Super Bowl Preview

Today is Media Day down in Indy, and that would be cool if it was any team but the Patriots at the Super Bowl. I can’t even imagine how many times reporters heard the phrase “we are just taking it one day at a time”. Gronk must be dying inside to let out another yo soy fiesta. Anyway, I don’t want to brag but I did go 8-2 in the playoffs with my picks the past few weeks which I think is pretty impressive. If you had any brains you would take my pick for the Super Bowl to the bank and cash in. So here goes nothing:

New York Giants @ New England Patriots (-3)

Last weeks games both came down to the wire. The Giants won in overtime thanks in part to a fumbled punt, and the Patriots won in the last seconds thanks to Ray Finkle Billy Cundiff missing a 32 yard field goal to send it into overtime. But that is why I picked the two teams to win last week was because they just somehow pull out games like that. The Patriots finally beat a team with a winning record, but it wasn’t pretty. Neither was the Giants and San Fran mudbowl. The only thing we should be thankful for was that the lights didn’t go out again at Candlestick after the game because I heard Sandusky was spotted in the 49ers locker room. These two teams matchup almost perfectly. The Patriots have a outsanding offense and a so-so defense I guess we can call them now since they played two decent games the last two weeks and the Giants have an outstanding defense and a good offense. I think the thing that sets these two teams apart is going to be the difference in the game. The Giants defensive line is any offenses nightmare. Pierre-Paul, Umenyiora, Tuck, and Canty are all defensive ends with speed and moves to get by any lineman. The catch here is that most of the time they all play together. The Pat’s lineman won’t have the normal 2 fat guys running into them to plug up holes, rather 4 athletic guys making swim moves and stunts to get to Brady.

The other advantage for the Giants is their 3 wide receivers. Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham are all capable of making big plays at any time. I am not sure the Patriots have ever faced a team this season with as many weapons at the wide receiver position (except when they played them in the regular season) and I am not sure the Pat’s corners and safeties can really matchup. Eli has shown time and time again this year that he is now an elite quarterback, and it shows in his ability now to read blitz’s and find the open guy. The Patriots have a pretty good quarterback on their side as well who can do everything Eli can do. However, the health of Gronk is very unknown right now and will be until kickoff on Sunday. High ankle sprains are nearly impossible to come back from 100% in just two weeks, and we all saw how it affected Big Ben this season over the course of 5 or so weeks. Gronk is a freak of nature so if anyone could come back from it it would be him, but I am skeptical to believe he will play and be effective this Sunday. The key to the Patriots success however lays solely on the offensive line. Time and time again this Patriots team has shown that if you let the defense get to Brady, you are in for a long day. They don’t need to worry about blitz’s with linebackers or corners because Brady can identify those and find the open man. They have to worry strictly on the 4 man rush that the Giants will bring, because coverage will most likely be tight 5-10 yards down field and Brady will have to start going through his options and might not have the time.

In the end, I think the Giants outwork and out-muscle the Patriots. I really like teams like the Giants who have been playing playoff games for 8 weeks now rather than teams like the Patriots who haven’t played a good team in a big game until last week. I think the Giants take the momentum and their defensive line goes off on Brady, getting to him often and disrupting his timing and accuracy. I also like Manningham to have a big game for the Giants as I think they will put an enormous amount of attention on Nicks and Cruz. My official pick will be the Giants with the spread, but if you want to make more money take the Giants money line which is at +115. I like the G-Men to win this one 23-17 unless Ray Finkle Billy Cundiff is signed by the Giants in the next few days. Tbow’s Pick- Giants +3

Also, since it’s the Super Bowl why not just go big or go home. I also like the under of 55. Some people think this will be a shootout, I think the opposite. Last week there weren’t many points scored and I think that continues as these teams know each other well and it will be a hard-fought battle for every yard. Hell, let’s even throw in a pick for MVP. I am going to go with the guy I talked about before, Mario Manningham. In his 3 games this postseason, he has a touchdown in each game which is nearly as many as he had the entire season while he was dealing with an injury. Let’s not forget, just last year this guy had 60 catches for nearly 1,000 yards and 9 TD’s and I like him to play a big factor in this game, big enough to get him the MVP.

P.S. I am not just picking the Giants in this game because I don’t like the Patriots. I picked the Pat’s to win last week I just am a realist and usually pick right.

Words with Friends or Angry Birds?

There are only two games I have ever played on my phone, and I am pretty sure they are the most popular. I started out with Angry Birds and then evolved to Words With Friends. Angry Birds was great for the first few weeks. I couldn’t stop playing it. Whether I was in class, eating dinner, going to the bathroom, it didn’t matter. Hearing those cute little bird voices just brightened my day. Then I reached the highest level and found out in order to beat it I had to get 3 stars on every single level and proceeded to vomit on myself and find a new game. So I heard about Words With Friends which is Scrabble but with a name that makes you think you actually have friends. I was addicted, but not for a few weeks only for a few days. So many people were playing it and it seemed like I had to come up with a new word every minute. Then I found out people were cheating and looking up words online and I realized why I kept losing to people with lesser vocabularies than myself. I kept playing however, but couldn’t play for more than a few days at a time, but I play it more than Angry Birds now. So this leads me to the biggest question of all time, which game is better? Angry Birds or Words With Friends? I am sure there are many more awesome games that I don’t even know about or in Frank the Tank’s mind “We were out at the Olive Garden for dinner, which was lovely. And uh, I happen to look over at a certain point during the meal and see a waitress taking an order, and I found myself wondering what color her underpants might be. Her panties. Uh, odds are they are probably basic white, cotton, underpants. But I sort of think well maybe they’re silk panties, maybe it’s a thong. Maybe it’s something really cool that I don’t even know about.” So vote on which game is better and please comment and tell me what better kind of panties there are out there, I mean better phone games.

