Sidney Crosby is real life Shooter McGavin

In 2005, the Penguins won the draft lottery which gave them the first overall pick in the NHL draft. It was a no brainer as to who they were going to pick. Sidney Crosby was the most hyped player entering the draft since Mario Lemieux twenty years earlier. This was going to be a banner day for hockey in Pittsburgh. The next "Great One" was going to fill Lemieux's throne and carry the Penguins into a new era. Growing up, he idolized Steve Yzerman, probably one of the classiest players in the history of the game. The teenage Crosby was also going to be living with another class act, Mario Lemieux. Pittsburgh thought that had a combination of class and skill, but over a few years, what they found out they had, was a real life version of Shooter McGavin.

For those of you that don't know who Shooter McGavin is (and shame on you if you don't), he was a character in the movie "Happy Gilmore". McGavin was an incredibly talented golfer that believed he was the best and that it was "his time". When things were going well and he was on top of his game and winning, he always said the right things, smiled for the cameras, etc. However, when Adam Sandler's character Happy Gilmore showed up, things started to go down hill for McGavin and his demeanor changed. There was some question as to who the better golfer was, the aggressive, physical Happy Gilmore who owned the best shot in the game and loved to showboat? Or Shooter McGavin who simply couldn't handle losing and did everything in his power, legal or illegal, to win? Hmmmm... do these two sound like anyone else we know? **cough** Ovechkin / Crosby **cough** Man, this cough is terrible.

I had heard a rumor in which Crosby said to Ovechkin, "Just stay out of my way... or you'll pay! LISTEN to what I say!" and Ovechkin responded with "Hey, why don't I just go eat some hay, make things out of clay, lay by the bay? I just may! What'd ya say?"

Crosby's antics are tainting his image and ruining him. I noticed this early on in his rookie, year, but I figured he was just trying to make a name for himself. Even Lemieux was feisty in his rookie season. But as the years went on and Crosby gained more responsibility, nothing changed. If anything he got worse. The real eye opener was Game 4 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings. The Penguins were down 2 games to 1 and needed to win at home. The Wings were up by a goal late in the game and the Penguins were going on a 5-3 powerplay. That's when Henrik Zetterberg made one of the most incredible defensive plays in the history of the Finals, defending Crosby and knocking the puck off his stick. Had it not been for that play, Crosby would have easily scored and tied it up. Zetterberg went on to dominate on the penalty kill and the Wings won the game. After the game ended and the Wings were skating to their locker room, Crosby, the captain and poster boy of the NHL, goes after Zetterberg, gets in his face and starts talking trash.



That was my first indication that something wasn't right here. The next season, Crosby was going head to head with his rival Alexander Ovechkin in the second round of the NHL playoffs. In Game 2 in Washington, Ovechkin scored a hat trick, putting his Capitals up 2-0 in the series. After the game, Crosby, who scored a hat trick of his own in that game, complained about how many hats were being thrown onto the ice after Ovechkin scored his 3rd goal. Seriously? Would he be complaining about how many hats hit the ice if he scored a hat trick at home? I didn't think so. As the hats were raining down, some Caps fans said they could hear Crosby yelling, "Damn you people. This is hockey. Not a rock concert!"

Later in the same playoffs, Crosby met the Detroit Red Wings and Henrik Zetterberg yet again. Crosby started off the game with a blind side hit on Zetterberg, you know the kind that gets you suspended... oh wait... no it doesn't. Just ask Matt Cooke.



Zetterberg, however, shut him down yet again and the Wings won Game 1. After the game ended and the Wings were headed off the bench to congratulate Chris Osgood for his win, Crosby decides to slash Kirk Maltby in the foot. Now granted, it was a small slash and Maltby has probably feels more pain from a stubbed toe than this slash, but what is that about?? You're the captain of a championship caliber NHL team. You CANNOT do stupid things like slash a player after the game is over. When the series switched over to Pittsburgh and the Penguins got back into the series, everything was fine with Sid. The Penguins looked strong, everything was going his way and then Game 5 happened.

