So... That Just Happened

We always knew that at heart the ghost of Tommy John was a vengeful being.

Most of the time his shenanigans are pretty banal - stealing your newspaper, scaring the tourists, causing those brown patches in your lawn, mutilating cattle. But this time was a little different, he brought the full force of his spectral rage to bear.

What made him choose this moment to snap and finally come collecting? We'll probably never know. Maybe it was the cries of a thousand displaced elbow tendons. Or maybe he just hates Cajuns. That I can understand.

Whatever the reason, that was a performance for the ages on Saturday night. Now we'll always know when the ghost of Tommy John shows up - you will know him by the trail of 6 turnovers.

So... now we're left with two 9 win teams in the NFC Championship, both vying for the opportunity to be soundly beaten by either the Ravens or Steelers in the Super Bowl. Cardinals v. Eagles, catch the excitement! Oh and by the way, thanks to this:


I'm officially off the Eagles bandwagon. I hope they get lit up like the Aurora Borealis this weekend. Is it really too much to ask players to act like they've been there before - especially when they've been there 4 TIMES BEFORE! I guess a 58 passer rating goes further than it used to, eh Donovan? May all your passes be feeble and off-target and may all your Campbell's Chunky Soup be cold.

If you asked me right now (and why haven't you, by the way) I'd say that we're looking at a Baltimore/Philadelphia Super Bowl. If it ends up being Baltimore/Arizona... wow, I may have to watch it but I don't have to like it.

Or maybe it'll end up being the Pennsylvania Bowl - at least then there would be an obvious story line for the media to beat into the ground for two weeks before the game.

The 2nd Annual Sports As Life College Football Bowlstravaganza

Yes folks, Cooper is back to wade through the unending mire of the college football bowl season; previewing all the highlights, lowlights and which games you should shovel your driveway during. And yes, he made it through December.

If We Make it Through December. Bowl Predictions Part 8 of 6? 7? 8?

“If we make it through December we’ll be fine”……Merle Haggard.

Finally, the championship game. I feel a lot like Elaine in the denim vest episode. I have had to ingest a lot of crap to get to this point and now it should all payoff, however I am forced to work tonight and thus will miss the game in it’s entirety. Dammit all to hell!


January 8th:

FEDEX BCS Championship Game: Florida (12-1) @ Oklahoma (12-1)

So in less than 6 hrs one of these two teams will be crowned national champions. I am sure fans of Utah will have something to say about that but TS for them. I really wish I had something smart to say about this game however the little intellect that I have has been completely exhausted. All I can say is that I am not getting burned by Oklahoma again this year. There was the debacle against LSU in 2004 BCS title game,



the debacle against USC in 2005 BCS title game,



and then the debacle that was the Fiesta Bowl in 2007 against Boise St. I honestly don’t think this game is going to be remotely close. Tim Tebow is the second coming of Christ it appears. And apparently He himself will also be thrown to the Lions. He was thrown to some lions at some point was he not? Either way enjoy your life sucking career in Detroit Tim Tebow.
(Ed. Note - I don't think he's coming out, and if he does I don't think there's anyway he's #1 - of course it's Detroit, so who knows)

Florida 52 – Oklahoma 21

And by the way rumor has it that I will be floating around the Regina area come this Friday. If anyone is interested in some brews give me a shout or surely I will come looking for you.
(Ed. Note - Good, you can come pick up your Christmas bonus)

Playoffs? Don't Talk About Playoffs, Are You Kidding Me?

Ok, I will admit it... at the moment, I'm a little bored with the NFL playoffs. I'm sorry, ok? That's just how I feel.

Don't get me wrong I watched all the games on Wildcard weekend and enjoyed them for the most part. I'm just not finding any of the games or more importantly, the teams, very compelling. I've got nobody to root for and even worse, nobody to root against. That should mean I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy watching without giving myself a stroke. But of course, those who know me well know that I'm really not happy unless I'm furious about something. Which means that I'm finding something lacking in these games.

