Happy New Year everyone. By the way, let's start the auto-corrections right now: the proper and correct way to say the name of the current year is TWENTY TEN. Not two thousand ten, not two thousand and ten, not twenty oh ten…
ITEM ONE: Wild on NFL Wild Card Weekend
Been a fun season covering the LA Kings for Examiner, and contributing to Hockeywood LA on the Kings official site (more of that to come in the new year). As I prepare for the NFL Playoffs to begin, a quick look back at my September posting of how I thought things would go this year:
AFC EAST
New England 13-3, NY Jets 9-7, Miami 7-9, Buffalo 4-12
AFC NORTH
Pittsburgh 12-4, Baltimore 12-4, Cincinnati 6-10, Cleveland 5-11
AFC SOUTH
Indianapolis 12-4, Tennessee 10-6, Jacksonville 8-8, Houston 6-10
AFC WEST
San Diego 12-4, Denver 6-10, Kansas City 4-12, Oakland 4-12
NFC EAST
NY Giants 11-5, Philadelphia 10-6, Dallas 9-7, Washington 7-9
NFC NORTH
Minnesota 9-7, Green Bay 8-8, Chicago 8-8, Detroit 4-12
NFC SOUTH
Atlanta 10-6, Carolina 9-7, New Orleans 9-7, Tampa Bay 3-13
NFC WEST
Arizona 11-5, Seattle 10-6, St. Louis 4-12, San Francisco 4-12
My playoff teams (in order of seeding) are New England, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Indianapolis, Baltimore, and Tennessee in the AFC; NY Giants, Arizona, Atlanta, Minnesota, Seattle, and Philadelphia in the NFC
Yikes! Where to begin? I had 4 of 6 in the AFC playoffs right, but only 2 of 6 in the NFC. I mean, Seattle 10-6? Wow, last time I post a blog piece at Starbucks… So, looking ahead to this weekend of rematches, as all four games are between teams that have faced each other at least once, my thoughts are as follows:
NY Jets at Cincinnati, Saturday at 4:30PM ET on NBC (Tom Hammond with Joe Gibbs and Joe Theismann) – Yes the Bengals played poorly in the first half and then pulled most of their regulars in Sunday night's loss to the Jets; yes, the Jets steamrolled the Bengals defense for over 250 yards; yes the Bengals are better home team than road team this season, and the Jets haven't been to the Super Bowl in 41 years (yes Ed Wahler, you read that correctly). I know there are many things pointing to a better outcome for the Bengals… but, they're the Bengals. And even though, they're the Jets… they're the Bengals! I mean come on, if I pick them now, Ken Bothe will never speak to me again. So, I have to choose Gang Green…ugh. Jets 22 – Bengals 13
Philadelphia at Dallas, Saturday at 8PM ET on NBC (Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth) – Everyone is making a big deal about the fact that the Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since 1996. So let me ask this question to Eagles fans: is better to make the playoffs virtually every year over the same period of time and win 1 or 2 playoff games but never win the Super Bowl? I mean, at the end of the day, I thought that's all that mattered in life when it came to sports was that the ring is the thing? Look, four weeks ago, if you told me this was the first round matchup in the NFC, I would have said: (A) I guess the game is in Philly, and (B) there's no way the Eagles lose. But, because the game is in Dallas, and the Eagles have some key injuries, most notably to their all-pro center, I think the Cowboys will make enough plays to win…barely. Cowboys 19 – Eagles 16
Baltimore at New England, Sunday at 1PM ET on CBS (Jim Nantz and Phil Simms) – This game will not necessarily make me think that the Ravens can make another Super Bowl run on the road like they did in 2000, or even another AFC Championship Game road run like they did a year ago, posting wins at Miami and Tennessee. Ed Reed did practice for the Ravens on Wednesday, which means he may be ready to go on Sunday. Wes Welker's injury means more opportunities for Julian (don't call me Karl) Edelman and Benjamin Watson, but both of them practiced this week with injuries themselves. How much different would the Pats year have been if they had made that infamous 4th-and-2? Guess we'll never know, because I think they're season ends on Sunday with a rare home loss. Ravens 20 – Patriots 13
