Just Play The F'N Game Already!

For the last two weeks, football season has been officially dead to me. I’ve decided that the playoffs and more importantly the Super Bowl is much less enjoyable when your team actually makes the playoffs, but loses. For the past 10 days, I’ve been left wondering, “What could have been?” if the Bears had decided to cover Steve Smith. Then again, why do I care so much…it’s obvious that Kyle Orton isn’t losing sleep over the season.

Honestly, I know that once Sunday rolls around, I will be in full gear (actually maybe just half gear since The Dubble’s birthday is Sunday, so we’ll be out late on Saturday). Last year at this time, I was pumped for the TO vs. The Patriots angle that last year’s matchup produced and this year’s contest lacks. Of course, if I posted a blog last year at this time, I would have been talking about how TO wasn’t going to have an impact on that game.

I’m definitely rooting for the Steelers this year though (sorry Puck), because of three reasons.
1) Twaan. Without Twaan, it’s pretty safe to say that Memorial Stadium would have been even more empty during our time in B-town.
2) Ben Reousldjoguberger. While Puck probably just threw up, it’s hard to find a more grounded star in the NFL. Maybe it’s because he wasn’t on the cover of SI as a high school senior. Maybe it’s because the only day of the week that his college games were on tv was on Thursday. Regardless, this makes me appreciate him as a player far more than someone like Mike Vick.
3) Cowher. I hate when good coaches get the label that they can’t win the big one. You know why there have only been 22 coaches in history to win the Super Bowl, because it’s hard. This doesn’t make Bud Grant, Dan Reeves, or Bill Cowher poor coaches though. I admire Cowher, because he has never adjusted his game plan, and even though I would have to wear a shield on my helmet if I played for him, (due to spittle) I would be really happy to see him win the big one.

Interesting Stat Alert:
1) Only 22 coaches have won Super Bowls.
2) Only 25 QB’s have won Super Bowls
3) Only 3 coaches have won Super Bowls (Gibbs (3 Super Bowl rings with 3 different QB’s
(Theismann, Williams, Rypien)), Parcells, Seifert)
4) Only 1 QB has won a Super Bowl for two separate coaches (Aikman)

This is very interesting to me (sad huh?) because maybe all of the NFL teams in search of the perfect coach or perfect QB, really just needs to find the right mix with the two figures. Would the Patriots have won the Super Bowl with Bledsoe at QB? I’m guessing no, and the fact that the Brady/Belichick duo has added a couple of more rings is a good sign that I’m right.

Now how can we use this information to our advantage for this Sunday? I would say that the chances of Cowher winning his first Super Bowl with Roedkjldjgsberger is far more likely than Holmgren winning his second Super Bowl with two separate QB’s. I also think that these stats show how great of a coach that Joe Gibbs really is. I didn’t even take into account that he has won two NASCAR Championships with two different drivers (Labonte and Stewart). Sidenote #1: I’m 90% sure that this is right, but I’m not going to take the time to look it up, so if it’s wrong don’t kill me. Plus he was just the owner so I’m not sure if it counts, I just find it interesting.

So here’s my Super Bowl XLI Prediction

Bears 27 Patriots 24

Why? Because picking this year’s Super Bowl is so last week, and now that I’ve shown the correlation between coaches and QB’s, you obviously know that the Lovie/Grossman combination is a winner.

In Other News

There’s really not much going on right now with me other than winding down the work schedule with our basketball season. Plus, I really don’t feel like talking about the Hoosiers right now.

My work schedule really eases up once basketball season is over, so I’m going to be busy catching up with people (hopefully you) that I haven’t had time to see during this winter. So here it is the first installment of the Cory tour schedule. There are places that I will be on certain weekends that I am about 95% sure of being.

CORY ON TOUR
Feb. 5- My Couch
Feb. 10-12- Redbird Arena
Feb. 17-19- The Cuse
Feb. 25- North Manchester, IN
Mar. 2-3- St. Louis, MO
Apr. 6-10- New York, NY
May 19-22- The Cuse

Check back for more info. I really am looking forward to getting to a lot of places this Spring and hopefully we’ll get a chance to hang out.

