The Mightly AFC rolls on

AFC 28 - NFC 28 heading into week 16....

Pittsburgh over St. Louis

BUT

Detroit over Kansas City
New York Giants over Buffalo
Seattle over Baltimore

So that gives us: Mighty Invincible AFC 29 - Weak no-shot NFC 31

With Week 17:
New England at New York Giants
Buffalo at Philadelphia
San Fransisco at Cleveland
Minnesota at Denver

I'm thinking Patriots over Giants, Eagles over Bills, Cleveland over S.F. and in a total toss-up Minnesota running backs over Denver's poor run-defense for a grand total of NFC 34 - AFC 30; that is by no means a clear thing, all of the game (except the first one) are toss-ups, all 6 of those other teams are on-off teams and you never know what you'll get, plus all 4 of the games are going to be cold weather games.

Why do I keep commenting on this while the Patriots and Colts are supposedly so awesome; when people say you can't look at the total records of the conference... because you can.. becuase this is proof of changing times. The disparity in the AFC is great compared to the NFC who is picking up the slack now where they not only lost the overall conference matchup, but got hammered; in fact when was the last time this happened... about 7 years ago when the NFC's parity slipped and the St. Louis Rams were killing everyone but the rest of the league was weak while they simply got the consolation prize winner of Oakland and New England... Now I'm not saying New England will get upset like the Rams did back then, but this sure is setting up to look just like it... a team no one will bet against playing well anyone from the NFC will be considered a done deal, and even if the Patriots win, next season's momentum has already shifted to the NFC who has teams a few year in to their rebuilding while the AFC teams are just starting their downswing...I wouldn't think much beyond the Dolphins, Jets, Raiders, Baltimore, Kansas City, and Cincinnati rebounding anytime soon;

Why overall do those teams matter. Well because The patriots have knotted up 15 wins so far this season, and only 4-5 of those wins came against good teams and 6 were automatic against their division then add in the Bills and Bengals, and then you look at their 3 closest games... 1 was the colts while the other 2 were the Eagles at home and a really piss-poor Ravens team. What is going to happen is that no matter how many times you go 16-0, if 11-12 of those games are basically easy push-overs, then you struggle when real competition shows up...

Weekend of Snow!

There’s that one weekend marred by weather for a team, rarely does it hit half the games all on the same day. I’m not sure what was more amusing, watching the ball blow off the tee and roll down the field in New York, the slipping sliding in Cleveland plus the refs not being able to find the 50 yard line… or seeing highlights of the San Diego game in the sun….

So first things first…. NFC 28 – AFC 28 (apparently I made a mistake in my math last week as this is the current standings showing on both NFL and Espn.) so this weekend was just another tie but here’s what’s next:

Week 16:
Pittsburgh at St. Louis
Kansas City at Detroit
New York Giants at Buffalo
Baltimore at Seattle

The way all of these teams are playing, I’d say that every one of those four games is a toss-up right now.

More importantly, playoff races. The AFC is more or less set assuming no major hiccups by Cleveland, they can actually in-fact still win the division with the way Pittsburgh is playing and to be honest playing at Cleveland (even if its just the first round) is a scary thought for any other team, that team has been losing for decades yet has the craziest fans, imagine them in a playoff atmosphere...possibly in a snow-storm…

On the NFC side, just when you expect things to work itself out, doors stay open. The Cowboys fall to the Eagles in a low scoring dome game!? Yeah sure the roof was open, but there is no excuse for 10-6 in a dome (I realize the Eagles could have scored to end it for possibly the smartest play I’ve seen all season.). So that re-opens the 1st seed back up to the Packers; but then the Seahawks lose to Carolina. I understand that it is some serious jetlag for them to go all the way to the east coast but Carolina was starting its 4th QB of the season. This actually wasn’t on the defense but the offense.

More importantly however, The Giants to the Redskins and the Saints won. The Giants end with Buffalo and New England both away and both games they will very probably lose; I’m not sure if they have the tiebreaker over the Saints, Vikings or Redskins; but if NFL and ESPN are neither saying that the Giants have clinched then here’s what we’re hoping for, the Giants lose both, and the Saints or Redskins win out.

WHY?