The Wings got off to a fast start and began to rout the Pens. Crosby, out of nowhere decides, he's going to two hand Zetterberg in the knee:



There's another Pennsylvania team that plays hockey like that. "We're not going to win, so we'll just injure you to make sure we win the next one". I've always said that kind of sportsmanship has no place in hockey and always cheer against whomever plays against the Flyers. You should want to beat your opponent when they are at their best. Trying to injure your opponent to give you an advantage in the game is cowardly.

Last night was just another example of Crosby being a sore loser. Once again, Zetterberg shut down the Penguins captain and held him pointless. In the final seconds of a 3-1 game with Crosby on the wrong end of the scoreboard, he just flat out assaults Zetterberg with his stick and starts punching. The Detroit faithful rained down chants of "Crosby sucks" during the fight. I wonder if he was thinking to himself, "Damn you people. Go back to your shanties."



THIS is garbage. Talent wise, he's unbelievable and without question one of the best in the game. But his character really comes into question when he acts like a thug. Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Wayne Gretzky, Guy LaFleur, Joe Sakic... these guys never did anything like this. They were talented AND classy. They respected the game and the players in it. They didn't take cheap shots at opposing players that were getting the better of them. They just worked harder, became better players, which is why they eventually became unstoppable. Crosby needs to clean up his act if he ever wants to be mentioned in the same breath as the players I mentioned above. However, if he stays on this track...

Saints did not win it, the Vikings lost it

Now I'm a guy that will give credit where credit is due. If a team goes out there and outplays the other one, I'll give them credit, even if I don't like them. This past Sunday, the Saints moved on to their first ever Super Bowl after getting past the Minnesota Vikings. Heading into the Super Bowl, I would love to say that the Saints beat them by outplaying Minnesota, but that's just simply not true. The Saints are going to be marching into a game that they should not be in, instead of watching the greatest quarterback of all time face off head to head against the best quarterback in the game today on the grandest stage in sports. I have nothing against the Saints, but they don't deserve to be there.

5 Vikings Turnovers: When you turn over the ball this many times, its pretty tough to win against any team. Let alone against the number one seed in the Conference Championship. However, despite all of these turnovers, the Vikings still had a very good chance to win the game. How does that happen? How can a team make so many mistakes yet still have an opportunity to win? These dumb mistakes were devastating to the Vikings, but really they did it to themselves. You could make the argument that the Saints "forced" the turnovers and in some cases you're right. But what did the Saints have to do with the Adrian Peterson fumble at the Saints 4 yard line at the end of the first half? Peterson couldn't handle the hand off from Favre and he lost it.

Unnecessary roughing: I really hate these overprotective rules that protect the quarterback, but rules are rules and you can't pick and choose when you're going to follow them. Midway through the 3rd quarter, Brett Favre was picked up and basically slammed into the ground by a Saints defender. Unnecessary roughness was called and the Vikings received 15 yards and a first down. The Saints faithful were outraged and booed mercilessly. Four plays later, two Saints defenders get to Favre, one hits him below the waist after the pass is away. Correct me if I'm wrong, but by rule, if you hit the quarterback below the waist, its an automatic 15 yard penalty. On the play, the pass was intercepted and rather than charge the Saints with another 15 yard roughing the passer penalty, give the ball back to the Vikings, and upset the fans any further, the refs ignored the rule book, looked the other way and allowed the Saints to have the interception. Lesson learned here, you can only get one roughing the passer penalty per drive. After that, you can do pretty much whatever you want to him, the refs won't call it, because God forbid that penalty gets called more than once on a single drive.

Missed opportunity: At the end of regulation, Favre drives the Vikes right down the field, and into field goal range. On 3rd down, instead of going for the 50 yard field goal, the Vikings decide to run another play to get closer. Inexplicably, after a timeout, the Vikings have 12 men in the huddle, pushing them back 5 yards, making it a 55 yarder. The Vikings now feel they have to throw the ball to get those yards back. Favre gets flushed out of the pocket, has at least 5 yards if he runs it himself, but instead throws back across his body to the middle of the field and its picked off. If it isn't for Favre's poor decision, the Vikings are kicking a game winning field goal and going to the Super Bowl, despite all of the mistake they made throughout the night.

