Bowl season & the NFL

The college football season has blown by again and we have our bowl matchups. Despite not being a fan of the evil BCS, I do like some of these matchups. I'm looking forward to Oregon v Ohio St. in the Rose Bowl and Florida v Cincinnat in the Sugar Bowl. The championship game matchup is decent with Texas v Alabama, but I'm not overly excited about it because Texas got lucky getting there.

Notre Dame's new head coach will be Cincinnati's Brian Kelly, a solid choice I think. He had great success at Cincinnati and built a solid team, something the Irish really need. I can't blame him for leaving for Notre Dame. Clearly, the BCS computers have made it clear that the Big East conference isn't good enough even if you go undefeated during the regular season and win your conference outright. So why stay when you can't win it all there? It will be fun to watch the Irish build a winner.

As the NFL playoffs approach, the Colts and Saints are still undefeated at 12-0. I can just imagine how crazy a super bowl we would have if both teams are undefeated going into the game! We are talking about the highest rated super bowl ever for sure. What a wild atmosphere that would be.

Football thoughts

Looking forward to this sunday night's NFL matchup. It's a beauty. Patriots at Colts. This is the NFL at it's best right now and has been for awhile. Manning vs Brady...the two best QBs in the NFL doing their thing. Brady will be in Manning's house this time to try to ruin the Colts perfect season. It'll be fun. Seriously, this is good football. The only game bigger than this one during the NFL season is the super bowl.

Congrats to Mr. Favre on going 2 for 2 against his old Packers team, loved every second of both games. Bottom line, the guy can still play at a very high level and is playing some of the best football of his career. He is so good for the game and I'm a big Vikings fan this season.

Looks like the BCS will again be booed as there likely will not be a clear-cut #1 vs #2 in the title game. Even though Texas and Florida may get there undefeated, TCU has a pretty big argument that they will deserve it, and Boise St. also will likely get left behind. Shame on the BCS. BTW, I would NOT want to be playing Stanford right now. They look pretty good after defeating both Oregon and USC back-to-back and they are right in the hunt for the Pac 10 title.

Football banter

Football is back and it's a beautiful thing!!

Michael Vick is back in football and will be very exciting for Eagles fans if they can avoid too many distractions from any negative fan reaction.

Brett Favre knew he was making a mistake when he announced he was done just before preseason began and all it took was one preseason game to change his mind. He's with the Vikings now and it's really great to see him playing again with a good Vikings team. They are 3-0 and I fully expect them to be in the playoffs if Favre stays healthy. He pulled off an absolutely amazing game winning TD pass vs the Niners Sunday. That's why he's great for the league. The guy can still play at a high level and loves this game as much as I do. Next Monday night's Packers/Vikings game will be fun.

It's hard to believe we are already 4 games into the college football season! Yikes, that was fast. My Huskers are off to a 3-1 start and I'm really excited to see how we do at Mizzou. They haven't seemed to have lost a step despite losing Chase Daniels. Next Thursday's battle at Missouri will be a good one. Two early nominees for best games of the season are Florida St vs Miami and Michigan vs Notre Dame. Both were great football games.

How bout the defending Super Bowl champs? They seem to be in a little trouble. It's early in the year, but they are 1-2 and could easily be 0-3. They squeaked by the Titans in the opener and have lost their last two by 3. It doesn't get any easier with the Chargers next. Something to keep an eye on. GREAT TO HAVE FOOTBALL BACK...the best time of the year!

Favre Says Goodbye

Brett Favre has decided to walk away from football and not join the Minnesota Vikings, a team he would be perfect for. While I don't agree with or understand this choice, I will respect it. So Favre had decided to walk away and go out on his own terms. I gotta believe though that this wasn't going out on his terms. His last four games with the Jets were very forgettable. It's going to be very difficult for me as a fan of his to remember his last few games as struggling as much as he did. It doesn't seem right. Still, I would like to thank Brett Favre for his great passion for the game and all the exciting highlights every Sunday. He was an easy guy to root for. I will also be forever greatful to him for not beating my Broncos in SuperBowl 32. That was one of the greatest days ever for me. I hope Favre enjoys retirement and that he doesn't have too many gutwrenching days this fall when he absolutely regrets this decision...and there will be MANY. It was a good run #4.

