End of a great era

The event that seemed impossible even 6 months ago happened today. The Indianapolis Colts released Peyton Manning. We knew this day was coming the past 3 months, but we never thought this was even a possibility until November 2011 or so. It's amazing how quickly things can change and like Kevin Garnett once deliriously shouted "anything is possible"! Manning and owner Jim Irsay appeared together and parted ways as friendly adults in an emotional news conference today. I thought they handled it in a classy manner given the circumstances though Irsay had some juvenile moments in this saga during the past few months. It was of course staged and had it's awkward moments from the point he picked him up yesterday from the airport, but it was done the right way. And the emotion, at least from Manning's side seemed real and genuine. It doesn't matter who you are, it's going to be tough to walk away from a place you have been working at for 14 years. And in his case, it's a workplace that made him incredibly rich, successful, famous and a living legend. He had some fun times there to say the least, including that super bowl win and it was definitely a tough day for him to cut that chord today.

Manning came in as a can't-miss rookie in 1998 and went 3-13 while showing several flashes of brilliance. The very next season, he threw for more than 4000 yards and helped the Colts go 13-3. The rest as they say is history. He pretty much became the face, heart and soul of the Colts and the city of Indianapolis for the next 14 years as the Colts kept winning many, many games. He took a mediocre franchise in a basketball town and made it the premier football franchise in the league. I once blogged that when you say "franchise player", the guys who are on the top of that elite list - the creme de la creme, are Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning and Tim Duncan. Their impact on the city and the franchise is way beyond what they did on the field for the duration of their career with the club. Unfortunately for the Colts, Manning's career with them is already over. The good news for them is that they have another can't miss prospect coming their way in the form of Andrew Luck. Another number 1 pick just in time to replace a legend. Reminds me of the Spurs scoring Tim Duncan with their number 1 pick many years after David Robinson. Of course, the circumstances there were different and Duncan and Robinson could play together and win a ring, but it is still interesting that the Colts are able to go from Manning to Luck. It will be totally unfair to expect Luck to be Manning-good, but even if he turns out to be a decent starting NFL QB, the Colts have nothing to complain.

It was the combination of availability of Luck, the high price-tag on Manning - $28 million for this upcoming year, and Manning's age that made this the right decision for the Colts. As they say, father-time is undefeated and Manning is the latest athlete joining that fight. Even without the four neck surgeries, you would think he has probably 2 good years left on the football field and if you are the Colts, you definitely go with the younger Luck. It will be interesting to see Luck play and evolve. Manning's shadow will definitely follow him for a while. The good news for Manning is that, he seems to be recovering well and capable of playing in the NFL again. If he can play, there will be no shortage of suitors for him. The entire NFC West, except the St. Louis Rams are in the list of teams somewhat to extremely interested in Manning. He is so good, he can pick his team and can also influence the receiving corps around him. We don't know how this will end for Manning, but it sure looks like he will have a new start at a new place soon and all eyes will be on him. The hype machine will be in full flow, and deservedly so. When Brett Favre started with the Jets, we were all watching and that season didn't end great for Favre though he had some good moments. Of course, he was spectacular with the Vikings the next year before fading away in 2010 when he was 40 years old. Manning is a little younger now than Favre was when he left the Packers, but he is also coming of major surgeries which was never the issue with Favre. But Manning will also not miss training camps and avoid starting the season late like Favre used to. So it will be interesting to see Manning in 2012. We already have a great story waiting for us to start the NFL season.

Ceilin

Now that the Linsanity train is barging ahead at full speed, the real questions are about where this train is headed and how fast will it get there. What is Lin's ceiling? Will Linsanity ever end? If so, when? All fascinating questions. I am enjoying Linsanity and want him to succeed big, but I am also realistic. The guy is averaging 20+ points and 10+ assists in this stretch of 15 days. That's straight-up Steve Nash digits. I would call those MVP numbers and hall of fame lock if only he keeps it up for 15 more years! But that's not going to be easy for Linsanity. As much as he looks like Nash in that offense and pick-and-roll, he is far away from Nashty. Nash is a way better ball handler with much better court vision and shooting. Lin might be a slightly better defender and may be a better finisher around the rim because of his body type, but he is not close to becoming a Nash overall. It's almost unfair to compare the 2 at this point, though Lin's numbers over the last 15 days definitely push us towards that comparison. He can be a poor-man's Steve Nash if he keeps it up and that's a compliment.

Lin is also averaging more than 6 turnovers a game and that's the result of his suspect ball-handling. This is exactly why his career thus far has taken the route it has. Jason Terry spoke yesterday about how anybody who plays 45 minutes and gets 20 shots is going to put up some numbers. Well, it's not that simple and it sounds disrespectful of Lin - you need to be good and prove yourself a little bit before they give you 20 shots, but still Terry has a point. There are several guards buried on NBA benches that are probably quicker and more athletic than Lin and may even score 20 every night if given a chance. They may not be able to pass quite like Lin that makes him a little special, but they are at the end of the bench primarily because they will also turn the ball over 6 times a game - just like Lin. That's not acceptable nightly in the NBA. I am sure these were the concerns that kept Lin on the bench until a unique set of circumstances forced him on to the floor. Credit Lin for making the best of this opportunity. Winning solves a lot of problems including 6 turnovers per game and that's his biggest ally these days.

If you want a specific answer for when will Linsanity end, I would say it will slow down significantly if and when the Knicks go on a 5 game losing streak and if Lin is still averaging 6 turnovers over that stretch. That won't work well. Just to give you a reference, the Warrior fans are often upset with Stephen Curry for some careless turnovers and he averages about 3 per game. Lin is almost twice as bad. This is also why I wouldn't be too critical of the Warriors for letting him go, though they desperately tried to get him back after releasing him. They do owe us an explanation for drafting Charles Jenkins in the second round of last year's draft and keeping him over Lin. Of course nobody would have released him if they knew he could do all this, but you can't blame the Warriors entirely because they have Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry and Lin would have never got this opportunity with them. Even with Linsanity at it's peak, you have to say Curry is a better ball-handler and a more reliable shooter than Lin. This won't make sense now for a lot of fans, but it will when Lin cools off a little.

Lin is currently in one of those dream runs with his shooting and scoring which will eventually slow down. His vision and assists will probably stay, but one of my basketball savvy friends made a great point. Right now Linsanity is not just living a personal dream, but is also energizing the entire city of New York including his teammates. They are all enjoying this run and attention and who doesn't want to ball in front of Kevin Costner and Mark Zuckerberg? But once the hype dies down, his teammates won't cut as hard. They won't run and jump so well on fast-breaks and this could slow Linsanity. His assists numbers might go down too but the real danger is, his turnovers might stay right where they are or even get worse as teams throw better defenders on him. This is the short-term ceiling and challenge for Lin. If the Knicks keep doing well this year, Linsanity may very well take us all the way through this season. We may have to wait until next year for this to settle down. Or, it will slow down in a hurry if the Knicks go on a 0-5 stretch. In either case, it has been a lot of fun and the NBA has been a huge beneficiary here.

Long term, he can improve his shooting and ball-handling and sky could be the limit for this kid if he works hard. He has a shot at being a starting guard in this league as long as there are other number 1 options on the team. In the worst-case, he will be a great, change of pace guard off the bench who can impact games in a major way. Bill Simmons calls that role for Lin, J.J.Barea 2.0. Lin is still young and when he signs a decent contract, he will be able to afford the best trainers and coaches and will definitely get better. After all, even Nash was not born with all his skills. He has worked like a maniac to acquire them. If Lin has shown us anything over the last 15 days, it's definitely that he is hard-working, smart, tough, humble and has incredible heart. These are priceless intangibles that will serve him well in the tough, competitive world of the NBA. Lin will make something out of Linsanity. I wish him well and things will be fine as long as we don't expect him to be a career 20-10 guy winning 8 out of every 10 starts. Whether he gets there or not, his journey so far has been absolutely fascinating and fun. I am sure commish Stern is smiling on his way to the bank everyday the last 2 weeks.

Twitter gone wild with #linsanity

NBA has a it's own version of Tebow-mania and this is even better because Jeremy Lin is a lot more of an improbable star than Tebow. The Palo Alto born, Harvard educated, Taiwanese American is taking Madison Square Garden and the NBA by storm. He has now had 4 great games and tonight's 38 points and 7 assists were against Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers. The Knicks won and Bryant learned quickly how good this guy is after pretending to not know him yesterday. How can the great Kobe Bryant be aware of the lowly Lin? Well, he knows him now that Lin dropped 38 on his face and sent the Lakers away losers. He is quick, smart, crafty and talented. He is also humble and classy. He has a goofy shooting motion, but is currently shooting 53% on the season. He is definitely a good fit for that system with Mike D'Antoni like every talking-head is saying and I have to say, as somebody who watched the Suns for years with D'Antoni and Nash, Lin does look a little like Nash in that offense. Of course, he is not as great as Nash with either his shot or his vision, but he sure is playing well in that system. He deserves a lot of credit for making the most out of a friendly system.

There have been other rags to riches stories in the NBA with undrafted rookies and so on, but Linsanity is different because of his background. If this was a black kid from Wichita state, he won't be the national phenomenon that Lin is now. This is an unique situation and he seems like a good kid. Great story for the NBA just in time after the Super Bowl. Lin has been lucky with all the injuries with the Knicks. It is going to be interesting when the stars come back. Amare will only make him better. With an athlete like Amare running with him, he will do better and this offense will look even more like the Suns offense back in the day. Amare knows how that works and he will fit in. The real trouble is Carmelo. He is fast earning a valid reputation of being a ball-stopper and he can stop Linsanity on it's tracks. NBA is a star driven league and you would be foolish to pick the coach and an unproven player ahead of one of the biggest scorers in the league. But if D'Antoni and Lin can keep this going, I would strongly consider trading Carmelo away. I know I am getting way ahead of everything here, but I like D'Antoni and now Lin enough to say that if Melo doesn't fit in, ship him out. Knicks have been losing big and he was not a good fit for that system long before linsanity started crushing twitter. Melo forces a different system on you. The other issue for Lin is going to be when Baron Davis comes back. At this point, the starting job should be Lin's to lose and I think it will be. It is amazing that we are talking about Baron Davis backing up Jeremy Lin. That's how far this guy has come in exactly a week. Enjoy the ride Mr. Lin.