Awful officiating in OT: After winning the coin toss, the refs did everything except kick the ball through the uprights for the Saints. The refs make a questionable holding call on 3rd and 7 that extends the drive. A few plays later, the Saints come up short and decide to go for it on 4 and 1. Pierre Thomas leaps into the air, gains the first down, but a Vikings defenders' helmet hits the ball, knocking it backwards behind the line of scrimmage. This wasn't like breaking the plane of the goaline or being pushed backwards after his forward progress was stopped. Even though he held onto the ball, it wasn't where it needed to be for a first down. Sorry Saints fans, but it should have been the Vikings ball at their own 43. The very next play was even more outrageous. Drew Brees throws a pass well over the head of his intended receiver David Thomas. However on the play, Thomas falls over while backpedaling and being covered by Vikings LB Scott Fujita. The two never even made contact until the ball was beyond Thomas. If you're going to call pass interference on a play that pretty much guarantees one team a trip to the Super Bowl, you better be damn sure you're right. They were not. It was an AWFUL call. No way to sugar coat it either. I'm not saying the league "conspired" against the Vikings. I'm just saying that the refs made very bad calls at very big moments and it may have cost the Vikings a trip to the Super Bowl.

Vikings Luck: I talked with a Vikings fan online the other day and he was feeling pretty lousy about the loss, but said he's used to the disappointments. He went on to list of number of things that were unbelievable, but all true. Here is what he had to say...

The Vikings have had the worst luck of any Pro team in sports history other than the Cubs...102 years and counting....
- 4 Superbowl losses
- 5 NFC Championship game losses
- Jim Marshalls wrong way run
- The "Hail Mary" pass Drew Pearson caught against the Vikes in 75 NFC championship to give Dallas the win in the final minute.
- The Herschel Walker trade in which Vikings gave Dallas three 1st rounders, three 2nd rounders, plus a 3rd and a 6th rounder in addition to 5 players. Walker lasts only 3 seasons in Minnesota
- Korey Stringer dies in training camp.
- The love boat incident
- Gary Anderson who had just completed the first perfect regular season in NFL history (not missing a single extra point or field goal attempt the entire year), missed a 38-yard attempt with less than 2 minutes remaining in NFC championship game that most likely puts Vikes in Superbowl in 98.
- Vikings despite being favored, lose 41-0 in NFC championship game in 2000.
- Green Bays Antonio Freeman makes one of the all time great miracle catches in overtime to defeat Vikings
- In 2003 Arizona's last second touchdown on 4th and 28 against Vikings eliminated Vikings from playoffs. The moment of Arizona's touchdown was actually the first moment the entire season in which the Vikings hadn't led their division. The Vikings became the second team in football history to miss the playoffs after getting off to a 6–0 start
- ADD TERRIBLE DEFEAT 31-28 OT to the Saints in the 2009 NFC Championship game..... why did Childress not kick a 50 yard field goal on 3rd down to win it before the Moronic 12 man in the huddle penalty !!!! CMON MAN, how bad of a decision is that ???? Longwell was good to at least 55, CMON MAN!!!!!! and then Favre could have run it AGAIN to the 35 for another 52 yard field goal try. You blow it twice!!!!! CMON MAN !!!!!!!

I knew the Vikings had bad luck, but look at all of this! I never realized it was this bad. As much as I would love to say the Saints beat the Vikings, its simply not true. Whether it was because of bad officiating, bad breaks or just bad luck, the Vikings had more to do with their loss than the Saints did with their win.

SteelerNATION spoiled

So yesterday the Pittsburgh Steelers lost their fourth straight game and it was at home to the lowly Oakland Raiders.  This loss drops the Steelers to 6-6 and puts their playoff hopes in jeopardy.  While it is tough to see the Steelers lose to bad teams that they should crush like Oakland, KC, Cincinnati and Chicago, nothing will ever change the fact that this team won the Super Bowl just one year ago.  Ben Roethlisberger is still an elite level quarterback. Rashard Mendenhall is justifying the first round pick the Steelers spent on him last year with his strong play.  Santonio Holmes is having a breakout season we expected.  Mike Wallace is a great 3rd receiver as a rookie and will only get better as time goes on.  The defense, although shaky at times, is still better than most defenses in the league and has the stats to back it up.  This team will remain one of the better teams in the league for years to come yet listen to the talk shows.  Read the newspaper. Read message boards.  You would've thought the Steelers lost their 16th game of the season.  All you'll find is dumb beer drinking yinzers whining about how lousy the team is, that Mike Tomlin needs to be fired and that the Steelers should tear apart the franchise and rebuild from the ground up.  Unbelievable.

