SOME FOLKS GOT TO LEARN...THE HARD WAY!

In honor of championship week, my theme of movies and Conference Finals continues. Today we will look at the greatest movie ever Rocky IV. Each of the remaining quarterbacks in this weekend games reminds me of a character from the classic that Sylvester Stallone created so many years ago. So grab some popcorn, go ahead and get the DVD ready, because I know you will want to watch the movie when this is over.

Let’s get started with the early game on Sunday Falcons v. 49ers…

Apollo Creed = Colin Kaepernick

Apollo was the flashy and flamboyant fighter who was going to figure out just how good the mighty Ivan Drago truly was. Like, Apollo, Colin Kaepernick and his niners are responsible for finding out exactly how good these Falcons truly are. Are they worthy of the “Ultimate Fight” with the great Rocky Balboa? Is this kid truly as good as he appeared while dismantling the Packers on Saturday night? As Apollo said “Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about now, but believe me you will when it’s over.” Truer words may have never been spoken, and Sunday could be his coming out party for all for all of the NFL to know just how good this kid is.

Line from movie…
“Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about now, but believe me you will when it’s over.”

Matt Ryan = Adrian Balboa

Adrian was everyone’s favorite darling, coming from nerdy little girl with a mean big brother to the high maintenance arm piece for the Heavyweight Champion of the World. Matt Ryan is that ugly duckling who has blossomed into the arm piece. He looks the part, he has lost the glasses and nerdy hat (he came from Boston College and the ACC – Nuff Said) and replaced them with elite receivers and plenty of wins and stats, but in the back of everyone’s mind is the famous line Adrian spoke while standing on the stairs “You Can’t Win!”. Much like Rocky when Adrian made this great statement, on paper the Birds appear to be outmatched. The 49ers have the advantage on both lines, in the secondary, with line backers, kicker, but Adrian was wrong by the end, and many people could be wrong come Sunday night.

Line from movie…
“You Can’t Win!”

Joe Flacco = Rocky Balboa

We all remember the nightmare ending this movie had, Rocky overcomes all odds and not only defeats the mighty Drago, but wins over the heart of the Russian people. He then proceeds to make the following statement, “If I can Change, And You Can change, then everyone can change.” I believe unless you are a fan of the other 3 teams, there is no team left in the playoffs who people are rooting for more than these Ravens. People want Ray Lewis to go out on top. Well, nobody in the NFL has changed more over the last 12 months then Joe Flacco. He went from being a below average qb to being on the verge of being a top 10 qb. He went from being a mediocre qb who Ray Lewis and co. covered up for to being a qb who is covering up for the failures of Lewis and co. Raven fans (yes I mean you mom) the Ravens are winning because of Joe Flacco and not that defense anymore. Joe Flacco has truly changed and a win on Sunday is the final step to him becoming a top tier qb.

Line from movie…
“If I can Change, And You Can change, then everyone can change.”

Tom Brady = Ivan Drago

How fitting, Ivan Drago was a man of few words, he was a silent assassin who quietly went about his business. Brady does not have the commercials of Manning. He is not loud and outspoken like Ray Lewis. He is not the boy next door with a cool nickname like Matty Ice. All Brady does is win. He has done it more than any qb in NFL history. Nobody wants to hear about selfish athletes and them looking out for #1, but I know Brady would say “I win for me! FOR ME!”. Make no mistake about it, Tom Brady is a man on a mission this year. He will not be the one doing the most talking and he won’t be the one who everyone is rooting for and he is not the one with the most pressure on him, but he is truly out to win for himself and cementing himself as the greatest qb of this generation.

Line from movie...
“I win for me! FOR ME!”

What do you think, leave some feedback.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my predictions on both games this weekend.

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Quick, what movie is this from? Everyone knows it is from A Few Good Men and it is in the famous courtroom scene between Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) and Col Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson). You think back to that movie and love every minute of Lt Kaffee getting the better of the smug Col Jessup, I weep for Col. Jessup. I have the same problem as the Col faces in this courtroom scene.

