After 26 weeks since the opening preseason games, football is over.  The season culminated in an American spectacle watched around the world: Super Bowl 50.  It only took the NFL 49 years to realize how dumb the roman numerals looked next to their championships.  The Sheriff vs. Superman.  Defense vs. Defense.  Terrible running back vs terrible running back.  Mediocre coach vs mediocre coach.  Von Miller vs. Luke Kuechly.  Aqib Talib vs. the refs.  Let’s rewind.

Before the Game:  Everyone was on the Panthers.  Crazy how at least a couple hundred of my Facebook friends are diehard Carolina fans, at least this year.  You would think the bandwagon would be full at some point but there was room for everyone.  This was a civil war.  You either loved Cam and the Panthers or your a 50+ year old white guy.  No, in all seriousness, the country seemed to be relatively split on the game with the analysts in favor of the Panthers.  Cam won the MVP, basically locking up the Bronco’s victory.  (The last MVP to win was Kurt Warner in ’99)  Also the AFC was the designated home team this year and got to pick jerseys.  Many were surprised that they went with white jerseys.  Not me.  Including this year, white jerseys have won 11 of the last 12 Super Bowls.

I personally thought the Panthers would take the dub (wrong).  They had Steph Curry pound some drum before the game #KeepPounding.  They’re coming off their best win of the season.  The team which wins the turnover battle in the Super Bowl is 36-4.  I had gut feeling they would beat Peyton in turnovers this year (wrong).  That record is now 37-4 as yesterday it was 4-2 Panthers turnovers.  My biggest reason for choosing the Panthers was Peyton’s lack of success in the Big Game.  He was 1-2 in Super Bowls and 0-2 in games where he wasn’t play Rex Grossman.  Turns out I was wrong on just about everything, shocking.

The Big Game:  Peyton dominated.  He completed a whopping 13 of 23 passes, 5 of them for first downs.  On top of that, he was 1-14 on 3rd downs, a net 104 yards, a QBR of 9.9, 0 touchdowns and a pick.  Truly a brilliant performance by the sheriff.  Super Cam was no more impressive.  He sent hundreds of hopeful kids home crying after failing to find the end zone.  A qbr of 16.9, Cam couldn’t seem to get anything going.

If you like defense, then you were probably thrilled during this game.  Also, if you like defense you probably like watching paint dry and grass grow.  The Broncos Dline has to be historic (and when I say has to be, I mean I didn’t do a lick of research on it).  It seemed like they didn’t miss a tackle.  The Broncos defense had 7 sacks, a pick, and 3 fumble recoveries.  That was all it took to win.  That was all it took to win the Super Bowl… the Super Bowl… impressive stuff.

I really appreciated the Bronco’s strategy against Cam.  Way back when, Cam said something like “if you hate when I dance then stop me from scoring.”  Challenge complete.  The Broncos said for the two weeks leading up to the game they focused on two types of Cam.  #1 Dancing, dabbing, fake picture posing, giving away balls and what not.  The works.  and #2 Sulking, pouting, yelling at ref, yelling at teammates, laptop stealing… ok ok enough.  But they got what they wanted.  They hit him, they forced a couple turnovers, a couple dropped passes, he was wining like a lost puppy.  Well done, Broncos.

Cam’s fumble thing — I don’t know.  Depends how you look at it.  Live TV it looked like he was scared to dive for the ball.  Most of the public is latching onto that angle.   If you look at it again he might of thought the ball was going to be hit and froze up a little before loosing the ball,  I kind of buy into this angle…  And then there’s the people who say, “Hey screw that, he’s already risking his future by playing the game, why risk his body going for the ball.”  Well, you sir, should not be watching out Super Bowl…  All ten of you that think that way.

After the Game:  So McManus got shelled for the MVP right?  The guy had 10 of the 24 points, 3-3 fgs 1-1 PATs, perfection.  No, no I guess Von Miller deserved it.  After pretty much contributing 14 defensive points to the team, bunch of sacks and strips and hurries I mean the guy did everything.  So after being the best performer on the field, the voice of the D, Second overall pick in the same draft as Cam… The Oscar goes to: PEYTON MANNING! (get it?) Von gets the MVP and that’s it.  Peyton get the first interview after the game, $4 mil in bonuses for winning, sponsored by Budweiser (regardless of them saying otherwise), he get’s a big post game speech, they even gave him the Disney World line.  Then after stealing all the glory from his MVP defender, Peyton really had the balls to make Von pick up his bar tab?  Unbelievable.

Misc.:  National Anthem – Gaga pulled some B.S. sang the last line twice and screwed everyone who bet on her length up.  Now some bookies are saying she went OVER and some are saying UNDER.

Big Things: Although 2-2 in the Super Bowl, Peyton is 4-0 in finishing Super Bowls with a bigger forehead than opposing quarterbacks.   Anyone see “Big Mike” out there?  Cracks me up everytime. Hope Tim McGraw let’s him stay at the house this week.

San Fran: If you forgot what the Golden Gate bridge and/or Alcatraz looked like, CBS made sure to remind you.  I’m glad they let SF host the Super Bowl though, a good distraction to the imminent fact that Chip Kelly is going to dismantle their team and leave.

More Cam Newton: Cam made some comment before about people not being used to a black man doing what he’s doing in the sport.  (Which probably made Russel Wilson scratch his head.)  I’m glad Von Miller did win MVP to escape and unneeded racial drama.  The post game presser was totally blown out of proportion.    Johnny Football is allegedly sneaks away to Vegas on bye weeks but he “just needs help.”  Cam dabs, “thug.”  I get the “if he celebrates like that than he needs to learn how to lose the right way too” but he had the worst game of his season in the Super Bowl and I see why he was upset.

Commercials: T-mobile strikes back.  Doritos another successful year.  Then of course the ones that gave us the feels: Colgate’s water ad, Budweiser’s drinking and driving, the diarrhea one, foot fungus, the usual.  All in all pretty weak year.

And finally, family – If you did not see the Eli Manning reaction to the game clinching touchdown, please please go find it.  He is one cold hearted SOB.  Also, during the immediate Peyton interview he was interrupted by none other than his Papa, John.

Here’s to only 7 months until football is back.

Adieu! Adieu! please don’t make us, root for Mizzou

– No, I’m not about to write a poem, but I am about to sympathize pretty damn hard for the city of St. Louis that can’t seem to catch a break.

With a national shrug, the St. Louis Rams became the L.A. Rams. The hype lasted all of about a week. People in California rejoiced in the streets at the news, until the sun came out and they rode their skateboards down to check the surf. The citizens of St. Louis may have just unknowingly entered a championship drought that might not end in our lifetime.

Stan Kroenke, owner of the ex-St.Louis football team paid a whopping $434 million for the Edward Jones Stadium (not including interest) over 20 years ago… except he didn’t. The stadium that the Rams used to call home was paid for by the city of St. Louis. And when I say the city, I mean the taxpayers — and when I say paid, I mean their still paying for it. In fact there’s about $100 million that they are scheduled to be on record for until 2051. If you don’t have the slightest bit of empathy for the St. Louis fans, then just know that a man worth $6.3 billion didn’t even buy out his team’s stadium contract before leaving. In fact, the only reason they were allowed to leave was because the stadium was ranked low in the NFL (voiding a 20 year old contract), god forbid Kroenke make some renovations. Now the people are left to pay for some billionaires toy house, without a team to provide the revenue to pay it. Local legislatures said, “Don’t sweat it we got this.” Their plan?  It’s a convention center now and should bring in tons of money… yeah good plan!

My issue with the move to L.A. is that the fans there really don’t give a crap. Sure the news will show a couple drunk old guys screaming and yelling, but that’s all they got. The reason the team moved from L.A. in the first place is because nobody went to the games. What would you rather do go see a 3-8 football team playing on a dry hot southern California Sunday, or spend 6 hours laying out on the Pacific coast line with beautiful people in bathing suits everywhere? Yeah you’re not alone. There will always be a long list of terrible sports franchises in America. The only bad teams that are successful are the ones in smaller markets. What does anyone in Cleveland have to do besides root for the god-awful Browns? When a bad team (such as the Rams) moves to a big luxurious city they won’t do well. Not sure if you noticed: The Dolphins and Chargers don’t exactly sell out every game. Even if the fans were passionate in L.A. it still wouldn’t work.  Think of the Sixers in Philly or the Lions in Detroit.  These are large markets with big fan bases… nobody cares about these teams.  Another big problem you’re going to see in L.A. is the “home field advantage” turn into “away field advantage” for other teams (see: San Diego).  Sure the people of L.A. might be at the beach, but somebodies gotta fill the seats right?  Well I’m an Eagles fan, you think I would enjoy a vacation to L.A. to see the birds play there?  Hell yeah I would.  So would everyone else. And I live 2700 miles away.  Do you think the in-division Cardinals, 9ers, and Seahawks fans would make the trip to this sparkling new stadium?  I have a feeling that these games are gonna have 40-45% opposing fans at every single game.