The Steelers have been one of the NFL's most successful franchises over the past 17 years which includes 12 playoff appearances, 10 division championships, 7 AFC Championship appearances, 3 Super Bowl appearances and 2 Lombardi Trophies.  Some franchises don't have those kind of credentials after 40 years, let alone 17.  Unfortunately, with that success the Steelers now have a legion of fickle bandwagon fans that "bleed black and gold"... as long as they're winning.  There's nothing more frustrating than having to cheer side by side with someone that will turn their back on the team the minute things don't go their way.  Some of them will complain about the coaching and demand that "Mike Tomlin be fired immediately".  In his first two full seasons as the Steelers head coach the Steelers have won two division titles, led the league in defense and won a Super Bowl.  Yes, that's right yinzers.  Those of you that have had too many Iron City's probably don't remember the fact that the Steelers won the Super Bowl just 10 months ago.  Not 10 years, 10 months.  But that doesn't matter right?  You and all three of your remaining brain cells think that Tomlin needs to be fired, the defense (which ranks 1st against the run and 5th in total yards) needs to be rebuilt and something needs to be done with this Ben "Roethenburger" guy, all because the Steelers lost a few more games than expected this year.  

I keep hearing yinzers refer to the Steelers as a "bad" football team.  You think this team is bad?  When I first started watching football (1986) Mark Malone was their quarterback.  For a bit, I thought he was pretty good.  I mean, he completed one out of every three or four passes.  Then I saw other QB's in the league and how their passes would actually be to a receiver and not 10 feet over their heads or hit the ground 5 yards in front of them.  They lost three games very badly that year, 30-0 to Seattle, 31-7 to Minnesota and 34-0 to New England.  Funny... I don't recall anyone calling for Chuck Noll's head after that season and he hadn't won a Super Bowl in 7 years.  The reason for this is because their wasn't any bandwagoners at this time.  Just REAL Steeler fans.  They went 8-7 in '87, 5-11 in '88 and those were some pretty brutal teams.  I always roll my eyes when I hear some yinzer bashing Ben for a bad play.  Clearly, they never watched the legendary quarterback that went by the name of "Bubby".  Take the worst game you've ever seen Ben play.  Now imagine him playing like that week in, week out for three years.  When you've suffered through the Mark Malone / Bubby Brister days, a guy that occasionally throws a bad pass doesn't seem so bad.  It didn't really matter though, no offense was going to be able to keep up with the number of points the defense was giving up.  They were ranked 28th in 1988 and and 22nd in 1991.  Today, they're ranked 5th despite injures to Troy Polamalu and Aaron Smith, but you're right yinzer nation, the defense needs blown up and rebuilt because despite having the number one ranked defense in each of the last two seasons before this one, they've clearly lost it now.

SteelerNATION has been spoiled over the last 17 years and unfortunately a good number of us have forgotten how to lose.  Losing a few games, no matter who its against, is not the end of the world.  Whether or not they make the playoffs this season is irrelevant.  This core group of players has proven twice now that they are a Super Bowl caliber team and will make a lot more noise in the years to come.  If the Steelers are not a good franchise, then nobody is.  You can't win all the time.  Losing happens to everyone and all you can do is suck it up and deal with it.  If you can't, then don't watch sports because no one can win all the time.

Factoring In: 10/22/2009

- So the Bears signed franchise QB Jay Cutler to a huge contract extension that means he will be with the team through the 2013 season. Not a bad move considering its been since... well since Sid Luckman in the 1940's that the Bears have had a franchise QB. But is Jay Cutler a franchise QB? Don't get me wrong, he's good. He has a rocket arm and pretty good accuracy, but is he good enough to deserve this much. Have the Bears seen enough of Cutler to know he's their guy? I've always said that Chicago is where NFL quarterbacks go to die. The only thing worse than having a lousy quarterback is having one that is sucking up a lot of salary cap space and not making an impact as big as his contract. In Week One, Cutler was picked off 4 times. The 4th one coming in the final minute of the game with Green Bay sitting back in prevent defense and the game on the line. A few weeks later he barely passed for over 100 yards at home against the Lions. Just this past week, Cutler was in a similar situation to Week One where he was facing a prevent defense in Atlanta and needed to score a TD in the final minute. Once again, he failed. To me a franchise QB drives down the field in that situation and scores. I don't want to hear, "He doesn't have the receivers". A franchise QB finds a way to get it done with or without great receivers. The Bears are a 3-2 (a 2-3 team if Jeff Reed doesn't miss two FGs) football team right now and I can honestly say I don't think things would be much different if they had kept Kyle Orton instead. Jay Cutler is a good quarterback, no doubt, but is he a franchise quarterback? Well the jury is still out on that one.