Not to go all Peter King here but here’s another interesting stat. The last 6 e-mails that I have gotten have been from my dad, all within a span of 58 minutes. On top of that, he wrote about 100 words total. Good stuff.

Dear Kyle

Dear Kyle,

In order to prepare for your second year in the NFL, here are some tips.

1) Shave. Nobody digs the Hobo look.

2) Get some friends so you have someone to share your bottle with.

3) Never, ever get caught dancing by yourself.

GO IU,

Cory

Misc.

The Dreaded “Trap” Game

#11 Indiana survived to beat #5 Illinois on Tuesday, and Purdue lost to Penn St. by twenty points. By using transitive property of equality, that means that we should beat Purdue by roughly 45 points at home. In the words of 20th century philosopher, Corsotes, “Not so fast my friend!”

Why am I worried? Because this is a “Throw Out the Records” Rivalry game. Not to mention the fact that the game is on ESPN Plus and not national TV, so we aren’t going to be getting the full Marco. In nationally televised games this year, he’s averaging 25 points a game, as opposed to 16.6 points in other games.

And that brings us to Marco. If I were asked to say the first word that comes to mind when thinking of Marco, I think I would have trouble deciding between STUD or THUG. Maybe I’d even go with the hybrid STUG. Yes that’s it…he’s a STUG, because I’m NOT going to call him a THUD…that was Tom Geyer.

I’m not saying that the Hoosiers are going to lose, I’m just saying that this isn’t a game that we should look past. I think IU will win, but I think it could be more of a 7-9 point win. This is also the game that Marco needs to shed the label of being a dog in our games against non-ranked opponents. Don’t get me wrong, he’s the biggest reason why we’re a top 10 team (looking ahead to Monday’s poll), but a consistent effort is really all I’m asking for.

Looking Back

One issue from the game on Tuesday night that has gotten tons of pub is the fact that the students rushed the floor. To that I say, “Big Deal.” In Bob Kravitz’s column in Wednesday’s Indy Star, he said that the last time students rushed the floor was in 2001 after a win against #1 Michigan State, which is false, because the students stormed the court last February after knocking off then 9th ranked, Michigan State.

Sidenote #1: Marissa and I were at this game sitting in student seats that she got on peegs.com for my birthday. I remember the fact that students rushed the court since I was asked by the students in front of us if I was going out on the court with them. Obviously I didn’t feel the need for a fat balding guy to be on the court acting like an IU student, so I refrained.

Does Paul Shirley Read My Blog?

For those who don’t know, Paul Shirley is a former NBA journeyman who wouldn’t have been recognized by 99% of NBA fans. Then last year, he was on the Suns, and more importantly wrote a great blog on the Suns.com website. Now he writes for espn.com, and in his latest journal entry, he had a “side note”. Paul? A new reader? Did he add a space to avoid a copyright infringement or just because that’s grammatically correct? Now before you judge me, you know what else is grammatically incorrect? SportsCenter. And you CANNOT argue with SportsCenter. Sidenote #2: A few years back Paul Shirley was playing for the Bulls, when they were brutal. Anyway, my roommate once referred to him as Shirley Johnson. He fused Paul Shirley with fellow Bulls derelict, Linton Johnson. This marked the only time that any human being ever confused these two people. Just another feat set by The Dubble.

Do You Have Curling Fever Yet?

We are 22 days away from the Winter Olympics, but more importantly, 25 days away from the start of Curling competition. It doesn’t get any better than the USA-Norway tilt on the first day of competition. While Norway’s team is strong, I don’t see the US losing this match up. Just so you don’t think that I’m insane, I am only guaranteeing that 50% of this section is fact.

Today’s Thing That I Miss About B-town.