Besides the financials and logic, we all need a moment of silence for what used to be a great sports city.  Everybody feels bad for the Cubs fans because they haven’t seen a championship in so long. The thing is, they’ve been deprived for so long that it’s barely torture at this point.  St. Louis knows how good that feeling is and must know that they probably won’t get that feeling again for a long time, if ever.

The St. Louis Rams are most notably know for “The Greatest Show on Turf.”  To those of you unfamiliar here’s some history: In 1999 Trent Green and Marshall Faulk were both brought to the city through trades.  Legendary Trent Green blows out his ACL in preseason (sooo St. Louis) and some arena football quarterback Kurt Warner takes his place.  Although Dick Vermeil, coach at the time, promised good football ESPN ranked them preseason number last.  The rest was history.  Warner gets MVP, Faulk gets offensive player of the year.  They go to the Super Bowl and beat the Titans on the final play of the game (“The Tackle”) and the game goes down as maybe the best super bowl ever.  This was the height of St. Louis sports.  I mean this team literally caused the “excessive celebration” rule in the NFL for their choreographed “bob and weave” touchdown celebrations.  Hard not to love the Rams at the turn of the century.

And then they sucked.  In ’01 they return to the Super Bowl for what I consider the start of the drought.  They play the surging Patriots with upcoming star QB.. you guessed it Twinkle Toes Tom Brady.  The Rams go into the game as 14 point favorites.  After going down 17-3 they score two straight and tie the game with 90 seconds left.  Well you know the rest, Tom drives down the field completing every pass except one (an intentional spike) and Vinatieri kicks a 48-harder for the win.  Here’s when St. Louis realizes that it has become.. St. Louis : Later in the year it comes out that the Pats had been filming opposing teams practices (including the Rams’) and “Spygate” emerges.

Warner gets replaced by Marc Bulger he begins a 13 year playoff drought capped off by an ’09 1-15 win season.  In that time the number of terrible losses is exponential.  This period slowly killed off all of the bandwagon frontrunner fans an organization needs to stay in business.  The thing is, one good season will do the job to get all of those fans back on board.  The Rams were one good season away from reinventing themselves.  With a strong defense and a young offensive core, they seemed to be on the brink.  But then again… this is St. louis.

So after being teased with terrible teams time and time again at the turn of the century, why should we feel so bad for St. Louis?  I mean every city has their own problems. Here’s 5 other reasons to feel bad:

1. They were home to an ABA team (as if that’s not bad enough).  They had to watch bad basketball, and their team also sucked. ON TOP OF THAT, when the NBA merged with the ABA they took 4 teams, not St. Louis.
2. In 2011 the Cardinals won the World Series (probably why none of you feel bad for them).  Then their hall of famer, 3-time MVP, 1st baseman Prince Albert “The Machine” Pujols signed a 10-year deal with another team because the owner wouldn’t pay him enough.
3. The Cardinals had the best record in baseball last year, the second and third best record were both in their division.  They played their rivals, The Cubs, in the first round, 5-game series of the playoffs and lost 3-1.  Oh their 1 win in the series?  Pitcher John Lackey threw that one… he then signed with the Cubs in the offseason.
4. Not done with the Cardinals.  Young, upcoming, superstar Jason Heyward left the team after their 100 win season this offseason as well.  He took less money than the Cardinals offered to go to.. you guess it: The Cubs
5. On top of all of that, the St. Louis fan base had to result to rooting for a hockey team.  Any city that considers itself a hockey town is simply saying it’s other teams are too bad to root for.  It’s only a matter of time before they start preaching about a soccer team.
6. **EXTRAS: Home of Budweiser, which now calls Belgium home. The Missouri River is even flooding at record rates this year! I mean c’mon.

I’m not trying to piss off any long time tortured fan bases, I’m simply telling you to welcome a new member to your group.  I am marking the beginning of an era for the city of St. Louis.  A new era of losing, like never before seen.  After loosing a football team to SoCal, because them having 75 degrees and no clouds year round isn’t enough, and watching their entire baseball team jump ship, and having to root for hockey, what’s left in St. Louis?

This past Sunday we got a real treat. Sunday afternoon we were privileged to watch two Hall of Fame quarterbacks and top 5 quarterbacks of all time duke it out for four quarters.  Then Sunday night we saw the hottest defense in the league face the hottest offense in the league.  Below I broke down each game:

Patriots 18 Broncos 20

Peyton Manning reopened the Brady/Manning conversation once again by delivering a victory when it mattered most. Being criticized for his lack of postseason success over the years, Old Man Manning came to play on Sunday… at least for a little.  Everyone is piping up his performance but looking back he had one maybe two good drives the whole game. The first was his 11 plays 82 yard opening drive that ended in a touchdown.  his was a direct result from the gallon of Jesus-juice he injected before the game to aid his brittle body. Once the pixie dust wore off however, and he could feel his fingers again, he was basically ineffective. He made a couple big throws in big spots but after his opening drive the Broncos punted 9 times, fumbled once, hit 2 field goals, and had a 16 yard touchdown drive after the D set them up with a pick.

The defense is what really won the game. How do you stop potentially the best quarterback of all time?  You hit the shit out of him. They hit Brady 20 times, 4 of them being sacks.  And they weren’t trying to just hit him. In a post game report an unnamed pass rusher is quoted saying, “I tried to rub my nuts in his face.” I’M NOT KIDDING, someone really said that.  Still, all the hits were barely enough as Twinkle Toes Tom scored to Gronk with 12 seconds left. They failed on the ensuing two point conversion however and that was the ball game.

Another person taking some heat after the game was Stephen GOATkowski.  The GOAT missed the extra point at the beginning of the game.  Turns out later in the game they would need that one point to send it into over time with another easy kick. To put this phenomenon into perspective Gostkowski hand’t missed a PAT all year. In fact he didn’t miss one last year. In fact, he hadn’t missed a PAT since 2006.  His career PAT percentage is 99.8… before sunday he had made 502/503.

Someone who I don’t think is getting enough blame is Bill Belichick. In classic big balls Bill fashion he went for it on fourth, twice, when he could of kicked a field goal that, turns out, would of won the game. But that’s not why I think he sucked. He got out-coached. Bill is supposed to be an offensive mastermind. The Bronco’s “historically good” defensive plan: Our four D-Linemen can beat your five O-Lineman and the other seven people are gonna play centerfield. This is not to say they aren’t a great defense, because they are. But even I knew the Pats would have to throw the kitchen sink at them to win, I felt like Belichick didn’t really do anything too impressive offensively. The Broncos offense is so weak that last week I said the Pats would only need 21 points to win… welp… guess ‘only’ was harder than I thought.

Good thing Big Belly Bill tanked week 16 and 17.  Sure would of sucked to play Peyton at home in the 20 degree weather and 6 inches of snow he hates so much.

On another note though, at least Vegas lost too. This is how it went down in Nevada: about 70% of the public was pounding the Pats -3. Vegas refused to move that line however in fear of the sharks swooping in on a DEN +3.5 line. Well eventually they had to move the line to save face. What happened? The sharks pummeled the Broncos and brought vegas to their knees. Rumor is they were the ones pounding the Pats line until it moved, and then they doubled down on the line they really wanted.

Cardinals 15 Pathers 49

Before this game there was a legitimate controversy over who should be MVP: Carson or Cam.  Well one QB’s QBR was 88 and the others was 5 — one of them had 4 touchdowns and the other had 4 interceptions, you can try and figure it out yourself.

This game was a blowout. The Panthers went up 17 in the first but the Cardinals scored late in the second to keep it a game, and then Cam scored even later in the second to keep it a blowout. The halftime speeches were probably pretty much the same. “Remember what happen to Seattle, we’re still in this”; “Remember what happened to Seattle, their still in this.” But they weren’t. After 10 points for the Panthers and 7 for the Cards, it was 34-15 and people were still a little skeptical about the Panthers. And then they stepped on their throat. Two awful interceptions both turned into touchdowns and that was all it took.