- Every year the San Jose Sharks look great in the regular season, get into the playoffs, expect to go far and choke. Joe Thornton is one of the best playmakers in the game and his numbers have steadily dropped since overpaid flash in the pans like Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek were placed on his line. Wisely, the Sharks get rid of the excess baggage trade them to Ottawa and get disgruntled superstar Dany Heatley in return. Thornton and Heatley make up one of the most dangerous combos in the league today. However, this is the response I read from Sharks fans: "When Heatley scores, I'll cheer but for the team and not that SOB", "Why did we get this cry baby?", "Heatley is a cancer!". Dany Heatley is a two time 50 goal scorer that led the Ottawa Senators, a team like the Sharks that used to choke in the playoffs every year, to the Stanley Cup Finals. His shot, playmaking ability and hockey smarts makes him one of the most dangerous and underrated players in the game today. Shark fans, you should be thanking the hockey gods every day since the Heatley trade. You have two phenomenal hockey players, in their prime, playing side by side on the same line and you're whining about his past and how he left Ottawa, etc. Who cares? You'll have a lot of excitement, win a ton of games and eventually break through and lead your team to the Finals.

- A couple weeks ago the New York Yankees won a critical Game 2 against the Minnesota Twins in the AL wildcard round. In the top of the 11th inning, Joe Mauer sliced a hit down the left field line, it landed in fair territory, but the umpire made a mistake and called it foul. Had it been called correctly, the Twins would've had at least a two run lead, maybe more. Instead the Yankees got out of the inning and went on to win the game in the bottom of the 11th. A few days ago the umpires made another bad call that favored the Yankees. Neither Jorge Posada nor Robinson Cano were standing on the third base, Angels catcher Mike Napoli tagged both of them, however, for whatever reason, only Posada was called out. In this particular instance, the outcome of the game was not affected as the Yankees won 10-1, but the media is going crazy saying its the "worst call ever in all of sports". First off, the worst call in all of professional sports is the "New England Snow Job" back in Jan 2002 when Tom Brady fumbled and the referees said it was an incomplete pass. That bad call not only cost the Raiders the game, but the Patriots went on to win their first Super Bowl in the creation of their "dynasty". But I digress... All of you people that are up in arms about umpires helping the Yankees, get a life. Nobody cares about the Twins. Take a look around, you don't see people wearing Twins hats all over the country. You don't see people talking about the Twins as being one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. If the Twins managed to knock out the Yankees in the first round, it would have been a tragedy for baseball. The Yankees have the history, the superstars, the stories, and the interest of most the country. Whether its to cheer for them or against them, people watch when the Yankees are involved. If the Twins made it to the ALCS you would've heard this loud unified clicking sound. It would've been the sound of America changing the channel and no longer caring about baseball. As for the Angels, one bad call doesn't put the Yankees up 3 games to 1 on the Angels. So quit whining about a call that had no effect on the series, get that rally monkey off his ass and start praying for a big comeback.

Steelers > Patriots: Get over it

I was watching the CBS NFL pregame show yesterday and Boomer Esiason was asked "Which team would be better head to head? The Steelers or the Patriots?" and without much hesitation, Boomer said the Patriots. Why? Tom Brady. Its the answer everyone in the media gives whenever asked about the Patriots.

