League and Cup Double STILL on!

Forest on penalties!

Sing the song!

Drink the drink!

'It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory and in creative action that man finds his supreme joys'

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Wonderful Stuff

Play and enjoy. This is genius at work.

Weekend Round Up

A P47, which is loads better than a P45. Read on for relevance.

Notre Dame lost to USC, so that's the National Championship done for this year. But as NDCHOOCHOO points out, it may be something to do with Coach Weis' preference in holiday destinations...having said that, if ND gets to the Tournament of Roses then a win would be a very good thing to build on for next season.

England and Wales were beaten (by South Africa and New Zealand respectively) at buggery and rumour has it that England coach Andy Robinson will be getting the old heave ho tin tack P45 treatment sometime this week, presumably to be replaced by some blazer with no discernible neck looking at getting into the after dinner speaking circuit at some point.

One of these two will be the next England Rugby Union head coach.

The Redcoats lost their last game of EFLXI (4-8 for the season), Bristol City drew 0-0 at Swansea and the Raiders lost so that's 0-1-3 for the weekend.

Manyoo and Chelsea drew 1-1 in a highly entertaining game where Louis Saha atoned for his misses last week with a finely taken goal and the Portuguese slaphead who got his testes in a tangle with Wayne Rooney's boot during the summer scored Chelski's equaliser.

Oi ref! What a load of bollocks!

In America, some teams won, others lost and a highly talented (and highly paid) athlete got a bit upset with some of the locals even though it was the fella below they should have given some stick to:

Roddy White: couldn't catch the clap in a whorehouse. Move to Oakland imminent.

But here's a story that I'll keep tabs on: the Alabama job is open once more as Mike Shula (son of) got the old heave ho tin tack P45 treatment after leading the Crimson Tide to a less than stellar 6-6 season in the SEC. Early rumours suggest Nick Saban (currently HC of the Dauphins) might be the next in line to fail to live up to the legacy of the man in the pink safari jacket?

There were always rumours of Democrat sympathies...

Good luck to whoever gets the gig, here's some advice for them: recruit a decent field goal kicker and don't try to be The Bear or else you'll end up like this:

'I had a health checkup. The doctor said everybody ought to take a day off and do nothing.
That'd drive me crazy.'

Boss Tunes of the Moment:

'My Baby's She's Gone' by Sammy Wilson & The Del Larks
'I'm So Glad You're My Baby' by Johnny Nash
'Don't You Know She's Alright' by The Bell Brothers

Far Too Much Going On

I need more TV sets.

Here's the situation this weekend: I'm not too interested in watching the England v South Africa rugby union game this afternoon, which means I can watch ESPN College Game Day (which for some reason has returned to NASN) but then comes the first conflict of the day: Wales v New Zealand or Florida v FSU?

As the Florida derby is actually for something (Arkansas lost to LSU last night and a Florida win would give them a psychological advantage going into the SEC championship game on 2nd December), then I'm tempted to go with that. There may be a lot of switching around though.

It gets even messier tomorrow. City are at Swansea (easy - radio and mobile phone), although if this happens again I won't be very happy at all.


Total and utter humiliation.

I don't care if Tinman made a balls of his time as a manager down here. He should still be regarded as a legend.

Anyway, here's the Sunday lineup:

8:30am USC v Notre Dame (the other option is to watch it live...KO 1:00am)
1:00pm Swansea v Bristol City
4:00pm Manyoo v Chelsea
6:00pm Saints v Falcons, Bears at Patriots plus another couple of games on the Sky interactive service.

Far, far easier to digest.

Both USC/Notre Dame and Manyoo/Chelsea are huge games as they should in theory provide clues to the outcomes of both the College Football and Premiership championships this season, although obviously the stakes are far higher in Los Angeles this weekend as it's the end of the season rather than the middle of it. I'd love to be able to give you some analysis but as time is precious this weekend I'm going to have no shame in linking to the outstanding Notre Dame blog The Blue Gray Sky.

Madame Zaza will be contributing something tomorrow around lunchtime, but I'm going to sign off today with Knute Rockne.


'On the road we're somebody else's guests - and we play in a way that they're not going to forget we visited them.'

Go Irish!

Turkey Day

Right then, it's the third Thursday in November, which means I make an absolute ton of booze laced food and watch NFL. Despite what a lot of Brits say, we do actually celebrate Thanksgiving here, although it's far less important than in Canada and the USA. Over here, it's a celebration of the end of the harvesting season, would normally be on the Sunday nearest to the harvest moon in September and involves food. It's that tradition that the Pilgrims took with them when all the non-conformists were booted out of Blighty and landed up in the USA.

I started off cooking Thanksgiving Dinner for Cath and I about three or four years ago as a laugh - if I cooked, she'd let me watch the games. It's now an annual event - I like think of it as the official beginning of the countdown to Christmas. I know when it's Christmas when this starts happening:

The N**l Edm*nds free version. Thank fuck for that.

But anyway, it's not Christmas yet so here's a quick look at the three games taking place later on.