How about getting ripped at 4pm playing darts at Upstairs. Doesn’t that sound like fun. Of course. If you don’t think this sounds like a good idea, you aren’t my friend. OK, check that, if you don’t think that this sounds like fun, I will up the ante and promise that Marissa will be bringing her heater. Now that’s guaranteed fun. Plus, nothing says safety like Marissa crow hopping darts after a Big AMF.

Cory Acree, TV Critic

There are three shows on the old tele that have gotten my attention. First we have Love Monkey. For those who dug the show, Ed, you will probably enjoy this show as well. Basically Tom Cavanagh plays the same character except now he works for a record company in search of unsigned talent, as opposed to a bowling alley lawyer. It’s a pretty funny show, but it’s also kind of a chick show, so I’m not sure how it will all play out. I give the pilot a solid B+, and I’ll be tuning in this week, if only by tape, since it’s on at the same time as the IU-Iowa game.

Secondly, we have Flavor of Love on VH1. I don’t know what I think about this show or myself for watching way more of this show than I should. Flava Flav in search of love is a funny premise, if only it was a joke. Instead these women really want to marry Flav, and some of these women actually seem intelligent, making the whole show 10 times worse. The one thing that would make this show priceless is if the theme song was Gold Digger. Why do you watch Cory? I think it’s the fact that I’ve always liked Flav. I’m just waiting for Chuck D to make an appearance. Honestly though this show represents the downfall of our society.

Beauty and the Geek. Now that’s a show. I didn’t watch any of the first season, which was good, because that Geek really annoyed me. This time there is a multitude of Geeks, and each one has their own tagline, such as, “Has Only Kissed One Girl,” “Rubik’s Cube World Record Holder” (Formerly anyway), etc. Do you think their family tells anyone that their son/daughter is going on this show? I would hope not. I really have no business talking about this show, because I literally only caught 15 minutes of it last night, but it did catch my interest in those 15 minutes, which is a pretty big deal for me. With my attention span, 15 TV minutes is like 45 treadmill minutes. Good times though for idiots like me who actually watch this S-H.

Any Weekend Plans

If you don’t have any weekend plans and you live in or around Bloomington, IN, I have got an idea for you. The ZOOperstars are at the IU Women’s Basketball game. All it takes is one dance routine by Stallion Iverson to an *NSYNC (yes I had to look up where the asterisk went) song and you will be hooked. Plus, there’s a chance that Mike Rowe will be there, since he now follows them on tour after seeing one of their performances a few years ago at the Big Ten Tournament. Plus, and I hope I’m not throwing too much info out on the web, but Chad Giddens may or may not be Shaquille O’Seal that day. Again it’s just a rumor, but I’d like to get that out there. Once again only 50% of this is fact.

Before I Go, I Need to Comment On the Comments…

First off, thanks to Marissa for blurting out another of my OCD traits…now they are all laughing AT me.

Also Bets, I hope that I wrote enough about IU to fulfill your need for an IU blog.

Playoff Weekend 2

After going 4-0 last weekend choosing the playoff games, I couldn't pass up the chance to blog about this weekend's games. But first, a big shout out goes to Larry McCormick of Omaha, NE, my newest reader and the winner to last week's trivia question. The correct answer was Sid Bream. Thanks to everyone who played though, eventually you will win as well. Larry, you will be receiving your very own bottle of french dressing courtesy of Monical's Pizza.

Now on to the playoff games.

SATURDAY

#1- Seahawks vs. #6- Redskins
My pick: Seahawks
The common denominator in this year's playoffs is that every team left is well-coached. Earlier this week on Mike and Mike in the Morning, they ranked the coaches left. Last place in the voting was Lovie Smith, your 2005 NFL Coach of the Year. This game is the epitome of this year's playoffs. Both teams have coaches wearing Super Bowl Bling, have veteran QB's who can be efficient (and possibly shaky) and of course have stud running backs to carry the offense. I have gone back and forth on this game all week, but I really think that this is the year that the Seahawks get over the hump and win a game in the playoffs. The bottom line in this game is that the Seahawks are going to be able to get yards through the air. Plus Bro Sweets is a little banged up for the Skins...that's not good.
Seahawks 24 Redskins 10

