Who are these guys? and Why should I care?

I love the NFL, watch as many games as I can every Sunday and Monday. I love college football even more, watch more of it than just about anyone I know. Yet somehow the NFL Draft Weekend is like a night out with co-workers. An event you can get really hyped for that always seems to fall flat. And I realized this weekend the blame for that falls on the coverage of both the draft and college football itself.

ESPN added a four hour pre-draft special to compensate for the change in time from 12 noon to 4pm. What they did with that time was some human interest stories and a rundown of NFL teams needs. After each pick Mel Kiper runs down each picks talents and the reasons why he slipped to where he did, then their NFL commentators would discuss the NFL team needs again and if they made the right pick to address them. This year they wasted thousands of dollars on a CNN-like "Smart Board" so Michael Smith could drag names and discuss each teams draft with a broad brush. A neat effect but I couldn't figure out the point as opposed to just reading a CG.

What most college football fans want to know is why the players at the top are there. To them Matthew Stafford was an underachieving Georgia Quarterback who choked against Alabama, almost threw away the Capital One Bowl, and held up an empty keg before a summer concert. A lot of them may have never heard of Aaron Curry. What makes Stafford and Curry better NFL prospects than players like Chase Daniel and Rey Maulauga who were better known in college. I feel ESPN and NFL Network assume us to know this when it would be very interesting to have explained.

Also, how do I go through an entire college football season barely ever seeing Jason Smith or Aaron Curry? If they are can't miss NFL prospects wouldn't NFL fans want to see more Baylor and Wake Forest games for this reason? Furthermore, since most big time college football games have at least one or two NFL prospects in them, wouldn't it be wise to showcase these players to let fans know who the future of the NFL is?

Also, wouldn't it be smart to keep fans interested by keeping a record of a "Best Player Picked" graphic at each selection. Wouldn't Rams fans be more interested in their 6th round pick at 196 if they knew that Terrell Davis was once taken with that pick?

I should enjoy the NFL Draft a lot more than I do, and if ESPN can refresh its coverage I could enjoy it more.

Playoff Predictions

Straight Up I like all the road teams this weekend, since the spreads are tight I guess that means I like them ATS as well. Here are my picks for each round.

NFC

Atlanta over ARIZONA
Philadelphia over MINNESOTA

CAROLINA over Atlanta
NEW YORK GIANTS over Philadelphia

Carolina over NEW YORK GIANTS

AFC

Indianapolis over SAN DIEGO
Baltimore over MIAMI

Indianapolis over PITTSBURGH
TENNESSEE over Baltimore

TENNESSEE over Indianapolis

Super Bowl XLIII

Carolina over Tennessee

Good thing it was a Knee

I thought my run at making sophomoric De'Cody Fagg jokes was over until today, when Fagg Blew Out his Knee at the NFL Combine. The injury occured during a combine drill where receivers had to grab the ball while keeping both legs in bounds. Fagg's stock was going down during the draft process he is still projected to go in the 7th round to the Packers.

Super Bowl XLII

Today is Super Bowl XLII. Super Bowl Sunday is a uniquely American tradition that I celebrate no matter which teams are involved. I won't lie this football season has been a trying one as my Broncos rebuild, my local team has had the best season in NFL history in a year where I thought one acquisition would destroy all they had built. The local media here covers the Patriots like a bunch of 11 year old girls covering Hannah Montana, except this year the Patriots are as successful and its hard to say most of the ass kissing they get isn't warranted. With that said, and granting that I loathe the New York sports fan almost as much as anyone, I am pulling for the Giants in this game. Few things would satisfy me more than listening to WEEI, reading those assholes at Bar Stool Sports, or watching the local news stations here scramble to find something else to cover all next week.

Speaking of local news stations. You must check out Scott's recap of Super Bowl Week including scandalous pictures of every woman named Ines at Media Day. I can't wait til he gets back East to debate whether or not Ines Sainz has a great ass (hint to my position: Shakira has a great ass, Stacy Kielber has a great ass, this chick just has all her fat in one place).



Back to the game. It'd be great to see a Giant upset here but I don't see it happening. This just feels like too many Super Bowls I grew up watching in the 80's and 90's where it was the AFC team everyone was talking into having a chance for two weeks and the NFC team leaning on a whole season being the best team in football to draw confidence from and cementing their place in history. Upsets do happen in the Super Bowl but not to this magnitude, where the dominant team of the year just shits their pants and lets themselves get beat. At least since the merger anyway. This Patriots team seems like the last team that'll happen too. And I'm not even talking about this latest spygate scandal. Although I'm sure Vegas took a lot of Patriots action over the past 24 hours. If Eli Manning does play better away from the scrutiny of New York than how should we expect him to play well in Super Bowl scrutiny? The Giants secondary is banged up and New England's offensive line is the best unit in the NFL. They are more likely to frustrate the Giants defensive line than the Giants defensive line frustrating Tom Brady.

