Carey

The fact is that I feel bad for LeBron, but to a certain extent. Had Los Angeles gone all the way, I would have been pretty happy. That being said, it's sad what's happening to the Lakers. However, I wouldn't mind seeing Golden State roll (over Phoenix). Only if it meant the Warriors winning over teams like Milwaukee, Brooklyn, and/or Philly. That, and most important: Steph winning Finals MVP

Somehow, this guy will get into Cooperstown. To say Y.I.K.E.S! would be mild upon that possible reality

Really, at the end of the day, a true football fan watches the games for the on field stuff, not the people calling them. However, it is important when it comes to who calls a game you're watching. As much I probably could do without Collinsworth, he is pretty good on the call. Romo is overrated, and Aikman is making a smart business decision. BTW, it's rather uncommon for someone to leave their post right before a season in which the network the individual is bolting from has the Super Bowl at season's end. In other words, Aikman would've been on the call for the Super Bowl had he stayed one more year. Not a total big deal since he's called nine six of them and played in three others

Well, the month of March will be here on Tuesday. That’s tomorrow. However, if you told me that March actually started this past weekend, I’d believe you. For the first time ever, the Top 5 crumbled, all on the same day. To be fair, the AP Top Six were all on the road when they lost. It was a great day. As mentioned, it’s a long season for these players. They’re all going to the NCAA Tournament. And at this point, and for the most part, the teams that were locks for a one-seed are going to be just that. Those that probably needed to win out and get help weren’t getting a top spot. Nope, Duke did not jump to the top spot, nor did Baylor, who wasn’t the highest ranked team that didn’t lose but are the reigning champions. Gonzaga and Arizona are still the top 2, while Baylor moved to the third spot. Duke, the highest team that didn’t lose, is the new number 4. Auburn fell two spots to Number 5

Howard suspended for the rest of the season

I'll be honest: I wouldn't be surprised if Juwan Howard got fired outright for his actions. I wouldn't boot him, but I can't defend Michigan if they moved on from him. As mentioned, it's not his first instance of bad sportsmanship. Speaking of sportsmanship, I would be unhappy if there's a movement that outlawed handshakes postgame. That is not the answer, period

Yes, the Steelers are great. Well, in my opinion. The organization has done great things. We'll see what happens with Flores in Pittsburgh. I have to "second" ChitChat. Their coaching roster is super awesome. Ten years from now, I don't think I'll bet on more than 20% of the league emulating something like that

Meh. I'm okay with it. I would've preferred expansion, but 2026 will be here faster than you know it. I don't know or think a Group of 5 team will make it at all in the next four years, but at least they (Cincinnati) had their shot. Or had a shot! Outside of that, the only problem would be if all 5 Power Five conference winners are undefeated. Maybe they'll have a plan for that; maybe they won't. However, the chances of that happening are slim to none, and in my honest opinion, none to less than none. It's brutal, but the committee has control, and a loss gives them an out or just a reason for the snub

Couldn't disagree more. This might sound harsh, and the following is just my opinion: Comparing or linking Eli Manning to Julian Edelman is like comparing or linking Peyton Manning to Jim Finn. All four of the above mentioned men combine for 8 superbowl championships. I planned on posting before Johann posted; I agree & disagree at the same time when it comes to what's involved toward entry into Canton. I think Pro Bowls hold a little more weight than Super Bowls. It is a team sport, but HOF consideration typically depends on who you are, what you've done, and how best you contributed to the success of the sport. I originally thought Eli Manning was getting in right away, in 2025. A couple of reasons why: it's due to the name on the back of his jersey & there was no competition or threat. Upon recently looking at the list, that is so not true. There are several names that are decent candidates for Canton in three years. Plus, I believe the 2022 class excludes first year eligible people. The closest & most recent time that happened was in 2015. Therefore, people like Eli will have to worry about the spillover. In other words, decent candidates not making it the year before or in previous years. Eli has made the Pro Bowl several times, and he was Top Ten in passing yards. He had some great totals. BTW, beating New England twice in the most important game (with a road win in Foxborough between that) is a big deal. Especially that 2007 season. Meanwhile, Edelman's career stats are very hollow. Most are team friendly. I believe he only had s 36 career TDS. Zero Pro Bowl appearances; even though New England made the Super Bowl five times in his 12-year career, he wasn't close to being the best at his position. The longevity is not there. Really, if they want to put Edelman into Canton in 2026, then Manning has to go in before and definitely not after Julian. Eli twice knocked off the top two conference teams (all on the road), and he knocked off the top two league teams. Of course, his team, especially his defense was a bigger factor, but Manning didn't blow the game