Miami (4-6) at Detroit (2-8)

The Dolphins are on a three game winning streak and you just know that Joey Harrington would love to put one over his previous employers, who couldn't beat the skin off a rice pudding right now. After having posted a picture of Scott Mitchell and footage of Jon Kitna (who I've just traded for) being pounded, here's a picture of the most literate Lion quarterback ever: the late George Plimpton.

Do yourself a favour: get a copy of Paper Lion. Even non-football fans will enjoy it.

Tampa Bay at Dallas

Oh please please can the Buccs play in throwback uniforms? I'd love to see Chucky surrounded by one of the true manifestations of sporting awfulness.

Doug Williams a few years before 'The Quarter'

According to all sorts of rumours doing the rounds (most significantly from profootballtalk.com), this could be Chucky's last season in Florida. Apparently the Cardinals are interested and the lad himself may have made some overtures to the Steelers on the QT.

PFT's comment on him echoes what no less a source than (ahem) myself said a couple of weeks ago:

'The problem, of course, is that Gruden's star has fallen a bit over the past few years. No longer regarded as a hot-blooded up-and-comer, Gruden is now merely a grumpy middle-aged man with a mouth like a sh-t-sprayed sewer.'

Dallas by 14.

Denver at Kansas City

A game too far for me, which means I'll watch it tomorrow. I'll go with the Donkeys, even though late breaking news on ESPN Radio this afternoon strongly suggests that former Vanderbilt QB Jay Cutler will be starting tonight instead of 'Even' Jake Plummer, who is now most definitely Second Hand Rose.

Anyway, food doesn't cook itself and beer doesn't drink itself, so I'm off. Enjoy.

Madame Zaza Predicts Part I

'...because to be brutally honest, United fannied about for most of the evening expecting a draw.'

Yep, I wrote that last night before the game. Once again, my psychic powers were proven correct: that's exactly what happened in Glasgow last night as Manyoo crashed to a 1-0 defeat by a Shunsuke Nakamura free kick with about ten minutes left.

Is it me or is that shirt too big?

I like a good cliche, so here's one. Louis Saha was 'left to rue' a missed sitter and a missed penalty that would have at least drawn the game, but Manyoo seem to want to qualify the hard way. To make matters even more tense ahead of the Benfica game on December 6th, it means that Celtic qualfied for the last sixteen in the Champions League for the first time - although it is not the first time they've qualified for the last sixteen in the European Cup*. I don't know how many times that's happened, but seeing as though they won it in 1967 and reached the final in 1970 it has to be at least twice. Best of luck to them.

Billy McNeil proving Nicky Campbell wrong almost 40 years ago.

The Arse beat Hamburglar 3-1. As I write this, Liverpool are drawing with PSV Eindhoven and Chelsea are losing to Werder Bremen (snort, giggle etc.)

* So there, Radio 5.

Bubba Hog Tuesday

Bubba Hog, Arkansas...errr...cheerleader.

OK, some big European Cup games tonight. Arsenal need to beat Hamburger SV and I hope they do so. The club that gave the world Uwe Seeler also made a pact with the devil in the last century: here's the proof.

The Anti Christ in action v Liverpool when they were good. Possibly the twentieth century?

Right, on to the proper stuff. It's Manyoo v Celtic in about half an hour and that should be an experience. Manyoo are three points ahead in Group F but a Celtic win plus an 'interesting' result in Lisbon could change the entire shape of the group. Celtic are unbeaten at home in the group, haven't conceded a goal yet and are currently FIFTEEN points ahead of Rangers in the SPL, but that's probably because Celtic aren't either (a) totally dysfunctional or (b) terrible at football like the rest of the teams up there.

United have split their away games in the group, both performances can hardly be described as classics. Benfica should have beaten them in Lisbon but had about three meaningful attacks that were snuffed out and FC Copenhagen beat them because to be brutally honest, United fannied about for most of the evening expecting a draw.

I don't think that's going to be the case tonight, purely and simply because the atmosphere is going to be amazing...although that bloody song is a pain in the neck, so when you hit the play button below, turn the volume down or put your hands over your ears or something.



Priceless? I'll give you priceless.

I could tell you a story about this - and I will one day - but the TV coverage is about to start, so I'll leave you with one of the greatest finishes to a match I've ever seen.


Sometimes words are totally inadequate.

It's Sunday!

Handle with care.

It's cold enough to keep beer in the garden.

Yesterday I did say 'if' Michigan beat OSU and I picked OSU, so it should be no surprise that OSU won by three points (42-39 - the most points since 1902, when Michigan won 86-0), which indicates that it was a lot closer than I actually felt it was. The Buckeyes twice had convincing leads and might have put the game away earlier if Troy Smith hadn't committed a couple of turnovers.

Anyone got Matt Leinart's phone number?

I can't remember which one of the ABC/ESPN commentary team (Brent Musberger, Bob Davie and Kirk Herbstreit) was raving about Smith being a first round draft pick now, but it strikes me that this is an extremely premature assessment. There's no doubting that he has the ability, but as I mentioned above, he will need work on handling pressure situations and there are accuracy and consistency issues. He was outstanding in the first half of the game, but dropped off dramatically in the second.

