Playoff Push

I've been gone awhile, and I'm sorry. The holiday were without consistent internet connection and I was just too damn lazy to give you much. But, I'll make up for it with a solid column here. Several good tidbits and promise for 2010.

NFL Picks:
So you didn't see my last two weeks of picks, but I went 12-4 in Week 16 and 11-5 in Week 17 to finish 174-82. So if I'd have bet $10 on every game, I have come out of the season with $920. Nice work.

For the Wild Card Weekend...
Bengals over Jets... in an weird coincidence, three of this week's match-ups were played last week. The Jets were the only team playing to get in, but this match-up has switched locations. The Bengals get Ced Benson back and the Jets are still quarterbacked by Mark Sanchez... take the home team.
Patriots over Ravens... when one team "owns" another like the Patriots do the Ravens, the losing team needs a big playmaker to change the odds. Joe Flacco is a winner, but he's not that guy. The injuries to the Patriots will only hurt them in the next round against the Chargers.
Cowboys over Eagles... I know it's really hard to beat a team three times in one season, but the Cowboys have the tools. Also, I picked them to win it all, so here they are.
Packers over Cardinals... only upset of the weekend, but the Packers are hot and the Cardinals have not been good at home this year. Of course, they played poorly down the stretch last year and banged out some playoff wins, but not this time.

Bowl Picks:
Once again Katie and I picked the bowl games against each other and this time Katie pulled out the squeaker 19-15 to 18-16. The contest swung on the Boise State fake punt... she took the Broncos, I believed a little too much in TCU's offense.
Missouri's loss to Navy was unfortunate, but if you are going to lose to a "mid-major" at least it's to a group of guys who are learning to kick ass for a living.
As for the National Championship, someone on Facebook claimed that it would only have been fair if Mark Ingram had left the game with an injury as well. Injuries are never fair, and they cannot be prevented, but that's what happens when big men collide with each other at full speed. People get hurt. I feel bad for Colt, it sucks to be in his situation. Robbed of a chance to win Heismans and National Championships in consecutive years... that REALLY sucks. It's the disadvantage to running quarterbacks. They have to be able to take hits. Look at the kid from Navy, how many hits does he each game? You have to be tough, and Colt is not really a TOUGH player... a great player, just not "tough." Alabama was just bigger and better that night.

College Basketball:
You know I dislike preseason rankings. They are based on the previous season's "success" and whatever recruiting class you got. Why is Kansas, a team that only won 2 tournament games, ranked #1 and UConn is #13? Kansas is good, and they may make the Final Four, but are they are clear #1 right now?? My rankings will be coming soon, they might be top five, but don't expect them to be #1.

What's to come:
- A final NFL rap-up with Draft predictions
- College Rankings
- NBA and NHL mid-seasons predictions