Who will win the Super Bowl?
The Patriots
Why?
Because of Tom Brady
What about the aging defense?
Tom Brady
What about the poor offensive line and the lack of a running game?
Tom Brady
What about...
Tom Brady

I'm sick of it! Enough is enough! Its been 5 years since the Patriots won their last championship and the media still talks as if we're in the middle of their dynasty. Ben Roethlisberger has won two Super Bowls since the last time Brady held the Lombardi trophy, yet every year, its "the Patriots are the favorites because they have Tom Brady". Instead of just blindly throwing out the name "Tom Brady" when asked about the Patriots, actually take a good long look at the team around him. Lets compare the Steelers and Patriots as they are right now:

Ben Roethlisberger vs Tom Brady:
Brady is a great QB. He owns the record for TD passes in a single season. He won three Super Bowls, two SB MVPs awards and was the league MVP once. But right now, he's a great pocket passer, that can't really move that well and his offensive line is old, slow and isn't doing a good job of protecting him. Meanwhile, Ben is a playmaker. If he's given time to sit in the pocket, he'll kill you. If the pocket collapses, he can run around, make a big play and kill you that way. Pick your poison. I'm not going to go as far as to say that Roethlisberger is better than Brady right now, but he's pretty close. Advantage: Tie

Steelers RBs vs Patriots RBs:
The Steelers running game has gotten bad over the past couple years, but its better than the non-existent one of the Patriots. Brady has thrown the football 100 times so far this season. For you math majors out there, that means he's throwing an average of 50 passes per game. Who could blame them though? The offensive line gets virtually no push and the guys handling the ball are an over the hill Fred Taylor and a never will be Laurence Maroney. Meanwhile the Steelers have Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, and Mewelde Moore who are all victims of a poor offensive line, but should that line suddenly get better, these guys are a much better option than what's in New England. Advantage: Steelers

Steelers WRs vs Patriots WRs:
Randy Moss is one of the best in the game today and Wes Welker is a great underneath receiver that makes a lot of tough catches in heavy traffic. On the other side we just have a couple of Super Bowl MVP's. Holmes is really breaking out since the Steelers have decided to pass more and Hines Ward is the toughest receiver in the NFL and nobody makes tougher catches in heavy traffic better than him. The Patriots have a decent third receiver with Joey Galloway, while the Steelers have a great TE in Heath Miller. Really tough to decide this one. Advantage: Tie

Steelers OL vs Patriots OL:
What can you say about these guys? Neither can open holes for the running game. Neither can protect the quarterback that well. Advantage: Tie

Steelers DL vs Patriots DL:
Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren and Jarvis Green are good, but they're not Casey Hampton, Brett Kiesel and Aaron Smith. Hampton is probably the best nose tackle in the game and Kiesel and Smith are very difficult to contain and open up a lot for their linebackers. Advantage: Steelers

Steelers LBs vs Patriots LBs:
Ha!!! This isn't even close. The NFL defensive player of the year James Harrison, tackling leader and big run stopper James Farrior and two young dynamic LB's that get better each week Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley. Adalius Thomas is the only good LB on the Patriots defense. No question who's better here. Advantage: Steelers by a lot

Steelers secondary vs Patriots secondary:
This is something that the Patriots keep patching together and it ends up working out, but I think ole Bill Belicheat is out of duct tape. They have never really been that impressive since Ty "I'm allowed to commit pass interference" Law left. The Steelers on the other hand have a great shutdown corner with Ike Taylor and the best saftey combo in the league by far with heavy hitting (just ask Wes Welker) Ryan Clark and the tasmanian devil Troy Polamalu. Not even close. Advantage: Steelers

You can feel free to dispute this, but you'd be wrong. The Patriots are a shadow of the team that won the Super Bowl in '04 and the '07 seems just as distant. They've lost a lot of key components; Mike Vrabel, Teddy Bruschi, Ty Law, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison, Asante Samuel and they've been replaced by garbage. Defense wins championships and the holes on the New England defense is why they haven't won one in 5 years.

So while the media keeps boasting Tom Brady this and Tom Brady that, reality will definitively show the world that Tom Brady is NOT the answer to everything.

2009 Super Bowl Prediction

At this time every year, every sports media outlet comes out with their "Super Bowl Predictions" and about a month into the season, most of those predictions are blown out of the water. If you want a good laugh, check out the Sporting News prediction for this upcoming season. Yes, the same Sporting News that predicted a Charlie Batch lead Lions team would win the SB one year. Lots of people picked the Patriots to win it all last year. Then Brady got injured... the end. The Steelers had the toughest schedule in football in '08 and were a 10-6 team in '07. They go on to win the Super Bowl. Predicting who's going to win the Super Bowl is like trying to predict the weather without any equipment. There's too many variables to be able to accurately predict something so unpredictable... but that doesn't mean I won't try. So without further ado, I'm going to make my SB XLIV prediction.

