Well, it�s time for the 2nd round of the NFL playoffs. And as in all sports, everyone who survives the 1st round has to be considered a contendah. Especially on the AFC.

AFC playoffs.

Oakland at New England
Remember a few weeks ago when the Raiders were looking like the team to beat in the AFC and Rich Gannon was considered a MVP candidate? That team, after an exorcism against the Jets last week, will find it�s way on the field. As for the Pats, it amazes me that everyone seems to have this team wrong. Tom Brady is a game-management �don�t screw it up� type quarterback. He isn�t leading this team any more than Trent Dilfer led the Ravens last year. If that makes an MVP candidate and Pro-Bowler, so be it. The Pats game is solid D, big play special teams, and pound it out running.
Oak 24 - NE 20
Oakland grinds it out because they have more playmaking ability on offense

Baltimore at Pittsburgh
We can thank the Ravens for getting rid of the AFC�s playoff poseur (the Dolphins) last week (the Bucs were the poseur in the NFC). It was simple, the Dolphins did what the Ravens do, except not as well. Well, the Ravens do what the Steelers do, except not as well. Follow the logic? Calling Kordel Stewart a MVP candidate is like calling� well� it�s like calling Tom Brady an MVP candidate (and Trent Dilfer a Super Bowl champ starting QB, for that matter!). The Steelers play defense as better than anyone, and they are going to establish a running game by pure Newtonian force.
Pitt: 21 � Balt 13
It�s 13-7 Baltimore. Heading into the 4th. The Steelers pounding ground game eventually prevails and they score 2 4th quarter TD�s

AFC Championship
Oakland at Pittsburgh
Here�s a classic from the golden age of football. Raiders-Steelers. I can hear John Facenda already. Unfortunately, it�s to decide the sacrificial lamb for the Rams� but the game won�t play itself out that way. If the Steelers are as good as they are supposed to be, if Jerome Bettis is indeed healthy, and Stewart is the playmaker they say he is, I don�t see the Steelers losing with their D, and playing at home. Remember, the Raiders have had run defense problems this year, and I can envision Bettis, or whoever else for that matter, plunging through gaping holes for 6-8 yard gains all day. The Raiders counter with Gannon, Rice, and Brown. Hmmm�
Pitt 23 - Oak 19
It�ll turn into a smash-mouth game, and the Steelers do that best


NFC playoffs

Philadelphia at Chicago
It seems to me, whatever offense the Bears have will be shut down by the Eagles tenacious D (what offense do they have beyond Anthony Thomas? One freakish game by Marty Booker against the Bucs?) The Chicago D is certainly formidable, but the Donavan McNabb factor is worth enough to get the Eagles the points to win.
Philly 17 � Chi 13
A stodgy affair in dodgy weather

Green Bay at St. Louis
I�ll say this once: the only thing keeping the Rams out of the Super Bowl is themselves. Unless they shoot themselves in the foot, you can punch their ticket to New Orleans. That said, I believe the Packers have the best shot to beat the Rams of Anyone in the playoffs. It�s simple, baby: the Brett Favre factor. If this games at Lambeau the Packers are a lead-pipe cinch. It�s not, and the Rams will cruise on their carpet. It�s one of sports great oddities that Favre just doesn�t have his whole game indoors.
St.L. 38 � G.B. 30
The power of Favre keeps the Rams from making it a laugher

NFC championship
Philly at St. Louis
Everyone forgets how good the Rams defense is. The Rams defense is good enough to reduce the Eagles to Donavan McNabb � and only Donovan Mcnabb. As good as he can be, is that enough to keep up with the high flying Rams offense, The Greatest Show on Turf. The Eagles will blitz the hell out of Kurt Warner, and he will respond by effectively yelling �who�s your daddy� by completing enough deep balls and dump-offs to Marshall Faulk � which the Best Player in the NFL will turn into big gainers.
St.L. 34 � Phil 17
At least 1 TD each off INT or fumble return


The Stupor Blow XVICMGHTII or whatever
St. Louis vs Pittsburgh
Raise your hand if you Really think the Steelers can beat the Rams without a turnover infested self-destruction. C�mon, raise your hand. No, I� not talking point spreads here. Yeah, that�s what I thought. I could carry on about how great the Rams are, how fun and exciting they are, but it�s all been said.
St.L. 35 � Pitt 14
Hey, it�ll still be close at halftime!

You may know about in-fixes. That is, words that are inserted into another for emphasis. Most of the in-fixes I know of are profane infixes. For example: "I guaran-fucking-tee you that such and such..." There are also blasphemous in-fixes, such as "guaran-goddamn-tee." What about profane-blasphemous in-fixes? Infixes within infixes? I guaran-god-fucking-damn-tee you...."