Score Prediction: New England 42, New York Giants 10

Bettingwise, personally I have two GREAT squares this year (NE 7, NYG 3 and NE 4, NYG 0) that will hopefully win me some cash to ease my misery. For those of you making donations to Las Vegas by betting on the fun "Proposition Bets" here's a handful to keep you interested.

Coin Toss: Giants -150. 9 out of the past 11 Super Bowl Champions have lost the coin toss. So if you're betting the Patriots to win, bet the Giants to win the coin toss.



Will the Giants score a First Half Rushing Touchdown?: Yes +135 If the Giants do score a touchdown in the first half when New England likes to let you hang around before Belichick drops the hammer in the second half it will be by either Brandon Jacobs or Ahmad Bradshaw exposing the aging run defense of the Patriots.


What will Eli Manning Throw First: Interception +110 Even though Manning hasn't thrown an INT all postseason, I'm suprised this is the winning bet. Assante Samuel will make a lot of money this offseason for his ability to jump routes and Plaxico Burress is known for giving up on routes too soon (especially since he's banged up) I just see one of thses type of plays happening before Eli Manning is trusted in the red zone in a Super Bowl.



Laurence Maroney rushing yards: Over 82.5 Since no Fantasy games are riding on his performance (that I know of). Koolaid will go nuts.



First Player to Score: Heath Evans 18-1 If you're going to be stupid enough to bet this, you might as well bet the longshot. And a goalline fullback is as good of a "longshot" as I can think of.



So enjoy the Super Bowl as I enjoy the end of a painful football season. And to the Patriots, in the words of The Wire's Slim Charles at Omar's gunpoint "Do what you gotta do, just finish it!"

Qadry Ismail Just Said...

"I'd go down on a guy in a minute" -ESPNNews' Qadry Ismail (in reference to whether or not the block that Trent Green got his concussion on was a dirty cut block) 7:45pm 10/7/07

Will this EVER stop being funny?

A rowdy fan ran onto the field during the Kansas City Chiefs home game vs. the Minnesota Vikings. Security took him down but they had help and Pizza Parlor Keri Ann and I have timeless comedy...



From a Different angle, this could be KC's WWE entrance video...

Baked Beans: 'VideoGate'- The Sentence and My Thoughts

The Patriots got their punishment from the NFL tonight for secretly videotaping the Jets signal callers during their Week 1 win. The punishment for the Three-Time Super Bowl Champions* is:

-$250,000 fine to the Patriots
-$500,000 fine to Bill Belichick himself
-A forfeit of their 2008 First Round Pick shall the Patriots make it to the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season* and sixth out of seven*
-A forfeit of a Second AND a Third Round Pick shall the Patriots not make the postseason for the first time in six seasons*

To gauge the reaction of the Patriots lemmings I temporarily broke my boycott of Bar Stool Sports to see how they are taking it. As you can see they ain't taking it well

(It now surprises me even less that I stopped hearing from them after writing a tongue-in-cheek Anti-Patriots column in May)

Funny thing is I have to agree. This is kinda bullshit for a practice that may not have even affected games at all especially in a sport as complicated to call from a coaching standpoint as football is.

On the other hand, anything that taints the pristine image of the New England Patriots Dynasty* makes me downright giddy. I've already put four asterisks in this post and I'm looking for context to put more in. Here we go, even with the illegal surveillance the Patriots Dynasty* came to a halt in Mile High in January of 2006.

Madden '08 Cover and Jinx goes to...

Championship Sunday Picks

I know I'm a little late in the game to be making NFL picks but just to put it on record, here are my picks for Sunday's games.

New Orleans over Chicago- New Orleans, while playing in a dome, has a team built for cold weather. They can run the ball with McAllister (this game has no fantasy implications so he should come up big again) and Bush (wouldn't want to have the podium next to him on Media Day). Drew Brees is up to the moment, and I'm not sure if the Bears can say the same for their Quarterback. This should be a tight game with enough mistakes to depress you about either team's chances in the Super Bowl and the Saints becoming the story Saints 20, Bears 13

New England over Indianapolis- File this under "Have to see it to pick it". Everything on paper says Indy should jump out big in the First Quarter at home and force a "just not right" Tom Brady to force throws and make mistakes, but if that was expected to happen, it would've happened before. By the way, the Boston media is playing "the no one nationally is picking us" angle AGAIN. In truth, its 50-50 but six years of the "disrespect" card has driven me to drink living here and I know I'm doomed for TWO MORE WEEKS of it. Patriots 28, Colts 27 Vinateri MISSES the Game Winning Kick