No other way to describe it Carson Palmer absolutely sucked. Everyone was so shocked by his poor play, but not me.  You know why?  I know a little secret about him… he played 7 years on the Bengals. In his time there he made the playoffs once… and lost of course since it’s the Bengals. Then he took his successful career to the highest playing field: the Raiders… he went 8-20 there.  Yes, this year he was incredible but people need to understand that big players make big plays in big spots, which means bad players make bad plays in big spots. It’s simple science.

Cam was in full Super-Cam mode. He threw for two and ‘ran’ for two (more of flying than running). He was giving footballs to kids, taking fake pictures, cheering the defense, and of course… dabbing to MVP chants. His determination to win is clear after their 13th straight home win this season. He seems to feed off of the crowd which will play very well in San Fran with the 60k Broncos fans there. Still the fake chip on his shoulder that only he can see has motivated him to yet another career game.

Coaching was certainly a factor in this one as well. Although I think Bruce Arians is a better coach than Ron Rivera, it was the Panthers D that really held the glue together.  Sean McDermott, protege of the legendary blitzing Jimmie Johnson‘s defense, was able to really bring some fire.  With a strong core of D-backs, it was the D-line and Linebackers who controlled the game.  They were in Palmer’s grill the entire game. Four interceptions was more than enough to decide this game.

The Panthers are STILL playing the “nobody likes us” game… Weird because there are little kids wearing Cam jerseys in every state and creepy girls with Luke Kuechly posters in their room across the country. It seems like even non-sports fans are attaching themselves to this Panthers team. America will most certainly be split in the Super Bowl with all Brady-lovers, kids below the age of 14, and girls pulling for Cam — and all rusty old men, ‘Bama fans, and Papa John’s eaters pulling for the Sheriff.  SPORTS.

This Sunday will be our 20th week of football and we’re down to four teams. We’re left with the best 3 teams.. and then there’s the Broncos.  Here’s a quick recap of last week’s games.

Tom Brady took care of business at home last week. And when I say took care of business, I mean he let the Chiefs hang around just long enough for Andy Reid to blow the game with his awful clock management. The Chiefs 11 game win streak came to an abrupt halt as Terrific Tom appears in his 5th STRAIGHT AFC TITLE GAME (baaaaaa). Side note this game featured two ninth string running backs. Saturday’s night game was the biggest backdoor cover of the year. The surging Cardinals take on the shaky Packers — all of the money was on the Cards -7.  But no, of course Rodgers knocks down TWO hail marys, sends it to overtime and the Packers cover by a point. Controversy in OT though: Is it a coin toss or coin flip? Because if it’s a coin toss then everyone stop whining, he tossed it! Thankfully the Cardinals won the toss/flip on the second go-around or we would of had the biggest scandal since… last year. Carolina showed everyone that they deserved to be here, and then they showed everyone that you cannot trust them.  Still when the game was on the line in the fourth they played their best football. A classic performance by the Broncos. Once again they hang around, some funky stuff goes on, and there they go to the AFC championship game.  The Steelers were hobbled, had three separate chances to put the game away, and couldn’t win. So now we have to watch two of the most legendary QBs ever, who have a long history of great games, who we have an ongoing argument about who might be the best ever, who may never meet again, duke it out in the AFC CHAMPIONSHIP… what a surprise. Can’t make this stuff up… unless you can.

Moving on.

1. Patriots at Broncos, Sunday 1/24 3:05PM (NE -3)
   • Did I say moving on? Peyton vs. Brady! If you watched last week’s game — don’t be fooled: the ghost of Peyton Manning simply can’t throw a football. When he throws down the field, it’s out of bounds. When he throws short, it wobbles. STILL, it’s Peyton and that is enough to turn the game on. He’s still the best at the line of scrimmage, and he’s still probably the smartest person on the field. On the other side of the ball is the great quarterback-coach tandem of all time, probably the great tight end to ever play the game, andddd that’s it. The Pats are going to be relying heavily on their offense in this game.  If I was to make a prediction, the Patriots just have to score 21 points to win the game. Big players make big plays in big games. Pats by 11. Side note — two of the games best kickers, look for a couple bombs.
2.  Cardinals at Panthers, Sunday 1/24 6:20PM (CAR -3)
   • This is the game of his career.  His = Carson or Cam. Both of these quarterbacks are looking to solidify their place in the top tier of the league (new spot opened up when Andrew Luck forgot how to play). Before last week I think the Cardinals would be a lock.  hey went to overtime with the Packers… Meanwhile in Carolina the Panthers went up 31 on the reining conference champions. Sure they let up on the gas after half but probably just a wake up call right? … right?  Still Cam wreaks of greatness. I don’t see any scenario where the Panthers go down by more than 10. The defense will keep them in the game and Super Cam will take care of the rest. However, Bruce Arians always seems to have something up his sleeve.

I said it before the playoffs and I’ll say it again: Coaches and quarterbacks win championships. Of course, there’s other factors and defense plays a big role. But go back and look at the last champions that lacked a star QB or a legendary coach. And here we are: Bruce and Carson at Ron and Cam, Bill and Tom at Gary and Peyton. If your looking for who to pick odds are your answer lies with the better combo.

Last week I went 3-1 (1-1). Thanks a lot Aaron.  Total record is 47-38, 9-5.  This week I got the favorites Pats -3, Panthers -3.  Best bet: Pats.  BTW last week all 8 teams would have covered on a teaser. Wouldn’t be surprised if the same is true for this week.

Week 19 of NFL football is here.  Who would of thought it would take 19 weeks before we could actually get a full load of good games to watch (everyone). Before we dive into the picks, here’s a quick look back to my terrible wildcard preview.

I, along with every single person in the country, correctly picked a KC blowout of Houston. It was as raw as it gets.  Brian Hoyer may of possibly broken some sort of qualitative record for the worst playoff performance ever. It was almost like he was playing with a concussion or something.. weird. The Steelers-Bengals game was pretty epic.  A true in-division playoff game where the refs have no control over anything.  They could of had 20 refs on the field and it still wouldn’t be enough to keep things calm.  Couldn’t stop 9’6” BIG Ben from playing though. All of the controversy surrounding the end is a bunch of BS too. Each NFL team has 256 coaches so don’t expect the refs to flag one of them for going on the field all the while the two teams are on the verge of of a parking lot brawl.  Also, boo hoo the Bengals fans threw a water bottle at an injured steeler, you have a problem with that but your fine with players smashing heads together for 4 quarters? Football. My Seahawks “blowout alert” kind of blew up in my face. You can bet that the players are setting water bottles next to them so they don’t have to get out of bed to go to the bathroom this week. For a -6 degree game, it might of been the biggest slugfest of them all.  The Hawks squeak by after only 10 points.  Finally the Packers took care of business. Nothing to impressive but a playoff road win by double digits will give you some confidence moving forward. Statement game for Aaron Rodgers. RELAX Packers fans.

1. Chiefs at Patriots, Saturday 1/16 4:35PM (NE -4.5)
   • After an impressive win last week, the Chiefs continue their win streak into Foxborough. The best way to describe this matchup is this: Andy Reid vs. Bill Belicheck, Alex Smith vs. Tom Brady.  Sorry Kansas City, your wild ride ends here. The Pats are healthy again and well rested.  Won’t be surprised if Belicheck throws it in cruise control and just let Tom do Tom.  On the other hand, Andy Reid is desperate to win. He is going to over coach the crap out of his team.  I think it will be a game until about half way through the fourth when Andy burns his last time out and goes for it on 4th and 4 at his own 40.  All of this is contingent on Gronk not getting both knees blown out over the middle.. *Knock on wood*
2. Packers at Cardinals, Saturday 1/16 8:15PM (ARI -7)
   • Sort of the matchup we’ve been waiting for since week 1. Two great coaches, two great quarterbacks, and two completely different defenses. Arizona is potentially on blowout alert.  If you really look at the way things stack up, Arizona runs the table in almost everything except QB.  On one hand we have Patrick Peterson covering James Jones, and on the other we have Casey Hayward covering John Brown. Got a feeling it will be Arizona stepping on Green Bay’s throat in the third quarter.
3. Seahawks at Panthers, Sunday 1/17 1:05PM (CAR -1.5)
   • Before picking your winner here ask yourself what other quarterback in the NFL could have the Panthers where they are right now. There isn’t one. Cam Newton is your undisputed MVP and he is going to play like it. No disrespect to the Vikings but if Seattle could only throw up 10 points against their D, I don’t see them scoring too much against a well rested Panthers defense playing at home. That being said, we are talking about a team who has been in the super bowl two straight years and know how to win big games (unless its 2nd and goal on the one yard line, they are 1 yard and 24 seconds away from a second straight championship, with the best running back in the playoffs behind the quarterback, and Pete Carroll is the coach). This is a dogfight but I like Super Cam coming out on top.
4. Steelers at Broncos, Sunday 1/17 4:40PM (DEN -9)
   • This line is a slap in the face.  I just read up on Big Ben’s injury. Basically the only problem is every time he raises his arm up it feels like a someone is taking a sledgehammer to his shoulder blade. I mean come on, his name is Big Ben — the guy eats sledgehammers for breakfast right?  And if he were to play through the pain at least the Broncos defense is only ranked 1 in total defense 1 in pass defense and 3 in rush defense.  All joking aside the Steelers are the 3rd ranked offense in the league and we know Big Ben has a history of preforming well under these conditions. I don’t know if he’ll be able to pull of the win, but I think he can taste that next ring – they’ll cover.