I'll probably comment on the National Championship Game when we know who the other team is , but for now it's worth looking closely at OSU's schedule. Michigan were 11-0 going into yesterday's game and despite losing, they scored the most points against OSU this season - which shouldn't come as a huge surprise, because since beating Penn State on September 23rd, the combined record of OSU's opponents is 42-53. Only Northern Illinois (6-5) and Iowa (6-6) had scored more than ten points against OSU this season.

One of the current favourites to meet them - USC* - has arguably had tougher opponents. They've played teams with a combined 48-40 record, which includes a 50-14 away win over Arkansas, the new champions of the SEC West. USC faces 10-1 Notre Dame next weekend, so see if you can guess what I might be writing about this week.

In other news...Cal lost to USC (23-9), Virginia Tech beat Wake Forest 27-6 and Boston College beat Maryland 38-16, which included a couple of defensive TDs from Jolonn Dunbar. Auburn won the Iron Bowl, Princeton shared the Ivy League title with Yale and Jim Beam Black Label is the real deal. Oh yeah, Rutgers lost as well.

But today is Sunday and here come the big boys. In a break with tradition that's lasted all of two months, I'm not going to bore anyone with my rubbish picks but take a look at the opposite ends of the spectrum in the NFL.

There are some big games this weekend involving teams in the 'if the play offs began today' scenario. Well, the playoffs don't actually begin until January but we may know more about who will be in them at the end of this week, because six teams will also be playing on Thanksgiving Day: so I'm going to start with the three that are currently in the best positions for post season play.

Dallas (5-4) has two home games, against the 9-0 Colts on Sunday and 2-7 The Chucky All Stars on Thursday. It's tempting to say 1-1 here, but there may be an upset waiting in the wings. Both the Cowboys and Indy are top ten offensive teams, but Dallas' defense is much better than the Colts. If Dallas DC Mike Zimmer can stop Peyton Manning and Joseph Addai, Indy might find themselves 9-1 tomorrow morning. Having said that, I wrote something similar a couple of weeks ago when Indy lost to New England - and Tony Romo isn't exactly Tom Brady.

Denver and Kansas have two games that will go a long way to deciding the destination of the AFC West crown (which won't be Oakland again). In MSK's Game Of The Week the Donkeys visit San Diego in the late game today while KC 'entertain' the Raiders; on Thursday night (well, very early on Friday on this side of the Atlantic) the Chiefs and the Broncos play each other. Even though I've got Friday off, I'll probably be too stuffed with turkey and booze to watch a game that kicks off at 1:00am over here.

There are also a number of interconference games that could provide a sneak preview of the Superbowl, but when you look at the games themselves it's doubtful. I've already mentioned Indianapolis at Dallas, but there's also Atlanta (5-4) at Baltimore (7-2), the Bears (8-1) at the Jets (5-4) and Jacksonville (5-4) at the Giants (6-3). (Note to self: a Ravens/Bears Superbowl perhaps? Or - using the 'defense wins championships' theory - possibly Jaguars/Bears?)

At the other end of the food chain, we have Buffalo (3-6) at Houston (3-6), Minnesota (4-5) at Miami (3-6), Pittsburgh (3-6) at Cleveland (3-6), Washington (3-6) at Tampa Bay (2-7) and Detroit (2-7) at Arizona (1-8). Why the Steelers have crashed and burned this year I've no idea (although there's a clue in the Arizona preview below and there's a blog here that might help) and the Buccs are 2-7 because Chucky is useless.

Chucky apparently discussing the situation in Tampa with Rupert Murdoch

I don't particularly care about most of the other teams in that list apart from Detroit for musical reasons, Cleveland for reasons I'll go into another day and Arizona, because I've been on a Southwestern Airlines plane that had the Cardinals livery on it plus it's a spectacular place and the people are nice. 'kin HOT though, but seeing as though there's a lot of desert it shouldn't be a surprise.

The Cardinals plane (left) at McCarren Airport in Las Vegas. Imagine how hot the tarmac must be.

So this week's special preview is Detroit at Arizona, sponsored by Sisyphus.

Sisyphus: a problem with red zone fumbles.

Detroit is 0-4 away from home; the Cardinals are 1-4 at home and both teams are 1-6 against the rest of the NFC. Arizona is on an eight game losing streak having not won since the first week of the season whereas the Lions have actually won two of their last four, so they can at least remember what it feels like.

However, scratch a bit further and something immediately becomes apparent. Up to and including Week 10, offensively, the Lions aren't that awful in some categories: they have average more yards per game than the Seahawks and are third in the NFC in average yards per play but they've let themselves down with penalties, fumbles and turnovers - see below for how this can ruin your season. Kudos to Jon Kitna and Roy Williams, who are in the top five in the league in passing and receiving yards respectively as well as competing with each other to see who can have the shortest hair.