Ah, the possibilities...

so, I like the song "Southside" by Moby w/ Gwen Stefani. Got a problem... huh...HUH?!!!

The NHL needs to adopt a "more is less" philosophy and reduce the number of teams to 24 (from 30) and shorten the regular season drastically. My ideal situation would be the following:
4 6-team divisions (in two conferences) with a 66-game regular season (6 games vs each team in division, 2 vs every other team)
playoffs (in each conference); 1st roud byes to each division winner and one "wild card" team. The other 9 teams play a tiered single-elimination tournament to pick the 4th team for a playoff. It could work like this:
1st round: 9th vs 12th, 10th vs 11th.
2nd round: 7th vs 10/11 winner, 8th vs. 9/12 winner
3rd round: 7-10/11 winner vs. 8-9/12 winner
4th round: 4 vs lower bracket winner, 5th vs. 6th
5th round 4/? winner vs. 5/6 winner:
that winner is the 4th seed in the best-of -seven tournament to the Stanley Cup

However, there is NO likelyhood the NHL will "contract" to 24 teams. The current count is 30, with 3 5-team divisions in each conference. So, with that framework, I think the NHL could do the following:
regular-season schedule:
4 games vs. teams in division, 2 games vs. everyone else, for 66 games
Playoffs (for each conference):
1st round byes to the 3 division winners and 1 "wild card" team.
We have two options for the 1st round:
option 1) Single-elimination tournament with Everyone making the playoffs!
round 1a) 10 v 15, 11 v 14, 12 v 13
round 1b) 5 v 12/13, 6 v 11/14, 7 v 12/13, 8 v 9
found 1b winners fill out bottom 4 in 8-team, best-of-seven playoffs to Stanley Cup
option 2) best of three 1st round: 5 vs 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 11, 9 vs.10
winners fill bottom half of 8-team bracket, best-of-seven playoffs to Stanley Cup

Call Gary Bettman

Beer: god's gift to all his special children

Last night I had a weird-ass dream. In fact, it may have been the first bona-fide "nightmare" I could remember in some detail the next morning in as long as I can remember. I won't bore you with the details... but it wasn't one of those "naked in class" type things. This was like a cheesy horror movie, except in your dream you are really scared.

Boy Howdy, that "The Tick" is one kooky show!

I played in my first full-length outdoor soccer game since November tonight, and only the second since July. The main reason I stopped playing is that I just wasn�t having fun any more, and my head wasn�t in the right place when I was playing. But there�s also the very real injury factor. It just seems like I can�t play without injuring myself. I�ve continued to play indoor all along because the games are short (only 50 minutes) and played mostly on FieldTurf, which is a softer surface than most of my outdoor games are played. Again tonight, I tweaked ankle, more the result of a game-long degenerative condition than a single strain � which actually worries me a lot. It�s a good thing the game was a blowout � I think we won 7 or 8-1 � because I wasn�t running much the last 20 minutes.

Any way, I guess it�s also a good thing, because I realized tonight I missed playing. For a long time I didn�t miss it at all, which is why I never started up again. I sort of forced myself out there tonight, and it felt good (except for my ankle, of course).

here's something completely out of context that I wrote about a week ago. It's just a neat little blurb:

it was a beer drunk... the heavy, malty beers of Winter. Unlike the distilled liquors, beer is a living entity. It is a culture of yeast nurtured for months in an envrioment of delcious carbohydrates. The Yeast gorges itself to death, giving off it's essence of life in the form of the Treacherous Witch Alcohol. It can so easily creep into the darkest crevices of one's Mind, infecting even the most stable with the Fear. it is enough to turn the normal and stable Crazy, and the Crazy into Raving Lunatics and Madmen, who roam the Darkness looking to feast on the stability of the Unaffected

The Trail Run. Tyler kicked my ass, as I expected, I was sucking wind and felt like shit. I also know the only way I am Really going to get back into good shape is to put myself through such torture, because at a point it is no longer torture and becomes enjoyable. I want to get back to that point. You can read more about at Tyler's site.

The Sat. that Was:
We got our dryer fixed. I hade never reported that the dryer was broken on this site, but Uncle Neil came over and fixed the dryer, and as a result a major laundry backload was alleviated today. Uncle Neil (this is Greg's uncle) also brought me the bread machine I had agreed to purchase from him for a whopping $10. I made some bread, and will make some more very soon. Needless to say, this is NOT the Bread of Shame.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the the first ever House Simpon's Monopoly competition. The Guest competitor to round out the four was Julie. And I won! Isn't that just sick and wrong that I won? The biggest slacker around, sitting around getting lazy off of unemployment. I managed to secure the two most expensive property groupings and rode that to victory.

I agreed to meet Tyler at his house at 10:45 tomorrow to go on a trail run. I think I may be getting in over my head.