fans” I spoke of earlier…the second one, wondering whether his or her “team” won there respective game implies that indeed that person has something invested in the team itself.  Maybe they grew up in the area, maybe their significant other lives and dies by their every win and loss, maybe they have a favorite player on the team or maybe they have just been a die hard fan of that particular team for no real reason at all forever in any case this person is a fan of the team or player and a fan of the game and most likely the sport.  Now, fan #1’s comment doesn’t really imply any of those things except perhaps that Bush could possibly be their favorite player.  Two or three years ago you would assume exactly that, so you would say something along the lines of “oh Bush, he ran for 111 yards and a TD, why?” getting a possible response of something like “I went to USC and I love Reggie been following him since High School.”  These days your response is more likely to be something like, “SWEET, that’s 40 points in my fantasy league, and Harrison caught two TDs today, I am going to kill my buddy.”  Wouldn’t you say that one of these responses is a little more invested in the sport/team/player than the other?  If you said response number two than you are probably yet another fantasy sports fan/gambler who knows nothing about the game.  Second, the interest level in the NFL (and I’m sure their revenue) has gone way up in the past couple of years because of “fantasy fans” these are the people you see watching games on the weekend who really don’t seem to know what’s going on and are infinitely more focused on a particular player or statistic.  These people should not be allowed to watch games or be allowed near a TV during a football game.  They have no interest in the sport and can’t do anything but take away from it.  They don’t recognize greatness when they see it and have no appreciation for anything that happens during the game…all they care about is winning their match up for the week against their co-worker.  Last (there are many more but this is already too long), the point systems and what not truly mean nothing in the grand scheme of the sport, well not nothing, but not everything.  In other words, when a “fantasy fan” will throw stats at you (all regurgitated from his stupid league the previous year) and show you that he clearly didn’t watch ONE game.  Instead he just spent his time at work on his ESPN account dicking around, perhaps one more reason why the economy is shot to hell.  Example, a guy says to you he’s upset that his RB didn’t produce any yards and “he sucks” and “has been playing horrible,” in reality the RB plays for a team that has lost three straight and has been playing from behind in all three games.  So maybe he doesn’t “suck,” his team has been struggling and has had to rely on the passing game to get them back into games in recent weeks.  Stats are not always what they seem and maybe if you WATCHED a game you’d know that. There is a lot more that could be said about this…A LOT more, another place another time.

We discuss who Jericho Scott is and why he can’t play baseball, plus golfers learning to speak english?

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There are a lot of events over the course of the Olympics, we are trying to touch on all of them, it’s just too hard.

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We have to talk about Brett Favre, right?!…yup…we don’t have a choice, but we threw in some Olympic basketball.

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