Sure with each team there are things, both good and bad, that I find interesting.

I could root against San Diego because Phillip Rivers is a spectacular pile of assface, but in all honesty he's nowhere near as dislikable as he used to be. And he is a pretty good quarterback, even though I'm pretty sure he throws the ball underhand. Seeing Norv Turner's latest epic fail is always funny too. But they just don't raise that "New England-esqe" ire in me.


Pittsburgh I don't really mind. They were my fantasy defence this season, so I have a soft spot for them. But they just won the Super Bowl 3 years ago, so I'm not rooting for them to break a 3 decade drought or anything *cough*Kansas City, 29 years*cough*. I give them a solid "meh".

I find Tennessee to be extremely boring, they're a solid team though so I can't really dislike them too much. Plus I love watching a solid defence. And Albert Haynesworth should have been the MVP.

Baltimore might be the leading contender for my playoff nemesis this season. I like the team and Ed Reed could also have been the MVP, plus I enjoy seeing good rookie quarterbacks. But I will never cheer for a team that Ray Lewis is on.

Arizona I have no strong feelings about one way or the other.


They have an explosive offence, but I really couldn't care less if they win or lose. Of course they're going to lose this weekend, so I'm really not too concerned.

The neutrality I feel towards Arizona is pretty similar with Carolina too, only with a more positive slant. I wouldn't really have a problem with Carolina winning the Super Bowl but I wouldn't lose any sleep if they lost either.

New York I actually like... well I like Eli Manning. Seeing him in the America's Game about last season's Giants made me a big Eli fan. And I'd be rooting for them but they won last year and I'm in favour of giving other people a chance.

And then there's the Eagles - after going through all these teams while writing this, I think I've deciding to make the Eagles my team for the playoffs (which of course means they will be crushed by 85 points this weekend). Normally I wouldn't care less about the Eagles and I really can't stand Brian Dawkins. But I would enjoy seeing Donovan McNabb win a Super Bowl so maybe people would give him a break already. That guy's been through more crap than Andy Dufrense.


So I'll keep watching the playoffs because I loves me some football, but it's difficult not having a vested interest in the games this year. Truth be told I'm much more interested in the Chiefs' search for a new GM (and soon head coach, /crosses fingers). But emotionally attached or not, the playoffs are still a great excuse to sprawl on the couch in sweats while covered in chip crumbs...

Like I've ever needed an excuse for that.

The 2nd Annual Sports As Life College Football Bowlstravaganza

Yes folks, Cooper is back to wade through the unending mire of the college football bowl season; previewing all the highlights, lowlights and which games you should shovel your driveway during.

If We Make it Through December. Bowl Predictions Part 7 of 6? 7? 8?

“If we make it through December we’ll be fine”……Merle Haggard.

We are down to the final 3 games. Starting tonight with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. First off I would like to give a shout out to everybody’s favorite douche bag Nick Saban. Ahem…F**K YOU!!! Even though I picked Alabama to win I found no greater pleasure than watching the lowly Utah Utes pound the ball right up Saban’s back side.

Enjoy Ute’s fans take on the Crimson Tide and their damn elephant



January 5th:

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Ohio St (10-2) @ Texas (11-1)

The question is not who will win this game but whether do I watch this game over Canada’s gold medal game against the Swedes tonight. I am still not sure. Maybe I will break out the other TV and have both going at the same time. Maybe to make the perfect tri-fecta I will bring the TV down from upstairs and have some questionable adult material on that one.

Texas


January 6th:

GMAC Bowl: Ball St (12-1) @ Tulsa (10-3)

This game seems like a pointless match-up between two unknown teams but it may be worth watching seeing as how the over for this game is set at 77 so expect a lot of offense.

Anybody else ever seen this before? I didn’t even know it existed until the other day.