Scenario: first play of the second half, the Lions are down by ten. The fumble is recovered by Marques Douglas of the 49ers; Coach Marinelli (Detroit) challenges the call and loses a time out. San Francisco gets another three points from the following FG. If you look at it again, it's likely that Kevin Jones (blue 34) didn't see Shawntae Spencer blitzing when Jones was running his check flare route.

Arizona are just plain awful when they have the ball. I won't bore you with all the stats as all you probably need to know is that Edgerrin James is averaging 2.9 yards per game and they currently jointly 'lead' the league in fumbles with the Steelers (20) although the Cardinals have lost 66% of theirs. Crikey! Some perspective here: the NFC average is 50% fumbles lost and Atlanta has the best record (28%).

Defensively both teams are dreadful. Arizona are one of five teams that are giving up over 300 yards per game (and the Jets are in there too, which doesn't bode well for them today) which is emphasised by the fact that three of their top four tacklers right now are defensive backs. The Lions have some experience of this; safeties Josh Bullocks and Terrance Holt are getting plenty of tackling practice.

I'll not only take Detroit, but I'll also give them a nice write up before Thursday, when they play Miami and face their former quarterback Joey Harrington. It could be a spectacular game.

Here's the MSK Stat of The Week: the Redskins have two interceptions for the ENTIRE SEASON. Rashean Mathis of Jacksonville already has six. No doubt Daniel Snyder is reaching for his cheque book already.

The stat it narrowly beat: the Patriots haven't visited Green Bay since 1979.

Right, I'm off. European Cup this week, so there's a strong possibility of some 'other' football getting a rare mention.

* USC = University of Southern California.

Honest guv'nor, I AM British...

...although anyone randomly stumbling across this blog might think that I wasn't. All I can say is tune in around February time and ask the same question then because it won't be college 'hoops' and 'base-ball' that will be on here.

Off we go.

The long awaited game between the top ranked Division 1 teams that takes place later today is already one of those contests that may become legendary; if #2 Michigan beat #1 Ohio State, it'll probably become some sort of eulogy for their former coach, Bo Schembechler, who died on Friday.

Before going any further, I'd like to point you in a couple of directions: this piece by a Michigan fan is one of the best written things I think I've ever read about sport generally, especially the section that ends the first paragraph that begins '...somewhere, years from now...' which reminds me a little bit of the 'shovellin' shit in Louisiana' part of the speech given by George C. Scott at the beginning of Patton.

This is the real General Patton.

The second is the somewhat less than serious Tressel's World, which is...well, go and see for yourself. It's probably Not Safe For Work though, but not in a naked ladies doing rude things way ;-)

Michigan at Ohio State isn't the only big game today though. California visits USC, Virginia Tech...

'What's her name...Virginia Tech...'

...meet Wake Forest and the Terrapins of Maryland play Boston College in the ACC. I could say something rude about BC but I'm not going to ;-)

Then there's the Iron Bowl, which is what I thought I was going to be watching tonight until NASN switched to Michigan/Ohio State.

I had everything lined up for the Iron Bowl. Most of the stuff that I'll be using to cook next week is here, but that included two bottles of bourbon (Jim Beam Black Label for drinking and Smokey Jim's for cooking, although their primary roles may be interchangeable) , some Extreme Chili Heatwave Doritos and a dozen cans of Budweiser (for clearing the palette). Don't get me wrong, I wasn't planning to consume all of that while watching Auburn v Alabama, but I was going to do some 'testing', especially as one of the online Jim Beam Black Label reviews describes it as having 'vicious chargrill and chewing tobacco overtones' which sounds perfect for watching SEC football.

Well, I've already made a reference to General Patton, so here's Bear Bryant speaking after the Crimson Tide had won their first national championship back in 1961.


No comment needed.

Which leaves me with one thing left to do: who's going to win in Columbus, OH today?

The last time I picked a team from Michigan to win anything (the Detroit Tigers in the World Series) I got that wrong and the Detroit Lions seem to be winning despite me picking them to lose recently. In the spirit of getting things arse backwards, I'll go with THE Ohio State University, but I'll finish today with some incredible footage of The Contours (from Detroit, MI) singing and dancing through 'It Must Be Love' during the 1963 Motortown review: OSU might have produced some great football teams and players, but Michigan beats them hands down for soul...

Ladies and gentlemen, watch the feet. This is how it should be done.

A Sad Day For All Sorts Of Football

Puskas Ferenc April 2nd 1927 - November 17th 2006

Bo Schembechler April 1st 1929 - November 17th 2006

Here's a tribute (in Spanish) that I found on youtube, about a minute in comes the goal that Puskas will be remembered for in England.



Here's what Coach Schembechler will be remembered for. The ball starts on the 19 yard line: count the passing plays.

Bears...by 18

A happy bear.

Why don't I take my own advice?

League and Cup Double Still On

Bristol City vault to the top of this post, purely and simple because The Double is still on - the rare combination of the Division 3 title and the Johnstone's Paint trophy. Oh yeah, City are still in the FA Cup too, having beaten York City in Round 1. We've now got a home draw with Gillingham in Round 2...and if we win that one, there will definitely be a special post on the magic of The Third Round (TM).