Minnesota, Tampa Bay, the Saints, and Redskins are hot right now, and if maybe not hit they look like lava next to the Giants who simply racked up early wins against crappy teams. (remember only think about performance: the Saints and Redskins would both be on even better streaks right now if not for one bad call or play in games) But more importantly, the Giants are boring and will get pummeled by whomever they play. Eli hasn’t yet been able to get the team to rally around him and Shockey is out now as well, that loss last night told you everything you need to know about why we want the Giants to lose 2 more games and to have the Vikings and Saints/Redskins in the playoffs instead; who wants to watch the same Giants team from the last 4 years once again flame out?

In other side news the Falcons try for Cowher, but he says he’s not interested… Not interest in coaching was his claim, which can be true, but is it really, not interested in the Falcons?

Anything Else? Germany wins Nations Cup (Race of Champions) ousting the USA in the first round. Jimmy Johnson said he just couldn’t get used to the Rally car 4-wheel drive…(there were also right turns on this course...)

13 Players of note

List Courtesy of Deadspin

Below, a complete list of players mentioned in the Mitchell Report.

All the players listed in the section VIII. B.: "Information Regarding Purchases or Use of Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball" (section 3 is "Radomski's Distribution of Performance Enhancing Substances to Major League Baseball Players")

Lenny Dykstra
David Segui
Larry Bigbie
Brian Roberts (for a user he sure is a small guy)
Jack Cust (a rising star still?)
Tim Laker
Josias Manzanillo (NOT Manzanillo too!)
Todd Hundley
Mark Carreon
Hal Morris
Matt Franco
Rondell White
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte (I'm not sure why either of these guys would surprise anyone, they peaked in their late 30s)
Chuck Knoblauch
Jason Grimsley (who cares, the more important thing is that he went through an air-shaft for Albert Belle)
Gregg Zaun
David Justice
F.P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn (are they sure they didn't confuse steroids with food?)
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Ryan Franklin
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Adam Piatt
Miguel Tejada (Any possibility this is why Baltimore traded him?)
Jason Christiansen
Mike Stanton
Stephen Randolph
Jerry Hairston
Paul Lo Duca
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernando Vina
Kevin Brown (an L.A. collection of guys)
Eric Gagne (Wonder if he stopped taking them when he went to Boston?)
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett, Jr.
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark
Nook Logan

Section IX. B."Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball"

Rick Ankiel
Paul Byrd (wonder if this is the same one he claimed back during the playoffs to be prescribed... by a doctor who had his license revoked...)
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus (Kelly I think he's on your fantasy team, I think that means you forfeit your league championship)
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston, Jr.
Gary Matthews, Jr.
Scott Schoeneweis
David Bell
Jose Canseco (Obviously he's been telling the truth all along, and I'd never fault him for making money on the books, just fault him for being an idiot. see: Surreal Life)
Jason Grimsley
Darren Holmes
John Rocker (too bad they didn't make steroids for the brain)
Ismael Valdez
Matt Williams (this didn't surprise me at all, right up there with McGuire)
Steve Woodard

AFC takes the lead

AFC 28 - NFC 27

The NFC South accounting for 13 of those losses surmounting a wonderful 3-13 record against the AFC. Can the NFC comeback and take down the invincible AFC??? Here's what is left of inter-conference play:

Week 15:
Cincinnati at San Fransisco
Detroit at San Diego

Week 16:
Pittsburgh at St. Louis
Kansas City at Detroit
New York Giants at Buffalo
Baltimore at Seattle

Week 17:
New England at New York Giants
Buffalo at Philadelphia
San Fransisco at Cleveland
Minnesota at Denver

So with 10 more match ups remaining there will be a winner, PLUS there will be a leader after each week. The AFC is the home team for only 4 of the match ups, but heres where you can have some fun; does it mean anything in those match ups?

San Fransisco & St. Louis are both 1-5 at home
Detroit is 4-3
Seattle is 6-1
Giants are 3-3
Philadelphia is 2-5

While the AFC home teams are 5-1, 5-1, 4-3, 4-3

Odds are definitely looking against the NFC, especially with the Giants playing the Patriots but I can also see this final 10 coming out in the NFC's favor 7-3 at best for a 34-31 finish.

Interesting note: No Division leader has lost more than 1 home game.

13 Things delayed

Sorry hit-and-run on the new car yesterday, been spending all the free time yesterday and today with cops, insurance & collision repair/estimate people. Will try to get 13 things up for tomorrow.