Oh well. I thought he would've been sorta banned from all the tournaments, since they're all in places that are tough with their guidelines. Can't say I'm shocked with Wimbledon here, but it is a bit surprising and a tad bit lame in my opinion. I'm happy for Rafa breaking that record. Didn't get around to saying so earlier; while he might not get to Court's mark by this time in a year, especially with Novak's Wimbledon participation, it's looking okay that he'll extend the men's record real soon

I am a multi sport fan, but have to chime in on this off season bullshite. When I go to a sports bar for lunch, I want to see...SPORTS. That means people actually participating in the sport, be it live or replay. Tennis, skiing, snowboarding, curling, figure skating, even fucking cornhole is a sport. Fifty TVs showing dudes in suits DISCUSSING sports is not sports. I have no interest in listening to these people predict the season/match/game/championship. You have a valid point, but based on the ratings/viewership when you compare nonsense to real, live, regular season sports that's not football, there is disagreement there. It's weird since most people would choose an actual game before discussions of one. Except when the conflict! Yeah, I'm probably not going to a bar to watch sports discussion. You go for the actual contest. Last I checked you can't bet on the news what Rapoport or Schefty might break. I'd watch that at a bar if I'm there for something else (or if I'm meeting people for real life discussion) & ESPN/FS1/NFLN is on, which it is. I get the hate, but there is some valuable info sometimes in sports talk television. That, and some actual games are totally awful that I have to turn the TV off. Magog, I'm not sure I care about Goff, but that's just me. It's basically what happened with Winston a year prior. What's different is Jared had a chance at the big game any nearly got shutout. Jameis didn't even make the playoffs, though he had a chance to get to the Superbowl (albeit as relief behind Brees) with his second team. It's gotta suck, but just couldn't get it done with McVay and the Rams. No way Sean was going to fail with that, especially with Aaron Donald in his prime (which doesn't last forever). Tirico doing both the Olympics and the Super Bowl is totally fair enough. It wasn't his fault that NBC and the NFL and whomever else wanted to push the Super Bowl back a week, a year after NBC/CBS swapped years. He's pretty much the face of NBC Sports now. It makes sense for him to do both, despite the conflict. He missed in 2018, and people (myself included) said he'll host the Super Bowl in February 2021 back then (since he's the studio host for their NFL coverage). Now, with the rotation pretty much in place with the new TV deal, NBC gets the Superbowl every four years, with those years also being winter Olympics seasons. Mike is probably calling games as the lead play-by-play guy. Not sure of the conflict, but it looks like the remote thing is working. Finally, no way he's passing up on calling Superbowl LX, but that's just my opinion

I totally forgot to mention this (and it may have been mentioned already in the Super Bowl LIVE chat thread that I missed due to a party I had to attend): looks like Jordan Fuller will surface as a Jeopardy question sometime in the future. Unless you're Tom Brady, if you're drafted 199th overall, your NFL career, if there is one, isn't going to last long (with the exception of Adrian Peterson). Fuller landed on IR shortly after Week 18 ended but the guy selected around the same time as TB12 a quick 20 years later will still earn his first ring. That should bring the total number of superbowl titles for 199th overall picks to 8 (excluding people from 1999 and before)!