We live in a twitter and smartphone age of instant gratification and constant attention and Lin is the biggest story going right now. Speaking of the smartphone age, the biggest stories coming out of the Super Bowl last weekend were all stupid reflections of where our culture is headed right now. The first one was about Gisele sticking up for her husband Tom Brady and thrashing his receivers. The wife or the girlfriend bad-mouthing teammates is the worst look for an athlete and at first, I was shocked the image conscious Brady let that happen. Then I looked at the video and she was not even talking to a camera. She was just chatting with a bunch of friends, but in this day and age, you have to assume somebody is shooting and recording you and that's exactly what happened to her. It was a probably embarrassing that it got out and she should be careful in the future, but the way the media handled it, it sounded like she criticized Wes Welker in an interview with Bob Costas on national TV. Brandon Jacobs and the Giants responded and I am not sure if they even knew the context or were just misled by the media's coverage of it. Then comes the Gronk dance without the shirt. That is a bad look for any guy on a normal Friday night in July, but once again, it got out on youtube and everybody made a big deal out of it. But it was a party thrown by the owner of the Patriots and he was dancing with his teammates. Bad, but not the worst thing like the media made it out to be. If the players can't party after a Super Bowl loss, why are the owners hosting one? Where's the accountability there?

Giants 2 - Patriots 0

New York Giants have won their second ring and sent the Patriots back home with another tough Super Bowl loss. The game went exactly as I expected it to, but it featured less scoring drives than I expected. I expected to see a little more scoring back and forth, but the Super Bowl jitters and preparedness on the part of both defenses kept the score in check. Plus the lackadaisical play of the Giants at times didn't help either. Giants don't seem to play with focus and a sense of urgency until things get really desperate. That's their only weakness. It's also a bad reflection on Eli as he seems to share that trait as well. He is not as obsessive and consistent at his craft like a Brady or his big brother Peyton. He does come through in the clutch and so does his team, but they don't play consistently good justifying their talent level. That's true during a game - even the Super Bowl, and that's also true during the course of a season as they go on 4-game losing streaks and 6-game winning streaks because of the same inconsistencies in their focus and performance.

I thought the Giants were really the more complete team. But their inconsistency and Hoody and Brady's drive to extract revenge were the top 2 reasons why the Patriots had a shot - a real shot. But even Hoody and Brady couldn't overcome the talent differential. Some people say that it's a huge credit to the Hoody that this Pats team even made it this far with a horrible defense. Of course the offense is always in good hands with Tom Brady, but that defense had no business being in the Super Bowl. At the end, they came close, but a Wes Welker drop here and an Aaron Hernandez drop there made sure they don't win. Poor Wes Welker is getting a lot of flak for the drop, but it wasn't a great pass by Gisele's husband either. We are used to seeing Welker catch difficult passes like the one he dropped, but it was thrown behind him. Brady also threw an interception earlier and had a mediocre fourth quarter after a brilliant first 3.

Eli on the other hand was his usual self. Good for 3 quarters and great in the fourth. His pass to Mario Manningham was another special Super Bowl play that we may never forget. It was a key play, but it was nowhere near David Tyree's catch in the previous super bowl either in terms of the impact or the difficulty. It was a perfect throw and a great catch that beat good coverage. Eli and Tom Coughlin both are legends now in the biggest city in the world and are ready for the Hall of Fame. I am happy for Coughlin because he is an old-school disciplinarian and it's good to see old school values still succeed. I also like him as a coach. Only issue I have with him is, he has to share some blame for the team's attitude and lack of focus at times. But overall, he is a great coach and of course the New York media will be firing him by week 8 in 2012. Speaking of 2012, can't wait for the off-season to see where Peyton Manning ends up. If that guy can play even at 80% of what we have seen of him in the past, he should be shaking up the power structure of the entire league. I am not a big fan of this sort of drama, but I am willing to endure the ESPN circus for Peyton. He is worth it. He deserves it. Even though his little bro has more rings than him.

This will be a "Giant" Super Bowl.

Giants 31 Patriots 27. That's what I am calling in this weekend's Super Bowl. It should be a good one, a fun one and also a close one. But should also be an easy one for the Giants to score the requisite points at the end to take care of the Patriots. The Patriots, Brady and Belichick are never easy to deal with as adversaries, but I do not respect their defense this year. Giants are a more complete team and that defensive front can slow down Tom Brady on at least 2 or 3 drives this Sunday. But I can't say the same about the Patriots defense. Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin are no joke. Manning and those receivers should be able to move the ball and score enough to win. Gronk's ankle is not helping the Patriots either. He is one guy on the Patriots nobody seems to have an answer for. But a hobbled Gronk only helps the Giants defense, which doesn't need a whole lot of help in the first place. All this should add up to a second Super Bowl for Manning and the Giants. Considering that the Giants beat the Pats the last time they were in this dance, I am sure Brady is itching to beat them and extract some revenge.

This is a major Super Bowl as it will help establish some legacies either way. If the Patriots win, that puts Tom Brady in the QB stratosphere along with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw with 4 rings each. He is already guaranteed a tie with Elway for the most SB appearances. This will also let hoody join Chuck Noll as a 4 time champion. Both Brady and the hoody are first-ballot hall of famers anyways, but a win this Sunday will put them in a special balcony in that hall of fame. It's also a big game for Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin. They are both borderline hall of famers right now - more Coughlin than Manning, but Eli will be there soon. But a second Super Bowl fast-tracks both of them. If he wins Sunday, they can start fitting that hideous yellow jacket for Eli instead of waiting to see if he is worthy of it in a few years. Coughlin never seems to get enough credit and this ring will change that forever. He already has 2 Super Bowl rings - one as an assistant, and his most impressive achievement might be taking the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars to 2 AFC championship games. This Super Bowl is big for both sides.

May be that's why this week has been all about Peyton Manning! Some of it is just coincidence since his little brother and his biggest rival are putting on a show in the house he built in Indianapolis. But he has already given one interview - may be that was just a promotional gig for Gatorade, but the news that he has been "medically cleared" also came out this week. That could have definitely waited till after the Super Bowl. He says this week is not about him, but the more he says it, the more it is becoming about him. Makes you wonder if he is jealous of his little brother and his biggest rival. It is a little surreal to think Eli might have more Super Bowls than Peyton in a couple of days. Peyton is still going to be better QB than Eli. That argument won't start until Eli wins his third SB. But for now, it looks like Peyton will be back at least trying to play in the NFL next year. He will have to do it somewhere else and not in Indy. It seems very unlikely Peyton will get to play and win another Super Bowl at a new place. Hope Jim Irsay put an end to this drama in Indy soon. The low-point of this saga was when Irsay said recently that he and Manning are, on a competitive scale of 1-to-10, "both 11s." Yes, you and one of the best QBs ever are of course on the same level of competitiveness. Lets list that under "things you get to say if you have 100's of millions of dollars in the bank."

No Super Bowl for the Niners and the Ravens

The Giants and the Patriots are getting ready to re-enact Super Bowl 42 in a couple of weeks. The combination of a missed field goal by the Ravens and a made field goal by the Giants on Sunday prevented a Har-bowl. Tough day for the Harbaughs, but I ain't shedding a tear for that family. They have it pretty good with both brothers making millions as prestigious head coaches in the NFL. Considering there are only 32 of those jobs in the entire world, the Harbaughs hold 6.25% of all NFL head coaching jobs under the sun. So they will be fine. But life is all perspective and I am sure that entire family is feeling horrible this week given the way both teams lost. Jim Harbaugh made his family's catch-phrase the 49'ers war cry - "who's got better than us?". Well, the real answer is - Tom Brady. The guy got another Super Bowl trip gifted to him by the Ravens. He sure is talented and a great QB and is rarely outplayed by other QBs, but Joe Flacco actually outplayed him and looked good against that horrible Patriots defense. Brady was going against the better defense, but he didn't even have a passing TD in this game - something that's unheard of this season.

Flacco's throw to Lee Evans that would have won the game at the end of the game was just perfect. In fact, it was a little too perfect as it fell on Evans lap and surprised him just enough to let a defender knock it out of his hands. One could still argue that Evans controlled the ball and then fumbled it. And that should have made it a TD because the ball broke the plane. But the zebras thought otherwise. As if that's not enough of a good fortune for Brady, hoody and the Patriots, the Ravens then miss a game tying field goal that would have at least sent the game to OT. Poor kicker Billy Cundiff missed a short, 32 yard field goal and lost the game for his team. I liked how his teammates, especially Ray Lewis stuck up for him and said all the right things. I am beginning to like Ray Lewis more and more as he ages and moves away from the murder scandal back in the day. But I do feel for that team because Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are getting up there in age. They had a great shot at another Super Bowl appearance but Cundiff kicked it away. There is no guarantee they get there back again - not in that division with the Steelers. There is also some talk about how the scoreboard in the Patriots stadium threw Cundiff off with the wrong down and distance information. You can't help but wonder if this is another "hoody-gate" in the making. But the Ravens season is over anyways.

In San Francisco, the game did go to overtime unlike the AFC championship game, but Kyle Williams fumbled a punt and stopped the hearts of the home crowd. It was a shocking moment, but you immediately felt for Kyle because he joined Ravens' Cundiff as the other goat on that day. This was even worse than Cundiff only because he kneed a punt earlier in that game committing a costly turnover. Nothing justifies the stupid fans sending him death threats after the game, but it was a tough day for Williams even otherwise to have turned the ball over twice. Niners pride themselves on their turnover differential, but they were 0-2 in this one with both credited to Kyle. Of course, his teammates came out and stood by him. It is indeed a cliche to say "it's not one man's fault, we win as a team and we lose as a team". Obviously a costly mistake at the end of a game like that has a much greater impact and is harder to recover from, but Kyle's last fumble was truly not the 49'ers main problem. I wouldn't blame him at all for that defeat. They had several opportunities to put that game away and the 49'ers offense couldn't get it done. All they needed was a field goal and Williams would have been in the locker room celebrating instead of fielding that ill-fated punt if only the offense had done it's job.

