Antwon is proudly wearing his USFL Portland Breakers Sweatshirt. He said that the sweatshirt was cheaper than a blank sweatshirt. I told him that I want to see some USFL Throwbacks. I would love to have a Steve Young LA Express, Reggie White Memphis Showboats, Jim Kelly Houston Gamblers, or Doug Flutie New Jersey Generals jersey. I think this would make fun of the whole Throwback trend. Maybe I am two years late for this.
The game was okay. It was not a great played game. Both teams were sloppy. I think the rain had something to do with it. Both teams dropped the football several times. They showed that it is hard to play with a wet ball.
The rule of thumb in the NFL is that the best football is played during the conference championship games. I think this is true this year. Both teams played better the last game. I think it has something to do with the hype machine that is the Super Bowl.
I am happy to see that I am not the only person who thinks that Dominic Rhodes should have been the Super Bowl XLI MVP. Carrying the ball 21 times for 113 yards he put the game away in the end. He was the key to the Bears not getting more chances to score at the end of the game. I think that Manning won because he was the story all week.
Cirque du Soleil + football pregame = strangely compelling. Is this what French Canadians think of football? I like the guys dressed like Flamingos/Referees on Stilts.
Time for a little Super Bowl post. I think the Super Bowl will be good this year. I am picking the Colts in win the game. I think they have a stronger offense and I see them going up and down the field on the Bears.
Lets break down the other ways people pick Super Bowl Winners:
Animal v. Animal: Winner Colts Most people think that a Bear would beat a Colt in a straight out fight. This is true, but a cult would not get in a straight fight with a Bear. They would run right past the Bear. I think that will happen in this game.
Best Shopping City: Winner Chicago I have never heard of anyone going to Indianapolis to go shopping before
Best Food: Winner Chicago Chicago Style Pizza, Stock Yards, Chicago style hot dog, Rush Street. I Know nothing about Food from Indianapolis.
Best Uniforms: Winner Colts This is a close one. I like the Bears Colors better, but the Colts have a more classic style.
I would rather visit: Chicago I have been to both cities. Chicago is a world class city. Indianapolis is a little boring
Best Commercials: Winner Colts The Peyton Manning Master Card commercials are great. These are currently the best commercial with any NFL player in it. They are better then Brian Urlacher's Nike or Chunky Soup commercials.
Best Sports Karma: Winner Colts Indianapolis has never won a pro championship. Chicago has a championship this Decade. They both have one Super Bowl win, but the Bears are more recent. Both head coaches are African-American and will be the first to win a Super Bowl. Peyton Manning is the best player in the NFL without a Super Bowl win.
There is it the Indianapolis Colts win the Alt Picks 4-3. Tell me if there is anything else I should think about.
It seems like this is the year to rank Super Bowl teams. The NFL and NFL films has been doing in NFL Network with the America's Game Series. I would like to that website, but it is one of the worst websites I have ever seen. The page never stopped loading and it froze up my browser. I am surprised that the NFL does not know how to write a web page. I cannot find the results anywhere else on the web.
ESPN.com has also ranked all the teams to be in the Super Bowl from 80 to 1. I do not agree with their list all that much. ESPN looks at the whole season the team had. I think they are putting too much weight on the whole career the players had. I would not put the 1989 49ers as the greatest Super Bowl team of all time.
I put the 85 Bears at the top of the list because no and I mean no one was going to beat them. You could have lined up anyone against them in the Super Bowl and they were going to win.
I like the 84 49ers because it is harder define greatness. I think this is the point where the 94ers went from a team to the team of the 80s.
The 66 Packers make my list because they were first. This might not have been the best Packers team of that 60's, but they had no road map. If they did not win this game they would not have been the team of the 60s. That is a big weight.
I put the 78 Steelers on this list because it is the first Super Bowl I remember watching. This team is mythic in my mind. There is no other way to put it
The 68 Jets is on this list because they were the underdog and still won. If they would have lost that game it would have been not shame. There is something to be said for winning when everyone else is betting against you.
I think all the home teams have the advantage this weekend in the NFL playoffs. The home teams all had a week off and more time to prepare for the game. All of them are good teams. I do not think any of them are in the playoffs from a fluke. That being said it is hard to think that the home team will win all for games. The hard part is predicting which home team will lose.
Here is how I rank the teams that are most likely to upset the home team: 1. New England 2. Philadelphia 3. Seattle 4. Indianapolis
I put New England at the top of this list because Tom Brady is at his best in the playoffs. He is 11-1 in the playoffs for his career.
I put Philadelphia second on this list because the defense has a lot of playoff experience. I would say that New Orleans is a better team overall, but Philadelphia has a punchers chance at winning.
Seattle has a good team, but they have not been playing well this season. They were lucky beating Dallas. Chicago has a good defense, but Rex Grossman is unproven. I think that Chicago will have to give the game away for Seattle to win.