BTW, this post would have looked a lot better in it's original version, but some strange this happened when I was composing it so some good images and videos are missing. I don't know if this is something to do with the new version of the software and templates that this site is promoting, but it's buggered up what I'd planned and I'm not hugely happy...

In other sports news, a really terrible England team were beaten by Argentina at Buggery yesterday (Wales won though!), the Redcoats lost to Bama Beavers (therefore ending any interest in EFLXI), Notre Dame beat the US Airforce and Princeton beat Yale in what sounds like an excellent game.

So here's the NFL preview for this week. I'm afraid you'll just have to use your imagination.


Someone must win:

San Francisco (3-5) at Detroit (2-6)

Breaking news on Friday night: Bill Walsh has leukaemia. It's premature to eulogise, but I like quote from the man himself: 'I'm positive, but not evangelistic.' In the off season, I'll try to explain the impact that Coach Walsh has had on football but suffice to say, I spent a year trying to find a copy of 'Finding The Winning Edge' and when I got one (via eBay, from Sacramento), it was a signed copy. When Cath and I visited Candlestick on our honeymoon, we sat in the endzone where Dwight Clark made 'The Catch'.

This is the only game between two teams with losing records this week, which means it'll probably be worth watching although it probably won't be as good as the 1957 Western Division Championship game. Both of these teams deserve another win after their unexpected victories last week so it's a shame they play each other. The 49ers are apparently on the point of leaving SF for Santa Clara (about 50 miles south of SF) - I was going to write something along the lines of leaving Oakland as the Undisputed Kings of The Bay Area, but there might be more to this than meets the eye, especially if Al Davis spots an opportunity to start making daft noises about moving again.

Buffalo (3-5) at Indianapolis (8-0)

Errr...Bills! Yeah! The Bills will win this one! So when are the Colts going to lose? My guess might be December 10th, when they visit the Jag-wahs.

NY Jets (4-4) at New England (6-2)

Patriots to rebound at home after losing to the Colts last week. The Jets have been something of a surprise package this season but they won't have enough to win this one.

Baltimore (6-2) at Tennessee (2-6)

Oh, Baltimore probably.

Denver (6-2) at Oakland (2-6) The Broncos, but the Black Hole will be 'vociferous'.

New Orleans (6-2) at Pittsburgh (2-6) The 'aints have become the ares, but this is one that could bite them on the arse (it's an anagram of 'ares', that's pretty clever isn't it!) if they aren't properly prepared. More later. I need to think about this one.

Washington (3-5) at Philadelphia (4-4)

Eagles. I hope so anyway...at the end of August I had a bet on Phillie to win the NFC East at 11/4, they're currently two games behind the Giants.

Play Off Implications?

San Diego (6-2) at Cincinnati (4-4)

The Bengals appear to be in disarray, but who knows. Like the Eagles, in August I put some cash on SD to win the AFC West at 11/5; they're currently second behind the Broncos due to some arcane NFL rules that I can't be bothered with right now.

St Louis (4-4) at Seattle (5-3)

DCF. It'd be nice for the Rams to knock the crap out of the Seahawks but who cares?

Cleveland (2-6) at Atlanta (5-3)

A week ago I would have picked Atlanta, but they've now turned into the Flaggin' Falcons after being mauled by the Lions*. Still, the records are worth looking at here: Atlanta is 3-1 at home and 2-0 vs AFC teams and Cleveland is exactly the opposite. Falcons to get back on track by at least ten points.

Green Bay (3-5) at Minnesota (4-4)

God knows. OK, the Vikings, although it could get interesting if Aaron Kampman gets into the Minnesota backfield. If the Vikings win and the Bears lose later in the day the divisional situation will get interesting.

Houston (2-6) at Jacksonville (5-3)

Jags.

Kansas (5-3) at Miami (2-6)

Chiefs.

Tampa Bay (2-6) at Carolina (4-4)

Panthers. Here's a Chucky fact: he's currently 37-35 since he took over at Tampa and is on course for his third losing season in five seasons there. Since beating the Raiders in the Super Bowl, he's only got to the playoffs once. In the same time span Tony Dungy (who was replaced by Chucky) has gone 56-16 with the Colts. Those are facts, this is speculation: Gruden got lucky with Dungy's team and won a Super Bowl - he's done nothing since. Discuss.

Dallas (4-4) at Arizona (1-7)

Apparently a lot of folks in Arizona used to follow the Cowboys before the Cardinals moved there. Of course, there are probably lots of folks in Arizona who follow the Cowboys especially now that the Cardinals have moved there. I think the Cardinals should change their nickname to be honest...the Cardinal is a baseball bird.

MSK's game of the week

Chicago (7-1) at NY Giants (6-2)

It's November. The Bears and the Giants - both currently with winning records - meet in New York on Sunday night. This is what it's all about; this is the kind of game that makes me glad it's winter, it has a resonance within the history of professional football in the United States.

The first official championship game the NFL ever held, December 17th 1933 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Bears won. The following year, the Giants won the rematch in the famous 'Sneakers Game'. Want to see some 1934 model sneakers? Go here.