P.S. If you are one of those people who cheat at Words With Friends, I hate you, sincerely.

Championship Sunday

It has been a few days since my last post and I’m sure all of you have been waiting eagerly by the computer for my next one so I apologize for the delay. Anyways, there’s nothing really to talk about now that Tebow is done. I’m sure you guys would get sick of me talking about the Sixers winning and the Celtics losing every night. Tomorrow we will all find out who will be heading to the Super Bowl. If you have been betting with my picks the last few weeks you are probably very happy seeing as I have gone 6-2 this playoff year. So take the money you won and let it ride this week on the picks I’m about to give you:

New York Giants at San Francisco (-3)

This is a very tough game to decide. I have gone back and forth on this one this week but I think I can finally pick with confidence. The 49ers have had an amazing year, proving to everyone last week with that insane last 2 minutes that they are the real deal. However, the last two minutes is what scares me the most. They gave up points on consecutive drives in crunch time to almost blow the game, and I am not sure if that will be in the back of the minds of the defense this week. Eli looked great again, completing the upset against the Packers who just played the wrong team at the wrong time. I like the G-Men to keep on rolling through the 49ers and into the Super Bowl. They are just playing too good right now on both sides of the ball to not make it. They are easily the scariest of the 4 teams right now, and will most likely be favorites in the Super Bowl if they complete this last upset. This will be a close game in the first half and I like the Giants to pull away in the 2nd half. I see them winning by 10, and their defensive line to control the game. Tbow’s Pick- Giants +3

Baltimore at New England (-9)

The line for this game started at -7.5 and is up to as much as 9 right now as bettors are obviously liking the Patriots this week. They picked apart the Denver defense and made it look easy in doing so. Denver just clearly didn’t have the tools on defense to get pressure on Brady. Baltimore won a close game against Houston, and Flacco played pretty poorly. The Patriots did look unstoppable on offense and their defense looked great for once last week, but I have a few worries. Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are probably looking at their last run at a Super Bowl, and that adds fire to their already high level play, and Baltimore has the tools to cover the two-headed freak of Hernandez and Gronkowski. The Pat’s are going to need Welker and Branch to step up, maybe Ochocinco can get some pom-poms to use on the sideline seeing as he only played 1 offensive play last game. Hernandez should be watched closely during this game as well. He took a big hit in the end of the game at the goaline, and Belichick might have given him the ball out of the backfield once too many times. There was no need for him to be in the game, but Bill gave him the ball and he looked to have suffered a concussion. He says he is ok and is likely to play but if he gets a good solid hit on him early, it could be an early day for him as head injuries don’t go away easily. I like this to be a close battle and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Ravens pull the upset. I am going to go with my gut, though and say the Patriots will win this one though, in a close game that comes down to the wire. Patriots 30-27. If you’re playing the spread go with the Ravens though. Tbow’s Pick- Baltimore +9

Panic Button for the Celtics?

I know it’s only a few weeks into the new NBA season, but how worried should Celtics fans really be right now? 4 wins in their first 11 games, and all four coming against the leagues 3 worst teams (Washington, Detroit, New Jersey). It seems they are having an extremely hard time scoring points, having not cracked 90 in their last six games. KG has definitely lost a step on, and it’s showing on the defensive side of the ball and the Celtics not being able to come up with stops when they need to. I have to admit, as much as I hate the Celtics, I still thought they would come around, but after the game against Dallas a few nights ago I completely had a change of heart. The Celtics were 4-4 and looking to get back on track after a loss to the Pacers, and the Celtics had 5 days off to get ready for the Mavericks game. Yes, five days off which in this shortened season is like a 2 week vacation. If you can’t beat a team who played the night before, at home, after you had five days off then there are some serious flaws in your team. Doc needs to evaluate his team right now and find out a solution quickly before it’s too late. This team is old and needs to get young real quick seeing as the rest of the season is filled with back to backs and even a few back to back to back games.

I think the Celtics need to look into breaking up the big three and going after a young scorer. Maybe trading Allen for a big name prospect, because they are in desperate need of some scoring. They also should have never gotten rid of Perkins. Granted he was useless on the offensive side of the ball, he was a beast on defense. So with the Celtics sitting right now at 4-8 and 10th in the Eastern Conference it would be absurd to say they don’t have a chance. The East is a joke when it comes to the bottom half, so it would be embarrassing if they can’t at least get into the playoffs. I think even with keeping the team as they are they should still straighten out and win some games, but if they don’t make any moves I don’t see them getting higher than a 6 seed and looking at an early exit in the playoffs. The game is just too fast right now for the Celtics to keep up, and the teams that can move the ball up the court quick with young players like the Traiblazers and the Sixers and the Clippers are dominating the league. So if you’re a Celtics fan which most of you reading this probably are, be a little worried but in the end your team should still make the playoffs.

Conspiracy theory?- Doc is trying to sink the team to get a good draft pick so he can pick his son Austin in the 1st round next season. Guy sucks anyways.