Everywhere I go, I am asked the same question “What about my Falcons now?” This started after they clinched a playoff spot, then they clinched home field advantage, and then they beat the Seattle Seahawks. “What about the Falcons?” at church, “What about the Falcons?” at the office, “What about the Falcons?” in the texts, “What about the Falcons?” when I go to see buddies, and much like Col Jessup, I find myself asking the question Do you want answers? The response is always “I want the truth”, but I honestly know that “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”

So for all of you asking about the dirty birds, here is the truth…

Son, we watch a league that has many teams, and those teams have to prove themselves with quality wins. Who' have the Birds beat? The Cardinals? The Raiders? The Chargers? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You cheer for your Dirty Birds, and you accuse me of hating. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That the Birds wins, while many, were against bad football teams. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, balances out you homers. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like elite, best, and favorites to win. We use these words as the backbone of a season spent determining playoff teams and champions. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to fans who rise and sleeps under the blanket of the very analysis that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you watch the games, remove your bias, and you become the expert. Either way, I don't care how many wins you pile up, you have yet to prove you are elite.

There you go Falcon fans that is the Truth, CAN YOU HANDLE IT?

223 DAYS TO LONG!!!

223 DAYS TO LONG!!!

I remember as a kid growing up, I would watch professional wrestling and was always fascinated by the characters. I always enjoyed watching "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. His entrance was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Lots of people had music and the bad guys came out and argued with the fans, the good guys slapped hands with all of the kids and had this fast paced music that the kids loved, but not me. I remember sitting there as the fog would begin to come out of seemingly nowhere, the soft music would begin to play and slowly get louder but never too loud, and after what seemed like an eternity, out stepped The Nature Boy. Well boys and girls, after 223 long days, I have returned to the blogospheric world that is known as "Just A Thought."

I know, you are sitting there now thinking what could have bought this on? It all started on August 14, 2011. ESPNU aired a special called "Blueprint for Change" which was a great hour of television. It involved a round table discussion by some of the most influential people in college sports. It had everything Current Coaches (Nick Saban & Bob Stoops), former coaches (Urban Meyer & Mike Belotti, analysts (Kirk Hirbstreit, Mark May, Robert Smith, & Jay Bilas), and a former Commissioner (Mike Tranghese). It was a very well done piece that brought out some great points from the participants involved (ESPNU will be showing this again on the 27th @ 11 am). However, there were a couple of things I am going to address from this special (not all today). As many of you could have guessed, the topic of how college football determines its champion was discussed and several things were said and I am going to offer my thoughts. Let me say, I know these people know more than I am and they are all smarter than I am, but some of the things that were said were just ridiculous.

Let me start with one of my favorite people in college football, Kirk Hirbstreit.

"Herbie" proposes a plus one. The plus one sounds great, however, A PLUS 1 FORMAT IS MORE UNFAIR THAN THE CURRENT SYSTEM. I will explain this in detail when I address Nick Saban's comments. Herbstreit did make a good point, the coaches have no business voting and being involved at all in the selection process. They are not watching the games and they have a natural bias for their conference and how it will effet their team.

Next is Mark May.

May made what may be the 2nd dumbest statement I have ever heard on the subject of a plus 1...only use it on the years that you need it. This is crazy. Should we have had to have used a plus 1 last year and not the year before? Of course not, it is all or nothing.

Now onto Nick Saban.

Let me just say, I have never been a Nick Saban fan, but I walked away from this special not only thinking he was smart, but he won me over and I would actually root for him to win. However, his thoughts on a plus 1 was not one of his finer moments. Saban commented and said "every year that there has been a controversy, a plus 1 would have solved each and every problem we have ever had. sometimes there are just 3 good teams or 4 good teams." Let me address the 3 or 4 good teams comment first. What about the years where there are just 5 good teams? Maybe we can expand it to an 8 team tournament, but that is not really fair to the 9th ranked team, so here is what I suggest, let's call everyone a National Champion. Now as for this solving the controversy every year, what controversy? Let's look at the years... 1998 - no controversy, 1999 - no controversy, 2000 - FSU v Oklahoma (this was controversy, Miami had 1 loss and beat FSU head to head, but how could they go in over 1 loss Washington who beat them? In fact, there were 4 one loss teams this year to go with undefeated Oklahoma. Call me old school but with all of the chaos and all on same level, FSU goes because they were the defending champs), 2001 - Miami v Nebraska (I know Nebraska did not win division, but they were the best team all year long and much like the year before, there were 4 one loss teams and 1 undefeated, and the BCS rewards and entire body of work when things are complete chaos). 2002 - no controversy, 2003 - Oklahoma v LSU (Yes, USC was ranked #1 in polls because Oklahoma lost its last game, but it was the 13th game of the season - a conference championship game that USC did not have to play. After 12 games, USC was 11 - 1 and Oklahoma was 12 - 0, so the way I see it, they both had the same # of losses, so you look at the big picture). 2004 - Auburn was undefeated and unfortunately got the shaft. It happens, sports are not always fair. There, I said it. Nobody is crying how unfair it was for undefeated Oklahoma and Miami to have to play teams who have already lost once. That is 2 times where teams with no losses risked getting the shaft to this once for Auburn, so shut up and get over it. 20005 - no controversy, 2006 - Boise State got left out for 1 loss Florida...NO CONTROVERSY!!! 2007 - LSU v Ohio State. (LSU got in with 2 losses, everyone had 2 losses, so the champion of the best conference got in, again no problem with this, there were 6 teams with 2 losses and 1 one loss team). 2008 - Oklahoma v Florida (Oklahoma got in over Texas who beat them. There were 6 teams with one loss, so you tell me which teams are not getting in. Before you make your case for Texas, remember 1 loss Texas tech beat Texas). 2009 - no controversy 2010 - no controversy. So I am sorry to say Mr. saban, but no a Plus 1 does nothing to help solve controversy, it will devalue the regular season, and create more controversy.