Last week I went 2-2 and 1-1 for best bets bringing my totals to 44-37 and 8-4.  Picks for this week: Pats -4.5, Cards -7, Panthers -1.5, Steelers +9.  Best Bets: Pats, Cards.

This is it.  Seventeen weeks later we have our playoff teams.  The way the NFL playoffs work is the top two teams in each division get a bye in the first round.  (1. Broncos 2. Patriots 1. Panthers 2. Cardinals).  Then the 3 seed and the 4 seed each host a playoff game in the first round against the respective wildcard teams with corresponding records… Yes, the Redskins and Texans are actually hosting playoff games.  How it is supposed to work is the division winners are the four best teams in the conference, and the wildcard teams are the two best division runner ups.  As we know, when it comes to sports everything goes as planned. No. This year the problem is basically worse case scenario – or best case depending on how you look at it.

Vegas has listed all four road teams (the wildcard teams) as favorites in the first round.  This means that there were four divisions with the best 8 teams in the playoffs, and the other four conferences had the bottom 4 playoff tams. The power was very unbalanced this season. Below I have broken down each game for the average fan:

1. Chiefs at Texans, Saturday 1/9 4:20PM (KC -3.5)
   • Don’t let the 9-7 record of the Texans fool you, they stink. They were crowned champions of the piss poor AFC South. Playing the likes of Jacksonville, Indianapolis, and Tennessee twice a year will certainly inflate your record.  The Chiefs on the other hand, started this season 1-5 and people were calling for Andy Reid’s head.  Since then?  Fat Andy hasn’t lost a single game.  Some haven’t been pretty but none the less 10-0 run since then.  The 1 seed Broncos happen to be in their division so that’s why they’re playing this week.  Think of it this way, it’s Alex Smith vs. Brian Hoyer.  This will likely be the most lopsided of the playoff games.  Oh btw, the last time the Chiefs won a playoff game? 22 years ago.. against the Texans.. in Houston.. and their quarterback was Joe Montana.. an ex 49er.. just like Alex Smith.
2. Steelers at Bengals, Saturday 1/9 8:15PM (PIT -2.5)
   • One of the best scenarios in the first round of the playoffs is an in-division rematch.  Every division teams plays each other twice during the season.  Sometimes if the records line up, you get a third game winner takes all in the playoffs.  These teams are pretty evenly matched up.  The Bengals were one of the four undefeated teams at the beginning of the season, but began to lose steam as the season moved forward.  With the loss of their star QB Andy Dalton, AJ McCarron is slated to try and grab the Bengals their first playoff win in, well a really long time. The Steelers are the NFL’s most winning franchise.  A history of excellence.  Their quarterback and coach have played on the big stage before and are coming in hot after being the last team to make playoffs. This game will likely be the best game to watch of the four games.
3. Seahawks at Vikings, Sunday 1/10 1:05PM (SEA -5)
   • BLOWOUT ALERT. Although the Vikings have the better record and the regular season rushing record, they don’t stand a chance against the Seahawks. Seattle is one of those teams that struggles at the beginning but once they get things together, it’s like flipping a switch.  They are coming off an absolute rout of the NFC’s 2 seed cardinals. Teddy Bridgewater won’t stand a chase for the historically successful Seahawks defense.  As for home field advantage:  The Vikings have been playing at the University of Minnesota’s stadium while they wait for their new stadium to be built. The catch?  They aren’t used to playing this late in the season in the bitter cold Minnesota air as their old stadium was a dome.  Last time I checked Seattle lies north of Minneapolis and the Seahawks should be used to playing late into the winter seeing as they lost in the Super Bowl last year.. on the last play of the game. Vengeance.
4. Packers at Washington, Sunday 1/10 4:40PM (GB -1)
   • Far and away the worst game of the four. You must be thing Aaron Rodgers -1 is a lock right?  Not even close. The Packers are this years most overrated team by a ton.  Look back to their many close wins like the Thursday night hail mary against the Lions.  They should of lost that game, to the Lions!  Washington on the other hand is much of the opposite story.  I’m not going to preach that they are underrated because believe me, they stink.  But Kirk Cousins’ numbers at home are undeniable.  This game in my opinion is worthless as the winner is slated to be slaughtered by either the Cardinals or the Panthers in the following round.  One thing to watch for is the Redskins sneaky good defense.  In the past three games they managed to rack up 14 sacks.  That will be interesting to pay attention to as in the past two games Rodgers was sacked 13 times.

This season my uPicks record ended up being: 42-35, and my best bets were 7-3.  As of now I am beating Vegas, emphasis on “as of now.”  Here are my round 1 playoff picks:

Chiefs -3.5, Steelers -2.5, Seahawks -5, Washington +1.  Yes I picked Washington just so I didn’t choose all of the favorites.  Best Bets are KC and SEA, I think both games will be statement games for these teams.

Last week, I finished with a record of 9-4 going 2-0 on my Best Bets. This bring the season total to 34-27 and Best Bet record to 5-3. Not too shabby at all. The games are getting either very easy to bet or very difficult. As we all know there is no quantification for how hard a player decides to play that day — how bad a team wants to win.  So the strategy is to take teams that are still playing for something against teams that are playing for nothing. Stay away from two teams both fighting for a something playoff related, or if players have contract incentives left.  Most importantly, stay away from games where both teams aren’t playing for anything… Much harder to quantify how hard a player ISN’T going to play on that day. Picks:

• Eagles +4 over Giants
• Jets -3 over Bills
• Patriots -9.5 over Dolphins
• Saints +5.5 over Falcons
• Bengals -9.5 over Ravens
• Steelers -11.5 over Browns
• Texans -6 over Jags
• Colts -3.5 over Titans
• Redskins +3.5 over Cowboys
• Bears +1.5 over Lions
• Panthers -10 over Bucs
• Chiefs -7 over Raiders
• Broncos -9.5 over Chargers
• Cardinals -6 over Seahawks
• Rams -3 over 49ers
• Vikings +3 over Packers

BEST BETS: Steelers, Texans

So I sucked last week… went 6-8 and 0-2 best bets. Brings my total record to 25-23 and 3-3 best bets. Not too shabby seeing as I’m still in the green, not for long though — here’s this weeks picks:

• Jets +2 over Pats
• Texans -4 over Titans
• Browns +11.5 over Chiefs
• Colts +2 over Dolphins
• 49ers +8.5 over Lions
• Bills -6.5 over Cowboys
• Bears +3 over Bucs
• Panthers -6.5 over Falcons
• Steelers -10.5 over Ravens
• Saints -2.5 over Jags
• Seahawks -12 over Rams
• Cardinals -5.5 over Packers
• Vikings -7 over Giants

BEST BETS: Texans, Bills

Now obviously I’m not a betting man, but if I were… I would tell you to make sure you’re accounting for the teams that are and aren’t playing for anything today. Teams who are in the hunt still at this point of the season will tend to play harder.

On December 25, Christmas day, Concussion starring Will Smith hits the theaters across the country.  The movie has been hyped up for some time and is sure to do well in the box offices. More importantly, the movie is poised to move the serious issue of brain injuries in the sport of football to the nations forefront. After watching the movie myself, there were a number of things I found people should know before seeing the movie.