The Bears won the 1946 championship - beating the Giants. That was the last title game for a decade, when the Giants won 47-7. Exactly 30 years and 12 days after the '33 game - at Wrigley Field again - the Bears won the league title. Following the NFL-AFL merger the league title games were over, but at the point where I came in the dominant Bears team that demolished the Patriots 46-10 in SuperBowl 20 shut out the Giants at Soldier Field in the playoffs.

So basically, it's a big game with a long history and whatever happens it will have a huge impact on the NFC post season line up. On the one hand, the Giants come into this one on the back of a five game winning streak but with a couple of major injury worries (Amani Toomer and Michael Strahan - who most people over here would recognise as the smelly golfer in the Right Guard ad). The streak isn't much to crow about either - they've not had the toughest schedule either: their two losses were to Seattle and Indianapolis.

To some extent, the Bears face a similar situation. They could be without Brian Urlacher and Bernard Berrian on Sunday, they've not had the toughest schedule in the world (this is about to change dramatically) and last week they lost a game that they were expected to win. I'm going for the Giants here, probably because Eli Manning is a better QB than Rex Grossman, but it'll be close and I fully expect to see a picture of a victorious Jay Feeley on the ESPN home page on Monday morning, having booted the game winning field goal.

So Bears by 17 it is then.

Rutgers beats Louisville!

Amazing. Here's the game recap and here's the official website...and here's a pic of one of Rutgers' best known alumni.

How much money did T make from this?

Thursday Night College Preview

Shame it wasn't Jim Beam, but you can't have everything.

While Louisville vs Rutgers is getting all the attention, there are a couple of other games this weekend that are worth taking a look at. In all Top 25 action Oregon takes on USC in the PAC-10 and Arkansas faces Tennessee in the SEC but hidden away in the Division 1AA schedules is a nice one: Princeton at Yale.

Both teams have 7-1 records, but Yale is undefeated in conference play and hasn't lost since the first game of the season when they went down 43-17 to San Diego. Princeton lost their unbeaten record a couple of weeks ago when they dropped their game at Cornell. Players to look out for are:

Senior Princeton QB Jeff Terrell (Chagrin Falls, OH - 20 miles west of Cleveland) has a 128.28 passer rating (NCAA formula) that translates as 81.96 according to the NFL rating, which means he's pretty good - in fact, he leads the Ivy League in all offense. He's interested in 'music, sports, economics, history and architecture.' But can I find out what he's studying? His main target this season is Junior WR Brendan Circle from Villa Park, CA (nearest place you've heard of: Anaheim) who has snared 38 passes for 531 yards. Junior LB Tim Boardman (Staten Island, NY - been there...well, sort of...) is the Tigers' leading tackler.

For Yale, Sophomore HB Mike McLeod (New Britain, CT - slap bang in the middle of Connecticut, not far from ESPN in Bristol, CT) is the leading rusher and is currently second in the Ivy League behind Joe Digiacomo of Brown. Senior WR Chandler Henley (Littleton, CO - south of Denver - an 'outstanding organic chemistry student') is junior QB Matt Polhemus' (North Chatham, MA 'enjoys drawing and boating' which is fair enough - if you travel east from North Chatham, the next stop is the South of France) leading target. Sophomore LB Bobby Abare (Acton, MA - NE of Boston) leads the conference in INTs with four (he's also the Bulldogs' leading tackler), one more than Tim Strickland and Kevin Kelleher of Princeton.

So there you go - Ivy League football action for you at the Yale Bowl on Saturday afternoon. I'll let you know what happens.

Two quick ones to end this preview: this story makes me wonder if how I'd react if it happened to me when I was 79:

You think you're tough? Joe Paterno is tougher than you.

Whereas this story sounds like an absolute tragedy for all concerned.

Bryan Pata 1984-2006

The Angels Are Smiling Chucky...

Chucky sucky!

Packers: wrong!

Falcons: wrong!

Cripes, how wrong was I here. Roy Williams had a huge day and Ron Mexico didn't.

Cowboys: wrong!

'Something of a fourth quarter 'Skins comeback by the looks of things' I wrote on Sunday evening when I was putting this together. As it turns out, Nick Novak had two chances to nail a game winning field goal with no time left in the game.

Bears: wrong!

Huge day for Ronnie Brown and six turnovers for Da Bears. Is a Bears meltdown ahead with trips to the Giants and Patriots in the next three games?

Jaguars: right!

Go plastic beer container! Rah rah rah China coffee mug!

Giants: right!

Is this an underrated team? Some stats for anyone reading this: they've won five of their last six but they've only won one game of three against a club that currently has a winning record (Atlanta), they lost to Seattle and Indianapolis and Da Bears visit on Sunday.

Saints: right!

Chiefs: right!

Ravens: right!

So at 9:30pm GMT on Sunday night, I was 5-4 for the week with two games in progress, one to come and one on Monday night. I could theoretically still have had a good week...

Colts: right!

