InClement Weather: Super Bowl XLIII Approaches...

While I admittedly was in and out of much of the Steelers/Ravens game (it's not like they pay me to do this), I did decide to collect a few thoughts on the two championship games. Luck you, right???

Arizona defeated 32-25 to win the NFC Championship

Darnell Dockett and the Cardinals have to plant Big Ben every time they get the slightest of grips on him. Otherwise, he will make them pay.

Credit: Yahoo! Sports

1) If anyone had Arizona in the Super Bowl at the following points, you are either crazy or a mad genius. Funny how the two intersect so easily.
A) Pre-season
B) After their Thanksgiving meltdown out east in the Linc
C) After the "snow-bowl" BEATDOWN (even with nothing to play for) against the Patsies
D) Before the Atlanta game
E) Before the Carolina game
F) When Philly took the lead 25-24 on that insane TD pass to DeSean Jackson.

2) Kurt Warner proved that even though Peyton Manning won the NFL, there is no more important quarterback to his team than Warner is to his Cardinals. 21-28, 279 yards, and 4 TDs in the franchise's biggest game (and then some) in Arizona. Not to mention the poise on that last drive. Wow.

3) Tim Hightower, a 5th round pick, couldn't handle being "the man" in Arizona down the stretch. Nevertheless, thanks to guys like Edgerrin James (more on him later), he's a rookie making major contributions on a Super Bowl team.

4) Edgerrin James had to leave Peyton Manning and Indianapolis and go out west - to the desert of Arizona - to get his Super Bowl trip. Funny, eh?

5) Larry Fitzgerald is worth the price of admission. I hope Anquan prays he's both healthy and Todd Haley wants him heavily involved in two weeks.

6) Donovan F. McNabb showed a lot of class, poise, and even a smile or two Sunday afternoon. Philly fans still don't deserve him.

7) Andy Reid is 1-4 in NFC Title games. Question is: how many of those "should" his teams have won?

8) DeSean Jackson is electric. I hope he's not a flash-in-the-pan wideout/returner.

9) Assante Samuel wasn't himself Sunday afternoon. Neither was Brian Dawkins.

10) That was a pass interference call the refs missed. You know the play. However, Curtis knows he had to somehow still catch that ball and the Eagles know they left that game on the field. They didn't lose because of the refs.


Pittsburgh defeated Baltimore 24-13 to win the AFC Championship

Joe Flacco didn't lay the biggest turd on the field Sunday. Instead, this guy was the biggest turd. And it wasn't even close. Nice job faking an injury.

Credit: Yahoo! Sports

1) Two Super Bowls in five years for Big Ben. Not too shabby.

2) Troy Polamalu doesn't care who anyone considers the best safety in the NFL, he just delivers when it matters most.

3) Hines Ward's health will be a major factor come two weeks.

4) Don't automatically assume Pittsburgh will cakewalk their way to Super Bowl XLIII. They won't.

5) LaMarr Woodley looked a lot more today like the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year.

6) Props to Terrell Suggs on a gritty effort.

7) Ray Lewis deserves better quarterbacks. Plain and simple.

8) Joe Flacco was exposed for what he truly is: a nice kid who is not going to be a very productive NFL quarterback in crunch time.

9) Prayers out to Willis McGahee.

10) Ryan Clark led with his helmet and may have broken a man's neck. Of course, he didn't mean to hurt someone. Nevertheless, that was helmet to helmet and a devastating illegal hit. He's lucky his own neck didn't break. The only realistic, sensible, and fair punishment is a suspension for the Super Bowl. However, the NFL is gutless - especially when dealing with top-tier organizations - and won't lift a finger to even fine Clark. Roger Goodell is a sham and probably a crook for not dealing with situations just like these. It makes his organization cower to the owners and the franchises. Pathetic. Speaking of which, Walt Coleman's crew should be ashamed of themselves for allowing such a hit to go unpenalized. Ashamed.

Congrats to both teams. Except Limas Sweed. Who clearly faked an injury after dropping a crucial potential touchdown pass. I hurt too when I blow easy touchdowns. Everyone in the room (in houses across the nation) knew he was gonna fake an injury too. Even Nantz (an idiot altogether) knew his pride was hurt and nothing more. He will forever be a yellow-bellied coward. And a faker. And butterfingers. Loser.

By the way, please don't be that Steelers fan who thinks his team is 100% class and Sweed was genuinley hurt. Don't be so naieve.

Think I'm angry? Not at all. But seriously, how did this movie make over $30-million on opening weekend? Aren't we in a recession???

