FOOTBALL Bears Good? Pats Stink? Hell Frozen?
Well, well, well... the Chicago Bears are 8-3 and the New England Patriots are 6-5. We've had to hear all season that the NFC North is a terrible division full of terrible teams, but has anyone mentioned the AFC East in that discussion? The Pats are the division leaders of the AFC East and they're only 6-5. Guess who else is 6-5: The Minnesota Stupid Vikings of the "terrible" NFC North. And what about the NFC West? Take the 9-2 Seahawks out of that division, and the NFC West is clearly the worst division in football. I'm sick of hearing how bad the NFC North is... and sick of not hearing how bad other divisions, with teams with worse records, are in comparison. If you, as a commentator, are going to take the time to tell me that the NFC North is terrible, at least take the time to say that the defending Super Bowl champs, and the rest of their division, are bad. And, hey, guess what else... You heard this here first... The Green Bay Packers, if Brett Favre stays next season, will be 12-4 next year. Mark my words. The defense has been better than advertised... even without talent. And the offense is okay despite having all of our "skill" position players go into the game and instantly fall down dead. If the Packers can have a good draft (which they should, considering how bad their record will be), AND get all their skill players back from injury, they'll surprise everyone next year. Everyone but me.
FOOTBALL Irvin Arrested
Will wonders never cease? Yesterday I saw that one of my least favorite players of all time, and the person who's moronic commentating has stopped me from watching ESPN's Sunday morning football programming--Michael Irvin--was arrested in Texas. Yahoo!News reports that Irvin was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia. Personally, Irvin and moronic Steve Young's feud of the simple minds has driven me away (in a stock car... that's fast) from ESPN's NFL Countdown on Sunday mornings. When Sterling Sharpe was commentating (sorry I'm a "homer"), I loved the show... and I could even stand Steve Young's idiotic, I-Only-Went-To-BYU-Because-I'm-Related-To-The-Founder, drivel. But Irvin just inflames Young... and I used watch as Berman and Jackson (who I both like very much) sit dumbfounded by the annoying contrived "arguments" that are tossed back and forth from Irvin to Young and back. Regardless, I hope Irvin gets fired... but doubt he will.
FOOTBALL Mariucci Fired
I was somewhat delighted to see that Steve Mariucci, former Lions head coach, was fired yesterday after his team's terrible showing on Thanksgiving and his personal early yanking of Joey Harrington in that game. Short of an offensive line and defensive backs, the Lions have had the players to be a team which should, at the very least, be a .500 club. My dad thinks that it's the ol' "attitude of losing" thing which plagued the Bengals until Marvin Lewis became the coach. The Lions need someone who's going to come in, crack skulls, and say "Listen to me and this team will win games." I don't know who that would be... but I don't doubt that he won't be the next Lion's coach--who will be someone I've never heard of. Hey... how about Steve Young? He's probably right in Matt Millen's wheel-house of moronic coaches. Charming.
FOOTBALL... KIND OF Super Bowl Half-Time Show: The Rolling Stones. Two People Cheer
Hey... I can't wait to see the rock band of my parent's generation (or maybe my grandparent's generation) at half-time of the biggest game of the year. I've heard that the Rolling Stones "transcend age-groups" and is, as such, a pretty good draw... but I don't think so. Could I name a Rolling Stones song? No... unless "The One That Sucks" counts as one of their titles. Why am I even upset about this? I'm not, really... I'm not going to be paying attention to the half-time show. I'll be getting food or imbibing adult beverages or vomiting at the people who are singing along. But I just have a deep philosophical problem with a band playing at the Super Bowl that started making music before a lot of the players playing in the GAME ITSELF were even BORN. The Super Bowl, excuse me, is and should be about the game itself... people who think it's about the commercials or about the half-time show, frankly, disgust me. You want to watch commercials? Watch whatever's on the other channels. Don't bastardize my beloved NFL by talking during the game and then watching the commercials, pre-game show, and half-time show. *Shakes head*
NATIONAL NEWS Supreme Court Building, Sensing Where Court Is Headed, Pre-Emptivly Decides To Crumble
Here's a story about chunks of the US Supreme Court building breaking off. I'm not going to say anything here that I haven't said in the title, but I will say that I'm still very anxious about the Supreme Court "situation" and hope that new Chief Justice Roberts will rule fairly and justly based on individual cases, case precedence, and everything that doesn't involve special interest groups (groups which include Republicans AND Democrats).