AFC East: The Jets regressed from Favre to a rookie QB, the Dolphins won't take anyone by surprise this year although they are headed in the right direction and the Bills are still the Bills. The Patriots win this division by default.

AFC North: This will be Brady Quinn's "get used to the league" year, so the Browns will be bad, but at least they're progressing. The Bengals will show the league for another year why no one takes them seriously. The Ravens will be a tough team, as always and if Flacco can build off what he did last year, they'll be a great team once again. However, the defending SB champion Steelers are still the class of the division and should claim the division title.

AFC West: You have to love this division. It was won by the Chargers last year via a tie breaker with the Broncos. Both teams were 8-8. The Chargers should be better this year. LT is healthy, Shawne Merriman is back while the rest of the division has gotten worse. The Broncos traded away their franchise QB for a serviceable starter. The Chiefs haven't changed much except for their coaching staff and QB. The Raiders continued their tradition of wasting high draft picks on "reaches", "projects" and "busts".

AFC South: Don't expect the Titans to repeat as division champs this year. They're a good team, but they will not be 13-3 this year. The loss of Albert Haynesworth is a big one. The Colts are the best team in the division, but its going to be a slug fest for the title. The Texans finally look ready to make a big impact with all of their offensive weapons, while the Jaguars feature one of the most versatile back in the game with Maurice Jones-Drew.

NFC East: I keep reading about how great the Giants are and how they're going to return to the Super Bowl. They stumbled through the second half of the season without Plaxico Burress then got knocked out by the Eagles in the playoffs. Without Burress or Toomer, who is Eli Manning supposed to throw to? The Cowboys will not be a better team without TO. Sorry, but they needed him. The Redskins upgraded their defense in a big way with Albert Haynesworth, but their offense is still boring and they're not going anywhere with Jason Campbell. The Eagles were the hottest team in the league at the end of the season and into the playoffs last year and playoff performances always seem to act as a precursor of things to come in the next year. The Eagles will take the NFC East.

NFC North: Vikings and Lions and Bears, oh my! Oh yeah and the Pack too. The Lions are in for another long season, but it won't be an 0-16 season. The Packers always bore me, but they're dynamic offense and Dom Capers led defense could make a lot of noise this year. This division race will be between two teams, the Vikings and the Bears. The Bears drastically upgraded their QB and the defense is still solid, but the Vikings have the best RB in the game today, the best offensive and defensive lines and now have Brett Favre. Even if Favre is average, it'll be better than what they've had over the last several years.

NFC West: This is the division everyone likes to have on their schedule. The Cardinals, Seahawks, 49ers, and Rams. Ironically enough though, each of these teams have played in the Super Bowl in the last 15 years. So it can't be that soft right? The 49ers are getting better, but very very slowly. Too bad that Alex Smith didn't pan out else they would be there already. The Rams are clearly in a rebuilding phase. The Seahawks are clinging to their 2005 SB team and are slowly getting worse. The Cardinals made it to the SB last year and have a cupcake schedule this year. As long as Warner stays healthy, the Cards will romp through this division.

NFC South: This will be the toughest division to pick. The Saints have the most explosive offense in the game, but still no defense. The Bucs have a HUGE hole at QB although their RB situation is the best its been in a long time. I like the Panthers, but I have serious doubt about Jake Delhomme after watching him meltdown in the playoffs. The best team in the division coming into the year is the Atlanta Falcons. As long as Matt Ryan doesn't suffer from a sophomore slump, they should come out on top in the division.