#2- Broncos vs. #4- Patriots
My pick: Patriots
Honestly I think that this is going to be the most entertaining game of this playoff weekend. On the other hand, there is NO WAY that Tommy Brady is going to lose this game. Sidenote #1: My cousin Chris has a deep man crush on Tom Brady...it makes my personal fandom of Brad Pitt rather tame. Tonight's over the edge comment was when he said that he wants a Tom Brady Fathead. Luckily he was kidding. Oh another thing...he's 22. So anyway back to the game. One of the ongoing debates in our family over the past couple of days has been the best QB in the NFL. It's a two-horse race but I still go with Brady. Three rings speak for themselves. Before you point out Manning's stats or the fact that Trent Dilfer has a ring, the difference is that Brady is able to step up for his team and carry them, when they need him to. See the entire 2005 season.
Patriots 27 Broncos 20

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

#1- Colts vs. #6- Steelers
My pick: Colts
This is going to be a good game, but the Steelers are not going to be able to count on their bread and butter formula this week. A) They aren't going to be able to get up by 10 points on the Colts. B) This team isn't built to come back from a defecit. The Colts are going to be fresh despite the layoff and inspired for an AFC Title rematch with the Patriots. Sidenote #2: Tags is smiling as he's reading this.
Colts 38 Steelers 23

#2- Bears vs. #5- Panthers
My pick: Da Bears
I don't want to overstate this, but this is the biggest Bears game in nearly 20 years. Unlike a lot of Bears fans though, I'm kind of confident about this game...or maybe I've been drinking too much of Da Coach's Kool-Aid. I see a Bears victory, and herr's why. Brownie and Rexy are both healthy. Brownie (as always) was doing a heck of a job until his calf injury. Rexy can actually convert a 3rd and 5 which we didn't have the first time the Bears played the Panthers this year. The last game in which both of these guys played was the Bears 21-10 victory over the Packers in Lambeau (or as John Kerry would say, "Lambert Field") Sidenote #3: Yes Puck, I know that I voted for him. End of Sidenote. and every Bears fan has fond memories of that day. Brownie (as always) did a heck of a job before rupturing his Achilles. Well my prediction is that Brown will find the end zone again with a Pick 6 to seal the win for Da Bears!
Bears 20 Panthers 10

This is going to be a great game, and we're going to need everyone on the Bandwagon. Puck I'm looking at you to corral all of your Bengal fans. We need you. Bets, you call up all of your Browns fans (both of them) and get them on the bandwagon. As always there's plenty of room. Now for inspiration please click the link on the right to Jclinton's Blog and watch the videos. If the Fridge doesn't get you pumped, there's no hope.

In Other News

I apologize for not getting a blog up during the week for you to read while you were getting paid to work. However, I did get a request for a blog topic that I hope you will read on Tuesday if you don't visit the site before. A reader named Jimmy Harris of Bloomington, IN requested a blog on my favorite fries. This is a pretty interesting request, and I don't want to go all "Poor Man's Rachel Ray" on you, but here it goes. French fries are disgusting fried foods, but damn it if they don't go perfectly well with Oat Sodas. Because of this tasty tandem, it can make or break a restaurant in my opinion. The best combo is at Scotty's Brewhouse where you can get a frothy pint of Smithwick's (at least you can in West Lafayette, but I'm not sure if Smithwick's is available in B-town) Sidenote #4: Lindsey (e not a; got it) House, you know what I'm talking about) to go along with their delicious waffle fries. Those fries are the real deal and that's the way that Scotty rolls. So, I may continue my Rachel Ray impersonation on other projects, maybe a 30 minute meals on my Kraft Cheese & Macaroni or possibly a frozen pizza. Because it would be a special occasion, I may even splurge for the DiGiornio. Of course this would include me flipping channels for 15 minutes while the pizza is in the oven. However, my acute OCD kicks in with the frozen pizza and I check it minimally 20 times while it's in the oven. Sidenote #5: I'd rather OCD (yes I just used it as a verb) on frozen pizza than on deodorant like that dude on MTV.