Indianapolis has the worst chance of pulling the upset. Baltimore has a crushing defense. Indianapolis needs the perfect game plan and the perfect game to win.
Lets see what happens when they play the games. Go Eagles!
I heard Steve Young on the radio yesterday. He was talking about playoff experience. This got me thinking about how you would rate the teams in the playoffs by experience. He is how I rate it.
AFC New England Indianapolis Baltimore San Diego
NFC Philadelphia Seattle Chicago New Orleans
If you look at this the road teams are the most experienced. Last week the home teams won all four games. I am not trying to say that the road teams are going to win all four games this week. I am saying that this makes us see which teams have the greatest chance to win on the road.
I went to see Invincible. As soon as I heard about this movie I knew that I had to go see it. A feel good story about the Philadelphia Eagles, I was a mark for this movie from the very start. I have had a trend lately if I am not willing to see a movie the first weekend it is out, I am not willing to see the movie.
If you have not heard of the movie, it is the story of Vince Papale a thirty year old Philadelphia Eagles fan who made the team as part of an open try out in 1976. He ends up becoming one of the NFLs oldest rookie.
I was surprised at how good this movie was. The movie was wonderfully acted and amazing shot. The script was a little weak, but the way the movie was put together more than made up for it. There is a lot to like about this movie.
Working as both the director and the cinematographer Ericson Core created a wonderful set of worlds for this movie to take place in. Every setting in this movie has its own distinct look to it. The scenes in South Philadephia are dark and depressed. While all the scenes at football camp are bright. They shot the street scenes in Philadelphia. They really capture the tight cramped felling of South Philadelphia.
I was amazed then they showed the first actually NFL game Vince Papale played in. The depth of focus was very short. With all of the action in the shots it was every anxious. It was great that it looked so much different than the other scenes.
I was impressed by the acting. Vince's Friends were perfectly cast. They seem like guys really from South Philadelphia. Max's bar seems just right for South Philadelphia. All of the people around Vince seem to be falling apart under the economic problems of the time. Vince's life is not on stable ground also. I like the way the actors expressed this.
I love the acting of Kevin Conway as Frank Papale, Vince's father. It rung as very true to me. The guy who is close and distant from his son all at the same time. I feel like I know that guy. I love the scene when the father comes into the bar with his group of friends.
Since the movie is based on a true story, they do not over state how good Vince Papale is. He is just a special teams player. He did not need to be the Natural. He did not need to win the Super Bowl for the team. He just scored a touchdown to get Dick Vermeil his first win.
I was looking forward to it for months now. I saw an interview about the movie a few months ago. Mark Wahlberg, who plays Vince Papale, said that movie was passion for him. I think Mark Wahlberg is perfect for this movie. His journey to stardom is no less unbelievable than this movie.
Even if you don't like sports movies you might like this movie.
Preseason football is almost here. That means that I am getting a lot of hits for my Monday Night Football/John Madden Drinking posts. The problem is that John is no longer on Monday Night Football. As much as I love Tony Kornheiser he does not rank a drinking game yet. I am wondering if the preseason will give me enough info to make a new drinking game. I guess I will just have to sit and wait.
Yes, I watched the Super Bowl from beginning to end. While the game got a little boring in the middle, I did skip out on it. I watched the whole game because I was at a Super Bowl party. I could not skip out on the game. I would have been bored with this game if I was not watching it with other people.
I am glad I saw the whole game. My two favorite games where in second half of the game. Most years all of the good commercials are at the start of the game. They want to make sure people see the ads. If the Super Bowl is a blowout, people do not watch the commercials in the second half. This has happened in the past.
My two favorite commercials were both from the same organization. The first commercial was one where it counted up the tally for the cost terrorism. The second commercial is the one where people are talking about using drugs and talk about committing crime. Both commercials are hard-edged, serous, and direct. It takes a stand on an issue that makes people uncomfortable. The commercials draw a direct line between terrorism and drug money.
I like the commercial because it takes a stand. There have been clear connections between drug money and terror in some countries. Both Afghanistan and Columbia fit into this category. It says there are consequence for actions. If you buy drugs from an illegal source, that money will go to do more illegal things. If you are buying pot from your connection, think about where your money is going. I know this makes some of my friends uncomfortable. I think you should be uncomfortable.
I also like this commercial because it got people talking. People are talking how valid this idea is. People are talking if drugs should be illegal or not. People are talking about the ideas the commercials carry. People are talking about if they are true or not. I know all my links have been back to theantidrug.com, but they do list their sources. You might not agree with the tactic, but you need to see the reality.
To be honest, Pepsi ads, Bud ads, Monster.com ads, mlife ads, and just about ever other ad is just mental pollution. Pepsi did not need to show me Britney so I can buy a Coke anyway. I might have thought some of the ads where entertaining, but I do not respect their message. At least these ads are trying to do something real. If you want to call me on this idea, you can.