AFC Playoff Seeding:

Patriots

Steelers

Chargers

Colts

Ravens

Texans

NFC Playoffs Seeding:

Vikings

Cardinals

Eagles

Falcons

Bears

Giants

Wild Card Round:

Chargers over Texans

Ravens over Colts

Eagles over Giants

Bears over Falcons

Divisional Round:

Patriots over Ravens

Steelers over Chargers

Vikings over Bears

Eagles over Cardinals

Conference Championships:

Steelers over Patriots

Vikings over Eagles

Super Bowl XLIV:

Steelers over Vikings

Go ahead, call me a homer, but I think the Steelers are one of the more complete teams in the game today. Best defense in the league and one of the best playoff QBs I've ever seen. The Steelers have a great shot at repeating as SB champs and if they do, they'll have as many SB championships as the Patriots in this decade leaving us with, "Who is the team of the decade? The Steelers or the Patriots?" But the people that know football, already know the answer to that question. Hint: It's not the team that got caught cheating.

Factoring In 8/28/2009

- Its being reported that Brett Favre's arrival to the Minnesota Vikings is causing problems within the team. Basically some people are happy to have him, while others would rather go with Sage Rosenfels or Tavaris Jackson. Look, I don't like how Favre acted like he was going to join the team, then re-retired, only to come back half way through the preseason and become the unquestioned starter either. However, to stand up for the Texans former backup QB or T-Jack, against one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game is foolish. This isn't like last year when the Jets discarded Chad Pennington for Favre. The Vikings QB position is sore spot on the team and has been for a number of years. Sports is all about winning. Its not about lessons or hurt feelings, its about winning. Brett Favre at age 40 is better than Rosenfels and Jackson in their prime. Brett Favre gives the Vikings the best chance to win a Super Bowl. Brett Favre is going to be their starting QB whether they like it or not so they may as well stop whining and focus on winning.

- Is anyone else as annoyed with Team USA's new hockey uniforms for the 2010 Olympics as I am? I'm all for nostalgia, but if you want to have a throw back jersey, just make it the third jersey, not your primary uniform. The light and dark jerseys are the boring and unimaginative. Now they do have a third jersey, that really appeals to the New York Rangers fans since its basically a carbon copy of their white away jersey, but to the rest of us its garbage. It was like the designers were sitting around at a table and one of them said, "Hey! Who's a red, white and blue team in the NHL?" Someone else says, "The Rangers!". "Perfect, we'll just use their uniforms, remove "Rangers" and put on "USA". That wasn't so hard!" I just feel bad for Scott Gomez who thought he would never have to wear that uniform again.

- The future of Chicago Blackhawks franchise is riding on the young, super talented winger, Patrick Kane and he beats up a cab driver over 20 cents... soak that in for a second. A player that will sign a contract next summer that will make him a multi-millionaire. A player that is the face of EA Sports' NHL 10. A player with a very bright future ahead of him, pleaded guilty to the charge of disorderly conduct and was ordered to send an apology to the cab driver he was accused of roughing up over 20 cents. 20 cents!! You can find quarters laying on the street! There's people making dumb decisions while their young and then there's this.

- Former Steelers wideout Plaxico Burress has done a lot of dumb things. Spiking the ball after a catch BEFORE your tackled, leaving the Steelers right before they win 2 Super Bowls, driving without insurance and getting into an accident, but none of them were as big as when he shot himself with his own unregistered gun. He was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon. He'll now go to jail for two years with an additional two years of supervised release. So let me get this straight, Michael Vick can fund a dog fighting operation, assist in the brutal deaths of losing dogs and gets only 23 months in prison. Plaxico shoots himself and gets 24 months. Maybe its just me, but being stupid and accidently shooting yourself with a gun is no where near as bad as knowingly and purposely killing dogs in a savage manner.

- Speaking of Vick, the played in his first game last night to standing ovation from the Eagles faithful. So Philadelphia boos Santa Claus, pelts JD Drew with D batteries, booed Donovan McNabb on draft day, cheers for an ex-con. I would ask what's wrong with this picture, but then I think to myself, "Its Philadelphia". That pretty much explains it all right there.

-My favorite MLB team, the New York Yankees, have the best record in baseball, a 6 game lead on the Red Sux, and have as good of a chance as anyone to win the World Series... and I could care less. I watch SportsCenter to see if the Yankees won and if they did, I smirk a little, if they lose, I dismiss it quickly. With football revving up and hockey right around the corner, baseball season is already over. When the World Series is being played, I'll watch if the Yankees are in it, but if they're not and there's a hockey game between the Rangers and the Wild on, I'll watch the latter.