Green Bay at Arizona, Sunday at 4:30PM ET on FOX (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, and Pam Oliver) – Last week's game only means something in the sense that the injuries suffered by both teams are real. Charles Woodson, who along with the Jets Darrelle Revis is the defensive player of the year in the league, was limited in practice with a shoulder injury but he'll be ready to go on Sunday. Anquan Boldin did not practice this week for the Cards, but more importantly two of their best DB's, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Antrel Rolle, didn't practice either. I wanted to go with the home team here, because Kurt Warner has a good post-season track record. But too many injuries I think give the Pack an edge. Packers 27 – Cardinals 24
If these come to fruition, then the division round matchups are: Jets @ Colts, Ravens @ Chargers, Packers @ Saints, Cowboys @ Vikings
ITEM TWO: The BS BCS National Championship Game
Tonight I will be at Staples Center, covering the NHL game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Los Angeles Kings. It'll be an important game for both clubs, with just teams separated by just five points in the standings – with the Kings actually ahead and in the playoffs as of today, while the Winged Wheel is currently on the outside looking in (maybe it really IS a new decade). But I will be in the press box super early, even for me, so that I can watch the TV coverage of the college football national championship game in Pasadena.
Walking around Hollywood yesterday, connecting from train to bus after Wednesday's Kings' practice, I noticed an equal number of people wearing both Alabama and Texas gear. It's easy just to quote from "The Book of Sports Clichés" that "…the team that wins the turnover battle and plays better on special teams will win." Still, a lot of people will be watching Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, to see if the Heisman curse will continue to plague winners in bowl games.
The theory behind this is that the winner tends to go to a lot of post-season banquets to receive awards, and therefore they spend more time downing rubber chicken and less time working out. But if that's the case, then Texas QB Colt McCoy, who went to the same dinners as Ingram, should also suffer from 'bloating dexterity' (shout out to my right side press box homies).
At the end of the day, if Alabama could handle Tim Tebow and the Gators with a week to prepare, then it would stand to reason they will handle McCoy with a month to prepare… Alabama 31 – Texas 20
By the way, I am willing to forgive President Obama for his lack of transparency (as accused by C-SPAN of all people) and his lack of rapid response to the failed Christmas Day bomb attempt (giving a whole new meaning to skid marks by the way) if he's been hard at work in Hawaii the past three weeks on keeping his biggest campaign promise: health care? Nope; job creation? Not a chance; getting us out of the war overseas? No sir – giving us a college football playoff system? Yep, that's what we need more than anything right now, and if we don't get one by next season, then I move for immediate impeachment proceedings. I'm kidding… sort of.
ITEM THREE: Miscellaneous
I find out officially this weekend, but it looks like I will be serving as an emergency third goaltender during next week's Los Angeles Kings Fantasy Camp, January 14-16 here in Los Angeles. I'll have more details on this on my Examiner page as it happens… speaking of which, I hope you will continue to read not only my pieces about the Kings (and I know you are) but also those of my colleagues on the RIGHT side (literally and figuratively) of the press box: Matthew Barry, Gann Matsuda, Kat Kealy, Dennis Bernstein, Brian Kennedy, and future radio show partner Charles Smith. You should also watch Overtime from KingsCast, hosted by Keith and Chris, every week. Check out this episode with me as their guest star. Also, I'll be in Pasadena on Monday January 18 at Vroman's Books for a book signing that Brian is having for his book Living the Hockey Dream… I have no problem with any of the sponsors currently dropping Tiger Woods save one: isn't Accenture the same company that was linked through their former parent company to the Enron scandal? Who the hell are they to judge anybody? By the way, I wasn't going to buy an AT&T phone or a Gillette razor because of Tiger, but because they have an entire company of employees that have never made any mistakes in their lives, I won't be buying anything from them because they dropped him too. Oh, and I sure do hope that Nancy Grace never has a fall from grace herself, because only Jim Rome would be able to go on about her on a nightly basis like she's done about Tiger - he's the only one stretching three-syllable words into six-syllable words.
It's going to be a great year...