Credit: IMDB.com

Tuesday FourCast: Week 17

Another regular season down the drain. Some are rejoicing the extension of their teams' lives by one more week, such as Philly fans, who had everything fall into place through their trifecta of success (beating Dallas and watching Chicago and Tampa lose). Others cried foul, such as New England's faithful, who watched their team secure an 11-5 record, yet be denied a playoff berth thanks to Baltimore's victory and Brett Favre's crapulence. Regardless, this was a season to remember ... if not for the football, then for the garbage officiating :-)

1. Year of the Falcon

If your team missed out on the postseason, I really don't see how you can cheer for anyone other than the Atlanta Falcons. (And if you're still too busy sulking, then I invite you to go back to Ft. Worth and continue crying over spilt popcorn). I understand that the Miami Dolphins finished with a far worse record last season, and therefore finished with a 10-game turnaround compared with the Falcons' 7-game positive swing. However, the Fins coach stayed with them through their 1-15 season, and their turmoil was entirely based around poor football decisions. Now, I generally can't stand the Falcons, and I cheered against them most of the time, for no good reason really, but I still didn't like them. But this team watched its "quarterback of the future" get sent to prison for heinous crimes against animals. And then, as if being led by Joey Harrington wasn't bad enough, faux-savior/faux-coach/faux-human Bobby Petrino quit on his team with 3-games left in the 2007 regular season. This poor team basically had a gigantic turd laid on it's head both at the onset of last season and near it's end. What Mike Smith, Michael Turner, Matt Ryan and Roddy White have done there is nothing short of miraculous and awe-inspiring. And as much as it pains me, I'll be cheering for these guys starting this weekend.

2. Year of the Psych-Out

The Washington Redskins record through Week 8: 6-2. The New York Jets record through Week 13: 9-3. The Tampa Bay Bucs record through Week 13: 9-3. San Diego through Week 13: 4-8. Guess which ONE of these teams actually made the playoffs ...
Okay, so San Diego did squeak in despite not finishing with a winning record (8-8) thanks to Denver's choke job over the final three weeks of the season, but that doesn't take away from the fact that in the NFL two cliché rules ALWAYS apply:
A) You can never count a team out, and
B) There's no such thing as a sure thing (not even Norv Turner losing in December).
Now, the Redskins were never as good as their 6-2 record implied, nor were the Bolts nearly as bad as their 4-8 record claimed. Regardless, both teams psyched-out their own fans and those of their rivals, and thereby helped create a very intense and important Week 17 of the NFL season.

3. Year of the Bad Calls

Normally I do not re-use a blurb from my intro to the FourCast again as an item, but this was a big one. Starting with Ed Hochuli's terrible blown call in the Week 2 Denver/San Diego matchup, and ending with Walt Coleman's irresponsible overturning of the "No Touchdown" call in the Pittsburgh/Baltimore game, this was a poor season for the NFL's officiating crew. (NOTE: I do believe that Santonio Holmes scored on that play against Baltimore, HOWEVER, there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the call of "No Touchdown." Therefore, Coleman overstepped his bounds as a referee ... regardless of what the NFL's resident douchebag Mike Pereira says). Unfortunately, these bad calls decided games that ultimately decided playoff scenarios (Baltimore could have become the #2 seed rather than the #6 seed), yet nothing could be done after-the-fact.
Poor officiating has dogged most professional and collegiate sports since their inception, this is a fact of life which we must face and accept. However, when the officiating raises to blatant irresponsibility and horrendous calls which determine the final outcome of games, then action must be taken. The NFL must institute some form of an in-game review of its officials in extreme situations ... such as when referees blatantly ignore the standard by which they blow their whistles and overturn calls.

4. Year of the "Evening Out"

There would have been an embeded youtube clip of the Seinfeld "evening out" or "even steven" episode here. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a short clip of it on youtube or anywhere else on the web. But in essence, in the episode, Seinfeld always manages to break even. Whether it's on his trip to Vegas, or when he loses one gig, but finds another one for the same weekend for the same pay, Jerry believes that things always even out. As he told Elaine, when she was down on her luck, "Elaine, don't get too down. Everything'll even out, see, I have two friends, you were up, he was down. Now he's up, you're down."
Well, this law applies to the NFL and it's extreme parity. In the 2007 regular season, the New England Patriots became the first team in history to finish 16-0 in the regular season. Even though they did not win the Super Bowl, such dominance over the course of the regular season seemed to fly in the face of the great parity which the NFL preached. Enter the 2008 Detroit Lions.
Just as there was an undefeated regular season team before the Pats (the 1972 Dolphins finished 14-0), there was once a winless team in the NFL as well (the 1976 Bucs finished 0-14). But Lions had to go and out-do the Bucs and lose 16 games in one season. While this sucks for the Detroit fans, it's for the greater good. Hopefully the powers that be in the Motor City will take note of the fine folks in Miami, Atlanta and Baltimore, and turn this around for the league's first 0-16 team.

Thanks for another season. Breakdown of each individual playoff game begins on Thursday morning!