This is the story of a naive Nigerian doctor, Bennet Omalu (Will Smith), who comes to America in hopes of a better life and starting a family. With little-to-no prior knowledge of the game of football, he stumbles upon the issue of brain injuries in the sport and decides to look into it. The movie shows the life events of Bennet as he struggles to fit into America. As a foreigner who is attacking not only America’s prized possession of football but also Big Business, Bennet faces a series of trials and tribulations including racism and being the target of large corporations. But that’s not why you want to go see the movie. People are flocking to see this movie because of the alleged attack on one of America’s biggest businesses: The NFL. Well, the movie isn’t quite the “attack” you might be expecting to see.

GET TICKETS FOR ‘CONCUSSION’ HERE!

First things first, Concussion is not a “feel-good” movie. Christmas is notorious in the movie industry as the time to release a box office blockbuster. Usually that movie consist of a love story or one that the entire family can make an evening out of. Before seeing Concussion, you should know this is a serious movie that is not to be taken lightly. There is little to no joking at all throughout the film, and it lacks any character that can provide a form of comic relief for you. That being said, this is a very moving movie that people need to see to fully understand the trouble surrounding mental health in sports.

Secondly, the acting is incredible. Smith is given the role of portraying the Nigerian doctor who doesn’t understand America’s love for football. This had to be a tough task for the Fresh Prince. His accent at first may sound a little too strong and unrealistic; however, this is most likely due to the fact that we have seen Smith on our televisions since his teenage days yet have never seen him preform a role quite like this. As the movie goes on, the accent becomes more and more realistic and eventually you will buy into it completely. We do get one or two of the “Will Smith fighting back the tears as his face seems to be dripping off of his head” scene that we are all accustomed to, but it wouldn’t be right to leave them out. On top of Will’s performance, the acting performances that portray the ex-football pros trying to deal with their mental issues are top of the line. To anyone who knows someone who has dealt with mental health one way or another, these scenes are about as real as they get. They will make you squeamish in the stomach and potential jerk a couple of tears out of you, which is precisely what the movie is going for.

And what about the “attack” on the NFL? Let me make this clear, the idea of this movie is not to end the National Football League. All of those football diehards that will refuse to watch the movie because their too “tough” or whatever it might be; that’s exactly who this movie wants to attract. It is definitely knocking on the door of the NFL and will invite some serious criticism to the league.  But you need to know that this movie is not aimed at ending football for everyone, it is simply asking that the safety of the sport get more attention.

The movie might make you question your undying love for the NFL.  Believe me, as someone who writes about football on a daily basis; even I began to question how I got to the point that I am willing to look past the serious issues of concussions in order to get my fix of entertainment. Or how a company got so big it was able to own one day of the week. However, the writers repeatedly force the issue that football is something beautiful and we are allowed to cherish it.  They aren’t asking the viewers to boycott Sundays. This movie was made to bring forward a safety epidemic; not to expedite the end of football, but to start the search for a solution to the games biggest problem. It’s time for us as a society to face the facts of the correlation between football and brain trauma. When Bennet Omalu started his research of CTE (concussion related mental diseases), the NFL hid it from the public. As they say in the movie, Dr. Bennet Omalu finally gave the NFL’s “boogyman” a name.  The idea of this movie is to inform the public and the players of the realities surrounding football and hopefully to force the NFL to face their biggest problem.

To sum up the movie Will Smith leaves you with a huge monologue that sounds like this:  When soldiers sign up to serve, they know that they are jeopardizing their lives. When a football player signs up to play, he needs to know that he is jeopardizing his mind, money, family, and life. Until we can find a fix to this problem, the NFL needs to at least inform their employees as to what they could potentially face later in life.

Concussion is a must-see and the acting will certainly call for nominations. The facts that the movie was able to provide viewers with will most certainly do the job of bringing the average football fan up to speed with the realities of concussions. Hopefully we will soon see a change in, if not how the game is played, then how the league treats its players.

1. Teams that are in:
   • AFC Division Winners: Patriots, Bengals, Broncos/Chiefs
   • AFC Wildcard Holders: Chiefs/Broncos
   • NFC Division Winners: Panthers, Cardinals, Packers
   • NFC Wildcard Holders: Seahawks
2. Since we’re 15 weeks into the season I am no longer doing “Teams that are out” because there’s only 11 or 12 teams that are actually fighting for those last spots. So, Teams in the hunt:
   • The Vikings are basically in with the wildcard spot, unless they evaporate in the thin Minnesota air and let the Falcons (who are 2-7 since week 6) sneak their way in.
   • The AFC wildcard is a bit more competitive. Although one of the spots appears to be going to the runner up in the west; the last spot is a dead heat between the Steelers and the Jets. Both of these teams can really play and would be a threat if they get in. The Steelers have the spot right now and will most likely hold onto it because, well, it’s the Jets.
   • The AFC South has not been given enough credit for how bad they are. The have 3 teams that are all fighting for their HOME PLAYOFF GAME that are led by Bortles, Hasselback, and whoever the Texans decide to throw out there on the given day. Right now it looks like the Texans will be representing the division but if Luck returns we might get to see the Chiefs/Broncos win by 230 points in Indianapolis.
   • The NFC East is still a serious pile of feces. Washington has the #1 spot right now, with the Giants and Eagles tied for #2. Next week Washington plays the Eagles and if they win their in. If the Eagles manage to win then they simply have to do better-than or the-same-as Washington in week 17 to advance. The Giants have the worse shot as they need to win out, Washington to lose out, and then a winner take all game at home for the Eagles in week 17.  Two terrible teams trying to suck less than each other for the chance to HOST A HOME PLAYOFF GAME… great television though.
3. LVP Race
   • There were alotta bust this year. A lot. But who get’s crowned king of the scrubs. I’m not going to count the injured players (Although Byron Maxwell who the Eagles are paying $63 mil tapped out of the game Sunday after being cleared to play, HE SHOULD COUNT – yeah, I’m one of the miserable Eagles fans)  So who is it? I’ll break down the front runner:
     • CJ “2K” Anderson – The man who will never sniff 2000 yards.  CJ broke his fumbling habit this year not losing one ball thus far.  Probably because he doesn’t get the ball anymore.  CJ hasn’t touched the ball more than 15 times in a game this entire year.  A top round draft pick in the neighborhood fantasy league, Anderson is a prime candidate for this year’s LVP.
     • Eddie Lacy – Lacy might be the year’s biggest headache.  We have all seen what he can do and what he has done in the past, so why doesn’t he do it. The Packers are a stranger team; they lose to bad teams and beat good teams.  They are running a different style of offense this year as it’s basically Aaron Rodgers and only Aaron Rodgers.  Lacy seems to go off when he wants to almost.  2 weeks ago he was good for 24 carries and 124 yards.  Last week he went for 11 carries and 23 yards. I need an Asprin.
     • DeMarco Murray – Murray isn’t as high on this list because everyone kind of knew he would be splitting carries with Philly running that three headed monster scheme.  Well, as of late, it’s a two headed monster that Murray gets to block for every now and then.  It doesn’t appear he has lost a step or anything but his differences with coach/gm Chip Kelly could be the reason for his lack of touches.  Last week Murray got a whopping 2 carries for 3 yards..
4. The Biggest Fantasy Issue Ever
   • This past week we were dealt on of the biggest blows to a fantasy football season, ever.  As we all know week 16 stands for one thing and open thing only: The Fantasy Football Championship.  In the past there have been several times where teams are hurt because their best players are being rested by their respected team.  Well that’s what you get for drafted players on good teams right?!  And of course season ending injuries are always a struggle as players bodies break down towards the end of the season.  But that’s why you shouldn’t draft older players right?!  Well this year we got a new issue.  This year we got arguably the biggest threat in fantasy football sidelined, for playing too hard.  Alright Alright I know what Odell Beckham Jr. did was extremely dirty and boo hoo yada yada yada.  Well the league suspended him for next week threatening the chance of the Giants making the playoffs.  But more importantly they benched our best fantasy player during the Championship game!  Unbelievable, Rodg Goodell at it again… Man, I can’t wait for Obama to be commish.
5. ProBowl
   • So the NFL pro bowl tickets are in. Who’s in and who’s out?  Well for starters the preseason Super Bowl favorites, the Indy Colts, didn’t get one single player. HAHAHA. Quarterbacks: They left the red rifle Andy Dalton off the list, maybe because he’s hurt? Also they left old man Brees off the list even though he’s second in completions and fourth in yards, probably because he’s old.  Running Backs: No real snubs here. They probably could have taken off injured Shady McCoy and sucky Devonta Freeman and threw on a deserving Chris Ivory and a hot rookie Thomas Rawls. Wide Receivers: Allen Robinson left off the team, because it’s Jacksonville right?  I could keep going with the snubs but quite frankly, no body ready this bullet point and nobody plans on watching the game. Until the NFL adds some value to the pro bowl this game’s a joke.