Well that's all, I'm Ghost like Swayze.

Rose Bowl Fever

Alright since I knew everyone would be watching the National Championship game on Wednesday, I thought that I’d do everyone a service and keep a running diary of Nanny 911. Wow let me tell you that these kids are a handful. And look at their mom just ignoring them. Luckily it looks like this British nanny isn’t going to take any guff from these little kids. What brats!

It’s time to come clean, I didn’t actually watch the show, and in fact, I’ve never watched more than 2 minutes of the show. I’m assuming that I got most of the details regarding the show right though.

Obviously nothing was going to take me away from one of the most hyped college football games ever. Football is obviously this country’s sport of choice and with good reason. It’s a violent, tradition filled sport where teams play once a week, which makes it much easier for everyone to follow than baseball or basketball.

The NFL gets far more TV time than any sport, and I’ve officially watched more of the NFL Network than I have of NBA TV, despite the fact that I’ve never had the NFL Network on my own television. However, there’s a big difference between the NFL and college football…just ask Eric Crouch, Jason White, and Pete Carroll. As we’ve found, players and coaches alike are either college players (the aforementioned Crouch) or pro players (Tom Brady). The truly special ones are the guys that have excelled both stops (Peyton Manning).

The fact that one loss, check that, one play, can ruin a chance at a national championship makes college football different than any other sport. While the debate about why we need a college football playoff system will perpetually be discussed, the fact of the matter is that the powers that be may not want to ruin a good thing…and college football IS a good thing.

That alone is what made last night’s game so very important. EVERYTHING was riding on the game, and entire lives were changed in the last two minutes of play. I guarantee that Vince Young will never pay for another meal in the state of Texas after delivering the championship, similarly it’s ironic that Maurice Clarett still fucked this lifetime pass up by thinking that he was bigger than the sport. However I heard his new celly is the shiznit.

Three major things jumped out last night during the game to me.
1) Keith Jackson needs to hang it up. I love Keith Jackson, and I think he’s great for the sport of college football, but it’s time for him to go out on top. Last night he thought that the laterals by Bush and Young were both fumbles and as Clint mentioned on his own blog, he was under the impression that Texas’ kicker, Pino, missed a field goal, then corrected himself saying, “right down the middle,” as only Keith Jackson can. Another thing about him that annoyed me was at halftime when he was talking about Pete Carroll needing a miracle, even though all they needed was a touchdown to take the lead. Four minutes and twenty-four seconds later Carroll worked his “miracle” by taking the lead, which brings me to my next point…

2) …Pete Carroll cost his team that national championship. Going for it on fourth down and one instead of kicking the field goal to take the 10-0 lead, going for it on fourth down and two instead of pinning the Longhorns deep, and then having to use a timeout because the team wasn’t prepared for Texas’ two point conversion with :19 left were all stupid coaching moves. If anything on the last play, they should have taken an off-sides penalty in order to save that timeout. Terrible situational coaching, as well as a terrible gameplan to stop Vince Young. We may not have seen a QB like Young, or so I hear, but if you ask me the blueprint to shutting down a dual-threat QB is out there. After Ron Mexico ran roughshod over the Rams in last year’s NFC Playoffs, it looked like Vick was going to finally take over the NFL…then the Eagles game happened. All it took was the DE’s to stay at home and not let Vick get out of the pocket. On Young’s final drive last night, the DE on that side Frostee Rucker (yes, I figured out a way to use his name in the blog…GREATEST. NAME. EVER.) was sucked in on the play allowing Young to get to the outside and take it to the house. Just ask Derrick Burgess and his large free agent contract if playing that way is effective. Carroll has shown that he’s not an NFL coach with these calls, because this is how a team loses 10 games a year.

