Wild Card Weekend

Atlanta (11-5)

at
Arizona (9-7)

Spread Atlanta -2.5

In the first game I will be jumping on the Falcons bandwagon, or more accurately the Michael Turner/Roddy White/Matt Ryan bandwagon.
The offensive rookie of the year looks cool under the pressure and Turner/Norwood are a 1-2 punch that will not only run the ball strong but keep the ball for a long time and the longer that Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are on the bench the better. Cards have a weak running game and time of possession could prove to be key.

In this game look for Atlanta to prevail over Arizona in the desert.

Indianapolis (12-4)
at
San Diego (8-8)
Spread Indianapolis -2.5

In the Late game Saturday I will stick with the road team. With or without LaDanian Thomlinson the Colts have the edge. With the newly crowned MVP Peyton Manning and his leadership and a Colts defence that is not great but usually shows up in the playoffs look for them to exploit the banged up Chargers. LT is hurt apparently, Antonio Gates is banged up and have been without Shawne Merriman all year. Philip Rivers doesn't get the credit he deserves but he may just bot have the weapons to compete with the Colts at home this week

In this game look for Indi to roll and take this game with relative ease.

Baltimore (11-5)
at
Miami (11-5)
Spread Baltimore -3.5

In the early game, again, it will be a road team special. There may be a wildcat on the loose but it looks like the Ravens will thwart it with great run and pass defence... quote Ray Lewis and Ed Reed NEVER MORE. Joe Flacco will do what needs to be done and get just enough points to snatch the victory on the road. The Dolphins have had a great comeback season after nearly going win less last year but look for the dream season to come to an end this week.

Baltimore will take this in a close game an move into the next round

Philadelphia (11-5)
at
Minnesota (11-5)
Spread Philadelphia -3.5

In the final game, again, it will be a road team and a clean sweep in the wild card week. The Eagles will swarm with a great defence and the veteran presence of Donovan Mcnabb and Brian Westbrook. If the Eagles can contain Adrian Peterson then they will get to whoever the Vikings have at QB whether it be Jackson or Ferrot.

Eagles will leave the Metrodome with a victory and move on.

Around the Horn

Wth all the postponed, cancelled and relocated games over the weekend due to Hurricane Ike made the sports scene a scheduling nightmare.
What is worse I heard that Ike was so dangerously powerful and destructive that Tina Turner had to postpone her current tour and retreat even more inland!

The San Diego Chargers lost in the last seconds for the second straight week. This time it was partially the result of an admitted blown call by the usually great and respected Ed Hochuli.
Norv Turner and The Chargers can only be so upset as Hochuli is an established lawyer that has huge guns in his Smedium shirt, not one to mess with. If Hochuli was on the San Diego D the Broncos would not have rolled the dice in that ballsy call and gone for 2

As a Michigan fan it was an epic game to watch as USC beat the living crap out of THE Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday
Again Coach Tressel blew the big one on the national stage, hang your head all the way back to Columbus nice drop of some 10 spots in the polls...no stickers on the helmets this week fellas!

Rough week for the Patriots and extended family.First Tom Brady goes down with a torn ACL and torn MCL and Notre Dame coach Charlie Weiss did the same after being taken out by one of his own players with help from a Michigan player
What’s the matter Tom, Charlie stayed in the game until the end couldn’t you? And you call yourself an athlete

Wayne Gretzky will again be part of Team Canada but not as Executive Director. Possibly that opens the door for Steve Yzerman to take that position.
The FOG (Friends of Gretzky) may be lifting from Hockey Canada’s men’s team

Chris Cooley wanted to show the readers of his popular blog some of the study materials the players were given by coach Jim Zorn.
A good idea and good of him to show the behind the scene happenings of the NFL.Next time consider using a picture that doesn’t let your junk show for all to see, may I suggest a towel, jogging pants, a pair of boxers or even a jock...Chris put that thing away, you’ll scare the children

U of T's Varsity Blues broke a 49 game losing streak versus the University of Waterloo at the beginning of the season, the first win since 2001.
This was a huge win for U of T, breaking the longest Canadian University losing streak but more importantly allowed the bare-chested guys from the phys. ed. department to fervently chant "Waterloo smells like poo"

Carlos Zambrano pitched the quietest No Hitter in recent memory after being played in Milwaukee as a home game for Houston due to Hurricane Ike.
Few people seemed to talk about it or praise it as a great feat. Dan Patrick said it right it was like a game of Clue.. Zambrano- in Milwaukee against the Astros-with a 4 seam fastball