The way that game ended proved one more time how much of a team game football is and even a mistake of that magnitude exposed more of a team's problem in it's entirety than anything else. In fact, I would say Kyle's first turnover where he kicked a ball that he didn't even catch was more stupid and even more damaging in the big scheme of things. He had no reason to hang around that ball and it was a big momentum changer in the game. The NY Giants hang on and move on to the big game behind some strong performance by their wide receivers. The niners WRs caught one pass for 3 yards the entire overtime game and that was the difference. Credit goes to Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and Hakeen Nicks and the blame goes to Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree. The best quote about this game was by Bill Romanowski when he said "Michael Crabtree was an ornament in this game. He might as well have hung out on a Christmas tree." Both defenses were awesome, but the Giants passing offense with Eli Manning is in elite hands - pun intended. It was a disappointing end to a great season for Jim Harbaugh, but they should be proud of what they accomplished this season. Now it's time for them to go get a receiver to help Alex Smith. The challenge for the niners and their fans is that in today's NFL, there are no guarantees that this team - or any other team for that matter, makes it to the Super Bowl or even to the playoffs next year.

The NFL power structure changes every year due to 4 main reasons. First, the player churn is too high in the NFL, thanks to the hard salary cap and non-guaranteed player contracts. Secondly, NFL is a brutal sport with a very high risk of injuries and that's always a factor with many teams every year. Thirdly, NFL schedule is short and a bad stretch here or there can doom a team's playoff dream unlike what happens in the NBA or the MLB where the more talented teams bubble up to the playoffs eventually. Last but not the least, NFL teams play an unbalanced schedule and people don't realize that it's almost like teams play in a different league every year. First place schedule is vastly different from a 4-Th place schedule and niners will have a tougher road next year. So nobody knows where the niners end up next season, but this is a great start and they do have a great coach, which is a great thing to have. The closest thing to a guarantee of consistent success in the NFL is a great quarterback. Even Brady and Manning don't go to the Super Bowl every year, but good QBs like that at least get you enough wins to make the playoffs consistently. The niners don't have that in Alex Smith, but they better stick with him, give him a receiver and see where this thing goes. In Harbaugh they should trust.

More on the Super Bowl soon.

Can I get a Har-bowl!

What I want for the Super Bowl is a Har-bowl, but I think we will end up with a Brady-bowl. I expect the Niners and the Patriots to hold on at home in interesting championship games in the NFC and the AFC respectively. That would lead us to a Brady-bowl where ESPN will feed us a whole lot of Tom Brady for 2 weeks. They don't know this guy named Alex Smith playing out west for the Niners and to be fair to them, Brady is a much bigger star anyways. But not sure if I can handle 24 X 7 Brady love-fest for 2 weeks. Of course what I would like to see instead is a Har-bowl though some people have raised valid concerns about how that would be as bad as the BCS championship game - a repeat game between 2 offensively challenged teams with good defenses. It's not unlikely that we will get this super bowl considering defense wins championships and the Niners and the Ravens have the best defenses in this final 4. I have always liked the Harbaugh brothers and I can totally handle them for 2 weeks leading up to the super bowl. Now that both what I want to happen and what I think will happen are obvious, the NY Giants are the odd team out and ironically, they may be the most complete team left in the dance.

NY Giants definitely have a shot in San Francisco, but I have to go with the home team with the better defense here. And their offense didn't look too shabby either last weekend as Alex Smith sliced and diced the Saints twice in the last 4 minutes. The Giants offense and Eli at QB are better than what the Niners have and their defense is decent too, but everything New York is a little overblown by the predominantly East coast media. I like their front 4 on defense, but the Niners are no slouches either in that department. The NY bandwagon is especially full now since they beat the champions in Green Bay. But the Niners are tougher in every sense of the word. The Niners defense hit people like this is your grand father's NFL, and they know how to deliver those old-school blows without the new-school flags. They routinely knock out running backs and I would be concerned if I was Ahmad Bradshaw. The weather is going to be soggy and I never liked the theory that rain affects the offense. It's hard to play defense too in the rain as defenders have to react and move depending on where the receiver goes. But at the line of scrimmage, the defenders are pushing forward and the offensive line has to back-pedal. So the weather affects both sides and it depends on the position you play. The only added challenge for the offense is holding on to the slick ball in the rain and avoiding turnovers. All things considered, I think the road team is going to be uncomfortable here and the Niners should sneak through.

In the AFC, Joe Flacco is under a lot of stress because of his performance last weekend against a strong Texans defense. He should do a lot better against a weak defense in New England, but the question is, can he match Brady and the New England offense who just look unstoppable? Ravens don't seem to have any answer for Rob Gronkowski - actually no team does, and Gronk is just one of many options at Brady's figer-tips. Add to that the extra motivation the Pats have against the Ravens since they got embarrassed at home by the Ravens in the 2009 playoffs behind Ray Rice's 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. Ray Rice might have to pull something that spectacular again to hang with this Pats team. I would give Ravens a better chance if their defense was more consistent and fearsome. They have a good D, but some of it is just good reputation even while their on-field performance has been inconsistent. Never count the team with the better defense out, but all things point to a repeat Super Bowl appearance for the hoody. A NY Giants V NE Patriots Super Bowl will be awesome considering what happened a few years back, but give me Niners this year. And good luck to Ravens who have the unenviable task of preventing the hoody from going to his 18000-Th Super Bowl.

49'ers are the story of this round

The Divisional round of the NFL playoffs are in the books. Many things happened this weekend - some expected, some unexpected, some I like, some I don't. But the best game of the weekend and the most impressive win was San Francisco 49'ers beating the New Orleans Saints in thrilling fashion. The Niners faithful is used to seeing these fantastic finishes orchestrated by Joe Montana and Steve Young. But it was Alex Smith at the wheels this weekend and he drove them right past Drew Brees - the real mayor of New Orleans, to the finish line. There were 4 TDs in the last 4 minutes as both teams exchanged punches, but Alex Smith dealt the final blow as he drilled a pass to Vernon Davis with very little time left for Brees to mount another attack. It was a perfect throw in traffic, very reminiscent of Steve Young's game winner to Terrell Owens back in the day. And just like TO, Davis did great to hold onto the ball in traffic and teared up on the sidelines.

Large, strong, rich, grown men crying like a baby while making a winning play - tells you all you need to know about the drive, passion and effort that these guys put into this game. We may think they are spoiled millionaires and they may even come off as thugs who are "too cool for school" sometimes. But make no mistake about the fact that they didn't become a professional athlete in the NFL without an incredible passion and burning desire to be the best at what they do. Most of them have a winning, genetic lottery ticket in their hands, but it aint as easy as we sometimes think it is to cash that ticket. While years of frustration and disappointment welled up Davis's eyes, it was actually a much greater moment for Alex Smith who has been discarded as a bust by the Niner fan base for a few years now. Jim Harbaugh trusted this guy, invested in him and Alex Smith has more than done his job this year. He is a good guy by all accounts and I am happy for him to have come through twice in the clutch like that. Harbaugh deserves a lot of credit for going for a TD in that final drive when a field goal would have sent the game to OT. That's intelligent aggression from a conservative coach and this is why Harbaugh rocks.

The other big news of the weekend was the elimination of the Green Bay Packers at home. Some people expected it because of how good the Giants have been lately. Others expected it just because somebody has to lose at home and the Niners won the first game of the weekend and it didn't look like the Patriots or the Ravens were going to lose at home. The home teams were 7-0 before the Packers defense decided to play flag football for 3 hours. Their offense was surprisingly not on-point either and that combined with a couple of untimely turnovers killed them. It should be disappointing to be 15-1 in the regular season and not even make it to the NFC championship game. But this goes to show how difficult it is to repeat in the NFL. That defense did not deserve to win though. My first reaction after the season opener between the Saints and the Packers was that neither team looked Super Bowl bound with that defense. This weekend, both of them helped me pat myself on the back for that prediction.

The Packers game also showed why we always say "defense wins championship". It does because offense can have a bad day and you need to stop somebody to win. More importantly, offense controls the ball and some weird things and bad turnovers can happen at random times in games and you need the defense to stop the other team and get the ball back. This is exactly what Packers couldn't do today as Ryan Grant fumbled with about 7 minutes to go and with the Packers trailing by 10. The game was over right there for all practical purposes, but it definitely was over for the Packers with that defense. The Giants now proceed to the NFC title game. There is something about this team, the coach and the QB that results in a lot of wins. None of them get a whole lot of credit, but they win a lot. People can keep doubting Eli Manning all they want, but you can't spell elite without Eli. If he keeps this up, he might have more rings than his big brother. Coach Coughlin is not too shabby either.

In the AFC, both games fell short of expectations. Tebowmania came to a screeching halt at New England as expected. Tom Brady kept finding his favorite tight-ends to the tune of 363 yards and 6 TDs. Proof number 19052 that the NFL is a different sport right now. QBs are throwing for 6 TDs in 3 quarters in playoff games. Of course no such luck for Tebow as his limitations were exposed and his ride stalled. He is still not ready and I am not sure what Elway and Fox are going to do with this runaway train that's not really going anywhere. Ravens now have to try and stop Brady and I don't think that's going to happen either. Joe Flacco just like his draft mate Matt Ryan has many questions hanging over his head and he didn't answer many of them today at home. I doubt if he does on the road. They beat Houston, but didn't look good doing it. I think their defense is overrated too and are now living on reputation more than consistent performance. But the games next week will be a true test for the Ravens. Actually it will be for all the teams involved. When you are playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl, you will be tested.