For what it's worth, the Cleveland Browns do have the Bengals number. If they can top their 2020 run, they might be a 2-week story ahead of a February Game At State Farm Stadium. So the ratings are still not available as of this post. That would mean the final ratings and viewership, but it will top Super Bowl 55 for sure. How high or whether it’ll Top SuperbowlXLIX will be determined as soon as possible. I wanted a good game, as did most of everyone else, and that’s how things played out. I was on point with the under and with Cincinnati ATS (against the spread, which ranged from 3.5 to 4.5 before kickoff). I picked the Bengals to win their first title 21-18, so I was wrong there but I (and some of the smartest out there) figured that it wasn’t going to be a Rams blowout or a shootout. A 23-20 final score proved that. I believe the over hits with ease had Cincy converted that fourth and one to get Evan in position to send things to OT (a true coin-flip). What a season. A lot happened, both on and off the field. We’ll see what happens with the Brian Flores stuff (FWIW, the lawsuit that was filed goes over several items including tanking in Miami possibly for $100,000 a loss, the inadvertent text from Belichick to Flores about Daboll being the guy before Flores even interviewed, and Elway/Ellis being drunk for Brian’s Denver interview back whenever). Onto next year, or whatever’s next. There no more football until September 2022 (or August if you count preseason, though they really could start in August on a weeknight prior to Labor Day if they wanted to). However, one key item that makes football king is the off season stuff. Not stupid things, but happenings connected to the new season (or the aftermath of the preceding season like retirement). That includes Free Agency, The NFL Draft, and the Schedule Release. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the Rams, Bucs, and Packers. Who knows whether Cincinnati will successfully address their O-Line issue! Maybe it’s cliché, but people are placing the Rams as the team most likely to return to the Superbowl (if not continue its success). Meh; I don’t know about that. They’re so over, whereas the Bengals are fourth in cap space with their best players under control until 2023. The Rams got the title, the motivation might die down with the loss of a lot of people. Finally, next year’s Super Bowl favorites include: Buffalo at 7/1, Dallas at 12/1, Green bay at 13/1, and San Francisco at 15/1. Kansas City is at +750, while the winners Los Angeles opens at +1200. Runners-up Cincinnati is actually tied with 2021 early favorite & division rival Baltimore at 20/1. Houston, still the only franchise to never host a divisional round and/or reach the conference title game weekend, is 180/1. Just lovely. This is as of 02/14/2022 & definitely subject to change

Plus, zero playoff wins in half a decade, preceded by the eventual pummeling courtesy of New England with Ben. There is optimism it could get better, but forget a Super Bowl title without a future franchise/HOF QB

What's funny (to me, not funny at all) is that about a couple days before the Super Bowl & its return to LA, I remember the Rock's appearance in the first XFL game where he joked about how there was no football in Los Angeles, and how it was back with the XFL

One quick thing I'll say about the "stars" at the Super Bowl. Really a couple: It's the Superbowl & they typically surface for the Big Game. Didn't really focus on them; in fact, I can't recall who NBC showed during the typical celebrity shots whenever a sporting event happens on television for games played in Los Angeles or New York. I was too invested in the game to care about the stars. I'll watch them in their work elsewhere when I decide to care about them. Nonetheless, yet another title for LA. While it sucks for St. Louis, I'm not sure I should feel super bad for them, for personal reasons. Still, there were a ton of players on the Rams that did enough in their careers to win the title. I'm happy for them. I'm not sure what's next, but in 5 years or so, if things crumble, then at least they'll always have 2021, whereas some teams going all in might not even reach the Super Bowl

Ditto. Doesn't matter my rooting interests. All I want is a good, clean, competitive game. No Superbowl 48 & 51 nonsense I'm not going to be here for Super Bowl chat this year. At most, I'd show up for a message or two, but for me, it'll be a great result with the winner and a tough one for the loser. Both teams include a player that's due and/or deserves the title. Either way, nothing's guaranteed, but both are built to return in future years, and that's a good thing!