Tulsa

The 2nd Annual Sports As Life College Football Bowlstravaganza

Yes folks, Cooper is back to wade through the unending mire of the college football bowl season; previewing all the highlights, lowlights and which games you should shovel your driveway during.

If We Make it Through December. Bowl Predictions Part 6 of 6? 7? 8?

“If we make it through December we’ll be fine”……Merle Haggard.

Only 4 more games to go and I could not be happier.

January 3rd:

International Bowl: Buffalo (8-5) @ Connecticut (7-5)

Buffalo makes it’s first bowl appearance since 1958, and frankly I would not be surprised if this is actually their first winning season since 1958. Buffalo can thank two men for their remarkable turnaround. The first is former Nebraska QB and 1984 Heisman runner up, Turner Gill. Turner apparently has a huge fan in Charles Barkley.



The second man responsible in Buffalo’s turnaround is there assistant coach/quarterbacks coach. That man is Danny Barrett. Yes THAT Danny Barrett.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Barrett

I am still unsure if being the assistant coach/quarterbacks coach for a lowly mid-major team is step up from being a CFL head coach, or a step down.
(Ed. Note: Step up)

Speaking of former Rider coaches, Kent Austin the current offensive coordinator at Ole Miss who were successful in defeating the Red Raiders of Texas Tech in yesterday’s Cotton Bowl. Congrats to him and to former Rider QB Steve Sarkisian, offensive guru at USC who was successful in beating Penn St Thursday night in the Rose Bowl. Where was that offensive brain of his when WE needed it? Didn’t he lose out in a job to Jack Kemp?

Connecticut to win

The 2nd Annual Sports As Life College Football Bowlstravaganza

Yes folks, Cooper is back to wade through the unending mire of the college football bowl season; previewing all the highlights, lowlights and which games you should shovel your driveway during.

If We Make it Through December. Bowl Predictions Part 6 of 6? 7? 8?

“If we make it through December we’ll be fine”……Merle Haggard.

January 2nd:

AT&T Cotton Bowl: #20 Ole Miss (8-4) @ #8 Texas Tech (11-1)

If you missed the Texas Tech defeat of Texas earlier in the season, well here is the end.


(Ed. Note - I've had deeply troubling dreams about Michael Crabtree playing for my favorite football team. Suffice it to say, I love him... I've said too much)

Texas Tech


Autozone Liberty Bowl: Kentucky (6-6) @ East Carolina (9-4)

Wow talk about a shit game this late in the bowl season.

Kentucky


All State Sugar Bowl: #7 Utah (12-0) @ #4 Alabama (12-1)

Alabama

The 2nd Annual Sports As Life College Football Bowlstravaganza

Yes folks, Cooper is back to wade through the unending mire of the college football bowl season; previewing all the highlights, lowlights and which games you should shovel your driveway during.

If We Make it Through December. Bowl Predictions Part 5 of 6? 7? 8?

“If we make it through December we’ll be fine”……Merle Haggard.

Wow is this starting to get tedious and a little nauseating. And to think there is going to be even more bowl games next year. Due to time constraints I am unable to provide much more than a pick for each game. My apologies.

January 1st:

Outback Bowl: South Carolina (7-5) @ Iowa (8-4)
Iowa

Capital One Bowl: Georgia (9-3) @ Michigan St (9-3)
Georgia

Konica Minolta Gator Bowl: Nebraska (8-4) @ Clemson (7-5)
Nebraska

Rose Bowl: Penn St (11-1) @ USC (11-1)
Seriously how awesome would it be to spend a week on the USC campus. Jebus H!



And after seeing this I am prepping a resume for USC. I can do that just as good as that guy. What’s that you say smoking hot cheerleader? Your leg hurts? Why let me take a look at that for you. No, no trouble at all, I insist.


USC

Fed-Ex Orange Bowl: Cincinnati (11-2) @ Virginia Tech (9-4)
Cincinnatti