Like all good old school rivalries, this can not be solved in just 1 night. This is a battle that will have to be issued under best 2 out of 3 falls. Stay tuned for part 2 and comments by another guy I did not like going into this thing, Urban Meyer and Jay Bilas. Which one of these 2 made the DUMBEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD CONCERNING COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE BCS. Part 3 will Include a real solution to ways to improve the BCS.

Until Next Time...

Seattle @ Chicago

Seattle @ Chicago.

I have neither the time or the desire to break this game dow.

Chicago wins big 31 - 14.

Jets v Patriots breakfown coming later.

Green Bay @ Atlanta

Green Bay @ Atlanta

There has not been a number 1 seed that I can ever recall who has been more discounted that these Atlanta Falcons. They led the NFC with a 13 – 3 record including a victory over these Green Bay Packers in November. These two teams are led by 2 of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL in Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers. As I look at this game, there are a couple of things I can not understand. 1. Why is everyone convinced that the Packers have found a running game? I realize what they did last week in Philly, but this is the NFL and you don’t just show up out of nowhere in the playoffs and become a star. 2. Why is everyone in love with Aaron Rodgers? I heard Brian Billick say this morning that he would say it is a toss up on who you would want leading YOUR team this weekend between Rodgers and Brady. Rodgers won his first playoff game EVER last week, while Brady is 10 games over .500 and the favorite to win the Super Bowl. I love Aaron Rodgers and do not mean this as an insult, but he is the 2nd best quarterback in this game and the 4th best quarterback left in the playoffs. All Matt Ryan has done in his 3 seasons as a Falcon is save one of the worst franchises in the NFL. Remember, they had just lost their coach, who snuck out the back door like a coward, and their quarterback who was put in jail for 2 years for dog fighting. Ryan then proceeded to lead the team to 2 playoff berths, back to back winning seasons for the 1st time in Franchise history, and he has been lights out at home going 19 - 2 at home during his 3 year career. In the end, Matt Ryan does not make mistakes at home and this will be no different. He has too many weapons. I think this will be an extremely competitive game, but by the end of the night on Saturday, the Falcons will have put themselves in the drivers seat to Dallas. Falcons win a good game 34 - 27.

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh

This has become one of the best rivalries in the league. These teams have so much in common that they are almost carbon copies of each other. They are led stingy, hard hitting defenses with great safeties. They have 2 of the best young coaches in the league in Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh. Both teams have good quarterbacks, Roethlisberger is marching towards a 3rd Super Bowl ring and maybe putting him in the discussion with the elite qbs in the league (I do not know how he gets left out, but he is not in many peoples top 5 list despite his 2 rings), and Joe Flacco is looking to become the winningest quarterback in playoff road wins (that’s in the entire history of the NFL). The key to this game is going to be which team can control the game on the ground and which defense is going to get the key turnover. I know that Flacco is tied for the most road playoff wins, but he is not playing an overmatched Chiefs team this week, he gets the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Fact of the matter is, despite his record Joe Flacco has not played well in the playoffs. Prior to last week (when he was very impressive going 25 – 34 with 265 yards and 2 touchdowns), he was completing 47% of his passes for 132 yards per game and a 6 – 1 interception to touchdown ratio. There is no way that the Ravens can win if he plays like that. In big games, I always like a team with a better quarterback and in this game the Steelers have him. Roethlisberger is 8 – 2 in the playoffs and plays just well enough for his team to win. Look for Ben and company to do just enough at home to advance to the AFC Championship game. Steelers 16 – 13.