Time to Eat Crow

It's not often that I am wrong with 3 out of 4 picks. In fact, it's hard to do. Of course impossible things always seem to happen when we are dealing with Timothy Richard Tebow and he was one of the reasons I was wrong with 3 of my road picks this wild card weekend in the NFL. Tebow has been proving many experts and their theories and pontifications wrong. Today he added one more theory to the list - NFL playoff overtime rules have changed. Not today and not under his watch as Tebow ended the game and the Steelers season in overtime with not just one possession, but just one play. It was a 80 yard bomb down the middle - the middle left vacant by the Steelers secondary as they crowded the line of scrimmage expecting another 1-St down run. Tebow hit Demaryius Thomas in stride and he did the rest. With the new rules, each team gets a possession if the first score is a field goal. But it's still sudden death if that score is a TD or a safety. Tebow time today produced a TD in 11 seconds and made the new rules irrelevant.

The other team still deserves a possession in my opinion and this rule change is a step in the right direction, but only a small step. May be this game will force NFL to expand the new rules even further. But all that's neither here nor there. This game was all about Tim Tebow. He played a superb and complete game. This was not one of those games where he looked like a deer in the headlights for 3 quarters and pulled out some weird magic in the last 3 minutes to win the game. This was almost the opposite and Big Ben actually had to bring the Steelers back from behind to tie it in the 4-Th. Tebow was great from the beginning to the end. He did make some mistakes and missed some throws as always, but he also made some terrific plays - to the tune of 316 passing yards, 50 yards rushing and 3 TDs. Those are some superstar numbers. Coach John Fox deserves a lot of credit. Not only did he finally unleash Tebow and satisfy his boss, John Elway, but he has also been steadily figuring out ways to use him right throughout the season. Not easy considering that his previous QB was very different from Tebow.

In this game, Fox had Tebow throwing long balls almost exclusively. Brilliant strategy as Tebow may not be the best thrower or reader of defenses. So just don't have him throw those intricate, short passes down the crowded middle. Instead, go for the longer routes which are safer, especially since the Steelers like most other teams crowded the line of scrimmage to stop Tebow and the run and most outside receivers were just single covered. And credit Tebow for hitting almost all of those long balls beautifully. 316 yards on 10 completions proves my point. At one stage in the game, I was wondering if Tebow even attempted a pass less than 30 yards. Big Ben was brilliant as always, but was hobbled. In addition to all the injuries coming in, they lost a couple of key players during the game and they couldn't overcome all of that. I could use that and the fact that they still almost won the game as an excuse for my bad pick, but I won't. Honestly, I would have still picked the Steelers even if those injured guys were all out coming into the game. I thought Ben and Troy would be way better than the Tebows and they were not. So I have to eat crow. Speaking of Troy, I am a big Polamalu fan, but he looks done. Was he even in this game?

I picked Atlanta and Cincinnati to win on the road as well. It turns out that all road teams lost and the wild card weekend eliminated all wild card teams too. So both the home court advantage and the playoffs seeding are alive and well up to this point. Atlanta was an abomination today. That team will be going to Green Bay next weekend if only they knew how to rush for a measly yard when they really need it. In a season where the coach got in trouble for going for it on 4-Th and short against the Saints and stalling, he did that twice in this playoff game and the Falcons stalled both times. They can't do 3-Rd or 4-Th and 1 and it's mind boggling given all the talent on the roster. Giants abused them on both sides of the ball and left Matt Ryan and Mike Smith with a lot of questions. Now the Giants get to go challenge the defending champions in Green Bay. It will be a fun game, but that's a tall order for anybody. In the AFC, Cincinnati went into Houston and their immaturity and inexperience got exposed on the road. The Houston rookies outplayed Cincy's rookies and won behind another solid outing by Arian Foster - 153 yards, 2 TDs. How do guys like Arian Foster and Isaac Redman go undrafted?

The 49'ers will be hosting the Saints next weekend in probably the most intriguing of the match-ups. It's all offense versus all defense. Saints and Drew Brees are putting up ridiculous numbers week in and week out. 400 yards is becoming the norm for this guy even in blowout victories. That used to happen once in a while in the old NFL only when good QBs were chasing a big deficit. Now, any decent QB can drop a 400 on you and of course Brees is great. Drew Brees is becoming a legend and civic treasure much like Marino, Elway, Montana and Manning. He might even be ahead of Brady on that front. He is the man behind that offensive machine and that city. But despite all the gaudy numbers, this offense doesn't look to me as special as the "greatest show on turf" Rams or the Vikes with Moss and Carter or even the Patriots when Brady threw for 50 TDs. I feel like the Saints offense is as much a product of today's rules as they are a product of an innovative offense or phenomenal talent. Also the fact that there are 3 or 4 other offenses this year that are not far behind the Saints takes some bloom off of that rose. I look at it as proof number 12551 that the offensive game has changed and gotten a lot easier that this Saints team could put up those kind of numbers. Proof number 12552 would be that Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards in his first playoff game. But let's not suggest anything even remotely critical of Tim Tebow right now.

One last bowl

This is the week of the BCS before we transition to the NFL wild card weekend. When the bowl schedule came out, it' didn't look too appetizing this year. Part of the problem was that the BCS championship game is a rematch that really didn't get a whole lot of us excited. There were a couple of good match-ups, but it looked like slim pickings. But the BCS bowls since the New Years day have been pretty good. Wisconsin-Oregon stayed true to form and Oregon won in a thrilling Rose Bowl. Then the best game of the BCS season was as expected the Fiesta Bowl featuring Stanford and Oklahoma state. Andrew Luck had an amazing game, but lost anyways. I like David Shaw - Stanford's coach, but he went far to the right - too conservative on this one. Shaw let a red-shirt freshman decide the game with a 35 yard field goal and sure enough, he kicked it away right in to Oki state's hands.

Given that these are not professional kickers making millions for these field goals, this is equivalent to a 45 yarder by NFL standard. You then add 5 more yards for the high-pressure situation - it should actually be higher for the college kids, but I will keep it at the standard 5 yards for both the NFL and college. I would say this was a 50 yarder for the kid by NFL standards. You should not be depending on 50 yard field goals to win games, not when you have Luck driving your car and navigating it beautifully. Shaw went ultra-conservative at the wrong time and let a lot of plays and timeouts go to waste. One of my pet peeves in football is coaches stalling way too early on their final drive and asking their kickers to boot long, hard field goals. Never made sense to me. And Shaw paid the price. The game went to OT and state won it there with a field goal of their own after the Stanford kid missed another one. Luck should be disappointed, but I think his NFL career is still in good hands.

The Sugar Bowl was also an overtime affair as Va Tech figured out a way to lose after out-gaining Michigan all game. A win in the Sugar Bowl is a great start for the Brady Hoke era for the big blue, but they better get ready for some serious challenges down the road as Urb is coming to Columbus. Hoke is happy to have Denard Robinson on his side though. The Orange Bowl was a rather weird affair where West Virginia scored 70 on the Clemson tigers. Clemson showed us how to score 33 points, win the first quarter, tie the 4-Th, and still lose by 37. If only they figured out how to defend that stupid toss play that West Virginia ran a million times. All this leads us to the title game Monday. It's a rerun and I expect the result to be the same as well. LSU is really the better team though Alabama's Nick Saban is the better coach. Lets just hope it's better than a 9-6 snoozer. By the way, I also expect the Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals to have won their way to the next round of the NFL playoffs by the time this championship game rolls around.

The Season is Over for Some

The first day of the year 2012 was also the last day of the NFL season for a bunch of teams. As the season of giving wound down today, the NFL season also followed suit. It was an interesting feeling having both Christmas and the New Years on a Sunday this year. I liked it more than waking up on New Years and watching the college Bowl games. But not sure if the Raiders and the Cowboys liked what happened today. Both had a "win and you are in" situation and both blew it. Raiders had a set of more complicated options entering the day, but it boiled down to an elimination game as the day progressed. And they got eliminated even after Tebow was exposed and the Broncos lost. The Raiders have had a tough season with the demise of Al Davs, the injuries and renewed hope when they got Carson Palmer, but they just were not good enough to win a bad division. They could not stop the Chargers today on defense and didn't score enough TDs on offense. Palmer threw for a good game, but they still stalled a lot in the red zone. And of course the special teams did it's bit by letting the Chargers score a TD as well. Overall, a tough loss and a rough season for the Raiders given how the other teams in the division gave them all the opening they can to help them.

Raiders had some ugly losses late in the season, but the killer ones were the home losses to bad divisions teams in Kansas City and Denver in the middle of the season, around the bye week, coming off of a season ending injury to Jason Campbell. With Campbell or even with Palmer at practice for a couple of weeks, they win both those games. If they win those "easy" games, they finish the season 10-6 and the story is different. The week 17 Chargers were a lot more challenging than those 2 teams back then, but the Raiders just were not dealt the right hand those 2 games. So after going 6-0 in the division last year, they went 0-3 at home and 3-0 on the road in division. Thats strange and a typical Raiders stat. Speaking of typical Raiders stat, they have to fix the penalty situation. They beat all kinds of records with penalties this season and the top 10 all-time infamous list is littered with Raiders teams from all eras. It's an amazing contrast to see the discipline of the niners under Harbaugh across the bay and this Raiders team, which is probably more talented than the niners on paper. Of course, they need McFadden on the field to prove that. I am excited to see Palmer with a full training camp next year, but there was some karma at work here this season as he refused to suit up for the Bengals and they are now in the playoffs with the rookie Andy Dalton at QB while Palmer will be sitting at home watching.