A weekend capped by stupidity

The Saints call a gimmicky reverse when trying to run the clock out, Joe Gibbs double-calls time-out for a 15-yard penalty, but the best of it all… the absolute stupidity of the Bowl Championship Series.

I could go on for weeks about this… and I will. But first lets examine the overall stupidity of the so-called championship system: Everyone screams about how college football is the best season because every game is a playoff game… yet undefeated Hawai’i got no consideration for the National Championship… just as Boise State and Utah got screwed in seasons past.

Hawai’i began the season #23 and couldn’t get higher than #10 yet Kansas was #2 after starting the season unranked and playing a weaker schedule than Hawai’i… the only difference? Kansas is in a BCS conference.

The way the season played out this year we (as fans) were subjected to 6 different coaches politicking on national television telling us why they think their team should get in national championship:

6 teams all claiming their shot at the NC while claiming Hawai’i had a poor schedule, yet their schedule was about the same as USC, Ohio State, Kansas and Missouri’s (NOT TO MENTION that Michigan was actually scheduled to open with Hawai’i but dropped them for fear that Hawai’i might actually be able to beat them, talk about karma); Georgia loses twice and doesn’t even win its conference or division but claims they deserve it because they are “playing better”; USC barely eeks out the Pac-10 on tiebreakers and also claims the “playing better” argument, yet if you look at their end of schedule its nothing to care about. Yet through all of this Hawai’i beat everyone that would play them, and beat them all convincingly and gets the “privilege” of playing in the Sugar Bowl…

Not kidding the BCS says that Hawai’i is getting the privilege to be allowed into their prestigious system, and this brings me to my biggest point about why the NCAA absolutely MUST institute a playoff system.

The NCAA through its “post-season” system is mandating discrimination based solely on unjustifiable prejudice. Every other sport in the NCAA system has a playoff; why does football (only in division 1) continue to not? How does it make any sense to mandate discrimination and force people to discriminate?

Don’t understand it, here it is in short. Right now and for the past decade we tell 55 Division I football teams that they don’t matter, that they might as well not play their games because we’re not going to let them win the national championship anyway, but MORESO and MORE APPALLING We degrade them and nationally criticize teams that lose to them and criticize their conferences and their universities and in every way possible, tell them that they are lower football beings than the BCS conference teams simply based on absolutely nothing than our own prejudices and simply Because the BCS said so.

Seriously, listen to any idiot football fan or analyst talk about Hawai’i right now; They don’t even give Hawai’i the attention to watch their game but will very quickly tell you they are inferior to the BCS teams…

I was probably one of the very few people who actually stayed up and watched Hawai'i; they are simply amazing and should be playing in the national championship over any 2-loss team out there. People saw the first 5 minutes and then the final score and assume Hawai'i just squeaked it out. They freaking dominated that game, just like they dominated Boise State.

Essentially they spotted Washington 21 points with silly turnovers all within the first 10 minutes of the game and Washington never really threatened again not to mention they could NOT stop Hawai’i from scoring. So erase the silly fumbles and Hawai'i wins the game by 28 instead of by 7.

Right now I would take Hawai'i, U. of Central Florida, and maybe even BYU to beat any of the top 9 BCS teams on a neutral field in a playoff atmosphere. Any idiot fan or analyst would laugh at this and say they have NO chance, but how in the hell do they know when they won't let them even try.

On top of our extreme prejudice and downright discrimination and slander thrown at the Non-BCS teams we think we are so awesome that we can correctly predict which teams are better, all 119 of them. Then for a second we decided that obviously we can’t watch 60 games each week so we let ourselves be lent a hand from something that could: computers, and the moment it gave us the match up we didn’t want to see we went right back to ranking the teams ourselves and for the past 2 seasons more than ever, we’ve lent the league to politics, bringing a team into the national championship game with absolutely NO EXPLANATION as to why/how they leapfrogged teams we previously had ranked ahead of them.

13 top-five teams have lost to unranked opponents, eight of them doing so at home). With all the loses that happened this season (only 1 undefeated team and only 2 1 loss tams) how could any person have such an ego to think that they could correctly look at those teams and decide which of them is better?

The first thing that should happen is all the 55 non-BCS schools should make their own playoff, but while a little unrealistic here is one that isn’t. Non-BCS schools should for now on refuse to play BCS schools until they allow them into the post-season “system.”

“The system remains an insult to the sport, and to fans who are smart enough to know they're being sold swampland disguised as beachfront property.”- Pat Forde