OREGON v. AUBURN...WHO YOU GOT?

OREGON v. AUBURN...WHO YOU GOT?

So here we go. The greatest regular season in sports has led us to this night in Glendale, Arizona. I don't know about you, but I personally am not surprised about anything that has happened this season, I for one knew that Oregon v. Auburn would be the game that we would see tonight (ok, I had Alabama v. Ohio State in this game, but let me dream about being right). I think we will see a very entertaining game.

Auburn comes in ranked #1 and representing a conference who has won the last4 BCS National Championships. The SEC has never lost a BCS Title game and is the standard by which all other conferences are measured. When you look at the resume that has gotten Auburn to Arizona, there is nobody in the country who has a resume comparable to the Tigers (or is it War Eagles, it would be nice if someone at Auburn would figure out what their mascot is). The Tigers boasts the 4th toughest schedule in the country, compared to the 76th ranked schedule for Oregon. The Tigers come in having been battled tested time and time again. They trailed by double digits in the second half of games 5 times this season. However the fact that many people do not realize is that Oregon trailed in the second half of games on 7 occasions this season. So, I do not expect to see either team panic if they are trailing and for those of us who will be watching, I think it is safe to say, do not turn this game off until the game clock reads 00:00 in the 4th quarter.

Auburn comes in with a high powered offense and they have been tested in every possible scenario. They have been involved in shootouts, been down at home, been down on the road, been picked to lose, been picked to win. The tigers are obviously led by their Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Cam Newton. Newton accounted for almost 4000 yards this season and 49 touchdowns. Make no mistake about it, this Auburn offense is no 1 trick pony, Auburn has plenty of backs who look to see how they will do against the undersized Ducks defense. I expect to see the Ducks sell out to stop Newton and therefore Auburn will need Michael Dwyer to step up and have a good game. Auburn does not throw the ball that often, they had the fewest passing attempts in the SEC and only 4 teams in the country had less pass attempts that Auburn (they all run the triple option) on the season. However, Newton is very successful throwing the ball completing over 67% of his passes for 2,589 yards and 28 touchdowns. The Ducks secondary will need to be very careful looking into the backfield because Newton has a huge arm and if the Ducks secondary spends too much time looking into the backfield Newton will be more than happy to throw the ball down the field. The Auburn passing game against the Oregon pass defense will be a very interesting matchup, Oregon only allows opposing qb’s to complete 53.5% of their passes and the Oregon defense is very opportunistic creating 35 takeaways (20 interceptions).

Oregon is led by their own Heisman candidate in LaMichael James. He is going to lead a Ducks offense that will want to get the ball snapped every 10 – 12 seconds, this will be terrible for Auburn if they are successful, because Auburn is going to be able to sub the bigger defenders to avoid them wearing down in the 3rd and 4th quarter. If Oregon is able to move the ball and force those big defenders to chase the smaller ducks around the field, it could be a long day for Auburn fans. One of the major factors in determining the outcome of this game will be the play of Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas. His ability to read and control the Auburn defense will be very important for the Ducks to have a chance. Another player who will need to have a good game for the Ducks if Jeff Maehl. He has great hands, makes the tough catches and will need to make a couple of plays over the middle to help prevent the Auburn defensive backs from getting to close to the line of scrimmage. If Thomas, James, and co. is able to run their offense, Nick Fairley and co will be in for a long day. They have had a 36 day layoff and I know that the Ducks have had the same layoff, but there is one thing that anyone who knows anything will tell you is that you can’t coach speed and there is no way to prepare for the tempo that Auburn will see tonight in Glendale.

At the end of the day, I think Oregon is too fast and they will wear down the bigger Auburn defense (when is the last time we talked about an SEC school not being fast enough to keep up with their opponents?). I think this could be the most entertaining BCS Title game since 2006, and when the game clock does finally read 00:00 in the 4th quarter, I think Oregon is going to come out on top 45 – 41.

What do you think? Give me your thoughts.

Until Next Time…