Denver lost ugly and still backed into the playoffs. Tebow looked horrible and there is just no way Pittsburgh gets beat by him next week - at home, on the road, in Iceland, it don't matter. Denver has a home game due to the weird NFL rules, but Big Ben and Polamalu will be ready. Seattle might have upset New Orleans last year at home, but Pittsburgh V Denver is just too lopsided. If he wins next week, Tebow magic is for real. I am looking forward to a couple of upsets in the playoffs next weekend. Cincinnati Bengals should be able to beat the Texans on the road. Texans are a better team when healthy, but they never are. The Giants eliminated the overrated Cowboys today, but the Atlanta Falcons come into town next week and that will be a whole different ball game. The Falcons are on a roll and if the Giants blink, they will be joining the other New York team - the Jets, at home. It feels good not hearing the loud mouth Rex Ryan and the Jets in the playoffs. They are a overrated team with an overrated quarterback and they better improve and shut up if they want to take the next step. Mark Sanchez is a decent guy, but just not a good QB. Darrelle Revis said he doesn't know who Giants receiver Victor Cruz was a couple of weeks back. Cruz first helped eliminate Revis, Ryan and the Jets. And today, helped kick out Rob Ryan's Dallas Defense out of the playoffs. Now the Ryan brothers should be seeing Victor Cruz in their nightmares all off-season and rightfully so.

The wild card round starts Saturday and I expect the Saints to take care of the Lions at home. The Lions are good, but they have the unenviable task of stopping Brees in his house and that ain't happening. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati should join their division rival Baltimore the week after in AFC's final 4. The other game is a "pick em" for me as I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta wins at NY, though Matt Ryan has trouble on the road. Green Bay will be playing everybody at home down the road, but looking at their defense, I am concerned. I think the Saints can shock them in the NFC championship game, but they have enough offense to beat anybody else including the niners who have the best defense in the NFC. It's more of a tossup in the AFC with the Ravens, Pats and the Steelers. I like the Ravens to join the Packers in the Super Bowl when it's all said and done. A Saints or Patriots appearance there wouldn't shock me either. It's a different playoffs without Manning and the Colts. The Colts locked up the top pick in the draft. Let's minimize the drama and pick Andrew Luck right away. That will give them time to decide what to do with Manning if and when he comes back. He should come back and may be play for another team. The way the game is these days, both Luck and Manning might throw for 5000 yards next season. Two dudes, Brady and Brees beat Marino's mark this season and Stafford threw for more than 5000 yards as well. There were more 5,000-yard passers in the 2011 season than there had been throughout NFL history prior to this season. Rodgers sat out today. Otherwise, there would have been 4 QBs with more than 5000 yards. I'd say Marino's record still stands just like Hank Aaron's in baseball, though for different reasons.

NBA Preview

NBA is almost here. It's time to get excited and ready. I thought I will try and rank all the teams in the league and predict how the season is going to play out. I am going to stick my neck out with my analysis and see how it looks at the end of the season. So I started looking through all the rosters closely and boy, there is some serious garbage in this league. It straight away became obvious why there is so much heartburn and unease over the new NBA - post LBJ syndrome. For those of you that don't know the term, LBJ syndrome is the culture of stars trying to team up with other stars in hand-picked teams. This is something LeBron started with Wade and Bosh last year and everybody else is trying to emulate. It's very clear that NBA is in real danger if this trend continues. While the lockout was more about money than competitive balance, the two are related and competitive balance currently needs some attention and almost justifies the lockout. You can see why the owners freaked out at the Chris Paul to Lakers trade just coming out of the lockout. NBA needs another super-team like the NFL needs a Brett Favre comeback. These rosters also remind me a lot of MLB and that's not a good thing. A talent skew like the MLB will just NOT work in the NBA, not that ti works for baseball.

Almost half the rosters look like garbage and the scary part is, some of these teams will be in the playoffs because NBA lets way too many teams in to the playoffs - at least the MLB is better with that, though they are hell-bent of expanding their playoff counts next season. This also reminds me why NFL is the king. Not only do they have superior parity and competitive balance, they allow only 12 teams in to the big dance and rarely does garbage get in to the playoffs. It happens once in a while, but not always. When a bad team plays another bad team, somebody has to win. So some of these garbage NBA rosters will also sport decent records at the end of this season. But trust me, I see way more Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals type rosters in this year's NBA than in the past. The hope is, these teams can develop, grow and turnaround. But for that to happen, the LBJ syndrome cannot continue and the system should enable these teams to retain the young stars that are already on their rosters or might end up there via future drafts. Let's hope for that to happen.

The objective of this NBA season is not different from last's for most of the fans - basically keeping the dream team in Miami away from a ring. But it is going to be harder this year than last. For all the talk about how last season was a failure for the heat, the reality is, it was a roaring success for the big 3. To win the Eastern conference in year 1 after all the negative attention, chemistry issues and adversity caused by unexpected losing streaks is just amazing. What else did we all expect? If they won it all in year 1, then LeBron would have been absolutely justified in predicting 8 rings when he stupidly said "not 1, not 2 .... not 7." Even now, I am scared he is going to get close to the number because they almost got there in year 1 and are going to be much better in year 2. On the court, their chemistry is going to be much better. Plus, their experience with all the adversity last year and the booing and hatred will probably make this year 2 look like a stroll on the South Beach for those guys. Given all this, I pick the Miami Heat to win the championship this year. I don't want them to, but I am afraid they probably will. I don't see a solid threat for them, though they are not invincible by any stretch of the imagination.

The heat lost to Dallas last year. The mavericks have the look and feel of a one-hit wonder. This is because of their age and also the fact that they lost Tyson Chandler. Speaking of age, the Spurs will be good as always, but they only got older and are not a serious contender. The Celtics are also older and not sure if they can do better than last year. The age bug is also beginning to bite the Lakers. They imploded against the Mavericks last playoffs and took a step back this year when they lost Lamar Odom. Unless they pull a Dwight Howard blockbuster, they may have problems even dominating their own town given that the Clippers are now looking great with a talented, young, athletic front court chauffeured by a stud point guard. While the rest of the league would love to have one good big guy at either the center or the power forward position, the Clippers have a stud PF in Blake Griffin and seems to have lucked into an amazing athlete with a huge upside at center in DeAndre Jordan. Even the Clip-joint may not be able to screw this one up. The Clippers are good, but they need at least a season under the belt with these pieces before becoming a serious contender.

I wouldn't discount the Lakers and the Mavericks completely yet, but the teams that can really challenge the Heat this season are the OKC Thunder in the West and the Chicago Bulls in the East. The baby Bulls will be better with that deep playoff experience last season, but they still need one more offensive weapon. Too bad they didn't add significant pieces this year, though Rip Hamilton will help. The OKC on the other hand have had 2 deep playoff runs and seem to have a complete roster. This is the year for them to breakthrough. I would love it for Kevin Durant to take down LeBron in the Finals. That would be poetic justice like no poet has ever seen before. And it's not a pipe dream. Speaking of pipe dreams, it's sad to me as a Suns fan that I am nowhere near mentioning them as a contender. In fact, it's out of pure respect for Nash that they are even ranked as high as they are in most power rankings on the web. That roster has been decimated by owner Robert Sarver and I just hope they are even in the running for the playoffs. Shame on you Sarver!

Now on to my rankings in each conference.

EASTERN CONFERENCE
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1. Miami - They are my pick to win it all this year. The rich usually get richer in this league. So they got Shane Battier. But I am surprised they didn't get significantly more. They still have issues with the bigs - anybody who signs Eddy Curry have some issues, and at the point guard spot. But their experience from last year will help immensely. Somebody please stop them.

2. Chicago - They have the MVP and a good core, but they need one more reliable scorer. I didn't like the way Miami handled them last year and I don't see any improvement to put them over the heat. Rip Hamilton helps, but they need a healthy, dominant Boozer and a little bit more.

3. Boston - Jeff Green's heart illness is a big blow. This team is old and I would have loved to see them challenge the heat of today with their big 3 when they were 3 years younger. I like the Brandon Bass pickup, but the golden oldies have to handle a compressed schedule and challenge Miami at the end. Not going to be easy.

4. Knicks - Depth is a concern, but the front court talent is just undeniable. Melo, Amare and Chandler is a phenomenal lineup. They are overpaying for all 3, but they can afford to. I think this team is going to surprise a lot of people. I hate to say this, but Steve Nash will look sweet in this team.

5. Atlanta - They have always been an enigmatic team for me. I don't think they have elite talent and they have also topped off talent-wise with all the money invested in their existing pieces. But they are talented enough to be a top 4 team in the L-East. On the positive side, they can party like 1999. They have both Tracy McGrady and Jerry Stackhouse.

6. Orlando - They have taken a step back, but they still have their stud - for now. They can make some noise, but will fall short. Hedo is not giving them what he gave during his first go-around. Rashard Lewis is not worth a lot, but he and a younger Hedo made things work for them. They have to find something new now before losing Dwight Howard.

7. Philly - Jrue is true. The development of Jrue Holiday makes the sixers pretty interesting. A good PG compensates for a lot of things and this sixers team is ready to take the next step this year especially if Evan Turner turns the corner.

8. Indiana - They made the playoffs with just 37 wins last year. They may be in a position to clinch the 8-Th seed this year too. But they are slightly better this year with the pickup of David West. A healthy West and an improved Paul George can get them 37 wins this season - which is a good improvement because this is a 66 game season and not a 82 game season.

9.Milwaukee - Shaun Livingston and Mike Dunleavy make this roster interesting for completely different reasons. Shaun's injury should still be one of the worst ever and is good to see him play again. It seems like Bogut and Jennings have leveled off a little bit. If one of them steps up, they could be a playoff team.

10. Washington - I would love to be a billionaire owner of a NBA team, but I will still cry if I have to pay 20 mill a year for Rashard Lewis. Then again, I might be happy I am not doing the same to Gilbert Arenas for whom the Magic traded Lewis. 20 mill for Lewis is bad any way you look at it, but this roster gives you another reason why it's bad. A young, barren roster like this can use a leader and they have a 20 million dollar guy who is not even close to providing that on the court. Both Lewis and the Wizards will go only as far as John Wall takes them.

11. Toronto - Nothing to really get excited about. This is why the system should help teams like these retain players like Chris Bosh. This is a typical MLB type team with no light at the end of the tunnel yet.

