Dead Time. You know you feel it. With drawl pains the first weekend after the college football regular season is done. There was one good college game on this weekend. The Army Navy game being played in the snow. With a come back victory for Army to pull out a one point win. After a decade of futility Army now has a two game win streak against Navy. No matter what the record is of these two teams. It is always a very interesting and fun rivalry.
College Basketball pushing though till February
College basketball is getting into full swing. I will admit that I do not have the interest in college basketball that I used to have. Just about any game before January first or more likely February first I just don’t have much interest in. Once they are in the second half of the conference schedule and getting closer to the conference tournaments. Then on to March Madness that is when the season gets exciting. At least for me.
MLS – Hello Columbus Goodbye
The MLS says that Columbus just does not have the soccer following to support a team. So it appears that they are supporting the Crew ownership in the plan to move the Crew. Interesting thing is happening. Even though the Crew lost to Toronto in the Semi – Finals the Columbus fans are supporting the MLS. With Seattle in the final against Toronto you would think that Columbus would not be watching the games. Well jokes on the MLS. Columbus is supporting soccer even though their team is out. The Columbus market was the second ranked market for television viewership after Seattle. A bit strange that the MLS does not want the team in Columbus anymore. It appears that the fans are there. The games sell well. With some support of ownership and making the games easier to find on television the viewer ship would more than likely go up even more.
So be it I guess. Have a good time in Austin.
NFL Stretch Run
The NFC has turned into a strange power house. It is looking more and more like a ten win team will not make the playoffs in the NFC. The Packers seem to be the team that will not die. The Browns seem to be the team that will not live. Last week the Browns had the perfect change to stay out of the history books. They could have avoided the chance for an 0 – 16 season. Do they really want to tie the 2007 Lions? Yes it looks like they do. They had the ailing Packers on the ropes. There were two plays in that game that doomed them. On the Browns last drive of the first half. They were moving down the field. Then their quarterback tossed up a pass that was intercepted by the Packers.
It ended the drive and left them with a 7 point lead at the half. If they had scored there and went up by 14 the game more than likely would have been pretty much over. That failed drive gave the Packers some hope and kept them in the game. The Packers tied it up and took it to over time. In the over time the Browns won the coin toss. They elected to take the ball. That was when Clay Matthews took over his Kaizers arm and forced him to throw a lame duck pass. The Packers intercepted and scored a touchdown on the drive to win the game.
Two things happened there. The Browns stayed on course to have a zero win season and the Packers kept their playoff hopes alive. It is pretty amazing that with out their best player for two months that the Packers are still in the hunt for a playoff birth. Almost no one though that this would be possible with the loss of Rodgers.
NFC Playoff Picture
The Eagles have clinched a playoff spot with three weeks to go. As impressive as their season has been there are a few things working against them. The loss of Wentz is HUGE. The other thing working against them is when you clinch a spot this early some teams have let up and tried to rest for the playoffs. If the Eagles do rest up they will probably not go very far in the playoffs. They are going to need these three games to get going with Nick Foles as their quarterback. I know he was there before and ran the offense. That will help but this is a different team. I guess if you are going to lose an MVP candidate it is better to lose them with some time to get things in order.
Minnesota is also in a good position. More than likely they will clinch the NFC North next week. They are playing the Bengals at home in Minnesota. The Bengals have been such a disappointment this year. It would be a surprise if they beat the Vikings. They then finish out with the Packers and the Bears. Even if the Vikings clinch against the Bengals they will give their all against the Packers. For the Packers every game could be a season ending game and for the Vikings, if they can, they want to try and keep the Packers out. If the Packers can make it in and Rodgers is back they will be a very difficult out in the playoffs.
The rest of the NFC playoff picture is very jumbled up. With three teams with 9 wins each. The Saints, Panthers and Rams. As good as their seasons have been none of these teams are safe to make the playoffs.
AFC Playoff Picture
The Steelers are in. The Patriots could have clinched but with their loss in Miami on Monday night they will have to try again next week to clinch. The game next week against the Steelers could be for home field advantage though the playoffs. That game will be like a playoff game. For the Patriots if they win that game their last two games against the Jets and Bills both at home should be wins.
Then with the head to head win against the Steelers they would have home field. The Steelers are in a similar situation. They have games against the Texans and Browns after the Patriots. If they beat the Patriots they could even lose one of those and still have home field. The other team in a good spot is the Jaguars. Of all teams the Jaguars. Years of not being that great are finally starting to pay off. They don’t even really need a great quarterback. If Bortles can just not suck their defense will pull them though.
I am not even sure the rest of the playoff teams really matter in the AFC. One of those three teams are going to win the AFC. More than likely it is really only between the Steelers and the Patriots. Anything other than that would be a surprise. Of course as we know anything can happen in the Playoffs. If I were a betting man it would be between those two teams.
Golf Fixes a Dumb Rule
Golf across all leagues have finally said that they would no longer accept rules violations coming in from the fans. They should not have even had to say that. This is something that never should have been. It is crazy that some random fan watching at home could affect a tournament. Not only is this unfair across the board it is just strange. You are not going to have a fan call in a face mask penalty or any other penalty in any other sport. The other really strange thing is that the penalties were enforced retroactively. Why in the world would you allow this to happen? I just don’t know. This rule was as crazy as the NCAA taking away wins as punishment. Maybe the NCAA will learn something from Golf.
Crash and Burn
If you are a fan of the Walking Dead. This past Sunday in the mid season finally the show jumped the shark. Not only did they jump the shark. They did not make it over the pool. The motorcycle crashed into the pool and the person that gave the ok to this episode was eaten. We could only be so lucky if they were eaten by the shark. If they were we would not have to worry about having another episode like this one. This episode falls under. What the heck were they thinking? No one really knows. I am not even sure they know. It was an attempt to bring excitement to a show that is pats its prime. I will continue to watch till the end but this episode completely ruined the whole series for me. They could recover in the second half of the season but it does not look good.
Sorry this post was so late. It was a crazy week and things happen. Check out last weeks post here. Till next week have a great time.
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