Great game. Due to 'system problems' at work I got home at 3pm on Monday and watched it; up and down the field we go and when we stop...the last team with the ball wins. Which was the Colts. Peyton Manning is officially funnier than Tom Brady; and all those blokes dressed up Paul Revere can JUST SHUT UP.

The Colts are coming! The Colts are coming!

Chargers: right!

Hmmm...November 19th, San Diego at Denver. Winner to play the Colts in the AFC Championship game?

Vikings: wrong!

Three points against the 49ers? The last time San Fran kept anyone under ten points was October 19th 2003 when they beat Tampa Bay 24-7 and the Chuckmeister was in charge of TB that day too. The Bears may have lost, but if that's all Minnesota can muster then they're in trouble. Chicago has a three game lead in the division - and they'll need that - but if this is the best the opposition can muster Lovie Smith's crew will be a cert for the play offs.

Seahawks: sadly and inevitably right. 8-6 for the week, a massive improvement over recent showings.

If the regular season ended today:

The Colts would be number one seed in the AFC, followed by New England, Denver and Baltimore all on 6-2. Jacksonville and San Diego would be the wildcards, but there's absolutely no point working out the tie breaker right now. I've got a feeling this won't change too drastically, although the Chiefs and the Bengals could still make it interesting.

The NFC is a lot less clear. Chicago has the best record at the moment, but the Giants, Saints and Seahawks are now only one game behind and there are currently six teams on 4-4 records.

At the other end of the food chain, the Cardinals have sole possession of the number one draft pick with Miami, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Houston, Tennessee, Oakland, Detroit and Tampa Bay a game ahead. But with Matt Leinart, Edge James, Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald already in place, would the Arizona draft committee have the orchestras to actually pick someone who could actually help them like Joe Thomas of Wisconsin or Jake Long of Michigan?

Al, Art: they are offensive linemen and will probably be available when the Raiders are on the board. At this rate, 24 year old Andrew Walter is going to look like 79 year old George Blanda does now at the end of the season...

If only Andrew could play like the other number 16 now. Soon would also be fine.

Burn baby, burn!

MSK is brought to you in part by Militant Catholics for Extra Parliamentary Action.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE WEEK 9

Someone must win:

Green Bay (3-4) at Buffalo (2-5)

Weather forecast for Buffalo on Sunday: Partly cloudy with a chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the mid 40s. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

Forecast for Green Bay on Sunday: Partly sunny. Highs in the lower 40s.

Yep, winter is here.

Here's a weird one. The Packers are only behind the Colts and the Saints in sack per attempt percentage, which is a stat I'll be messing about with this week. Bud Goode Sports came up with a classic prediction: the Packers by -0, making this one officially too close to call. The only way that BGS seperates them is by the use of Killer Stat 2 (points per pass) which gives Green Bay a miniscule advantage.

Middle Diddle

Atlanta (5-2) at Detroit (1-6)

There's a stat in the Oakland preview below that indicates an intriguing offensive future for the Raiders but which should also make interesting reading for Ron Mexico. Is he supposed to be a hand off machine, or could Matt Schaub or DJ Shockley do that just as well? Ron currently leads NFL QBs in rushing, but is that what he's supposed to do? Is Jim Mora a genius because he's got a winning team running a 60/40 run-pass ratio?

None of these questions will be answered when the Falcons obliterate the Lions this weekend: I predict that the Detroit gameplan will be to get behind early, then pass a lot.

Scott Mitchell: although Bobby Layne is the legend, Mitchell is still the best Detroit QB in the last 40 years.

Cowboys (4-3) at Indians...sorry, Redskins...errr...Native Americans (2-5)

Think what you like about Bill Parcells, but his Dallas team is the nearest to a 50-50 run/pass ratio this season so far. The Cowboys won in Texas in Week 2 and have a reasonable away record but the Redskins have only won one game at home this season and may be without Santana Moss on Sunday. Dallas.

Tennessee (2-5) at Jacksonville (4-3)

DCF. Jacksonville on memorabilia and better uniforms.

Minnesota (4-3) at San Francisco (2-5)

Ssssshhhh...the Niners offense might be stirring again. They may not actually be as bad as everyone thinks they are, but they are definitely moving in the right direction. The defense is every bit as bad as everyone thinks it is and the Vikings will want to put the Monday night defeat by New England behind them.

Oakland (2-5) at Seattle (4-3)

Rubbish Oakland stat: 35 sacks given up this season in 177 attempts. That's a 19% ratio. The league average is 7%. It doesn't matter who's playing QB, it doesn't matter if you've got Randy Moss, it's all about pass protection; the Raiders have none. Presumably this is why the vertical stretch concept has been abandoned for the running game for the time being - only the Falcons have passed the ball less this season and begs the question: are the Raiders slowly becoming a run first team? It's probably too difficult to tell, but here's another stat worth noting: the Raiders have run the fewest offensive plays in the league this season.

Seattle probably won't have Sean Alexander again this weekend, but that probably won't matter. The Seahawks have averaged 25 points per home game this season; the Raiders have have averaged nine on the road and 20 of their 29 away points came in the loss to San Francisco. Dilemma: do I record this on Tuesday morning or not?