Last week, I faired quite well as a number of underdogs won their games straight up. I went 8-6 with my picks and 2-0 for my best bets. That brings my total record up to 19-15 and best bet 3-1. Maybe it’s just luck but no reader has been able to beat me thus far. You know the rules, comment on the post with your picks, and if you manage to beat me I will shout you out in the next article. Alright, here are my week 15 picks against the spread:

• Jets -3 over Cowboys
• Cardinals -3.5 over Eagles
• Bears +5.5 over Vikings
• Jags -2.5 over Falcons
• Texans +1 over Colts
• Panthers -3.5 over Giants
• Titans +15.5 over Patriots
• Washington +1 over Bills
• Chiefs -6 over Ravens
• Browns +16.5 over Seahawks
• Raisers +3 over Packers
• Steelers -7.5 over Broncos
• Dolphins pk. over Chargers
• Bengals -5.5 over 49ers
• Lions +2.5 over Saints

BEST BETS: Jags, Panthers

Women’s soccer superstar Abby Wambach laced up her cleats one final time for the U.S. Women’s National Team last night as they took on China in the New Orleans Superdome.  Her retirement marks the end of an era for not only the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, but also for women’s place in American sports as a whole. Wambach will join a short list of American athletes that have been able to use their in-game abilities to change more than just the numbers on the scoreboard.

Wambach has won at all levels in her lengthy career. She played college soccer at Florida and brought the school it’s first D1 championship for soccer. She has played in two Olympics (’04, ’12, was injured in ’08) and brought home the gold both times. She has played in four different FIFA World Cups dating back to 2003 and most recently brought home the 2015 championship. Wambach is also the owner to a world record 184 international goals that stands for both men’s and women’s soccer. Although she is 35, her retirement came as a surprised to many who simply don’t know soccer without her.

The ultimate competitor, Wambach’s career has been sprinkled with some of the greatest all-time moments in sports. Her 122nd minute header in the 2011 World Cup was awarded the ESPY for Best Play of the Year.  People all around the world recognize her for the toughness and grit she brings with her on the field each and every game. Regardless of the stakes, you can see Wambach oozing emotions at any given moment. From criticizing referees, to playing injured, to tears of rejoice after winning crucial games; Wambach’s legacy will be filled with memories that exhibit her as, if nothing else, a bad ass chick. But she is so much more than that.

In October of 2013, Wambach married a fellow star in the sport, Sarah Huffman. From that point forward Wambach was more than just a decorated superstar, she was a moment in history.  Although she tried to avoid the limelight and acted as though it were no big deal, Wambach was now he world’s most famous gay athlete. She took the new role in stride and proved to the rest of the world that her sexuality had no affect on her game. Nothing changed in the eyes of Wambach, on the field she was still the hard-nosed competitive athlete hungry for her next win. However, off the field she was an emerging polarizing star that would inspire millions around the globe.

In 2015, Wambach took the next step forward in her career of stardom. She stepped out of the role as her team’s superstar and into the role as the team’s mom. After going through just about everything you could imagine as a female athlete, she was able to use her experiences to set an example to the young team members and pave their way to a championship. Last summer, Wambach was taken out of the lineup as a starter and played her first real tournament as sub since early in her career. That didn’t stop her from affecting the play of the team however. Wambach could be seen from the sideline screaming at teammates for lack of hustle and referees for bad calls. No matter what she was doing she made sure her presence was known on the field.  Wambach was brought in to games for the final 20 minutes as a reminder to the team that no matter what the score they were never to take their foot off the gas. She became a true closer.

Wambach brought home that 2015 World Cup championship for the United State’s first time since the unforgettable 1999 team that’s popularity swept the country. The summer of ’99 was the first time that women’s soccer really stepped into the daily lives of Americans. Well this past summer, Wambach finally finished what they started. The final game of the 2015 World Cup set the record for most-watched soccer game ever, men’s games included. Her team made sure that everyone knew women’s soccer was here to stay. That being her last World Cup, Wambach joins another elite group of athletes that were able to complete a storybook ending to their career and walk away from the sport on top.

After being the face of women’s sports for over a decade, Wambach has done just about everything imaginable as an athlete and changed the climate for American sports in the process. With her retirement she ends the era of women being doubted in sports. She ends the era of women’s athletics being looked at as a second tier of sports. She ends the era of gay athlete’s having to hide their sexuality from the public.  She has proved to us that there is no challenge that is greater than the will to overcome it. With women in all sports and gay athlete’s worldwide looking up to her, it is hard to believe Wambach will stray far from the spotlight. A face that is recognized globally, it is obvious that the 35 year old has big plans for her post-soccer career.  This year, Time magazine listed her as one of the top 100 most influential people on the planet. As she steps on the field for one last time tonight, we can all look forward to what amazing feat she plans to overcome next.