12. Nets - The recent injury to Brook Lopez is a killer. It impacts their performance on the court and their ability to chase Dwight Howard off of it. Deron Williams is a stud. But he is going to be tired carrying these guys around. That means he might want out soon too. Also, he should be super excited to see Mehmet Okur again on his team, or not!

13. Detroit - There is nothing going on with this team right now. If you are a fan, you can pay 100 dollars for bad seats, watch mediocre NBA basketball and wonder why Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva make a combined 18 million dollars. Let me know if you have the answer after watching 33 home games because neither myself nor their GM Joe Dumars have an answer.

14. Cleveland - Last year, they showed us how important one guy can be to an entire franchise. This year, they will show us how not all number 1 picks are LeBron James. Kyrie Irving is nice, but I am not sure if a Dukie can rescue a franchise. Tough spot for the Cavaliers. At least their owner sometimes makes things interesting.

15. Charlotte - Here's another reason why David Stern's rookie age limit makes sense. If a bunch of teams like the Bobcats this year have nothing to offer except their high-priced rookie, I would rather watch a 21 year old Kemba Walker than a 19 year old Kemba Walker. Their owner, the 48 year-old MJ could walk in to their starting lineup and will probably be an upgrade to what they got.

WESTERN CONFERENCE
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1. OKC - They are the team to beat in the west. Their young, talented roster has an amazing balance and variety to it. Westbrook, Durant and Harden are ready to take it to the next level this year.

2. Dallas - The mavs never got any love from anybody and they still don't after the championship. The concern now is that they are aging and old. They are still deep and talented and I love the way they replaced Caron Butler with Lamar Odom. But they will miss Tyson Chandler and J.J.Barea. Both of them meant a lot more to the mavs than what their talent would suggest.

3. San Antonio - It seems like we have been calling them old for the last 15 years, but they still had the best record in the west last year. They did lose to an eight seed in Memphis, but that was probably the worst match-up for them. I expect them to be up there in the west again. Are they a legitimate contender? I don't think so.

4. LA Lakers - They went from adding Chris Paul to losing Lamar Odom for nothing in 2 days. They are in trouble unless they steal superman from Orlando. Metta World peace will lead a bench that lacks depth. They got Troy Murphy, which means they are searching and reaching for answers to some serious questions.

5. LA Clippers - There is so much going on with this team that people are not even talking about the addition of Caron Butler. If this guy is healthy and productive, watch out. Blake Griffin and DJ will develop faster with a PG like Chris Paul and this team will be good this year.

6. Memphis - The west is not as great as it used to be and Memphis should be very relevant in the playoff race this year even if O.J. Mayo and Tony Allen start punching each other again. Zach Randolph makes a lot of dough, but was amazing for them last year. If he stays in his shoes, this year will be no different.

7. Portland - Brandon Roy is gone. Some of their good depth has disappeared. So they are not what they used to be, but are still playoff good. It is LaMarcus Aldridge's team now and they added Jamal Crawford to the mix. I am sure Jamal will shoot them in and out of games as always.

8. Denver - They lost 3 guys to China. Wilson Chandler will be missed, but I am not so sure about J.R.smith and Kenyon Martin. Their talent and depth has to come together under George Karl to make the playoffs. I think they do.

9. Golden State - The big catch of the off-season was Kwame Brown. Not the best way to upgrade a roster, but they have some young talent in the back-court to give the faithful some hope. Mark Jackson has his work cutout with this team.

10. Houston Rockets - They have some depth. Somehow Jonny Flynn always ends up in rosters with too many PGs. The vetoed trade would have given them Pau Gason, but they have some scorers even now. They could get in the mix for the 8-Th spot.

11. Phoenix Suns - It pains my heart to put the Suns here, but they have very little outside of Steve Nash. He deserves so much respect that many ranking have the Suns ranked way higher than their roster warrants just because of him. He is great and he makes others good. But Robert Sarver has made sure even Nash can't help this roster. It's hard to get excited over the Sebastin Telfair signing the year after you let Amare walk last year. Markieff Morris is the only hope this season. Of course Vince Carter is gone. I am hoping that's some addition by subtraction.

12. Utah - Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter give hope for the future, but their present also features young talent. Out of all the rebuilding rosters that are at crossroads, Utah's has the best balance between the future and the present. Of course, that doesn't mean they will have the best future, but it does mean they may continue to win a few games today.

13. Sacramento Kings - They have a lot of young talent that they have been accumulating the last few years, but for some reason it's not all coming together - at least not yet. This should be the year things get better, but it won't. I think they need a new coach and a veteran or two to help the talent gel and grow together faster.

14. Minnesotta - This team is all about the future. Derrick Williams, Ricky Rubio and Wes Johnson gives them hope and even some excitement. And Kevin Love gives them stability and strength in the middle. Don't expect too much out of them this year, but next year might be interesting.

15. New Orleans - It's good the Commish made sure they got Eric Gordon in the CP3 trade. Otherwise, they may be scoring just 50 points a night. This roster is cheap for a new owner to buy, but will also play cheap all season.

Big, Dark, Fun Day in the Bay

The Bay Area has not had a big Monday night football game in a while like the one this week when the 10-3 steelers rolled into the stick to play the 10-3 niners. Many great things happened for the niners on a night that started with darkness all around - literally, as the stadium lost power before the kick-off and then again in the first half delaying the game both times. It was not a great advertisement for the city of SF or the stick, but the niners probably secretly liked the fact that the old stadium they are trying to get out of looked bad. Of course it doesn't really help anything with the new stadium as that's well on it's way in Santa Clara. The delayed start and the interruptions probably didn't help the 2 teams either, but I am not sure if it hurt Big Ben with his injured ankle to the point of affecting the outcome of the game. But the Niners dominated the Steelers anyways. It was a big win for the niners - a defining one this late in the season, coming off a loss to the Cardinals.

There has always been some doubt around the true elite status of the niners despite their impressive record. Unlike the other contenders in the NFC, they don't possess a great offense or a stud QB. Alex Smith's biggest critics are mostly niner fans given what they had to endure the last 7 years with him. So even the niner faithful didn't feel comfortable with the playoff prospects of this team and after the loss to Arizona last week, there was open talk of a one and done playoff date. That is why this MNF game was big, not to mention the actual impact of this win on the standings and the bye week positioning. A tradition-rich, experienced and legitimate contender was coming to town, albeit with a hobbled superstar QB. By dominating them, the niners have reestablished themselves as a worthy playoff contender. Now the fan-base is convinced they can beat anybody at home - except the Packers that is. And they can even beat most NFC teams on the road, except the Packers and may be the Saints. They needed this confidence boost. The media and the fans had to truly believe that the niners are a true contender, but it was even more important for the players and the coaches to win a game of this magnitude for some positive reinforcement.

The niners defense is truly elite. The most amazing stat of the year is not all the gaudy numbers the QBs are putting up against soft pass defenses, but the fact that the niners have not allowed a single rushing TD in 14 games. It has gotten to a point where offenses have stopped trying to rush in the red zone against them. That's respect. As good as this defense is, it's hard to imagine them bottling up a Drew Brees or an Aaron Rodgers and that's why they were expected to be one and done in the playoffs unless the offense started scoring with some consistency. The best part of the Pittsburgh game for them is the fact that the offense showed up. Alex Smith looked more comfortable making some tough throws, though he did miss a few easy ones as always. They scored twice in the red zone and that was two times more than what they usually do. Of course, things are week-to-week in this league and the niners can come crashing back to earth next week at Seattle. The seahawks are no joke at home and the niners will have trouble, but they still needed this one against the steelers.

As for the rest of the NFL, it was a bizarro weekend as the packers finally lost at Kansas City of all places and the colts finally won against the Titans. New York had a rough weekend with the giants losing at home and the jets getting crushed by Philly. The eagles are surprisingly still alive in the muddled NFC East. Oakland had a rough 1-point loss at home and if not for the end of Tebow magic against Brady and the Belichicks, they would be in a world of trouble. They still are, but there is hope for the silver and black in a division that's tightening up every Sunday. The other big news of the weekend was Drew Brees abusing another defense and virtually assuring himself of besting Dan Marino's single season passing yardage record. This is the clearest sign yet that the game has become almost too easy for the QBs and the passing game over the last several years. Marino's record stood for 27 years, but now is under serious threat from 4 QBs, all in one season - Brees (for sure now), Brady, Rodgers and even Eli Manning. If that's not enough proof, Cam Newton is threatening Peyton Manning's rookie passing yardage record and he and Andy Dalton have become the first pair of rookies ever to pass for more than 3000 yards in a season. It must be hard playing corner-back or safety in the NFL these days. Imagine having to defend a Dan Marino every other week.

Off Season Fun

Sometimes in sports you have days during the off-season when there is so much activity and excitement around trades, free agent signings and assorted discussions that you feel like you are having more fun than being in-season. Yesterday was one of those days as both baseball and basketball featured some big news around player movement. First, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim signed Albert Pujols to a 10 year 254 million dollar contract. It should be tough for Pujols to stomach just a 254 million dollar contract considering his agent was angling for 300 mill at one point! But in all seriousness, it's amazing teams are still throwing that kind of money at stars. We all thought the days of 250 million dollar contracts are over in MLB since the twice disastrous A-Rod signings. But always count on a owner or a team to go above and beyond and shock you. To be fair to Pujols, if anybody can command that rage of salary in this day and age, it's probably a generational hitter like him. With that said, I don't like this signing and the Angels will regret this sooner than later.

The Angels are a big market team with deep pockets. They just signed a 20 year TV deal with Fox sports for 3 billion showing us how these big money teams work and why they even take these risks. But I still don't like this signing. Pujols is great, and he has had phenomenal numbers since his first year with the Cardinals in 2001. He spent 11 amazingly consistent seasons in St. Louis and hit .300 with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs every single year except the last one - in 2011, he had 99 RBIs and batted .299, narrowly missing the bar. But he is suspected to be a couple of years older than his reported age and he will slow down way before the 10 years runs out on this contract. He can be a DH in the AL, but he won't be worthy of 25 mill in another 5 or 6 years. Also, the problem with baseball is, you need more than a superstar or 2 to be able to win. We see more and more "teams" winning the world series rather than individuals and stars. Yankees may be the exception to that rule, but then they can afford a team of superstars each making around 20 mill.