Count me in as someone that will be forgoing 8 hours of pregame. FWIW, in addition to the game, there are the commercials, plus the Anthem and, yes: even the Halftime show. I'll probably have them on in the background (or not). ESPN & NFLN end things around 2 PM EST, making way for NBC. No need to watch it. There isn't anything new (outside of the typical) that's happening that didn't take place this past week. Besides, I'll be on CBS watching Big 10 hoops followed by the WM Phoenix Open's Final Round. Mojoween: Cris has officially be a part of all the Bengals Super Bowl spots (career start AND finish). I guess it'll make up for the fact that he's not calling a Brady-filled Super Bowl for the first time after five calls of the Big Game Finally, tonight will be Tafoya's final game after an 11-year SNF career. It's likely Al Michaels' final call (one of two original SNF/FNIA folks left w/ Collinsworth). No mention was made last time I checked; just speculation. CC's future isn't certainly him giving it up. He ain't young, but he ain't old. Not sure why he'll need to leave; I could still see him with the team through early 2026

Who was complaining? Whoever it was, they should know that there is a tree who spends it's entire life generating the oxygen they waste, and they should go apologize to it. Yeah right! Just your typical Twitter folks complaining as if complaining was an imperative daily chore. Furthermore, I'm guessing that getting a seat at the 16th was a little more expensive than a typical seat at a regular season game for other sports (excluding your obvious priceless events & franchises). Therefore, tossing the beer is not the end of the world for those in attendance

For real. If there was a discussion to be had, it should've been directed more toward Ware. By the way, I didn't mention senior Cliff Branch, coach Dick Vermeil, and contributor & former official Art Mcnally as non-modern folks for the Class of 2022. Fortunately there is a coaches category as the log jam returns (after it sorta was taken care of by putting in receivers on the first try PLUS getting in Boselli after Faneca a year ago). Roamyn, not sure about LaFleur. I respect the argument for him, but he still had Aaron Rodgers for over 90% of the games. I'm disagreeing because of that coupled with the fact that Vrabel hit the Top seed in the AFC with most of his team, including Derrick Henry, out and/or on IR. If Matt had won it, I would have had zero problem with the decision

Of course, you had to have those folks complain about that segment, saying "Stop slowing down the game!" or "Waste of beer!" And there was a made point. However, whatever. This was an awesome moment. Yeah, I wouldn't waste my beer, but it's nice & refreshing to see people having a great time, especially in that setup. Finally, it's the 3rd round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open

It's a trade that needed to happen, really. I think I'll hold judgement on who won the trade until after the season ends, if at all. As mentioned: 16 games together for KD, Harden, and Kyrie. Yikes! FWIW, they still managed to play when they could, and miss when they sorta didn't want to!

Happy for Butler. Plus, Seymour, Dickie V, and Boselli! A-Rod winning a 4th MVP? Meh. TB12 deserved it too. TJ Watt finally winning DPOY? Yay! Associated Press NFL Awards MVP: Aaron Rodgers OPOY: Cooper Cupp DPOY: TJ Watt COY: Mike Vrabel DROY: Micah Parsons OROY: Ja'Marr Chase CPOY: Joe Burrow ROY: Ja'Marr Chase The Cincinnati Bengals, my Super Bowl pick FTW, pretty much cleaned up Thursday night. I can see several of the awards going another direction, but I pretty much agree with all of it

Not bad, IMO. I'm never going to be a fan of a team playing full time abroad, but this expansion is nice. It'll be nice if they end up adding more to more areas in the years to come

I have no feelings one way or the other right now as it relates to Lovie Smith. Maybe he'll turn it around; maybe he won't. The common bet is that this story on minority HC will resurface in a couple years or so when he's fired again