I'm A Better Sportscaster Than You

Uh, donation to Nicarauga

I am afraid I am amazed by this story.  1st and foremost: Kids in Nicarauga love proper football not the NFL and have nobody to play against, much less coach or referee the game.  2nd: We can't find anyone in this country who might want the free gear? In a place where the kids might actually use them?

The Greatest Play in a Super Bowl

Yeah, I'd have to agree:

Tyree's Catch

But that run by Riggins was definately a close second.

Wow

NFL films (the owners of the long-term rights to NFL highlights) took 93 people to shoot the superbowl on film.  NFL films has 22 camera positions.

One would assume that the TV network had at least that money, so we can assume it now takes 100 people to produce the video of a game.

Magpies + Shearer?

This report claims that A. Shearer turned down the job as #2 to K. Keegan at St. James Park.  Now, for me I'd have to say that Shearer is clearly the diplomat for saying that perhaps he is too much like Keegan to be the #2, but I think from a purely political standpoint this is a mistake.  It's very clear that managers today are not given anywhere near the time they need to build a club in their image.  Keegan, no master of tactics in my opinion, though can change a club fairly quickly through his "win 6-4" attitude.  I think that Shearer would be smart to get involved as the #2 at St. James' Park because it makes it far less likely that the management will sack them as a pair and, thus, they'll get more time to put together the type of team and tactics that they want.  I think Shearer may be more defensive-minded than people give him credit for, and that he might actually be a good foil to Keegan's all-out-attack philosophy.  In any case, the toon army will not allow ownership to sack the combo of Keegan/Shearer until it is very clear that they are out of ideas--probably 4-6 years.

Picks For Wildcard Weekend

I've looked at the analysis, seen the games all season, checked the lines, and here are my picks for the wildcard games today and tomorrow:

1. Take Seattle (-3.5) over the Skins. I don't care that Washington has won four straight, the quality of the competition has been pretty bad (Cowboys mailed it in for week 17).  A backup quarterback, no matter how well he has played, isn't going to get it done in a road game in January.  He's especially not going to get it done at Qwest Field with the 12th man going crazy and (trust me, I just walked my dog) a light rain and the wind gusting to perhaps 50kph.  In metric or english units, it's going to play havok with Collins (who does seem like a nice guy and a great story) but not with Hasselbeck.  The Seahawks have the home-rain advantage should be -7.5.   I think this game will either be pretty close and desperately ugly or Seattle will get control early and just stay out of trouble.
2. Take Jacksonville -2 at Pittsburgh.  I don't know who got this game with Jacksonville +1 early in the week, but boy did they take Vegas to the cleaners on that!  The line has moved 3 points already because everybody and his dog is on the Jacksonville bandwagon.  I'm on it too.  Jacksonville beat the Steelers before they lost Willie Parker and I'm just not convinced Big Ben (as good as he is) carry that team through nasty conditions (the field will be a cesspool, the temperature freezing) against a very physical JAC team that will play soft and try to prevent anything deep.  JAC will play to make the Steelers prove they can run--and nobody outside of western PA thinks they can do that against Marcus Stroud and co.  For the oddsmakers this could be an absolute disaster as everybody is on Jacksonville here. This game could have been a tough call at around Jacksonville -6 because the jags are not a team that is going to score a lot, they are grinders.  At -2, it's a steal!
3. Take the Giants +2.5 over the Bucs.  Yeah, I'm taking Eli Manning and the Giants on the road against the likely mistake-free Jeff Garcia and the Bucs.  Look, I love Jeff Garcia--I still don't know the Fourty-Niners got rid of him years ago.  He is a phenomenal player that "just wins" despite being undersized.  Further, I think Gruden was smart to rest his starters the last two weeks--I think that rest will help them. Why in the world then am I on the Giants in this game? One simple reason: the Patriots are really that good.  In a gut-check game last week (complete with the players voting to continue playing the starters at half-time) against the league's best team the Giants gave the Pats all they wanted.  I don't care about some players getting banged up in the losing effort last week.  I care that Giants offense, notably Manning, Jacobs, and Boss, believe that they are within a play or two of the best.  The Bucs are not the best, by a long shot.  They Bucs will try to pressure Manning, no doubt, but I think he'll do enough to get them through.  I'd even take the Giants at 3 to 2 to win this game outright.  In a final act of cosmic pain, though, I can imagine this game being a Bucs win by 1 on a last-second field goal.
4. Take the Titans +9 over the Chargers.  The Chargers are the least convincing good team in the NFL.  They have a ton of weapons on offense, terrific defenders all over the field, but... you just feel that they don't have that edge that good teams have.  Maybe it's playing in good weather all the time and the rest of us are just bitter.  I'm taking the Titans to cover here, not win the game.  Jeff Fisher has done more with less this season than anybody else in the league; he was my pick for coach of the year or at least smoke-n-mirrors guy of the season.  (Quick! Name a wideout or linebacker or DB for Tennessee!)  He had to coach that team, not manage a bunch of stars.  At the time I write this the starting QB for the titans is Kerry Collins.  For now, I think he gives them a better chance to win the game than a limping VY.  Collins has playoff, even super bowl, experience and I think can play well enough to keep this game close.  Perhaps I should say that I he can score maybe one less touchdown than a Chargers team that I expect to under-achieve and escape, happy with a win.  For what it's worth, with a healthy Vince Young this game is betting dynamite and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't touch it. Young, when he can run, can do almost anything (good and bad) at any time, and I'd only bet that such a game would be fun to watch but it's not worth a financial commitment.