Kobe's quest

The NBA finals begin thursday night and this should be a very hard fought series. The hungry, upstart Orlando Magic vs Kobe Bryant's Lakers who are trying to put last year's beating by the Celtics behind them. This NBA postseason has had it's share of exciting games and surprises. We'll see if the Magic can pull off another upset after beating the defending champs at Boston, and ruining LeBron James' MVP season. It's hard to really say who should win this thing. The Magic continue to win when they aren't supposed to. They kind of have that "team of destiny" thing going on. However, I really think this series comes down to which Lakers team shows up. If that team that beat the Nuggets at Denver handily in game 6 shows up, the Magic are in trouble. If the "bi-polar" Lakers reappear, the Magic will ruin Kobe's run at his 4th championship and his first without Shaq. I'm very excited to see which one takes the court in the next two weeks. It's the Magic show vs the Lake show, bring it on!

BTW, LeBron needs to work on his sportsmanship skills. Come on, shake the other teams' hand. It doesn't make the loss any easier by walking away with your head down. It just makes you look like a sore loser. Sportsmanship is at the root of all professional sports. That's what makes you a professional.

Denver Drama

Well, not only are my beloved Broncos trying to get used to a new coach but they've had the last two months spent on trying to resolve a QB issue with an "offended" Jay Cutler. The sad thing is that two people couldn't work out their differences by sitting down and talking it out. So instead Jay Cutler has landed his "dream job" in Chicago thru a trade to the Bears and is officially moving on. Coach McDaniels said that he and owner Pat Bowlen determined that this was the only option and they are moving on. So, OK, after freaking out for a couple days I will also move on.

I suddenly got a smile on my face when I read an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer tonight suggesting that the Broncos could still go after young-gun Browns QB Brady Quinn with another trade. Yep, with that very enriching deal the Broncos made with the Bears to ship Cutler, they have quite a bit of bounty to bargain with. The Plain Dealer offered the possibility that the Broncos would trade their new 1st round pick (#18) to the Browns for Quinn. They could offer much more if they needed to. This would be such a beautiful thing. Brady Quinn is the perfect fit for Broncos new coach Josh McDaniels' system, having run a similar style offense at Notre Dame. Plus, the Broncos desperately need another franchise QB after letting the unhappy Cutler go. Quinn would quickly bring some major buzz to the Broncos, who are very unsettled at QB right now. This is a franchise that has been defined by the QB position for a LONG time. Bringing in Brady Quinn would bring a little bit of healing to a team that took a major blow this week and also some very high optimism for the future.

Football fix

Last saturday former Cowboys WR Terrell Owens found a new home in Buffalo for the 2009 season. The gut reaction is to say good luck to the Bills with all the drama that comes with Owens. However, nothing motivates a professional athlete quite like being shunned by his team and basically being told you are not good enough. So I'd look for Owens to have a productive season playing with a big chip on his shoulder. Really, the Bills weren't that far off from being a contender in the first place. They started out 4-0 last season before fading toward the end of the season. Their only problem was being in possibly the most competitive division in the NFL. A big playmaker like Owens could help get them over the hump and into the playoffs, with the talent the Bills already have.

It's hard to believe the football season officially ended about 5 weeks ago after a fantastic super bowl between the Cardinals and Steelers, not to mention a very enjoyable national championship game with the Florida Gators edging the Oklahoma Sooners in January. That brings up the fact that there was just a little something missing...a TRUE national champion. PLEASE, all of you people that are in charge of this joke called the BCS, GIVE IT UP. Everyone is sick of hearing about your money argument and everything else you like to use as lame excuses for not having a playoff. Enough is enough. Every other major sport has it right. There isn't one diehard football fan out there who wouldn't have absolutely LOVED to see Florida vs USC in a +1 format. That would have been a thing of beauty to see. Ultimately, we need a nice 8-team playoff featuring the winners of the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange bowls. That would leave nothing to doubt. However, just one extra game is a place to start. Bottom line, computers should never ever decide who the two best teams are to play for a championship. Computers have their place in the world and we all are happy with that. The TEAMS deserve the opportunity to decide a champion. That's why they play the games! Here's to a fast offseason.

The Madness is Coming!

One of the best times of the sports year is coming up rapidly, MARCH MADNESS! Championship week is underway where we get a sneek peak at some of the possible Cinderella teams that could make some noise in the tourney. Then this sunday we find out who the field of 64 will be as all of us wannabe bracketologists will begin to spend hours trying to put together that perfect bracket! I've come to realize that it's darn near mission impossible:) Still, it's gonna be fun. Really the only other thing better than March Madness is the NFL playoffs because of how everyone hangs on every down. It's very close with the NCAA basketball tourney because every game could be another upset and there always seems to be a memorable buzzer beater each day. Then you add the environment of an NCAA basketball tourney game and it's all together pretty fun. Looking forward to it. FWIW...I've got North Carolina winning it all. They are just too good with all that offense and leadership. Let the madness begin.