Of course pitching is an essential ingredient too and the Angles do have that - for now. They even signed C.J.Wilson in another big money signing yesterday. But, can one 25 million dollar hitter carry your entire lineup? If he doesn't, can you go and sign another 15 or 18 million dollar hitter? The answer here is a "no" for most teams and this is the difference between the Yankees and the others in my opinion. You probably knew the Yankees pay almost 15 mill a year to Jeter, but did you know that he was their 6-Th highest paid player in 2011? A-Rod, CC, Tex, A.J and Mo pulled a bigger paycheck than him and Posada was not far behind. I doubt if Angels can do that. That's why deals like these are too risky and bad deals for most teams. It's sure to disappoint unless everything goes perfect. I expect this deal to look bad in 2 years and downright horrible in 5. As an A's fan, it is disappointing to see both the Angels and the Rangers involved in an arms race with rumors of the Mariners jumping in for Prince Fielder. The A's may have nothing to offer next year in this division, but I don't think the Angels are all set for the future either with Pujols. Lets see if my crystal ball works.

Bad deals and big market spending splurges are common in baseball, but are not foreign to the NBA either. I have always maintained that the NBA's system is way better than MLB's and may be even the NFL's, but the league still needed a protracted lockout to tweak things. One reason for that is, the NBA just does not break the bank like the NFL does. But the owners also need to be saved from their own stupidity just like in baseball. The NBA also has a new problem. I call it the LBJ syndrome. Since LeBron James engineered an exit to Miami to play with his chosen superstar teammates, everybody is beginning to do the same. Stars - whether Albert Pujols or LeBron James, always had leverage, but the NBA stars are beginning to hand-pick exactly the town and teammates and it's getting to be ridiculous. First it was the whole LeBron saga, then Melo and Amare ended up in NY. And at least some part of the lockout was about competitive balance and parity. So I thought it was funny that the first wave of news out of the lockout was all about Chris Paul and Dwight Howard ending up in LA with the Lakers. So much for NBA parity and change.

And then the trade for Chris Paul apparently happens with Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol ending up in different towns. That's when something even more bizarre happened. The commish vetoed the trade. This totally opened up a can of worms to say the least. Everybody has an opinion on this and it's going in all directions. The only reason the league could step in is because they technically own the Hornets in a strange arrangement. So the other owners all own a piece of this franchise and when they objected, the commish (over) reacted. To me, there are only 2 issues with the veto. If all the owners collectively own the Hornets, are the Hornets supposed to do whats best for the Hornets or whats best for all the owners? If the owners want to do whats best for all of them and if they think not sending CP3 to the Lakers is good for them, then do it by all means. But to me, it feels like the only way to manage this setup is to let the Hornets operate independently and do whats good for that team. Believe me, this trade was not bad at all for the Hornets. If the owners should have vetoed any trade involving the Lakers, it was the Pau Gasol one with Memphis a few years back.


This trade was fair for all the parties, In fact, I have seen many "best back-courts ever" fail miserably and the Lakers acquiring it at the cost of Gasol and a lot of size is neither here nor there. Of course, these days we all have a soft-corner for new super-teams because they can probably keep the original super-team - the hated Miami Heat away from winning it all. The Paul trade in and of itself didn't scare me all that much. But the Lakers were also just setting up to go after Dwight Howard and that would have been a scary super-team down the road. The owners were hot and bothered about the rich getting richer, but the Lakers in this case are just able to get Paul because they know he will re-sign there and hence can afford the risk of renting him in his free agent year. There's no way to prevent it when they are a storied franchise in a big market with a lot of money and Kobe Bryant. Life is always going to be unfair. I don't mind the owners trying to make it as fair as they can, but they over-reacted in this case coming out of a contentious lockout. The bigger problem here is the LBJ syndrome like I said - Dwight Howard is now saying he wants to be traded to the Nets. You can try to solve it with systemic changes, which I hope they did with the new CBA. But they can't eliminate it right away and they can't do it right here, right now when the LBJ syndrome is at it's peak. And they definitely shouldn't use their flawed arrangement with the Hornets to try and accomplish that.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

"Friday Night Lights" is a critically acclaimed sports movie, TV series and originally a book. One of the best lines from it is "clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose". I am constantly reminded of it when I watch Tim Tebow. He has been THE story of this NFL season since he started playing and it just keeps getting better for him and the Broncos. His record is 6-1 and today at Minnesota, he even demonstrated his passing skills. Another game on the road, another late-game thriller, another comeback performance and another win. Tebow sure seems to have clear eyes - he rarely throws interceptions and this may not be the most complicated or sexiest explanation, but his low turnover number is one of the main reasons behind Denver's success. We know he has a full heart. Actually he is all heart, toughness and grit. Also, his heart is probably filled with Jesus too. Tebow seems like a really well-behaved kid committed to his faith. And of course he sure can't lose right now. Denver right now is convinced that there is no way they can lose a football game and I don't blame them.

I have no dog in this fight, but I still can't look away. That's the power of this Tim Tebow story. I am not a Denver fan. As a matter of fact, I have not liked them all that much since the day they kicked Jake Plummer - my favorite Sun Devil, out of town. I know that a lot of people are Tebow fans and want to see him succeed just because of his (and their) religious faith. But I am not religious like him and hence that's not an endearing factor for me. I do like him because he seems like a decent, well-behaved and humble human being, but his journey this season is fascinating to follow regardless of your affiliations. On the one hand, you have people who think he is God's gift to football who can win any game just with his intangibles and on the other hand, you have football experts who say he can't throw the ball to save his life. And Tebow is constantly proving both sides right! He is winning in unconventional ways and when you are quarterbacking a team to a 6-1 record after taking over at 1-4, it can't all be an accident or a lucky coincidence. He deserves more than some credit.

It almost feels disappointing if he has a good game and they win like he did today. It's a much better story if he wins while just completing 2 passes or throwing for just 60 yards or something crazy like that. He seems to be winning in all these different ways and has the Broncos leading the division. A team that at one point was the worst team in the division is now tied with the Raiders and is leading via the tie-breaker. That division has completely flipped in 12 games with Denver on top and San Diego at the bottom. The Raiders had an embarrassing loss today at Miami. With most of Oakland's talented offensive play-makers hurt, and with their trip to Lambeau coming up, this may become Tebow's division to lose. Raiders are a better team - especially on offense, but Carson Palmer is definitely missing his speedy receivers and they need Darren McFadden back. Plus Denver's schedule is slightly easier than Oakland's. Raiders are officially in a dog fight and their home losses to Kansas City and Denver may come back to bite them.

At the end of the day, AFC West will be won by the team that has clear eyes, full hearts that refuses to lose.

HarBowl

All the talk in the NFL right now is about the HarBowl on Thanksgiving night. The niners are playing the Ravens and the Harbaugh brothers are (head) coaching against each other for the first time. NFL put this game on Thursday night for this storyline, but now this contest is also a premier game of the week since the niners are much better than expected under Jim. Not only are they good, they actually have a better record than the Ravens at 9-1. The Ravens are still the favorites here since the game is at Baltimore and since the jury is still out on the niners. San Francisco's defense is definitely great, but their offense - especially the passing game is still shaky. The Ravens are inconsistent themselves, but their offensive talent is a little more legit than the niners. If the niners win this game on a short week, we better put them in the contender circle for good. They are not Packers yet - no team is. But this game can establish them firmly in the second tier with the other good teams. They will still not have a Drew Brees or Tom Brady playing QB for them, but they may have the best defense in a league without many dominant defenses this season and that should count for something. This game should be a great night-cap on Thanksgiving.

The day games feature the usual dates in Dallas and Detroit, but Detroit is good this year for a change. This makes the turkey day games really interesting as all 6 teams involved won last week. Of course, Dallas should still win against Miami easily, but the Dolphins have been playing way better lately. Undefeated Green Bay is going into Detroit and that should be a good one. Nobody will be surprised if the Packers lose as Detroit will be up and ready for this one against their division rival. Detroit had a great game last weekend and they might have even found a running game in Kevin Smith. The NFC north has some of the best arms in the league with Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers and the now injured Jay Cutler. This game should feature a lot of bombs from both QBs and should be a lot of fun. The Bears were playing really well too and it's too bad Cutler is hurt. Denver released Kyle Orton - a former Chicago Bear, today. It's a smart move. They are hoping Chicago will pick him up and pay the rest of his salary saving Denver some cash. John Elway decided to cut Orton, but is still refusing to completely endorse Tim Tebow. Elway seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place.

In college, USC beat Oregon by a field goal to put the BCS in a high-speed spin cycle. Now the top 3 teams are all from the SEC and the prospect of a Alabama-LSU rematch looms large. Arkansas is third and they play LSU next. Things will get really interesting and confusing if Arkansas upsets LSU and Alabama wins the iron bowl against Auburn. In that case, Arkansas has to be ahead of LSU and LSU beat Alabama. But Alabama can't drop from 2 to 3 after a win against Auburn. Also Alabama has already beaten Arkansas. This means Alabama will jump to 1, Arkansas 2 and LSU 3. This is not because that's how they rank on the field, but because that's the ranking that looks the least stupid. If this is not an argument for a playoffs, nothing else can be. I am not a BCS hater. In a non-playoff world, BCS is a decent effort to implement a system, but it just doesn't work because it's dealing with a problem that is intractable. So you need a playoff and you need to decide all this on the field. But I have to add that I do see the argument that playoffs will dilute the value of these weekly games. If there was a playoffs down the road, I will not care all that much about the LSU-Arkansas match-up this weekend. The fact that this game can eliminate LSU does adds a lot of juice to the contest and that's not a bad thing. But that juice is not worth all the squeeze and we need the playoffs in College football, period.

