Upon Further Review - Week 15 in the NFL

Yeah, yeah it's late - sue me.

I've been having trouble coming to terms with the fact that I only went 8-8 last week. I've also spent quite a bit of time this afternoon handicapping all 32 of the College Bowl Games. It's not just for fun - I'm in a pool. I was going to post a picture of the notes I'd made but the picture was so monstrously big that my computer nearly turned against me. It wasn't all that exciting anyway.

But before we get to the NFL, I suppose we have to deal with this...

So we've officially got a Green Mile in Regina now eh? Do you think it's possible for everything relating to this football team to be any less original? First the Rider Nation and now this. Although I guess I shouldn't expect any less from a football team that took the same name as a team already in existence (Ottawa Rough Riders, 1876 - Saskatchewan Roughriders 1910). If we take out that space between Rough and Riders nobody will notice that they're exactly the same, right? Although in all fairness, news probably didn't travel across Canada all that fast in the old days. Saskatchewan probably didn't even know there were Rough Riders until 1963.

I also read something interesting on Rod Pedersen's blog this morning, which came by way of Gregg Drinnan - it was a question as to whether the Miami Dolphins could beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders, or vice versa. As I see it the CFL is entirely made up of players who are not good enough to play in the NFL. So despite what a team's record may be, the talent levels really aren't comparable. And who knows, maybe it wasn't a serious question to begin with.

I'm not going over every game this week because I'm a little pressed for time... and quite frankly I don't remember everything that happened anyway. But I can tell you this...

... Bryan Gumbel not only knows nothing about football but is also a colossal jackass - apparently. On Saturday night Gumbel referred to the game he was calling as Thursday Night Football. Sorry we woke you up for this Bryant. He also, and there's no way I could possibly make this up, referred to 49ers running back Frank Gore as Al Gore. I was just speechless after that - and I still don't really know what to say. That can't be anything more than stupidity. Bryant also displayed how smart he was by arguing with Deion Sanders for a full 15 minutes about the merits of San Francisco going for a 4th down. Obviously nothing was solved from this argument - but each party did get to enjoy the sound of their own voice the entire time. However, the best line was Gumbel's, even if I agree with you're opinion... and I don't. I can't tell you how much condescension there was in his voice. I haven't equal parts loved and loathed someone or something this much since... well, since the NWO.

... the only football I actually wanted to talk about was Miami finally winning a game. I was really hoping they would wait 'til next week against New England but having them beat Brian Billick is almost as sweet.

... also, it snowed in Cleveland.

... a couple quick programming notes - this is going to be the last full week of Sports As Life until after the New Year. I'll still be putting up football picks but it'll just be picks, no commentary. Cooper and I might also try to do a few things on a few Bowl Games - but we'll see. We'll be doing the BCS games in the New Year for sure.

... and tomorrow we're going to be running the Sports As Life Utterly Meaningless and Totally Contrived Yearly Awards... so make sure you check those out.