Well it’s the final Variety Show of the year and I would love nothing more than to send you out with some sort of Best of 2009 or decade in review but alas, teachers are unsupportive. SO due to it being finals week and this nasty cold I seemed to have acquired somewhere it may be a rather short week. But do not worry, I am still going to tell you where to put your money over break.
NFL
Top Five
1. Saints: Every week the Saints look beatable, every week the Saints win. This time it was on the back of Reggie Bush and his two TD’s
2. Colts: 22 straight wins is pretty impressive; how’d you manage that? Oh, you share a division with the Jags, Texans, and Titans. A peewee football team could string together a few wins against those opponents. Manning’s nine picks in five games isn’t exactly spectacular either.
3. Chargers: The Bolts are on an eight-game win streak, with five of them coming on the road. The Colts need to be on notice that these men will come into Indy the second or third playoff game and they will make them pay.
4. Vikings: with one of the most impressive receiving corps in the NFL, the Favre-led Vikes will be a tough out in the Playoffs. Or they may just crumble. I am still not fully sold on this team’s ability to grind them out.
5. Eagles: With a gameplan that was basically different variations on the “go long” play, the Eagles put up 45 points on the Giants. The Eagles only held the ball for 25 minutes and scored 45 points; not bad.
16-0?
Two teams stand at the brink of infamy and now have a choice to make…..go for it? Well, let’s take a look. First up are the Colts: they have the Jaguars, Jets, and Bills left. The Colts have said that they will play the starters for the first drive (Mannings starting game streak, gotta keep that alive), but will bench them most likely after that. With that in mind, the Colts shouldn’t make it out of the first game against the Jags. Indy’s second string QB is on IR and the third stringer is Chris Painter out of Purdue. Not to take anything away from the kid but that’s a lot of pressure in what will be your first major playing time in the NFL. I just do not see the Colts making it.
On the flip side is the Saints who have the Cowboys, Tampa, and the Panthers left. They have backed off of the “play all the way through” talk but have not said they will bench their starters. They have openly stated they are playing for a title and however the players want to get there is how they’ll do it. Football players have big egos, they’re gonna go for it…..and they will get it. As long as they play their starters all or almost all of every game they will go undefeated. The only real test are the Cowboys but they play them in N’awlins and the C-Boys suck in December anyway.
Snippets
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Isn’t it funny how every time the Texans season is over, they start to play really well? - Who is going to make a play for Michael “Mad Dog” Vick in the offseason? At the moment it looks like the Rams are the frontrunners.
- That or an unseen team could make a play for McNabb; it shall be interesting.
- We may be seeing the end of an era that is Randy Moss.
- Adrian Peterson will not be a Bear next year.
- At the start of the season fans were demanding (Chargers coach) Norv Turner’s dismissal; now they are going to give him a contract extension. Apparently Chargers management took a piece out of the Titans giving-the-middle-finger playbook.
- If the Packers can beat the Steelers this Sunday, it will be loss number 8 for the Steelers and also will insure they will not have a winning season a year after winning it all.
- I really hope the Dolphins can make the Playoffs. In the last 10 games only two AFC teams have a better record, but their 0-3 start may be what dooms them.
Isn’t it funny how every time the Texans season is over, they start to play really well?
UFC 107
This last weekend we saw what was the best card of the year and it had some far reaching implications. The main event saw B.J. Penn defeat Diego Sanchez in the 5th round due to referee/ doctor stoppage due to cuts. It may have been stopped in the 5th, but the fight was over in the 2nd. Penn was able to defend everything Sanchez threw at him and was also able to defend every one of the take downs. After spending the early rounds peppering Sanchez with punches Penn unleashed a hellfire of hooks in the later round with a shin kick to the head to finish it off. The cut on Diego’s head was epic, there was just no way to actually hold it together with Vaseline and it was pouring blood, so the doctor had to call the fight. With this win B.J. has not lost in 8 years. He is hands down the best lightweight there has ever been, and he has cleaned out an entire division. With no real challengers could we see him go up a weight class once again?
The co-main event saw Cheick Kongo take on Frank Mir. It took all of 72 seconds for Mir to knock him down and put him to sleep. Following the fight Mir stated that he Hopes Lesner (champ) gets well soon so he can get in the ring, take him down, and put him out. As of today it was been tentatively agreed that Mir will face Shane Carwin (11-0 record) for an Interim Heavyweight belt at UFC 111 on March 27th. Whomever wins will face Lesner when/if he comes back. Personally, I hope Mir wins so we can see a Lesner/Mir 3.
The other big fight of the night was the clay Guida and Kenny Florian bout. In the first round, Florian opened a nice cut along Guidas scalp that caused a nice cut and in the second rounf Florian took him down and beat him till he got in a choke and made him tap. Florian looked a lot better than his previous loss to B.J.
TIGER WOODS UPDATE
In an effort to keep from turning into a trash blog I will keep this short.
Call me Elin, I know how to treat a lady (fish sandwich and dandelions).
SPORTSBOOK
20-22-1 PRO
14-8-2 NCAA
11-2 MMA
Well, it was another dismal week in my Pro betting. As a result, I’m going to refrain from point spreads and just pick winners, gotta up my record somehow (Ed. note: Yeah, tell that to your bookie). With this being the last post before New Year I am also going to throw in my bowl picks.
Oregon over Ohio St. in the Rose Bowl: Ohio St. Has a horrible record in the Rose Bowl and it will continue, at least this time it’s not USC on the other side.
Cincinnati over Florida in the Sugar Bowl: Florida has no right being in this game and Cincy will show them the way out.
Oklahoma St. over Mississippi in the Cotton Bowl: Flipped a coin.
TCU over Boise St in the Fiesta Bowl: TCU should be playing for a national title and not Texas, they’re gonna come out and show why.
Alabama over Texas in the Championship Game: Alabama will show us why Texas does not belong on the same field as them.
UFC 108 on January 2nd
Rashad Evans over Thiago Silva: Silva has what it takes to beat him but I just don’t see it happening. Especially being as how Evans wants to send a statement to Rampage.
Junior Dos Santos over Gilbert Yivel: Santos may not be the best but hes exciting and always comes through when it counts.
Joe Lauzon over Sam Stout: I’ve never heard of this Stout guy before so based on that I am going the other way.
This weekend’s games
SAINTS over Cowboys: Brees and company will find another way to grind one out this week.
Packers over STEELERS: Make that eight losses in a row.
Dolphins over TITANS: Miami has something to play for, Titans do not.
Texans over RAMS: This may just be the breaking point for the Rams. They have had three straight losing seasons and it’s time to do something about it.
CHARGERS over Bengals: The streak will continue
Well, if anyone is still in town over break and wants to catch a few games feel free to hit me up on Twitter, http://twitter.com/FootyPJs. And keep in mind that we enter conference play in basketball right after Christmas so expect expanded coverage of the NCAA.
And with that I will bid you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Remember the Troops.