Tonight Valerie and I went to watch the Washington Redskins host the Buffalo Bills in a preseason NFL contest.

Our real estate agent, Ed Pagett, was kind enough to give us his season tickets for the game.

If you know Valerie that well, you know that she is a die hard Redskins fan. Some of her weeks are determined by how they play that Sunday.

I for one am not a die hard fan of any NFL team, as I grew up in Southern California where both the Rams and Raiders deserted us.

When I married into her family they tried to convert me to a Redskins fan, but let's just say that the Redskins strategies and game plans and I don't get along. So it has been hard to be a loyal fan of a team that week in and week out disappoints my wife and brings heartache year after year.

But I sort of pull for them in the hopes that they will win so my wife will be happy.

Tonight's preseason game was average at best, but her Redskins won 17-14 and that makes her happy.

Here are two photos of her and our child sporting their collective #47 Chris Cooley jersey:

Labels: football, sports, val pregnancy baby, wife

Tonight the New York Giants eked by the favored Green Bay Packers 23-20 to advance to Super Bowl XLII. It will be the first trip to the big game for the G-Men since 2000, when they were trampled by the Baltimore Ravens, 34-7.

Tonight's game was especially disappointing seeing how my wife's beloved team, the Washington Redskins, hate the New York Giants. We were both pulling for the Packers, her out of her dislike for the Giants, me out of my disgust for the hype behind Eli Manning.

When Lawrence Tynes, the Giants' place kicker, missed two crucial field goals during the game, including the potential game winner, we were elated. Even more so when the Packers won the coin toss and elected to receive.

Unfortunately, in cold wintry conditions, Brett Favre threw an interception that gave the ball back into the hands of the Giants.

I'm not going to go into details on how the game was played, but both teams were not on top of their game, as one can imagine with temperatures reaching -23° F.

Facing fourth down, the Giants' trotted out Tynes again to attempt a game-winning field goal. With the snap, and the kick sailing through the uprights, hearts were broken. The Giants, a wild-card team, is headed to the Super Bowl.

As they say: "on any given Sunday, anyone can win."

While that may be fine and dandy, it is my opinion that the 10-6 (12-6 including playoffs) Giants don't deserve to be playing the undefeated New England Patriots in next month's Super Bowl in Phoenix.

The Giants' were 16th in total offense (NE = 1st, GB = 2nd), although they were 7th in total defense yards allowed (NE = 4th, GB = 11th). I attribute tonight's victory by the Giants solely to their defense, not allowing the Packers to get into a rhythm at any time.

The poor Giants are going to get routed by the Patriots, much like they did in 2000 by the Ravens.

Think about it, an undefeated team that went 16-0 during the season, going head-to-head with a team that was 10-6 during the regular season and squeaked into the playoffs. Not to mention their semi-decent, semi-awful quarterback. I'm just going to dread hearing all the so-called "experts" talk about how Eli Manning is in the Super Bowl and his brother Peyton is not, and I guarantee some idiot out there is going to ask the stupid question of 2008: "Does this mean Eli has FINALLY become better than Peyton?"

You see, that's what the media has been trying to do ever since Eli joined the league in 2004, not only to compare him to his big brother Peyton but to make him out to be better than Peyton. It doesn't help that Eli whined his way out of having to play in San Diego because he and his daddy yearned for the big lights of the New York and her media coverage, and have his daddy work out a trade between the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants. You didn't see Peyton Manning whine about getting drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in 1998.

Ever since the younger Manning was drafted, the media has been waiting and hoping that Eli would go farther than his brother.

Well that time has finally come. Eli is in the Super Bowl and Peyton is at home with his wife Ashley.

Let's hear what the idiots have to say when Eli gets hit hard and throws interceptions two weeks from now.

I am certain it will end up like last season, when Rex "Chokeman" Grossman and the Chicago Bears limped into the Super Bowl and faced the Indianapolis Colts, led by Mr. Peyton Manning. Aside from an opening kickoff return for a touchdown by Devin Hester, the Colts made the Bears look like what they were: an undeserving offense helped into the Super Bowl on the backs of their defense.

If you thought last year's 29-17 Super Bowl win by the Colts was blasé, find reruns of Sex and the City on TBS, because this is guaranteed to be even more lop-sided and a waste of three hours (well okay, maybe the commercials are worth watching... maybe, they've been pretty poor the last few years).

I like to see the two best teams compete in the Super Bowl. The Giants are definitely NOT this year's best team out of the NFC.

My prediction:
      37
       9

The Patriots finish a perfect 19-0 on the season.

Labels: sports

Since 1987, there have been 20 Heisman Trophy winners. 11 of them have been quarterbacks, including six of the last seven:

1989 Andre Ware - Houston
1990 Ty Detmer - BYU
1992 Gino Toretta - Miami
1993 Charlie Ward - Florida State
1996 Danny Wuerffel - Florida
2000 Chris Weinke - Florida State
2001 Eric Crouch - Nebraska
2002 Carson Palmer - USC
2003 Jason White - Oklahoma
2004 Matt Leinart - USC
2006 Troy Smith - Ohio State

This year the candidates for the Heisman Trophy include four quarterbacks and four running backs, including Florida's Tim Tebow, who is currently leading the popular vote. Most analysts say that if the vote were today, Tebow would win.

I subscribe to the theory that there seems to be a "curse" on whoever wins the Heisman Trophy, most notably among quarterbacks. If you click on each quarterbacks' name above it will show you their career NFL stats. Eric Crouch and Charlie Ward do not link since they never played in the National Football League.

That got me to thinking... if Tim Tebow (or any other quarterback) wins the Heisman this season, what sort of career numbers can we expect from them as a NFL quarterback?

Eliminating Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Troy Smith, since they are currently still accumulating statistics, let us look at the average career total stat line for each of the 11 quarterbacks who have won the Trophy since 1987. Perhaps we may find an idea of what to expect in a career from a quarterback who wins this season's Heisman Trophy:

Seasons Played- 3
Games - 16
Completion % - 49.5
Touchdowns - 9
Interceptions - 12

Or he could possibly end up like Carson Palmer and be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Bottom line is: the numbers are in favor of him being awful, and for only a short while. We will have to wait and see.

Labels: sports