1.  Teams that are in.
   • If the playoffs started tomorrow, here’s what we’d be looking at: Jets-Broncos, Chiefs-Colts, Vikings-Packers, Seahawks-Redskins. Byes:  Patriots, Bengals, Panthers, Cardinals.
   • Teams in the hunt: Steeler, Raiders, Bills, Texans, Jags, Dolphins, Bucs, Falcons, Eagles, Giants
   • Teams that are technically in the hunt but have no business being in the hunt: Raiders, Bills, Bucs and Falcons are all 6-7 and out of contention for their divisions. With all four current wildcard teams at 8-5 that means you would need a series of events to happen for any them to have a chance. I won’t even entertain that idea.
2. Teams that are out.
   • FINALLY, six teams are officially “mathematically out” of playoff contention: Titans, Browns, Chargers, Ravens, 49ers, and Lions. I love when teams are mathematically out because it calls for an end to the half hour segments on SportsCenter where they discuss what these teams need to do to turn it around.
   • I am more than happy to cross the rest of the teams out that the mathematicians are missing: Cowboys, Bears, Saints and Rams.
3. Injuries.
   • This season has been plagued with injuries.  It seems like every week we see another star go down ruining thousands of fantasy owners’ seasons. After 13 weeks of listening to my friends whine about their fallen players; I decided to look into the injuries a little further. I’m in your average fantasy football league of idiots who invest more time into fantasy football research than they do their day-jobs. And just like every other league of idiots when it’s their turn to draft they take the best available player and then rationalize their pick for the next three weeks. Needless to say, the first four rounds of my draft probably match just about everybody else’s. I went back to our picks to see if their whining about injuries was actually justified.
   • Of our first 40 picks, only 18 have played every game. Only four players drafted in the first round have played every game this season. Of the 40 picks, 15% of them have been ruled out for the rest of the season. That leaves us with over half of our first four round picks having not played in at least one game this season. Basically if you don’t have at least one of your top two guys out right now — you probably sucked so bad at drafting that you’re sitting in first place.
4. Backup quarterbacks that don’t want to play.
   • Stemming from that same idea of injuries, there are a number of backup quarterbacks who accidentally found themselves in starting roles this year. After seven hours of redzone this Sunday, it wasn’t hard to pick out the guys who can’t wait to get back on that bench and just collect their checks.
     • AJ McCarron  AJ is the most recent addition to the list. When Andy Dalton went down this week against the Steelers, AJ was asked to take over for his AFC North leading Bengals. AJ was quoted saying something along the lines that his opportunity was basically like Tom Brady getting his starting job. I like your style AJ — set the bar as high as possible so you can underachieve by enough that you’ll be back on the bench in time for the ‘Bama- MSU game. Dalton also left us with another chilling post-game comment regarding his current injury status: “I hurt my thumb.”
     • Mallet, Hoyers, Yates The Texans controversy was the best of the year. Bill O’Brien wouldn’t commit to either of them and we got to watch it all play out on Hard Knocks. This is how it played out: Hoyer loses the battle of who has to start game one. He plays as bad as he can and gets benched – in comes a pissed-off Mallet. He pulls the best move of 2015 quarterbacks yet and simply doesn’t show up for the team’s charter flight for a game. Mallet gets cut. Back in is Hoyer. After taking five sacks to New England, Hoyer begins to “forget things” – cue concussion protocol and bring in Yates. Sit back and grab a beverage this Sunday to watch Yates find a way to get out of this new starting role as quickly as possible as he takes on the Colts.
     • Schuab, Clausen… Mallet?  Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to start quarterback for the Ravens either; but these guys are making an art out of it. Flacco recently signed one of the NFL’s biggest contracts ever. No surprises when he decided to chalk this year up and went down early in the season. Aging veteran Matt Schuab must have been shocked when he got the nod.  And I would have loved to see the face of Jimmy Clausen after Schaub went down. Clausen played just well enough to not get fired but not well enough to stop the Ravens from signing Ryan Mallet. It will be interesting to watch Mallet put on a career performance knowing he won’t have to play in the post season and likely will be released this off season. Keep getting those checks, Ryan!
     • Matt Hasselback When Hasselback signed up to be understudy for emerging star Andrew Luck, I don’t think this season is what he had in mind. Luck went down earlier this year and in comes Grampa Hasselback. He played as well as anyone could expect him to do and appeared to have gotten the Colts out of a jam. Not quite. Complications with Luck have left Hasselback as the starter for consecutive weeks. At this point he sits out two plays after every sack, he’s only practicing on Thursdays, and when asked about how he feels you could see the “Well it feels like every bone in my body is broken” look in his eyes. Still, Pagano has told media that he expects Hasselback to be available this Sunday, poor guy.
     • Matt Cassel  Matt sits with an exclusive group in my backup QB hall of fame (Think: Matt Flynn). He came in for terrific Tom Brady a while back and played well enough to earn a backup QB paycheck for the remainder of his career. Then Tony Romo breaks his clavicle (if it was anyone else we would just say collarbone but Romo is just the kind of guy who breaks his ‘clavicle’). In comes Cassel who was sure he would be able to piss the season away and get his old job back. He accidentally beat Washington in a week  13 toilet bowl game. Then he completes less than half his passes against Green Bay just to make sure he can get his ass back to the bench. Nope. Garrett says he’ll stand by Cassel in this coming week. Sorry, Matt.
     • Johnny Manziel What’s this guy gotta do to get benched? The off-field celebrity from Texas A&M was sent to the armpit of the North when he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. Destined to get out of there Johnny repeatedly broke team policy and even entered rehab for a week or two.  Manziel started this year as the backup, then down goes McCown.  Manziel decides this would be a good opportunity to prove himself and hopefully get traded in the offseason, so he goes ahead and throws for 372 yards. Johnny realized he might of overdid it when the Cleveland faithful proclaim him their King. So what’s Johnny do? Get’s caught pouring alcohol all over himself on the bye week. Classic. As he goes back to the bench they bring in Austin Davis. Well you can bet Davis was getting swirlys in the bathroom after he lost to the Bengals 37-3 throwing Manziel back on the field to finish the season
     • Side note: It appears Blaine Gabbert and Brock Osweiler don’t understand that being a backup QB is the best job in sports.
5. The AFC South is pathetic.
   • Sure the NFC East is bad, but why isn’t the AFC South getting enough attention?  In the stronger AFC conference they will be sending a likely 7-9 or 8-8 team to the playoffs this year. The NFC East steals most of the national attention due to the big market cities and low caliber coaching performances but I’m telling you this conference puts that one to shame. Notoriously bad, usually the Colts are able to carry the conference and hide the fact of how bad it is from the general public. Not this year. Don’t believe me?  Here are the current starting quarterback of the division: Matt Hasselback, T.J. Yates, Marcus Mariota and Blake Bortles. Sound like the local prep schools wrestling team. As bad as it is, it appears the best team is actually the London Jaguars. As the season hits the home stretch, we might actually see the Jags and Texans play a week 17 game that has home field playoff implications.  I swear that line has never been written before in NFL history.

PHOTO: CLEVELAND, OH – NOVEMBER 30: Johnny Manziel #2 of the Cleveland Browns warms up prior to the game against the Baltimore Ravens at FirstEnergy Stadium on November 30, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

Alright alright so last week was brutal.  Thankfully the NCAA games played out how I predicted and I finished the week 11-9 as a whole, best bet is 1-1.  High hopes for this week.. so you know how that usually works out.  New addition to the column:  Ok here they are:

• Bills pk. over Eagles
• 49ers +1 over Browns
• Lions -1 over Rams
• Bucs -4 over Sants
• Jets -7.5 over Titans
• Steelers +2.5 over Bengals
• Chiefs -11.5 over Chargers
• Chicago -3.5 over Washington
• Panthers -9.5 over Falcons
• Seahawks -10.5 over Ravens
• Raiders +8.5 over Broncos
• Packers -7 over Cowboys
• Patriots -3.5 over Texans
• Giants pk. over Dolphins

BEST BETS: JETS, SEAHAWKS

I think every one of these spreads are a half-point too high, and there’s going to be some really ugly games.  Also would like to send my sincere thanks to the NFL.  Thank you for giving us 11 early games and only two late afternoon games. Thank you for making one of those games, Bengals/Steeler the game of the week, during that onslaught of early games. Thank you for making us watch the ghosts of the Patriots play the Texans’ eighth string quarterback Sunday night.  Most of all, thank you thank you thank you for another amazing Monday night game: Giants-Dolphins. Man, I can’t wait for Obama to be the commissioner..

1. Teams that are in
   • Patriots, Bengals, Broncos, Panthers, and Cardinals.  All teams that are locks to win their respected divisions.
2. Teams that are out
   1. Dolphins, Ravens, Browns, Titans, Raiders, Chargers, Lions, Bears, Saints, Rams, and the 49ers.  I can’t technically add the Bucs and Falcons but I don’t see any way they stubble into a wildcard.
3. Legitimate Contenders
   • The Panthers, Bengals, and Cardinals are far and away the most balanced teams in the league.  Although the Panthers’ schedule is weak, you can’t knock them as a contender until they lose a game. The Patriots appeared to be the best team in the league until they lost their starting RB, and their starting TE, and their starting WR, and the other starting WR, and basically the entire starting line.  Still, if Gronk and Edelman (pictured) come back before playoffs you gotta consider them in as contenders.  The Chiefs are a long-shot but don’t count them out.  With the right matchup, I can see a universe where they beat the Panthers in the worst Super Bowl game ever. Still waiting for the Seahawks to shift gears and turn it on. We’ve seen them do it before and week 13 might have flipped the switch. They routed a previously 8-3 Vikings team on the road 38-7. They can throw it in cruise control for the next three games playing Ravens, Browns, and Rams before finishing the season in Phoenix. Finally, the Steelers. This years Steelers team might be the best team ever to not make the playoffs. If they can find their way to a wildcard spot however, they are a serious threat in the playoffs. They have that championship caliber makeup. How do you beat a rock solid defense, an 9’7” tall rocket-launching quarterback, a downhill running halfback, a coach who’s balls drag on the field during 4th downs, and not 1, not 2, but 3 downfield threats at WR that are all treating touchdowns as a chance to audition for Dancing With the Stars? Notice I left out the Brockweiler and his Broncos.  If you could take the average of Peyton and Brock’s age/talent and make a quarterback out of it, they might have a chance; but I don’t see either of them beating some tough AFC defenses in the playoffs.
4. The NFC East sucks
   • This division is truly terrible.  This week we watched the Giants lose to a struggling Jets team, the Eagles almost blow a three touchdown lead to the ghosts of the New England Patriots, and then the epitome of a toilet bowl game between the two remaining teams the Cowboys and the Redskins. Had Chip Kelly managed to lose that game he would be getting treatment for burns on his ass because his seat is so hot. Hopefully someone gets Tom Coughlin and Jason Garret some new watches for Christmas because their clock management may be a historically bad at this point.  On top of all of that, Jon Gruden‘s baby bro looks to be the only one who’s job is remotely safe. That’s awesome, man.
5. Coaching Vacancies
   • This year has been a really bad year for football.  The sport is lacking the entertainment it’s had in past years. Each week we’re given one maybe two actually good games to watch. A lot of that blame can be put on the coaching. After 95 years of football you would think, America could produce 32 capable coaches — nope.  Here’s a look at some of the coaches that you might see coaching your son’s Pee Wee football games come next August:
     • Jim Tomsula, of the 4-8 tied for last place 49ers.  Jim got his first road win this week against a decent Bears team.  However, studies show if you live and die by Blaine Gabbert, chances are you won’t be around too long.
     • Mike Pettine, of the 2-10 last place Browns.  Mike told us early this season that he would “turn this ship around.”  Welp, iceberg ahead Mike. He recently listed Johnny Manziel as the starting quarterback, again… And just in time for the Holiday Christmas Party!
     • Jason Garret, of the 4-8 last place Cowboys.  Jason has been using a glass chalice made from Romo’s fragile collarbone hold on to his unprecedented job stability for years. This week he used the ice from Dan Bailey‘s veins to keep that glass cool. It will be fun to watch his 5yr/$30 million drink melt away as the steaming-pile-of-feces NFC East heats up.
     • Mike McCoy, of the 3-9 last place Chargers.  The Chargers will be looking to clear house at the end of this season, literally.  Won’t be surprised if he shows up to San Diego come next year only to realize that the team picked up it’s stuff and headed to Hollywood without him.
     • Jeff Fisher, of the 4-8 tied for last place Rams. Jeff has been a ‘just okay’ coach for 21 straight seasons. After the blockbuster trade to bring in Napoleon Dynamite as quarterback over the offseason, it appears Jeff too will be homeless come next season.  (Imagine the phone call between Fisher and McCoy: “Hey Mikey, it’s week 3 and my team still hasn’t showed up for practice…”  “Jeff, for the last time — our teams moved to L.A. without us. Please stop calling me.”
     • Tom Coughlin, of the 5-7 tied for first Giants. After 253 years of life, Coughlin may finally be jobless. The Giants have been hoping Grandpa Tom sits down one day and simply can’t get back up.  Well, after wasting another season away, it appears the Giants are finally going to take matters into their own hands. Don’t be surprised if you see the Giants flying Tom out to Jason Pierre-Paul’s next 4th of July party.
     • Chip Kelly, of the 5-7 tied for first Eagles.  Chip has been hiding behind that infamous “S 8” play card for two seasons now. Looks like teams have finally figured out that “S 8” must stand for his only two offensive plays.  Can you see the headline now? “Eagles Head Coach/GM trades himself to Tennessee to reunite with ex-BFF Marcus Mariota.”