You: So who should be hired with the 8 NFL vacancies you ask, well that’s easy.
Rams: Tim Lewis, Giants D-Coordinator. The Rams need someone who can put a defense in place instead of just caring about the offense a la Mike Martz.
Chiefs: Al Saunders, Chiefs O-Coordinator. No need to mess with a good thing, because Larry Johnson was made for that offense.
Raiders: Mike Martz, Kinko’s, East St. Louis, IL. I know, he’s a mediocre coach, but he’s a renegade that just may be able to make it work in one place…Oakland. Remember, he did come within an Adam Vinatieri field goal of winning a Super Bowl ring. No joke isn’t that amazing?
Texans: Jim Fassel, Ravens Asst. Head Coach. Just learning under the Genius, Brian Billick proves that he’s worthy of another job. In all honesty, I’ve always thought that he was a good coach, and a pretty good sound bite. Now give him David Carr, Reggie Bush, and Andre Johnson, and a decent D-Coordinator and the Texans can make some noise next year.
Saints: Mike Sherman, Jim’s House of Kielbasa, Green Bay, WI. I know that this whole scenario is a stretch, but remember my job wouldn’t be on the line by making this change. Sidenote #1: If you really want to hear a great theory, wait until I post my NBA article about how they could have revolutionized the league a couple of years ago. In fact, that may be my next post. End of Sidenote #1. I do have two really good reasons to make this happen though. A) The Saints job is widely regarded as the worst HC job open, so much so that I thought Haslett should have been retained, because he’s better than what they will get this off-season. Who would take that job? B) More importantly, this is where this theory gets a little crazy. This is all just a way to get Brett Favre to play in the Bayou. Seriously the way I see it, there’s only one way to save pro football in Louisiana and it rests on the shoulders of #4….and I don’t mean this guy. #4 How compelling would this be for the Mississippiana region to have him playing there. I hope Tags is reading this right now, because this HAS to happen.
Packers: Steve Mariucci, Michigan State Basketball fan, HOLY MOLY A U-PER as the head coach of the Packers! This is also a shameless attempt to keep #4 in the game, since he’s obviously far more important than winning.
Lions, Russ Grimm, Offensive Line Coach, Steelers. Nothing like have a couple of meatheads in charge of the franchise. He would be a good hire, just because he’s a hard nosed guy that may actually give this team an edge, unlike Mooch.
Vikings, Brad Childress, Eagles O-Coordinator. This guy has been passed over the last four years due to late playoff runs that kept him out of the running for the jobs. This year with the Eagles out of the playoffs, he gets his chance, and a good job to boot. I mean this team has talent; they went 9-7 with a Cro-Magnon man coaching them. Brad will have to bring his own pencils with him though, because Tice currently has all 212 pencils from his Vikings office tucked safely behind his ears.
Sidenote #2: You: Where is Ron Rivera, he’s obviously the top coaching candidate this off-season? Me: I’m not ready to give him up, and it’s my blog dammit. Honestly, he’ll probably be in St. Louis.

3) It will be great to see how this class of college players does in the League. Between Bush, Leinart, Young, LenDale White, and even Dwayne Jarrett (who made his papa Dale very happy last night) showed an unbelievable amount of talent. More importantly though, the synergy between college football and the NFL is exactly what makes the NFL so successful. When these guys go to their respective teams, we already know who we’re watching. This is why football IS and WILL be America’s game for the rest of our lifetime.

Playoff Weekend 1

If you ask me a prediction for football games, I will give you an answer, but if you bet on the games, you cannot hold me responsible for the picks. So as my 11-16 record during Bowl Season shows, I know the picks. Next year I’m going to have my pet chimp pick the games for me…then we’ll all be rich. Sidenote #1: There are people besides me who need to be held somewhat responsible for the picks, such as (a) Every media member, who made me believe that Charlie Weis really was a genius. (b) August Busch III, who’s tasty brew makes me put aside our baseball difference in order to consume his beverage…basically what I’m saying is that I may or may not have consumed a few beverages the night I made these picks. (c) Michael Lewis, for writing that article on Mike Leach that made me believe that he was the future of college football coaching forgetting the entire fact that Billy Beane’s teams don’t do S-H in the post-season as well. (d) Every player from “the U” who came out and laid an egg against LSU and their backup QB, but still had enough energy to fight AFTER the game…ridiculous. (e) Lloyd Carr, for wasting the most talent year-in and year-out of any coach in the country. (f) Georgia, for not showing up until the end of the first quarter. (g) Matthew McConaughey, for making it look like picking football games was easy money. (h) And Phil Knight, for attempting to make the Oklahoma team have seizures during the game while Oregon was wearing those ridiculous uniforms.