It just takes 2 to win

There are many interesting stories from the sports weekend, but none more fascinating than what happened in the Denver Broncos game at Kansas City. Tim Tebow won a game as the starting quarterback by completing just 2 passes out of 8 attempts. You heard that right and that has never happened in the history of the league. A professional quarterback won a NFL game by completing just 2 passes the entire game. Sure, one of that was for a 56 yard TD, but how do you win a game completing just 2 passes? May be Tebow does have God on his side. May be he has good karma going for him since he seems like a decent human being. Of course it helps the Chiefs just threw for 140 yards themselves and it took 2 QBs to accomplish that as Matt Cassel might be out for the season with an injury. But seriously, even I am beginning to believe in some of that Tebow magic and the supposed intangibles he brings to the table - the "it" factor. That's the only way to explain the stats behind this win. That and the fact that Denver has suddenly become a top-tier rushing offense. They rushed for over 244 yards and Tebow himself ran effectively as always. They have changed their offense to suit Tebow and are now 3-1 with him as the starting QB. He still doesn't look like a NFL quality QB, but does he have to if can beat teams with 2 completions?

Speaking of elite QBs, tonight on MNF, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers dismantled the Vikings as expected to go 9-0. The Packers offense looks as smooth as a hot knife through soft butter and there is no stopping them - at least not yet, definitely not tonight. I didn't expect this game to be competitive and didn't even care to watch it closely and the Packers proved me right. Rodgers is going to shred some records this season and the only question is, which ones. The weather is going to get worse soon on the East coast in general and in Green Bay in particular, but I don't think it's going to matter a whole lot with this offense. They are the exact opposite of the Denver Broncos right now. The Packers don't run the ball all that well, but they don't seem to have any need to. The Niners surprisingly own the second best record in the league after beating the Giants on Sunday. The jury is still out on how elite the Niners are despite their 8-1 record, but they do have a good defense and might end up with a bye week in the playoffs and just one more home win in the playoffs might take them to Lambeau field in January for a NFC championship game. Can Jim Harbaugh and the Niners cash this season in for a date with the Packers deep in the playoffs? This is going to be a very interesting question the rest of the way in the NFC.

In the AFC, the Patriots beat the Jets to shut Rex Ryan up possibly for good this season. They are 5-4 and are not a horrible 3-6 like the "Dream Team" Eagles, but they are looking up at too many teams and may not make it to the big dance if Mark Sanchez keeps playing like this. Their defense is definitely overrated. The AFC is a little messy right now. Ravens seem to be able to beat only the Steelers and the Steelers look great except when they play the Ravens. Patriots had fallen off from their pedestal only to bounce back against the Jets. All this led to some talk about the Houston Texans possibly being the best team in the AFC. Too bad that this talk was followed by the news that Matt Schaub may be done for the season. It seems like the Texans and Schaub are some kind of jinxed. We have been waiting for them to bust out and it seems like they may not make it even this year unless Matt Leinart plays halfway decent. We will find out next week. With the NBA staring at a "nuclear winter", we have to start focusing on college basketball way before March to keep us occupied between the NFL games. Glad there is Thursday night football the rest of the way. Speaking of college, Stanford lost to Oregon in football and that pretty much ends their and Luck's BCS aspirations. Boise State lost as well and we may end up with another LSU-Alabama game for the championship. Nobody wants it, but we might just get it.

Action is always better than inaction

The dust is slowly settling down on the sad and disturbing sex scandal at Penn State University. The scandal has erased the 46 year coaching career of Joe Paterno in a matter of days. There are several lessons in this sordid saga, but if there is one takeaway from Joe Pa's firing, it is that action is always better than inaction, especially when the aforementioned action can prevent some bad things from happening to innocent people. The disgusting part of this story and what got Joe Pa fired is how little people did to help the helpless kids and how easily and for how long Jerry Sandusky got away with some of the gravest crimes you could think of. If you read the grand jury report, you see how many people - big and small, were made aware of the sexual abuse over many years and they all did next to nothing. Given his power and influence, Joe Pa had to be fired for not having done more to stop this pedophile.

All the people who saw Sandusky do those despicable things should be ashamed of themselves for not reacting the way they should have. Not acting or reporting Sandusky to the authorities not only let him off the hook that one time and hurt that one kid, but it probably gave him more confidence and encouragement to continue perpetrating his crimes. He then begins to think, "people have seen me do these horrible things right here in the Penn State locker room and I am still not in jail, let alone not yet killed or even punched in the face!" So his fear and shame reduces and he continues to do more of the same. These guys basically empowered a pedophile. This is why we should always act when we can stop something bad. Always act when we can do something good. Inaction only makes bad things worse and worse things vile. It is somewhat sad to see Joe Pa go out this way after all these years. It's never fun to see a legend fall like that. But he had to go because he failed to do all he could to protect the kids.

Speaking of vile, Google's example for the usage of the word is "as vile a rogue as ever lived". They should put Jerry Sandusky's face next to it. It is indeed the best description of him. It is pretty obvious from the grand jury report that this guy had a method and a scheme for meeting, befriending and abusing kids and he deployed this pattern repeatedly. He used Penn State's football program and his access to it's resources as an effective tool in the process. This is why Penn State looks really bad. Even if Penn state was not aware of a lot of the details, they had enough to treat him as a "suspect" since 1998 and they still didn't do anything and let kids get assaulted right under their nose for many years. What were they waiting for? There is no conceivable answer to this question and that's exactly why everybody from Joe Pa to the President of the university have been fired.

As if this scandal is not dirty enough, the fact that Sandusky used a charitable foundation for kids called The Second Mile to meet and recruit his victims makes me sick to my stomach. That's just messed up. And the story can apparently get even worse if you believe all the ugly rumors floating around and I don't even want to go there. It's easy to sit on our couch and judge everybody from Joe Pa to Mike McQueary to the AD and the president. But if we find ourselves in such situations, I hope we all do the right thing. Lets use this scandal to reinforce the value of positive action, integrity and strength of character. There are no substitutes for these. Sometimes in life, silence and walking away may appear like the easy way out, but abdicating our responsibility never works. It only leads to more problems and headaches down the road, not to mention that you shouldn't be able to walk away with a clear conscience in the first place. Untimely silence will even get you fired for a crime you didn't commit and Joe Pa can attest to that.

Game of the century was mising a QB

The highlight of the sports weekend was supposed to be the LSU-Alabama college football game. ESPN has been hyping it for over 2 weeks and even called it the game of the century - partly in jest, but they were also semi-serious. The game itself was not bad. It was close as LSU won it 9-6 in overtime. That's 15 points total from 2 teams and they needed OT to do that. I understand the defenses are good, but the offenses were horrible. For all their greatness, these 2 SEC teams have no offense or a QB worth looking at. It's ironic that this game comes a couple of week after the 49ers defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois said that Stanford QB Andrew Luck's stock would drop if he played against a SEC defense. He may be right, but how can SEC teams dominate their league without any decent QB? Also, how great are these SEC defenses anyways if the quality of the QBs they are facing, at least this year, is so bad?

The somewhat unfortunate truth is that defense wins championships and a SEC team may very well win the BCS championship this year too, propelled by the athletes playing defense. But they need a good QB and a decent offense to test them out. That's not happening in-conference this year and it definitely didn't happen in that game last Saturday. Now the national focus moves to the Bay Area as Stanford is hosting Oregon this weekend in their toughest test of the year. If they win, they stay undefeated and move closer to a BCS championship appearance for Andrew Luck. Oklahoma state is undefeated too, but the conventional wisdom says that they will eventually lose to Oklahoma, though that game is at home. Let's see if Luck pulls it off against the speedy ducks and get us all closer to a SEC-Pac 12, offense-defense culture clash for the championship.

In the NFL, interesting unpredictability continued. This is one of the main reasons for NFL's popularity - upsets like the Saints losing to the Rams last week. Parity results in weird results sometimes and this week was no different. The real head scratchers were Denver's win at Oakland, Miami embarrassing Kansas City and to some extent, Chicago beating Philly tonight. The Eagles and the Bears are not that far apart talent-wise, but after last week's demolition of the Cowboys, people were ready to re-anoint the Eagles as the Dream team. So it was pretty impressive that the Bears went into Philadelphia and took all that momentum away. Both Jay Cutler and Matt Forte are playing very well right now. As for the Eagles, they are done. They may have to go 7-1 or something to have a shot at the playoffs. Doable, but not practical because they are already 3 games behind a good Giants team for the Division and 3 games behind a good Lions team for the wild card.

Just when the entire NFL was ready to kick Tim Tebow out of the league, the Broncos beat the Raiders on the road and ran all over them. Tebow didn't pass great, but he ran very well and also threw for 2 TDs against a Raiders defense that played extraordinarily bad. They let some of Tebow's receivers roam around wide-open in those TD drives and they could not stop either Tebow or Willis McGghee on the ground. They didn't just give up 8 or 10 yards every play, they seemed to get gashed for 20 to 60 yards a pop in that second half. The only explanation I can come up with is, the Raiders disrespected Tebow's passing prowess so much that they put 8 or 9 guys around the line of scrimmage and that actually hurt them. It made things easy for the Broncos receivers and the running game found huge, open lanes if they got past the first level of defense around the line, which they seemed to do repeatedly in that second half.

Tough game for Carson Palmer who made some good throws and looked decent. I am sure the media would have been very high on his performance if he had won because he had impressive numbers - more than 300 yards and 3 TDs. But without that win, his 3 interceptions stand out. Good for Oakland that both Kansas City and San Diego lost too. They have to regroup in 3 days and play the Chargers to open the Thursday night schedule. I was also slightly surprised at the NY teams winning on the road. The Jets won at Buffalo and Giants won at New England in a game that resembled their Super Bowl contest from a few years back. Joe Flacco led the Ravens to an impressive road win at Pittsburgh to stop some of their momentum. That division is heating up. With all that said, the biggest news in sports right now is also it's ugliest. The sex abuse scandal at Penn state is shocking and lets wait for more details before making judgments.