As the NCAA football season comes to an end and the NFL enters it’s home stretch of the regular season, I thought this would be a good time to debut a new “picks” column.  I will be making picks against the spread and keeping a cumulative record at the bottom of the column each week.  Let’s see how well I do and feel free to comment and try to beat me!

NCAA Conference Championships

• AAC Championship
  • Houston -6 over Temple
• SEC Championship
  • Florida +17.5 over Alabama
• Pac-12 Championship
  • Stanford -4.5 over USC
• Big 10 Championship
  • Iowa +3.5 over Michigan State
• ACC Championship
  • North Carolina +4.5 over Clemson

NFL Week 13 Games

• Jets -1 over Giants
• Cardinals -5.5 over Rams
• Falcons pk. over Bucs
• Vikings +1 over Seahawks
• Texans +3 over Bills
• Ravens +3.5 over Dolphins
• Bengals -10.5 over Browns
• Jags +2.5 over Titans
• Bears -8.5 over 49ers
• Broncos -3.5 over Chargers
• Chiefs -2.5 over Raiders
• Pats -10.5 over Eagles
• Panthers -7.5 over Saints
• Steelers -7.5 over Colts
• Washington -4 over Cowboys

BEST BETS: Broncos, Panthers

It takes a special swing of the bat to send a ball out of the yard.  A certain stroke is needed to get the baseball over the fence. The power is needed, yes, but without seeing the ball off the bat there is no one that can hit a home run.

After decades of hitting records being broken year after year, the pitchers in the MLB have finally seemed to catch up. Over the past season we saw a new wave of talent emerge from the bump. Teams are developing their young stars and producing them into aces at a quicker pace than ever before. What’s left is teams struggling to win due to the inability to score runs. This year the Royals showed us that you can win by playing ‘small ball.’  They mastered the art of moving runners over and sacrificing outs for runs. This knack led them to bringing a World Series back to Kansas City.

But what if I told you there was an easy way to score runs. A more dramatic way to change a game. The home run. The new pitchers are bringing some serious heat to the plate.  If teams don’t react quickly they could be left without a chance to win the game before it even starts.  The new manager of the Miami Marlins, Don Mattingly, decided it was time his team brought some heat of their own to the plate.

Mattingly recently hired Barry Bonds to his staff as a hitting coach. Normally a new coach bringing in new members to their staff is a non-event.  Well not when that guy is the all time leader in career home runs (762), and also home runs in a single season (73).  Bonds, who last played in 2007, is one of the few men that have that special swing of the bat and is hoping to share his gift with as many people as he can.

There is bad blood behind Bonds, however. In 2007 he was indicted for a testimony that involved connections to a performance enhancing drugs laboratory in the Bay Area. The connection would tarnish his name, cut his chances of making it to the Hall of Fame, and permanently put an asterisk next to his name in the record books.

But that was eight years ago. It’s 2015 and teams are desperate to get a leg up in the battle against opposing pitching. The Marlins roster is loaded with young talent that is as raw as it gets and is ready to take the next step forward. Their $325 million dollar man, Giancarlo Stanton, has proved to us he has the power to get the ball out of the park by hitting numerous 450+ yard home runs. Last season, he hit the league’s longest home run at 484 ft, twice.  He will now be taking advice from the arguably the greatest hitter of our time.

Mattingly took a big chance with signing Bonds. But he knew exactly what he was doing. Allegations of steroid use will always loom over Barry Bonds, no one will argue he wasn’t one of the greats when it comes to hitting a baseball. Strength might play a huge role in Home Runs, but making contact with the ball is a craft that only few have fully mastered. No one was better at doing that than him. He had that certain swing and he used it time and time again to set what will be a nearly unbreakable record. Although he might not ever get his spot in Cooperstown, he may have the answer to baseballs biggest problem.

PHOTO: Former Major League Baseball player Barry Bonds leaves federal court on April 13, 2011 in San Francisco, California. After three and a half days of deliberation, a jury found Barry Bonds guilty on one count of obstruction of justice and was a hung jury on three counts of perjury for lying to a grand jury about his use of performance enhancing drugs. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Thursday night the Packers squared off with in-division rival the Detroit Lions and brought back an important dub to Green Bay.  At 8-4 the Packers now sit in the drivers seat for the NFC North playoff race.  The game came down to the final play of the game as Aaron Rodgers heaved a 60-plus yard touchdown pass as time expired for the win. But for many, that wasn’t the biggest storyline.

Bad Beats COLUMN: OddsMakers Bet Against Aaron Rodgers

Once again millions of dollars exchanged hands during the last seconds of a game in the sports betting world. Vegas opened the spread at Green Bay -5.5 but with the public siding with the Lions the spread moved all the way to Green Bay -2.5 before the game started.  As time expired the Packers came from behind and covered their spread — breaking the hopes of anyone that had money on the Lions as a dog. The #badbeat gets worse, however.

The game came down to one final drive for the Packers to get into field goal range.  With the score at 21-23 Lions, a Packers field goal would put the game away for Green Bay 24-23.  The tricky part of this score is the over/under for the game was set at 47, meaning the game would “push” and no money would be lost or gained.  Unable to get into range, the Packers lined up for what we thought would be the final play of the game. Their only hope was to get the ball in the end zone. Rodgers hiked the ball and completed a pass that resulted into several backward pitches that would eventually result with the ball back in his hands.  He was then tackled for a loss and the game was ended… so we thought.

The referees thew the flag and called a face mask penalty that would result in one final play. With zero seconds on the clock Rodgers shoved that pass and Richards came down with it in the endzone. The play not only covered the spread but also put the point total at 50 and covered the over. After a closer look, the face-mask penalty was borderline nonexistent. Rodgers was legally brought down by the shoulder pad, and the Lions should have walked away with the win. Instead Rodgers avoided a weeks worth of scrutiny and was gifted a free play by the football gods. Most importantly, millions of dollars were lost after a #badbeat.

PHOTO: DETROIT, MI – DECEMBER 3: Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers is tackled by Quandre Diggs #28 and Stephen Tulloch #55 of the Detroit Lions in the first quarter at Ford Field on December 3, 2015 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Andrew Weber/Getty Images)