As you can clearly see, it’s not all my fault, and more importantly don’t actually bet on my picks. It also proves that it’s a good thing that I can’t actually bet on these games because I would get fired and I’m a tight wad.

So with that here are “events that I am thinking may happen” (I don’t like to throw around the word prediction too loosely) for the upcoming NFL Playoffs.

NFC

#3- Buccaneers vs. #6- Redskins
My pick: Redskins
This is going to be a good game, since these two teams are very easily matched. Both teams have a good defense, a coach wearing a Super Bowl ring, and a lefty QB. Two of the three are necessary to win a Super Bowl, and an experienced coach doesn’t hurt either…get it? Like you need a lefty QB to win a Super Bowl, and I’m saying it because I’m a lefty. Moving on, the thing that sets the Redskins apart is Clinton Portis. He’s been playing like the Clinton Portis that the Skins traded Champ Bailey for, instead of the Clinton Portis that dresses up in ridiculous outfits during press conferences. Like This: Crazy Ass Clinton Portis
I would love to see Paul Tagliabue’s face every Wednesday when he sees the latest picture of Portis. He probably has to have a brown paper bag handy, while crying with his cell phone ready to call David Stern to ask for advice on how to deal with this type of behavior.
Redskins 17 Bucs 13


#4- Giants vs. #5- Panthers
My pick: Giants
Too much Tiki. Both of these teams have had some consistency problems this year despite being 11-5, but I think the Giants will win with Tiki and their home field advantage. Let’s hope that Delhomme has a new pair of pants ready for this Sunday’s game.
Giants 31 Panthers 17

AFC

#3- Bengals vs. #6- Steelers
My pick: Steelers
I’m sorry Puck, but the Steelers have looked incredible for the last four weeks, and they are playing inspired football for Bettis. The loss by the Bengals against the Bills was very surprising, because I thought that Cincinnati would be the 2 seed in the playoffs. Plus giving up 37 points to that team is not a good sign, especially since the Steelers can run on anybody.
Steelers 38 Bengals 31


#4- Patriots vs. #5- Jaguars
My pick: Patriots
Let me get this straight. If the Patriots would have won last week, they would be playing the Steelers, but since they lost, they get to play the Jaguars without Byron Leftwich. You have to give the Jags credit though for continuing to play so well with Garrard at QB, but at the same time four division games against the Texans and Titans also help. I’m a believer in the “you’re the champion until someone beats you” theory, and I would not bet against the Patriots again this year. The telling sign of what winning the Super Bowl means to this team was after their 28-0 beating of Tampa, the sideline reporter said to Brady, “You guys must be pretty happy with this win and the way that your season is going.” Tom’s response, “How can we be happy? We’ve lost 5 games this year.” So Tommy Brady’s pissed because they’ve lost 5 games this year, and I’m currently making a life sized sculpture of Lovie Smith since he has the same record with the Bears. Brady is easily the MVP in my opinion with Barber, Manning, Larry Johnson and Carson Palmer following him.
Patriots 31 Jaguars 10

Well those are my thoughts about what may or may not happen this weekend.

Marissa Update

For those of you who don’t know, Marissa is currently on a trip to Israel. Today she told me that she rode on a camel and a donkey. Of course she did other things, but that was the only funny thing that she told me so that’s today’s update. If this does not suffice as your Marissa Update...your expectations from this blog are completely unrealistic. Honestly though if you want more information, I can post it, just leave a comment. Also, I would say to e-mail her, but right now computer availability is nil, so you'll just have to take my word for it.