Houston (2-5) at NY Giants (5-2)

Giants.

New Orleans (5-2) at Tampa Bay (2-5)

Not the best football book ever.

88 points scored so far is an offensive triumph. Two of the three teams currently passing over 60% of the time are based in Florida. Tampa is one of them. Miami is the other. Current combined record: 3-11.

The Saints have already beaten the Buccs this season, but it was a close game that was only decided by Reggie Bush's 65 yard punt return for a TD with five minutes left. Tampa's two wins have been in their last two home games (against teams that had winning records) and so although this might be a close one, I'd still pick the Saints because Drew Brees is my fantasy QB and because angels smile every time Chucky loses a game.

Cleveland (2-5) at San Diego (5-2)

Shaun Merriman leads the league in sacks (one whole one in front of Oakland sackmeister Derrick Burgess), but he won't be getting any this weekend. It probably won't matter; San Diego will probably run all over Cleveland anyway. The Browns are currently averaging 3.3 yards per carry, second lowest after Arizona; Charlie Frye currently has a better average than Reuben Droughns does - he has more TDs too. MSK's Suicide Pick and also Stuffing Of The Week; here's a nice sounding recipe for a sausage and nut version.

Denver (5-2) at Pittsburgh (2-5)

Is this really the Pittsburgh comeback game? They've lost four of their last five and are currently 1-2 vs AFC West teams, whereas Denver will be looking to get some momentum back after narrowly losing to the Colts last week. A crucial game for both teams.

Miami (1-6) at Chicago (7-0)

In 1985, the Dolphins were the team that provided the Bears with their only defeat. I don't expect this to be the game that Da Bears lose this season; there's a far greater chance that they might suffer their first defeat sometime during the next three weeks when they face the Giants, Jets and Patriots on the road. Brutal.

Someone must lose:

Kansas (4-3) at St Louis (4-3)

At the Edward Jones dome KC is 1-0-0 and the Rams are 2-3-0, but the Chiefs have lost their last five games on turf. I was hoping that the NFL would publish some head to head stats on how the Chiefs perform on the road under a dome after a road win against a team that used to be a divisional rival, but that's unlikely. Kansas to pinch it.

Cincinnati (4-3) at Baltimore (5-2)

Dunno. I'll have a think. The Ravens on alphabetical order.

Peyton Manning (7-0) at Tom Brady (6-1)

Undeniably the MSK Game of The Week.

Following on from the Raiders pathetic sack per attempt percentage (19%), here's how it should be done: the same stat for the Colts is 2.9%, for the Patriots it's 5.2%. Gametime weather at Foxoboro: just below freezing.

A lot will depend on how well the Colts defense stops the Patriot running game. DC Ron Meeks presides over a unit that is currently dead last in the entire league, yielding an average of 167.9 yards a game. New England is eighth in rushing yards per game with an average of 124.9 ypg and Bill Belichick is splitting time between Laurence Maroney and Corey Dillon.

One of the best football books ever, even if it's about the 'king Patriots.

If Indianapolis can't stop these two and they have trouble with Tom Brady possibly picking on Antoine Bethea, Peyton Manning will probably have to play the game of his life, which will mean avoiding Jarvis Green. It'll be interesting to see what Green writes on his website, which you can find here.

So it basically comes down to this...who is funnier, Manning...



...or Brady?



We'll know late Sunday night/early Monday morning. I'm off to play poker.

Louisville Wins A Big One

Louisville 44, West Virginia 34.

The story and some highlights here. The Cardinals have another big game next Thursday: at undefeated Rutgers.

Unexpected Thursday Evening College FB posting!

Division 1 game of the week is tonight (well, Friday morning if you live in the UK) - featuring undefeated #3 West Virginia at undefeated #5 Louisville. Although the Cardinals lost NFL prospect Michael Bush to a season ending injury early in the season, Kolby Smith has picked up the reins and Russell Levine and Vinny Gauri of Pro Football Prospectus commented before the college season started that '...Brohm reminds us a little of (gasp) Peyton Manning...'

Michael Bush could medical redshirt next season which would give him another year of eligibility; more to follow as and when but good luck to him.

The Mountaineers have their own QB/RB tandem: sophomores Steve Slaton (RB) and Pat White (QB) are the reasons that West Virginia leads the NCAA in average rushing yards per game.


No doubting their Heisman credentials, but that font is dreadful.

Should be a pretty good game. I'm going to refrain from guessing the winner, but I'll post the score when I know what it is.

If I get round to it, I'll try to post something about the other all top 25 clashes - #13 LSU (6-2) at #8 Tennessee (7-1) and #16 Boston College (7-1) at #22 Wake Forest* (7-1), but as this weekend looks as if there might be a lot of beer drinking taking place, I might have to refer to them in passing later on.

#11 Notre Dame (7-1) entertains North Carolina (1-7), my guess would be a comfortable win for the Irish, especially as the Tar Heels just got rid of their coach . And why 'Tar Heels'? Here's why. Well, we're all learning something today I hope. I certainly am.


*I had to look up where Wake Forest actually was; it's here.